Wardogs

Wardogs has 10 Steam achievements, one of them hidden ("That was rude": punch Kristopher in the Tutorial). "Top Dog" asks you to finish a match as the top cash earner across all three teams; "Big Spender" ($100,000 on one loadout) is the rarest, held by 0.0% of players on Oct 26, 2026.

Every Wardogs player starts with $10,000, buys a whole loadout every life, loses it on death and earns cash back through teamplay (zone time, revives, transport, logistics, spotting, kills); the balance carries from match to match until a season ends. Since Season 2 (Oct 15, 2026) logistics pay lower base rates plus delivery streaks, spotting pays about 30% less, and vehicle and armor prices went up.

Gold Bars are Wardogs' endgame currency: you get them by exchanging in-game cash, and leftover cash turns into Gold Bars at the end of a season, so they survive wipes. They are spent on camos in the Gold Market, which unlocks at Wardog level 35 for $150,000 in Season 2. Bulkhead has pledged never to sell cash, Gold Bars or camos for real money.

Wardogs has seven progression tracks: the Wardog career track and six roles (Assault, Medic, Recon, Support, Driver, Pilot). Using a role's gear earns that role XP; reaching a level makes an item available, and you then pay a one-time cash unlock (the Havoc costs $650,000 at Pilot 35 in Season 2). Every track resets at a season wipe; Season 2 (Oct 15, 2026) made level 20 take less than half the Season 1 playtime.

Wardogs has one mode, Control Zone: three teams fight over a randomized 2x2 km zone, the team with the most players inside it scores a point about every 30 seconds, and the first team to 100 points wins. Players in the smaller Hot Zone count double.

Wardogs has three factions: Lonestar (blue), a Western paramilitary company; Valkyra (red), out to restore the Soviet People's Republic; and Manticore (green), Persia's shadow army. They play the same, but blue has lost more often since the betas, and Season 2's one-day Lonestar bonus did not fix it.

In Wardogs anyone can heal with bandages and revive a downed teammate by hand in about 20 seconds, and medical gear makes both faster: the free Emergency Resuscitator, the Field Resuscitator ($425), the First Aid Kit ($800), the Medical Bag ($1,800) and the instant Defibrillator ($1,600). Reviving and healing pay cash, and a revived player keeps all their gear.

The Hot Zone is a smaller, moving circle inside Wardogs' Control Zone where each player counts double toward the score and earns double cash. Teams pull it to themselves by capturing towers and entering a four-digit code, or with a fueled Drill Rig at a FOB.

Wardogs launched in Early Access with three maps, each with three variations, and every map is 256 km² with a randomized 2x2 km Control Zone. Bulkhead names only Bakurani; Game Rant names Zestafona; no new map has been added as of Oct 26, 2026.

Wardogs has no matchmaking button: you pick a match from a server browser, through the Deploy screen's Official, Community, Infantry Mode and Low-Level choices. Official servers have kicked high-ping players since Season 2, with a 175 ms maximum since Oct 21, 2026, and limited servers are planned.

In Wardogs you respawn at your team's HQ, about 3 km from the Control Zone, with nothing but what you buy again. The only other spawn point is your team's single APC; FOBs and tents are not spawns, so most players ride a helicopter or truck back and often parachute in.

Wardogs has two voice channels: proximity (local) chat that every nearby player hears, enemies included, on K, and squad chat on J. If your mic stops working, toggle Voice Chat off and on in the settings, the developers' own fix.

In your first hours of Wardogs, play the tutorial and the Firing Range, join a squad, buy a cheap kit (extra magazines, bandages, a dot sight, binoculars) instead of spending your $10,000 at once, ride a helicopter to the zone, stand in it, and wait for revives instead of giving up. Most of your money comes from teamwork, not kills.

The best Wardogs loadouts guides recommend are built on the AK74 or T-21 for a cheap start, the M4 at mid level and the FAL late, with Medic kits on the AMP-9 or Super-45 and Support kits on the M249 SAW or PKM, all bought again each life. Every published build dates from Season 1 (September 2026); Season 2 changed many prices and unlocks, and saved custom loadouts are planned, not in the game.

