War Thunder's Leviathans update brings the biggest, baddest ships to the arena

Thought the first War Thunder of the year would set back plans for the next? Not so. The second big 2025 War Thunder patch is here. And when we say big, we mean big. Leviathan-class big. The focus of the Leviathans update is exactly as it sounds, with some of the world's most brutal battleships here to push War Thunder to its limits.

Yamato, Japan's signature vessel (and the biggest battleship to ever exist) enters the fray. Crammed with 18-inch weapons and plenty of anti-air capabilities, it has both the firepower and the defensive hide to match its gargantuan energy.

Next down the pecking order is the German Bismarck. Equally imposing and downright terrifying, its 15-inch weapons will easily lay waste to air and sea targets alike.

This leaves the 16-inch barrels of the USS Iowa as a more mobile option for those looking to avoid the fate of these two legendary boats, with the Sovetsky Soyuz and the 'last battleship' HMS Vanguard batting for the USSR and Great Britain respectively. If you're prepared to command a massive naval unit, it's time to choose your vessel and cut through the seas.

Already feeling seasick? There's more to the War Thunder Leviathan update than larger-than-life seafaring. Back on the ground and high in the skies, multiple territories and countries gain access to a frankly dangerous amount of new tech to test out and take on.

For the ground-based commandos out there, the USA, USSR, and Great Britain all have new premium packs, with the Americans getting access to the fully loaded RAH-66 Comanche chopper complete with Stingers, Hydra rocks, Hellfire Bs, and sneaky retracting weapon pylons.

Other packs include cool new camouflage and anti-aircraft options - a necessity given the other brand-new airborne options available to Japan and some European entities.

So, which flies will you need to swat? Japan welcomes the long-awaited arrival of its own F-2A, an aircraft considered to improve on the tighter turning capabilities of the F-16.

Switzerland, Denmark, and the first home-grown Czechoslovakian aircraft also make the cut, with Italy and France getting some new premium pack options, too. And for the dedicated pilots out there, take off in any existing F-111 to give fuel dumping a go.

Call out your inner Maverick and blast the afterburner at the right time to ignite the offloaded liquid for a killer visual flair. Just don't ignore the added heat a missile might trace back to you. Manage to pull off a fancy evasive maneuver and you're sure to be the talk of the battlefield; whether that's for being a daring dogfighter or an aerial disaster is up to you.

So long as you're not taking to the seas in these new Leviathan-class battleships, you'll get to brawl along new maps and reworked favorites. Across the sea and on the ground, the new Air Battles map, Falkland Islands, adds almost 17,000 square kilometres of hilly plains and humble homes to attack and defend. It's the perfect place to test out some of the new jets and choppers.

Sticking to their original shape while being retuned for stunning new visuals are the Berlin and Kuban maps, welcoming fresh sights and sounds to ground-based battles. Better yet, battling on these maps means you'll get the chance to test out the new Multi-Vehicle SAM Systems on a familiar battlefield.

Whether you choose to pilot the CLAWS for the USA, Japan's Tan-SAM kai, or the German IRIS-T SLM, you'll spend your time wisely deploying a network of 'launchers' around the battlefield before strategically switching between them and your nearby radar ride to launch missiles.

It's an all-new way to execute some innovative strategies, opening up new and existing maps with fresh potential for sneaky assaults. Learn the lay of the land and you'll be blowing holes in lured enemies like never before. Master it to blow targets to pieces before they even spot you.

Ready to finally give War Thunder a go? There's more. In a effort to ease the new player experience, a whole host of changes to the Action Panel have simplified onboarding without affecting the feel for veterans.

Simple additions include helpful highlighting when you meet the requirements to land at a nearby airfield. While the inclusion of more buttons may not sound great for new pilots getting their bearings, these are descriptive on-screen nodes that simply reduce the need to remember complex keyboard shortcuts.

The new ability to check vehicle stats from the scoreboard should make it easier to learn and decipher what worked in a match. You can even add them straight to your wishlist, ridding the need to remember the tricky title of the tank that took you down.

Speaking of which, 'Destroyed by' cards now flash up when you're knocked out, listing the player, rank, vehicle, and ammo used to remove you from the battle. It turns downtime into a valuable learning experience for newbies. Communicate the info to your experienced squad leader and you'll begin to learn the tricks of the trade in no time at all.

We've only scratched the surface of what's new in the War Thunder Leviathans update. You'll find plenty more updated models across the whole vehicle fleet, plus battleships for France and Italy, and new tanks, SAMs, and aircraft for a bunch of other countries.

Dying to know what the change from rolled homogeneous armor to cast homogeneous armor means for the machine gun superstructure of the M13/40 to the M15/42? We authorize a day in the barracks to peer over the War Thunder Leviathans patch notes, soldier.

You can play War Thunder for free today.