Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

I figured this was a good place as any to write a beginner guide for World of Tanks. I'm no expert on the game so some info might not be 100% accurate but it's accurate enough for beginners.



1. Experience & Currency
As you play the game you will need to acquire currency to advance in the game. The amount of experience and currency you earn per battle depends on your performance and what tanks you use.

Vehicle Experience is experience earned for a specific vehicle. No kidding? Such a shocking surprise! When you fight a battle you earn experience for the specific vehicle you were playing. If you play as a T1 Cunningham you get experience for that vehicle. Experience is used to research new parts for the tank or new tanks themselves.

Free Experience is experience you get that you can use to research wherever you want. Every battle you get 5% Free exp on top of the vehicle exp or 1 free exp per 20 vehicle exp so if you win 100 exp in a battle you get 5 free exp.

Crew Experience is experience the crew earns.Initial training is just to train them how to use your tank. The more experience they get the further they advance and the better they get at using the tank. Once their major qualification reaches 100% you can train for various other skills to help out. I'll go into more detail with this later.

Elite Status is when you have researched everything you possibly can for a specific tank. If you attain elite status on a game you can use gold to convert the vehicle experience to free experience or accelerate crew training so the crew can train faster with the vehicle experience yo earn.

Credits are the silver currency of the game. When you research new modules you have to pay credits to actually buy the module and mount it on your tank. You also use it to buy new tanks, repair your tanks after battles, and restock ammunition. In game if something costs credits it will have a number for units of currency and a picture of grey coins next to it.

Gold is premium currency you pay real money for. You can use gold to buy premium membership which gives a 50% bonus to exp and credits earned in battle. There are some premium tanks that can only be purchased with gold. You can expand your garage to hold more tanks, buy premium ammunition, and convert exp on an elite tank to free exp as well as a few other things. In game if something costs gold it will have a number for units of currency and a picture of yellow coins next to it.



2. Player Class
World of Tanks has 5 different vehicle classes each with their own advantages and disadvantages. Different people have different skills so feel free to experiment.

Light tanks are the beginning ranks of tanks. They are fast but small and weak. Their cannons don't do much damage especially in higher tiers, they have low armor, and they have low health so if you can hit them they won't be too hard to kill. If you're good at driving them you can hopefully dodge incoming fire and scout enemy locations. Scouting is vital for teamwork especially for artillery. Light tanks are very mobile and can take down enemy artillery if they get close enough. Lights rely on speed and on a good radio. A light with destroyed mobility is as good as dead and a light with a terrible radio can't transmit data back home.

Medium tanks are considerably stronger, but slower than lights. This is a big support class. Mediums aren't as maneuverable as lights but they can still get around. A team of mediums that works smart can take down just about anything.

Heavy tanks are powerful but considerably slower than the other tanks. They can make a good diversion and draw the attention of enemies, but they can only take so much punishment before they die. To actually get a heavy tank you will have to play mediums for a while.

Tank Destroyers are a powerful support class. Some TDs have a turret, but most of them don't. They have a massive cannon meant to hit really hard. You can fine tune the cannon a little, but to aim far to the side you have to turn the entire vehicle. At distance they can hit really hard. Up close they don't maneuver so well. A light tank that gets close enough to a TD can take it down if they stay away from the cannon.

Self Propelled Guns are the artillery of the game. They shoot far away and deal heavy damage. Like TDs SPGs don't have a turret so they have to turn the whole vehicle to sweep to the sides. Artillery relies on scouts to reveal enemies at distance to shoot at. Up close SPGs can fire like a TD in an emergency but I've found not to rely on that. SPGs deal heavier damage than other vehicles in their tier but that's balanced with them usually having to fight higher tier enemies and having a slow rate of fire.



3. Ammunition

Armor Piercing ammunition has deep penetration but doesn't do a ton of damage. It does deal heavy damage to the area it hits though.

High Explosive ammo has terrible penetration, but does a good job damaging modules. Against lighter armored enemies like light tanks and SPGs they are very effective as they deal heavier damage.

Gold Ammunition is HEAT and APCR ammunition. They offer deep penetration and heavy damage. They are often called gold rounds because they require gold to purchase.



