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WARDOGS Season 3 Is Live With Limited Mode and Slower Progression
Update 0.3.0 is live with Sabatulo, Limited Mode, weekly catch-up bonuses, and a roughly three-month season.
WARDOGS Season 3 is live. BULKHEAD has released Update 0.3.0 and confirmed that servers are back online in its launch announcement. The update brings the game’s first city map, Limited Mode, and slower progression.
The Nov. 12 maintenance window was scheduled for 13:00 to 15:00 UTC, with roughly two hours of downtime planned before the season went live. BULKHEAD’s Season 03 announcement has the full patch notes.
BULKHEAD had already set Nov. 12 for Season 3 and named Sabatulo as its new map. The patch details describe a city layout with a central hospital, swimming pool, power station, and river embankment. High-rises and tight streets create routes through buildings and along rooftops, with close-range fights on the ground and sightlines from above.
Limited Mode restricts vendor gear to earlier-season items. Players won’t have Hollow Point or Armor Piercing ammunition, Level 3 or Level 4 armor, attack vehicles, CIWS, Stingray, MG Nest, Drill Rig, or anti-tank mines. The mode is intended to keep high-end equipment out of matches and offer an alternative for players joining later in a season. Cash and progression carry across modes.
Shared items such as armor, backpacks, tactical vests, and parachutes will be unlockable on every role track. Some role-adjacent equipment will arrive earlier on its relevant track: Assault gets armor first, Medic gets the tactical vest first, Support gets backpacks first, and Recon gets armor-piercing ammunition earlier. Ammunition unlocks are spread across roles according to when the weapons that use them become available. The change discourages switching between roles just to unlock shared gear faster. BULKHEAD also says an intel-based progression system is planned for next year.
Season 3 will last roughly three months. XP catch-up bonuses and extended vendor discounts will increase week by week for low-level players, giving them more chances to reach midgame equipment and counters to late-season gear. The slower progression reverses Season 2’s faster pace, which cut the stated time to reach level 20 by 55% compared with the prior progression curve.
Other key changes include removing the Infrared Range Finder from the vendor, increasing DMR damage, and raising assault rifle and LMG torso damage from Season 2 values. The Wager Vendor has also been removed while its design returns to development. The notes cover vehicle, economy, interface, and stability adjustments as well.
BULKHEAD has also posted a WARDOGS press conference featuring Joe, Tim, and Howard. They discuss the Season 3 changes and the reasons behind them, the recent ban wave, and future updates.
Season 3 also includes a Movember charity DLC. The Tactical ‘Stache cosmetic grows as players spend time in-game and can only be equipped during November, while the Movember 2026 Scoreboard Badge is permanent. The DLC costs $2 / £2, and BULKHEAD says 100% of its profits will go to Movember.
New Gold Market camos are coming for the Defibrillator, MAAWS, Compound Bow, M1911, and FAL. The Black & Gold Littlebird camo from Season 2 will remain available for two more weeks to account for that season’s shortened length.
The first planned Early Access price increase is scheduled for Jan. 28, at the end of Season 3, and will add $5. Current owners will not have to pay extra. BULKHEAD also intends another increase around the game’s Early Access anniversary in September 2027.
Season 3 Twitch Drops are enabled, with rewards earned through watch time from 15 minutes up to 15 hours. The reward tiers are Walk It Off at 15 minutes, Happy Hour at 1 hour, Get In There at 2 hours, Leap of Faith at 4 hours, Knock Knock at 5 hours 30 minutes, Taxi Service at 7 hours 30 minutes, Fresh Recruit at 9 hours 30 minutes, Tactical Kit at 11 hours 30 minutes, and Dog of War at 15 hours. Players must link accounts through the WARDOGS account portal, watch for the required time, and claim rewards on Twitch.
The drops range from basic supplies and parachutes to backpacks, armor, weapons, and vehicles. The final Dog of War tier awards a medium backpack, Level 2 helmet, and Level 2 armor.
