Certain Cold War vehicles have a feature that was inspired by the real-world technology of the time: the ability to mount and fire missiles!

Missiles are a type of ammo that a vehicle can use in addition to (or sometimes instead of) traditional shells. Vehicles that can use missiles will have a gun available in their gun module details that has missile ammunition as an option.

Unlike shells, Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) sacrifice travel speed for the ability to be guided towards the attacker's target with no loss of penetration. Furthermore, their damage is higher, their number is limited, and they usually take longer to ready and reload.

Below are answers to some of the most common questions about how missiles work.

How many missiles can I equip on one tank?

Missiles are limited to a certain amount for each vehicle individually.

Can I buy missiles with Silver?

Yes, all missiles can be bought and equipped with Silver.

Are there regular and premium missiles?

Yes.

Will my tank launch missiles from the same gun as regular shells, or will the missiles fire from a separate missile launcher?

This depends on the tank! There are three types of vehicles that use missiles in World of Tanks Modern Armor:

• Tanks that fire missiles from the same gun as regular shells (barrel-fired) – switch your active ammo type to load your missiles
• Tanks that fire missiles via a secondary weapon; these are Multiple Weapon System vehicles
• Tanks that use only missiles as ammo and do not fire regular shells

What’s the biggest difference between a missile and other types of ammo?

Missiles can be guided to locations within a vehicle’s line of sight.

Do missiles go in a straight line, or can I guide them?

Missiles are guided by laser, which you steer with your reticle. Enemies can dodge your missiles by hiding behind cover.

How much damage do missiles do?

Missile damage can vary based on which missile is used, but generally missile damage will be higher than shell damage on the same vehicle.

What other factors affect the amount of damage that missiles do?

ATGMs have a minimum arming distance. This is the distance that the ATGM needs to travel until it is "armed" and can do its full damage and penetration. If you’re too close to your target, you can still fire the ATGM, but its damage potential will be reduced to only 25% of its base damage and its penetration will be only 75% of its base value.

ATGMs will be set to one of two values based on the vehicle: 65m or 100m. The minimum arming distance and the % of damage and penetration, when not armed, can be viewed on the tank's detailed stats page.

When you are too close to your target, the HUD will have an X over your reticle with a note that you are too close. If you are farther than the minimum arming distance, your reticle will appear normal.

How can I counter ATGMs that are launched at me?

Guided missiles are designed to be tough to counter. However, you can install Enhanced Missile Warning as one of the four pieces of Equipment on your tank. This will add an incoming missile warning system to your vehicle.

If your vehicle has spaced armor, ERA (explosive reactive armor), or composite armor baked into its design, this will provide you with some defense against ATGMs as well. These types of armor were historically designed to prevent ATGMs from penetrating and doing damage. (If you’re firing an ATGM, avoid these spots on the enemy tank!)

How do missiles perform around smoke?

Smoke acts as a “blocker” for the targeting laser of missiles, but it will not stop the missile completely. Missiles can travel through the smoke and if they come in contact with an enemy, they will deal damage.

Is there a limit on

No.

Why is it that some tanks get missiles and some don’t?

Missiles are primarily assigned to vehicles based on historical usage. While some vehicles may have missiles based on potential loadouts not seen in history, we do not add missiles to tanks that have no missile-launching capabilities.

Will missiles be in World

Missiles appear only in the Escalation and Détente eras in Cold War mode for all affiliations.

Which tanks can use missiles?

Currently, the vehicles listed below are capable of firing missiles: