Plane Ammo Types in War Thunder EXPLAINED | War Thunder Aircraft Ammo Guide

Have you ever wondered what all those colorful bullets in your plane ammo mean? Well, wonder no more, because I'm here to explain them all! From the simple AP round, all the way to the HE-SAPI bullet, I'll be giving detailed explanations along with visual guides to help you understand how they work.
──── Timestamps ────
Intro: 0:00​
Basics: 0:17
Characteristics: 1:38
Unusual ammo types: 2:29
Which belts you should use: 3:54
Outro: 4:46
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• Song used: Classic - Joakim Karud ( • Classic (Loudness & Cl... )
Thank you all for 20k subscribers!

[@dejeffmcbob]

this is the most elaborate april fools prank ever

[@theteadrinkingowl.2295]

The joke is he posted. Most unusual.

[@Reggie-grand]

Wait is stealth just the opposite of tracers?

[@meg2001]

@@Reggie-grand yes and that’s why I struggled hitting the plane

[@AntiTheory]

I remember a time when tracer belts were OP at low rank because they all functioned as tracer incendiary rounds, so hurricanes with their 8 friggin' machine guns could just torch enemy planes easily. Those were interesting times.

[@skDoger]

Lmao good days

[@muhammadzhafranammarfahrez6576]

Joke aside, tracer round is the only accepted belt for US 50. Cal

[@CatsAreAmazing8187]

You’re either stupid, or love to get sparks, then blame it on the guns, kinda the same.

[@xx_insert_cool_username_he6876]

I use ground targets

[@TheJamie119]

Ground belt is where it's at

[@erzbengelraziel5490]

also the only accepted ammo for the Ju 87 D-5

[@TheLazyKat]

@@CatsAreAmazing8187 US late war tracer belts have APIT bullets what are you on lmao

[@Obelion_]

to add: if you fly CAS in ground rb, but realistically arent going to pen any tanks with your ap belt, its better to pack full HE because its more effective against light vehicles and the occasional plane

[@reedman0780]

Open tops too, like german spaa. I used HE 45mm on yak 9k to kill the crew inside with shrapnel, although you need good angles to get inside the tank

[@mcawesome9705]

pretty much the only way you're going to pen tanks with cas (using guns) is: - you're playing low tier and have good guns (not fucking 7mm rounds) - you're using a plane with an anti-tank cannon on it

[@Atzy]

This. For example the 20mm cannon on the Swedish J/A21s and J/A21RBs isn't going to be able to penetrate medium or heavy tanks of their rating even with AP rounds, but their HEF rounds can wreck havoc on open topped and soft skinned vehicles

[@Jcaeser187]

@@mcawesome9705 I always take out engines or a few crew members with 50s or 23mms

[@TM450FI]

@@mcawesome9705 embrace gau

[@tfpreloaded2649]

Incredible, now do top 10 furries in "TailSpin".

[@skDoger]

numba 10) jeff

[@simonfejta3434]

numba 9) Joe

[@usesrnaiyme]

Idk why people are complaining about this, it’s just an April fools event where gajin wanted to have a little fun. And people don’t praise it, they question the most stupidly irrelevant part of it.

[@BenitoakaDuce]

@@skDoger what is with japanese ammo?

[@MilitaristTurkcu]

Hahahaha😂😂

[@dazcookiez3714]

should have specified that the visual belt is in order with the bullets in the belt. if you only see AP-HE, but you see black, blue, blue, blue, blue, it means there is 1AP followed by 4HE, and then it repeats. it can also be black, blue, black, blue, but you wont see AP-HE-AP-HE. hard to explain, but helps to understand which bullet is which in a belt.

[@skDoger]

Very helpful thank you real Cookiez from the skDogers Discord server

[@Fafr]

Am I being stupid, or does 0:33 explain this exactly?

[@skDoger]

@@Fafr Pretty much, lol

[@cloudalpha7163]

if it is AP HE AP HE then I think its just gling to write AP HE without repetition

[@admiralriptide6566]

This video is so much more helpful then the one made by Gaijin thanks so much.

