WARDOGS: How to Build a Solo SAM Site With a Mortar Pit

A solo anti-air position in WARDOGS is one of the few builds that pays for itself. One player with a Large Hammer, a Forward Operating Base and a truck full of supplies can put a Talon 9K-SAM over a contested flight path, drop a mortar pit underneath it, and keep firing for the rest of the match without ever needing a squad.

Quick answer: Buy a Forward Operating Base ($7,500), haul it plus two Ammo Supply Pallets in a Ural, then build a Mortar and a Talon 9K-SAM inside Large Hesco walls using the Large Hammer.

Unlocks and loadout you need before you build

The whole position hinges on one tool. The Large Hammer unlocks at Support level 8, and without it you cannot build Large Hesco Blocks or the mortar itself. Support levels come fast from construction work and from killing high-value targets, so build walls and sandbags whenever you are near a friendly FOB.

Everything else is a shopping trip at the Equipment Vendor. Check your backpack size before you pay for the FOB kit, because it weighs 6.5 kg and a small pack will not take it.

Item	Price	What it does
Forward Operating Base	$7,500	Build radius, supply storage
Ammo Supply Pallet	$400	Bulk shells for the pit
Build Supplies	$10	Required for every buildable
Ammo Supplies	$10	Reloads buildable weapons
Ural	$5,000	Hauls the kit and pallets
KH-2002	$0	Free self-defence rifle

The FOB kit arrives loaded with roughly 1,250 building supplies, which is enough to get the first walls and the mortar up. Ammo Supplies only work inside a FOB radius, so there is no point buying them for a position you have not sited yet.

For personal defence, grab the KH-2002. It costs nothing, fires 5.56x45mm at 700 rounds per minute in semi or burst, weighs 3.17 kg, and cannot take attachments. That is fine for a builder who mostly needs to stop one attacker reaching the pit.

Hauling the kit: Ural truck or helicopter

The Ural is the workhorse for this build. It is a Transport-class vehicle with three seats, an 85-litre tank, a top speed of 79 km/h and a thirst of 4 litres per kilometre. It costs $5,000 per purchase from the vehicle vendor in your faction’s safe zone, on top of a one-time unlock fee of $35,000 at Driver level 3. It never spawns in the world, so you always drive it out from home.

If you are going to a rooftop instead of ground level, a light helicopter such as the MH-6 is faster and lets you resupply mid-match. Load your Build Supplies and Ammo Supplies into the aircraft’s inventory first, then buy the FOB and spare ammo on a second trip to the vendor before you climb into the pilot seat.

Loading Chopper Inventory and Buying FOB — Transferring building and ammo supplies into the helicopter's inventory, then returning to the vendor for the FOB kit. Shown at 01:52 in Nickko Kimiko’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

On the flight in, watch for enemy SAM locks and pop flares with V. Deploy them late, once the lock has finished, not the moment the warning starts. After you land, hop into the pilot seat and out again every two to three minutes while you build, or the helicopter will despawn and strand you.

Ammo Supply Pallets break on high-speed impacts, with a free fall of around 90m as the limit. Set them down at the FOB rather than dumping them out of a moving vehicle or a hovering aircraft.

Siting the FOB and walling the perimeter

Pick ground that overlooks enemy FOBs, towers, helicopter approach lanes or the Hot Zone, but keep natural cover between you and the nearest windows or high ground. The back of a building or the reverse slope of a hill hides the FOB long enough to get the guns working. Open roads and known sniper lanes are the worst possible choice.

Drop the two Ammo Supply Pallets at the site. Delivering them pays out around 5,000 cash immediately, and unloading each unit of supplies into the FOB inventory adds roughly 1,800 more. Doing this inside a Control Zone generates passive income on top.

Enter build mode and place the Forward Operating Base. It defines the radius everything else must sit inside, and it holds the resources you and any passing teammates draw from.

Placing the FOB and Initial Foundation — The FOB goes down first, then Hesco wall and block foundations snap around the perimeter. Shown at 01:06 in WarDoggin’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

Snap Hesco wall and block foundations around the perimeter and hammer them in. Lean on Large Hesco Blocks for the main line and keep sandbags as gap-fillers, otherwise you will run the FOB dry before the guns are up. Leave one doorway so you are not hammering your own wall down every time you need to move.

Add a second layer of wall on whichever side faces the real threat, usually building windows or a ridge. Place doors at the entry points to close the compound off.

Building on a roof changes one thing. Before anything else, wall the stairwell doorway with stacked Hesco so nobody can walk up behind you. One set of blocks is usually enough, two if the building is busy. Just remember that sealing the stairs means your aircraft is the only way down.

A Sandbag Wall pays whoever destroys it $100, so every low-value barrier you scatter around is a small bounty for the enemy.

Building the mortar pit

Open the buildables radial and turn to the third page. The L81 MORTAR sits on the left tile. Select it and drop the blueprint inside the enclosure you just walled off.

Hammer the wooden planks on the ground until the completion percentage hits 100. Normal hits add 1 to 2 percent, but any plank showing a yellow cross gives 10 percent instantly, so chase those marks. Stand back far enough that the build target stays on screen while you swing.

