World of Tanks Beginner’s Guide

World of Tanks Beginner’s Guide by gizaman

I have seen and heard a lot of complains and problems by the new european players.

Have decided to make this guide for you to explain some things better.

Is a 2month veteran russian closed beta player, thus having tried a bit.

There is a big amount of complains that needs to be explained.

Let me take them from the beginning.

Invisible tanks

When you look at your tank in the tech tree, you see a stat that says view range.
That is the range you can see. If a tank is 350 meters from you and your view range is 300 meters.
Then he is invisible to you except his shots. there are some modifiers later on you can buy to get an advantage
but generally some tanks like Tank destroyers often see further.

Tank destroyers

Yes they are good in the early tiers because of their long view range and heavy front armor. But they do get more
average when you get past tiers 1-3. Remember to attack from the side or rear. Just circle and attack them.

Do not make the mistake to pick tank destroyers just because they are good at the start.
Choose a tank you want and then stay focused even in the rough times[/b].

If you want a T-44 which is a great tank, you might have a hard time getting there.
BUT when you get there you are in a very competitive tank that can easy compete with the equal tier TD.

It is not like because some paths at the start are great, they keep evolve ahead of the rest.

The very impossible looking grinding system!

It seems that when you only get 1-2k in profit in a tier 1-2 unit that it is impossible to get any experience and
credits. And it will take a long time to get anywhere.
Remember that when you get up in the tiers your rewards goes up. It is possible to win 30-40k credits for the best
rounds in some tanks. And that is after repairs and ammo is paid for.
It does take time but if the road up there is not fun maybe the game is not something for you.
Generally most players would say that around 4-6/7 in tiers is where the amount of profit(reward – damage tank + ammo used)is the highest. But reports of 10k+ in light tanks is also being heard, so the sky is the limit.

Some of the bigger tanks later on, cost perhaps 15k to repair and the ammo can cost 500-1k for a shot so it goes fast if they use a lot of shots and still want to make profit. They need to not be so trigger happy.
Often they have other tanks that gets the credits for them to play the credit hungry bigger tanks…great
system it ensures that there always is tanks to play against.

CREDIT system/gold system
As mentioned above credits seems to be the hardest part at the start which is true and then it gets easy to get, and then later on it becomes hard again. That is viewed when you go through the tiers.

Experience can be hard to gain aswell but the main thing you are fighting are credit use vs credit gain.

Always have more tanks in the garage, if one dies, Press esc and exit battle. Start next round with new tank…
and keep going around this way. Never stay in a game and look for 10 mins after you are dead…totally waste of your time.

Furthermore, there is the possiblility of buying a premium account with your hard earned gold(you get 150 a day)
It cost a lot to get the week or the month premium but it is worth it.

Every fight you are in gives you an extra +50% credits and experience. That is A LOT. Remember if you in a game
have 3k in expenses and 5 k in credits + 500 exp. Then after the premium account you get.
3k in expenses but then 7.5k in credits + 750 exp. and that is for a 4 min game…..
And that is only in lower tiers. Imagine you get +10k and plus 500exp because of this in every game.
They are very expensive the premium accounts but they earn themselves in VERY FAST.
It is a long time to wait but it is worth it. I would say At least get the week of premium so you can really
earn a lot. Month costs the double of week but is 4.5 times longer.

Another way of getting credits could be to save up for the churchill, which is a very good premium tank.
Low repair costs, low ammo costs, high hit points and good armor. It cant compete with the top tanks of its tier but it
is still a very good credit grinder/giver.

Battle strategy

I see a lot of lemming strategy at the moment.
Everybody gathers together then rush the enemy. It is a very beginner strategy.
When you learn more about the game you know all about view range.
A stopped tank CAN get both a view range boost and the enemy can get a view range disadvantage when you buy certain
upgrades. These will not work when moving. Also when stopped in a bush, the enemys view range is lowered.

It is very important who gets the first shots.

