WARDOGS Beginner's Guide: Factions, Tracks & First Unlocks

WARDOGS is a tactical all-out-warfare FPS from BULKHEAD that entered Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026. The developers describe it plainly: it is not a battle royale and not an extraction shooter. 100 players split across three teams fight over a single Control Zone on a large, destructible map set in the war-torn region of Kolchia, and every life you spend costs you real in-game money.

This guide walks you through everything a new player needs before the first deployment: how a match is won, how the persistent cash economy works, what the three factions are, which weapons you start with, how the seven progression tracks fit together and which early unlocks are worth chasing. Every number here comes from the in-game UI of the Season 1 build (Firing Range tooltips and the Unlock tab) or from official Steam announcements — nothing is guessed.

How a WARDOGS match works

The core mode is inspired by the ARMA "King of the Hill" mod, and BULKHEAD says its designers worked with the original mod creators. Three teams fight to seize a randomised 2×2 km Control Zone inside a 256 km² map. The team with the most players inside the zone earns points, and the first team to reach 100 points wins. Because the zone moves from match to match and every player makes their own tactical choices, no two matches play out the same.

Inside the Control Zone sits the Hot Zone, a shifting sub-zone. Players standing in the Hot Zone count double towards their team's player count, which can swing a match, and the Hot Zone also pays out double cash. If you want to both win and earn, the Hot Zone is where your squad should be fighting.

Cash is king: the persistent economy

WARDOGS runs on a persistent cash system. You build every loadout by buying weapons, gear, utilities and vehicles, and you earn cash in the zone through teamplay actions — the developers list revives, transport, kills and spotting among them. Cash persists in your account from match to match, so you can save it or spend big on better equipment. Profits can also be exchanged for gold bars, the endgame currency used for cosmetic unlocks in the Gold Market. BULKHEAD has committed to never selling in-game cash or gold bars and to no monetisation during Early Access apart from the optional Supporter Edition cosmetics.

The three factions

Each team is a faction with its own colour and recruit rifle. The descriptions below are the official ones from BULKHEAD. The recruit rifles are named as the faction-branded "starter weapons" in the Supporter Edition listing.

Good news if you are agonising over which side to join: the three starter rifles are the same gun in different clothes. The Bushmaster M17S, A-91 and KH-2002 all weigh 3.17 kg, fire 5.56x45mm, offer Semi and Burst fire, and in our Firing Range tests all three dealt 30.81–30.82 damage to the chest and 65.81–65.82 to the head with standard FMJ ammo against an unarmored target. Pick the faction whose look and identity you like — you are not trading away firepower. See every measured value on the damage chart.

MetaBot Desktop

Build your kit before you drop

Pick weapons, attachments, armor and equipment to see total weight, cash per life and the unlocks you still need, then save the kit for next time.

• Weight & cash per life
• Unlocks you still need
• Saved kits

Download for WindowsMore InfoFree download

Cash per life$9,275

Starter weapons and default kit

Besides your faction rifle, a handful of weapons are available at level 0 of their track, so you can try every infantry role from your very first match. The tooltip of each weapon also names the progression track it is tied to.

Your default equipment covers every job on the battlefield: Bandage and Emergency Resuscitator for medics, Binoculars for spotting, the Small Hammer for building, the Wrench and Fuel Can for vehicles, the Halligan Bar for prying open doors, the M67 Frag Grenade, the Improvised Explosive Device and the full set of M18 signal grenades that drop markers on the map. Default gear is the Small Tac Vest, Pouch, Scout Backpack and Basic Parachute, and standard FMJ ammunition is available for every caliber from the start. Browse it all on the equipment and gear pages.

The seven progression tracks

Progression is split into seven ladders. The WARDOG track (the patch notes call it "Career") runs from level 1 to 150 and unlocks general kit: pistols, helmets and armor, backpacks, vests, universal attachments and the special ammo types. The six role tracks — Assault, Medic, Recon, Support, Driver and Pilot — each run from 1 to 50. Roles are entirely player-defined: according to BULKHEAD you buy specialist items to build your loadout, and that is how you earn XP across the role tracks.

For the full ladders, XP thresholds and official unlock costs, read our WARDOGS leveling and unlocks guide or browse the progression page.

