Matchmaker (XBOX)

In World of tanks, you will only face up to tier 2 tanks when starting at tier 1. Throughout the rest of the game, you should expect to battle tanks up to two tiers below and two tiers above you depending on the match. However, you may find yourself in a match with only your tier tanks.

When queuing for a game, a black box will appear showing the current number of players at each tier. This can be used to judge the likelihood of getting into a match where you are the maximum tier. Special events such as the T1E6-X giveaway may effect the general balance of the players at each tier so be aware of this and maybe avoid tanks one tier below the very active tier for the duration of the spike.

Some premium tanks have premium matchmaking. This is when they would be unable to play effectively in games with tanks two tiers higher. Therefore, they will only be able to fight tanks one tier above them at most. Examples include the Pz. 2 J, TOG 2 and Churchill 3. Team selection for random battles is done according to several parameters. Each battle takes place in a battle tier, which should not be confused with tank tiers. (On this page we always use Arabic numerals ("7") when discussing battle tiers and Roman numerals ("VII") when discussing tank tiers.) Team balancing within a battle tier takes place according to vehicle specific weighting and additional restrictions.

Battle Tiers

Battles can take place in eleven possible different battle tiers. Each vehicle, depending on its performance, is assigned a certain subset of these battle tiers that it is supposed to fight in.

The matchmaking chart shows which vehicle belongs to which battle tier. An English version can always be found here. It sometimes takes Wargaming a while to update it after patches, in this case you can refer to the Russian version, which is usually updated much faster.

Players often confuse battle tiers and their vehicle's tier. The match maker does not try to match vehicles by vehicle tier. For example, a T29 Heavy Tank may be vehicle tier VII, but it takes part in battle tier 7, 8 and 9 matches. A battle tier 7 match consists of (vehicle) tier IV-VI light tanks, as well as tier V-VII regular tanks (medium, heavy, tank destroyer, SPG). A battler tier 9 match consists of tier VI-VIII light tanks, as well as tier VII-IX regular tanks. Usually a quick look at the teams allows you to immediately recognize the battle tier.

The selection of the battle tier you fight in depends on the amount of players available for each battle tier and is otherwise random.

To see which battle tiers a vehicle can fight in, find it on the left side of the chart. If it is not listed as an exception at the bottom left, the default rules above apply. Take, for example, an MS-1. No special rule, thus we go find the row for Vehicle Tier 1, Light Tank, and see to the right that this vehicle can fight in battle tiers 1 and 2. Scrolling down, we see that nothing except tier 1 light tanks and medium tanks can fight in battle tier 1. For battle tier 2, we see that the MS-1 can meet tier 2 tank destroyers, light and medium tanks as well as the T2 Light Tank listed at the bottom. The applicable battle tiers for each vehicle are also shown on the right sidebar of each tank's page on this wiki.

Vehicle Weight

Once enough candidates for a certain battle tier are found, the matchmaker tries to form two teams from them. For this purpose each vehicle is assigned a certain weight, and the matchmaker tries to keep the weight of both teams as equal as possible. Weighting is performed by vehicle tier and vehicle type, some vehicles are individually weighted, and for some vehicles there are special restrictions.

Below are the rules for game version 0.8.0:

Weight by Vehicle Tier is applied as follows: Tier 10: 100 Tier 9: 60 Tier 8: 40 Tier 7: 27 Tier 6: 18 Tier 5: 12 Tier 4: 8 Tier 3: 5 Tier 2: 3 Tier 1: 2

Weight by Vehicle Type is generally applied as follows: All Heavy Tanks receive 20% extra weight. All SPGs receive 8% extra weight. Tier 9 and 10 Medium Tanks receive 20% extra weight. Tier 8, 9 and 10 Tank Destroyers receive 20% extra weight. Tier 5, 6, 7 and 8 Light Tanks receive 20% extra weight.

Individual Weights: The Crusader is weighted like a tier 5 tank, not a light tank. The Pz.Kpfw. 38H 735 (f) "Hotchkiss" is a tier 2 tank with 233% extra weight, with 7 points it is weighted close to a tier 4 tank, but it is in the same battle tier as other tier 2 light tanks. The Comet is weighted like a heavy tank. The M4A3E2 Sherman Jumbo is weighted like a heavy tank.

Special Restrictions

The number of the same vehicle on opposing teams cannot differ by more than 1, except when the vehicles are in a platoon. Previously, the number of SPGs in opposing teams could never differ by more than 1. While this is still the goal for the match-maker, since update 0.7.4 it is not a strict restriction. Now, rarely, SPG numbers can differ by more, including one team having none while the other team has one or more. The total weight of the SPGs on opposing teams cannot differ by more than 25%. The total weight of the top tier vehicles on opposing teams cannot differ by more than 25%. It seems in general the weight of opposing teams does not differ by more than 10%, but it is unclear if there is a fixed limit.

