Wardogs Tank Killing Guide (Armor Zones and Time to Kill)

Tanks in Wardogs feel unfair right up until you stop shooting them in the face. Every anti-tank option in the game — C4, the IED, the RPG, and the MAAWS — deals wildly different damage depending on which part of the hull you hit, and the gap between a front shot and a rear shot is the difference between a quick kill and burning your whole loadout for nothing.

Quick answer: Hit the rear engine compartment. A MAAWS rocket into the rear kills a tank in roughly 11 seconds, compared to about 33 seconds from the front and 22 from the side.

Tank armor zones in Wardogs: front, side, top, and rear

Tanks are split into distinct damage zones. The front plate is the most resistant surface on the vehicle and soaks up an enormous amount of punishment. Side armor is noticeably softer. The top of the turret, where the hatch sits, behaves as its own surface and is reachable if you can climb onto the hull. The rear, where the engine sits, is the weakest point by a wide margin.

That ordering never changes. Whatever you have equipped, the priority is the same: get behind the vehicle, then settle for the flank, and only shoot the front when you have no other angle and no better option than chipping away at it.

Remote C4 charges detonating against the front plate of a tank on the firing range — C4 detonating on the front of a tank during firing range testing, where frontal armor resists the most damage.

RPG and MAAWS time to kill by armor zone

Both launchers can solo a tank. The MAAWS is faster in every single zone, and the difference gets dramatic at the back of the vehicle.

Launcher	Front	Side	Rear
RPG	~60 sec	~31 sec	~25 sec
MAAWS	~33 sec	~22 sec	~11 sec

A minute of sustained RPG fire into a tank’s front plate is not a realistic plan in a live match. The crew will spot the launch signature, reposition, or simply kill you long before the health bar runs out. Treat the front numbers as proof that the angle is wrong, not as a strategy.

Iron sights lined up on the front of a tank parked in an industrial yard — Iron-sight view of an RPG lined up on a tank’s frontal armor — the slowest angle in the game.

Tip: A rear MAAWS hit finishes the vehicle outright. There is no leftover chassis to mop up afterwards, so you can move on the moment the explosion registers.

Using C4 and the IED against tanks

Placed explosives require you to close the distance, which is the risky part, but they pay off because you get to choose exactly where the charge lands. Both C4 and the Improvised Explosive Device follow the same armor rules as the launchers, so a stack of charges on the front plate is largely wasted.

Equip your explosives before you approach. C4 and the IED sit in your quick slots, and fumbling through the inventory next to a live tank is how these runs end early.

Approach from behind or from a blind flank. Tanks that are engaging your team are the easiest targets, because the turret is pointed somewhere else and the crew is watching a different lane.

Stick the charges on the rear engine deck. An IED detonated against the back of the vehicle triggers a cook-off, which is the cleanest and cheapest tank kill available to infantry.

If you can climb onto the vehicle, the top of the turret around the hatch is a viable surface too. Watch for the interact prompt while you are up there — standing on the hull is also where the gunner seat becomes available, and it is easy to press the wrong thing under pressure.

On-screen F ENTER gunner prompt while standing on top of a tank — The “F ENTER” gunner prompt appearing while the player is up on the tank’s hull.

Back off before you detonate. The IED uses a phone detonator, so you can put a wall or a corner between yourself and the blast and still confirm the kill.

Fire from high ground to hit soft armor

Elevation solves the biggest problem with launchers, which is that tanks tend to point their thickest armor at whatever they can see. A rocky ridge overlooking a road gives you a clean look at the flank of anything driving past, and a rooftop or an industrial crane extends that to long-range shots across the map.

First-person launcher view from a rooftop looking down at a bridge and treeline — Firing position from an elevated structure, looking down onto a bridge crossing where armor has to pass.

Height also buys you time. Crews struggle to elevate their guns onto a target above them, which means you can land follow-up rockets instead of relocating after every shot. Pick a perch that covers a road or a bridge crossing, and let the armor come to you.

Confirming the kill and getting paid

You will know it worked from the on-screen notification. A destroyed vehicle posts a VEHICLE DESTROYED confirmation with a cash value attached, and damage you contributed toward someone else’s kill shows up as an assist payout instead. Vehicle work pays well — a single armor assist can be worth thousands, and a good tank-hunting streak stacks those numbers quickly.

If nothing registers, the usual cause is the angle. Damage dumped into the front plate reads as chip damage, and a crew that pulls back to repair resets your progress entirely. When you cannot reach the rear, coordinate with a teammate so your rockets land inside the same window rather than spread across a minute of the match.

The short version: is that Wardogs armor is not overpowered so much as directional. Learn the four zones, keep the MAAWS in your pocket for anything you can flank, and save the C4 and IEDs for the moments a tank parks itself somewhere you can walk up behind it.