Hearts of Iron IV Best Plane Designs

Dominating the air is vital to winning the war on land in Hearts of Iron IV. Air superiority and close air support provide numerous direct benefits to troops on the ground, while strategic bombers can cripple enemy industry. By Blood Alone drastically reshaped the old air meta with the addition of the plane designer, introducing more complexity than ever to air combat.

Best Air vs Air Plane Design

The absolute best option for aerial combat in Hearts of Iron IV are heavy fighters. While agility and speed are supposed to give major bonuses in combat, it is not enough to beat the huge air attack and defense values heavy fighters have. Although you can produce about 3.2 light fighters for the price of 1 heavy fighter, heavies still reign supreme when outnumbered

In a battle with 640 improved small fighters versus 200 improved heavy fighters, the heavy fighters absolutely wiped the floor with the small fighters. As seen below, over the course of a year 77 heavy fighters were lost while 477 light fighters were lost.

Without further ado, here are the best heavy fighter designs on basic, improved, and advanced airframes.

Best Basic Heavy Fighter

Best Improved Heavy Fighter

Best Advanced Heavy Fighter

Best Air Superiority Plane Design

If you just need planes to improve your air superiority in a region, you’ll want to use normal planes. While heavy fighters have a higher multiplier for air superiority of 1.25, normal fighters are substantially cheaper while having a multiplier of 1. This means you get substantially more air superiority per production cost by using small fighters.

Note – The drop tanks on these designs are entirely optional and can be removed/replaced depending on your preferences.

Best Basic Air Superiority Plane Design

Best Improved Air Superiority Plane Design

Best Advanced Air Superiority Plane Design

Best CAS Plane Design

Close Air Support is vital to ensure your invasion plans on the ground proceed as planned. CAS planes are vulnerable to interception by fighters, so be sure to defend them when they are deployed on missions. That said, each of the designs below have defensive turrets to increase their effectiveness, but if you are adequately protecting them these can be removed.

Best Basic Close Air Support Plane Design

Best Improved Close Air Support Plane Design

Best Advanced Close Air Support Plane Design

Best Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Strategic bombers are designed to devastate your opponents infrastructure, but they require protection from fighters to succeed.

Best Basic Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Best Improved Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Best Advanced Strategic Bomber Plane Design

Keep in mind that these designs can still be modified to suit your individual needs, like adding more range or reducing fuel costs. These plane designs should help you control the skies from the beginning of your campaign to the end.