[Glossary](/glossary.md)/[Tactics](/glossary/category/tactics.md)

# Hull down

Sitting behind a rise so only the turret is exposed, using gun depression to shoot over it while the hull stays protected.

Also known as hulldown, hull-down position.

A hull down position hides everything a [shell](/glossary/shell.md) could usefully hit. The hull, the [tracks](/glossary/tracks.md) and the [lower plate](/glossary/lower-front-plate.md) are behind terrain, and the only target left is a [turret](/glossary/turret.md) that on most [heavy tanks](/glossary/heavy-tank.md) is the thickest [armor](/glossary/armor-thickness.md) they own.

It depends entirely on [gun depression](/glossary/gun-depression.md). A vehicle that can drop its gun ten degrees can shoot from behind a shallow rise, one with five degrees has to expose its hull to reach the same target, so depression is what decides which [ridges](/glossary/ridge-line.md) belong to whom.

The counters are a [cupola](/glossary/cupola.md), [high explosive](/glossary/high-explosive.md), [artillery](/glossary/artillery.md), and getting an angle that turns the ridge into open ground.

## Related terms

[Gun depressionHow far below horizontal a gun can point, which decides whether a vehicle can shoot over a crest without exposing its hull.](/glossary/gun-depression.md)[Ridge lineThe crest of a hill, which conceals everything behind it and can be fought over only by vehicles with the depression to shoot across it.](/glossary/ridge-line.md)[CupolaThe raised commander's hatch on top of a turret, often the only part of a hull down vehicle that can be hit.](/glossary/cupola.md)[Damage blockedPotential damage that hit the player's armor and failed to penetrate, the ledger entry for playing a heavily armored vehicle well.](/glossary/damage-blocked.md)[TurretThe rotating housing for the gun, whose armor and traverse speed decide how a vehicle fights from cover.](/glossary/turret.md)

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

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