WoWS Economy Guide 2026
Six currencies, one goal: build a powerful fleet without spending money. This guide covers everything — from daily credit farming to endgame steel ships. Every F2P strategy I've used, tested, and proven.
Start Earning CreditsCredits
The primary in-game currency. You earn credits in every single battle — win or lose. Credits are used to purchase tech-tree ships, modules, upgrades, and resupply consumables between battles. Without credits, you can't progress up the tech tree.
How to Earn
- Play battles — every battle pays credits based on your performance (damage, kills, caps, spotting). Premium account adds +50% credits. Tier VIII premium ships have hidden credit multipliers — Mainz, Atago, and Kidd are the best credit farmers.
- Clan bonus — -15% post-battle service cost means you keep more of what you earn.
- Credit containers — pick 'More Credits' containers if you're short. Otherwise, always pick coal.
- Events and missions — seasonal events often drop millions of credits.
How to Spend
Tech tree ships, modules (hull, range, torpedoes), upgrades (slot 1-6), premium consumables (always buy these with credits — 22,500 credits each), and resupply between battles.
Jay's Pro Tip
Never sell ships for credits. A Tier X ship sells for ~7.5M credits but the snowflake rewards you lose are worth far more. Keep every Tier V+ ship in your port.
Doubloons
The premium currency. Doubloons buy premium ships, premium account time, dockyard phases, port slots, and special event items. You can earn some doubloons for free through Ranked Battles and events, but most come from purchasing with real money.
How to Earn
- Real money purchase — the primary source. Various bundle sizes available.
- Ranked Battles — each season awards doubloons for reaching certain ranks.
- Supercontainers — very rare, but Supercontainers can drop 1,000 doubloons.
- Dockyard events — completing dockyard phases can award doubloons.
How to Spend
Premium ships from the Armory and Premium Shop. Premium account time (most efficient purchase: 360 days during the Christmas sale at 50% off). Dockyard starter packs. Port slots (300 doubloons each). Commander respec.
Jay's Pro Tip
Wait for sales. Doubloon ships go on 25% discount during major events (Anniversary, Black Friday, Christmas). Never pay full doubloon price — patience saves thousands.
Coal
The F2P player's best friend. Coal is earned just by playing the game — no purchase required. It accumulates from daily containers, battle pass, clan base, and missions. The Armory sells premium ships, commanders, and unique upgrades for coal. Some of the best ships in the game are coal ships: Napoli, Marceau, Salem.
How to Earn
- Daily containers — ALWAYS pick 'More Coal'. This gives ~1,200 coal/day. That's 36,000+ per month just from containers.
- Battle Pass — the free track awards coal at multiple levels. Completing all stages gives 15,000-20,000 coal.
- Clan base — a developed coal port gives up to +10% bonus coal. Join a clan with a maxed coal port.
- Missions and campaigns — many award coal as rewards.
- Ranked and Clan Battles — competitive modes drop coal for participation.
How to Spend
Premium coal ships: Napoli (252k coal), Marceau (252k coal), Salem (252k coal), Kearsarge (228k coal), Iwami (228k coal). Legendary commanders: Sansonetti, Yamamoto, Halsey (175k coal each). Unique upgrades for specific Tier X ships (17k-19k coal each).
Jay's Pro Tip
Napoli should be your first coal purchase. It's the strongest cruiser in the game and costs 252k coal — achievable in 5-6 months of consistent daily play. After Napoli, get Marceau.
Steel
The competitive currency. Steel is earned exclusively through competitive modes: Ranked Battles, Clan Battles, and very rarely from Supercontainers. Steel ships are among the most powerful premiums in the game — Bourgogne, Stalingrad, R. Lauria. Steel accumulates slowly; spend it carefully.
How to Earn
- Ranked Battles — each sprint and season awards steel for reaching certain ranks. Reaching Rank 1 (Gold) in a sprint awards ~200-300 steel.
- Clan Battles — the primary steel source. A Typhoon-level clan earns 10,000+ steel per season.
- Supercontainers — extremely rare 1,500 steel drops. Don't count on these.
- Anniversary and New Year events — sometimes award steel for collecting ship snowflakes.
How to Spend
Premium steel ships from the Armory: Bourgogne (30,000 steel — the best steel ship), Stalingrad (28,000 steel), R. Lauria (25,000 steel), Austin (22,000 steel), FDR (32,000 steel).
Jay's Pro Tip
Don't spend steel on anything except Tier X ships. No commanders, no upgrades, no lower-tier premiums. Save every point of steel for Bourgogne — it's worth it. A F2P player in a Typhoon clan earns 30k steel in roughly 12-18 months.
Research Points (RB)
Earned by resetting tech-tree lines. The Research Bureau offers unique ships not available anywhere else — Ohio, Slava, Colbert. This is the long-term endgame grind. Research Points require resetting an entire tech-tree line and re-grinding it back to Tier X.
How to Earn
- Reset a tech-tree line — each Tier X reset awards 10,000 Research Points. The ships in the line are sold and you start from Tier I again.
- 2x bonus — every 3 months, one line reset awards DOUBLE points (20,000 instead of 10,000). Always wait for the 2x bonus before resetting.
- Most efficient RB grind: reset the Harugumo line (cheapest in XP), use Free XP to skip the grind, and stack multiple resets before playing through them.
How to Spend
RB-exclusive ships: Ohio (62,000 RB — best RB purchase), Slava (62,000 RB), Colbert (57,000 RB), Vampire II (55,000 RB), Druid (55,000 RB), Gibraltar (55,000 RB). Unique upgrades for tech-tree Tier X ships (19,200 RB each).
Jay's Pro Tip
The Harugumo line is the cheapest line to reset (lowest total XP cost). Stack 3x or 4x resets during a 2x bonus period, then Free XP through the line once to collect all the Research Points. This is the most time-efficient method.
Free XP (FXP)
Universal XP that isn't tied to any ship. 5% of every battle's XP becomes Free XP. It's your 'skip the pain' currency — bypass stock modules, accelerate commander training, or buy Free XP premium ships. Free XP accumulates slowly, so spend it on the things that improve your gaming experience the most.
How to Earn
- Natural accumulation — 5% of every battle's XP becomes Free XP. With premium account, this is 7.5%.
- Papa Papa signals — +300% Free XP per battle. Stack with special flags for massive FXP gains.
- Special economic flags — Dragon flags give +777% Free XP. Save these for Clan Battle or Ranked wins.
- Operations — some Operations are excellent FXP farms with the right signals.
How to Spend
Skip stock modules on new ships (never play a ship without the B-hull and range upgrade). FXP premium ships: Groningen (1M FXP), Ägir (1M FXP), Azuma (1M FXP), Hayate (2M FXP). Commander respec.
Jay's Pro Tip
Never use Free XP to research entire ships — it's too valuable. Use it only for stock modules (200k-400k FXP each) or to save up for a 1M FXP premium ship. Groningen is the best 1M FXP purchase.
F2P Year One — What You Can Earn
If you play consistently (5-10 battles per day), join a clan, and follow this guide — here's what your free-to-play account looks like after 12 months.
Start Your Free Fleet
Millions of captains play World of Warships completely free. Follow this guide and you'll have a stronger fleet in 6 months than most players who spent $200.
Play World of Warships FreeAffiliate link — Jay earns a commission at no extra cost to you