The best weapons in Wardogs by the published tier lists are the FAL and M4 assault rifles, the PKM machine gun, the MP5 and Super-45 SMGs and the BMR-308 and SVD marksman rifles, with the T-21 or AK74 as the budget rifle. Every list predates Season 2's caliber cuts, and no reputable outlet has ranked the four Season 2 guns as of Oct 26, 2026.

The guides agree on the core of a Wardogs setup for frame rate and visibility: Motion Blur, Depth of Field, Lens Flare and Bloom off, shadows and reflections at their lowest, view distance kept high, Nvidia Reflex on and an upscaler (DLSS or FSR) for frames. They disagree on VSync and on Reflections (Potato or Low).

Wardogs' default PC keys are W, A, S and D to move, Left Shift to sprint and hold breath, F to interact, R to reload, Tab for the inventory, M for the map, J for squad push-to-talk and K for proximity push-to-talk. Helicopters fly on Shift or Space and Ctrl (sources differ). Gamepads work, with an aim assist slider since Season 2, though Steam lists no controller support.

Most Wardogs launch errors (the WD-L0 codes such as WD-L014) are fixed for some players by repairing the Elytra anti-cheat from the game's folder; WD-L020 was a Windows 11 update clash fixed in update 0.1.2 on Sep 30, 2026; errors 1147405308 and 1413677057 point to the servers. Official help is Team17 support at support.team17.com.

Wardogs needs at least 64-bit Windows 10, an Intel Core i5 8600 or AMD Ryzen 5 3500, 16 GB of RAM, an Nvidia GTX 1660 or Radeon RX 590 and 50 GB of storage for 1080p Low at 60 fps upscaled. The recommended spec (Core i7 12700k or Ryzen 7 5700x, RTX 3070 or RX 6700 XT) targets 1440p Medium at 70 fps. Windows only; Steam Deck and Linux are unsupported.

To fly a helicopter in Wardogs, unlock it with L, raise the collective (Left Shift by default in GamesRadar+'s and Shacknews' lists, Space in Dexerto's), then pitch with W and S, roll with A and D and yaw with Q and E. Guides say to practice in the Firing Range first and to try a controller or mouse flight.

The best ways to make money in Wardogs are teamplay jobs that keep you alive, as PC Gamer, PCGamesN, TheGamer, Shacknews and Dexerto recommend them: hold the Hot Zone (double cash), revive as a medic, ferry players and supplies, drive the spawn APC, sell from supply crates and destroy enemy vehicles and FOBs. Season 2 (Oct 15, 2026) halved base logistics pay but added delivery streaks, and cut spotting by about 30%.

Sniping in Wardogs is the Recon track: start with the SKS at Recon 5, move to the SV98 at Recon 18 and the AMR 50 at Recon 35, add the ghillie suit at Recon 26, and shoot from high ground such as Bakurani's hilltop church. Season 2 cut big-caliber damage but raised sniper hit-location damage.

Wardogs is made by Bulkhead (formerly Bulkhead Interactive), a studio in Derby, UK, that says it was founded in 2015 and is known for The Turing Test and Battalion 1944. Tencent sold it in Dec 2025 to a consortium of Super Media Group, everplay and HIRO Capital; Team17 publishes Wardogs.

Wardogs began at Bulkhead as a Tencent-backed AAA shooter and was scaled back to Steam Early Access after Tencent sold the studio in Dec 2025. It was built over 3+ years with the creators of the Arma King of the Hill mod (Sa-Matra), on Bulkhead's War Dynamics Framework in Unreal Engine 5, and planned for 5,000 concurrent players before 428,666 arrived.

