During the 9.19 Common Test, quite a few tankers put some serious work into climbing the Ranked Battles ladder to fight increasingly challenging opponents. Before the battle gets too heated (and it sure will when the Ranked Battles Beta Season kicks off), let’s take a breather to highlight how you could use the Bonds you rack up in the mode.
You can spend Bonds on Directives and Improved Equipment. Available exclusively with this currency, these new items will come in handy in Random and Ranked Battles, Clan Wars, and tournaments alike, boosting vehicle and Crew efficiency. Let’s dig deeper into the details, shall we?
Improved Equipment
Packed into 9.19 are six types of Improved Equipment. They all work like the most popular consumables, with one small yet significant difference: newly added items grant a bigger bonus to combat parameters. Also, it’s impossible to mount similar types of regular and Improved Equipment at once, e.g., you can’t equip a tank both with Rammer and Innovative Loading System. You’ve got to choose just one, when readying for a battle.
- Venting System adds 7.5% to all crew skills
- Stabilizing Equipment System lowers dispersion during movement and turret rotation by 25%
- Innovative Loading System cuts loading time by 12.5%
- Wear-Resistant Gun Laying Drive reduces aiming speed by 12.5%
- Experimental Optics boosts view range by 12.5% up to 445m
- Extended Spare Parts Kit cuts repair speed by 40%
To stock up on Improved Equipment, simply left-click the equipment slot in the Garage and pick the item you want. It’s mounted just like regular consumables, can be removed for Gold and installed at any given time and on any vehicle that can have this particular type of equipment. For example, the Venting System won’t fit on a vehicle with an open cockpit, and you can’t equip an autoloader like the Bat.-Châtillon 25 t with an Innovative Loading System.
Directives
Along with Improved Equipment, Bonds can get you special Personal Reserves called Directives: six for Equipment and another nine for Crew. Once activated, they are good for one battle. Depending on the type, they bump up vehicle combat parameters, boost Crew skills and perks you trained or temporarily enable those you haven’t trained yet. Equipment Directives increase the bonus currently mounted equipment grants to a vehicle’s parameters. Let’s say you equipped the Tank Gun Rammer, Stabilizer, and Coated Optics. The next step would be activating one out of three Directive types that go with these Equipment types.
To stock up on Directives, left-click the newly added square to the right from Consumables to open the dialogue window. Then, just left-click a slot there to go over the list of Directives, pick whichever you want, make sure you’ve enough Bonds for it, and go ahead. To prevent spending Bonds to get Directives by accident, the “Auto-resupply” option is disabled by default. Just flag it to enable auto-resupply.
Depending on the type, Improved Equipment costs from 3,000 to 5,000 Bonds, while Directives are priced at 2–12 Bonds. To put it into perspective, Bonds are rewarded at the end of each stage, with the amount you earn tied directly to the rank you’re at, as well as by the end of the Season, with the amount depending on your final standing in the leaderboard. If you finish a stage at, let’s say, Rank IV, you gain 400 Bonds. Rank III brings in 300, Rank II gives you 200, Rank V earns you 500, and finally, if you don’t make it past Rank I, you get100 Bonds. If you rank among the first 10% players on the leaderboard, you get 5,750 Bonds. Tankers who arrive among the 2nd 15%, will be credited 3,250 Bonds. Those who squeeze into the 3rd 25% earn 1,500 Bonds.
During the Ranked Battles Beta Season, we’ll be keeping a close eye on the data and community feedback around Improved Equipment and Directives. Should we see the need for it, we’ll iterate on their cost, effect, and terms of use. As always, we’ll update you on the process and explain the changes we consider making, if any.
Now that we’ve walked you through the list of exclusive items that can only be purchased with Bonds, it’s time to ramp up your efforts ahead of the Ranked Battles Beta. Rise through the ranks and reap as many Bonds as possible to boost your performance with Directives and Improved Equipment!