WARDOGS SEASON 03 Trailer
WARDOGS Season 03 Patch Notes
Weapons & Equipment
Infrared Range Finder
- Removed the Infrared Range Finder from the vendor.
Assault Rifle & LMG Bone Damage
- Assault rifle torso damage is back to Season 1 values, and LMG torso damage now matches assault rifles. Both deal more torso damage than in the Season 2 update:
- Upper torso: +13%
- Middle torso: +3%
- Lower torso: +3%
- This applies to all targets, with or without armor. Armor still reduces damage by the same percentage as before.
TCX-SPR Handling
- Recoil reduced. The TCX-SPR climbs less in full auto, so you can keep sprays on target for longer.
- Less side-to-side drift during sprays, making recoil easier to pull down.
DMR Damage Buffs
- Body: every DMR now kills an unarmored player in 2 shots (was 3).
- Armor: the SVD, BMR-308 and M14 now need 1 to 2 less body shots at every armor level. The SKS needs 1 less shot against Level 2 and Level 4 armor.
- Head: every DMR now kills a player with no helmet in 1 headshot (was 2). The SVD, BMR-308 and M14 now kill through a Level 3 helmet in 2 headshots (was 3).
- Neck: damage has been increased, but it still takes 2 shots to kill.
- Arms and legs: no change.
Compound Bow
- Arrow speed increased by 50%. Arrows now reach targets faster, and you need to lead moving targets less.
Molotov Cocktail
- Getting caught in Molotov Cocktail fire now sets you ablaze, dealing damage and forcing you to drop your held item.
- Cheaper to unlock: $25k → $12.5k .
- Reduced Molotov Cocktail damage against armored vehicles and heavy armor, as it was overperforming there.
Basic Parachute
- The Basic Parachute is now an emergency parachute, ideal for bailing out of helicopters. It’s not for jumping off towers.
- It takes longer to open, and you can’t pull it within about 20m of the ground.
- It’s effective above about 100m (still survivable above 60m if you react fast enough).
- Price increased $500 → $1,250 .
Sport Parachute
- The Sport Parachute now turns, glides and dives much faster, with a stronger, longer flare.
- It comes down a little faster, so steer it or flare to stay in the air.
- Built for BASE jumps, and effective above about 60m (still survivable above 40m if you react fast enough).
- Price increased $700 → $2,250.
Additional Parachute Changes
- Helicopter passengers now see their height above the ground, above the minimap. Check it against your parachute’s effective height on the item tooltip before you jump.
- New reward for parachuting into an enemy FOB.
- Pick the right parachute for the jump. A Basic Parachute off a tower is an expensive way to die.
Halligan Bar
- Enemy supply crates can now be forced open with a Halligan Bar, dropping a random item on the ground.
Corrected Item Weights
- AMP-9 20 RND Magazine: 1 kg → 0.3 kg
- Improvised Explosive Device: 1.5 kg → 2.7 kg
- Improvised Explosive Device Trigger: 1.5 kg → 0.2 kg
Vehicles
Vehicle Handling
- Wheeled vehicles now roll downhill when you’re off the throttle.
- Slightly improved traction on the Ural and Humvee, so the rear wheels slip less.
- The Ural, Kodiak, Humvee, Dune Buggy and Wolf-110 now lose some grip when pushed beyond the top speed they can reach under normal acceleration (e.g. when going downhill).
- The Ural can no longer reach unfair speeds by rolling backwards downhill. It now rolls backwards no faster than it can drive forwards.
Vehicle Reverse Speed
- Bobcat: 16 → ~25 km/h
- Kodiak: 33 → ~57 km/h
- Humvee: 35 → ~57 km/h
- Dune Buggy: 43 → ~50 km/h
- Ural: 15 → 27 km/h
- Wolf-110: 27 → ~40 km/h
Vehicle-Mounted Miniguns
- Head: +50%
- Neck: +78%
- Upper torso: +64%
- Mid torso: +55%
- Lower torso: +50%
- Pelvis, arms, legs: +56%
Helicopter Rockets
AH-6R Littlebird \[Rockets]
- Rocket pods now fire their own 70mm rockets instead of sharing the Havoc’s 122mm rockets.
