History VideoGame / WorldofTanks

* GradualGrinder: With very few exceptions, the clash of giant steel machines lives on this trope. Special mention goes to [[MoreDakka machine guns and autocannons]], and to [[KillItWithFire setting enemies on fire.]] Certain guns specialize in it too; ones such as the 6-pounder Mk. IIIA, [=ZiS-4=] 57mm and [=M1A2=] 76mm, though pretty hard-hitting at some tiers, soon become this. At high tiers, the 75mm L/100 and 88mm L/100 ''are'' this.

** Some tanks are sometimes inferior to their real life counterparts - the IS-7 is a notable example[[note]]it had a higher top speed, among other things[[/note]] - for the sake of balancing the game. Other times, they are far better: the KV-2 was quickly phased out of service as it became apparent that it was poorly suited for armoured warfare[[note]]its turret was so big and heavy it couldn't even turn it unless on level ground, among other issues[[/note]], yet is an absolute terror in-game. Much of this comes from other real-life factors such as engine reliability not coming into effect in-game, since RNG-based mechanical failures would be about as far from "fun" as possible.

* PainfullySlowProjectile: Short-barreled howitzers tend to have lower shell velocity. The British 25 pdr Howitzers (and the artillery's 4.5 inch guns) take the cake for slowness, taking roughly 3 seconds to connect from 500m. Averted by APCR ammo, which travels so fast that it may as well be HitScan except at extreme ranges.

* ParabolicPowerCurve: The Credit gain per fight reaches its peak at Tiers 6-8, and later tanks are usually not profitable unless played extremely well.

*** [[Anime/GirlsUndPanzer The Kuro Mori Mine and the Pz IV Anko]],

''[[http://www.worldoftanks.com/ World of Tanks]]'' is a MMO VehicularCombat game based around... well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin what do you think?!]] It features hundreds of [[UsefulNotes/RedsWithRockets Soviet]], [[UsefulNotes/NazisWithGnarlyWeapons German]], [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks American]], [[UsefulNotes/GaulsWithGrenades French]], [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships British]], [[UsefulNotes/KatanasOfTheRisingSun Japanese]], [[UsefulNotes/ChineseWithChopperSupport Chinese]], [[UsefulNotes/BohemiansWithBombers Czecho]][[UsefulNotes/SlovaksWithSappers slovakian]] and [[UsefulNotes/SwedesWithCoolPlanes Swedish]] tanks. [[note]]Currently, the game features vehicles from the USSR (including an American and several British designs supplied under lend-lease and a couple TD conversions of captured German tanks), Germany (including French, Hungarian, and Czech designs that saw service with the Heer after the German conquest of Czechoslovakia and France and one post-war Soviet tank supplied to East Germany), the United States (with a lone Canadian tank), France (with two German conversions of French tanks), Britain (including a line of modified US vehicles provided under lend-lease and an Australian tank), Japan, China (including several tanks obtained from 5 other nations plus one Taiwanese tank), Czechoslovakia and Sweden.[[/note]]

* FriendlyFireproof: Averted -- misaimed shells, poorly aimed/timed artillery, sheer stupidity (driving into an ally's firing line) and plain bad luck are all possible ways to get shot by a team-mate. Deliberate [[TeamKiller team killing]] is discouraged by penalties and having too many incidents of friendly fire will cause you to be flagged as a team killer -- which means you're a target for anyone in the battle.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: Sometimes a last-resort tactic for tank drivers when the need to kill an enemy tank is imminent, especially while reloading. A slight bump causes ScratchDamage on both the rammer and the rammee; a hard-enough crash can deal substantial amount of damage, and upon the introduction of updated motion physics in patch 9.14, can even roll over an enemy tank. Who comes out on the worse end of a ram is based on the armour and the weight of both the rammer and the target. But since speed also matters and the heaviest tanks tend to be very slow, super-heavy tank drivers often like to get on top of steep hills in order to set up a ram kill against light tanks. Which is less about practical combat tactics and more about the sheer joy of running over smaller tanks. The Controlled Impact perk for drivers actually increases the damage to the other tank by 15% and decreases damage to your tank by 15%, but only if the other tank is stationary.

** Generally, the largest calibre or highest tier weapon available for your tank is the most preferable option, unless it's a HE-only howitzer or has exceptionally poor handling.

*** The German Lowe is a Tier 8 heavy that has a potent gun for its tier, though it's balanced out by somewhat fragile armor. It's competitive at any level, and absolutely murderous against lower tier vehicles. New players use it as a way to skip the work required to get a regular high tier vehicle and even experienced players use it, since it is the absolute best Credit maker in the game. It proved so effective (and popular), it's real world cost was increased.

