41 Wardogs tips the FPS game doesn't teach you

There are a lot of hidden mechanics

There are countless Wardogs tips and tricks you can incorporate into your playstyle in this brand-new FPS game that is dominating Steam Early Access. This is mostly because the game lets you play in so many different ways. Despite it being a shooter, you can contribute to your team's success and make huge profits without firing a single bullet.

So no matter how you choose to play Wardogs, this is the ultimate beginner's guide, full of tips and tricks the game doesn't teach you.

Buy loose ammo, not magazines

When buying from the vendor at spawn, buy a couple of magazines, then buy loose ammo rather than any more magazines. Loose ammo stacks higher, it's cheaper, and you can refill each magazine when it's empty.

Press C to reload all of your magazines when in your inventory

If you have loose ammo in your inventory and magazines that aren't completely full, you can just hit C to fill them all in one go. This prevents you from needing to manually drag and drop the ammo.

Holding R to reload will dump the mag, but it'll be much quicker

If you're in the middle of a hectic firefight and you don't have the time to reload properly, hold R instead. This will chuck your current magazine to the ground, including any bullets remaining in it, but you'll insert a new one into your gun much quicker.

Always buy the free resuscitator

Every life, the emergency resuscitator is free to buy from the vendor. This works in the same way as the field resuscitators, except you can only have one emergency resuscitator, but it won't cost you a cent. Even if you're not playing as a medic, there's no harm in picking it up.

Check if downed teammates have resuscitators on them before reviving them

If you've used your emergency resuscitator and any other medical equipment capable of reviving allies but you still need to get your teammates up and fighting again, try looting them first. If they have a resuscitator, you can loot it, then use it back on them.

Rebuy your last loadout for speed

Buying a new loadout at the vendor every time can take a while, clicking through the various menus, so if you're happy to run with exactly what you had in your last life, just click the "rebuy last loadout" button in the bottom-left corner. It's easy to miss, after all.

Steady your aim no matter which weapon you're using

If you've played other FPS games, you'll be used to only being able to hold your breath when using a sniper rifle. In Wardogs, you can steady your aim with any weapon: just hold shift when aiming down the sights.

Enemies can hear your local voice chat

Proximity chat is brilliant for communicating with your teammates when you're near your FOB or in your base, but when you're on the frontline, consider using squad or text chat instead. If you're giving call outs to your team in proximity chat, all the nearby enemies can also hear what you're saying.

Buy the spawn vehicle APC as soon as your team reaches 20 points

The spawn vehicle APC is the best vehicle in the game when in the right hands. Once it's inside the control zone and stationary, it allows allies to teleport directly from spawn to the vehicle, and if you were the driver, you earn cash for every ally that uses it. Just make sure you park it somewhere hidden and/or well-defended.

Use the deployment board to teleport to your spawn vehicle

If you don't buy the spawn vehicle, make sure you're actually using it. Head to the deployment board at spawn to see exactly where it is, then all you have is a 10-second timer to wait out. It's much quicker than flying or driving into the battlefield yourself.

Destroy the radar dish on an enemy APC

If you find an enemy spawn vehicle, you don't need to destroy the entire thing to render it inoperable. All you need to do is destroy the radar on its roof. Enemies can repair it with a wrench, but for as long as the radar is broken, they can't spawn on the vehicle. You don't need explosives to do it either; shooting it with enough regular ammo will do the job.

Close the door when you enter or leave a base

If your team has any sort of base constructed around a FOB, close the damn doors behind you! Whether you're entering or leaving, if a door is left open, it means an enemy can enter. If it's closed, they'll need to find a more creative way in.

Park a vehicle next to an enemy base to climb over a Hesco wall

Want to assault an enemy base, but they've closed all of their doors and gates? Grab a vehicle and park it against the perimeter, then climb on the hood to give yourself more height. If they've only set up a two-high Hesco wall, this will be enough to hoist yourself over.

