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War Thunder glossary: the terms beginners meet first

Short, plain definitions of the words used in our beginner's guide and in the game. Numbers that change with game updates are deliberately left out.

AB, RB, SB

Arcade, Realistic and Simulator Battles: the three difficulty levels. See the game modes section.

Battle Rating (BR)

A number expressing a vehicle's strength in a given mode. Matches are formed from line-ups within 1.0 BR of each other.

Up-tier / down-tier

Being placed in a match where you are among the lowest (up-tier) or highest (down-tier) BR vehicles.

Line-up

The set of vehicles you take into a battle, placed in crew slots. In ground battles its BR is set by its highest vehicle.

Crew slot

A place in your line-up with its own crew. More slots can be bought with Silver Lions or Golden Eagles.

Research Points (RP)

Earned in battle; used to unlock new vehicles and modifications.

Silver Lions (SL)

The basic in-game currency, used for buying vehicles and modifications, crew training and repairs.

Golden Eagles (GE)

The premium currency, bought with real money. Not required to progress through the research trees.

Convertible RP

A pool of research points that can be applied to a vehicle's research for a Golden Eagle cost.

Premium account

Time-limited status that increases RP and SL rewards.

Premium vehicle

A vehicle bought directly rather than researched. It does not have to be unlocked through the tree.

Modification

An upgrade for a specific vehicle, such as better parts or new ammunition, researched by playing that vehicle.

Stock

A vehicle without its researched modifications, usually with basic ammunition.

Repair cost

Silver Lions charged to repair a vehicle destroyed in battle. Higher at higher ranks.

Test drive / test flight

A practice session with a vehicle, started from the hangar, with no effect on your progress.

Spawn points (SP)

In Realistic ground battles, points earned by actions in battle and spent to bring in further vehicles, including aircraft.

Capture point

A marked zone (A, B, C …) that a team takes by holding it with vehicles.

Hull-down

A position behind a ridge or obstacle where only the turret is exposed.

Angling

Turning the hull so that incoming shots meet the armour at a steeper angle, increasing line-of-sight thickness.

Line-of-sight thickness

The distance a shell travels through armour; for a flat plate it equals thickness ÷ cos(angle from vertical).

Ricochet

A shell bouncing off steeply sloped armour instead of penetrating.

Spall

Fragments of armour and shell thrown into the vehicle after a hit or penetration.

AP / APCR / APDS / APFSDS

Kinetic armour-piercing rounds: solid shot, hard-core composite, discarding sabot and fin-stabilised discarding sabot.

APHE

Armour-piercing high-explosive: a kinetic shell with an explosive filler that detonates after penetrating.

HEAT / HEATFS

High-explosive anti-tank shaped-charge rounds; their penetration does not fall with range.

HESH

High-explosive squash head: flattens on the armour and causes damage behind the plate.

Protection analysis

A hangar tool that shows where a vehicle's armour, crew and ammunition are and how shells would interact with them.

Mouse aim

An aircraft control scheme where you point with the mouse and an automatic instructor flies the aircraft there.

Energy

In air combat, the combination of an aircraft's altitude and speed.

Boom and zoom

An air tactic: dive on a target from above, fire, then climb away without turning with it.

Convergence

The distance at which an aircraft's guns are set to meet; adjustable in the settings.

Squadron

A player group; squadron activity can unlock squadron-specific vehicles.

Terms and mechanics are checked against the official War Thunder wiki (wiki.warthunder.com). The game changes over time; if in doubt, the in-game information is authoritative.