Don't Go Broke in WARDOGS: The Complete Money, Loadout and Hot Zone Guide

WARDOGS is the only shooter where dying hurts your wallet. Your kit costs money, losing it costs money, and your bank balance follows you from match to match. Play it like Battlefield and you'll be broke by Tuesday.

Here's how the money really works.

How you win a match

Up to 100 players, three factions: Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore. The map is a 256 square kilometer sandbox, and the fight happens in a 2 by 2 kilometer control zone that's randomized each match.

On every score tick, the faction with the most players inside the zone gets a point. First to 100 wins. Kills don't score team points. Matches can run over an hour.

Inside the zone there's a smaller moving circle called the Hot Zone. Players inside it count double for the score and earn double cash. Capture the tower terminals to collect code digits, enter the full code, and you pull the Hot Zone toward a tower your team holds. That's the real strategy layer.

Your bank account

Every account gets $10,000 once. That's your seed money, not a per-match allowance. Cash carries over between lives and between matches, and none of it can be bought with real money.

When you die and nobody revives you, you lose the loadout you bought. Your unspent cash stays in the bank, and your unlocks stay unlocked.

If you're completely broke, you still get two things free every life: your faction's starter rifle (Valkyra's A-91, Lonestar's Bushmaster M17S, Manticore's KH-2002; you only pay for ammo) and one Emergency Resuscitator.

How to make money

PC Gamer's biggest takeaway after a week in: revives pay almost as much as kills. Support play is how you get rich. A strong support life can bank a $50,000 profit.

Community-tracked payouts (unofficial, but a good guide):

Standing in the zone: about $160 per tick, $320 in the Hot Zone
Kill: about $1,500 to $2,000
Revive: $100 to $900
Bandage heal: about $400
Transport delivery: $300 to $450, plus $500 if your passengers survive
Destroying a vehicle: about $3,000 to $4,700
Building: a little per swing, more on completion
You also earn from spotting with binoculars, assists when someone you revived gets a kill, and tips from teammates. Downed players can bribe a medic with up to $500 to prioritize them.

What things cost

These are community-recorded vendor prices from testing, so treat them as close, not exact:

Rifles: T-21 $600, AK74 $1,600, GALIL $2,200, M4 $2,800, FAL $6,500

SMGs: AMP-9 $900, PP-19 Vityaz $1,200, MP5 $1,500

Shotguns: MP43 $400, M500 $1,200

LMGs: M249 SAW $3,200, PKM $4,500

Marksman and sniper: SKS $2,400, Scout Rifle $1,100, SVD $4,800, SV98 $5,200, AMR 50 $8,800

Launchers: RPG-7 $2,000, MAAWS $2,600, MGL-40 $6,000

Vehicles: Bobcat $500, Humvee $3,000, MH-6 transport helicopter $6,250, AH-6M minigun helicopter $7,000, Gepard AA tank $10,000, L2A6 tank $14,000, Havoc attack helicopter $18,000. The bigger vehicles need role levels and large cash unlocks before you can buy them at all.

There are no fixed classes. Your role is whatever you buy. XP levels up separately across role tracks like Medic, Pilot and Driver.

Ten ways to stay in the black

Run lean while you learn. A cheap rifle, two spare mags, 3 to 5 bandages, a dot sight and one gadget. It pays for itself.
Buy loose ammo in 100-round stacks and refill your mags instead of buying new ones.
Hit "Re-buy Loadout" instead of rebuilding from scratch.
Take the helicopter taxi. A 30 to 60 second wait beats a 5 minute drive.
Play medic. Revives are nearly kill money with a lot less risk.
Wait for a revive. Giving up throws your whole loadout away.
Loot bodies for ammo, bandages and armor. Dropped backpacks stick around for a few minutes.
Carry binoculars and spot. It pays cash, XP and assists.
Hunt the enemy APC. It's their mobile spawn and it pays well.
Stay quiet near enemies. Proximity voice chat means they can hear you.

Gold Bars and the Season 2 reset

Gold Bars are the cosmetic currency. You buy them with in-game cash at a rate that moves daily with supply and demand. It was reported around $1.5 million per bar on September 20, and cosmetics cost 5 to 30 bars. It's a one-way trade.

Here's the important part: Season 2 starts October 15. At the season reset, your cash converts automatically into Gold Bars. Gold Bars and cosmetics carry over. Sources disagree on whether your levels reset too. Either way, if you're sitting on a big bank, know the conversion is coming.

About wagers

You may have heard WARDOGS has a betting system. Bulkhead announced wagers back in April: bets on your own next-match performance, like "10 kills in one life." According to community trackers, wagers, the Vault, Arms Dealers and investments are announced but not live yet in Early Access.

Don't cheat the economy

Bulkhead's patch 0.11 added timed bans plus a full cash and XP wipe for anyone exploiting the economy, and permanent bans for advertising exploits. Just play the game.

Squad up

WARDOGS rewards organized teams more than any shooter out right now. A squad with a pilot, a medic and two riflemen who talk to each other prints money. Find your crew on the ops board.

By CNC Gaming

Sources: WARDOGS on Steam; Wikipedia: Wardogs; PC Gamer: 10 beginner tips; PC Gamer: the FPS where I expect to get revived; AllThings.How: winning the control zone; AllThings.How: Gold Bars explained; WARDOGS Hub: cash economy, weapons, vehicles, factions, black market; Gamers Together: money guide; Escapist: wagers announced; GameSpot: economy cheaters. Community price data is unofficial.