Why the F-14 Tomcat is the BEST Jet in War Thunder!

Thank you to my Patreon supporters and KZbin members:
Cruciform17
RainbowBier
vix games
Danylo Nimko
nathan taverner
hawkeye471
CMDR_Matt
deadface77
This is my favorite top tier jet :)
PATREON: / perenniale
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[@bubblesofthecoast6393]

Even going from the F-4J to the F-14 when it was released, it was such a handful to fumble with the radar controls. Suppose that’s why the F-14 irl has a rio, though the F-15C doesn’t have such luxuries. Also, the navy sidewinders absolutely slap. I love sending them at opponents I see attempting to notch, since many think it’s a Sparrow and don’t launch countermeasures (or only got flares)

[@raksomething6942]

Literally just memorize the y menu

[@localbreadyboy401]

the F15c has much simpler radar controls. the F14 just has more control because it needed them for its role

[@lamborgatti-4783]

@@raksomething6942 my controls got fucked up and i had to reset to defualt and half that menu wont even work,cant really figure out how to use the radar Properly on the f14,to many fucking keybinds,wish it would just lock and adjust for you

[@angelking231]

In other news: the earth is a sphere!

[@grandviper7242]

no, its a square edit: *Cube

[@chaosinsurgency6636]

The earth is a lumpy ball

[@Miles26545]

Not quite, very close tho

[@Miles26545]

@@perennialE muh viggen

[@JackedViggen]

Nah it’s a pyramid you not listen to NASA 💀

[@Kosmo2]

The F-14 truly is one of the best planes, but I have played it less than 5 times since Apex Pedrators came out, good to hear it's still fun and competitive. Amazing content as always Perennial.

[@danielmarques707]

F-14 is still the true apex predator

[@IowanLawman]

What makes the F-14A so much more "meta" is its payload. You have 6 BVR capable radar missiles + 2 Heaters. That means that you can dictate the fight at altitudes. The Viper can only carry 2, which means you will have to make them count. Making people defend before the merge dictates the majority of the wins and I can see the Tomcat being competitive even when the Eagles and the Flankers come. Meanwhile my Mirage 2000 cries in the corner.

[@lamborgatti-4783]

Man their was this kid in a mirage 2000 in custom battles team killing me,guess thats where they all stay at since they cant win any engagements but a dogfight

[@AbyssViber1028]

3:10 That F-4E shot a Aim-7E-2 sparrow at the 104. They pull 30g no problem so they’re good for close quarter dogfights.

[@friesingcold]

Hey, I heard about your mouse situation, I must recommend the Logitech G502, it is Absolutely great, it has a button to switch between free spinning wheel and a more ridged spin. not to mention it has plenty of extra buttons that you can bind, not to mention you can manually adjust it's sensitivity on the mouse itself mid game. I find that it's fine adjustment button is great for tracking targets. Sorry for the long comment.

[@plazmaguy13yago9]

Its not abiut the mouse its about the pilot And the mousepad get one of those if you dont have one XD

[@MrPanzerCatYT]

@@perennialE i have/had one and swapped for a roccat kone xp. The g502 was nice but the kone has more buttons if that is important. I also had issues long term with right click on my g502 being buggy which is why i replaced it but it still was a good mouse

[@deckpogi2680]

@@perennialE g502 is essential. It's a multi use you can also used it for Self Defense if time comes 🤣

[@triparadox.c]

@@perennialE G502 is great. I almost went and buy that if not for the fact that I saw a couple people saying they'd have double click issue after some time (would be a hassle if within warranty, would be screwed if outside warranty). I went with Razer Basilisk Ultimate instead. So far, nothing problematic, so I guess that works out for me.

[@kipwings]

@@perennialE Its what I use as well. Great mouse for lock picking,

[@jerryfnnn2742]

10:08 this climb was so clean

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Also very few modern(Planes in use today) jets have center mounted gun because massive rader is massive and other things like in the A-10s case an off center front wheel as gun is massive.

[@Nottrules]

Stares at f-15

[@bluenightfury4365]

I've never had the issue with side mounted guns since they're miniguns really.

