Behind Enemy Lines Tier List

[Sasha]

Behind Enemy Lines is one of the best maps in the game and one of the most balanced maps. Skill level is very important in most matchups due to the fact that any mistake in the opening and in general throughout the match can be heavily punished due to the close proximity of forces, production, and depots.


Over Powered Nations
Japan: This nation isn't as wildly overpowered as they are on big open maps where they are borderline unbeatable (Scrum 2v2, Diplomats 1v1, Frontline, any larger maps with 1v1) in a lot of situations and if the Japanese player knows what they're doing. But on Behind Enem Lines they have all the tools they need to defeat anything. Zeroes and AA bunkers defeat any air. Ho-rus destroy any light or medium armor while Ho-ris kill heavy armor. Pillboxes, tank spam, light artillery, type 88 defeat anything ground early. They also have cheap barracks and recon which is extremely important.


Very Good Nations
USA: US is very strong and much more simple than Japan. Recon, heavy infantry, and heavy armor are the most important triad in most situations. The US has the best possible triad of all nations. Rangers are standard heavy infantry with a decntly priced 20 supply barracks and cheap 5 supply recon. Cheap recon means other units can be made because spamming recon for combat is cost inefficient (there are certainly situations where player does spam armored recon early but a Pershing is going to kill 2 sdkfzs or 3 BA-11s). It also means the US isn't really vulnerable to recon sniping unlike other nations (except Japan). This also puts them above Soviets which are the third best nation in this tier list. This is because the US gets two extra infantry for every recon against the Soviets which really gives the US an advantage other nations don't have. The BA-11 cost 15 while the willys costs 5 so the US can make 2 infantry (or something else) for every BA-11 the enemy makes. If noth players both make three recon to cover mid and both flanks early its 15 supply spent vs 45 (6 infantry difference) supply spent which is really significant. And the BA-11 does irrelevant damage to heavy infantry in forest in any relevant time frame such as in the first 2 and a half minutes when the Soviets are infantry rushing. The US arty/AA base is decently priced at 35 supply and M16s are arguably the best AA unit in the game and are amazing at stopping air pretty much right away due to their speed/firing while moving, production speed, and price. Pershings/Super Pershings are obviously the best heavy armor unit in the game. US has the best triad of the core units of gameplay due to cheapness and cost effectiveness and can quickly counter surprise air or have surprise air of their own with B25 mitchell mid game.


Soviets: This may surprise people since Germany does have a lot more options than Soviets but they just straight up lose to Soviets and US on this map (I'll go into detail when I talk about Germany). Soviets are very strong on this map if one dimensional. Infantry rush with sometimes either at base or arty/aa base (or even the 20 supply arty bunker) defeats all the nations that are lower on this tier list (except Italy which is a very peculiar nation). Soviets can either kill outright with just an infantry rush or kill 1-2 depots and lots of units and production which cripples the enemy and the game is going to end in 5-10 minutes instead of 3. The artillery base means the Soviets can throw out an isu to virtually guarantee depot/building/bunker kills while the enemy focuses on fighting Soviet infantry. The Soviets can also send out an AT base initially if the enemy goes for an armored response. If the enemy goes armor the they build it, if the enemy doesn't they cancel it. And if the enemy is going armor the Soviets don't even have to bother researching heavy infantry right away. Send forward an isu/pushka with BA-11 and AT guns and kill the enemy buildings/tanks. Soviets have high map pressure right away and they can easily get an economic advantage from it and end the game midgame if not early. If the enemy does manage to stall it can start getting difficult for the Soviets since the IS-2 is not a good heavy for figthing AT units or 500m range armor. The SU-100 is slow and vulnerable to infantry which necessitates using Soviet's own infantry as a screen. The problem with this is Soviets bleed their own infantry against enemy tanks and possibly artillery. Soviets have more trouble with US and Japan due to their ability to stall significantly better than the lower tier nations and Pershings will really make SU-100 force compositions feel the pain due to their mobility.


Good Nations
Germany: On paper Germany might seem good but they have extreme shortcomings fighting the upper tiers. The main issue with Germany is that they don't have enough supply for units/production early. Their production buildings cost too much and their expensive recon is a liability after the first couple minutes. Against Soviets they just tend to die within the first 5 minutes or at least by the 10 minute mark. Each barracks costs 30 supply and they need at least two of them if they're not going armor or something else. With one barracks each infantry takes 5 seconds to make. They literally just can't make enough inf in time before the Soviets roll in. Bunkers are a combination of expensive and vulnerable to ISUs while the armor base can be countered by a Soviet AT base. Germany simply doesn't have enough supply early to fight off the Soviets and they have a hard time not dying or economically starving under the pressure. Against US they suffer that the US does the triad of units much better. Barracks are 10 supply cheaper and willys are a significant 5 or 15 supply cheaper. Tigers (Especially tigers) and King Tigers are inferior to Pershings due to how much faster the Pershing is and that US can afford more of them due to cheaper recon and Germany is vulnerable to recon sniping (sdkfzs in particular seem to have worse ai when it comes to getting out of danger, I think it has something to do with taking too long to slow down so it starts reversing away later than other recon). The saving grace of Germany is the sdkfz and its early pressure. It has an amazing speed of 43kph. It can outmanuever most other units in the game and they are extremely useful for supply raiding/camping enemy HQ. And multiple of them can make short work of enemy armored recon and light tanks by abusing forest and manuevering so that they are attacking the edge of enemy formations. But they are expensive and losing one of them against the higher tier nations can and will make the difference between having the initiative and advantage or not having it and it's painful to lose still against the lower tier nations. But in general the lower tier nations have a myriad of problems and Germany can handle fighting against them.


