More Grand Battle Info

The 9.20 preview kicked off a conversation about work that’s underway to spruce up the Random Battles experience: the new Grand Battle setup. Available in Random Battles, this new format blends classic Standard Battles gameplay, a new larger arena and teams of 30, all battling it out in Tier X vehicles. Today, we’re sharing more details on it to get you ready to rock when you hit the battlefield.

Overview

• Mode: Random Battles (Grand Battle is available alongside Standard, Encounter, and Assault modes)
• Teams: 30 players in each
• Vehicles: Tier X only
• Map: Nebelburg
• Objectives: Capture the enemy base or destroy all enemy vehicles

Joining the Battle

You’re in for 30v30 combat if you own (or as soon as you buy) at least one top tier vehicle. Starting in 9.20, all players in Tier X tanks have a 10% chance of getting matched into a Grand Battle by default with the chances of getting a Standard Battle set at 60% and 15% chances of playing in Encounter or Assault. These are the odds you get when lots of players are queueing to hit the battlefield; the numbers will differ when there is considerably fewer people.

The new format might cause framerate issues on low-performance PCs, transforming the game into a turn-based-like experience. It isn’t enjoyable, especially when it happens unexpectedly! To alleviate the problem, Grand Battle is disabled by default on low performance PCs. If you want to check the mode out regardless, you can enable it manually:

Introducing Nebelburg

Designed specifically for Grand Battles, Nebelburg is a 1.4×1.4 km summer map with mixed terrain, offering enough space for all 60 players to maneuver. The middle area, dominated by a hill, is well suited for scouts. Heavy hitters and TDs can use the buildings and streets of the town in the west to their advantage in close combat. Hilly areas in the east lend ample tactical opportunities to medium tanks and vehicles that prove great on uneven terrain, thanks to solid gun depression and turret armor.

Spawn Locations

Each team of 30 is divided into three groups of ten players. To ensure you kick-start a battle without wasting precious seconds to regroup, we tied spawn positions within these small groups to vehicle types. Well-armored tanks roll out on the front lines ready to rush towards the enemy, while SPGs stay behind the main push and cover the group from the rear. The rest of the squad spawn in the middle, including heavy tanks that didn’t get into the first line. Finally, Platoon players start a Grand Battle within one line.

Balancing Small Groups

The matchmaker balances opposing small groups so that none of them have an upper hand due to their sole composition. Squads that appear in the same map area will always have a similar number of Platoon players, SPGs, LTs, and TDs, making the battle outcome a game of skill rather than luck. The number of SPGs is limited to a maximum of four per team.

Rewards and Earnings

You can seriously ramp up your resources in Grand Battles, and we aren’t talking just XP and Credits, which you can earn in any other mode—there are Bonds too! To acquire some, you must earn at least 400 XP per battle (Premium XP and bonuses don’t count). The total number of Bonds you make is directly proportional to this total number of XP you earned.

On top of the opportunity to stock up on Bonds, there’s a variety of other cool odds and ends to fuel the competition in Grand Battles. For example, you can complete Personal Missions in the mode and earn medals; however, it will take a little more effort for the latter, as conditions for four of them got tailored to the new format. At the same time, Grand Battle won’t reward great performances with Marks of Excellence, unlike other Random Battle formats.

List of medals with changed requirements (increased number of destroyed enemy tanks):