War Thunder research bonus: how to unlock

Unlock the daily research bonus in War Thunder by researching and purchasing a qualifying top vehicle. That opens up to five bonus battles per day for the same vehicle type across every nation, including the nation you started with. Check the Research Bonus Block at the bottom of the tree before planning your next unlock.

This covers the main game on Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, checked through update 2.59.0.78, released on 21 October 2026. Use the released Vehicle Research Bonuses system, introduced on 24 September 2024; the earlier three-battle test rules have been replaced.

Find a qualifying top vehicle

Open the research tree for the vehicle type you want to advance: Army, Aviation, Helicopters, Bluewater fleet or Coastal fleet. Look along the bottom for the Research Bonus Block and follow its connecting arrows to the qualifying vehicles. Research and buy one of those vehicles. Completing its research alone leaves the purchase requirement unfinished.

Use the live arrows rather than choosing any vehicle with a high Battle Rating. A qualifying vehicle must meet all four conditions:

• It belongs to the regular research tree. Premium, squadron, event, pack, marketplace and hidden vehicles are excluded.
• It ends its research line. Where a group ends the line, use the first vehicle in that group.
• It sits at the maximum rank of that nation's vehicle-type tree.
• Its highest Battle Rating across all modes is within two Battle Rating steps of that tree's maximum.

After buying it, check the connecting arrow: at least one arrow to the block should be a colour other than red. That is your unlock check. An aircraft opens the aviation bonus; to open the ground bonus, buy a qualifying ground vehicle separately.

Check your target and remaining battles

Hover over the Research Bonus Block to see the remaining allowance by nation. Each nation and vehicle type has its own daily allocation. You can continue researching your original nation, or switch to another nation's tree of the same type. Buying a top aircraft therefore opens aviation bonuses across nations, rather than opening every vehicle category.

Check the bonus icon beside your selected research target. Its tooltip gives the percentage and remaining battles; the percentage follows the target's rank. Use this live value when deciding what to research. The icon appears bright when the target qualifies and today's battles remain. Choose an older eligible target while a newly added vehicle still carries its new-vehicle restriction.

Bonus RP is calculated from your base battle RP. Read that component separately from the final total when comparing the percentage with your reward. A listed 100% bonus adds an amount equal to the relevant base RP; other components of your final reward have their own calculations.

Play and confirm the reward

Play a random battle using the eligible vehicle type. In combined battles, using a tank and an aircraft can earn both active bonuses, spending one battle from each applicable allowance. Merely spawning is insufficient when you finish with both zero mission points and zero base RP for that type: its bonus is then neither awarded nor spent.

Afterwards, open My results and find Vehicle research bonus. You can also check Battles in the messages area. Match the reward to the vehicle type and nation you used, then check the remaining allowance before another match.

Recheck a missing bonus

Once you spend the five battles, wait for the daily reset at 00:00 GMT; the game displays your local reset time. In Enduring Confrontation, each 30 minutes uses another bonus battle. Plan around that cost: spending several allowances in one long match keeps the same bonus percentage rather than multiplying it.

If the unlock disappears after an update, inspect the arrows again. A new vehicle can replace your only qualifying top vehicle. Restore eligibility by purchasing the new top vehicle or another qualifying one. For a green squadron vehicle, follow the separate squadron research route and its activity cycle.