Why the turret basket nerf to the Leopard 2 series and Abrams tanks were absolutly brilliant

Top tier in War Thunder has become extremely homogeneous. A handful of tanks and nations dominate the scene while others are barely seen or played. Nations like China, Israel, Japan, and Great Britain are almost invisible in high-tier battles, not because their lineups are inherently bad, but because they’re overshadowed by the sheer popularity and overrepresentation of a few key vehicles, mainly the Leopard 2 series and the Abrams.

The top tier is largely filled with vehicles from two sources: the Leopard 2 series and the Abrams series. Together, these tanks dominate battles and crowd out competition. The Leopard 2 isn’t just in one tech tree it’s in four: Germany, France, Italy, and Sweden. The Abrams, on the other hand, is part of one of the most played nations in the game: the United States. That means a massive chunk of top-tier players are using the same handful of vehicles, creating repetitive, stale, and unbalanced gameplay.

The issue isn’t that these tanks are bad they’re excellent. The Leopard 2 series has strong firepower, decent armor, and easy-to-learn playstyles. The Abrams has its own strengths: a 5 second reload, great turret armor, smooth gun handling, and excellent maneuverability. When you pair that with America’s strong top-tier aviation, you have a nation that wins games not because of underpowered enemies, but despite often questionable player performance. The U.S. top-tier lineup is powerful enough that its terrible winrate is on no one to blame but on its players.

Beyond tech tree vehicles, premiums have added fuel to the fire. High-tier premium Leopards are everywhere: the 2A4, 2A4M CAN, Christian II, and now a new one coming for France. These are flooding matchmaking with more Leopard-based tanks, and their consistent performance only reinforces the cycle new players buy them, stick to them, and never branch out. This has had real consequences on tech tree diversity.

Look at Italy: it has access to the Leopard 2A7HU, one of the strongest MBTs in the game. Why would anyone choose to play the Ariete series instead? Arietes are more unique to the Italian tech tree, but they’re clearly outclassed in armor, survivability, and versatility. The same goes for France. Why should a player invest time learning the Leclerc series when they have access to a Leopard 2A5 and 2A6 in the same tech tree, tanks that are easier to play and more forgiving? Sweden is another example: STRV 122s are just Leopard 2s with better armor.

All of this leads to a meta that doesn’t reward originality or national uniqueness. Instead, it encourages everyone to gravitate toward the same vehicles, minimizing the diversity of the game and marginalizing nations that don’t follow the Leopard or Abrams design philosophy. This is why the recent addition of turret baskets to the Leopard 2 and Abrams series was such a good move.

The baskets slightly increase the tanks’ vulnerability and visibility. While not a massive change in gameplay by itself, it represents a first step toward correcting the overperformance and overrepresentation of these vehicles. It’s a sign that Gaijin is aware of the situation and willing to take small but meaningful steps to create a healthier top tier ecosystem.

In conclusion
Top tier is in desperate need of more variety. The current environment is defined by the same few tanks—mostly Leopard 2s and Abrams—which drown out the viability and visibility of other nations. The addition of turret baskets is a small, realistic change that helps break up that dominance and reminds players that no vehicle should be untouchable.

We should hope to see more nerfs like this—not to punish players who enjoy the Leopard or Abrams, but to elevate the entire game by giving other vehicles and nations room to shine. When every nation has a chance to compete fairly, top tier becomes more interesting, more challenging, and more rewarding for everyone.

Let’s give credit where it’s due: the turret basket change was a great move, and it’s the kind of update War Thunder needs more of to keep top-tier gameplay fresh, competitive, and fair.

9 Likes

I don’t think people really had an issue with the turret nerf, it was that it only applied to the 2 types of vehicles while skipping other top tier MBTs from other nations

plus it happened to those vehicles that are most likely to fight Russia which kinda brings up the whole “bias” argument

12 Likes

great yes make abrams worse than it already is so your euro tank which is on par can win easier with a 100% chance of vertical drive hit

3 Likes

Abrams is already one of the best, nerfing Leos and Abrams more would diversify top tier gamplay, or buff everyone else but russia

3 Likes

abrams is one of the worst its only good aspect is 5 second reload and good pen
armor is nothing to write home about neither is mobility most average tank

1 Like

5 second reload, 629mm of pen, 68km/h top speed, very relliable turret cheeks, 1500hp. its better than all tanks that arent leopards or the T80BVM

6 Likes

so yeah everything you fight great

no one shoots turret cheeks

thats why I am for nerfing the Leopards again. Also, there is no problem with russian MBTs, they have terrible reload, mobility and gun handling and very relliable weakspots

2 Likes

you can pen every tank under the barrel so weak spots don’t factor in as much just hide your lower plate your relatively survivable

so what is your point?

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the real thing that should be nerfed is TYPE 90 (fuji) and only fuji as paying to outload everyone is crazy

it was a silly nerf that’s all mainly unnecessary as any penetration instantly gets your horizontal

I am for putting them at 11.7 or 12.0 just because they are seen everywhere and they have good armor equivalent to a 2A4

2 Likes

People play Abram’s, leopard, T series because they are more popular tanks, sure the Abram’s has good mobility and reload but you can literally shoot it anywhere and kill it, the nerf was not needed , especially when japan still roles around with a 4 second reload

regular techtrees usally fine type 90s p2w right now

1 Like

Thats the whole po

thats the whole point. What is your issue? you already have tanks going 70km/h with 600+mm of pen and good reload speed with very relliable armour. You have to ask yourself why wasnt the nerf done earlier or wasnt it harsher? have you really not played any nations beside america or germany? The nerf was absolutly deserved, these tanks are a plague at those tiers

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why didnt japan get it or any other nation targeting countrys cause there decent is wild

abrams armor is not reliable neck which you cant hide and under the barrel rather easy kill

yeah, the issue is that the TKX has efectively paper armour and only 3 crew members, it is its quirk, its played like light tank with good firepower

1 Like