[Glossary](/glossary.md)/[Gunnery](/glossary/category/gunnery.md)

# Armor-piercingAP

The standard solid shell: reliable damage, moderate penetration, five degrees of normalization and a ricochet beyond 70 degrees.

Also known as AP, AP shell, standard shell.

AP is the default [round](/glossary/shell.md) on most guns and the baseline every other shell is described against. It deals the gun's full [alpha](/glossary/alpha-damage.md) on a [penetration](/glossary/penetration.md), normalizes by five degrees against sloped plates, and [ricochets](/glossary/ricochet.md) off anything angled more than 70 degrees unless the shell overmatches it.

It loses penetration as it flies, so a shot at 400 metres is measurably weaker than the same shot at 50. In exchange it is cheap, which is why the credit difference between AP and [premium rounds](/glossary/premium-ammo.md) is what most economy discussions are actually about.

## Related terms

[APCRA lighter, faster shell with higher penetration than AP, less normalization and a steeper penetration loss over distance.](/glossary/apcr.md)[PenetrationHow much armor a shell can defeat, in millimetres, rolled plus or minus 25 percent on every shot and compared against the effective thickness it hits.](/glossary/penetration.md)[NormalizationThe few degrees a shell turns toward the perpendicular on impact, reducing the effective armor it has to cross.](/glossary/normalization.md)[RicochetA shell deflecting off a plate without any penetration check, which happens beyond 70 degrees for most shells and 85 for HEAT.](/glossary/ricochet.md)[Premium ammunitionThe higher-penetration round available on nearly every gun, bought with credits and named after the days when it cost gold.](/glossary/premium-ammo.md)

[Every World of Tanks term](/glossary.md)

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