[@xgamez5698]

This from Gaijin is good too.

[@Kio_vidz]

The "universal" bullet was simming always to me as "wtf it's just anty armor bullet". Would be also nice if we could make our own custom belts.

[@moblinmajorgeneral]

M20 API-T: *my time has come*

[@kaisermcnuggets]

This video helped me a lot, i learned that the AP is superior against planes and the HE is got against tanks, left a like!

[@spaceapples]

same

[@mickael_guitara]

It's... the other way around. Idk how you got that many likes

[@kaisermcnuggets]

​@@mickael_guitara r/woosh

[@mickael_guitara]

Saying something dumb and then trying to bypass it with a r/woosh won't work

[@kaisermcnuggets]

@@mickael_guitara The entire comment was about sarcasm, you must be fun at parties.

[@hooparom7430]

i just realized what my j21 does to enemies... holy shit

[@-Sober-]

J21/A21 OPPPP. gosh those 13.2s hit like a truck, and the 20mm Akans are incredible

[@hooparom7430]

@@-Sober- it's not op but it certainly a fun plane to fly but it's based on if the enemies deicided to climb or not

[@TheLazyKat]

@@hooparom7430 my dear sir, I have been looking for a person like you who doesn't call J21 OP because of the guns I feel blessed, Accept my greetings 🙏 Ok jokes aside yea, if the enemy doesn't head on you and if he plays it correctly, you're dead cus the J21 is so ass in performance

[@kristianfagerstrom7011]

@@-Sober- the A21's are overtiered in Br. Because some people only know how to head-on, and then go crying to gaijin. A21's flight performance is below it's Br.

[@-Sober-]

@@hooparom7430 I haven't played WT in like 6 months but if I remember correctly I had a 7kd in the j21. the flight performance isn't ass. I used to dogfight zeros and won. just get good I guess

[@logicmaster756]

Ive been dying for an aircraft one thanks its been so long since a good guide

[@shadow3dfx]

Who else though that the more bullets the image show the more bullets you shoot?

[@tomasaguilar2298]

Me xdxd

[@lalad0]

lol me toooooooo

[@-Sober-]

but the plane shows your ammo count

[@IVAN-zm8pz]

I mean im dumb... but not to that point, where would the logic be in that lol?

[@lalad0]

@@IVAN-zm8pz the logic litteraly is : I see bullets that means I shoot those. I see more bullets I shoot more. If no one explains ppl they're not gonna magically understand the first second they use a plane. Heck some People don't even know there are multiple ammo choices

[@BagPiper02]

Omg, is this the real sk doger from the sk doger discord channel? Omg 3am call gone wrong lmaoo. Jokes aside keep up the good work Sk

[@foxd5804]

I have found that using air belts absolute destroys anything in low tier. Additionally the best cas plan at 3.3 for USA is the first p51 variant. One short burst that connects with your target is a kill with those dirty 20mm

[@magicintelligence6625]

I love the fact skD uses the entire cartridge instead of the bullet.

[@skDoger]

Animation budget ran out

[@dominicdurkacs8321]

"Here at Aperture Science we fire the whole bullet, that's 60% more bullet per bullet!

[@duolingobird8196]

i honestly recommend for anti plane bullets the M20 tracer round as it lights the enemies on fire super easily, and can penetrate a fair bit of armour as well

[@FrankDad]

The only 2 exceptions, grand target .50 belts for planes because they work well and the tracer belt for the f-82 with the gun pod since your burst mass is insane

[@jacoproita9010]

nice job u explained rlly well and in detailed mode the different belts gj!

[@skDoger]

Thank you :)

[@raikbarczynski6582]

you forgot to mention that for fifty cals just to use the freedom laser belts if available( aka M20 APIT belt) :)

[@alpacaofthemountain8760]

Great video! love incendiary rounds

[@mikiradzio2214]

You did it! Nice work!

[@rielph8964]

Thanks man, It improve my aim and kill A lot!