[@GodOfMercury]

A10 gun aint even centered but its close

[@__--_-_-.__---___.__---__-]

@@GodOfMercury the barrel that fires is centered

[@dilldoe1991]

3:10 bro I’ve been telling you, the 9J is absolutely cracked. 💯

[@AWACSHOUND]

Good but you have to “Get in that Fucker’s grill” to have max effectiveness since it’s max range (in practice) is 2.5 Kilometers.

[@dilldoe1991]

@@AWACSHOUND for what it’s worth, the max range is 2.6 from my experience

[@tobi2233]

@@dilldoe1991 that wasn’t a sidewinder

[@AverageWTPilot]

9J was definitely smoking when it was launched

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

7:24 yeah the same can happen with max range peonixs like they have to dodge and lose energy or at least have something to thing about when if you didn't they could just do what ever.

[@snottytoe6957]

This plane is so cool and it hurts me to know I will never be able to have it.

[@lamborgatti-4783]

Unless you can key bind its radar its almost ussless

[@1mperialfist]

Don't worry, it's not worth it, pure frustration, F16 is so much easier and frees you from radar headpain

[@RekyRiddles62]

Exactly why I’m suffering more than 354h for this jet.

[@gunnerchan8091]

With the addition of 4th generation jets, do you think those last 3rd gen jet (like mig 23mald i mean mld/mla or su-17 series) still viable to play ? I finds it hard to combat the f-14a normally with an exception while head on lol

[@lamborgatti-4783]

Youll have to play more cautiously,the mld and mla are not what they were before the f14 was added,f14 gave them a taste of their own medicine,go fly a mirage or something

[@dripusmaximus]

3:09 that missle had something personal

[@Ujiyo]

The reason the cannon on most fighters is side mounted is for dogfighting reasons. If the gun is only directly in front of you, you can only shoot and hit when your nose is dorectly on the target. It also reduces the amount of work you jabe to do to pull your target into the HUD to take shots. As for your comment about the F-16 having a chance against an F-14, it's significantly more than a chance. The F-14 is a 2-turn fighter. The F-16 is a 1-turn/rate fighter. Something the tomcat would truly struggle to do if the pilot has the skill to do that. Watch a skilled F-16 pilot and see how they fight. They start high and drag you to the ground where they just out turn you and kill your plane. The F-14's ONLY chance in this situation is to offset your turns after the merge. You're gonna jave to earn it. As for you generating lift with the wings out, that's the point. The tomcat also generates 25% of its lift with its fuselage. There's a reason that fighter is as big as it is. It's pretty big. Size of a B-17. To defend against a missile, turn against it. For example, if a missile is on your 9 O'clock, turn towards the missile. If you do this correctly, you'll create a 90° angle against the missile. This is notching. The missile will miss. Every. Single. Time. If someone if 90° to you, don't waste the missile. You'll miss. What wasn't said was how to defend against guns. Jinking OS how you defend against guns in the air. Planned "erratic" movement to confise your enemy and force them to hyper focus on you. If you have friends in the area, to pay them a visit while jinking/notching and jamming the WEZ. Jam the WEZ and you'll survive as long as you and the ground don't get in a fight. The ground is the only undefeatable opponent you face.

[@normallymute0131]

My recommended loadout would be: 2x IR missiles 2x Phoenix mounted on the rear pylons 4x Aim-7 sparrows Phoenixes can catch an occasional kill and then you can pitbull and fly as aggressively with the sparrows as you so desire.

[@dosidicusgigas1376]

I use a similar loadout, 2 aim9s, 3 sparrows (either F or E2 depending on map size, F for large maps, E2 for small maps) With that i carry 2 pheonixes since bvr kills are so funny. A couple days ago I got a 40km player kill with it 😂

[@Manurix33]

How can you change between targets in TWS so fast? i though you could only do it manually, is there a key bind for that? Great videos btw Perennial! Following you for a while :) keep up the work

[@Manurix33]

@@perennialE ohh! Thanks man i will look into it :)

[@williamfranklin6836]

I kind of wish there was some assistance with it having a backseater for it

[@gtmike916]

F-14A in this game is stupid OP. I hate fighting them in uptiers period. Oh you went to notch the AIM-54? Here’s a sidewinder!! Not only that but that F-14 has allies with AIM 9Ls (Looking at you F-16).

