With Holiday Ops just around the corner, it is high time to take a closer look at the tempting rewards you can look forward to in Large boxes. In this article, we will take a closer look at six new vehicles that Wargaming has prepared for us this year, so you know what to expect from them. Let’s break down their strengths and point out their weaknesses.
Until this year, tankers could look forward to a parade of new Tier VIII, or at most IX, premium tanks every Christmas. However, this year WG brings a novelty in the form of Tier X vehicles. Although these are not premium Tier X tanks, they are definitely worth your attention.
Biggest Alpha and a Tough Opponent
I won’t delay it any longer, let’s take a look at them straight away.
Imagine a BZ-176 that grew up and started lifting weights. That’s roughly how we could describe the new Chinese Tier X heavy tank, the BZT-70. This tank is built for one thing – dominating the corridor. Your only enemy will be open maps. Weighing over 100 tons, you definitely won’t want to relocate across an open map with this Goliath, which has a top speed of only 28 km/h (reverse speed 10 km/h). The traverse speed of 20.86 deg/s is no surprise either – for comparison, only the Maus is worse (15.65 deg/s) in this stat.
However, this tank is made for city maps and face-to-face combat. Its main advantage is its 180 mm gun with 850 Alpha damage on AP and HEAT, and an incredible 1200 on HE shells for a heavy tank – that’s 100 more than the Type 5 Heavy. It trades blows favorably with almost anything. You peek, deliver a massive hit, and retreat. It looks simple, doesn’t it? But a big BOOM comes at a cost. The BZT-70 reloads in 20.13 seconds and, with a dispersion of 0.43 at 100 m, aims for 2.88 seconds. This certainly won’t make aiming and dealing damage pleasant for you. Of course, you can improve these parameters, as well as the 2,429 average damage per minute, with appropriately chosen field modifications and equipment. A pleasant surprise, by Chinese standards, is the excellent -8 degrees of gun depression and +20 degrees of gun elevation.
What will make your gameplay more enjoyable, on the other hand, is this tank’s armor. Although it has two large weak spots on the turret in the form of cupolas and a covered gun area, the armor is intimidating even on paper. Hull armor of 320 mm on the front will trouble even Tier X and XI tanks, 120 mm on both sides can bounce even small calibers at lower tiers, but the rear is protected by only 60 mm of armor. The turret doesn’t lag behind either, with 300 mm on the front, 170 mm on both sides, and 90 mm at the rear. Compared to other Tier X heavies, however, it has relatively few hit points, only 2300 HP.
So whether you have the BZ-176 or not, you will enjoy the BZT-70. That is, unless you run into Prokhorovka with 3 SPGs.
If you don’t like slow vehicles, you will be pleased with the second Tier X, the Italian medium tank Coccodrillo, which bursts onto the battlefield with a top speed of 50 km/h (18 km/h reverse speed), that helps you to quickly occupy key positions. This medium tank is a high-skill ceiling machine that rewards tactical thinking. It’s not about brute force – it’s about timing and skill.
As I wrote here, the Coccodrillo brings the Italian autoreloader mechanism, with the ability to use either the full clip with 3 shells or fire individual shells cyclically. So you can either fire one shot every 11.5 seconds or use it as a magazine with 5 seconds between each shot with 470 Alpha. However, with the Coccodrillo, you have to aim very patiently, as it has a long aiming time of 2.59 seconds for a medium tank and an average dispersion of 0.34 at 100 m.
Don’t be fooled by the paper armor stats. While not a heavy tank, the turret has complex angles that produce magical ricochets when using its decent -8 degrees of gun depression. If you play hull-down against the enemy, even a Jg.Pz. E 100 has almost no chance of penetrating you. You may only have a below-average 1800 HP at your disposal, but your armor will make up for it perfectly.
Premium Tanks
TBT
The Czechoslovakian Tier IX heavy tank TBT basically copies the Tier IX from the Tech Tree with a two-shell autoreloader. Average damage per minute of only 1,652 and penetration of only 247 mm on AP ranks this heavy tank among the worst premium Tier IX HTs. Definitely a tank you are not looking for in Large boxes.
Projet Louis
This French Tier IX light tank is ideal for surprise attacks behind enemy lines. An eight-round magazine with a 1 sec intraclip reload and 1.53 sec aiming time can slice 1000 HP off an enemy vehicle in an instant.
It is no surprise that, as a light tank, you cannot rely on armor. However, the Projet Louis paid for its firepower and great mobility with miserable camouflage – only the T49 has worse camo at the same tier.
Jagdpanzer E 90
The little brother of the German Jg.Pz. E 100 at Tier IX, this tank destroyer is a formidable tank for pushing through enemy lines. It offers an average damage of 750 HP (950 with HE shell), which you are able to deal every 17.35 seconds. You should definitely stay hull-down with your -9 degrees of gun depression during the 2.49 seconds you will be aiming. Frontal 180 mm armor is well angled. Combined with pleasant gun handling parameters will make this vehicle an unpopular opponent.
Stridsyxa
Finally, the Swedish Tier VIII medium tank, Stridsyxa. This highly mobile tank with a 50 km/h top speed and strongly armored turret continues the tradition of Swedish tanks known for great gun depression. The Stridsyxa features a 105 mm gun that you can depress by 10 degrees and elevate by 20. Besides the 350 Alpha, the gun also pleases with a fast reload of 9.59 seconds, which will allow you to play more aggressively.
This concludes our closer, but fast look at the reward tanks from Holiday Ops 2025. If you are interested in your chances of getting other rewards or any of these machines, you can check my article on Large Boxes.