[@TheDutchisGaming]

Best explanation animations ever! 10/10

[@flogger3858]

Rejoice he had uploaded

[@mohammadfaizanmateen3636]

That was some good animated explanation if my teachers would teach like that i would have been on another level

[@sesu5543]

Always load practice shells for maximum damage

[@takenname7348]

Actually,shooting opened top vehicles like AA with explosive rounds can sometimes cause ammunition to explode.

[@arturjogi2667]

There is so little explosive filler that it doesn't even guarantee killing a crew member on a direct hit. AP is much better at fighting people, the HE rounds really only exist to rupture tanks and destroy the thin outer shell of airplanes.

[@indy7448]

holy shit so fucking helpful thank you, better than the official daijin ammo guide. just strait simple explanations and answers thank you.

[@aldionsylkaj9654]

first time ever i have to slow video by 25% lmao, idc if the video is longer, so long as it is concise and coherent!

[@guyguy7773]

Tysm bro now i understand

[@icantfindaname-hv9pm]

I use AP rounds on planes and I have a lot of success disabling engines knocking out pilots and generally causing problems for their aircraft, I tried AP for boom and zoom and it instantly knocks out their pilot, tears their planes wing off or just shredding their elevators

[@parytheplatipus]

Personally, my rule of thumb is Rifle caliber guns: AP/stealth HMGs: API. As much api as you can load 20mm and bigger: here is where HE filler becomes enough to really cripple or destroy enemy aircraft quickly, use the belt with as much HE as possible, especially when flying German. I’ve found with my preferences stealth belts work really well as they tend to have a mix of ammunition I like and also don’t alert enemy aircraft when you miss.

[@thegreatscythe2217]

Thanks this helped me alor

[@absolutelynobody8858]

Interesting, welp time to attempt to remember what you said tomorrow even though I could watch it again

[@Neverskipwingday]

LESSGO NEW VID

[@ItsMe-dl1is]

Thanks alot

[@Neverskipwingday]

Here before 100k subs tickets here

[@brynx24]

thank you

[@ThanhHuynh-pw3tr]

I only use Tracers to deal with planes, and so do tanks, but with big gun- prepared planes, maybe use the Amoured one.

[@STDRACO777]

in the 13mm German Immediate action incendiary rounds seems to do the most damage to at least anything on a plane. I don't know if its a glitch but it does far more damage than even HE or AP rounds against armored parts of the plane whilst causing a massive amount of fire damage. to bad I cant aim for crap and they cap them to max of 1 for every 4 rounds. Would love those at 50/50 with he or apt incendiary rounds.

[@williamst.9652]

Thanks

[@simensabj]

Tracers do have better ballistics, so tracers generally go higher and further than all the other rounds

[@x-cry1036]

oddly this also helped me with the auto tanks.

[@Kauffman91]

Merci pour ta vidéo !!! 🫡

[@skDoger]

De rien o7

[@destroyah3086]

thanks to you I actually get it but can you do one for rockets and / or bombs? that I dont understand especially for the early rockets please and thank you!

[@skDoger]

That video is planned for the near future, but I have some other videos to get through. Stay tuned!

[@destroyah3086]

@@skDoger SIR YOU JUST GOT YOURSELF ANOTHER SUB!!! HELL YEAH!!!

[@thebluebrain8114]

could you do a video showing scenarios for when to use interceptors, when attack aircraft, when different types of bombers etc

[@skDoger]

I mean, it's pretty simple. Interceptors are good against bombers, attack aircraft against bombers/ground targets and bombers against bases/ground targets

[@skyscraper296]

1k to 0, this is impressive and you truly desrve it.

[@skDoger]

Thank you :)

[@skyscraper296]

@@skDoger You are welcome :D

[@JoseJimenez-sh1yi]

API-T. is a flamethrower for airplanes whit the ironic side effect of lossing sigth of your target.

