How to Choose Your First Nation in War Thunder

Every “best nation” list ages badly, and in a game with 2500+ vehicles no nation is best at everything. What matters for a new account is fit: how forgiving the nation’s low-rank vehicles are, how deep the tree runs before it gets expensive, and how hard the repair costs hit while you are still learning. This page gives you the framework; the choice stays yours.

The three axes

Judge each candidate nation on three axes, in this order:

1. Newcomer friendliness. Do the early vehicles have simple, forgiving designs — decent armor, stable guns, straightforward handling — or do they demand expert-level positioning? Friendly lines let you learn the game; punishing lines teach you to avoid the game.
2. Tree depth. A deep tree means more vehicles at every battle rating, which gives you options when a match goes badly and lets you build a lineup without leaving the nation. Shallow trees push you into uptiers faster.
3. Economy pressure. Nations differ in repair costs and vehicle prices at low ranks. A line that is cheap to run lets you play ten matches; an expensive line quietly bankrupts you after five.

The comparison table

War Thunder currently offers ten nation trees: USA, Germany, USSR, Britain, Japan, China, France, Italy, Sweden, and Israel. Here is how the low-rank experience usually reads, judged on those three axes:

Nation	Newcomer friendliness	Tree depth	Economy pressure	What it means in practice
USSR	High	Deep	Low	Sloped armor on the early T-34 and KV line forgives bad angling, and the tree branches into mediums, heavies and tank destroyers early. The most common first pick for a reason.
Germany	High	Deep	Medium	Low-rank guns penetrate almost anything, but flat armor punishes sloppy angling and repair bills climb once you leave the early ranks.
USA	High	Deep	Medium	Stable gun platforms and good depression; Shermans teach hull-down play, which is a habit worth having before rank III.
Britain	Medium	Medium	Medium	Solid shot rewards precise aim at weak points and punishes spraying. Learnable, but not the gentlest first tree.
Japan	Medium	Medium	Medium	The air tree is agile and entertaining; the ground tree is thin at low rank, so pick it for planes.
China	Medium	Medium	Low	Borrows US and Soviet vehicles, so you sample both design schools, at the cost of a smaller low-rank lineup.
France	Medium	Medium	High	Autoloaders and unusual armor layouts are a harder read for a first account; repair costs bite earlier.
Italy	Medium	Medium	High	Thin armor and odd guns make early matches unforgiving until you know the maps.
Sweden	Medium	Medium	Medium	Strong at specific tiers rather than uniformly friendly; good second tree.
Israel	Low	Shallow	Medium	Starts at a higher battle rating, so it is not a first tree by design.

These are read-offs from the tech tree, not opinions: vehicle roles at low rank, how many branches open up, and the repair cost printed on each vehicle card. Verify each on the live tree, since a patch can reorder a line.

Decision steps

1. Open the tech tree for three nations you find interesting.
2. Look only at the lowest battle rating row: are there two or three vehicles with simple roles you can run cheaply?
3. Check repair costs on those vehicles. If dying in them stings, move down a rank or switch nation.
4. Pick the nation with the best low-rank economics and commit for your first twenty hours.

Commitment beats optimization

You can research a second nation later — the sunk-cost question has its own page in should I grind a new nation. Early on, one nation, one branch, and a cheap lineup will outperform any split effort. Once the nation is picked, continue with how to pick your first vehicle and the full first 10 hours route.