War Thunder Me 410 B-6/R3 Guide

War Thunder Me 410 B-6/R3 Guide by mcwurst

Hello fellow pilots,

Today i’ve been flying in my Me 410 B-6/R3 and saw a lot of teammates doing badly with it and I thought to myself, “hey, why not make a little guide to help new pilots out with it”.

!Warning: this will be a farily long to read “guide”!

First of all, my native language is German and not English and this is my first “how to” or “guide” and my second all time thread I’m doing on Reddit, so any feedback is welcome.

I’ve been playing Warthunder for about 2 years and I have around 450 hours into it (atleast 350 of it in RB). I’m atleast Tier IV in every nation and im mostly playing Germany/USA/Japan (recently the Soviets a little bit more).

I was never too much into heavy fighters until I gave the Me 410 a try. I really enjoyed this plane, so I put a talisman on it and I’m not regrading it. So, if you are looking for a potentional talisman carry/RP farm alternative to the FW-190 D13, then read on.

Lets start with some simple pros and cons of the Me 410 B-6/R3

Pros:

• decent climbrate with activated WEP (fully upgraded performance parts) and on some maps, you are gifted with an airstart (Bulge, Berlin)
• GREAT firepower. It comes with 2x 20mm MG 151 and 2x 30mm MK 103 (not to be mistaken by the MK 108 a lot of other German planes have)
• it has airbreaks and nice combat flaps, wich allow you to take really tight turns or slowing down in matter of seconds
• it’s somewhat a counter to the current bomber spam (more to that later)
• it is versitale (as above, more to it later)
• it’s tier IV, wich allows you to research any high tier plane, including jets, fairly fast and is a excellent talisman plane (well, you obvioulsy have have to kill stuff for it to make it happen)

Cons:

• as mention in the pro section, it’s climb is only decent, means you will have trouble to get on high altitude without airstart (by high I mean above/same altitude as most enemy fighters)
• while its WEP is really powerful, it comes with the downside that it causes the engine to overheat really quickly, so you always have to look out for this
• as with almost any other heavy fighter, it comes with a bad energy retention, wich can leave you without either altitude or energy really fast, making you a delicous target for any fighters nearby
• it has a relativly low top speed when flying straight, means basicly any enemy fighter will be able to catch up to you sooner or later
• it’s repair costs got recently increased, so you either have to make it work or you are paying with lions for every unsuccesful round that you crash in

Now that we are done with the pros and cons, off the first topic and maybe of the most important ones for this plane:

The maps

Note: I wont cover every map, only the ones that you will fly 95% of the time.

Berlin

On this map you are facing USA/RAF and the Soviets. You will get an airstart at around 3,7km and 350km/h (of wich a little bit of can also get converted into altitude in a matter of seconds).

Usually you want to head to the direction of the US base and climb in the meantime (~300 km/h climbs with WEP on are the most effective I find with this plane). When you reach around ~4 – 5km altitude you will able to see if they have bombers or not. (In case of clouds, you should climb above them asap, to be able to spot the enemy). From this point on, it is up to you:

Option 1. You go for the bombers (coordinate your target with the other Me 410 pilots first) and try to finish them off quickly.

Option 2. You fly straight on until you reach roughly the middle of the map (the enemy will usually climb in the middle of the allied airbases) and search for climbing fighters (some are AFK climbing, wich makes up for some easy kills). Just make sure not to get lured into a trap, do fast attacks, dont slow down and get out if its getting to dangerous, sooner or later they will be on your tail. (Same goes for the map Bulge)

When you made your choice everything from this point on is situational, so I cant give a lot of advice, but heading to teammates is usally the way to go.

Bulge

One of the best maps for this plane imo. You get an nice airstart and should directly make your way up to the enemy airbase while maintaining a climb.

Like on Berlin, you now have the choice:

Option 1. you try to engage any bomber hasn’t dived yet (wich is fairly rare)

Option 2. you try to intercept the climbing fighters (you should find them if you fly in the general direction of the enemy airbase)

You might ask yourself, why shouldn’t I dive and try to kill the low flying/diving enemy bombers? Well, while this CAN be done, I cannot recommend it at all. Reasons are, that you will find 50% of your teammates already hunting them/that the bombers wont even be able to inflict a lot of damage at all, even if left alone. (Most just go for bases to get $$$, wich wont hurt you too much).