Furthermore you want to defend your artillery. It is a very vital part of the game.
In the start you will often see light tank rushes on your artillery.
Well at least it was so in the many tiers fight we had in the russian closed beta.
The side with the most artillery and artillery alive after this attack often wins….

So you can stay back and protect them when this attack is over. Then the game starts.

60% tier fighting system

A lot of players are worried that they meet people with premium tanks or players with a tier 6 tank in their tier 3 tank. I can tell you not to worry. This system was tested in the closed russian beta and they are testing a new system.

Basically the 60% tier system is:
A game is based on 60% of units from the same tier as you.
The rest 40% CAN BE a tier Higher or lower.

This prevents you from meeting those BIG FAT tanks with no chance against. So dont worry.

Premium tanks are special tanks that can be bought for gold but remember that they also have a tier grade.

Like the churchill. As I remember it is a tier 5 tank. So it meets tanks in that categori.

AMMO TYPES

Often there are Armour piercing, gold ammo and HE ammo. It varies.

AP and HE rounds costs credits and the gold ammo with high piercing and high damage cost gold.

You can have all types of ammo into battle so you can decide in the game which you want to use.
If you cant penetrate a tank with ap shells you could try the HE ammo to inflict damage on him.
Gold ammo is the best no doubt BUT BUT you can without any trouble still beat players with premium ammo.
Using stealth, cunning and being wise in the game is much more worth than a dumb player that rushes with gold ammo.
And get shot to pieces.

I played for 2 months in the russian closed beta and never used the gold ammo. It is nice but you can play without
just fine.

Auto target system.

There is an auto target system in the game. Very usefull.
When you point at an enemy and he flashes red, do a right click. Now you turret tries to get a aim on the enemy.
Some times it works other times it is not worth using.

It can be used to fire at an enemy that is not moving while you circle around him. You just need to focus on driving.

The downside to this is that it often focus straight on the enemy where his armor can be the toughest and if he
not moves straight away or towards you it can miss him. It takes some time to aim good.

It is another aspect of the game to know when to use. It can even some times follow enemies behind obstacles…yes
it sounds stupid but it does…

Dealing with artillery

You will sooner or later have to deal with them.

At the moment the discussion is about they are overpowered or not. Well they are powerful and deadly for sure.

A team that defends its artillery will often win so treat them with care and they will win games for you. (+50% exp and credits bonus for win)

How to avoid being shot.

If you hide behind big rocks, buildings etc. Then the artillery cant hit you.
Their angle of shot is not high enough to hit you if you are hugging something big.

When you learn the maps you will know where to hide from the artillery.
Also remember if an enemy is not seeing you then artillery is not. Be careful though because some tanks can have higher
view range than you and then you are just easy kill. But often you know when you are safe.

I will say this loud and clear. NEVER EVER stand still in the open and fight other tanks.

It is something to remember, of course some times you need to stop to fire at a target. You can use spacebar to stop from full speed, fire a shot and then it goes back into full speed. It is a dangerous situation but sometimes you need to do this.

Best to learn how to avoid being shot, because later on in the game when you get bigger tanks, they get bigger
artillery and some of them are very powerful. Up to 1850 in damage for a shot. Basically a one shot kill on almost any tank.

The biggest artillery fires very slow but some of the medium artillery still has
4-5 shots of 650-900 damage per minutte. And you can get broken tank tracks and thus a sitting duck.

The best plan is to not get hit. SIMPLY. You get better at it as you learn how to hide.
So dont go total in fear of the artillery. Good players are seldom being killed by artillery. Yes it happends and also
too often but in urban maps you are much more safe.

Some people thinks that 70km per hour tanks are safe from artillery.

That is not always the case since many skilled artillery players can predict,
where your tank is at that speed and launch a shell.

Sometimes they do not hit exactly but maybe their shell breaks the tank tracks…the next shells hits you
right on top..100% guaranteed. So do anything to avoid being hit.

Attacking artillery head on, often later in the game.
This is dangerous because artillery can often one shot you if you go straight at them.
Make sure you go in a sideways motion at them of course depending on how big your tank and the artillery cannon is.

This is all for now