*** The Soviets have an autocannon as well. It's a 37mm that packs a decent punch but doesn't quite have the penetration to suit the tanks it's mounted on - the T-46, the T-50 and the A-20.

** The Swedish tech tree is almost completely dominated by this trope. Vast majority of it's vehicles can best be described as thin skinned artillery guns slapped onto race-cars. Big guns and high speed is their forte with armor almost slapped on as an afterthought.

** The British TOG II* premium heavy tank. It tends to get mocked by everyone on ''both'' teams in a match and has been dubbed "Train", "Boat" or "Whale". It's painfully slow, comically large (longer than the Maus) and its armour is totally inadequate for it's tier. However, its 80 ton bulk makes trying to ram it suicidal, 1400 hitpoints--double the Churchill III's health--allows it to absorb ridiculous amounts of damage, and it mounts the deadly OQF 17 Pounder Mk.VII, with very good accuracy, excellent RoF and very good penetration. Late game, it can go on enormous rampages, considering most tanks it will encounter will be injured by the time it reaches them.
*** Given it's immense weight and length, a TOG turned sideways on a bridge or other chokepoint can completely seal off avenues of attack to the enemy by becoming an almost-immobile piece of scenery, a tactic dubbed "TOG-blocking".

** The American T40 Tank destroyer is a slower, slightly more durable T82 with a massive gaping hole on top that just screams "KILL ME!" It's also a Tank Destroyer with a gun 2 tiers above it's own, naturally faster firing due to being open topped, and happens to have an abnormally large view range and traverse. Combined with its standard TD Camo and competent players, this generally results in an invisible spotter killing your scouts before they can see anything.

** The infamous Tier 9 T95 American tank destroyer has ''305mm'' of armor, more than even the Maus. However, this still does not explain it's unnatural tendency to make '''''ARTILLERY SHELLS''''' go "DING!"

*** In that video, the T95, which mind you, has 1700 hit points (The single spongiest tank, the Maus, has 3000) took '''''32830''''' damage, and came out alive simply because it's armor bounced most of it off.

* PowerCreep: This is accused of happening whenever there's a new branch of tanks coming out. A prominent example would be the relatively recently line of Japanese Heavies, especially the tier 5 [[LightningBruiser O-I Experimental]] and it's tier 6 cousin the [[MightyGlacier O-I]]. It has since been announced that these two will be nerfed, though.

* IneffectualLoner: The game is team based, so if you see a lone friendly wander off, it's usually one of the following: [[TheLoad a burden to the team]], [[StupidSacrifice a suicide scout]], or worst of all, [[EntitledBastard your heaviest tank running right into the jaws of the enemy and yelling at you for not joining him in death]]. It rarely ends well for the loner in question, and they are invariably blamed for the outcome.
** For a really bad time, couple this with SuicidalOverconfidence, where the vast majority of the team overloads one flank. In this case the Ineffectual Loner isn't ineffective by choice; he's the one who's noticed the manpower issue, pointed it out and been ignored. The horde is usually wiped out or bogged down despite numerical superiority, and the Ineffectual Loner prepares for a gruesome end (if it hasn't happened already).

* IneffectualLoner: The game is team based, so if you see a lone friendly wander off, it's usually one of the following: [[TheLoad a burden to the team]], [[StupidSacrifice a suicide scout]], or worst of all, [[EntitledBastard your heaviest tank running right into the jaws of the enemy and yelling at you for not joining him in death]]. It rarely ends well for the loner in question.

*** On the flipside, shooting a tank anywhere on it's hitbox that is not a module will deal hitpoint damage and eventually destroy the tank. Even if every shot is placed on the tiny little commander's cupola on the top of the turret.

** Some tanks are sometimes inferior to their real life counterparts - the IS-7 is a notable example[[note]]it had a higher top speed, among other things[[/note]] - for the sake of balancing the game. Other times, they are far better: the KV-2 was quickly phased out of service as it became apparent that it was poorly suited for armoured warfare[[note]]it's turret was so big and heavy it couldn't even turn it unless on level ground, among other issues[[/note]], yet is an absolute terror in-game. Much of this comes from other real-life factors such as engine reliability not coming into effect in-game, since RNG-based mechanical failures would be about as far from "fun" as possible.

** The [[https://tagn.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/amx40.jpg AMX 40's shape]] has earned it the nickname of [[http://slayerjesse.deviantart.com/art/Amx-40-The-Duck-452762378 Rubber Duck.]] The affection come from it's exceptional armour that would be good for a heavy tank the next tier up.

