World of Tanks Leveling Guide

World of Tanks Leveling Guide by Echo_Sniper

This is a guide for new players interested in learning what path they should choose when they are leveling their tier IX or X tanks.

1 : Basics

1.1 : Tutorials

As this is not a guide to teach player how to play but where to put their experience points and managing their tanks to get the higher tier tanks faster I will allow myself to link this WoT tutorial

http://game.worldoft…deo/+Tutorials/

These are tutorial videos made by the WoT team. They give you pretty much everything you need to know when starting playing this game.

1.2 : Which tree should I choose?

I did not write this guide to tell new players to play or not to play a tank tree but here is a list of tree you can choose from.

Here is also a World of Tanks calculator. with this tool you can calculate the total cost in XP and credits of every tank in the game :

http://wotdb.info/

Good job to anyone who made this.

1.2.1: Tech trees cons & pros

As of 6,4 there is 3 tech tree to research : the U.S, U.R.S.S. and German tree. Ech of them offer different advantage.

U.S. tech tree: US tanks are the middle classed tanks. They have better damage then German tanks but not better then its Russian counterparts. It also has better accuracy, faster rate of fire and sometimes better penetration then Russian tanks. Although American tanks are usually the least armored tanks in the game, but they have a rather large health pool.

Heavy line : The American heavy line is one of the most unsteady tech tree. It offers good low tier tanks and decent high tier tanks apart from the T34 which can be a pain in the ass without the 120mm. The main problem is the mid tier tanks, the M3 Lee, the T1 Heavy and arguably the M6 can be painful to get trough.

SPG line : again, American SPGs are the in between spot. But they have something all other tree doesn’t have better : aiming time. This is a very important statistic for SPGs as it reduces the time between which you can fire a shot and deal damage. American SPGs have a damage on par with other SPGs as well as accuracy. They are also pretty mobile making them good for dodging counter battery.

Medium line : Being the jack of all trade of the trees and the medium tanks being the jack of all trades of the tanks, American medium tanks are pretty much good at everything they do without being the best at it. The T20 with 90mm is eating most other tier VII medium as they can’t retaliate to the massive 240 damage. Although the T23 is the only tier VIII medium with no tier VIII gun.

Tank Destroyer line : US TDs will have a very unsteady research tree. You begin with closed topped, non turreted and decently armored, tank destroyer to turreted tank destroyer with low armor, to come back to non turreted TDs with a truckload of armor and a very good gun, but very sad mobility. The T25 AT(tier VII) is the only tier VII tank destroyer with a tier IX gun, this makes it an incredibly good tank at tier VII.

Russian tech tree : Russian tanks are the fast and agile and low armored tanks. While this might be true in low tier, it certainly is not in the higher tier from tier VIII to tier X. Russian tanks usually sport a huge gun dealing tremendous amount of damage with a fair amount of penetration, but at the cost of low accuracy and slow reload. Russian tanks also have the lowest chance of taking on fire and the lowest health pool. Managing damage as a Russian tanks and paying attention at what can damage you and what can not is crucial.

Heavy line : this tree is quite awkward, you get tanks that are incredibly slow at tier V and VI that can have very good guns(107mm and 122mm). Before that you have a T-28, the T-28 is a horrible tank without the 85mm, but if well wielded, it can be good. The russian heavy line has the worst of all trees stock tanks. The problem is they must rely on their mobility to perform well, and without tracks and engines, this can be quite hard to do.

Tank destroyer line : this tree can be cumbersome at tier III and IV, but once the closed top TDs are unlocked they generally perform well. What distinguish this tree from the other is the fearsome BL-10 you can get on the ISU-152 and should have on the Object 704. This gun deals a massive 750 damage.

Medium line : Russian medium tanks are usually good, they have better armor then German and American medium, but have horrible rate of fire and accuracy on the move. The T-44(tier VIII) is also reknown for having huge problems with the ammo rack. Buying a wet ammo rack is needed on the T-44.

SPGs : the Russian SPGs are quite similar gun wise to the American, but Russian SPGs have closed tops(at higher tiers) which gives them better protection against high explosive rounds, better armor, but they are incredibly slow. This makes them hard to kill for light tanks, but very vulnerable to any type of counter battery.

German tech tree : German tanks are known for their high accuracy and high rate of fire, but low damage. German tanks usually have the best armor and highest health pool. This gives the German tank the ability to withstand a boatload of damage and still live to tell the tale. German have one flaw : their engines which takes fire more often then any other tree.

Heavy line : German heavy line is horrible at stock, but gets better wtih each upgrades it has. They are also incredibly slow and armored. When playing a German heavy, be ready to take damage and give some punishment with the long 88. You must take this tree with attention, german heavies are huge damage sponge and very good snipers meaning they are pretty versatile in the gameplay they offer.