[@gtmike916]

@@perennialE And not only that but you have different airframes that specialize in different things working together too! Literally had a match where I had to fight a F-4E, a F-16, and a F-14A. Soon as I saw the AIM-54 I had to go defensive, and then got hit by a Sparrow or Sidewinder while defending against the Phoenix!

[@nikkoallen6637]

F-14 is still really good this patch

[@Flame-wu5fx]

Can you make an aircraft radar tier list?

[@grindshine1588]

Obviously its the best, it can flap its wings to go faster and outrun all missles!

[@itmethang]

Oh so sweep wings = good? So the freaking MiG-17 good? 😂

[@whiskersthecatboi]

​@@itmethang yea

[@stealthysaucepan2016]

i love going in the canyon and peek-a-booing planes so i never get radar locked

[@MrFunzerker]

F-14 players are out here playing Ace Combat while everyone else is playing War Thunder.

[@xv_space_vx5124]

I don't play war thunder cuz of the ages of grind but I do play a rip off from Roblox called Wings of Glory the game itself is sick for Roblox and great missile features I was planning to get the F14 there (The grind is actually balanced) 6 nations USA, UK, Russia, France, Germany, Japan. Newest update just dropped with all the good stuff

[@kingghidorah8106]

Me on the forums: I say AIM9G is Broken! Community: Skill issue!! AIM9G actually: 3:07 It's not a tight turn but truly was a 90 degree, parallax error cause close to the ground but the aim9g tracking the target from a side aspect and still hitting is just wild. They're slow when burning off the rails so they will maneuver better instead of simply overshooting like AIM9J and R60s which go like 2000kmh at sea level.

[@mil-mi24hind]

Bro you do realize the F4J has helmet targeting and that combined with 9Gs insane offbore is what makes it near 90 degrees, not the missile pulling much of anything

[@kingghidorah8106]

@@mil-mi24hind except that the plane launching it is an f4e

[@mil-mi24hind]

@@kingghidorah8106 yeah u right i had my video quality so low that i couldnt tell 💀

[@DONKFORTRESS6956]

good to hear! See you in 19 years when I finally unlock it!

[@Response1980]

I learn so much about this game and how to play it just watching your videos thank you

[@jacobbeckley5292]

It's not about the Aircraft, it about the pilot I have steam rolled the F-14 2 different times in a A-4 Skyhawk.

[@JAMO-_o0o]

0:35 that’s me in the JA37D 🤣

[@kadeshumate]

What is one of the best ways to go up in tears in props

[@humblejunior2974]

I know im stupid but how use radar lock my radar cant lock more then 9 km +

[@Sus_but]

Make guide on how to use radar missiles(and on the radars too) those are kinda difficult

[@juhantornensis625]

There is a channel called Tim's Variety and he has already made a guide on radars and there is a missile guide too in which he explains all missile types and how they work. You should check him out the guides are good if you dont really know how they work.

[@Sus_but]

@@juhantornensis625 thanks!

[@bis4020]

you waste your missiles like there is no tomorrow xD

[@joshuajanuary3847]

Can anyone tell me how these KZbinrs get their afterburners to have that nice translucent look?

[@DB-ms2td]

Oh boy, you're in for a treat! lol

[@stijno2388]

What happend to the j7e

[@danielmarques707]

@@perennialE You mean literally bugged? Cause I think 11.0 aren't getting any downtiers due to many people playing 12.0's plus the fact that 12.0's can only play with 11.0+, dragging 11.0's into those matches

[@itmethang]

Bro think he’s a Top Gun 💀

[@AppleJxice-ww9gr]

Can you make a video on how to play the f14 properly

[@alfahadnanog7083]

It's not the plane, its the pilot Rooster- Btw im 100% sure that all the people will agree about it:)

[@Dark_flame_]

Well after the multipath nerf ITS even better and Ruins the whole bracket

[@martinkubik2268]

i teach f-14 mechanics few days ago

[@ggxrazorz]

I really like this game but god is it a drag to get the newish jets im stuck at prop planes for the moment its annoying as

[@XauRust]

radar was hard to learn and the keybinds lol

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

Also thanks for this video and great tips!

