How to Play Tyr

Tyr is a free-to-play 8v8 tank shooter by Stoke Games. Early Access opens on Steam on September 2, 2026. You do not jump out of the hull. You do not respawn. Two teams of eight load a random map, pick any unlocked tank, and fight until one side is gone, a base hits 100 capture, or the clock forces overtime. This page is the first-hour manual. Pair it with controls and spotting before you queue.

What you are actually trying to win

A match lasts up to ten minutes. It ends immediately if every enemy tank is destroyed or if a team finishes a full base capture. Capture is a percent, not a flag instant. Standing in the enemy base adds 1% per second. Up to three allied tanks can contribute at once. If anyone on the capturing team takes damage, progress dumps. That single rule is why greedy heavies lose games that a patient light would steal.

If the timer expires with both teams alive and neither base at 100, overtime uses three tiebreakers in order:

1. Highest base capture percentage
2. Most tanks still alive
3. Highest total remaining HP among survivors

Play the clock. A 40% cap with six hulls alive beats a 10% cap with two superheavies if the round ends. The maps guide shows where those cap circles sit on Ravine, Scorch, Divide, Wind Valley, and Fields.

Learn how to play Tyr

One life, then spectate or leave

Each player has one life. Once you cook, you are out. You may spectate a living teammate or leave with no penalty and requeue. Rewards still grant when the original match ends. That is why feeding on a hero flank is worse here than in respawn shooters: you delete your own overtime HP pool and your team’s spotting coverage.

First session checklist

1. Install from Steam and confirm system requirements if you are near the GTX 1070 / RX 580 line.
2. Open Settings and learn keybinds. WASD is the default shooter layout. Legacy tank controls exist if you come from World of Tanks. Hover tanks strafe with Q and E and power-drift with Space. Hold Alt to see your own armor layout.
3. Enter Sandbox. Drive a light, a medium, and a heavy even if they are locked. Shoot a stationary target until you can predict green versus gray. Details live in armor.
4. Spend your first live match on not firing from bushes. Camo and the 400 m circle are explained in spotting.
5. After two deaths you will understand Energy starvation. Read Energy and abilities before you main an ability-heavy hull like Tempest or Seeker.

Progression: XP, SLVR, and why you should not unlock everything

Matches pay XP and SLVR based on performance. XP levels the tank you drove and advances the unlock track. Tanks unlock in a default order; SLVR can buy a hull earlier. SLVR also buys non-default components and shell types. Experienced playtesters save SLVR for ammo and modules instead of panic-unlocking every chassis. The tank roster and tier list exist so that spend is not random.

Playtest progress was stated to carry into Early Access with no planned account wipe. Cosmetics, mastery, and unlocks from the long playtests should still be on the account when the Steam branch opens. If a later patch says otherwise, updates will catch it.

Squads and playing with friends

Create a Squad in-game and share the join code. Squadmates land in the same match on the same team. The cap is currently three players for balance; Stoke has said they want at least four later. There is no local split-screen. Tyr is online PvP only. Discord LFG lives on the community page.

Sandbox versus live queues

Outside scheduled matchmaking you can still open Sandbox to drive locked tanks, practice movement, and shoot dummies. Live Standard and Ranked queues are the real 8v8. Custom games use a shareable code so a host can pick maps — useful for tryouts and the community tournaments Stoke has already run with cash prizes during playtests.

Watch the official how-to, then go deeper

The video in the middle of this page is Stoke’s own “Learn how to play Tyr” overview: armor colors, vision circles, gun depression, abilities, win conditions, and the default control scheme. Use it as a visual pass, then stay on this wiki for the numbers the trailer does not pause on — camo percents, Energy math, capture rates, and class jobs.

When you are ready to pick a main, start with light tanks if you like spotting, medium tanks if you want clip damage and flex, or heavy tanks if you want to farm bounce Energy. Confirm the pick on the tier list and a build before you spend Gold on styles. Gold is cosmetic; see the Founder’s Pack.

If the game feels “slow,” that is the design. Deliberate shots beat run-and-gun. The players who win Early Access weekends are the ones who treat vision like ammo.