Medium line : the german medium line is good, the Panther with the tier VIII gun is a real danger to most tanks it faces, much more then what the 122mm is for the T-44. They also have decent armor and good mobility in general, German mediums are mobile sniping platform.

Tank Destroyer line : this tree is quite weird, it starts with tanks that have very good guns and good mobility but no armor and goes down the tree with upgrading the armor at the cost of mobility giving you the Jagdtiger that is fearsome if well wielded. In patch 6.4, the hitbox of most tanks were fixed giving an almost new feeling of the German TDs as they are much less prone to taking fire and/or loosing engines. Yet again, German tank destroyers are good sniper, but the ferdinand and jagdtiger can take a hell of a beating without knowing any issues with their crews or modules. German TDs are most efficient with friends, this is not a lone wolf tree.

SPGs line : German SPGs are the one getting the big ass canon. The 210mm deals a awesome 2000 avergae damage on direct hit, but it has the slowest reload time. German SPGs are also pretty damn fast for their size, this makes them incredibly good machines for counter battery and relocations. They also can be used efficiently as battle arty, have fun watching this :

http://www.youtube.c…h?v=bWlPD3A1CCI

1.3 Tanks to avoid if possible

Here is a list of tanks you should try avoiding if you can, of course, there is tanks like the Lee which you are obliged to have.

-M3 Lee : Now let’s talk about that Lee. I personnaly never happened played this tank, but from what I heard, it can perform pretty well against tanks of its own tier, but it almost never faces them. Plus I have seen a weak spot skin of the M3 Lee, and there is no spot where you shouldn’t aim on that, you have the exact chance to deal critical hits on this tank, no matter wehre you shoot. If you ahve some spare free XP, you should spend it on this tank to get trough as fast as possible.

-Hetzer : This tier IV german tank destroyer is a meh tank, try sweeping off that tank as fast as possible, it’s not a bad a tank, but it certainly is underperforming and badly placed in the match making. This makes the grind unsteady and frustrating.

-Jagdpanzer IV : as I said before, most hitboxes were fixed in patch 6.4, but not the JP IV. It often gets engines problems due to frontal hits. This is extremely frustrating. There is also a very bad gun on this tank which just can’t make this tank pull its weight in higher tiered games.

-SU-85B : alike to the hetzer the SU-85B isn’t a bad tank, but without the god like tier VI 85mm. The problem is, you don’t bring that 85mm up in the SU-85 making the research for it pretty pointless.

-T-44 : as much as some people will not agree with me, the T-44 has a serious flaw : its ammo rack, which is blowing all the time. Don’t get me wrong the T-44 is a good tank, but the you need to plan on a wet ammo rack or else you will loose time, money and experience to frequent games ending too soon.

-T34 : This tank is arguably the worst tier IX tank. It doesn’t have a good armor, stock gun(compared to the other 2 tier IX heavy or TDs). The only real thing the T34 has good is mobility and a rather large HP pool, which is not that good for a heavy tank, especially since the IS-4 has a mobility nearly on par with it and that the VK4502 has more HP. The main problem of the T34 is that it’s a too middle classed tank, it’s too much average on everything. Although, with the 120mm, it can easily pull its weight in most games. The T34 is also the only tier IX heavy without any tier X gun.

-Nearly all stock tanks : Stock tanks are usually horrible, but think of it as an atonement for a tree. All the tanks in this game become WAY better once upgraded. So even if you are having a hard time gaining XP with a tank, straighten up yourself and grind the tank up until you are ready to get the next tank.

2. Getting started

2.1 Planning is key

Congratulations, you just choose your tank to level, but you might want to level a second and even a third tank as you can leave a battle still going if you are destroyed and hop on anoter tank to play while the first game finishes. This is good both for farming XP and credits.

2.2 Where you should put your experience first

This is usually a consensus between players, starting from tier II-III, the first thing you should get is the tracks. Tracks allows you to mount heavier equipment and modules. It also increase your top speed and traverse speed. Now after that, it really differs from a player or another, but I think this should go with the tank, as sometimes getting a better gun first is better or other times, getting the next engine is best.

2.3 Modules and what they do

Tracks or suspension : as stated above, tracks gives a better load capacity, better top speed and traverse speed. This should always be upraded first unless you have a low tier tank (I and II) as with the XP it cost, you could be better spending it on your next tank. Tracks are in all cases a no brainer upgrade.

Engines : upgrading this is sometimes mendatory to go to the next tier, but not always. It also gives you a better accelaration, better uphill speed and sometimes lowers your chance to catch fire.

