You dim the lights. Get comfy in your chair. You search for that particular new game to play. Suddenly it catches your eye-a fast-paced, action-packed, competitive extravaganza - World of Tanks.
You download it, open it up, burn through the tutorial, and when you open the tech tree. The problem for most new World of Tanks players begins here - that tech tree is massive!
This is a guide for all new World of Tanks players who want to know what tank they should grind to first.
Tier 1:
Best Tank: T1 Cunningham (USA)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 1:
This tier 1 tank offers the highest speed out of all the tier 1 tanks. It is great for ambushing unsuspecting victims and simply getting to vital positions on the map faster than your opponents.
Although it was nerfed some years back due to it having an OP gun, the newer semi-automatic pistol is still reliable and can destroy any tier 1 tank as long as all its shells hit the target.
It also boasts a rear-mounted turret, which allows you to expose a minimal amount of your tank, which is a very forgiving feature in this tier.
How to Play The T1 Cunningham Effectively:
This isn’t something I’d suggest in later tiers, but with the T1 Cunningham, your priority at the start of the game should be to tunnel vision and get to the best position on the map. With the T1’s speed, you can get to the best places on the map first, so make sure you do!
Utilizing the rear-mounted turret of the T1 does help avoid a lot of fire tier 1 brawl. Get behind some terrain and rotate your tank so that the back of your hull is closest to your opponent. Now reverse, fire your shells, go forwards, repeat.
The T1 has some of the worst armor in its tier, so you need to make sure that you avoid long close-quarters combat, Ii can assure you it only ends one way.
Finally, if you’ve fired your gun and still have a few shells in your auto-loader, you can still reload the gun by pressing ‘c.’. This means that you should have five bullets for the next fight you get into, increasing your damage output significantly.
Tier 2:
Best Tank: Pz.Kpfw. II (Germany)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 2:
One of the best features of this tier 2 tank is that it shows off the highest penetrating auto-cannon in its tier. This gun is very forgiving, supported by its low reload timer and relatively good accuracy.
Unlike many tanks in this tier, it’s armor is pretty good. It has nicely angled hull and turret armor, meaning that you will survive one or two situations you wouldn’t have if you didn’t pick this tank.
For its good gun and good armor, the speed of this panzer is good for its tier. However, this time, don’t expect to be the fastest on the battlefield.
How to Play The Pz.Kpfw. II Effectively:
This tank makes use of a good close-ranged autocannon, that can lose a lot of armor penetration in long distances, so ensure that you are getting up close and personal to your opponents.
As you go up in tiers angling, your armor is necessary to ricochet enemy fire. When you go out of cover, make sure you angle yourself so that you aren’t flat-facing the enemy, which makes your armor vulnerable.
You have an insanely high DPM (Damage per Minute) with this tank, and you are one of the most important people in a team fight. Instead of taking long routes to try and flank your opponents, try and play the game towards the action.
Tier 3:
Best Tank: Cruiser Mk.IV (Britain)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 3:
It has some of the best gun depression in the game, which is a deciding factor in many hill brawls.
It’s got an excellent power/weight ratio, meaning that you accelerate around the map at an ok speed to exit and re-engage the fight.
It only has a 6 second reload on its autoloader canon, which is a very short reload time for a gun that dishes out as much damage as our Cruiser Mk.IV.
How to Play The Cruiser Mk.IV Effectively:
When someone offers you a gift, it's a courtesy to take it and use it. Get to a hill and use the fantastic gun depression on this tank, which will save you from overexposing yourself.
This Cruiser has its downsides, however, mainly being the incredibly weak side armor. Try your best to always cover your sides with either buildings or natural terrain.
The tank’s top gun has very unstable penetration, so always make sure you aim for enemy weak points.
This tank does not offer the best traverse speed, so always position your tank in a place where you can escape without having to turn your tank a great amount.
Tier 4:
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Best Tank: Matilda (Britain)
Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 4:
The Matilda has, by a good margin, the best armor at its tier when fired at from medium-long distances. Not only this, but It also provides 370 HP, more than many other tier4’s.
It has an incredibly fast rate of fire with a gun that deals with a consistent amount of damage.
The gun fires rounds with good penetration, damage and accuracy for its tier, and even higher tiers.