4. Consumables
In addition to choosing what kind of ammunition to stock there are different consumables you can stock as well.

Some of these consumables manually activated so they don't do anything until you use them. There's a first aid kit to heal an injured member, fire extinguisher to put out a fire, and a toolbox to fix a broken module.

Some consumables are automatically used. These include better fuel to increase engine horsepower and treats to boost crew skills. These are automatically used up after the battle is over.



5. Crew
Your tank has different crew members. If your specific tank doesn't have a specific crew member that means a different crew member is holding down that job. If a crew member is wounded or killed their job is impaired and your tank is less effective. After major qualifications reach 100% you can research additional skills and perks. General skills anyone can take. Each job has specific skills as well. If the commander also holds down the radioman job then he can research radioman skills as well. Similar goes for any crew member holding down more than one job.

Commander is in charge of everything. He relays your commands to the tank and he also determines your view range which is how far you can see the enemy.

Radioman operates the radio determining your max range. The further your range the further your team can see what you see. In the bottom right corner of the screen is a mini map and any visible enemies will show up on it.

The Gunner moves the turret and fires the gun.

The Loader loads the ammo for the gunner.

The driver drives the tank.



6. Modules
Each tank has different parts to research. If any of these parts breaks they will be completely inoperable until it's fixed. You can immediately fix it with a repair kit consumable. If you don't have a repair kit it will be repaired after a while. When repaired they won't be as good as new so expect a drop in performance.

Suspension is your tank treads. This is generally the first module to research on a new tank. Suspension determines max speed, how well you cross tough terrain, and how much weight you can carry. Many times you will have to change suspension before mounting heavier equipment. If suspension breaks in combat you are immediately immobilized so you won't be able to move.

Radio is what transmits what you see to the rest of your team. The further your signal range the further away allies can be and still be able to see the enemies you see. This is especially useful for helping your artillery see where to shoot.

Turret is the dome thing on the top of the tank with the cannon on it that turns in circles. Sometimes you have to upgrade the turret to be able to mount a different gun. Turret also helps determine view range. If the turret breaks you won't be able to turn it at all so you will have to turn the entire tank to aim your gun. Upon repair it will turn slowly.

Engine determines acceleration. When the engine is hit there's a chance it could catch on fire. A broken engine immobilizes you just like broken suspension. After repair you move slowly.

Cannon is your main gun of course! If it breaks you can't shoot it. Once repaired it's less accurate.



7. More modules
These aren't researchable modules but they're on your tank anyway.

Periscope or whatever you call it is what the commander looks through. When broken/damaged your view range is reduced.

Ammo rack is where the ammunition is stored. If hit there's a chance the ammo can detonate. Obviously that won't end well for your crew.

Fuel tank. Really these are self explanatory. The fuel tank has a chance of starting a fire if hit. If damaged it increases the chances of fire if they're hit again.



8. Additional Equipment
The tanks include 3 slots for additional equipment to help out. Some parts can be demounted and put on other tanks. Other parts can't be removed and reused unless you pay gold. These can be especially expensive at lower levels so it's probably a good idea to wait till a later tier to get them.

Camouflage Net makes you harder to detect when sitting still. This is excellent for tanks that don't move much, but worthless on tanks that have to constantly be on the go.

Enhanced Gun Laying Drive increases aim speed. When you aim there's a circle that closes as you wait. The smaller the circle the better zeroed in you are on your target. I find playing artillery where there can be a lot of wait to aim this is very useful.

Shell Rammer helps you load faster. Higher tiers and artillery have slower reload speeds and this can help take a few seconds off the reload time.

Toolbox increases repair speed.

Coated optics increase view range

Binocular Telescope increases view range much further than coated optics but only works when sitting still.

Cyclone Filter makes Soviet tank engines more durable.

Wet Ammo Rack increases ammo rack durability so they're less likely to blow on you.

Spall liner helps protect you from ramming and splash damage. If you run into another tank hard enough you can damage them. Artillery doesn't always hit dead on but if it hits the ground near a target splash damage can still hit them. The spall liner protects from both.

Improved Ventilation boosts skills of each crew member by 5%

Enhanced Suspension lets you hold more weight on your tank.

Additional Grousers gives your suspension better performance on soft ground.