What Line Should I Grind up?

The answer to this one depends a lot on what you like to play. Do you want to brawl with heavy armor? Then probably you want to go heavies. If you like to drive around fast, hit and run, and scout, then you'll be happier in light tanks. Light to sit in a bush and snipe? Probably TDs are for you.

Let me add that what follows are just my opinion. And while I've played most of the tanks in the game, I haven't played EVERY tank in the game. So keep that in mind as we look at the tech tree...

O.K., what heavy tank line should I grind?

You can't go far wrong with the Russian heavies. From the KV-1 right on up they tend to be pretty good, and forgiving for inexperienced players.

Second choice? The Americans. From the T1 Heavy on up they've got good guns, decent mobility and are just all around pretty good. The pinnacle of the American heavy line is probably the T29 at tier 7, though. Great armor (at least on the turret), good gun, good gun depression, decent mobility. If you can get hull down you're a monster.

The Polish heavies are surprisingly good, in my opinion. The heavy line starts at Tier VII with the not-awful 45TP. From there I think they just get better and the top two tiers are very good.

Bonus: If you just want to play a massive derpwagon, the Japanese heavies might be for you. I find them kinda boring, they're numbingly slow, but...they've got serviceable armor and big derpy boomsticks.

The Swede heavies are quirky. The line comes off the Leo and starts at Tier 8. They're all pretty good, but they're gangly autoloaders. If you learn how to play them you can be very effective.

The Chinese heavy line doesn't really start until tier 7 and the first two (the IS-2 and the 110) aren't very forgiving. Once you get the hang of them they're both playable, but neither are brilliant and there will be moments you want to quit. The top of the line, though, the WZ-111 1-4 and the WZ-111 5A are outstanding. Some of the best in the game. The 113 is a rare Tier X collector vehicle (so no grind, *IF* you already have a Tier X Chinese tank) and it recently got a buff, I think. I like it, though not as much as the 5A.

You probably noticed I haven't mentioned the Germans yet. I really didn't enjoy most of the German heavies. The Tigers are a disappointment in the game, in my opinion. The best thing about the German heavies, for me, was that at the higher tiers the armor got quite good. The E75 I found to be a highlight for this line.

The best thing I can say about the British heavy grind is that it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. All the way through Tier 7 are a crew of big, awkward, Churchills and Black Princes. To their credit the armor was more workable than I expected, and the guns fire fast. The Caernarvon at Tier 8 is hard to pronounce but excellent to play.

O.K., what medium line should I grind?

Once again the answer probably starts with the Russians. They have solid options at every tier, and when you get to the top tiers the Object 430/430U, T-54, Object 140....are all fantastic tanks. You'll spend a lot of time in the tier 8 T-44, but that's fine because I think it's a really good tank.

The second choice is a bit trickier. The Americans have some great mediums in their line. The first tank I ever 3-marked was the M4 DerpSherman. The Easy 8 and the Jumbo are both intriguing. The T-20 isn't bad. The Pershing isn't very good, but it leads to the M46 Patton and the M48 Patton which are quite good.

The Brits are another viable choice. The Cromwell is one of the best Tier 6 mediums, especially if you like mobility. The Comet is ok, and the Centurians are ridgeline warriors.

Bonus: The Italian line is mostly good and it leads to the excellent autoreloaders at the top; the Pantera, the Standard B, and the Progetto 65.

New! The Swedish line just got the top three tiers of medium tanks and I think they're pretty good. The mid-tier Swedes are pretty good, the Leo at tier 7 can be a little frustrating (especially if you don't have the top gun) but otherwise the Swedish line is fine.

The French mediums are very good; but they only really exist at the top two tiers currently. You have to grind up the light tank line before you get to the BC-25tAP. The AMX mediums are now Collectors tanks, and I like them a LOT.

The Japanese mediums are boring at best in the low tiers, at tier 7 it gets playable, and I liked the STA-1 and above. The STB-1 at tier X is terrific.

The Chinese mediums seem to be badly power-creeped. I haven't found much to enjoy there until you get to the WZ-120 at Tier 9 which I think is playable.

The Polish mediums are relatively new in the game. The first few aren't great - though the B.U.G.I. is fun with the derp gun. When you get to the CS-53 at Tier 8 it's still not great, but it's playable.

The Czech mediums are kinda fun at the low tiers, then you hit the T-34/100 and the TVP VTU and you start to question your life choices. The VTU is probably the worst Tier 8 MT in the game, in my opinion. I never free XP past tanks but the VTU made me want to. Getting thru the VTU is perhaps the best use of blueprints in the game. But once you get past the VTU the Skoda T 50 and TVP  T 50/51 are both quite good. 

O.K., what light tank line should I grind?

Here it's NOT the Russians that are my favorites. In my opinion most of the light tank lines (with the exception of the Russian and French) kinda fizzle out at tier 9 but that's ok, tier 9 light tanks can usually hold their own in tier 10 battles; especially in the scout role.

Also worth noting that a lot of nations don't have light tank lines (beyond the early tiers) yet. The Czech, Italian, Polish, Swedish....no light tanks above tier 4 or so.