How to Play The Matilda Effectively:
This tank is usually vulnerable to artillery, mainly due to its incredibly slow speed, so it is essential to initiate fights in areas with lots of cover.
It has good gun depression just like our other British Tank, the Cruiser Mk.IV, so fighting on hilly terrain always gives you an advantage.
You don’t necessarily have to spend too much time aiming due to the rapid rate of fire, so you shouldn’t waste too much time aiming your shot as you’re bound to hit several in rapid succession.
With Matilda’s superior armor, angling the tank practically makes the armor impenetrable in this tier.
Tier 5:
Best Tank: KV-1 (USSR)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 5:
Unlike most tanks in the game, the KV-1 offers three unique play styles with threedifferent, viable guns. You can go full Derp of full DPM;either way, you’re bound to have fun with it.
Naturally, as a heavy tank, it has very good armor (up to 110mm thick), and it is angled in a way where you can certainly ricochet a lot of enemy fire.
If you opt for the 85mm cannon, you will have some of the best rate of fire, damage, and penetration in this tier.
How to Play The KV-1 Effectively:
Now we enter territory where side scraping is an important mechanic. Side scraping involves reversing at and angle so you can shoot the enemy, whilst the enemy can only shoot your tracks or the well armored turret, which helps negate a lot of possible damage.
The KV-1 has very slow hull and turret traverse speeds. Ensure that you position in an area protected from all sides to protect yourself from enemy light and medium tanks getting in behind you, attacking your weak back armor.
Whilst side scraping is an option, if you are in an area that is exposed to artillery fire, you might simply want to poke out and shoot to reduce the chance of getting hit. If this situation arises, always angle your hull so that the effective armor of the KV-1 increases.
Tier 6:
Best Tank: Hellcat (M18) (USA)
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Why The Tank is the best for Tier 6:
Tank Destroyers are definitely some of the biggest damage dealers in World of Tanks, and the Hellcat is no exception. Its top gun has excellent aim time, reload and pure damage in this tier.
It has some of the best camouflage values in its tier, which helps it act as one of the most efficient snipers from tiers 5-7.
Unlike many tank destroyers, this tank has an incredibly speedy top speed, meaning that this is one of the few tank destroyers in the game that can rapidly move from position to position without being clunky.
How to Play The Hellcat Effectively:
Paper-thin armor, slow hull and turret traverse speed, this tank is exclusively designed for sniping. The best way to utilize the Hellcat is to find a location on the map with a bush for cover, and plug big fat holes in the sides of heavy tanks that are too slow to chase you.
The gun has excellent penetration values, that matches that of one or two tiers above. This means that you don’t need to aim your shot on a tank's weak point for too long, as it is likely to penetrate armor in most places.
You can at times act as bait, just because of how easy it is to penetrate your armor. Get spotted by the enemy team to a certain location so that they follow you. Use the Hellcat’s superior speed to get away from the danger, and with the aid of your team, ambush all those foolish enough to follow you.
Tier 7:
Best Tank: T29 (USA)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 7:
The turret armor of the T29 is almost completely invulnerable to fire from tanks two tiers above it. It is by far one of the best hull-down tanks in the game.
Vroom Vroom Vroom from the T29. It has a respectable fast speed relative to all the other Tier 7 heavy tanks.
Large tracks that soak up the fire, side armor that isn’t terrible? Hmm… it almost sounds like the tank can go hull down and side scrape just as well. Excellent armor values help you excel in team brawls.
The tree line to get to the T29 is not grindy, in fact I’m confident enough to say that you will probably enjoy your way to get to the T29.
How to Play The T29 Effectively:
Do you see that hill over there? Do you think that there’s going to be an ambush waiting for you up top? Well have no fear the T29 is here. This tank can play hull-down better than any other tank its tier. This means that by fighting on a hill, you only expose your turret armor, which in the case of the T29, is completely
Naturally not everything in the world of tanks is hilly, so sidescraping with the T29 is completely viable to do, since the side armor and large tracks help negate a lot of the damage coming your way.
Brawling is essential to do with the T29. Whether it is city brawls or hill/mountain brawls, make sure you put yourself in the thick of the action. In the scenario where you are against higher tiered tanks however, the T29 can equally act as a good sniper.
