Gaming Guide

WARDOGS Vehicle Tier List: All 20 Ranked by Squad Value

Prices, seats, top speed, fuel burn and the Driver or Pilot unlock behind every vehicle the vendor sells.

Prices, seats, top speed, fuel burn and the Driver or Pilot unlock behind every vehicle the vendor sells.

The Control Zone is a 2 x 2 km box that moves every match, dropped somewhere into 256 km² of industrial mountain. Walking there means arriving after the fight has already been decided, which is why the vehicle vendor is the first screen most players open and the fastest way to set fire to a persistent bank balance. Twenty machines are on the shelf, from a $500 quad bike to an $18,000 gunship, and the gap between them is not really about firepower.

Quick answer: Ride the Bobcat while you are broke and the Z20 Lakota once Pilot level allows it. Both put more bodies inside the zone per dollar than anything else the vendor stocks.


How buying a vehicle works in WARDOGS

Nothing with an engine is placed in the world during a King of the Hill match. Every single vehicle is bought from the vehicle vendor inside your faction’s safe zone, paid for out of the same balance that buys your rifle, and when it burns, that money is gone for good.

  • Three separate tracks gate the roster: Driver level for land vehicles, Pilot level for aircraft, and Wardog level for artillery. Driving all day will never unlock a helicopter.
  • A gated vehicle also carries a one-time unlock fee, charged on top of the purchase price you pay every time you buy one.
  • Vehicles spawn locked. The owner can squad lock them so only squadmates can climb in, or unlock them to the whole team.
  • Destroying one pays the enemy. The bounty scales with the machine, so expensive hardware is also a target worth hunting.
  • Repairs and refuels happen at Headquarters or at a team-built FOB with the right station, and the game charges you for both.

Crew seats matter as much as the price tag. The game is blunt about it: “Vehicle crews share responsibilities. The driver or pilot navigates the battlefield, while gunners tracks targets and eliminates the enemy. Rewards and penalties will be shared!” A tank or an armed truck bought solo is a tank or an armed truck with an empty gun.

Carrying teammates to the Control Zone pays cash per delivery, so a transport that survives four runs has usually paid for itself and then some.


WARDOGS vehicle tier list: All 20 ranked

Placement here is about what a machine is worth to a squad, not what it costs. A vehicle earns a high tier when it moves people into the zone quickly, survives long enough to do it twice, and does not wipe out your balance when it finally dies. Expensive hardware drops when its price, its crew requirement and the bounty it hands the enemy outweigh what it actually changes on the ground. The ranking reflects the Season 1 vendor on game build CL-500234.

TierVehicles
SBobcat, Kodiak, MH-6, Z20 Lakota
AKodiak [Pickup], Humvee, AH-6M [Miniguns], Flakpanzer Gepard
BDune Buggy, Kodiak [M249], Ural, Z20 Lakota [Miniguns], L2A6
CHumvee [M249], Humvee [Minigun], Ural Defender, SPH-2, AH-6R [Rockets]
DUral Defender [M249], Havoc

In the tables below, the middle column reads seats, then top speed in km/h, then fuel capacity in litres with litres burned per kilometre. The last column is the progression gate and the one-time fee that comes with it.


S tier: The best value vehicles in WARDOGS

VehiclePriceSeats · Speed · FuelUnlock
Bobcat$5002 · 75 · 18 L, 2.2/kmBuy outright
Kodiak$2,5004 · 154 · 50 L, 2.9/kmBuy outright
MH-6$6,2506 · 350 · 105 L, 4.4/kmBuy outright
Z20 Lakota$7,40013 · 445 · 120 L, 4.4/kmPilot 10 · $35,000

The Bobcat is the correct answer to almost every question a new account asks. It has no armour, no gun and a tiny tank, but it is the cheapest thing that moves, it costs an account nothing meaningful when it explodes, and it pays the enemy the smallest bounty in the game. Buy it, ride it to the edge of the zone, leave it in a ditch, buy another.

Bobcat
Bobcat. Image: BULKHEAD

The Kodiak is the single best purchase on the land tab. It is the fastest thing on wheels short of a buggy, it sips the least fuel per kilometre of anything with four seats, and the vendor will sell you one with no level and no unlock fee attached. Four people in a Kodiak arriving together is worth more than any one of them arriving in something armoured.