Check the barrel clearance. Walls too close to the front of the tube will cut off your long-range firing angles, which defeats the point. If the placement is wrong, press V to dismantle the mortar and start again, but be aware you get nothing back.

Tier the walls around the pit. Double-height Hesco on the sides and rear with ladder access in gives you a covered firing position that is hard to hit with direct fire while leaving the upward arc clear.

You know the emplacement is finished when the planks are gone and the mortar is sitting in its sandbagged pit, ready to mount.

Aiming and firing the mortar

The mortar UI puts Range on the left panel, Mil elevation on the right and a compass along the top. Higher Mil means a steeper arc and a shorter flight, W/A/S/D traverse the tube, and the mouse wheel zooms for fine adjustment. Maximum reach is 700 metres.

Open the map, middle-click the target to ping it, and turn the mortar until the ping appears on the compass.

Note the X and Y coordinates of both the target and your own position, then multiply each difference by 100. With a target at X 95.55, Y 106.36 and a mortar at X 96.67, Y 109.11, that gives 112 and 275.

Take the square root of the two squared figures added together. √(275² + 112²) works out to 296.9, so set the range to 296 or 297 and fire.

You can skip the maths and simply lob a round, check the map for the impact point and walk the range in, but that burns shells fast. Either way, watch where each round lands and adjust rather than shelling the same square repeatedly, which wastes ammunition and advertises your position. Three rounds can go out in sequence, and C cancels the shell follow-camera so you can get back to loading.

Mounting the Talon 9K-SAM above the pit

Build support blocks or sandbags to raise a platform above the mortar enclosure. Elevation is what gives the launcher its arc, so do not settle for ground level if you can help it.

Place the Talon 9K-SAM blueprint on the platform, toward the front edge of the structure rather than the back. Sited forward, the turret sees further across the map and covers more of the approach on its flanks.

Hammer it to completion, stepping back far enough to keep the whole blueprint in view. Then wall the platform in on the sides facing any tall tower or ridge. Those walls block sniper sightlines without blocking the launcher’s view of the sky.

Final Platform Walkthrough — The finished SAM platform, fully enclosed, with clear sightlines onto enemy flight paths and the mortar pit directly beneath. Shown at 07:22 in WarDoggin’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

Locking on and firing the Talon 9K-SAM

Mount the turret, then right-click to aim down the optic and scan the airspace. Put the reticle on an aircraft and hold it there. The targeting box starts red and turns green when the lock completes, which is your cue to left-click and fire. That colour change is the only confirmation you need that the turret is working.

Testing SAM Turret Controls — Aiming down the Talon 9K-SAM optic and holding on the aircraft until the lock box goes green. Shown at 04:43 in Nickko Kimiko’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

If the launcher refuses to lock onto aircraft coming from a particular direction, the structure around it is in the way. Shift the turret slightly forward on the platform and the number of viable targets goes up noticeably.

Overhead cover using the Indirect Fire Shelter

An open pit is vulnerable to enemy mortars dropping rounds straight in. The Indirect Fire Shelter fixes that. Build one, then hammer away the exterior walls you do not want, leaving a wide outward firing arc with the roof and sides intact. A Talon 9K-SAM slotted inside gets protection from above without losing its view of the sky.

Upgraded SAM Site Overview — A Talon 9K-SAM mounted inside an Indirect Fire Shelter, with overhead and side protection but an open firing arc. Shown at 00:20 in LiteralWedgeOfCheese’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

The same trick works for the mortar. Place a Recon Tower, hammer out the Large Hesco Blocks in a corner section, and embed the mortar into the gap for overhead cover. Removing part of the floor extends the firing arc further. Leave the window structures alone, though, since cutting those can compromise the build.

Blueprint snapping lets you chain shelters together with Hesco walls and small blocks into a larger compound, with internal Hesco blocks acting as stairs to an upper tier and mortars sitting on the roof deck behind sandbag parapets. Camouflage nets over the top help hide the whole thing.

Compound Building Demonstration — Snapping Indirect Fire Shelters, Hesco walls and small blocks together to form an enclosed compound. Shown at 03:09 in LiteralWedgeOfCheese’s video. Image: BULKHEAD

Target priority and when to relocate

Once both guns are live, spend your shells where they hurt most. The mortar’s best targets, in rough order, are enemy mortars, Talon 9K-SAMs, armoured vehicles and enemy FOBs, since those remove spawn points, suppression and anti-air cover in one go. Helicopters, rooftop campers and tower positions are worth rounds after that. The SAM handles everything in the air.

If enemy mortars start dropping counter-battery fire on you, move or leave. Digging in loses the gear and the FOB.
If you run dry with nobody to resupply you, the position is finished. Switch to defence or head to the front line.
If the fight turns against your team, shift fire onto the Hot Zone to stabilise it.
Keep the free rifle on you at all times. A solo FOB that gets spotted is an easy target.

By the time the walls are up and the pallets are unloaded, most of the initial spend is already back in your pocket, and the guns are pure profit from there. The build only fails when it gets found, so treat concealment as part of the construction, not an afterthought.