War Thunder: a plain guide to the vehicles, the classes and the multiplayer

War Thunder is one of the best-known free-to-play military vehicle games. This guide walks through the vehicle classes you will actually meet, what each one is for, how the multiplayer modes and matchmaking work, what the game costs, and how to get started. It is written for someone who has never installed it.

War Thunder is a large online combat game developed and published by Gaijin Entertainment. It puts you in the cockpit, the commander's seat or the bridge of hundreds of real military vehicles across three branches: ground vehicles, aircraft, and warships. The roster runs from the interwar years through the Second World War and the Cold War into modern equipment.

The game is free to download and play. You start with a small number of entry-level vehicles in each branch and earn research points and in-game currency by playing, which unlocks the rest of a nation's tech tree. Vehicles in the tech trees are obtainable through play. The game also sells premium vehicles and a premium account, both of which increase the rate at which you earn — so money buys progress faster, not a vehicle you could never otherwise reach. Whether that trade feels fair is a judgement you will have to make for yourself; we are not going to make it for you.

Matches are played online against other players. A standard ground, air or naval battle is built for 32 players, 16 on each side. Some large-scale air Simulator sessions run bigger. You can queue alone or bring a squad.

Each branch has its own progression tree per nation, and within a branch the classes play very differently. Below is what you will actually find in the game, rather than what a war film might lead you to expect.

There is no playable infantry in War Thunder. You always command a vehicle.

Aircraft carriers and submarines are not player-controlled vessels in War Thunder. Carriers appear on some maps as an object you can take off from and land on.

Each class has a job. Playing a vehicle against its job is the most common reason new players lose matches quickly.

Light tanks should use speed to scout, mark enemy positions and hit from the side. They should not trade shots head-on with anything heavier. Medium tanks hold the line: take a useful position, support the lighter vehicles, trade at medium range. Heavy tanks work as a shield — they draw and soak fire while the rest of the team works the flanks. Tank destroyers belong at long range, behind cover, firing before the enemy can close. SPAA is not a spare tank: park it where it can see sky, and kill the aircraft that would otherwise farm your team.

Fighters live on energy management: climb, keep height in reserve, dive on a target, and use the speed you gained to leave rather than to turn. Strike aircraft should approach at the edge of enemy air defence, release in a short pass, and turn away immediately. Bombers want altitude and a straight run-in, and should expect to be hunted. Helicopters attack from unexpected angles and are badly exposed to SPAA — stay low, use terrain, and do not hover in the open.

Coastal boats use speed and the coastline: close fast, launch torpedoes, break away. Destroyers screen the fleet, use torpedoes at range and keep their anti-air guns busy. Cruisers hold the middle distance and can take a hit. Battlecruisers and battleships hit hardest and furthest, but they turn slowly and every torpedo on the map has their name on it.

The same vehicles are played under three difficulty settings, plus a competitive mode. The difficulty you pick changes the aids you get, not the content.

Team sizes, modes and events change with game updates. Check the publisher's official patch notes for the current numbers.

You can play alone or in a squad. A squad is a small group — up to four players in the usual modes — that queues together and is placed on the same side. Larger, permanent groups are called squadrons; they play Squadron Battles together and pool research towards squadron vehicles.

Matchmaking works off Battle Rating (BR). Every vehicle carries a BR, and a match is assembled from vehicles inside a narrow band around it — around one point wide in practice. The practical consequence for a new player: keep the vehicles in your line-up close together in BR. One much higher-rated vehicle drags the whole line-up up into a bracket the rest of it cannot survive.

Coordination matters more than reflexes at first. The game has in-game voice and text chat for your squad, so you can call out positions and cover each other. Plenty of squads use an external voice app instead for longer sessions.

The download and the base game cost nothing. There is no subscription requirement to play. What the game does sell, on its own platform, is:

War Thunder is an online game depicting military combat, and it carries an age rating. Ratings differ by territory and can be changed by the ratings boards, so check the current PEGI or ESRB rating shown on the official store page for your platform before installing. The game includes online interaction with other players, which is not covered by a content rating.

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War Thunder is free to download on Windows, Linux and macOS, and on PlayStation and Xbox consoles. (War Thunder Mobile is a separate, standalone game with its own content — it is not the same title.) Create an account, pick a nation and a branch, and play the tutorial before your first Arcade Battle. Stay in Arcade until the controls are second nature, then try Realistic.

Whether the appeal is a tank engine, a dogfight or a gun line at sea, the entry cost is your time rather than your money. Install it, play the tutorial, and find out in an evening whether it is for you.