War Thunder Battle rating

Battle Ratings

Battle ratings are used by War Thunder to determine matchmaking in-game. Battle ratings are calculated by examining how well an aircraft or ground unit fares in different game modes, and they may differ for each game mode for the same vehicle (for example, an aircraft or ground unit may perform considerably better in arcade mode than realistic battles mode, and so will have a higher battle rating in the former). This allows for a balanced game at all tiers and using all vehicles, meaning that certain nations having technological advantages at different periods in the game's timeline is not an issue when playing, and planes that are too powerful do not ruin gameplay for those flying less effective aircraft.

Aviation

In Arcade mode

Comparison sheet of fighter aircraft's BR in Arcade
For Arcade Air Battles, a formula is in place that calculates your overall Battle Rating, aka the Battle Rating that the Matchmaker will use to match opponents against you, based on the three highest aircraft in your lineup in regards to their individual BR.
That said, the important thing for you to know are three short facts: The overall BR can be lowered by a maximum of one BR step (e.g. 5.0 to 4.7, or 3.7 to 3.3) based on the aircraft in your lineup Lowering your overall BR only works if you have only one aircraft with the highest BR in your lineup (e.g. one on BR 5.0, all others are at least 4.7 or lower) The formula takes aircraft of up to 2.0 difference in BR into consideration (e.g. for 5.0, 3.0 is the maximum difference)
What does that mean for you, as a player? As you progress through the research trees, it may happen that you unlock a new aircraft of considerably higher BR than the other aircraft in your current lineup. This system, to a certain extent, will allow you to use this new aircraft, while keeping your overall lineup competitive against other players you may face.
The maximum amount that you can lower your overall BR is one step . So, as an example, a 5.0 maximum BR based on your highest aircraft can at best be lowered to 4.7, but only if there are no other 5.0 aircraft in your lineup. The same is true for e.g. a 3.7 lineup, which can be lowered by one step to 3.3 at best. Thus, while this system is helpful to stay competitive with an otherwise ‘weaker’ lineup, you will still be better off equipping multiple aircraft of similar BR (e.g. several 5.0 ones) to maximize the combat effectiveness of your overall lineup - if you have such aircraft available.

Calculation example

Basically, that is all you need to know. If you are interested in the calculation itself, however, here we go:
A is your aircraft with the highest BR, B and C are the two aircraft following A in regards to BR.
If the difference between A and B (the same goes for A and C) is greater than 2.0, the value of A will be used instead of B (or C, respectively). If the difference of A and B (the same goes for A and C) is smaller than 2.0 but greater than or equals 0.6, the value ‘A - 0.6’ will be used instead of B (or C, respectively). If the difference of A and B (the same goes for A and C) is smaller than 0.6, B will be used (or C, respectively).
After our variables have been established, the following formula applies:
Overall BR = A/2+B/4+C/4
An example to show how the calculation works:
A = 6.0; B = 5.7; C = 5.0
At first, we check if the difference between A and B or C is greater than 2.0 - if that would be the case, we would use the value of A instead. Neither the difference of A and B (0.3) or A and C (1.0) is greater than 2.0.
Now, we check if the difference between A and B or C is smaller than 2.0 but greater than or equals 0.6 - if that would be the case, we would use the value of ‘A - 0.6’ instead. This is not the case for A and B (0.3), but for A and C (1.0) it is true. So, for C, we use the value of ‘A - 0.6’, which is 5.4.
As the difference of A and B is smaller than 0.6, we use the regular value of B, which is 5.7.

So, for our formula, we use:
Overall BR = (6.0 / 2) + (5.7 / 4) + (5.4 / 4) = 5.775
Our value will be rounded to the next BR step. For clarification: Values like 3.15 will be rounded to 3.3, or 3.85 will be rounded to 4.0, while e.g. 3.45 will be rounded to 3.3. If the calculated value results in a number right in the middle of two BR steps (e.g. 3.85, which lies between 3.7 and 4.0), it will always be rounded up.
As a result, our overall BR for our Arcade Air Battles lineup of "6.0, 5.7 and 5.0" is now 5.7.

Table example

Some more lineups as an example:

A	B	C	Overall BR
8.0	7.7	7.7	8.0
5.0	4.3	4.0	4.7
4.0	4.0	2.0	4.0
3.7	3.0	2.7	3.3
5.0	1.0	1.0	5.0

Aircraft example	BR Effect on lineup
	Aircraft with Highest BR
	Top aircraft's BR - 0.3
	Top aircraft's BR - 0.6 to 2.0
	Top aircraft's BR - >2.0

Aircraft 1	Aircraft 2	Aircraft 3	⇒	Result
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In Realistic and Simulator battle modes

In these two modes, the battle rating system works the same, however as the player is only using one aircraft or ground unit, the battle rating system will not take in to account the other aircraft in their lineup, and they will only fight enemies with aircraft or ground units within the battle rating range of the one they have selected.

Ground Forces

Arcade and Realistic Battles

In Arcade and Realistic Battles only the highest battle rating vehicle decides the matchmaking. So the highest ranked vehicle in the lineup will only fight other vehicles with +-1 battle rating difference.

