WARDOGS Vehicles
On a 256 km² sandbox, wheels and rotors are the economy. Firepower is optional.
WARDOGS is a combined-arms shooter on a map large enough that infantry without a ride arrives late and dies to the team that already holds buildings. Vehicles are how you reach the Control Zone, how you move squads for ticks, and how you delete a fortified tower when small arms bounce. They are also how you go bankrupt. This page is the field manual. Rankings sit on the vehicle tier list. Prices are playtest-recorded and will move.
BULKHEAD’s Early Access talk has cited on the order of 21 vehicles at launch (community databases tracked the mid-20s including variants). Fighter jets are planned during Early Access, not as a day-one unlock. Do not buy the game expecting a jet hangar on 10 September 2026.
Light wheels — the real meta for new wallets
Bobcat (~$500). Disposable taxi. No armour worth mentioning. Buy it, fill it, dump it, buy another. If you only remember one vehicle, remember this one.
Dune Buggy (~$1,500). Faster, still fragile, sometimes gated on Driver level in tests.
Kodiak family ($2,500–$3,750). Pickup and M249 variants. The squad car of the mid-wallet. Good when you need five people on a tick more than you need a turret duel.
Humvee family ($3,000–$4,500). Armoured SUV with optional M249 or minigun. This is the first “I am willing to fight on the way in” purchase. Still not a tank. Do not park it on a ridgeline and AFK.
Ural family ($5,000–$6,750). Logistics trucks, including Defender gun-truck variants. These exist to move ammo, people, and FOB pieces. A living Ural is a money printer; a burning Ural is a firework you paid for.
Transport pays. Official copy lists driving and piloting friendlies to the zone as teamplay income. A dedicated taxi life can out-earn a fragger. Tip culture showed up in playtests. If you are broke, do not buy a Havoc — be the Bobcat.
Tracks — expensive answers
M113-class APCs. Crewed rides that get infantry through small-arms fire. Use them as buses with a gun, not as solo hero cans.
Flakpanzer Gepard (tests clustered $8,000–$10,000, high Wardog level). Twin flak that taxes helicopters. If air is printing money for the other team, this is the counter. It is also a beacon that says “please IED me.”
L2A6 (~$14,000, Wardog level 35 in catalogues). Main battle tank: big gun, coaxial, top MG, smoke, three-person crew. More than a starting bankroll. If you solo it, you will die to a coordinated launcher stack and fund their evening. Crew it or do not spawn it.
SPH-2 artillery (~$8,000–$10,000, high level). Indirect fire for fortifications and clustered Hot Zone blobs. Needs spotters and ammo. Useless if you cannot see the map you are shooting.
Helicopters — profit and humiliation
MH-6 / UH-1Y transports ($6,000–$8,000 class). The money printers if you can fly. PC Gamer watched a pilot with zero kills sit near the top of the cash board. Bring parachutes. Learn a corkscrew into a hot LZ or you will donate a bus of teammates to the ground.
AH-6 minigun and rocket Little Birds ($7,000–$12,500). Light gunships. Fun. Loud. Gepard food.
Havoc (~$18,000). The “I am rich and I want to be a problem” purchase. It wins games when it lives and ends wallets when it does not. Unlock gates were still being read in some catalogues — assume it is late-account content.
Helicopter handling in playtests was unforgiving. If you cannot hover without collecting trees, stay in a Humvee and fund someone who can.
How vehicles interact with the win condition
Vehicles do not capture the zone by themselves in the occupancy census — players do. A tank sitting outside the circle farming kills is the same mistake as a DMR tower camper. Drive people in, then either dismount and count as infantry or use the gun to keep enemy bodies out. Destroying a building that held twelve enemies is a tick weapon. Cruising the 252 km² of empty map is not.
Losing a vehicle can pay the enemy. Treat armour like a loadout you cannot drop: only spawn what you can replace. Repair exists in the combined-arms fantasy; do not assume a magic full-heal in the open.
Buying rules
- If the vehicle costs more than half your wallet, you need a crew plan.
- If nobody on your faction is flying taxis, that is a job, not a complaint.
- If enemy air is free, someone has to buy anti-air.
- If you are new, read getting started and skip armour until infantry deaths are cheap.
- Check the vehicle tier list for value, not for cool factor.
Related pages
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common WARDOGS questions.
Are there jets in WARDOGS at Early Access launch?
Fighter jets are planned during the 1–2 year Early Access period, not as a confirmed day-one vehicle. Launch combined arms is ground vehicles, artillery, and helicopters.
What is the cheapest useful vehicle?
Playtest catalogues put the Bobcat near $500. It is a disposable taxi that gets bodies into the Control Zone. See the vehicle tier list.
Why did I go broke after buying a tank?
The L2A6 was recorded around $14,000 — more than the $10,000 starting wallet — and death deletes the vehicle. Crew it or stay in infantry kits from loadouts.
Do vehicles score Control Zone points?
Points come from living players in the zone. Vehicles help by delivering those players and by removing enemy players. Parked armour outside the circle does not tick. See how to play.