Reference
World of Warships Glossary
Players and guides use a lot of shorthand. Here are the terms you are most likely to meet, in plain English. This page contains no partner links.
- AP (armour-piercing)
- A shell designed to penetrate armour and explode inside the ship. Most effective against citadels and against targets that are not angled.
- Angling
- Turning your ship so that incoming shells meet your armour at a slant, which makes ricochets more likely.
- Broadside
- Showing your full side to the enemy. It maximises the guns you can bring to bear, but also your vulnerability.
- Capture point (cap)
- An area that a team captures by keeping ships inside it. Holding caps earns points in Domination.
- Citadel
- The heavily protected core of a ship around engines and magazines. Penetrating hits there cause heavy damage.
- Co-op Battle
- A battle in which players team up against computer-controlled ships.
- Commander
- The officer assigned to a ship. Commanders gain experience and unlock skills that change how the ship performs.
- Concealment / detection range
- The distance at which your ship becomes visible to the enemy. Firing your main guns increases it temporarily.
- Consumable
- A limited-use ability such as smoke, Repair Party, radar or Damage Control Party, with a cooldown after use.
- Credits
- The main in-game currency, earned in battle and used to buy ships, upgrades and upkeep.
- Damage Control Party (DCP)
- A consumable that ends fires and flooding and briefly protects against new ones.
- Dispersion
- The random spread of shells around your aim point. Larger at longer range.
- Doubloons
- The premium currency, mainly bought with real money.
- Free XP
- Experience that is not tied to one ship and can be spent to research ships or upgrades elsewhere.
- HE (high-explosive)
- A shell that explodes on impact. It deals reliable damage to lightly armoured areas and can start fires.
- Hydroacoustic search (hydro)
- A consumable that reveals nearby ships and torpedoes for a short time, even through smoke and islands.
- Kiting
- Retreating while firing your rear guns, to deal damage while staying at a safe distance.
- Matchmaking (MM)
- The system that builds two teams from players in the queue, based mainly on ship tier.
- Overmatch
- A rule under which a large enough shell penetrates thin armour regardless of the impact angle.
- Paid account time that increases the XP and credits earned per battle.
- A ship obtained through purchase or events rather than research, usually with better credit earnings.
- Radar (Surveillance Radar)
- A consumable carried by some cruisers and other ships that briefly reveals ships within a radius, including through smoke and islands.
- Repair Party (heal)
- A consumable that restores part of the hit points your ship has lost.
- Ricochet
- A shell bouncing off armour because it struck at too steep an angle.
- Smoke screen
- A cloud that hides ships inside it from direct observation.
- Spotting
- Revealing an enemy ship to your whole team so that everyone can shoot at it.
- Tech tree
- The ladder of ships for a nation, researched one after another from tier I upwards.
- Tier
- A ship's level, from I to X, plus a small number of ships above tier X. Matchmaking groups ships of similar tier.
- Torpedo
- An underwater weapon that deals heavy damage and can cause flooding. It is slow to reach its target and can be dodged.
Definitions are simplified. Exact rules are set by the game's publisher and change between updates; if they differ, the publisher's information prevails. See also our World of Warships guide and ship classes guide. World of Warships is a trademark of Wargaming; we are not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Wargaming.