If you have run into Infantry in War Thunder and moved on without quite understanding it, this is the explanation.

Short answer

It matters more than its screen time suggests, which is why it keeps coming up.

  • Expect its role to have shifted at least once across updates.
  • Ask what it is for before asking how to get it.
  • Expect one number in every guide to be out of date; the method is what matters.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. It is more consequential in the late game than the early one, which is why first impressions mislead. If you only remember one thing about it, remember where it appears.

How it connects to the rest of War Thunder

Where two approaches both work, the one with fewer moving parts is the one to keep. Knowing this does not make you better at War Thunder, but it does make the rest of it legible. Its role has changed across updates, so older discussion describes something slightly different. Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work.

Most guides mention it in passing and none of them stop to define it. Whether it is worth going out of your way for depends entirely on how you are playing. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about.

Why people keep asking about it

The wiki entry is thorough and buries the actually useful part six paragraphs down. Community shorthand around it has drifted far enough from the original meaning to cause arguments. The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first.

  • Note where it first appears, so you can go back if you need to.
  • Check which version of War Thunder any discussion of it is describing.
  • If a menu path does not exist for you, your build is older or newer than the one described.
  • It rewards attention rather than preparation.
  • Ignore the myth attached to it; it has never held up.
  • Read the whole sequence once before doing the first step.

What it is often confused with

It became noticeably more relevant after a change the patch notes barely mentioned. There is a persistent myth attached to it that has never been true in any version. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. It shows up in more places than its introduction suggests, once you know to look.

It rewards understanding rather than grinding, which is unusual for War Thunder. Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. The name is descriptive if you already know what it does, and opaque if you do not.

What to do once you have it

The game introduces it quickly and assumes you picked it up, which is where the confusion starts. Everything below is framed around the current state of War Thunder rather than a launch-week impression. It is the kind of thing veterans forget they ever had to learn.

Early impressions of it are usually wrong in the same specific way. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. It appears in supplementary material in more detail than it does in the game itself.

What it changes in practice

Its practical value is narrow and real, rather than broad and theoretical. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. Two similarly named things exist, and mixing them up explains a lot of contradictory advice.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Ignoring the platform-specific note and then wondering why the steps do not line up.
  • Changing five things at once and then not knowing which one helped.

War Thunder FAQ

Can I miss it?

Where it is missable, that is noted above. Most players meet it without going looking for it.

Has it changed recently?

Its role has shifted across updates more than once. Anything you read without a version attached may describe an older form of it.

Does this work the same on console and PC?

The logic is identical. Menu paths and button prompts differ, and any real difference is flagged above.

How long does this take?

Minutes if it goes cleanly, an evening if you hit the edge case in the caveats list. Neither is unusual.

Come back to the caveats list if it does not work first time — the answer is almost always in there.