WARDOGS Vehicles Guide: Tanks, Helicopters and APCs

On a 256km2 map with a randomised Control Zone, vehicles are not a bonus toy. They are how your team arrives at the fight in a state to win it — and they are bought with the same cash you buy rifles with.

Confirmed vehicle classes

Class	Primary job	Notes
ATVs	Fast individual and small-group movement	Cheap, exposed, excellent for reaching a shifting Hot Zone
Civilian vehicles	Improvised transport	Found on the map rather than a heavy purchase
APCs	Moving a squad under armour	The workhorse of a coordinated push
Tanks	Direct fire, armour, structure demolition	Expensive to buy and expensive to lose
Artillery	Indirect fire support	Confirmed in gameplay material
Helicopters	Air transport and attack	Highest skill ceiling, highest tempo
Fighter jets	Air superiority	Planned during Early Access, not at launch

Transport is the purchase that actually wins matches

The most under-rated vehicle spend is the cheapest one. Three reasons:

1. Distance is the map’s main defence. The first team into the zone chooses its ground. Walking is how you arrive to somebody else’s plan.
2. Transport pays. Driving squadmates towards the fight is one of the five actions the cash economy rewards. A full vehicle earns while it drives.
3. It multiplies four people at once. A tank makes one player powerful. An APC makes a squad present.

Armour: high impact, high risk

Tanks bring three things to a Control Zone fight: direct fire that infantry cannot answer without launchers, armour that lets your team hold an approach, and the ability to take structures down — the demolition half of the War Dynamics Framework.

The risk is symmetrical. Because loadouts are bought per life with no class restrictions, anyone who dies can respawn as anti-armour. A tank is never facing a fixed number of launchers; it is facing however many the other two teams decide to buy. Practical implications:

• Do not park. A stationary tank is a scheduled appointment for a rocket.
• Bring infantry. Armour without escorts in built-up ground is a cash donation.
• Fight at your range. Your advantage is reach; alleyways erase it.
• Know your exit. Losing the vehicle is a real financial hit, and withdrawing with it is a legitimate win.

Helicopters

Helicopters give a team something no ground vehicle can: the ability to place a squad on ground the other two teams have not covered, and to reposition when the Hot Zone shifts. They are also the loudest object in the match and visible from a long way off.

Treat a helicopter as a tempo purchase — worth it when your team is rotating faster than the enemy can react, wasteful when it is used as a gunship hovering over a contested zone.

Buying vehicles sensibly

• Match the spend to your balance, not your mood. Your cash persists between matches. Losing a tank in the first ninety seconds is felt for several matches.
• Buy the vehicle your team is missing. If four teammates are on foot 1km out, an APC beats a tank every time.
• Use what the map gives you. Civilian vehicles cost nothing and solve the distance problem well enough for a first rotation.
• Expect anti-armour. In a game with no class locks, heavy launchers are always one respawn away.

Sources

• WARDOGS on Steam — official feature list
• Team17 — WARDOGS reveal
• BULKHEAD — WARDOGS