Kodiak
Kodiak. Image: BULKHEAD

The MH-6 is the cheapest thing that flies and the only aircraft you can buy without a Pilot level behind it, which makes it the learning airframe by default. It carries a full squad, crosses the map at helicopter speed, and only pays out $800 when somebody knocks it down. Land it badly enough to break a rotor and you will need a repair tool, so practise the approach before you start charging teammates for taxi rides.

MH-6
MH-6. Image: BULKHEAD

The Z20 Lakota is the highest-throughput vehicle in the game and it is not close. Thirteen seats at the fastest top speed on the vendor turns one pilot into an entire faction’s logistics, and the unlock fee is the cheapest of any aircraft gate. Fly low on the approach, because that stops certain launchers locking on, and keep flares in reserve for the ones that do.

Z20 Lakota
Z20 Lakota. Image: BULKHEAD

A tier: Strong buys once the gates open

VehiclePriceSeats · Speed · FuelUnlock
Kodiak [Pickup]$3,0006 · 154 · 50 L, 2.9/kmDriver 10 · $35,000
Humvee$3,0004 · 113.2 · 65 L, 3.3/kmDriver 15 · $25,000
AH-6M [Miniguns]$7,0002 · 350 · 105 L, 4.4/kmPilot 4 · $50,000
Flakpanzer Gepard$10,0002 · 65 · 110 L, 10.0/kmNo Driver or Pilot gate

The Kodiak [Pickup] keeps everything good about the base truck and adds two more seats for a small bump in price. The unlock fee is the annoying part rather than the sticker, and once it is paid this is the cheapest six-seat ride in the game by a wide margin.

Kodiak [Pickup]
Kodiak [Pickup]. Image: BULKHEAD

The Humvee trades speed for protection, and the trade is worth making when the route into the zone is contested rather than empty. It is slower and thirstier than a Kodiak, so treat the armour as a tool for pushing through fire, not as permission to park in the open. It still dies to a launcher like everything else.

Humvee
Humvee. Image: BULKHEAD

The AH-6M [Miniguns] is the entry gunship and the earliest Pilot unlock on the board, which is the whole reason it sits this high. Two seats means one pilot and one gunner, and the pair of you can suppress a rooftop long enough for a transport to land. It shares the light-helicopter bounty, so losing it hurts your wallet far more than it helps theirs.

AH-6M [Miniguns]
AH-6M [Miniguns]. Image: BULKHEAD

The Flakpanzer Gepard is a specialist and a very good one when the sky belongs to somebody else. It is the thirstiest vehicle in the game per kilometre and one of the slowest, so park it with purpose near the approach lanes instead of driving it anywhere. When enemy pilots are farming your faction, it is the only ground answer that consistently punishes them.

Flakpanzer Gepard
Flakpanzer Gepard. Image: BULKHEAD

B tier: Situational but defensible

VehiclePriceSeats · Speed · FuelUnlock
Dune Buggy$1,5003 · 130 · 68 L, 5.0/kmDriver 8 · $25,000
Kodiak [M249]$3,7505 · 154 · 50 L, 2.9/kmDriver 6 · $50,000
Ural$5,0003 · 79 · 85 L, 4.0/kmDriver 3 · $35,000
Z20 Lakota [Miniguns]$8,00013 · 445 · 120 L, 4.4/kmPilot 25 · $75,000
L2A6$14,0003 · 65 · 110 L, 8.0/kmDriver 35 · $500,000

The Dune Buggy is quick and cheap, but it burns fuel faster per kilometre than a Humvee does and carries one more body than a Bobcat. It is a fine second ride and a poor first one, since the unlock fee buys you a marginal upgrade over a truck that costs nothing to open.

Dune Buggy
Dune Buggy. Image: BULKHEAD

The Kodiak [M249] is the same fast, frugal chassis with a manned gun bolted on and one extra seat. The gun only exists if somebody is sitting behind it, and the unlock fee is heavier than the price difference suggests. Worth it for a full squad, wasted money for a duo.

Kodiak [M249]
Kodiak [M249]. Image: BULKHEAD

The Ural is a logistics truck that happens to seat three, and judging it as a taxi misses the point. The big tank keeps it running between Headquarters and a forward FOB for a long time, which is exactly what a team building fortifications needs. As pure transport it is slow and expensive for the seat count.

Ural
Ural. Image: BULKHEAD

The Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] is the armed version of the best transport in the game, and the surcharge for the guns is genuinely small. It falls to B only because the Pilot requirement sits far past the base airframe’s, so by the time you can buy it you already own the thing that does the important job. Hold it for matches where your landing zone is actively defended.

The L2A6 is the heaviest thing on the vendor and it demands a three-person crew, a Driver level deep into the track, and a half-million unlock before it will even appear. Crewed properly it breaks fortified positions and forces infantry to reroute. Driven solo it is a $14,000 donation, and whoever kills it collects $5,000.

L2A6
L2A6. Image: BULKHEAD

C tier: Overpriced for what they change

VehiclePriceSeats · Speed · FuelUnlock
Humvee [M249]$3,7505 · 113.2 · 65 L, 3.3/kmDriver 20 · $125,000
Humvee [Minigun]$4,5005 · 113.2 · 65 L, 3.3/kmDriver 30 · $150,000
Ural Defender$6,0003 · 79 · 85 L, 4.0/kmDriver 18 · $75,000
SPH-2$8,0003 · 65 · 105 L, 8.0/kmWardog 90 · $500,000
AH-6R [Rockets]$12,5002 · 350 · 105 L, 4.4/kmPilot 20 · $250,000

The Humvee [M249] is identical to the base truck everywhere that matters and asks a six-figure unlock for a roof gun you need a second player to fire. If the squad is full, the Kodiak version does the same job faster and on less fuel.

Humvee [M249]
Humvee [M249]. Image: BULKHEAD

The Humvee [Minigun] is the same story with a bigger gun and the steepest unlock fee on the land tab. It is a fun ride and a bad investment, because the chassis underneath it is the same one you already unlocked much earlier and much cheaper.

Humvee [Minigun]
Humvee [Minigun]. Image: BULKHEAD

The Ural Defender keeps the logistics truck’s seats, speed and fuel numbers exactly as they are and charges more for the protection package. On a vehicle this slow, the extra armour mostly buys you a longer window in which to be hit.

The SPH-2 hits harder than anything else in the game from further away, and the Wardog requirement plus the unlock fee puts it out of reach for almost everyone. It also hands $6,000 to whoever finds it. The game’s own advice is worth following here: level the ground before firing, since the angle of the tank affects both the distance and direction of rounds, and cut the engine before switching to the gunner seat so you are not draining fuel while you shoot.

The AH-6R [Rockets] costs nearly twice the minigun Little Bird on the same airframe, with the same crew of two and the same tiny bounty when it falls. The rockets are strong against static targets, but the unlock fee is the second-highest on the air tab and the helicopter dies to the same launchers a cheaper one does.


D tier: Skip these unless your balance is enormous

VehiclePriceSeats · Speed · FuelUnlock
Ural Defender [M249]$6,7503 · 79 · 85 L, 4.0/kmDriver 25 · $125,000
Havoc$18,0002 · 400 · 130 L, 4.4/kmPilot 35 · $500,000

The Ural Defender [M249] is the most expensive three-seat vehicle in the game, the slowest thing on wheels, and it needs one of those three seats behind the gun to justify itself. Two Kodiaks carry more people faster for less money and less unlock.

The Havoc is the single most expensive purchase on the vendor, sits behind the deepest Pilot gate, seats two, and pays out $6,000 to whoever shoots it down. It is the best-armed aircraft in the game and it is also a flying wallet that every launcher on the map is looking for. Buy it when losing one twice in a row would not change how you play the next five matches.

Havoc
Havoc. Image: BULKHEAD

What a roof gun actually costs you

Several vendor entries are the same chassis with a weapon added. Seats, top speed and fuel figures are unchanged between the base and the armed version in every one of these pairs, so the surcharge is buying a gun and nothing else, and each armed variant sits behind its own level and its own unlock fee.

BaseArmed variantExtra cost
KodiakKodiak [M249]$1,250
HumveeHumvee [M249]$750
HumveeHumvee [Minigun]$1,500
Ural DefenderUral Defender [M249]$750
Z20 LakotaZ20 Lakota [Miniguns]$600

The unlock fees on these variants dwarf the surcharge. Paying $150,000 once to be allowed to buy a $4,500 Humvee is a commitment made long before the vehicle ever reaches the Control Zone.

Read the whole vendor through that lens and the tier list stops being about firepower. The vehicles that carry a squad for the fewest dollars sit at the top, the ones that charge a fortune to add a gun somebody else has to fire sit at the bottom, and the gunships in between are a bet that your team can hold what you paid for. Start cheap, bank the transport payouts, and let the expensive metal wait until a bad match no longer costs you the next three.