Commanders in WoT Blitz Reforged

COMMANDERS HAVE BEEN REBALANCED (BUFFED & NERFED), PLEASE CHECK CHANGES BELOW.

Note that MANY THINGS ARE STILL IN DEVELOPMENT, so you may encounter bugs/mistakes or incorrect things which are still being developed and worked on.

Compared to old Crew Skill system

Crew skills allowed you to have a many smaller boosts in multiple areas of the tank, notably:
-Firefighting.
-Max rolling damage.
-Damaged module effectiveness.
-Module repair speed.
-Base capture speed.
-Camo rating.
-Hull traverse speed.
-Gun handling when moving.
-More DPM on low HP.

There are other skills not listed above that are less notable in terms of battle benefits, but do have a niche use or effect.

What’s Changed?
Instead of having many small boosts (20 in total), you now get 2 big boosts on a specialized area of the tank or its gameplay. Full details are below but here’s a few examples:
-Permanent faster reload time.
-Permanent higher HP (HT only).
-Permanent mobility boost (MT only).

Why such strong boosts?
The Commander skill bonuses have to be strong to compensate for the many Crew Skills that were lost.
They may seem too strong, but this is a whole new meta. Commanders compete against each other, not the raw stats of other tanks in game.

Why make this change?

Gap of raw stats from new players to players which are at “maximum competitiveness”:
The Crew Skill system created a MASSIVE gap in the stats and capabilities of the tank between old and new players. With maxed out crew skills, you were a lot more mobile, well-camouflaged, accurate, punished less by fires & module damage, just a few of the examples.

To reach that maximum competitiveness, you needed to invest almost 62 million Crew XP into crew skills. With commanders, you only need 2.25 million (and the way you earn that XP hasn’t changed).

	Crew Skill system	Commander system
*Minimum XP needed to be at max competitiveness?*	61.98 Million XP	2.25 Million XP (Lv20) up to 4.25 Million XP (Lv31) (*Per commander*)
*Total number of skills?*	20	2

Example:
New players get Duncan, the default commander, his max skill level is 20, which costs 2.25 million XP to get to. Since Duncan can be used on all tank classes (HT, MT, LT, & TD) you only need him to max level, and you are just as competitive as the oldest of veteran players (in terms of raw tank ability, your skill has to make up the rest).

Easier system to choose & upgrade skills:
The old Crew Skill system meant that new players were greeted with 20 skills, and they could choose to upgrade any of them. With no game knowledge or any idea which stats are good, or what means what, it was hard for new players to choose what skills to upgrade first, making an overall confusing system.

The Commander system has been made to be more streamlined to make it easier to choose and upgrade a commander. Commander skills also give clearer game boosts, such as “faster firing rate”, or “higher movement speed”.

Ability to specialize and choose your gameplay benefit given by the Commander:
This will be appreciated by players who like choice. Previously you couldn’t choose what your tank got from Crew Skills, they were just applied to all tanks and didn’t give a too notable difference in any single part of the tank, just a lot of smaller boosts to many parts of the tank.

Commanders let you choose the boost you get on your tank to suit your personal preference, gameplay style, or even battle mode.

Are commanders OP or too strong?

Note, since the first version, Commanders have already been rebalanced.

Its far too early to tell, but remember, they are meant to be strong to compensate for many crew skills which have been lost.

You CANNOT compare commander skills to the current game, as its an entirely new meta.
A permanent boost to reload may seem way too strong until you realize heavy tanks get a permanent boost to HP.

Unlike crew skills, we (as an entire playerbase) haven’t live tested the skills in millions of battles, and as strong as skills may seem, they may be completely different to what we expect just due to it being a complete unknown meta.

View the current commander stats as a “trial by fire”. We’ll find out which are too strong through playing them over time.

Give feedback on Commander skills during Ultra Test, but do remember these skills are part of a new meta. Consider that they are meant to be very strong to compensate for many lost crew skills. Try to compare commanders to each other rather than what you know about tank stats, since when you use them in battle, you use the commanders to combat each other.

Do Commanders appear on your tank?

No, they stand next to your tank in the garage, and you can see them in the “Commanders” tab in the garage, but nowhere else.
They DON’T appear in battle.

Fears of Pay-to-Win Commanders

Commanders in crates, commanders being OP, commanders being restricted to being obtainable by payment only, are all big (and very justified) fears for the new system.

As its a new system, we can’t see the future and know what WG does in the future, so of course there are no guarantees, however their current stance on it is as follows.

WG’s official statement on Commanders in this aspect is:
1- The main release method of Commanders is planned to be through events, in-game activities, missions, Seasons, and such. If you miss these events, you’ll be able to buy them later in the store. Primary way to get Commanders is from game activities, secondary way to get them is when they get a “rerun” in the game store.

2- There are no goals to sell OP commanders. Just like a tech tree tank they can be nerfed if they are too strong, and buffed if they are too weak.

Commanders skills:

IMPORTANT:
To upgrade Commanders to their maximum battle effectiveness, you don’t need to reach their max level. For most Commanders their max skill level is lower than their max level, and continuing to upgrade them after that point only gives you resource bonuses.

Max skill level for each Commander is:
Duncan: 20
Olivia: 20
Anthony: 31
Duck1e: 27
Kai: 26
Captain: 27
Lisa: 27

Note that Commander skills haven’t been tested yet so are still quite likely to change!

Duncan Anderson: Universal (for all tanks)
-Triple Impact:
Every 3rd hit on enemies deals 12% more damage.
-Rapid Fire:
Rate-of-Fire is increased by 6%.

Olivia Vasquez: Heavy Tanks
-Iron Will:
Increases Tank HP by 10%.
-Guerilla Tactics
You & all allies within 70m receive 7% improved dispersion & mobility.
Does not stack with allies who also use Olivia.

Anthony Cole: Medium Tanks
-One-Two Punch
After destroying an enemy track, for the next 5 seconds your reload becomes 12% faster.
-Double Time:
Increases mobility by 10% (doesn’t affect top speed).

Duck1e: Light Tanks
-Quick spot:
Spotting lightbulb appears after 1s instead of 3s.
-Overload:
-Activating any consumable increases your mobility & firing rate by 5% for the next 15 seconds.
You can use this a maximum of 10 times per battle.

Kai Manu: Heavy Tanks
-Steel Resilience:
Increases armour thickness by 5%.
-Block & Shoot:
Blocking a shot worth at least 10% of your base HP increases damage of your next 1 shot by 10%.
This effect stacks up to 5 times for a maximum of 60s.

Captain: Medium Tanks
-Run & Gun:
Improves gun handling when moving by 40%.
-Encore:
Increases mobility by 5% & top speed by 5km/h per 30% HP that you lose. This effect stacks (30% -> 60% -> 90% HP lost).

Lisa Diaby: Tank Destroyers
-Bullseye:
After 2 shots doing damage, the next shot has 75% improved dispersion.
Out of Sight:
Your tank becomes 30% less detectable (more camo rating).

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