[@nikkoallen6637]

I got 4 kills yesterday in the F-14 and it was my first and last match of warthunder for the day ☠️

[@erzhaider]

best choice tbh

[@Spaceguy-nineteensixtynine]

What control is it that lets you switch from one target to another in tws? I always have to do it manually by dragging the radar thing onto the next dot but it looks like you just have a button that does it.

[@eretuev]

mig 29 is the best in the game so far.

[@528crystal]

But who would win ,a f14 tomcat or mig 21 I like the mig 21 but it’s just unfair the f14 would would destroy the MiG 21

[@528crystal]

I thought you said MiG 21 my bad

[@stringzzzzz]

Idk about the f14 being competitive against top dogs. I've done plenty of tests with equally skilled pilots and the j7e still stomps it no matter what. And the j7e gets absolutely annihilated by the f16 in any type of 2 circle fight. That aside, in rb you'll rarely find yourself in such a situation so its already great maneuverability is definitely enough. But i wouldn't call it competitive with the f16 or even the j7e.

[@jaek__]

the j7e, f16, mig 29, m2k, will rape the f14 if it isn't on min fuel, very rapidly, still good f14 drivers can handle essentially anything thrown at them

[@Кустик-п1м]

@@jaek__ 6 free kill missiles for the f14 btw

[@jaek__]

@@Кустик-п1м I mean it's easy to use but they arent free kills, it's like a guaranteed 1-3 kills though

[@mil-mi24hind]

@@Кустик-п1м you do realize none of the missiles the tomcat has can hit a competent player, right? Navy aim9s arent that flare resistant

[@anrw886]

This is the type of thinking that's bluntly wrong. Dogfight 1v1 performance doesn't matter at all past 11.0

[@GeneralLee2000]

I love this plane!

[@mil-mi24hind]

Super simple and easy to use my ass, using the tws and acm while swapping between missiles isnt really easy to use imo

[@Kopi83r]

5:52 Maybe Mig 29 is better in head on? R-27 ER is so much faster then Aim7. If You don't turn away quickly and chaff You are dead. Just checked that R27 ER entered service in 1990. FFS Ammram entered service in 1991. AIM 7F is a 1976 missle!!!! WTF!

[@zipzip6484]

F8E THE F8U2 Vs F14 DOG FIGHT

[@ornat9145]

the m2k destroy the f-14 in DF my dude

[@sumchipstarchy5469]

Wow this did not age well

[@massadinni9454]

Top tier is unplayable now, thanks gaijin. Italy has nothing to counter it, add being uptiered 9/10 times and Italy is back to being Nightmare Difficultly Nation.

[@maxthibodeau3627]

ill happily play 4.0 props until gaijin balances jet gameplay.

[@tinfoilchampion3651]

Mig-29?

[@nigelmcphearson]

Your voice is best suited for silent film

[@guitar7279]

Yet its still 11.7 🙃

[@fewernuggies]

The mirage 2000 can destroy an f14 but it has to have a good pilot

[@AveryStepney]

I wish you were more comprehensive in the amount of dexterity and agility that the F 14 B differs from the slower f14 A but you do make a good point of the highlights of the A although in dog fights, the B can speed up quicker and snatch enemies out of the sky but it’s top speed is slower than the A

[@perennialE]

This video was made before the F-14B was in the game

[@AveryStepney]

@@perennialE them you need to make yourself some content

[@AveryStepney]

Like stay on top of dev control updates

[@unfortunateson2834]

lol tf are you on, the video is 6 months old, do you want him to REMOVE the video because a new jet was added??????@@AveryStepney

[@franciscs1604]

**[praises how amazing the F-14 is in “War Thunder”]** Well, “Top Gun” (1986) exists. Sooo… it’s not far-fetched…?? 😬😬😬😖😖😖😖😖😖