Learn how to make money reliably

Money makes the world go around in Wardogs, so while this tip is quite vague, we have a guide all about how to make money both quickly and reliably. The TL;DR is that pretty much every action in Wardogs will earn you cash, so pick an activity that is fairly safe, such as spotting or base-building, and stick to it until you're making a lot of profit.

Spotting is the easiest way to make passive cash

To elaborate on the advice above, you don't even need to be a dedicated spotter to make a lot of cash. Buying binoculars will only cost you $75 (or a monocular is $150), and it sits in the utility slot in your loadout. Whenever you see enemies that haven't seen you yet, whip out the binoculars and look at the enemy first. They'll get tagged for your whole team and when they die, you'll earn cash.

When building, stand as far away as you can while hitting the X

Building structures quickly in Wardogs works like Fortnite: hitting the target on the item lets you build it much quicker. If you're right next to the thing you're building, the yellow X will dance around the item, including to the sides you can't see, but if you stand at the right distance where you can only just hit the item, the X will stay in one place, allowing you to build more efficiently.

If you're a pilot, stick a few parachutes in your helicopter's inventory

Fancy being a pilot? Learn how to fly first, then whenever you're ferrying passengers to the control zone, make sure you stick a few parachutes in your helicopter's inventory. Not every player will remember to buy a parachute, and some will expect you to land, but that's considerably riskier for you as the pilot, so if you have a parachute available for them to take, they have no choice but to jump.

Don't wait for a completely full chopper

Another tip if you're choosing to take players to the control zone: don't hang around every time for a completely full chopper. Even if you only have two or three passengers, you'll serve your team better by dropping them off, then coming back for any more, rather than waiting around for a minute or two because that's wasted time that could be spent with allies contributing to the war effort.

Enable rotary vehicle mouse control or use a controller when flying

When learning how to fly, head into your settings and enable rotary vehicle mouse control. Also known as rifle aim, this means the helicopter will face wherever you point your mouse. Alternatively, if you have a controller to hand, try flying with that instead for a much more beginner-friendly method.

Smoke grenades are fantastic

Smoke grenades in Wardogs are your best friend, especially if you're playing as a medic or chasing the hot zone. The cloud of smoke they create is huge and stays for what feels like an age, and they only cost $100 apiece. If you're doing anything that involves being on the frontline, make sure you have some smokes to throw down whenever you need cover.

Don't use the first sniper rifle

The first sniper rifle available is one of the worst weapons in any first-person shooter ever. I am not exaggerating. Pretty much everyone plays Wardogs with armor, and it cannot one-hit kill anyone with armor, even the most basic, level one stuff. To level up recon and unlock more long-ranged weapons, you should instead earn XP from spotting, then use the SKS in the marksman rifle category until you unlock more sniper rifles, such as the Mosin-Nagant.

Loot items at the top of towers

There are a number of towers in the control zone on every map. They're usually where each team will set up a FOB and fortify them with defenses, but if you're quick enough to be the first person to the top, there'll be loot waiting for you. It usually consists of strong weapons, defibrillators, batteries, and equipment.

Use the third-party mortar calculator

Aiming with a mortar (or artillery) is a lot of trial and error as you learn where the enemies are on the map and the minor adjustments you need to make to land your shots. Alternatively, you can head to the mortar calculator on WardogsHub. This fantastic tool lets you input the exact coordinates of your mortar, followed by your target, then it will tell you exactly what distance and degree to aim for.

The mortar can be fired three times in quick succession by pressing C after the first shot

It's tempting to watch your mortar or artillery soar through the sky, then come crashing down on unsuspecting enemies, but it isn't the most efficient way of bombarding foes. Instead, press C every time you fire a shell to skip that view and fire another shell much quicker.

Buying a remote detonator includes one C4 charge

Fancy using some C4 to force a way into an enemy base or blow up their vehicles? Be aware that buying a remote detonator includes a single C4 charge, which is enough to get through a single gate.

