Crew

Every tank in World of Tanks Blitz has a **crew**. Most tanks have between 3 and 5 crew members, although there may be more crew members. They function similar to modules and can be injured (but not killed). Like a damaged module, an injured crew member's ability to perform their task is limited.

## Crew Members

There are five types of crew members crew members. If a tank does not have a specific type of crew member, then one of the other crew members (usually the commander) will take on missing crew member's duties. If a crew member with more than one role is injured, both of their roles will suffer.

Most tanks have only one of each crew member, but some tanks have duplicate crew members. In these cases, an injury to one of those crew will disrupt their function, but not to the degree that it would be if both are injured.

However, if the whole crew is knocked out, the game registers you as killed, without factoring in how much HP you still have.

### Commander

The commander's job is to spot enemy tanks. The commander is usually situated near the sight. When injured, the tank's ability to spot enemies is hindered. The commander also gives a boost to the other crew, and when injured, this boost is lost and the other crew have a slight penalty.

### Driver

The driver's job is to control the tank. The driver is usually situated in the front of the tank. When injured, the tank loses both speed and maneuverability.

### Gunner

The gunner's job is to aim and fire the gun. The driver is situated near the gun, and when injured, the accuracy of the tank's gun is lost.

### Loader

The loader's job is to reload the gun after every shot. The loader is situated near the gun, and when injured, the tank's reload time increases.

### Radio Operator

Like the radio module, the purpose of the radio operator in WoTB unknown. Nevertheless, many tanks have one. The radio operator is the only crew member that cannot be injured. However, if a tank has a radio operator, it has a non-functional hitbox for the crew member in the tank model.

In World of Tanks, the radio operator's job is to communicate with allies.

## Crew Mechanics

There are 3 types of crew one can buy: 50%, 75% and 100% for Tier 6 tanks and above. The 50% crew choice is free, the 75% crew choice costs silver and the 100% crew choice costs gold. The **75% crew choice** is the most optimal choice as 50% crew grinds are terrible while 100% crews cost gold which is better spent on tanks for sale in the shop, free xp, and other things arguably more important than 100% crew.

If the 50% crew or 75% crew choices are bought, a player must grind their crew up to a 100% to gain a substantial or slight increase in tank performance respectively. For example, the KV-1S, a 50% loader will load the 122mm D-2-5T gun at 26.02 seconds, a 75% loader will load the gun at 22.69 seconds, while a 100% loader will load the gun at 20.12 seconds.

When the crew reaches 100%, or the 100% crew choice is bought, the extra crew skills grind is unlocked. Each tank type has 5 different skill that the player can grind, although the skills can be applied to every other tank of other tank types as well. This is notably different from the World of Tanks crew mechanisms, which will not be covered here to avoid confusion.

## Trivia

* Although crew members cannot be killed, there are unused red icons for each crew member in the game files.
* There is also a full set of icons for the radio operator, even though he cannot be injured.
* A penetrating HE shell does more damage to crew members than AP shells.
* The crew system in WoTB is a much more simplified version of the crew system than of that in WoT.
* Before Update 5.5, Tier I-V tanks had 50% crew and 75% crew choices. As new players did not understand the crew mechanics, they usually bought the free choice, which led to their tanks being sluggish overall and they were destroyed by sealclubbers in their 100% crew tanks. This led to an unhappy player experience which might have deterred new players from continue playing, thus Wargaming gave all low tier tanks 100% crew immediately.