World of Tanks 1.20.1 Patch Notes: Everything You Need To Know

The biggest World of Tanks Update in a long time is in sight! We will not only receive a whole new branch of tanks but also countless other changes that will affect our gameplay. We have summed up everything you need to know about WoT Update 1.20.1.

Ho ri world of tanks
World of Tanks: This is the Ho Ri 3, Japan's new Tier X tank destroyer! | © Wargaming

I hope you have your notebook ready since you'll have to keep up with a lot of changes to World of Tanks in the coming weeks and months. WoT Update 1.20.1 brings us almost as much new content as we usually receive over the course of the whole year!

The most interesting thing about this update? No doubt, the brand-new branch of Japanese tank destroyers! But what else is on the horizon? Wargaming will be reworking the Crew Perk System, implement the new "WoT Plus" service and bring back the Onslaught game mode.

Let's not waste any more time and dive right into everything you need to know about WoT Update 1.20.1!

World of Tanks Update 1.20.1: Japanese Tank Destroyers

We should get rid of the elephant in the room right away – Japanese TD's are coming to WoT with Update 1.20.1. The branch will split off from the Tier IV "Chi-He" and lead you all the way to Tier X! Let's take a look at the full list of tanks:

  • Tier V – Ho-Ni III
  • Tier VI – Ji-Ro
  • Tier VII – Chi-To SP
  • Tier VIII – Ho-Ri 2
  • Tier IX – Ho-Ri 1
  • Tier X – Ho-Ri 3

As you might already know – numbers are a loose concept when it comes to tank branch progression in World of Tanks. You'll have to deal with the fact that the "Ho-Ri 2" comes before "Ho-Ri 1". Just internalize that and you'll be fine!

First of all, this is not the most homogenous of tank branches. The playstyle of the lower tier Japanese TD's will differ a lot from their higher-tier brothers. The Tier V "Ho-Ni III" and the Tier VI "Ji-Ro" sport practically no armor and should rely on stealth rather than brawling strength.

Starting from the Tier VII "Chi-To SP", things will start to look a bit different. These tanks will keep the respectable mobility from their predecessors but improve significantly in terms of armor.

The Japanese TD's from Tier VII to X will have strong frontal superstructure armor that will be a tough nut to crack at least for equal- and lower-tier tanks.

Be aware, though: Side-scraping will be no option against larger-caliber guns. The side armor of these tanks is a mere 50 millimeters which means you can easily be overmatched by guns like the Soviet 152mm.

Ho Ri 3 armor layout
Taking a look at the effective armor of the Tier X Ho-Ri 3: Your upper plate will be an auto-bounce, but don't rely on your superstructure! | via tanks.gg

All in all, we think these new tank destroyers will have a bit of everything. They combine better-than-expected mobility with a solid DPM and frontal armor that will definitely be workable. They don't really excel at anything but if you can handle tanks with a very balanced skill-set, these are for you!

[UPDATE] World of Tanks Update 1.20.1: WoT Plus Service

This is definitely the most controversial of changes that will come to World of Tanks with the next update. "WoT Plus" is a subscription service that will grant you additional benefits that you can't receive otherwise.

  • Gold Reserve: Earn up to 500 Gold weekly, basically the same mechanic as the Credit reserve on Premium accounts
  • Extra excluded map: If you combine WoT with a Premium accounts, you'll be able to exclude three maps from your rotation
  • Free equipment demounting: No more Gold or Demounting Kits, change your tanks equipment without needing to pay for it (excluding Experimental Equipment at level II & III and Improved Equipment)
  • Intensive Crew Regimen: Select a tank that will passively grant its crew XP. You'll earn it even when you're offline.
  • Exclusive rental vehicle: Play with the Tier VIII American heavy tank "TS-54" for as long as your WoT plus is active. Train American crew members from every vehicle type on it.

In our eyes, the Wot Plus service hasn't resonated well with the majority of WoT players and community contributors. World of Tanks streamer Skill4ltu has even conducted a survey among his viewers which shows that the opinion about the subscription service seems to be rather negative.

The negative feedback around WoT Plus was mainly directed towards a feature that gave an unfair advantage to subscribers – at least in most people's eyes. Included in the "free equipment demounting" feature was also Improved Equipment, which usually can only be bought and demounted by using Bonds.

Wargaming acknowledged that it might give players an unfair advantage over their opponents if swapping Bond Equipment between tanks was free, which is why they made following decision:

[...] “Improved Equipment” will be excluded from the list of equipment that can be demounted for free with a WoT Plus subscription.

Fair to say it's a step in the right direction. The fact that the devs took the community's feedback seriously is something that we'll hopefully see more of in the future.

TS 54 Wo T Tank
Fancy this new Tier VIII American double-barreled heavy tank? Get ready for a monthly fee! | © WoTExpress / Wargaming

WoT Update 1.20.1: New Recon Missions, Onslaught Mode Returns

Let's wrap up the Patch Notes with an outlook on what else you should know about Update 1.20.1. Recon Missions will make a return, but this time not to test new maps, but to check out the "random events" feature.

Wargaming will test various events on four different maps, namely "Safe Haven", "Ruinberg", "Prokhorovka" and "Himmelsdorf". These events will dramatically change the map and create new situations that players will have to adjust to.

Furthermore, the popular Onslaught game mode will make its comeback. The fast-paced, competitive 7v7 mode will be part of this update, given a few adjustments to vehicle role skills and new combat modifiers.

If you want to get the most out of your favorite Tier X tank, team up with six other commanders and rain hell on your opponents, this is for you! It's no game mode for casual weekend tankers, although we all know some of them will stray there anyway...

WoT Update 1.20.1: Wargaming Scraps Controversial Crew System

On April 19, 2023 Wargaming released a news article regarding revisions to some of the changes that were set to release in Update 1.20.1. After a massive community backlash, Wargaming decided to put the changes to Crew Perks in World of Tanks on ice:

We do not intend to raise the number of perks needed to ensure that players can remain competitive during a battle in terms of vehicle performance. As a result, we have made the decision not to introduce the new perks in their current state or proceed with the rebalancing of existing ones tested during the Common Tests.

Many players were concerned about the new crew perks potentially broadening the gap between new and more experienced players that have already trained their crews over the course of thousands of battles.

Still, there are some quality-of-life improvements set to make their way to live servers. As planned, many more perks (for example "Brothers in Arms") will show their effect as soon as they are being trained, even at 1 %.

Furthermore, there will be no more XP penalties for crew members that are injured at the end of a game, there will be a battle interface for situational perks, and descriptions and bonuses will be easier to see in the garage.

WoT Update 1.20.1: Release Date

Update 1.20.1 has been on the WoT Common Test server for several weeks now, currently the second iteration is available for everyone to check out. Usually it's about two to three weeks between the second Common Test and the live server release.

Given 1.20.1 is a rather extensive update, it could be possible that Wargaming will need some more time to analyse all data and feedback. Although, they state that Recon Missions will return in May 2023 and the new Onslaught season starts on April 19, 2023.

WoT Update 1.20.1 is set to release on May 1, 2023 on ASIA servers, May 2, 2023 on NA servers and on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 on EU servers.

Lasse Lindner

Lasse is one of EarlyGame's leading experts on League of Legends, covering the game for this website as well as Riftfeed. Playing LoL since 2015, he covers everything from patch notes to esports news for both the English and German sites....