Italy: Italy just barely makes it into the good category. Italy is particularly flawed and lacking in key units but they have a high pressure opening and cheap good proto units. They *can* keep up with the higher tiers but the person playing Italy absolutely needs to know what they're doing. In particular early/mid game pressure and airfield/proto timings. M15 rush can win matches but it isn't reliable and it won't work if the enemy sees it coming (remember people will use decryption if they think they need too). Their real strength on Behind Enemy Lines is their barracks opening. They beat any other barracks opening since they get the veloce and M11 out of their barracks. This means the enemy has to respond with infantry/armor, pure armor, or infantry/AT, which is expensive and in the case of armor a quick M15 follow up will win. In a lot of situations M15s as a follow up are good since they outmatch light tanks and their mobility means they can constantly keep the enemy on the defensive with their own units (or even kill them or cripple them with a raid) until they have heavy armor. The Italian proto base gives Italy the much needed Carro P26 and Breda truck. The Breda truck has 600m range which means it will kill recon through forest. Recon range through forest is ~550m so they won't automatically backup since they haven't identified the unit. If Italy controls the central forest this gives a much needed advantage and both flanks have forest that can be abused for this. Radio silence can stop artillery or the spy ruse if the enemy is trying to strafe but there is a large opportunity cost with using radio silence. Italy also has the issue of not having AA till proto base. The Breda 20mm costs 15 supply and buying guarantees defeat against any competent player (Italy can only buy 1.25 AA guns for every enemy fighter, the AA guns are going to get strafed to death before they have any mass of units. Or Italy is going to spend 200 supply on a barely effective AA net then the enemy will roll over them with ground units.) so proto aa is the only other usable AA. But the M15 AA takes 75 seconds to research and 20 seconds to build. 95% of the time the Italy player is going to need an airfield to respond to enemy air threats. Italy's barracks gives them a unique early game advantage. They need to use this free space for economic gain and they need to keep up the pressure and get proto if they don't end the game early. If the enemy has 4 Pershings and Italy don't have proto yet Italy is going to die if the enemy pushes. If the enemy builds up bombers and recon under camo and launches 5 of them in a surprised Italy will probably die without an *immediate airfield*.


Bad Nations
France: Oh poor France, brutally strong in some aspects yet are held back by being crippled in the areas of infantry and recon. France has always been bad on this map but recently I have learned they are worse. The problem is they are significantly more vulnerable to infantry rushes than I use to think. If the enemy pushes the barracks on the left flank to the point where it's almost behind France's HQ (but not crossing the river) France has a extremely hard time dealing with infantry coming from almost every direction. Even if they don't die they are stuck to at most two depots (feel free to try 1 or even zero depot counter rush though. If the enemy went 3/4 depots they might not have enough infantry to stop the French push.) and the enemy can easily get more depots while pressuring France. Against infantry rush France can have the opportunity for victory from the enemy underestimating France. As in the enemy keeps containing France with inf but without actually killing France's armor till the point the French blob has enough material to breakout and just roll to the enemy base. France in general is also extremely susceptible to recon sniping, the Panhard has 20 cost but the poor mobility of the BA-11. Outside of an infantry rush France will crush any armor openings easily and they can relatively easily defeat AT units, bunkers, other ground. But they always have to keep so much material prepared for flanking infantry even in midgame because it's difficult for France to suddenly reposition.


Very Bad Nations:
UK: UK is the only nation that just easily loses every matchup. It's almost impossible for them to win. The Anson is 25 supply and really awkward to micro well outside of aa range and too expensive to build if the enemy also did an air start. The outpost is fairly expensive and obviously static on top of dying to anything that attacks it and the armor base cost 30 supply with a 30 supply armored recon!. Their tanks are awful and their barracks are expensive. Hurricanes are expensive and they can be dodged quite frequently by enemy armor units. UK is dead (if the enemy doesn't make a major mistake like losing their first plane or ground unit that isn't infantry) if the enemy goes 1 depot, airfield, armor base or barracks (depending on the enemy nation). UK suffers from Germany's problem in that they don't have enough supply early and UK doesn't get any good units early either. Even if they don't die right away their recon still costs too much to easily get map control mid and late game. UK can only really win if the enemy keeps making major mistakes or UK outplays the opening. E.G. enemy Germany does an aggressive barracks and armor base in mid and UK through decryption or an educated guess sends barracks, AT base, and outpost mid. AT guns and Vickers/inf will beat out German inf/sdkfz and light or medium tanks.

[Sasha]

Significant developments have happened due to 1v1s. France is less vulnerable too infantry than I thought if the France player can micro well. They're are possibly top tier on this map.

[Mekteria]

I think each map can be folded or reflected onto istelf, therefore creating your balance. Shapes n ♥♥♥♥