Scouts

In the Version 8.5 update, a new Match Maker rule was planned for balancing Light Tanks. The rule was intended to balance out the number of Scout tanks on each team by balancing the weight of Scouts on both teams so they won’t differ by more than +/-20 vehicle weight points. The advantage to this rule is the matchmaker will no longer distribute a large number of scout tanks to one team and none to the other; the number of scouts should be roughly the same for each team. During tests, Scout balancing created other imbalances so it was not implemented. It is currently planned to be released with a later patch. The following vehicles are marked as Scouts: USSR: T-50, MT-25 Germany: Pz.Kpfw. 38 (t) n.A., Pz.Kpfw. II Luchs, VK 16.02 Leopard, VK 28.01, Aufklärungspanzer Panther United States: M24 Chaffee, T21, T71 France: ELC AMX, AMX 12 t, AMX 13 75, AMX 13 90 China: M5A1 Stuart, 59-16, WZ-131, WZ-132

Whether vehicles are stock or fully researched, how they are equipped, nor crew skill is taken into account by the match-maker.

Vehicle Tier

Vehicle tier is not taken into consideration when balancing teams. This is a common misconception among players. For example, under the current rules a tier 8 medium can be matched against a tier 7 heavy tank. The only relevance of vehicle tier is to determine the battle tier.

However, the top tanks of each team have the same vehicle tier due to the current balancing rules. This was also done to prevent players from complaining about "Unfair Matchmaking".

Platoons

IMPORTANT: If you are in a platoon, the entire platoon is placed into battles according to the platoon member in the vehicle with the highest battle tier. This can produce unwanted results in particular for new players at the lower tiers. For example, a tier 4 scout can enter battles up to tier 7, whereas a tier 4 medium tank on its own can only join battles up to tier 6. If these platoon together, the scout will pull the other tank up into its battle tier, where the other tank will usually be hopelessly outclassed. Please take this into account when forming platoons.

A special case of this is when you see a top tier tank platooned with one or two tier 1 tank. This is sometimes done on purpose. If you look above, a tier 10 heavy tank weighs 120 points, whereas a tier 1 tank weighs only 2. Thus the platoon's team has a massive point deficit, which the match-maker will balance out by either dragging more lower tier tanks into the enemy team or by dragging more high tier tanks into the platoon's team. The tactic is frowned upon but permissible. It has become rare these days, likely because the success chances are mediocre. With two tier 1 tanks the team is missing 13.3% of its team that could play a useful role during the battle, whereas the only useful contribution the tier 1 tanks can make is sneak into the enemy cap.

The matchmaker does balance the number of tanks in platoons, but not the weight of the platooned tanks. This means one team can have 2 three-man-platoons with T8 tanks, whereas the other team has 3 two-man-platoons with T6 tanks. This rule may not apply, when the server is low populated.

Map Restrictions

Map Restrictions by Battle Tier

Standard Battles in battle tiers 1 to 3 take place on a limited subset of the available maps only. This is done to allow new players to familiarize themselves with these smaller maps while they learn the basics of the game. Also except for Karelia these are the smallest/most compact maps in the game, better suited for the very limited low tier tanks.

Battle Tiers 1 and 2 fight on these maps: Malinovka Himmelsdorf or Winter Himmelsdorf Komarin (as of 9.2) Mines Province Battle Tier 3 additionally fights on these maps: Karelia Prokhorovka Ensk Province is limited to battle tiers 1 through 3. The map Widepark is limited to battle tiers 4 through 6.

All other battle tiers should get a random map distribution, but technical reasons relating to the allocation of server resources cause the three maps above to be the most commonly played maps for all tiers. For as yet unknown reasons also the distribution of other maps does not appear truly random. The frequency of newly introduced maps is slightly increased. See this forum thread for more details on actual map distribution in random battles.

Important note regarding camouflage skins: All (as of 9.2) of the maps listed for battle tiers 1-3 are summer maps. This means that tier 1 and 2 vehicles (see the Matchmaking Chart above for exceptions) will never see a desert map. So, for now at least, purchasing a desert camo skin for these vehicles is a complete waste, and a winter camo skin is minimal at best.

Map Restrictions by Game Mode

The following maps are not available in random battles: Dragon Ridge Port The game modes Assault and Encounter Battle take place on a limited subset of the available maps (follow the respective links for a list). In addition, Encounter battles are only available for players who have researched one or more tanks of Tier IV, and Assault battles are only available for players who have researched one or more tanks of Tier VI, unless in a platoon with a player who meets these requirements. However, you can have lower tier Encounter/Assault battles. Trivia and Game HistoryEdit

Battle tier 12 (tier VIII scouts and tier X regular tanks only) was removed in Patch 8.11, in order to increase the number of tier 10 and 11 matches.