Using HE on this tank isn’t necessary, so I’d recommend just firing AP/APCR ammunition.
Tier 8:
Best Tank: LTTB (USSR)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 8:
For the light tank class, it offers the best armor and HP pool in its tier.
Elegant, graceful, and frighteningly fast, the LTTB has fantastic acceleration, deceleration, hull traverse speed, and turret traverse speed. It is an all in one light tank.
Armour penetration values for light tanks are usually lacking. However, with the LTTB gun, the tides have turned for the light tank’s favor! There is a downside. However, the LTTB guns don’t offer as much gun depression as other tanks in its tier.
How to Play The LTTB Effectively:
● Living the life of a light tank player is not too fun when you’re caught out in the open. However, if you are playing with an LTTB, moving towards your opponent in a serpentine fashion increases your chance of getting pretty troll ricochets.
● Scouting is the aim of the game with the LTTB. Go around the map;, zooming left to right and center. The idea with the LTTB is you spot the enemy tanks, relocate, spot, relocate, etc. Providing information on the enemy team movement is crucial in order to win a game of World of Tanks.
● “Chaos isn’t a pit; Chaos is a ladder”-littlefinger, ASOIAF. As a loving LTTB player, I encourage you to cause as much chaos on the battlefield for the enemy as possible. Try and have a presence everywhere on the map; your team will appreciate the pressure it provides.
Tier 9:
Best Tank: Skoda T 50 (Czechoslovakia)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 9:
Opinionated though it might sound, I honestly think this has one of the best guns in the game. It has an autocannon with incredible gun handling, short reload time,, and great burst that won’t one-shot tanks, but still, deal loads of damage.
Paper-thin armor isn’t necessarily what you want in a Skoda tank, as HE shells will generally decimate you. The sides of the hull however, have stripes of spaced armor, which means that HE is close to ineffective against shells that land there.
The exceptional mobility, traverse, and control you have when moving this vehicle is excellent. It gives this tank an easy time to relocate when reloading and deal with another burst of damage.
How to Play The Skoda T 50 Effectively:
Skoda tanks generally work best when you decide to play with the team. Alone, the tank struggles to succeed in tier 9 and ten, where tanks will shred you apart due to a lack of armor. Your best chance is to move in a medium/light wolf pack, and play in between other team players, to avoid being a target to others.
This tank also offers good gun depression, so sniping from hillsides is important to effectively use the tank.
Side scraping with the help of the spaced armor is a much safer option than jumping out into the enemy.
This applies when firing with any tank, but with autoloaders, it’s even more effective. You should fire your first shot into the enemy's tracks to immobilize them, and then fire the rest of the load right into the sides of enemy tanks.
Tier 10:
Best Tank: T110E5 (USA)
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Why The Tank is the Best for Tier 10:
This relies a lot on opinion, but I think the line to get to this tank is one of the most fun, easiest, and most relaxing lines to go through in the game.
Armored hull, armored turret, and even the lower plate of the hull is well shielded. I can confirm that you’re going to get some absurd ricochets due to the armor on this tank.
RoF, DPM, gun handling, and gun depression, the tank’s gun has it all; you can’t really go wrong with it.
How to Play The T110E5 Effectively:
Please, please, please do not act as a frontline with this tank. This tank has great armor, yes, but it is a very versatile tank, and can practically act as a sniper, frontline, flanker, and brawler. Look at your team composition. If you think your team is lacking in a specific field, take it up and help balance out the team.
Side scraping is ineffective with this tank, as the side armor is paper-thin, and even when angled, it won’t hold up against any tier 10 tank.
The frontal armor is great, but when angled, the effective armor of the tank increases dramatically, so always try and keep your armor angled to a point where you bounce a lot of fire, but don’t overexpose your weak side armor!
If you are in a situation where you want to act as a sniper, don’t be deterred by hills, the gun depression of this tank helps you go hull-down pretty well.
Conclusion
Hopefully, with this guide, you’ve got an idea of what type of tank you want to go for. Whether you want to be the jack of all trades like the T110E5 or the chaos thriving LTTB, World of tanks offers every type of playstyle imaginable.
I’ve talked plenty; it’s all up to you now. Dim the lights. Get comfy in your chair, and I’ll see you in battle.