My first choice is the Americans here. They're good tanks all the way up from the legendary Chaffee at tier 5. The T37 and T21 at tier 6 are good. The T71DA is possibly the best tier 7 light tank in the game. I was a little underwhelmed with the Bulldog but that's because it's more of a combat scout and the camo is a little weak; that doesn't fit my particular playstyle, but it's still a good tank. The T49 at tier 9 is a meme-maker with the derp gun.

Second choice is a little trickier. The French tanks are probably my choice, but they're not easy for beginners because at tier 5 you get the AMX ELC bis, which has been gutted by a previous nerf and suffers from a lawnmower engine. Then at tier 6 you either get the basic wheelie tank or the AMX 12T. If you have a good crew the 12T is a very good tank, but it's an autoloader and that takes a bit of practice to play well with.

The wheelies get better and better, but can be tricky to drive. Once you master them you're just playing Mario Kart though...driving fast and erratic, spotting stuff (though view range is relatively poor), eating shots in your Captain America wheels, and making players on the other team turn toxic and break their keyboards. I don't play my wheelies very much (I sort of have a moral objection to them) but when I do I rarely get as much post-game hate mail as when I've just played a wheelie.

The tracked tanks just go from strength to strength through the AMX 13 75, the BC 12t, the 13 90 and the excellent AMX 13 105. Play the BC 12t enough and you'll unlock the BC 25tAP which is a very good light/medium hybrid at tier 9.

Dark horse: The Chinese line is quite good too, at least in the mid-tiers. Good guns (though they don't get favorable RNG a lot), good mobility, good camo, decent view range. I find the Chinese tanks just surprisingly comfortable to play. The 59-16 has really good mobility at tier 6, and the WZ-131 is one of the best tier 7 light tanks. Towards the top of the line they're not nearly as good, unfortunately.

The Russian line is a bit hit or miss, in my opinion. I enjoyed the MT-25, but I didn't enjoy the LTG or LTTB that much. The T-54 lightweight and the T-100 LT are extremely good at the top tiers, though.

The German line...once you get past the VK28.01 I think it goes downhill fast. The PZ-1C is a favorite of the tier 2 seal clubbers and the Luchs is a lot of fun at tier 4. The SPIC (Spicey) was painful for me to play at tier 7 but the HWK 12 was a bit better at tier 8. The tier 9 RU-251 is actually not too bad.

The British line....ummm...just no. Haven't enjoyed one of them yet, with the possible exception of the Senlac and that's a premium. They turn like an aircraft carrier and the DPM is atrocious. Once you learn how to play it the GSOR can be an ok scout, and I know some people love the Manticore for reasons I haven't understood.

O.K., what TD line should I grind?

TDs are a bit more of a muddle. There are assault TDs, which have heavy armor but generally no turret, and sniper schnitzels....that are built to kemp bush and snipe from distance. Some TDs have turrets, and some don't.

My first choice for TDs is the Americans; they offer a mix of snipers and assault TDs, with and without turrets. Grinding up the American line you won't find many BAD tanks and you can experiment with the different playstyles. The T67 is sort of legendary at tier 5, the T95 is a big slow assault beast, the T30 is a turreted TD which used to be a HT.

Once you figure out which playstyle of TD you like best...

The best assault TDs are the Russians I think; the line up through the SU-100M1 that culminates at the Object 268.4 which used to be totally overpowered, but after a nerf is now only slightly overpowered.

The Brit turreted line is a bit quirky with the "Faster backwards" Achilles, the surprisingly good Charioteer, which leads up to the FV4005 "Deathbarn" at the top. The non-turreted Brits are tough to pen from the front and fast firing, but slooooowwww. At the top tier they've got big DPM; I get >4000 DPM in my Tortoise.

The best snipers? The Swedes. The middle tiers can be a bit frustrating, but if you're patient they're quire playable. The top tiers though are excellent. Starting with the UDES the siege mode takes a bit of getting used to but the shell velocity, accuracy, pen...are all hard to beat.  And very good camo ratings too.

The French and Chinese are pretty meh, in my opinion, though the Foch at the top of the French line is kinda interesting.

O.K., what Arty line should I grind?

The Americans are pretty good here - the M44 is sort of the king of the tree. Accurate, mobile, fast-firing. Tier for tier it's probably the best one.

The Brits have really bad range, at least at the lower tiers. The FV304 practically has to be within view range to reach anything. They get better when you get into the higher tiers; I like the FV207 well enough.

The French are very mobile. Most arty players don't drive much so that might not matter, but if you're a player that likes to relocate the French speed will satisfy. Accuracy is a problem with the French arty though - I rarely have shots miss as badly as they do in my French SPGs.

The Germans are ok. Not exciting. Somewhere between the Americans and French I guess.

The Russians are giant and slow. Slow firing too. But they hit pretty hard and have that little bit of secret RASSHA in their RNG I think.

What Tier X should a noob get first?

To be perfectly honest...I think noobs should steer clear of tier 10 until they're not noobs anymore. There's a lot of good players at that level who have thousands of battles in their tanks. Rushing up to tier 10 when you haven't really learned the game yet sounds like a recipe for getting stomped a lot.

My recommendation is always to put in the miles in tier 6, when you're feeling comfortable step up to tier 8. Stay there for a while, hone your craft, try some different lines out.

There's no prize for getting to tier 10 the fastest, other than getting rolled by players who are a lot more experienced.

GLHF!