[@valdemarsyk3985]

Ball is the most standard basic ammunition for Pistols it can still penetrate skin meat bones thin metal thin concrete and wood that's why these bullets get flattened when hitting thick armor steel lead has mohs hardness 1.5

[@thankfullpluto588]

I would recommend to stick to ground target for shvak cannons no matter what

[@twisterpower521]

3:08 bf109g vibes

[@jimbob4366]

tysm went into a game and instant improvment ty

[@kiq4767]

More than a thousand likes and no dislikes, nice one

[@michajakubowski9043]

For anyone that doesn’t want to remember anything for Air Battles anything below 30mm use AP (except german Minengeschoß) there is no enough explosive filler to do significant damage. For everything above 30mm included use HE rounds. They have enough explosive mass to one shot most aircraft.

[@teodordimdal6313]

Sweden: Let's put more explosives than your average 20mm round in a 13,2mm round making it ridiculously effective. Don't do AP kids.

[@bittenamehiereinfugen3713]

That has to be a joke

[@snspartan714al2]

Idk about y'all but the Japanese 12.7 mm explosive rounds seem to wreck enemy aircraft

[@dangernoodle235]

i'd love to see a vid on diffrent ship ammunition

[@skDoger]

Tune in next year hehe

[@chelarestelar]

I like them stealths. Am still at a low br but, I've managed to surprise kill planes at ~1km. Would like to be able to use them in ground too

[@MausOfTheHouse]

Airplane guides? I want to see a SAAB 105 G guide.

[@MausOfTheHouse]

@Guilherme Leite already did

[@somejoker3130]

When do you plan on making the final part for the nation guide?

[@skDoger]

Yes, that video is hopefully coming next month.

[@jonathanmckarlison1203]

@@skDoger next month coming up!

[@lobotomyE.G.O.RegretFaust]

@@skDoger next month coming up!

[@jeicob5867]

Bro, I think I love u

[@reedman0780]

Anything yellow: makes other planes go boom boom

[@krysu7777]

I love your content I wonder when will your channel reach 100k it's going to happen just when

[@eduardo78526]

You should have explained more specifically which are the best ammo types for some guns in the game, that are not always air targets. Let me give some examples: Best belts to destroy planes US .50cals - Tracer US modern 20mm (F86-F2 ahead) - Armored targets German 13mm - IAI Japanese 20 and 30mm - Tracers Hispanos Mk V - Stealth Mk 108 (German short barrel 30mm) - Night tracers Mk 103 (German long barrel 30mm) - HVAP

[@user-rj1js3lx9l]

Though one thing, the tracer belts can have a lot of he but if you go into armor protection analysis and look at the stats of different rounds you can see that non tracer he does noticably more damage most of the time because it has more explosive mass

[@eduardo78526]

@@user-rj1js3lx9l which gun? It depends a lot

[@jonathanyorde9578]

great guide it helped me a lot. but something I still don't understand is next to the belts is 80/80 and above that is how much SL it costs does that mean it takes SL for every 80 rounds fired or does it just mean that much SL is taken for every round you use it in.

[@skDoger]

I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you use 1 every time you use the plane. So you buy one after every battle.

[@owlsayssouth]

A shout out to usaf .50 cal tracer belts, with all API-T rounds. Lazer belts win all.

[@koencagurangan3256]

skDoger: tracers lose a lot of velocity and penetration, and don't do much damage American M20 tracers: *Laughs in AP-I-T* British 7.7 tracers: *laughs in AP-T and Incindieary*

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

Theres also a guide on steam that lists good belts to use.

[@rodayenalhashmi]

Can you make a video about types of explosives in shells? Like TNT and those explosive types

[@skDoger]

Interesting idea, I'll think about it!

[@MrBlack75922]

he's BACK

[@SEX_TRAINER]

Legends say the engineer is still gaming.

[@MrBlack75922]

@@SEX_TRAINER yea

[@notsocoolguy38]

Could you do a guide on how to aim gunners on bombers and such

[@skDoger]

That could be interesting, thanks for the idea

[@madcat789]

It may be April 1st but this video was no prank.

[@Galaxy-oy4nj]

Should i use Tracer belts for my ShVAK cannons?

