Reference
Glossary: the jargon in both games, translated
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Terms you will meet in the first week of either game, in plain English. Where a term means something slightly different in the tank game and the naval game, we have said so.
- Angling
- Turning your vehicle so incoming shells strike its armour at a steep angle, increasing the amount of steel they must cross.
- AP
- Armour-piercing. The standard kinetic shell: solid penetration, full damage on a successful hit, nothing at all on a ricochet.
- APCR
- Armour-piercing composite rigid. A lighter, faster shell with higher penetration that loses effectiveness at range and against slopes.
- Bloom
- The temporary increase in your detection range caused by firing your main guns. The reason shooting from smoke can still get you spotted.
- Bot
- A scripted account playing automatically. Against the rules of both games and reportable in the client.
- Broadside
- Presenting the full side of your ship or vehicle to an enemy. The most expensive mistake in either game.
- Camouflage value
- A hidden statistic governing how hard your vehicle is to spot. Affected by the vehicle, the crew, camouflage nets and paint.
- Carry
- Winning a battle largely through your own play after your team has collapsed.
- Citadel
- The armoured box around a warship's machinery and magazines. An armour-piercing hit inside it does hugely increased damage.
- Consumable
- A single-use or cooldown-limited ability such as a repair kit, damage control party, smoke generator or radar.
- Credits
- The soft currency, earned every battle and spent on vehicles, modules, ammunition and repairs. Called silver by many players.
- Detectability
- The range at which your ship becomes visible to enemies. Separate figures exist for surface and air detection.
- Doubloons
- The premium currency in World of Warships, bought with real money.
- Flooding
- Ongoing damage caused by a torpedo hit, cleared with the damage control party consumable.
- Free XP
- Experience that can be spent anywhere in the tech tree rather than on one vehicle's branch.
- Gold
- The premium currency in World of Tanks, bought with real money.
- Grind
- The extended play required to accumulate the experience and credits for the next unlock.
- HE
- High explosive. Damages by blast, works against thin armour, can start fires, but is largely stopped by thick plate.
- HEAT
- High explosive anti-tank. A shaped charge whose penetration does not fall with range, but which is defeated by spaced armour, tracks and fences.
- HESH
- High explosive squash head. A large high-explosive round found on British vehicles in the tank game.
- Hull down
- Positioning so that only your turret is exposed over a crest, hiding the thinner hull armour behind terrain.
- Matchmaking spread
- The range of vehicle tiers the matchmaker will put in one battle. Why a tier VI can meet a tier VIII.
- Normalisation
- A mechanic that straightens an arriving shell slightly towards the plate, reducing the effective angle.
- Overmatch
- A rule under which a sufficiently large calibre defeats a thin plate regardless of angle, and cannot ricochet off it.
- Penetration
- The nominal thickness of armour a shell can defeat under ideal conditions. A starting figure, not a guarantee.
- Platoon / division
- A small pre-made group, usually up to three players, that enters matchmaking together.
- Premium account
- A paid subscription that multiplies credit and experience earnings. Sold by the day, month or year.
- Premium vehicle
- A vehicle bought or won rather than researched. Earns more credits per battle; many have no research path at all.
- Ricochet
- A shell skipping off a plate without penetrating because it arrived at too steep an angle.
- Sixth sense
- A crew skill in the tank game that tells you when you have been spotted.
- Spotting
- Detecting an enemy so that your whole team can see and shoot at it. Rewarded with experience and credits in its own right.
- Tier
- A rough power bracket, usually I to X. Matchmaking works on tiers rather than on player skill.
- Tracked
- Having your running gear destroyed, immobilising the vehicle until it is repaired.
- View range
- How far your vehicle can detect enemies, subject to a hard game-wide spotting cap.
Published 21 September 2026 by Karen Lee. Definitions describe the mechanics as the games present them; the operator's own glossary and patch notes prevail.
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