Our Commanders' Choice - v0.99

Commanders! (•̀ᴗ•́ )ゞ

Today we present to you the results of the grand survey series "Tiering Tier 3", conducted last year at the start of December 2025.
Survey results have revealed/confirmed important changes to the game's meta and our commanders' choices of ships, weapons and aviation.
So sit tight, this is going to be a long ride!

As before, we give you an idea of what the survey was about:

• The survey was conducted over 10 days, from 1 Dec to 11 Dec, 2025.
• The survey covered 151 ships, 255 weapons and 183 aircrafts & UVs, released up to v0.99.
• 1,570 players from 17 Nations have submitted valid responses in this community feedback
• As before, China, Indonesia, Russia, India contributed most to the feedback, followed by Japan, Korea, USA and Vietnam
• Our respondents:
  • 94% were normal players, with 93 titled players.
  • 89% were were above level 45
  • 82% were in clans, and
  • 75% were in the Diamond League in the Ranked Mode

We can safely say that our respondents were experienced enough and are living a 'healthy' Modern Warships life to provide meaningful enough answers :)

We also learned that our commanders were very confused when a lot of items were missing, which were introduced between the time of data gathering and publication of the article (which took almost 2 months). To mitigate for this shortcoming, we included the list of items that were released between the survey (early Dec, 2025) and the time of this article's writing (early Feb, 2026), in each of the sections. Check the items, try to imagine their places within the tier list, and how they would move the other items around!

And now, the main content of this article:

Our Commaners' Choice - v0.99

Ships

Compared to the last review, IJN Yamato, USS Missouri (BB-63), FS DCNS Evolved and almost all submarines (even the shop variants) tiers have risen sharply. Due to their rebalance and good complementary subsystems such as the Qaher-313 and - most importantly - SLBMs, their performance and perception among our commanders have drastically changed.

In contrast, FGS Admiral Graf Spee, FS Blue Shark, RF Admiral Isakov, ROKS Chungnam, ROKS JSS, SPS SMART 8000, USS Massachusetts (BB-1012) have fallen more than two tiers. Their weakness in new combat situations, introduction of better substitutes, have led to their perception among our commanders as inferior to others.

Since the survey, the following ships were newly introduced in the game.

• v0.99 (event, shop)
  • Frigates: JS 30DX, RF Rusich 3000
  • Battleship: KRI Nusantara
  • Destroyer: USS Lyndon B. Johnson
• v0.100
  • Assault Landing Ship: RF Vladimir Andreev
  • Battleship: HMS Hood
  • Destroyer: RF Admiral Chabanenko
  • Cruiser: USS Shiloh (CG-67)
• v0.101 (BP)
  • Frigate: CN CSTP

Weapons

We can see a drastic rise of not only shop SLBMs, but also shop railguns (EMRG, Mark 51 AGS), ANSEQ 3, Dragonfire and Oerlikon Skyranger Buckshot. The new introduction of SLBM mechanics, plus the rebalance of these items have been well accepted by the community. The usefulness of Oerlikon Skyranger Buckshot as a supplementary anti-air defense is also something to take note.

However, SCALP Naval, Mark 55/12 (305 mm), K-76L/62, and H/JJ30-8-300 have fallen more than two tiers. The latter two were never well used in combat, and we see this as these items 'finding their place' within the tier list. There are now enough missiles to replace the expensive SCALP Naval, and the shortcomings of a high-burst long-reload cannon such as Mark 55/12 are becoming clearer for our commanders.

Since the survey, the following weapons were newly introduced in the game.

• v0.99 (event)
  • Grenade Launcher: MAR-290
  • Missile: Hyunmoo 4.4
  • Torpedo: Torped 47
• v0.100
  • Missiles: Shtil-1, Fattah-2
  • Autocannon: 3M47-03E Komar
  • Air Defense: GWS-25 Sea Wolf
  • Torpedo: TAL Shyena
• v0.101 (BP)
  • Grenade Launcher: PHL-191
  • Missile: YJ-19
  • Torpedo: YU-12

Aircrafts & Unmanned Vessels

No aircrafts/UVs had any significant rise in tiers. Since this is before the introduction of new free-fall bomb mechanics in v0.100, we expect a lot to change in the next evaluations.

For the same reasons, we find the drop of ratings in B-21 Raider and Tu-22M3M as something to be improved in future evaluations, albeit their ratings dropping sharply in this round. Strike Fighters Super Etendard, HAL AMCA, MiG-1.44 Flatpack, and Pan Spatial Rhombat have also fallen in terms of ratings, as players have a stronger preference towards VTOL-capable alternatives which have become more available. The two new Pan Spatial UVs being the ecosystem distruptors as they are, have cast a 'disenchantment spell' towards existing UVs in general, leading to the fall of ratings for JARI-USV the most.

Since the survey, the following aviations were newly introduced in the game.

• v0.99 (event, shop)
  • Drone: Saber Warrior
  • Helicopters: AW249 Fenice, AR 2000
• v0.100
  • Helicopters: MI-42 Comet
  • Strike Fighters: MiG-27K Flogger-J2, GCAP
• v0.101 (BP)
  • Strike Fighter: Nanchang Q-5Jia

We hope this list helps all commanders, new and experienced, in growing their fleet!