infantry how to play is one of those War Thunder questions where the accepted answer is nearly right and the gap matters.

Short answer

The direct answer is above the fold; the reasoning underneath is there for when the direct answer does not fit your situation.

  • Try the straightforward approach before the elaborate one.
  • Test it yourself where testing is cheap.
  • Give a method one honest attempt before deciding it does not work.

War Thunder models more of the vehicle than it tells you about, and the grind punishes guessing. Nothing here depends on a setting you are unlikely to have. The accepted community answer is broadly right and wrong in a specific way that matters here.

The practical answer

The community wisdom on this is roughly half right, and the half that is wrong costs the most time. Most of the disagreement online comes from people describing different versions of War Thunder. Testing this yourself takes a few minutes and settles it definitively. Treat anything stated without a version number as provisional.

The mechanic behind it is simpler than the discussion around it suggests. It is worth separating what the game does from what players have concluded it does. Patch notes move numbers around constantly; the shape of the answer holds even when a specific value shifts.

Worth knowing alongside this

Edge cases are genuinely rare, which is why the simple answer is usually the correct one. If you are coming to this after a long break, the terminology has probably moved on. It helps to understand why a step exists, because then you can adapt it when your situation is slightly different.

  • Note the exception cases — they are specific rather than vague.
  • Revisit after a major patch if the behaviour changes.
  • Stop and reassess after two failed attempts rather than repeating the third.
  • Check which version any conflicting advice was written for.

Why it works this way

Do the cheap check before the expensive one — that ordering alone saves most of the frustration. A single check up front replaces a lot of guessing later. If a step reads as obvious, do it anyway — the obvious ones are the ones people skip and then wonder about. None of this needs a paid tool, a third-party launcher or an account on a site you have never heard of.

Half the pages on this topic were written for a build that no longer exists, which is why they stop matching what you see. The short version is near the top on purpose; the reasoning is there if you want to know why. What follows assumes you are on a current install and have not modified it.

What to do instead

The awkward part is rarely the step itself, it is knowing which step comes first. Most of the disagreement you will find online is two people describing different builds. There is no hidden trick here that the game is keeping from you.

If your result differs from what is described here, note what is different first rather than starting over. Anything that behaves differently on console than on PC is flagged where it matters. The developers have changed their mind about this at least once, which explains the older advice.

When the usual advice fails

Nothing here assumes a particular playstyle beyond wanting the thing to work. Screenshots age faster than text, which is why this describes rather than shows. There is usually a fast way and a reliable way, and it is worth knowing which one you are choosing.

Where people go wrong

  • Copying a setup wholesale from a streamer without understanding what each part does.
  • Grinding a method that was patched months ago because a thread still ranks well.
  • Trusting a video thumbnail that promises a result the video never actually shows.
  • Skipping the prerequisite because it looked optional in someone else's summary.

War Thunder FAQ

Why do other guides describe this differently?

Most were written for an earlier version and never revisited. Compare the steps against what your build actually shows.

Is there a faster method?

Sometimes, at the cost of reliability. Where that trade exists it is described rather than recommended blindly.

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.

What is the short answer?

It is the paragraph near the top. Everything after it exists for the cases where that paragraph does not quite fit.

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