There are 9 tiers of weapons. These are sorted closely by their datamined performance in Euth’s sheet.
The brackets are:
- 1-5
- 2-6
- 3-7
- 4-8
- 5-9
Examples:
- Someone with tier 4 weapons at most cannot meet tier 9.
- Someone with tier 5 weapons can meet both tier 1 and tier 9 equipment, depending on the bracket set for that match.
- Someone with tier 3 weapons at most cannot meet the majority of automatic rifles, nor will they encounter assault rifles.
Why 9 tiers?
To give nuance between the levels of performance between weapons. It also allows for more flexible categorization and brackets, and reduces the need to equip “best in tier” weaponry, allowing one to more finely control what weapons they face.
There are over 300 firearms in the game, and 5 tiers is insufficient for the categorization. Not only that, but we have vehicles ranging between 1.0 to 6.7 if we’re using War Thunder’s Battle Rating system for a reference.
As an example, if we were to list the tiers by their equivalent battle ratings in War Thunder, ie 1.0, 1.3, 1.7, 2.0, etc…, we would have as many as 18 different tiers for vehicles alone.
This means that, if translated into a 5-tier system, vehicles will not be able to fully occupy a niche that is actually appropriate for their performance due to how compressed it is. We need more then 5 matchmaking tiers.
For brevity, here is my characterization of the 9 tiers. These presume stats at maximum upgrade level, with no other modifiers. I haven’t made such a list or table for vehicles, but it should be relatively straightforward to convert their War Thunder BRs to a 9-tier system.
Tier 1
- 5-6-capacity bolt-action rifles with 59 and below rpm
- Double barrel shotguns
- Lowest capacity and extremely low rpm submachineguns with mediocre handling
- The Chauchat
- Single-shot AT rifles below 40mm of penetration
Tier 2
- 5-6-capacity BA rifles with 60-69 rpm
- 10-capacity BA rifles with below 60 rpm
- The De Lisle
- 5-6-capacity shotguns
- 20-capacity SMGs with average rate of fire and handling
- 30-32 capacity SMGs with either a below-average rpm or handling
- 20-capacity LMGs with mediocre rpm, handling or both
- Single-shot AT rifle with 40mm of penetration
- Bolt-action AT rifle with 30mm of penetration
Tier 3
- Anti-infantry rifle grenade launchers mounted on 5-capacity BA rifles and carbines
- 5-capacity BA rifles with above 70rpm
- 25-capacity BA rifles with 52rpm
- 5-6-capacity SA rifles
- 15-30-capacity pistol carbines with pistol damage
- 25-capacity SMGs with either above-average rpm
- 32 capacity SMGs with average rpm and below-average handling
- 40-capacity SMGs with below-average rpm
- 20-30-capacity LMGs with average-to-above-average rpm and below-average-to-average handling
- Semi-automatic AT rifles with over 40mm of penetration
- Anti-infantry grenade launchers
- HEAT weapons with 60-70mm of penetration
Tier 4
- 25 capacity bolt-action rifles with 59-62 rpm
- Anti-infantry rifle grenade launchers mounted on 10-capacity BA rifles
- 10-capacity BA rifles with 69 rpm
- 30-capacity carbines with AR damage
- 30-40-capacity SMGs with average rpm and average handling
- 20-capacity SMGs with above-average rpm and damage per hit
- 20-capacity “mobile” LMGs with below-average handling
- HEAT weapons with 80-90mm of penetration
Tier 5
- Dual-purpose AP/AT grenade launchers mounted on 5-capacity BA rifles
- 8-capacity SA rifles
- 10-capacity SA rifles with below-average reload rates
- 30-40-capacity SMGs with 600-800rpm and above-average handling
- 47-50-capacity LMGs with 600-880rpm
- 20-capacity “mobile” LMGs with average handling
- HEAT weapons with 100-102mm of penetration
- The Fliegerfaust
Tier 6
- 10-capacity SA rifles with <3s reload times
- Dual-purpose AP/AT grenade launchers mounted on 8-capacity SA rifle
- 30-40-capacity SMGs with extraordinary rates of fire and/or handling
- 50-capacity SMGs with average rpm and below-average handling
- 50-capacity LMGs with over 880rpm
- 20-30-capacity “mobile” LMGs with above-average handling
Tier 7
- 20-30-capacity SA rifles
- 10-capacity SF rifles
- 50-71-capacity SMGs
- 20-capacity AR with below-average rpm
- 67-75-capacity LMGs
- HEAT weapons with 180mm of penetration
Tier 8
- 15-20-capacity SF rifles with inferior performance to end-tier variants
- 76+ capacity SMGs
- 30-capacity ARs with inferior performance to end-tier variants
- 100+ capacity LMGs
- HEAT weapons with 200mm of penetration
Tier 9
- 15-20-capacity SF rifles with the best handling
- 30-capacity ARs with the best handling
- HEAT weapons with 220mm of penetration
For reference, here are the datamined stats provided by Euth.
I am more than willing to debate this idea, and to justify their placements, though the listed characterizations also serve as why they were categorically placed in such a tier.
