Bloom
The widening of the aiming circle caused by moving, traversing or firing, and the reason a gun's paper accuracy is rarely what a player experiences.
Also known as dispersion penalty, soft stats, gun bloom.
Every action multiplies dispersion. Four penalties matter:
- Driving, which scales with speed
- Traversing the hull, which applies even standing still
- Traversing the turret, the one penalty a player pays on every single shot
- Firing, which reopens the circle after each round
These are the soft stats. Two guns with identical accuracy and aim time can feel completely different because one blooms twice as hard when the turret moves, and a vehicle with gentle bloom can shoot while repositioning where another must stop and settle.
Vertical stabilisers, a trained gunner and the smooth ride skills all reduce the multipliers rather than the base value, which is why they improve a gun far more than the accuracy figure suggests.
Related terms
DispersionThe size of the aiming circle at any moment, which grows with movement and shrinks as the gun settles.AccuracyA gun's dispersion at 100 metres, in metres: the radius of the circle a fully aimed shot can land in, where lower is better.Aim timeThe time the aiming circle takes to shrink by 60 percent of its width, not the time to become fully aimed.Gun handlingThe combination of accuracy, aim time and dispersion penalties that decides whether a gun hits what it is pointed at.