[@Hunter-s3d]

Yes it is the bast

[@gaijinatemyhusky4384]

EJ KAI vid when???? ;D

[@jackdoesnotplaytrumpet]

Tell me something I don’t know

[@chybaegredz9682]

Nope, i dont agree Doesnt have a 1.0 TWR Big plane Has 18g IR seekers and 25G sparrows that can be dodged quite easily if you face expierienced players. I m not even gonna start with the aim54 that missile never hits anything except for bots

[@G3rnxinx]

there a glitch that u get radar warning from ur own AiM-54

[@G3rnxinx]

maybe it a feature 😳

[@sherlocksinha2435]

Nope under 16km radar starts tracking off the rail . Which is why you get a warning

[@ISO-420]

In other NEWS find out how this video is lying to you and how the mig 29 is really the best fighter jet we got.

[@chunkblaster]

First time I've heard the tomcat is a strong turn fighter but otherwise I agree.

[@comlain2513]

everyone is constantly talking about just the jet stats and whether its OP or not as their basis for liking the plane, like jesus christ do you guys hate fun that much? you cant just admire the planes youre using and go on arcade mode or custom battles to have fun even once? you have to constantly nag people to grind rather than saving their life and buying premium instead? like WTF do you do after youre done grinding, grind more? maybe give top tier something to fucking do so that those searching for fun by buying premium dont have to join air RB. maybe raise your standards so WT actually adds war to war thunder, now i know the game is not fun and jet arcades is dead, specifically because the top tier demographic are midwits that hate fun. "gaijin pls add realism, as we all know the balance issues are because we havent tuned it to real life, real life is ALWAYS balanced. arcade is so unrealistic and for noobs, i cant believe anybody would play it. omg why is the map so close, its like a deathmatch, we need like, bigger maps. lol this game isnt ace combat gaijin please give all planes the turn rate of one year because SpEeD iS lIfE, air rb is like, more realistic than real life. omg why is the game so unbalanced and not fun??!?!" realism does not equal fun.

[@CarolusR3x]

In my honest opinion, I think its a very overrated plane. The performance is superb but the people who play it, like those in the F-16s and MiG-29 are so used to being top dog with the superb performance of the plane to the point where they become complacent and becoming equally competent in anything else becomes a larger than usual learning curve. This, I find is only exemplified even further if you've ground out to the tomcat using the F-5, A-10 or A-6

[@TheCheeseburgerJudgesYou]

I don’t care if your criticisms of the F-14 are valid. I’m going to get it because f-14 danger zone big top gun cool danger zone fast haha tomcat fast danger zone go fast tomcat goofy wing Tom cruise tomcat danger zone highway to the danger zone spreading out your wings tonight haha Tom cruise airplane tomcat danger zone haha fast goofy wing redline overload im gonna danger zone so hard. Always where I burned to be tomcat haha goofy wing moving wing haha fast sim 54 goofy plane tomcat go fast Tom cruise danger zone hahahahaha.

[@hemendraravi4787]

i think mig29 is better in a 1v1

[@yeagerchaplin5968]

No it isn't, the mig29 is.

[@theghostguys108]

F-16C is better

[@yonnaay]

still f14b played correctly crushes every lobby, but after fox it will change, i guess

[@TheArbiter1721]

I’ve only been saying this for a year, mig 29 OP my ass, curb your anti Russian bias

[@mirceasamuelvoicu7174]

Beggar

[@president6007]

MiG-29 is better

[@rexxmen]

Maybe if it worked

[@Ичкербох]

Even ej kai better than mig

[@president6007]

@@rexxmen it does work… what are you smoking?

[@president6007]

@@Ичкербох i hope this is a joke…

[@president6007]

@@perennialE I did. The MiG-29 is better in every aspect of air combat. The only thing the tomcat does better is carry more missiles

[@gghajgghaj6755]

while playing in a custom battle I was flying MiG 15 and after I saw a player on F14 I decided to dogfight with him total: 0 hits from M61, 2 missiles dodged from one of them anyway, i didnt hit him So f14 not best plane in the game

[@viwie8194]

hows'bout being a productive member of sociaty instead of begging for money?