Arcade Brackets Table

USA			Germany			USSR		Comments
Battle Rating: 1.0 Battle Range: 1.0 - 1.3
T1	M2A2		T1	Pz. II C		T1	BT-5
T1	M2A4		T1	Pz. II DAK		T1	T-26
T1	M2A4 (1st Arm.Div.)		T1	Pz. II F		T1	T-26 (1st Gv.T.Br.)
						T1	T-60
						T1	4M GA-AAA
Battle Rating: 1.3 Battle Range: 1.0 - 2.3
T1	M3 Stuart		T1	Pz.38(t) A		T1	BT-7 1937
T1	M3A1 Stuart		T1	Sd.Kfz. 140/1		T1	T-26E
T1	M3A1 (USMC)		T1	Pz. IV C		T1	T-35
T1	M2		T1	Flakpanzer I
T1	M13 MGC
Battle Rating: 2.0 Battle Range: 1.3 - 3.0
T2	M22		T1	Pz.38(t) F		T1	T-70
			T1	Pz. III E		T2	T-80
			T1	Pz. IV E
			T1	Gepard
Battle Rating: 2.3 Battle Range: 1.3 - 3.3
T1	75mm M3 GMC		T1	Pz. II H		T1	SU-57
T2	M5A1		T1	Pz. III F		T2	T-28
T2	M5A1 (5th Arm.Div.)		T1	StuG III A		T2	72-K GAZ MM
T2	M16 MGMC		T2	Pz. IV F1
Battle Rating: 2.7 Battle Range: 1.7 - 3.7
T1	M3 Lee		T1	Pz. III J		T1	T-126	BR2.7 / T1 tanks cannot match BR3.7 / T3 tanks
T1	M8A1		T2	Marder III		T1	T-50
T2	Grant I					T1	T-III
						T2	T-28E
						T2	SU-76M
						T2	ZIS-30
						T2	ZUT-37
Battle Rating: 3.0 Battle Range: 2.0 - 4.0
			T2	Pz. III N
			T2	Marder III H
			T2	Sd.Kfz. 6/2
Battle Rating: 3.3 Battle Range: 2.3 - 4.3
T2	M4A1		T2	Pz. III J1		T2	T-34 1940
T3	M15 CGMC					T2	T-34 1941
						T2	T-34 1941 (1st Gv.T.Br.)
						T2	T-34 1942
						T2	T-34 prototype
Battle Rating: 3.7 Battle Range: 2.7 - 4.7
T2	M4		T2	Pz. III L		T2	T-34E
T2	M10 GMC		T2	Pz. IV F2		T2	KV-1 L-11
T3	M24		T2	StuG III F		T2	SMK
			T2	StuH 42 G
			T3	Pz. III M
			T3	Wirbelwind
Battle Rating: 4.0 Battle Range: 3.0 - 5.0
T2	M4A3 (105)					T2	T-34E STZ	BR4.0 / T2 tanks cannot match BR5.0 / T4 tanks
						T2	SU-122
Battle Rating: 4.3 Battle Range: 3.3 - 5.3
T2	Calliope		T2	M4 748(a)		T2	KV-1E
T3	M4A2					T3	T-34-57
						T3	SU-85
Battle Rating: 4.7 Battle Range: 3.7 - 5.7
T3	M18 "Black Cat"		T3	Pz. IV G		T2	KV-1 ZIS-5	BR4.7 / T2 tanks cannot match BR5.7 / T4 tanks
T3	M18 GMC		T3	Pz. IV H		T3	T-34-57 mod. 43
			T3	Pz. IV J		T4	ZSU-37
			T3	Pz.Bfw. IV
			T3	Jagdpanzer 38(t)
			T3	Jagdpanzer IV
			T3	StuG III G
			T3	Ostwind
Battle Rating: 5.0 Battle Range: 4.0 - 6.0
T3	M4A1 (76) W		T3	KV-1B 756(r)		T3	M4A2 (76) W
T3	M4A2 (76) W		T3	Panzer IV/70(A)		T3	T-34-85 D-5T
T3	M6A1					T3	KV-2 1939
T4	M19					T3	SU-152
Battle Rating: 5.3 Battle Range: 4.3 - 6.3
T3	"Cobra King"		T3	Panzer IV/70(V)		T3	KV-85
T3	M4A3E2					T3	SU-85M
Battle Rating: 5.7 Battle Range: 4.7 - 6.7
T4	M4A3 (76) W		T3	Panther D		T3	IS-1	BR5.7 / T3 tanks cannot match BR6.7 / T5 tanks
T4	M4A3E2 (76) W		T3	Tiger H1		T4	T-34-85
						T4	T-34-85E
						T4	ISU-122
Battle Rating: 6.0 Battle Range: 5.0 - 7.0
			T3	Tiger E		T4	IS-2	BR6.0 / T3 tanks cannot match BR7.0 / T5 tanks
			T4	Panther A		T4	ISU-122S
			T4	Panther G		T4	ISU-152
			T4	Pz.Bfw. VI (P)
Battle Rating: 6.3 Battle Range: 5.3 - 7.3
T4	M41A1		T4	Panther F
T4	M36 GMC
Battle Rating: 6.7 Battle Range: 5.7 - 7.7
T4	M26		T4	Tiger II (H)		T4	T-44
T4	M26E1		T4	Tiger II (P)		T4	IS-2 "Revenge"
T4	T28		T4	Bfw. Jagdpanther		T4	IS-2 mod. 1944
T5	M42 Duster		T4	Ferdinand		T4	SU-100
			T4	Jagdpanther		T4	SU-122P
			T5	Panther II
Battle Rating: 7.0 Battle Range: 6.0 - 8.0
T4	M46 "Tiger"		T4	Kugelblitz
T4	T32		T5	Tiger II 10,5cm
T5	M46		T5	Jagdtiger
T5	T95		T5	Coelian
Battle Rating: 7.7 Battle Range: 6.7 - 8.0
T5	M47					T5	T-54 1947
						T5	ZSU-57-2
Battle Rating: 8.0 Battle Range: 7.0 - 8.0
T5	M103		T5	Maus		T5	T-54 1949
						T5	T-54 1951
						T5	IS-3
						T5	IS-4M
						T5	SU-122-54
Yellow = Premium/Gift vehicles