- Damage is unchanged: 70mm rockets deal the same damage to vehicles and infantry as the AH-6R Littlebird’s rockets did before this update.
- 70mm rockets now have thrust instability and wobble in flight.
- These small changes make the AH-6R Littlebird \[Rockets] slightly less effective against infantry, while leaving it unchanged against vehicles and FOBs, which are its intended targets.
MH-6, AH-6R & AH-6M Littlebird Cockpit Damage Reduction
- Increased damage protection for the pilot and co-pilot in the MH-6, AH-6R and AH-6M Littlebirds, putting it between Season 1 and Season 2 levels and making them slightly more resistant to ballistics. Pilots and co-pilots were being shot out of their seats far more often than the Littlebird itself was being destroyed, so this lets cockpit occupants survive a few more hits.
Window Cleaning
- The window material for all vehicles in first person was changed in Season 2 to support rain. This caused an unintended smear and visibility issue for first-person vehicle users, which is why it wasn’t included in the Season 2 patch notes.
- The BULKHEAD window cleaning team has been successfully deployed, and all vehicles have had their windows thoroughly cleaned for Season 3.
Vanguard CIWS / 20x102mm Rounds
- 20x102mm rounds now damage each vehicle section once per round, instead of hitting it several times as they pass through.
- Damage has been retuned across all vehicles to match the original intent. Each vehicle now takes the same or slightly less damage than before, to accommodate the change above:
- Havoc: roughly the same damage as Season 2.
- Z20 Lakota: roughly the same damage as Season 2.
- MH-6, AH-6R and AH-6M Littlebirds: slightly less damage.
- The anti-air emplacement’s maximum aim angle drops from 65° to 60°, which increases the overhead blind spot.
Tanks
- Tanks are now more resistant to grenades. A single grenade could destroy a tank’s engine, which made grenades do the job rocket launchers are meant for. Tanks are now more formidable against a few small explosives.
Hedge & Wall Destruction
- Box hedges can now be flattened by vehicles (except the Bobcat).
- Stone walls can now be destroyed by tanks and artillery.
Supply Crates and Pallets
- Supply crates can no longer be deployed inside safe zones, matching supply pallets. They were blocking vehicle spawns at HQ, getting in the way of vehicles, and in some cases preventing pilots from landing safely.
- Lowered the height supply crates and pallets can be dropped from without breaking:
- Supply Crates: ~60m → ~35m
- Armored Supply Crates: ~80m → ~35m
- Supply Pallets: ~90m → ~40m
- Armored crates no longer survive higher drops than standard crates. They’re still resistant to bullets and explosions.
- Crates and pallets still break if they hit the ground or an object too hard. Your speed counts as well as your height, so dropping from a moving helicopter makes the landing harder. You can still deploy safely at up to ~80 km/h at around these heights.
- Item tooltips now show the new drop heights.
Vehicle Price Adjustments
- Wolf-110 \[M2 Browning]: $7,800 → $6,800
- Kodiak \[M249]: $6,750 → $6,250
- AH-6M Littlebird \[Miniguns]: $12,000 → $10,480
- Havoc: $28,000 → $26,000
Progression & Economy
XP Required Per Level Increased
- The XP required for each level has been increased.
- Overall progression speed has been slowed for Season 3’s launch and is more aligned with Season 1 speeds, restoring the journey many players previously enjoyed.
Item Unlocks (Multi-Track Unlocks)
- Some shared items can now be unlocked from more than one role track, so you can earn them by playing the role you enjoy.
- Armor, backpacks, tactical vests and parachutes can now be unlocked from every role track.