*** The Maus is rather uncompetitive because of how PowerCreep nullified its heavy armor. When the game launched, it was the only Tier 10 alongside the IS-7. With its thick armor and the absence of equal-tiered counters besides the IS-7, it was almost invincible with many players easily soloing matches in the Maus. However, with the introduction of Tier X mediums, tank destroyers, and artillery, Maus's armor became less effective as these newer tanks have the firepower and penetration to penetrate its armor and deplete it HP. Furthermore, as higher-penetrating premium ammo becomes purchasable with in-game credits instead of real-world money, tanks as low as tier XIII can easily punch through its armor. Nowadays, the Maus is treated more as a novelty than a genuinely useful tank since its heavy, unsloped, spaceless armor only weighs it down while other Tier 10 vehicles have better advantages like sloped armor and the ability to use higher-penetrating HEAT rounds.

* {{Invisibility}}: Hiding in the bushes will drastically reduce your visibility range. Well-hidden [=TDs=] can be a pain to spot and a well-geared one in a patch of bushes [[ShaggySearchTechnique can only be revealed by almost bumping into it]].

* ShaggySearchTechnique: Combat is often initiated by frontline (and usually suicide) scouts stumbling upon the enemy, and if the enemy is low-profile and/or a tank destroyer, they're usually discovered at ramming distance.

** The IS-7 and SU-100Y, while not examples, receive honorable mentions because of their B-13 130mm cannon, which was originally for naval use - it's the same gun that Gnevny-class destroyers mount in WorldOfWarships.
** In a similar vein, the Japanese Type 4 and Type 5 heavy tanks use the Japanese 140mm Type 3 naval cannon, which WorldOfWarships players would also recognize as the secondary armament on the Fusou, Nagato, and Amagi-class battleships.

* MultiTrackDrifting: At high speeds, it's possible to do a power slide. Counts as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when you power slide around an enemy tank, and fire the kill shot.

** GameMod: An aspect of the popular [=XVM=] mod is that it allows the player to substitute variously alarming images and sounds to convey the "spotted" alert. YouTube replays show players using everything from [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe Minions]] to the [[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Eye of Sauron]].

** The Lee, Stuart, Sherman, Pershing and Patton tanks.[[note]][[NamedAfterSomebodyFamous Famous American Generals]] (funnily enough, it was actually the British that started this tradition when they received American tanks - it caught on recursively).[[/note]]

*** The Maus is rather uncompetitive because of how PowerCreep nullified its heavy armor. When the game launched, it was the only Tier 10 alongside the IS-7. With its thick armor and the absence of equal-tiered counters besides the IS-7, it was almost invincible with many players easily soloing matches in the Maus. However, with the introduction of Tier X mediums, tank destroyers, and artillery, Maus's armor became useless as these newer tanks have the firepower and penetration to penetrate its armor and deplete it HP. Furthermore, as higher-penetrating premium ammo becomes purchasable with in-game credits instead of real-world money, tanks as low as tier XIII can easily punch through its armor. Nowadays, the Maus is treated more as a novelty than a genuinely useful tank since its heavy, unsloped, spaceless armor only weighs it down while other Tier 10 vehicles have better advantages like sloped armor and the ability to use higher-penetrating HEAT rounds.

** For the loader, Intuition and Adrenaline Rush. Intuition gives a 17% chance (or 34% if you have two loaders with this perk) of a shell being automatically loaded while switching between ammo types, too much of a gamble since you should only completely switch ammo (as opposed to choosing what to load after you next shot) in a safe location instead of betting on a 17% chance; it can also reportedly accidentally load the wrong type. Adrenaline Rush loads 9% faster with less than 10% health, very specific conditions for it to come into effect.
** For the radio operator, Signal Boosting, Relaying and Call for Vengeance. Signal Boosting increases your tank's radio range by 20% while Relaying increases the range of allied tanks by 10%, somewhat redundant after very powerful radios become available. Call for Vengeance keeps tanks you've spotted visible to allies after you die, pretty useless since you have to die for it to have any effect and only works if the radio operator wasn't killed before destruction.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: Sometimes a last-resort tactic for tank drivers when the need to kill an enemy tank is imminent, especially while reloading. A slight bump causes ScratchDamage on both the rammer and the rammee; a hard-enough crash can deal substantial amount of damage, and upon the introduction of updated motion physics in patch 9.14, can even roll over an enemy tank. Who comes out on the worse end of a ram is based on the armour and the weight of both the rammer and the target. But since speed also matters and the heaviest tanks tend to be very slow, super-heavy tank drivers often like to get on top of steep hills in order to set up a ram kill against light tanks. Which is less about practical combat tactics and more about the sheer joy of running over smaller tanks.
** The "Kamikaze" medal is given to the player who plays this trope straight to kill an enemy tank that is [[TakingYouWithMe a tier higher]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin than the one they're using]].