World of Tanks Glossary
Plain-English explanations of every WoT term — with formulas, examples, and the common mistakes that cost matches.
53 terms across 10 categories: Combat · Defense · Vision · Modules · Crew · Loadout · Mechanics · Economy · Statistics · Modes
Combat
- DPM — Theoretical damage output sustained over one minute of continuous fire.
- Alpha damage — Average damage dealt by a single shell on a successful penetration.
- Penetration — How many millimeters of armor your shell can punch through at point-blank range.
- Ammo types — AP, APCR, HEAT, and HE — each shell type behaves differently against armor.
- Rate of fire — How many shells your gun can fire per minute with current crew and equipment.
- Gun depression — How many degrees below horizontal your gun can aim — critical for hull-down play.
- Autoloader — Magazine-fed gun system that fires multiple shells in rapid succession before requiring a long reload.
- Autoreloader — Hybrid magazine system that refills individual shells without dumping the full clip, blending burst damage with sustained DPM.
- Dispersion — How tightly your shells cluster around the aim point — measured as the radius of the aiming circle at 100 meters.
- Aim time — Seconds for the reticle to shrink from its bloomed (moving) state back to fully aimed (base dispersion).
- Ricochet — When a shell deflects off armor instead of penetrating — typically at impact angles over 70° from the perpendicular.
- Overmatch — When shell caliber is ≥3× armor thickness, ricochets become impossible and angle modifiers are reduced.
- Normalization — How much a shell's impact angle is 'corrected' toward perpendicular when striking sloped armor — making penetration easier than pure geometry suggests.
- Premium ammo — Higher-penetration ammunition purchasable with credits or gold — typically APCR or HEAT — used to defeat tough armor.
- Accuracy — The radius of the shot dispersion circle at 100 m of range — lower is better.
- Shell velocity — How fast a shell travels in m/s — determines how much you lead moving targets.
- Module damage — Separate damage pool applied to internal modules and crew, distinct from hull HP damage.
Defense
- Armor angling — Tilting your armor to multiply its effective thickness against enemy shells.
- Hull-down — Hiding the hull behind a ridge or wall, exposing only the turret.
- Sidescraping — Defensive position where the tank's side is angled ~25° toward the enemy behind cover, exposing only the rear corner and front of the side armor.
Vision
- View range — How far your tank can spot enemies from a stationary position with no obstructions.
- Camo rating — How hard it is for enemies to detect your tank, expressed as a percentage.
- Spotting (vision) — How tanks detect each other through line of sight, camo, and view range.
- Sixth Sense — Commander perk that displays a light-bulb icon 3 seconds after your tank is spotted by an enemy.
- Proxy spotting — Automatic detection of any enemy tank within 50 meters of yours, regardless of camouflage or view range.
Modules
- Ammo rack — Module storing your shells — if destroyed, your tank explodes.
Crew
- Crew skills — Bonuses your crew members earn as they accumulate experience.
- BiA — Universal crew perk that boosts every crew member's effective training by 5%, improving reload, aim time, view range, and more.
- Commander — Primary crew member whose effective skill boosts every other crewman's training by 10%, and who carries the most critical perks.
Loadout
- Equipment — Three slots per tank for permanent stat-boosting modules.
- Consumables — Three single-use items per battle: repair kit, med kit, fire extinguisher, food/cola.
- Gun rammer — Equipment that cuts loading time by 10% — the default first pick for most guns.
- Improved Ventilation — Equipment giving +5% to all crew skills — a small boost to everything at once.
- Coated Optics — Equipment adding +10% view range at all times, moving or stationary.
- Binocular Telescope — Equipment adding +25% view range after the hull sits still for a few seconds.
- Vertical Stabilizer — Equipment cutting dispersion from movement and turret rotation by 20%.
- Gun Laying Drive — Equipment that speeds up aiming by 10% — the reticle closes faster.
- Camouflage Net — Equipment giving a large concealment bonus once the hull sits still briefly.
- Spall Liner — Equipment reducing damage from HE splash, ramming, and crew injuries.
- Turbocharger — Equipment boosting engine power (~7.5-10%) and raising the top speed cap.
- Improved Hardening — Equipment adding maximum hit points and much tougher suspension.
Mechanics
- Matchmaker — Algorithm that assigns each player to a random battle, balancing tiers and tank classes between two teams of 15.
- Terrain resistance — Hidden stat that scales how much engine power is lost on soft, medium and hard ground.
- Power-to-weight — Engine horsepower divided by vehicle weight — the main driver of acceleration.
- Turret traverse — How fast the turret rotates, in degrees per second.
Economy
- Credits — The main soft currency of World of Tanks, earned in battle and spent on ammunition, repairs, and tank purchases.
- Bonds — Hard currency earned in battle and from missions, spent on improved (bond) equipment and special tank purchases.
- Premium account — Time-based subscription that multiplies credit and XP earnings by 1.5× and unlocks extra mission slots.
- Tech tree — The research lines each nation uses to unlock tanks tier by tier with XP and credits.
- Free XP — Experience usable on any research — earned as a small share of battle XP or converted with gold.
Statistics
Modes
- Ranked — Competitive Tier 10 mode with structured matchmaking and rewards tied to per-game performance ranks (chevrons).