Wardogs has been in Steam Early Access since Sep 10, 2026, and Bulkhead says it will stay there "around 1 to 2 years", with 1.0 tied to the PS5 and Xbox versions planned for 2028. Planned but not yet in the game: player skills, custom loadouts, limited and primitive servers, more maps, fighter jets and the Black Market & Vault; the price is planned to rise from $39.99 to $49.99 and then $59.99.

Wardogs had 85,929 people playing on Steam on Oct 26, 2026, with a peak of 199,595 in the past day. Its all-time Steam peak is 428,666 on Sep 13, 2026, three days after the Early Access launch, whose first-day peak was 337,157 (SteamDB). Season 2 lifted the count from about 125,000 to 336,679 on Oct 15.

Wardogs is rated Mostly Positive on Steam (74% of 80,852 English reviews) but Mixed over the last 30 days (55% of 45,402) as of Oct 26, 2026, after Season 2 and a 175 ms ping cap brought its worst review days. Critics like it: Eurogamer called it "a brilliantly refreshing take on the genre", and it has no Metascore yet.

Wardogs was announced on Feb 5, 2026, opened pre-orders on Aug 11, ran two closed betas (the second turned into an open beta on Sep 5) and entered Steam Early Access on Thursday, Sep 10, 2026, at 16:00 UTC. Season 2 arrived on Oct 15, 2026, and Season 3 is expected on Nov 12, 2026, per Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer.

Wardogs is Bulkhead's All-Out Warfare first-person shooter, published by Team17 and in Steam Early Access on Windows since Sep 10, 2026 at $39.99. Up to 100 players in three teams (Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore) fight over a randomized 2x2 km Control Zone, the first team to 100 points wins, and every player starts with $10,000 in cash that carries from match to match within a season.

Wardogs uses the kernel-level anti-cheat Elytra, per its Steam store page; the betas used Easy Anti-Cheat, and the switch is why Wardogs does not run on Linux or Steam Deck. Bulkhead bans cheaters and exploiters (cash and XP reset to 0, timed or permanent bans), turned off Steam Family Sharing on Sep 18, 2026 to stop ban evasion, and capped official servers at 175 ms ping on Oct 21.

Wardogs is on Windows PC through Steam only; PlayStation 5 and Xbox versions are planned for 2028 with the 1.0 release, and both can be wishlisted. There is no crossplay because there is only one platform, and Bulkhead has not said whether PC and consoles will play together; Steam Deck, Linux and Mac are not supported.

Wardogs costs $39.99 on Steam (£36.99 in the UK), and the Supporter Edition costs $49.99 with a cosmetic Supporter Pack of camos, a scoreboard icon and two bobbleheads. It is not free to play and has no battle pass; Bulkhead plans to raise the price to $49.99 and then $59.99 during Early Access, and Steam's usual refund rule (14 days, under two hours played) applies.

Assault is the Wardogs progression track for frontline infantry. In Season 2 it starts with the AK74 and unlocks the T-21 at level 3, C4 at level 4, the Galil at 10, the Molotov at 13, the TCX-SPR at 20, the M4 at 28 and the FAL at 35, each for a one-time cash payment.

Driver is the Wardogs progression track for ground vehicles. In Season 2 it unlocks the Ural at level 3, the Wolf-110 at 8, the Humvee at 14, the T-72B3 tank at 20, the Flakpanzer Gepard at 25, the SPH-2 artillery tank at 31 and the L2A6 tank at 35 for $500,000, and it levels fastest from troop and supply runs.

Medic is the Wardogs progression track for healing and reviving teammates. In Season 2 it starts with the PP-19 Bizon and unlocks the Field Resuscitator at level 2, the MP5 at 4, the Medical Bag at 14, the Defibrillator at 22 for $110,000 and the Super-45 at 35.

Pilot is the Wardogs progression track for helicopters. Everyone starts with the MH-6 Little Bird transport; in Season 2 the track unlocks the AH-6M [Miniguns] at level 8, the Z20 Lakota at 10, the AH-6R [Rockets] at 20, the Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] at 25 and the Havoc attack helicopter at 35 for $650,000.

Recon is the Wardogs progression track for spotting and long-range shooting. In Season 2 it unlocks the Monocular at level 2, the SKS at 5, the Range Finder at 8, the SVD at 12, the BMR-308 at 20, the ghillie suit at 26, the MK22 at 30 and the AMR 50 at 35.

Support is the Wardogs progression track for building, heavy weapons and logistics. In Season 2 it unlocks the Light Drill at level 1, the Medium Hammer at 3, the RPG-7 at 6, the Large Hammer (needed for the mortar) at 8, the PKM at 15, the M249 at 20, the Evo-3 Ultra at 30 and the MGL-40 at 35.

The latest Wardogs update is 0.2.0, Season 2, live since Oct 15, 2026, followed by a backend hotfix that removed the Lonestar bonus on Oct 16 and a 175 ms ping cap from Oct 21. Before it came the Sep 9 Season 1 changelog, Launch Stability Hotfix #1 (Sep 10), Patch 0.11 (Sep 14), Update 0.1.2 (Sep 30) and two hotfixes on Oct 2.

Wardogs Season 2 is update 0.2.0, live since Oct 15, 2026. It wiped progression, added four weapons, four vehicles, three buildables, the Molotov, rain and the Gold Market, rebuilt Bakurani's spawns and roughly halved the XP needed for level 20. Bulkhead dropped its Lonestar bonus after one day and plans to end the season early with Season 3 on Nov 12, 2026.

Wardogs Season 3 is expected on Thursday, Nov 12, 2026, with a fresh economy reset, going by Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer's reply on Steam as PCGamesN and Shacknews reported it. As of Oct 26, 2026 no Bulkhead news post confirms the date, the start time or the patch notes.

Wardogs wipes progression at the start of every season: each season has its own XP curve and item order, and Season 2 reset everyone to level 1 on Oct 15, 2026. Gold Bars, season-exclusive items and Twitch Drop rewards are kept, per Dexerto. Season 1 ran Sep 10 to Oct 15, Season 2 is expected to end with Season 3 on Nov 12, and later seasons are planned at about three months.

In Wardogs you build with a hammer and build supplies ($10 each), mostly inside a Forward Operating Base ($7,500), whose radius lets your team build and keeps enemies from building. In Season 2 a Bremmer wall costs 32 supplies for 6,500 health, a mortar 600, a Talon SAM 650 and a Vanguard CIWS 1,200.

Wardogs lets you blow open apartment blocks with rocket launchers, drive tanks through towns and destroy every player-built structure, though buildings are not flattened entirely and towers and churches cannot be destroyed. Since Season 2 destroying an enemy vehicle pays $100 (Bobcat) to $14,000 (Havoc), and a buildable pays its build cost in cash.

Wardogs has six helicopters in Season 2: the MH-6 Little Bird transport every pilot starts with ($6,250), the 13-seat Z20 Lakota ($7,400, Pilot 10), the Lakota with miniguns, the AH-6M and AH-6R attack Little Birds, and the Havoc attack helicopter ($28,000, Pilot 35 for $650,000). Season 2 raised the attack helicopters' prices.

Wardogs' wheeled vehicles in Season 2 run from the $500 Bobcat quad bike to the $10,000 Humvee [Minigun]: the Dune Buggy, Kodiak SUVs, Wolf-110s, Humvees and Ural trucks, plus the team's free M113 spawn APC. They unlock on the Driver track, and carrying players and supplies in them pays cash.

Wardogs has four tracked combat vehicles in Season 2, all on the Driver track: the T-72B3 tank ($16,000, Driver 20), the L2A6 heavy tank ($22,000, Driver 35), the Flakpanzer Gepard anti-air tank ($14,000, Driver 25) and the SPH-2 artillery tank ($8,000, Driver 31). Artillery is aimed by compass bearing and range from the map.

Wardogs has 24 vehicles in Season 2: quad bikes, buggies, SUVs, Humvees, Ural trucks, three tanks, an artillery tank, five transport and attack helicopters and the team's free M113 spawn APC. You buy each one at the vendor every life, from $500 for a Bobcat to $28,000 for a Havoc, after unlocking it on the Driver or Pilot track.

Wardogs has four levels of body armor and helmets, from Level 1 ($400 armor, $200 helmet, Wardog level 3) to Level 4 ($5,000 armor, $4,500 helmet, Wardog level 100) in Season 2, plus backpacks from a free pouch to 24-slot packs with weapon slings, tactical vests that open quickslots, and two parachutes.

Wardogs has nine assault rifles in Season 2: three free faction starter rifles, then the AK74 ($800, default), T-21 ($1,200), Galil ($2,000), M4 ($2,800, Assault 28), TCX-SPR ($3,200, Assault 20) and FAL ($6,000, Assault 35). Tier lists from September put the M4 and FAL on top, before Season 2 cut .308 damage by 25%.

Wardogs guns take four kinds of attachment (optic, magazine, underbarrel and muzzle), each bought at the vendor every life once it is unlocked on a role track for a one-time cash cost. In Season 2 a red dot costs $340 to $840, a suppressor about $1,000 to $1,450, and the best sniper scope $1,800.

The Wardogs ghillie suit is two Recon items worn together, the Ghillie Body Suit ($3,000) and the Ghillie Headwear ($2,500), both unlocked at Recon level 26 in Season 2 for $80,000 and $60,000. It hides you from Infrared Range Finders and removes the death cam after you kill someone.

Wardogs has four launchers on the Support track in Season 2, the RPG-7 (Support 6, $1,800), 9K333 Verba anti-air missile (Support 14, $800), MAAWS (Support 18, $2,400) and MGL-40 grenade launcher (Support 35, $7,500), plus the $200 M67 frag, Season 2's Molotov, C4 with a Remote Detonator (Assault 4), IEDs, Claymores, AT mines and smoke and signal grenades.

Wardogs has three LMGs on the Support track in Season 2, the PKM (Support 15, $4,100), M249 SAW (Support 20, $3,200) and new Evo-3 Ultra (Support 30, $7,250), and five pistols on the Wardog track, from the Judge (level 1) and GGX 17 ($200) to the Deagle (level 65) and fully automatic GGX 18 (level 85).

Wardogs' medical items run from the $200 bandage stack and the free Emergency Resuscitator to the $1,600 Defibrillator and $1,800 Medical Bag; its recon tools from $180 Binoculars to the $3,200 Infrared Range Finder (Season 2), which Bulkhead pulled on Oct 2, 2026 and brought back with batteries. The only drone is the Stingray buildable.

Wardogs has five sniper rifles (Scout Rifle TD, Mosin Nagant, SV98, MK22, AMR 50) and four marksman rifles (SKS, SVD, BMR-308 and Season 2's M14), all but the Scout on the Recon track, from the SKS at Recon 5 for $25,000 to the $14,800 AMR 50 at Recon 35. September tier lists rated the SVD and BMR-308 highest; Season 2 then cut 7.62x54mmR and .308 damage and raised sniper hit-location damage.

Wardogs has five SMGs and two shotguns in Season 2. The SMGs live on the Medic track: PP-19 Bizon (default, $1,000), MP5 (Medic 4, $1,800), PP-19 Vityaz (Medic 15), AMP-9 (Medic 20) and Super-45 (Medic 35, $5,600). The shotguns are the $400 MP43 double barrel and the M500 pump (Support 10).

Wardogs has 38 weapons in Season 2 by Dexerto's count: 9 assault rifles, 5 submachine guns, 2 shotguns, 3 light machine guns, 4 marksman rifles, 5 sniper rifles, 5 pistols, 4 launchers and a compound bow. You buy them with in-game cash every life after unlocking them once on a role track, and Season 2 (Oct 15, 2026) added the TCX-SPR, PP-19 Bizon, Evo-3 Ultra and M14.