War Thunder: Air or Ground First for Beginners

War Thunder sells itself as one game, but ground and air are almost two different games with a shared wallet. The controls, the spatial thinking, the survival rules, and the research trees are separate. Beginners who understand that early waste far less time than beginners who assume skills transfer.

The default answer: ground first

For most new players, starting on the ground line is the right call, for reasons that have nothing to do with which mode is better:

• Mistakes are cheaper. A ground vehicle can hide behind terrain; an aircraft that makes a mistake is often simply gone.
• The feedback loop is clearer. You see where the shot went, where the enemy was, and what cover would have saved you.
• The economy is gentler. Low-rank ground vehicles have small repair bills, so learning matches cost little.

Five things to know before switching to air

If you are coming from ground, or choosing air first, these are the gaps that catch everyone:

1. The third dimension. Altitude is a resource, not scenery. In ground battles, height is terrain; in air, it is energy you trade for position.
2. No cover. There is no ridge to hide behind. Survival comes from speed, angle, and not being where the enemy looks.
3. Energy management beats point-and-shoot. Aircraft fights are won before the guns come out, by who has speed and height when the merge happens.
4. Separate everything. Aircraft have their own research trees per nation, their own crews, their own modifications. Your ground progress helps your wallet, nothing else.
5. Different economy pressure. Aircraft repair costs scale differently from ground vehicles, and a crash landing costs the same as being shot down. Build the lineup around what two losses cost you, not around what one vehicle earns.

When air first is the right call

Air first suits you if you have flight simulator experience, own a joystick, or specifically want the aircraft game. There is no penalty for starting in the air beyond the learning curve — but if none of those describe you, the ground line is the gentler teacher.

How the two modes share

Shared between modes: Silver Lions, Golden Eagles, your account-level premium status, and the general Battle Rating and matchmaking concepts. Not shared: research, crews, modifications, and most of the muscle memory. That is why the mode choice feels big — it mostly is.

If you are putting together a full first plan, the beginner’s guide sequences the whole first session, and the first vehicle checklist works for either mode. For the money side of starting a second tree, see starting a new nation.