Squad roles explained

There are no fixed classes. What you carry decides your role, and squads can be any size — squadding up gives you extra UI, communication tools and vehicle locking. Proximity chat is on, so you can coordinate with anyone nearby. Here is what each infantry role brings, based on the item descriptions in the game:

• Assault — rifles and the frag grenade. The Halligan Bar pries open locked doors (it is ineffective against gates), which makes assault players the ones who breach buildings.
• Medic — SMGs plus healing and revives. The Bandage heals a small amount, the Individual First Aid Kit heals back to full health, resuscitators revive teammates faster and the Defibrillator revives instantly but needs a battery.
• Recon — marksman and sniper rifles plus spotting gear. Binoculars, the Monocular and Range Finders spot enemy infantry and vehicles for your teammates; range finders also give accurate distance readings.
• Support — LMGs, launchers and the builder/repair toolkit. Hammers build structures with Build Supplies, drills and the Wrench repair vehicles, and C4, IEDs and AT Mines handle demolition and traps.
• Driver and Pilot — the logistics and air arms. Drivers unlock trucks, SUVs and the L2A6 heavy armored vehicle; pilots unlock helicopters and armored supply crates.

Your first unlocks: what to chase

Early levels come quickly, and several of the most useful items sit in the first few rungs of each ladder. These are all read directly from the Season 1 Unlock tab:

1. 1
   WARDOG 1 — GGX 17

   Your first sidearm, a 9x19mm pistol with a 17-round magazine. We measured it at 25.42 chest damage with FMJ.

2. 2
   WARDOG 3 — Level 1 Helmet and Level 1 Armor

   Your first protection. The helmet covers the head and the armor covers the upper and lower torso, both with Low damage reduction.

3. 3
   WARDOG 4 and 6 — red dot and hollow points

   The Compact T-2 Red Dot fits almost every primary, and 9mm Flesh Damage (HP) ammo arrives at level 6 — double damage against unarmored flesh in our tests.

4. 4
   Assault 3 — AK74

   The first new rifle on the Assault track, with 30-, 60- and 75-round magazines to unlock later. The M4 follows at Assault 20.

5. 5
   Medic 2 — Field Resuscitator

   A single-use field revive item that revives teammates faster, followed by the Individual First Aid Kit at Medic 9 and the Defibrillator at Medic 11.

6. 6
   Recon 2 and Support 1–3 — spotting and building

   The Monocular upgrades your binoculars at Recon 2. On Support, the Light Drill (1), C4 Charge and Remote Detonator (2) and Medium Hammer (3) arrive almost immediately.

7. 7
   Driver 3 and Pilot 4 — your first vehicles

   The URAL truck unlocks at Driver 3 and the AH-6M [Miniguns] at Pilot 4. Both also carry official unlock costs ($35,000 and $50,000).

The core loop, step by step

1. Before you spawn
   Build a loadout you can afford

   Buy your weapon, ammo, gear and specialist items. Cheap default kits are the safest way to learn while your balance is small.

2. Getting there
   Reach the Control Zone

   The map is 16 km across, so transport matters. Drivers and pilots who move teammates are doing a teamplay job the developers explicitly reward.

3. In the zone
   Hold ground and earn

   Stay inside the Control Zone to score for your team and push into the Hot Zone for double count and double cash. Revive, spot, build and fight together.

4. After the match
   Bank, level, unlock

   Your cash carries over. Spend it on better kit, save it, or convert profits to gold bars for cosmetics — and spend track levels on your next unlocks.

First-session checklist

• Pick a faction for its look — the three starter rifles performed identically in our tests.
• Try one match with each default primary: faction rifle, T-21, AMP-9, MP43 and Scout Rifle TD.
• Carry the specialist items of the role you want to level.
• Join a squad for extra UI, communication tools and vehicle locking.
• Fight inside the Control Zone — and the Hot Zone when you can.
• Keep a cash buffer for unlock costs before buying expensive gear.

Related WARDOGS pages and tools

• [All weapons](/wardogs/weapons) — every gun with measured damage, fire rate, DPS, price and unlock
• [Weapon tier list](/wardogs/tier-list) — every class ranked on measured DPS or damage per hit
• [Loadout builder](/wardogs/loadout-builder) — build a kit and see its total weight, cost and unlock levels
• [Progression & unlocks](/wardogs/progression) — every track's full unlock ladder and the XP curve
• [Interactive maps](/wardogs/map) — Zestafona with faction HQs and the capture zone, plus Bakurani
• [Black Market & gold price](/wardogs/black-market) — today's gold bar rate, every gold skin and the daily deal