Radio : Increases the range at which you can transmit enemy positions and receive position. This is VERY important to upgrade this when you are playing a scout tank or SPG. This is another no brainer to upgrade for these 2 tank types, I would get a better radio before getting a better gun on SPGs.

Gun : now this is sometimes not always an upgrade, but if usually good to have the best one available depending on the tank. Before buying a new gun, you must check 5 primary statistics as well as availability on other tanks. Better guns gives you a better range with your SPG, upgrading this is entirely up to you

1.Penetration : how much armor you can penetrate, this is what you should check first when trying to figure which gun is better suited for your tank. Better penetration generally means better gun. Loosing +/-10 penetration for 50+ average damage is a good choice.

2.Damage : if the penetration is on par, check the damage, take the highest one.

3.Rate of fire : if both of the above are equal, you want to check the rate of fire, the higher the better of course, but you shouldn’t not take a gun because it has a better rate of fire over better damage or penetration

-Accuracy : the lower the better, if all of the above are equal, which doesn’t happen a lot, look the accuracy, take the lowest.

-Aming time : this should be important only if you are ALWAYS on the move or a SPG.

The first 3 statistics are prioritized since they are the stats that must taken into account when changing your gun.

2.3.1. The 2 types of guns

-The normal guns : these guns can use all 3 types of rounds.

-Howitzer : good damage, low rate of fire, low accuracy and only 2 types of round : HE and HEAT. This gives you a much better chance of damaging higher tiered tanks. But when facing lower tiered tanks, this becomes a problem as you lose damage per minute because of damage reduction of using HE rounds.

This is why you want to load a normal gun and load enough HE/AP rounds, even at high tiers.

Turret : upgrading this usually gives you a better view range and better turret traverse speed and sometimes better armor. It also gives more HP when mounted. This is a very important for scout tanks.

2.4 Availability

Now let’s take a look at the importance of availability :

Availability is your ability to carry higher tier modules from a low tier tank to a higher tier tank.

The best exemple is the radios that usually carry from low tiers to high tiers.
A higher tiered tank is harder to level with crappy modules then a low tiered tank with crappy modules. This is why you want to research modules that carry on many tanks as soon as possible.

Most people will agree that the 107 on the SU-85 is a good choice to before getting the SU-100. The 107 costs more then 2/3 of what is needed to get the SU-100. And since you are not getting this awesome gun on the SU-100, you might want to keep the SU-85 as it is manageable to get the SU-100 without the 107. The only reason someone should get the 107 is because he is planning on using the tank as a credit farm

Now let’s take a look at the KV. This tank also has a 107. But that same 107 can be mounted on the KV-3 which makes the 85mm obsolete and the 122mm an upgrade, this is a very good choice since the KV-3 is a formidable tank once equipped with a gun that can chalenge other tier VI and VII tanks.

2.5 Equipments, which one to choose?

In my opinion, you shouldn’t be mounting any Equipments until tier VII, unless you are keeping a vehicule for later use. Some Equipments should be always considered to be mounted such as the rammer, this modules increases your rate of fire by 10%. The only exeption to this is if you have a rate of fire higher then 15 because there won’t that much of a difference.

Heavy tanks :

-Depending on your armor, getting a spall line will help a lot, if you are coated in armor like the Maus is, the spall liner will reduce by 15% the damage most shells damaging(HE shells) you do. Although this equipent is quite heavy don’t use it on tanks that have.
-Coated Optics/Binocular : If you are a German tank, get the Binocs, if not get the optics. why because ina German Heavy tank you can be sitting in a same spot for really long. But if you are not you can be both, hence optics are a better choice since they are more ”jacdk of all trades”.

Medium tanks :

-As you are frequently on the move and that you shouldn’t stop to fire, mounting a vertical stabilizer or a enhenced gun laying drive if can’t mount the first which reduces the the time the green circle takes to completely zero on target.

-Toolbox : you want to be the least time immobilized because of messed up tracks. This equipment gives you an enourmous 25% increase to HP/second of repair on ALL modules.

Tank Destroyers :

-Camoflage net : you are almost all the time immobile, why not get a camo net that gives you a huge bonus on your camo? The only downside to this is that it only activates once you are immobile you need to be immobile for at least 6 seconds for it to work.

-RAMMER : alweays get this on your TD, it should be a no brainer. You don’t have a lot of armor or speed, this gives you an additional edge to your already fearsome gun.

SPG : enhence gun laying drive to reduce your aiming time, GREAT for any arty to increase battlefield effiency.