The worst thing to do on this map is, to simply go for the AI B17’s or the recon plane.

Ruhr

You will have to start on the airfield this time. This map is a little bit tricky and the options you have are more risky than with an airstart.

The thing I do 90% of the time is to head slighty to the right for the friendly pillbox/AAA base located near point A. (It’s the base most far away from your airbase)

Why? Well, while it seems to be a point without any meaning, a lot of fighters/bombers will go there for strafing/bombing + you cover one of your bases indirectly, because you would able to see enemy bombers heading there on your way. The only thing that can kind of mess your plans up are clouds. You have to decide if you either want to climb above it expose yourself to enemy fighters and miss out potentional low targets, or if you want to stay just below the clouds and risk that there wont be any targets at all and you are left without much altitude. Imo it is safer to stay below the clouds, but feel free to do something different.

Other options worth mentioning are, to do the same thing as I explained above but only to the left side of the map, or try to climb to a little bit to the side.

The problem with this map is, that a lot of enemy bombers will simply head straight in the direction of your airbase and will be, in most cases, higher then you wich makes it really hard to engage them.

General info: There is no “how to fly at the beginning of the round for guaranteed 100% safe kills” way for this plane, you have to adapt and gather experience to decide what’s the best to do next.

Engaging bombers

Most people think: “well, you have massive dakka, whats difficult about killing b17’s it?” Well, while this is somewhat true, you usually dont want the enemy bomber to get a free kill or return kill on you.

Examples/situations of bomber encounters:

You are above one

First, try to find out what the enemy is doing by observing him a little bit (for example, he could panic and start to dive or simply ignore you and so on). If you notice that he is just going straight on, try to line up and dive for him (the best option is the come from a really steep angle, so you minimize the risk of getting hit). You usually want to be around 550 km/h, in case you want to correct you aim or he does manouvers, because your plane will stiff up at around 600 km/h and your max. speed before ripping, isnt that much higher than 750 km/h anyway. I recommend to go full throttle until you are close to shooting range (depents on your aim and situation, but should be around ~1,2 – 0.8km) and then use airbrakes if needed. Then again, everyone has his own preferences for diving, this is just mine, maybe you will find out one that suites you better.

You are the on the same altitude without anyone having a significant engery advantage coming out of a dive etc. or he is slightly above you

This is one of the harder cases imo. If he is in front of you and heading in your direction, great, try to line up for his cockpit and hope he is stupid enough for an headon or ignoring you. If he isnt heading your way, but flying away from you, that’s where it gets a little tricky. Dont worry, you will be able to catch him no matter what. If you are patient just climb a little bit while staying out of this gun range and mainting a safe distance. When you gained an altitude you are happy with, just start the dive attack. However, if you want to settle it right now without building up speed first, try to snipe his one of his wings or the tail at around 1,4 ~ 1km distance. Note that this is really dangerous and can get you killed/damanged easily, so not a real recommendation from my side. In case you still want to try it, make sure your aim is on point and you dont take more then a few seconds, because the longer you stay on his tail, the higher the chances that he hits you get.

He is more then ~0.7 km above you and you dont have any exta speed reserves to spare

Either you try to stay out of gun range and climb up to him, or hope that he will come down to you at some point. Please guys, dont try to shoot him down with an almost stalling climb attempt just to be able to get a few unaimed shots off. You can beomce the hunted quicker than you might think.

The dream scenario for your attack is, if you catch a bomber in a tight turn, while he’s exposing all these delicous weak spots to you, unable to shoot back at you. If you see someone doing it, feel free to farm some Lions and RP.

And yes, while the 30mm shreds planes to pieces on hit, you cant soak up hits like its nothing. You are in the same boat as for example a FW-190 or a BF 109 with these .50 cal laser cannons. Sure, you can get lucky just to get hit in the fuelselage or getting sparkled but a hit in the engine or fuel can mean the end for you, so always keep a decent amount of respect for your upcoming b17 encouter.

Weapons

2x regular 20mm MG 151. Not much to say about this I think. Solid gun with it’s up and downsides.

