This guide aims to increase the win rate of the average player in the air assault gamemode (at the top tier).

Introduction

Air assault mode is a PvE mission where you fight alongside 9 other players against 15 waves of bombers and attackers. Your base, which you must defend against the bombers, has a specific healthpool depending on the map. A single bomber not shot down by a bomber can destroy a base on most maps.

2 out of 15 waves artillery spawns. The bases life is reduced by one every 1,2 seconds by those 20 howitzers.

There are 5 maps:

Stalingrad: He-177 A-5, Do 217 M-1

Zhengzhou: Kikka and G8N1

Norway: Lincoln B Mk II, Canberra B Mk 2

Ruhr: B-29A-BN, F3D-1

Berlin: Tu-4 and Su-6 (E71F)

This mode can grind new vehicles or receive the 300 % booster if you win. It is not recommended to use this mode to smooth silver lions (). The SL rewards are very low, and range between 20.000 and 30.000 SL with premium. Some vehicles have astronomical repair costs, so you won’t make any money if you win.

It is therefore more important to win assault matches than in PvP matches. While you still get a lot RP and SL if your battle is lost, assault will give you a few hundred RP. You also have a greater chance of losing money. It is in everyone’s best interest to win (, not play passively or go afk in air assault battles).

The official War Thunder Wiki contains more details, such as how many aircraft are spawned in each wave and which aircraft spawn in which waves.
https://wiki.warthunder.com/Assault_Mode#Air_Assault – [warthunder.com]

Before you queue

There is no need to queue if you want to grind the modifications to an aircraft. If you do have one, you can take it with you. It can be spawned during an artillery attack and destroyed half the howitzers in a single attack run.

If you have enough SL, upgrade your crews to expert’ level. This will give you a higher reload and other boni to help you deal with multiple targets.

There are many options when it comes to choosing the best aircraft for destroying bombers.

Tier I:

F-4 Phantoms equipped with gunpods, SARH missiles and gunpods

MiG-27K with Kh-29L L (These can be guided using a laser targeting pod, and are powerful enough to kill multiple bombers with one missile)

F-14 with Phoenix missiles (, as long as you are able to select targets individually (on your radar) to the Phoenix missiles), you will be able get six kills for six weapons

Tier II:

Pretty much every Mach 2 capable jet has gunpods and/or lots of missiles (MiG-23 Su-17, 22, F-104, etc.)

While you can do more than the above, I don’t consider them to be the best for air assault. One of these doesn’t necessarily mean you are an expert in the gamemode, or that you will have an easy time. I see a lot of F-14’s that have less than 10 kills. But I’ll get to that later.

What to do

After you have spawned in, you can start looking for the first bomber waves at the beginning of the match. You will be able see them from a distance, even though they don’t yet have their markers.

The following is the general priority list:

1. Bombers

2. Howitzers

3. Attackers

There are maps where your base is not well-positioned. Norway is a good example of how to quickly focus the howitzers. You should either bail out of your aircraft and get in an attack plane OR closely monitor the killfeed and scoreboard to see if any of your team members are bailing or have bombs.

Two things lead to most matches being lost: Either too many people go after the bombers and the bombers make their way to the base, or people abandon one wave in order to attack the next wave that has already advanced in.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, help your team to get through it. You never know when your team members might lose their aircraft or run out of ammunition, and they may not be able destroy the bombers on time. Remember that one bomber can end the entire game.

This is the biggest mistake. This will cause you to lose more than necessary and also make it difficult to get the 300 % booster and lots of RP.

Communicate with your team to avoid these situations. If you have an attacker, tell your team. For this task, 2-3 people is sufficient. In 90% of cases, the game is lost if there are more than 5 people going after the artillery. This is because there aren’t enough people to stop the bombers. Attacker waves are a different story, as they are slow and don’t have defensive armament.

What not to do

Air assault is often seen as an easy win by many people. True, if everyone does their jobs well, but it is clearly counterproductive to going afk and chilling on an airfield.

Don’t be like that guy

The same applies to people who uptier their lower-tier friends into top brackets. They are a hindrance to the team and can’t do much, especially if there is a full squad with one bracket-appropriate aircraft and all the rest having a BRC of e.g. 2.3.

… or these guys.

The third point is a little controversial. But if you want to win, you should not land on the airfield. It’s simple. You are passive and can not help your team defeat the waves.

“But I want money to save” is a common misconception. You won’t make any money if you lose because there are too many people who land. If you win and lose around 4-6 times, you will still be able to get enough money to pay for the repairs. If you want to really make money, then you should use the 300% booster that you receive when you win.

However, there is another way to save some SL. You can land on the airfield and then bail out as soon the timer for “repair and rearm” starts. You will be able spawn in the air again, and you will only have to pay for damaged parts. If your aircraft is severely damaged, I recommend that you bail out.

We lost this round because, in addition to the F-4E/F-5, the F-4E also landed. Although there was an artillery and bomber wave, it was not over.

Tips

Air assault is a different mode than other arcade PvP modes. This will allow you to maximize your kill count. Players tend to hold their fire until the lead indicator appears. This is especially true when flying fast aircraft with high muzzle velocity.

Modern guns like the M62 Vulcan (F-4s and F-104s are ideal for flying modern aircraft, such as F-14s and F-104s.), GSch-23 (MiG-21 or MiG-23 etc.) will then fire at approximately 2 km to 1.5 km from the waves. You’ll be amazed at how many bombers can be downed in one approach if you aim at multiple targets. Although it takes some practice, you’ll soon be able to get at least four kills per approach if you have a good handle on the guns.

It’s nice to have an aircraft that can simultaneously destroy bombers and howitzers. The F-4s are my favorite air attack aircraft.

While you might run out ammo while trying out the muzzle velocity, ranges, and behavior of your targets you will likely have reloaded before you can engage another time (, if not then you will delay your approach for a few second while staying out of the bombers range).

When you are approximately 5 km away, focus on bombers that are flying close together. Try to find a good angle of attack and destroy as many as possible.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Gaijin has not updated this mode for a while. The top bracket ranges between 6.7 and 11.3. The BR) of early jets and some piston engine fighters (is somewhat redundant and can sometimes not even get a single kill. You can make most aircraft fly in this mode starting at 7.7. Although they are not as efficient as the 12,7mm Sabres they can be a valuable asset to any team with some practice and a well-mixed team.

If you are able to play air assault in the top bracket, it is technically a guaranteed win.

… destroy the bombers first and then focus on those closest to your base.

… destroy the howitzers, as long as 2 or 3 members of the team engage them. (If you already see that there is more artillery than necessary, then pull off and head for the bomber/attacker waves!)

Don’t be too slow (not-bracket aircraft – I feel for) 6.7 -) on the airfield or at the airport.

 

I hope you enjoy the Guide we share about War Thunder – Assault Gameplay and Tips; if you think we forget to add or we should add more information, please let us know via commenting below! See you soon!