[@TheBigEvil]

I just use stealth belts. tracers make it so i cant aim because im trying to range with them subconsciously instead of just thinking and gauging my shots myself (im good at it)

[@jthablaidd]

Ngl my favorite ammo for planes is anything with the most incendiary. You enemy might kill you but they won’t have fun being covered in flames

[@marctardif9756]

Am I wrong or does the belt penetration values is only for the 1st bullet in the belt? Since all bullets don't penetrate the same, I doubt the pen values are an average.

[@hanneshaldorsson1041]

There is a ammo guide by gajin entertainment already!

[@danielal8230]

"Don't let the long name scares you" yeah but the effect it does scares me.. imagine bullet stuck onto your skin then explode.

[@youtubesresidentfbiagent8735]

Tracer rounds are the best rounds for A-36 & F-82s

[@stonyreichmedienproduktion]

What about the default belts?

[@THEBLUETIGER911]

There is also the omni purpose, i suppose it's also just a worse AP?

[@TakahashiRyosuke13137]

May be a dumb question, but what beltsbare good against things like AA or howitzers, to kill them faster

[@skDoger]

Armor piercing or ground targets belts are best

[@gkb0572]

I just use tracers just to intimidate people shooting at me **I wouldn't fucking recommend shooting me because your guns go pew pew but my guns go BRRRRRT**

[@fatehzaghal5084]

Make a nation guide but for aircrafts instead of tanks if you are looking for a suggestion

[@skDoger]

Thanks for the suggestion!

[@vikingz4568]

hi skDoger is the plane ammo type same as anti air craft vehicle ammo type? or do you have a separate video on anti aircraft vehicle ammo type? p.s please help me im kinda new to these ammo belts for planes and anti aircraft vehicle :'D

[@skDoger]

Yep! They're exactly the same. Just hover over the belt and it'll tell you exactly which rounds are in it.

[@vikingz4568]

@@skDoger thanks SkD. I appreciate it :D

[@smokeyy9932]

Armour piercing rounds are good for taking out bombers

[@lilluminati9723]

who needs to think about which boolets are which, i just use the coolest looking ones

[@nukefish2295]

Have you already done Nations guide part 3?

[@skDoger]

It's in the works, hopefully it'll be out before the month ends.

[@deadbody1877]

nice prank. u really got me there.

[@theteadrinkingowl.2295]

Question: How do aim work? My aim broken, How do fix?

[@sirnurtle657]

All you need to know about plane ammo If you use 12.7s, go for tracer belts and give the enemy players a heart attack If using canons, use air belts and beat the crap out of anyone who dares to do a headon

[@sentient_slab]

Thank you

[@KerbalMan11]

How about a 3 minute short where you compare all the types of bombs?

[@skDoger]

Could work, thanks for the idea

[@KerbalMan11]

@@skDoger No problem!

[@Nerino]

And I was like "Okay, imma use tracers, they look cool"

[@hippityhoppityyourchildiso8803]

What’s the right belt for trying to set fire to planes?

[@skDoger]

Incendiary and tracer

[@JustanotherMA]

This also is technically smaller-calibre AA gun ammo types explained lol.

[@Mic-ff6gs]

We need some rocket guides

[@skDoger]

Interesting idea, might look into it.

[@Mic-ff6gs]

@@skDoger no problems dude

[@ChefofWar33]

Basically. When in doubt. Choose the belts with a better ratio of minegeshosh. Lol

[@ajesbayes9057]

You forgot the HESH-IT. Basically hesh but air and incindiary and tracer

[@otaviom6480]

you forgot to mention that with ShVAK cannons you would want to get the belt with the most AP for absolutely every target since the HE is trash and fragmentation rounds work reliably only against japanese planes and other unprotected aircraft

[@4T3hM4kr0n]

oh man the russian API rounds, holy shit are they deadly when you used them with the bigger autocannons like on the La-9

[@taylorindustries]

if the plane has alot of machine guns, then i only use tracer. its blinds the opponent

[@MrAA-io8rw]

Gaijin needs to hire you