The L81 Mortar is the cheapest way to put heavy explosives on a fixed position in Wardogs, and it is also the easiest piece of equipment to waste. Every shell you fire comes out of your FOB’s ammunition pool, so guessing your way onto a target burns through supply that your team needs elsewhere. Getting the bearing right first, then the range, turns it from a lottery into a repeatable strike.
Quick answer: Press E to enter the mortar, ping your target with the middle mouse button so the marker shows on the compass, turn the tube until the barrel lines up with that marker, set the range in meters on the left-hand scale, fire one shell, then correct the range from where the shell-cam shows the impact.
Build the L81 Mortar with a Lv.3 hammer
You cannot place a mortar with a starter hammer. The buildable only appears once you are carrying the Lv.3 hammer, and the finished emplacement draws from FOB resources, so build it where your logistics can reach it.
Note: Holding V dismantles the mortar and returns nothing. Check the placement before you commit, and keep razor wire, walls, and other tall structures out of the barrel’s line of fire — a shell that clips your own construction detonates on top of you.
Mortar controls and optic readouts
Walk into the sandbag pit and the interact prompt appears on the HUD. Entering swaps you to a zoomed optic view with three readouts arranged around the reticle.
| Control or readout | What it does |
|---|---|
| E | Enter and exit the mortar |
| W / A / S / D | Coarse traverse and elevation changes |
| Mouse | Fine adjustment within the zoomed sight |
| Middle mouse button (on map) | Ping a target so the marker appears on the compass |
| C | Cancel the shell-tracking camera and return to the tube |
| V (held) | Dismantle the emplacement, no materials refunded |
| Compass (top) | Current heading, used for bearing |
| RNG (left) | Distance to impact in meters, up to roughly 684 |
| MIL (right) | Barrel elevation in milliradians; a higher number means a shorter shot |
The relationship between pitch and distance is the one thing to internalize. Raising the barrel steepens the arc and pulls the impact closer; flattening it pushes the shell out toward the maximum range mark on the reticle.
Set the bearing with a map ping
Direction is the half of the problem you can solve with certainty, so solve it first. Open the map, put the cursor on the target, and press the middle mouse button to drop a ping. That marker carries into the mortar’s sight view and sits on the compass strip at the top of the screen.
Back in the optic, traverse with the movement keys until the barrel is lined up with the ping, then fine-tune with the mouse. If a teammate has already spotted the target, hovering it on the map shows the exact distance and leaves a 3D marker you can align to directly, which skips the maths entirely.
Three ways to get the range in meters
Range is where shells get wasted. Pick the method that matches how much time you have and how much ammunition your FOB is holding.
| Method | How it works | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Grid counting | Small map squares are about 100m, large squares about 1km. Count squares between you and the target for a rough figure. | Fast, usually needs one or two corrections |
| Ranging shot | Fire at or near maximum range, watch the impact marker on the map, then reduce the range and repeat. | Slowest, burns the most shells |
| Coordinate maths | Read the X and Y map coordinates of your position and the target, then solve the right triangle. | Near-first-round accuracy |
Calculating exact range from map coordinates
Target X 95.55, Mortar X 96.67 -> (95.55 - 96.67) x 100 = 112
Target Y 106.36, Mortar Y 109.11 -> (106.36 - 109.11) x 100 = 275
Range = sqrt(112^2 + 275^2) = 296.9 m
If you would rather not run the numbers mid-match, an indirect-fire calculator that takes the L81 Mortar, your coordinates, and the target coordinates will return bearing and elevation for you. The output is used the same way: match the bearing on the compass, set the range, fire.
Correct from the shell-cam and fire a salvo
Firing switches you to a tracking camera that follows the shell to the ground. Stay with it. The camera shows the impact point against the map, and that single observation is worth more than any pre-fire estimate.
Correction is simple. Short of the target, increase the range. Past it, decrease it. Left or right, nudge the traverse and leave the range alone. Change one value at a time so you can tell what actually moved the impact.
Once the impact point is confirmed, speed matters more than precision. The mortar holds up to three shells, and pressing C cancels the shell-tracking view so you can fire the next round immediately. Three shells can leave the tube in about three seconds, which is usually enough to catch defenders before they scatter. The same loop works against moving assets such as a helicopter flagged on the map — align to the marker, fire, and adjust from the tracked impact — though a target that keeps moving is rarely worth more than a couple of attempts.
You know the solution is locked in when the shell-cam impact lands on the marker and the HUD registers the result — destroyed structures, confirmed kills, and the cash award. From that point you only need to re-check the bearing, not the range, as long as the target stays put.
Mortar ammunition comes from your FOB
Shells are drawn from the ammunition stock held by the Forward Operating Base you are attached to, the same pool that feeds systems like the C-RAM and Strela launchers. When the FOB runs dry, the tube goes quiet regardless of how good your firing solution is.
Resupply is manual. Resources arrive at the FOB in crates that someone has to carry in a backpack and deposit through the small terminal on the building, which also displays the base’s current inventory. Trucks and helicopters such as the UH-1 can drop pallets closer to the line, and each unpacked pallet delivers around 1,800 resource points spread across building supplies, fuel, ammunition, and spare parts depending on what the driver or pilot bought.
Tip: Tell whoever is running logistics before you start a sustained fire mission. A crew that checks the ammunition stock first avoids sitting on a perfect solution with nothing to load.
Why mortar shots miss
Most failed fire missions come down to a short list of causes rather than bad luck.
- Bearing was never confirmed. Without a ping or a spotted marker to align to, the compass heading is a guess and range corrections cannot fix it.
- Range and elevation were adjusted in the same pass, so the impact shift cannot be attributed to either one.
- The target is beyond the tube’s reach. The reticle marks maximum range, and anything past roughly 684 meters will fall short no matter how flat the barrel sits.
- Coordinates were read from a stale marker after the target moved. Acquire a fresh position instead of continuing to walk rounds onto an old callout.
- Structures sit directly in front of the barrel. Walls and razor wire built too close will catch the shell on the way out.
One last habit worth building: every launch advertises your position through sound and the visible arc of the shell. Enemy scouts, rocket-armed helicopters, and counter-battery mortars all hunt firing positions once the rounds start landing, so move the crew after a productive fire mission rather than settling in for the whole match.
