Tank Review: The WZ-131

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The WZ-131 is a tier 7 Chinese light tank. It follows the 59-16 on the tech tree.


I enjoyed the WZ-131 quite a bit, I was pretty successful in it (nearly 70% WR in about 45 battles) and I found it pretty comfortable to play. 

Equipment

In this section we'll take a look at the gear you can put on your WZ-131, both the stuff you have to research as well as my recommendations on optional gear you can add.

Guns and Turrets

There are two guns available for the WZ-131, both 85mm. They're reasonably close in performance; the top gun is better, but not so much better that the stock gun is unplayable by comparison. The stock gun is a bit faster, but the top gun has better pen, better alpha and it's more accurate. You definitely want the top gun, but don't despair if you don't have the free XP for it right up front.

To get the (slightly) better gun you'll have to unlock the top turret first, however, which you'll want to do because it gives you an additional 10m of view range.

Engines and Tracks

More important than the gun, in my opinion, is the top engine. You get about 22% more engine power and mobility is crucial on light tanks. The upgraded tracks are fine, small boost to already-good traverse, but the engine is the most important thing to mount first.

Additional Equipment

I always go vents and optics on my light tanks. I want as much camo and view range as I can get and with my #2 Chinese LT crew (see below) I've got 31.5% camo and 450m view range.

For the 3rd slot there's a bit of personal preference there. VStabs are usually a good choice. I went with a Rammer to take 3/4 of a second off my reload time. I think one of those is the obvious choice.

Crew

The WZ-131 has a crew of four and I currently have my #2 Chinese LT crew in it.

On the Commander Sixth Sense is the obvious most important perk to have. But since it's a perk, and thus useless until it hits 100%, I started by training him with Camo, then reset it when it hit 100% to Sixth Sense and restarted Camo. Currently my commander is up to 48% on Camo. I'll probably follow that with Recon.

Gunner started with Camo as well, and he's 100% on that now. In my opinion Snap Shot is the obvious second skill for him. I'll probably follow that with Repairs.

For the Driver I started with Camo, and he's currently working on Smooth Ride which makes the gun more accurate on the move. I'll probably follow that with Off-Road Driving.

The Loader is also the radio operator on the WZ-131, which is great because the loader tends to have the least useful skills/perks. I started my loader with Situational Awareness, and now he's working on Camo.

When the crew finishes their second skill I MIGHT reset them all and give them BIA for a 5% boost to all their abilities.

Performance

I really liked the WZ-131, in fact I think that along with the T71 DA and AMX 13 75 that it's probably one of the best tier 7 light tanks.

Gun Handling

The gun handling is a mixed bag. The stats look good; alpha, accuracy, DPM...all fine for a tier 7 light tank, but I find that RNG doesn't smile on the Chinese tanks for some reason. A surprising number of fully aimed shots will plunge into the dirt or spiral off into the sky.

Also this tank has awful gun depression, -5 degrees, which you'll often find yourself limited by.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a good tank and you can do damage, but it won't be at all unusual for your eyebrows (and blood pressure, maybe) to go up as a shot that looked easy, magically misses.

Scouting & Mobility

The WZ-131 is a pretty good scout. Even with a mediocre crew the camo rating is over 30%, and without Recon on the commander I still get over 450m of view range on the move.

Mobility is very good; even without Off-Road Driving I find that this tank accelerates fine, traverses well, and the top speed (60) is fine.

One downside is that this tank is fairly large, so you're not going to hide in the same bushes that some of the little French tanks can.

Survivability

The stats on the armor are nominal (like all light tanks) but curiously I *DO* find that it gets some surprising bounces. Maybe the RNG that makes the gun unreliable, makes the armor a bit more trollish than you'd expect. In any event, like any light tank, you don't want to depend on the armor. Thankfully the camo and mobility work in your favor and 900 health is best-in-tier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Will you keep this one?
A:  I actually bought it back for this on-track and I do plan to keep it. It's a very good tier 7 light tank.

Q: You didn't mention the radio in the equipment section, isn't that important?!?
A: No, it kinda isn't. The upgraded radio is the same weight and I rarely see radio range be an issue in this game.

See Also

The WZ-132A Showcase by Skill

(Gameplay and opinion on the entire line, including the 131)


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