We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

What to expect from World of Tanks next: we take a closer look at those Chinese tanks

World_of_Tanks_8.2

Ever since the horrifically dangerous Type 59 premium tank was introduced, we’ve always known that more Chinese vehicles were coming to World of Tanks. Last week this was confirmed with the news that seventeen more were on their way, but that’s not all that Wargaming plan to give us with this update. There are five new US tanks waiting in the garage, plus three premium tanks, two British and one French. Click through for more details.

Let’s start with a look at those Chinese tanks. Seventeen tanks is a lot to add in a new update but it’s a modest arsenal compared to what the other countries have to offer, meaning that the Chinese tech tree is more of a tech sapling right now, starting with a linear progression. Here’s how the first five tiers look:

Right away you’ll be able to spot a few tanks on loan from other nations. The M5 and T-34 are American and Russian tanks respectively, but Wargaming will likely tweak them. Veteran players will know that borrowing other nation’s tanks is nothing new, since a variant of the French Hotchkiss H35 can also be found parked in the German garage, where it’s known as the (deep breath) PzKpfw 38H735(f), and Russian players were driving Churchill tanks around long before British armour was even introduced to the game.

You can see that, for a while, your progression is going to be very linear, with no chance to try out artillery or tank destroyers. What’s up next?

It looks like we’ll have to wait until tier seven before we get to try any Chinese heavy tanks, while tank destroyers and artillery remain off the menu. The two other iterations of the T-34 are surely much tougher tanks, up-gunned and with sloping armour (so let’s take a look at those), while the Type 59 variant on the right branch is a tier higher than the limited edition premium tank that was so popular last year. Expect that to be a substantially beefier battlewagon.

Wargaming have released images of the T-34-1 and the T-34-2, so here’s a quick gander. The T-34-1 rolls up first…

Yep, that one definitely has a big gun, bigger than any that its Soviet equivalent mounts. Onto the next…

It’s barely recognisable, thanks to the kind of sloped armour that made the Type 59 such a bugger to blow up. Oh dear, we may be in trouble.

The five new US tanks are made up of two light tanks, the T21 and the T71, two medium tanks, the T68 and the T54, plus a heavy tank called the T57. That might make things a little fuzzy for some, as you may well know that the Americans already have a self-propelled gun called the T57. Then again, they also have a tank called the T34, while the Russians and now the Chinese have the T-34. Tanks are confusing.

Meanwhile, the French get the FCM 50t heavy tank, which is a premium vehicle that perches on tier eight, while the premium British tanks are the TOG-2, a tier six heavy tank, and the AT-15A, a Tank Destroyer which sits a tier higher. As ever, Wargaming are also tweaking their maps,promising improvements to Erlenberg, Prokhorovka, Redshire and Ruinberg.