3.Dealing with a stock tanks

You will often have to play with a tank that has no or little upgraded modules. You can lower this effect in 2 ways. The first one is to research modules on the tank before getting it(explained above). The other way is the crew, a good crew makes the tank better at everythig it does. Spending credits on an 75% crew should be a priority at tier V and VI as before that, you don’t keep the tank long enough to afford the spending. Then from tier VII you should bring the crew along with your new tank.

To do that, you simply have to put them in the barrack before selling the old tank and put them back on the new tank once it’s bought. Now you will see that the % of the crew is red, as far as I’m aware of, htis affects by a lot your crew perfomances. You need to retrain them to the current tank. This can be done on the personnal file of every crew. Retraining offers you to keep to keep the crew skill and a certain amount of crew experience. You keep 80% from 100% crew if you don’t pay anything and 90% if you pay 20k credits for each crew. You get 100% if you pay 200 gold per crew.

4.Managing free experience

You might have noticed that you have 2 type of experience. One is experience to distribute which corresponds to the XP you gain in-game. Then there is the free experience. Free experience is 5% of the experience you gain in battle or 25 XP per gold transfered from an elite tank. This XP allows you to spend it wherever you want, giving you the option to level a tank with free or research a module with XP you don’t have. Free experience is always spent second when researching.

You could save all the free XP you get to buy a big upgrade on a tank higher tiered you don’t have yet. That’s what I did with my M26 Pershing, I saved all the free XP I had from the M7 to the Pershing and bought the 90mm T15E2M2. This made grinding the pershing much easier then with the 90mm M3. You could do this for the BL-9 on the IS-3, or the 10.5cm L/68 on the Tiger II or any other tank for that matter.

5.Managing credits

Managing credits can sometimes be pretty hard as you don’t gain a lot with each game. Buying a new tank is what is most expensive. Here is a list of ways to farm quicklier credits

-Buying a premium account, this gives 50% more credits AND experience, the gain is immense when you want to get a tank as fast as possible.

-Get a ”golden tiers tank” . Tier IV-V-VI are the 3 tiers that gives you the most profit. Ammo is cheap, repair is cheap. These tanks gives you a minimum of 3k for a very bad game and 35k for a very good game.

-Premium tanks, these have cheaper ammo and repair then their counterparts and gain slightly more credits(but not XP). The tier VIII premium tanks can easily gain up to 100k per game.

-Transfering gold to credits. This is not a good choice, if you really are desperate yes, otherwise, you should buy a premium tank because they give you the exact amount of credits once you sell them. Profit wise, it’s better spending time to grind those missing credits.

6.Getting more experience

Getting more experience is a matter of skill, but also knowledge and game experience.

Knowing your enemy is extremely important as knowing if a tank can damage you or not gives you a certain advantage. Knowing that a certain spot on a tank is weaker then everywhere else is important. You also need to know what your tank’s job is. This will help you perform better for both you and your team. Know the strenght and weaknesses of all tanks. You want to pull enemy tanks in where you are better then they are, and keep them as far as possible to where they are better then you do.

You absolutely need to prioritize targets, yes it is funny to kill that puny little loltraktor first, but that loltraktor has a wonderful friend called maus which will kill you. In this situation, you will get much more XP dealing 15%-30% damage to that maus HEing it down than one shotting that loltractor. Applying this strategy often gives you more experience, as this can make the difference between a defeat and a vicotry.

You might want to check other guides if you haven’t done it yet.

This is an must for every tanker in the game new or veteran made by Keptin :

World of Tanks Tips, Tactics and Strategy Guide

Here is a link to the WIKI of WoT, it’s very interesting as they also put historical information :

http://wiki.worldoftanks.com/Main_Page

Here is a link with useful tips on how to play your tanks by Lady_Athena:

World of Tanks Team Play Guide

This guide also made by Keptin is good for every player :

World of Tanks Things Not to Do Guide

7. General advices

Never sell all your tanks to upgrade one tank. What will you do if you don’t have enough credits to repair that brand new tank? You surely don’t want to use a tier I again do you?

Spend your experience according to what you are going to do with your current tank, spend for non mendatory modules if you plan on keeping that tank.

Read the forum section of your tanks, this is a place to learn tips and strategies on how to play your tanks better.

If you are to make a QQ thread on the forums because the game is broken try to make a constructive QQ, WoT devs will most probably listen to you if it is well tought out.

8. FAQ

1- Q :Woot, I finnaly obtained my tier IX/X tank, now what?

A: You might want to join a clan, most clans are looking for tier IX/X tanks for their clan wars. You could also level up another tank.

2-Q : How am I suppose to kill anything with that tier IV tank facing tier VII tanks.

A: load up HE rounds and aim for the turret to kill the crew and damage the gun, remember you get experience for damaging a tank too.

Thank you for reading this guide.