2x 30mm MK 103. This thing is what makes the plane so deadly. High velocity, decent drop, 250 shells ammo, good firerate, awesome sound and it hits like a truck.

But wait, it makes the plane not only deadly, but also versitale.

You want to hunt planes? No problem, default ammo will do the trick at your early stages with plane, and it will just get better when you unlock the air target belts. The enemy team is almost dead and there is someone hiding or too far away for you? We got you covered! Just head back to the base, wait until your plane is repaired/refueld, bail out, load in the ground target ammo (not 100% if thats the correct name of the belt) and hunt anything up to medium tanks with it, yes you heard right, even medium tanks can be cracked with a few shells.

The only downside to this gun is, that it tends to be a little inaccurate for longer distances paired with longer bursts. The solution to this is, the longer the distance to your target is, the more controlled you should shoot, but thats common knowledge in this tier I guess.

It is worth mentioning that both guns have different characterics in drop, range etc. I wont explain this in detail now, all I say is that you cant really expect both guns to hit if you shoot at a something, lets say 1,3 km away. Rather focus on one of the guns and shoot this one only (preferably the 30mm’s).

If you shoot at bombers/big targets, you can fire both guns at around 1 km distance and it will most likely hit, if you shoot at smaller planes, you can try your luck at around 0.7 km.

You’re allowed to be a little trigger happy with this plane, just dont waste “too” many shots, even a large ammo pool like this is going to be empty eventually.

Now, off to the planes you will encouter most of the times

Bombers

This one is easy. Anything besides the B17’s isnt a threat and free cash for you, simple.

Fighters

90% of the time you will get mixed with P51, F8F, late Spits or La-7/La-9

No matter wich one of these the enemy has, an encouter with them is where it can get dangerous. These planes are faster, have WAY better energy retaintion and are in some cases on par with your turnrate.

When want to engage one, you should be either way above them, way faster, hopeing that he is distraced/ignores you or be able to lure him into a headon, otherwise any competent pilot will eat you. “But it’s all cool, we have 2 defensive guns, right?” Dont think your back gunner will make such a big difference, once someone gets behind you. Remember, you’re not a b17. Sure, you can get lucky to get a pilot kill or mess his engine up but going into gunners view should be really your last option when anything else fails. Really, these defensive guns SUCK, trust me.

In case find yourself in a dogfight, you can try to outturn/outmanvouer your enemy with the combination of combat flaps/airbrakes and throttle control, but keep in mind that you will burn all you energy in a matter of seconds, so if you run out of altitude it could get ugly for you. Trying to get help from teammates (or having a wingman), is the best option you got in most cases.

Short version: try to maintain speed/altitude, turn only if necessary/safe and pick your fights carefully, you will learn the rest.

Landing

Since landing in this plane isnt as simple as with a light fighter plane, I decided to explain the safest way real quick

Try to line up a few hundred meters before the airfield (it is really important to line up, trust me), drop your speed to around 300 km/h (feel free to use the airbreaks if necassary) and a few seconds before you reach the runway, try to get to around !!250 km/h!!, THEN drop the landing gear and put the throttle to around 30%. It is important to maintain that little bit of throttle, since this plane tends to fall like a rock with low speed, gear out and throttle to 0%. You will notice the stall effect when you land it for the first time. Warning: the gear tends to rip when you’re above 300 km/h or you hit the ground too fast.

“Damn, I got hit badly, lets head back for repair” Sorry, but here are some bad news for you. Trying to land with a red/black wing is nearly impossible or really hard to do. I cannot give you any advice for this, you just need luck or a lot of skill but most likley both. And as little extra hint, dont even bother trying to land without landing gear, it will result in a ripped/burning plane beyond repair with a chance of 99,99%, no matter how fast you are when you touch the ground.

The end

Even when the plane isn’t perfect and it’s not a safe money maker, I just like this plane a lot. It’s a welcome alternative to the usual fighters and for me, it made things interesting again in a time when the game seemed to bore me.

Just try it out and see for yourself.

I hope you enjoyed reading my wall of text and found it informative and it was worth your time and mine aswell writing it.

If you have further questions, ill try to answer them in the comments.

Good hunt!