[@mil-mi24hind]

Anything decent in a dogfight will just wreck a tomcat in a dogfight, also any competent player will not be hit by a sparrow and aim9H are not that hard to flare compared to a 9L

[@GamingCheeto]

you need to be high and fast for the phoenixes to hit i shoot them roughly when its within 1/3rd of max range on the radar missile range im trying to get a game where i get 6 kills of spawn my best so far has been 4 min fuel climb at 100m/s to 4-5000m and then lob all of them at people either climbing vertical or closest going head first into battle

[@Dovacat]

Only things I disagree with in this video are that a) imho the phoenix shouldn’t be launched at anything closer than 25km if you want a decent chance of kill(longer flight is better for it), and that the f16, especially the A, absolutely demolishes the tomcat in a fight. It’s not even a contest

[@yuki1zz668]

Im one of those that grinded the f14 with the f5c and ohh boy let me tell you i only stuggled with it until i unlocked the 7f, and i didnt have any experience at all in top tier i didnt play the f4e or f4j not even those f8. The f14 became a beast when i unlocked those 7f i was -K/D but then quickly rose that to a 2K/D after the 7f. i agree the f14 is one of the best aircraft since it gets 6 of those suckers i experimented with the phoenixes but i just found them very inconsistent after the 11.7 change. But i did know how radar worked and notching as i used to play dcs, and also how to crank.

[@PresidentEvil]

I wiosh they would release an F-14 premium

[@squidopedia_]

Just wait for later production models of the F-14 to get added at 12.0 or 12.0+ 💀

[@mithrilheld653]

What are your radar settings for the f14? Im like a typical wallet warrior which means I got the F14 but Im only "okay" with it... But Id like to improve which is why I watch Videos and stuff but I wondered how you get that Radar settings you have in the video

[@PvtPartzz]

Idk what you’re talking about here. The F16 and Mig29 will absolutely steamroll the F14. Even before they adjusted the flight models on those two they would absolutely clown on an F14 (unless they leave the afterburner on the entire time.. because they’re dumb af).

[@zawadlttv]

in the fight vs the viggen i think you can see why i like ec maps right now way more, because if he spams need cover, the team sees him some 50 km away fighting an f14 and by the time they arrive they can search for a body and the f14 has disappeared again, while in the non ec maps that distance is 10km and after the first turn you have 3 enemies on you as you are the only teammate thats spotted

[@zawadlttv]

10 others coming in, forgot to mention that

[@Maverickf22flyer]

Because it's overrated! That's why. It's the best pay to win so to say!

[@FlyinWithBrian123]

The f4 missle was crazy

[@ChutneyGames]

In the current state of war thunder it's funny watching multiple KZbinrs come to the same conclusion of Tomcat supremecy, one of the most powerful radars ever mounted to a plane combined with instructor fly by wire for every plane negating it's IRL disadvantages it's no contest, if the Phoenix missle had realistic performance it would be unstoppable

[@ChutneyGames]

@@perennialE the inevitable classified documents will reveal it's true power

[@bluenightfury4365]

@@perennialE Kinda wish we had more EC maps and actual top tier bombers for atleast AI to use.

[@justtypical8604]

f16(and mig29) better: better missiles infinitely better performance simpler radar simpler wing control F14 still good, f16 and mig29 better

[@OG-Productions]

I want the f14 so bad I currently have the first Corsair

[@xel...]

personaly i thinkt he mig 29 is better but i have to say the tomcat is hella good in war thunder but i think alot of people would disagree with me

[@ZanDamn]

"Strong radar" that is blatantly not true. Long range? Yeah. Strong? Hell no

[@r6god685]

this video is actually sponsered by me LMAOOO MADE ME WIZ

[@DeltaZero7175]

Every time I see a F-14 I'll always TURN ON THE DANGER ZONE

[@Lexen_Official]

Me owning a F14 Tomcat: *haha F14 goes brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttt*