WARDOGS Beginner Guide (Season 2)
WARDOGS is a three-team fight for one large control zone, and the first team to 100 points wins. You buy a loadout every life with cash that carries between matches, and you can mix gear from any of the six classes. The mistake that sinks most new players is chasing kills with an expensive kit. Play the objective, keep your loadout cheap, and hold for a revive when you go down. In Season 2 the AK-74 costs $800 and needs no unlock.
This page is the whole game in one read. Each section links to a deeper guide when you want more.
How you win: hold the zone
Three factions, Valkyra, Lonestar and Manticore, fight over one large control zone of about 2 by 2 km, dropped somewhere inside a much larger map. Keep more players inside it than the other two teams and you score 1 point every 30 seconds. First team to 100 points wins. A smaller moving Hot Zone counts each player in it twice, and you pull it toward your team by capturing towers or running a FOB drill. Kills alone do not win the match, so treat the zone as the goal. All three Bakurani spawns were moved and rebuilt with their own routes to the zone.
Cash: buy a loadout every life
You start with about $10,000, and your balance carries between matches. You spend it every life on a loadout and earn it back from holding zones, kills, revives, repairs, and supplying FOBs. You only keep what you do not spend. The trap for new players is buying an expensive kit and dying before it pays for itself, so stay cheap until you can afford to lose the loadout. The economy guide covers the full money loop.
Classes: mix gear from any of the six
There are six classes: Assault, Support, Medic, Recon, Driver, and Pilot. They do not lock your kit, so you can carry a sniper and a defibrillator in the same loadout. Two things unlock gear: your overall War Dog level, and the class XP you earn using each type of weapon. Every unlock costs one large fee the first time. The roles guide breaks down what each class gives you.
Your first loadout: three choices
Three choices decide most of a good loadout:
| Choice | What to know |
|---|---|
| Ammo | FMJ hits flesh and armor evenly. HP does more to unarmored targets, less to armor. AP does more to armor and vehicles. |
| Weight | Five bands from Lightest to Super Heavy. Aim for Medium. Heavy removes your tactical sprint; Super Heavy removes sprinting. |
| Gear | The helmet matters most: it stops a sniper one-shotting your head. Body armor covers the upper body; a better vest adds quick slots. |
Good early buys are the level-1 armor and helmet and the first backpack upgrade. The AK-74 ($800) is unlocked from the start, the T-21 ($1,200) unlocks at Assault level 3, and the medic starts with the PP-19 Bizon ($1,000). The builds hub has stronger loadouts once you have the cash to upgrade. A reliable starting kit is three mags, one in the gun and two in the pack, plus a stack of loose ammo.
Which class to level first
Start with Assault or Medic, because each has a gun unlocked from the first match: the AK-74 for $800, or the PP-19 Bizon for $1,000. Assault also earns XP for destroying buildables, planting C4 and taking down FOBs, so it levels while you push the objective. Medic gets the MP5 at level 4 and the Medical Bag at level 14, and revives pay cash as well as XP. Level 10 needs 25,000 role XP and level 20 needs 111,500, so you reach the gear that defines a class within a few sessions. The leveling hub has the full XP table.
When you go down: hold for a revive
You do not respawn with your loadout. You have to buy it again, though Rebuy Last Loadout fills the vendor with your previous kit so you can add or remove items before paying. So when you go down, hold for a revive as long as you can rather than bleeding out and paying for a fresh loadout. You can even put a bounty on your own revive to tempt a teammate over.
Facts change with each patch. This page was last updated 22 Oct 2026 (Early Access).