With that said it is still a good idea to climb up to 4-6km at the start of the match. Practically all Russian planes are low altitude fighters, usually being at their best below 4km. I-185 (Polikarpov)- Climb/Acceleration, instead of good turning they roll well even at high speeds and dive well, sort of like a FW 190/ BnZ plane, Great Armament as well. Lavochkin- Acceleration/Speed with good enough Maneuverability, however they get stiff in a dive even if they are very quick/fast planes. Yakovlev- Maneuverability/Dogfighting, They hold onto speed really well rather then simply out-accelerate everything. If you want a brief preview of prime assets as you go down the tree. If you encounter a aircraft that turns better then your Yak then usually you can out-roll them, which is very nice as the Yak-1b, or Yaks in general, are probably one of the better turning planes that can also roll excellently. It sounds really weird but the Yaks are very speedy in shallow dives and hold onto speed pretty well, they also can turn and climb pretty well, but they aren't the best accelerating aircraft so you have to be weary of keeping some speed. In a Yak-1b (or most Yaks) i usually am balancing flying around as fast as possible, mixed with turn fighting people. La-5 is kinda crap, and Mig-3 is also kinda crap, but similarly the I-185 M82 and M71 are really nice planes after you work your way through the Mig line. But don't ignore La line because the La-5FN at tier 3 is epic and the La-5F isn't bad either. Yak-1b easily, personally i don't know why the Yak-9 is after the Yak-1b.

War thunder best russian plane