Two gear slots in WARDOGS decide how much you can bring into a match, and they do completely different jobs. The backpack slot buys you an inventory grid measured in squares. The vest slot buys you quick access slots, the ones you flick between mid-fight. Neither replaces the other, and both charge you in kilograms against the same weight bar as your rifle and your plates.
Quick answer: Backpacks give storage grid, from the free Pouch at 6 slots to the Halftrack Backpack at 30. Tac vests give no storage at all — they unlock quickslots and speed up reloads.
WARDOGS backpack slots, weight and price
Ten carry options sit under the backpack tab at the equipment vendor, and the grid each one prints is the number that matters. Weight climbs less predictably than price, so the most expensive pack is not automatically the heaviest one on your back.
| Backpack | Price | Weight (kg) | Slots |
|---|---|---|---|
 Pouch | Free | 0.3 | 6 (3×2) |
 Small Backpack | $350 | 0.5 | 8 (4×2) |
| Field Backpack | $650 | 0.8 | 12 (6×2) |
 Medium Backpack | $800 | 0.88 | 15 (5×3) |
| Assault Backpack | $1,200 | 1.3 | 21 (5×5 listed) |
 Medium Backpack + Sling | $1,400 | 4.0 | Sling only |
 Large Backpack | $2,400 | 1.5 | 24 (6×4) |
| Large Backpack + Sling | $3,500 | 1.5 | 24 + 1 sling |
| Large Backpack + 2 Slings | $5,000 | 1.5 | 24 + 2 slings |
| Halftrack Backpack | $15,000 | 2.78 | 30 (6×5) |
Two entries need a footnote. The Assault Backpack describes itself as a 5×5 grid but states 21 slots, and both figures appear exactly that way in the game. The Medium Backpack + Sling does not print a grid at all; its description sells it as item storage plus a sling for an extra weapon or specialist item.
Which backpack to carry at each stage
Pouch and Small Backpack: the no-unlock options
The Pouch costs nothing, weighs almost nothing, and gives you six squares that only accept vertical item placement. That last restriction is the catch — a wide item will not fit no matter how much empty space is showing.
The Small Backpack is the first real bag and needs no level requirement either. Eight slots in a 4×2 grid for $350, at half a kilogram, makes it the cheapest way to stop rationing your own bandages.
Field, Medium and Assault: the mid-career jump
The Field Backpack is the first unlock on the ladder and the cheapest meaningful upgrade, trading a fifty percent bump in capacity over the Small for three tenths of a kilogram. Its 6×2 shape is long and thin, which suits ammunition and flat items better than bulky tools.
The Medium Backpack reshapes that into 5×3 for fifteen slots, which is the point where a medic or an engineer can carry a job’s worth of kit and still weigh under a kilogram.
The Assault Backpack is the fighting pack: 21 slots at 1.3 kg for $1,200, with a $50,000 unlock behind it. It is a bigger cash commitment than everything before it combined, and the extra six slots over the Medium mostly pay for ammunition depth.
The Large family and slings
All three Large variants carry the same 6×4 grid and the same 1.5 kg. The Large Backpack is the plain version at $2,400, and everything above it is paying for sling slots rather than storage.
Sling slots hold additional equipment rather than loose items, which is what makes them worth the jump for anyone running a launcher alongside a rifle. The Large Backpack + 2 Slings sits at the very top of the career track at Wardog level 150, and its $175,000 unlock is the single most expensive gate on the backpack tab.
Halftrack Backpack
Thirty slots in a 6×5 grid, 2.78 kg, and $15,000 per purchase. The Halftrack Backpack has no Wardog level requirement listed, so the gate is purely financial — and since gear is bought from the same balance as weapons, that is three times the price of a top-tier armour plate strapped to your back.
An empty large pack is pure weight. If you are not filling the grid, the smaller bag does the same job for fewer kilograms.
Tac vests: quickslots, not storage
Vests do not add a single square of inventory. What they add is quick access slots — the numbered positions you can swap to without opening anything — plus handling speed. Each tier widens how many of those slots are available and how much faster you reload and swap utility items.
| Vest | Price | Weight (kg) | Quickslots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small Tac Vest | $100 | 0.82 | Slots 5 and 6 |
| Medium Tac Vest | $250 | 1.65 | Slots 5 to 8 |
| Large Tac Vest | $400 | 3.6 | All slots |
The handling bonuses scale with the tier. Small gives a minor increase to reload speed and to how fast you equip and holster utility items, Medium a moderate one, Large a strong one. Large is also the heaviest thing on this page apart from the Medium Backpack + Sling, at 3.6 kg, which is heavier than a Level 2 armour plate — worth checking against your weight bar before you buy it at Wardog level 50.
Unlock levels and one-time fees
Unlocks work in two payments. You pay a one-time cash fee at the listed Wardog level to add the item to your vendor stock, then you pay its vendor price every time you buy one. Wardog level is the sum of your six role levels, so XP earned on any role pushes these gates forward.
| Item | Wardog level | One-time fee |
|---|---|---|
| Field Backpack | 12 | $20,000 |
| Medium Tac Vest | 14 | $10,000 |
| Medium Backpack | 20 | $25,000 |
| Assault Backpack | 32 | $50,000 |
| Large Tac Vest | 50 | $25,000 |
| Large Backpack | 55 | $100,000 |
| Large Backpack + Sling | 73 | $125,000 |
| Large Backpack + 2 Slings | 150 | $175,000 |
Four carry items have no level requirement at all: the Pouch, the Small Backpack, the Small Tac Vest and the Halftrack Backpack. The Medium Backpack + Sling also lists no Wardog gate.
An unlock is not the only route to a pack. You can use gear you have not unlocked if you loot it from a body or buy it from a supply crate in the field.
What the kilograms cost you
Every item you carry feeds one total weight figure, and that figure drops you into one of five classes. Under 10 kg is free. Above that, each class scales your movement speed, jump, stamina recovery, aim sway and time to bring up your sights.
| Class | Weight | Move speed | ADS time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lightest | 0–10 kg | — | — |
| Light | 10–17 kg | −5% | +5% |
| Medium | 17–27 kg | −13% | +6% |
| Heavy | 27–40 kg | −20% | +15% |
| Super Heavy | 40 kg and up | −20% | +17% |
Aim sway widens as you climb too, from two percent in Light up to twenty percent in Super Heavy, and the top two classes also slow how quickly you lean. Stamina regeneration is penalised only in the middle of the ladder, at fifteen percent in Light and thirty-five percent in Medium.
In practice, the carry gear is rarely what tips you over a class boundary — plates do that. A Large Backpack and a Small Tac Vest together come to under 2.5 kg, which is less than a Level 1 helmet. The pairing that genuinely costs you is a Large Tac Vest plus the Medium Backpack + Sling, at 7.6 kg between them, and at that point you are spending most of your free allowance before you have picked a rifle.