You'll drop your weapon if you perform the surrender emote

Don't perform the surrender emote unless you actually want to surrender, because doing so drops your weapon. This is especially bad if you do it while you're the passenger in a helicopter, because you're definitely not seeing that gun again.

Hold 4 to bring up the radial wheel of items

If you can't remember exactly what hotkey each of your items are on, hold down 4 to bring up a radial wheel instead, which will allow you to select the specific item you need. It's longer than pressing the exact hotkey first time, but it's quicker than cycling through them all.

Stay still when you're being healed

If a teammate is healing you, stop moving! Moving even slightly when being healed causes the healing to stop, and it'll also infuriate the teammate who is trying to do you a favor.

The drill wins games, so prioritize building one (or multiple)

Drills are possibly the most overpowered method to win matches in Wardogs right now. Activating one causes it to magnetize the hotzone to the location of the drill, and chances are, if you have a FOB with a drill set up, you also have plenty of teammates nearby to take advantage of the hotzone coming your way.

Climb ladders silently by holding Alt

Need to take an enemy out on a rooftop but don't want them to hear you coming? Hold down the Alt key, which is the same as the key to walk quietly, in order to climb the ladder without making any noise.

Use WASD to aim quicker when using mounted weaponry

Mounted weapons, such as the gun on the top of a humvee, are incredibly slow moving with the mouse. Instead, use WASD to spin them much faster, then use the mouse to make finer adjustment.

If there's a body on the floor, that player is waiting for a revive

Found an enemy body on the floor? That player is still "there," they're just waiting to be revived. So you can potentially take cover and wait for their friend to rock up, netting yourself a free kill in the process…

Let enemies revive their friends before killing them again

…or potentially multiple kills, because if you wait until they've finished the revive before shooting, you can earn much more cash by taking them both out again. If the enemy team isn't communicating, you may even be able to stack it a few times and take multiple enemies out repeatedly.

Ping your downed allies to let them know you're on your way

If you're on your way to revive a downed teammate, ping their icon on your HUD to let them know you're coming. That way, they won't give up and return to spawn, you'll earn cash for reviving them, and they'll keep their loadout.

You can drag all bodies, not just friendlies

Dragging friendlies is often essential so you can revive teammates from behind cover rather than out in the open, but did you know you can also drag enemy bodies? This can be helpful for setting up a trap, such as putting them in a more open position so you can keep an eye on when one of their allies turns up, or moving them somewhere concealed for easier looting.

There is bullet penetration

The tutorial teaches you about bullet ricochet, which can be very helpful in specific circumstances, but bullets can also penetrate surfaces. Even if the enemy you're shooting at has ducked behind cover, if it's a thin material like wood or sheet metal, keep firing and you may be able to finish them off.

Hover over friendly FOBs on the map to learn what supplies they need

Playing the role of supplying FOBs with essential materials? You can check exactly what each FOB needs by hovering over the icon on the minimap, so you know what to stock up on and deliver.

Unpack supplies at your FOBs

If you're on foot and you see a teammate drop off supplies, don't forget to unpack them by interacting with them on the ground. The supplies cannot be used by the FOB until they've been unpacked.

Don't open your parachute too early

If you jump out of a helicopter and deploy your chute too early, you'll be taken out of the sky with ease. Instead, wait until just before the white section of the meter reaches the red; you'll open your parachute at just the right time to stop you from hanging in the air for too long or plummeting to the ground.

Lock the doors to your vehicles when you've set off

If you're driving any sort of ground-based vehicle around the control zone and there's a chance enemies could be nearby, lock the doors. Otherwise, foes can jump into the passenger seat and kill everyone within without anyone even noticing.

Tip your teammates

Finally, tip your teammates! You can tip drivers and pilots for dropping you off and medics for reviving and healing you. Tips make the world go around, and they can only be given in $5 increments, which is effectively nothing, but it's still a generous action that helps everyone to feel better.