- Dipping into several roles to speedrun WARDOG levels is no longer the fastest way to unlock shared items.
- C4 has been moved slightly later in the Assault track to make space for multi-track items, and the Molotov has been moved earlier alongside its improvements.
- C4: Level 4 → Level 5
- Molotov: Level 13 → Level 8
- Ammo types have been moved later in the WARDOG track and spread across the role tracks according to where the weapons that use them unlock.
- Tanks have been moved later and re-added to the WARDOG track.
- Level 20-35 → Level 35-50 Driver
- Level 145 → 200 WARDOG
- Large Hammer has been moved later in the Support track.
- Level 8 → Level 14
- The Large Hammer was a notable power spike for builders and it came too early.
- Until we rework building unlock system, we’ve decided to push the large hammer slightly later to make mega-bases slightly harder to setup very early in the season.
- Verba has been moved earlier in the Support track.
- Level 14 → Level 8
- By moving the Large Hammer we’ve delayed anti-air options for dealing with the AH-6M \[Miniguns] by the time it comes online, this gives Support players the option again.
- AMR 50 has been moved later in the Recon track.
- Level 35 → Level 41
Losing Faction Vendor Discount
- The vendor discount for the losing faction is now based on how far it is behind the first-place faction, instead of the faction one place above it. This should encourage players on the third-place faction to buy more firepower and compete with the other two factions.
Cash Rewards
- Doubled cash for destroying enemy buildable weapon emplacements:
- L81 Mortar, Talon 9K-SAM, MG Nest, Stingray: $650 → $1,300
- Vanguard CIWS: $1,200 → $2,400
- Re-added air vehicle kill streak rewards when killing enemy players.
- Destroying a vehicle with your own vehicle within 1,000m of a control zone now earns the full control zone reward.
- Pallets deployed outside a friendly FOB give reduced rewards.
- Deploying a lower-value crate now pays a smaller reward, scaled to the price of the items inside it, to discourage crate drop spam for profit.
- Reduced spotted target killed reward on high-value targets:
- Cash
- AH-6M Littlebird \[Miniguns] / AH-6R Littlebird \[Rockets]: $1,000 → $850
- Z20 Lakota \[Miniguns]: $1,400 → $1,200
- L2A6: $3,300 → $3,000
- T-72B3: $2,400 → $2,000
- Hot Zone Magnet: $1,650 → $1,500
- XP
- Player: 150 XP → 125 XP
- FOB: 250 XP → 200 XP
- Hot Zone Magnet: 225 XP → 200 XP
- Spawn vehicles: 500 XP → 400 XP
- Cash
- New reward kickback for depositing fuel into a FOB that activates a drill to incentivise varied supply chains.
- New reward for parachuting into an enemy FOB to offset the increased price of parachutes.
Steam Achievements
- Added the He’s Behind You, Car Jacker and Slot Machine achievements.
Wager Vendor
- The Wager Vendor has been removed.
- Initial testing before his release in Season 2 uncovered too many potential exploits in his original design. We then trialled a redesign that nerfed his earning potential, which in turn weakened the high-stakes, high-reward role he was intended to fulfil. For that reason, the Wager Vendor is going back into development while we build the systems he needs to fulfil that role as originally intended.
Server Seeding & Team Switching
- During seeding, a few unarmed vehicles now spawn for free for each team, and all vehicles are cleared when the match starts.
- The team switch penalty, which obscures tactical map information until you enter the control zone, now only applies if you’ve previously connected to the server whilst the current match is in progress.
Community Server Features
- Added a small cash bonus for playing on community servers, to encourage players to join, favorite, meet and make friends on community-run servers.
- Server admins can now create and customise a “Server Rules” popup shown to players when they join community-run servers.
UI & Quality of Life
Front End
- New Season 3 themed main menu background video.
- The Collection screen now has a Player category for emotes, bobbleheads and badges, with new emote and badge icons and collapsible filter groups.
Server Browser
- Redesigned Deployment Select with separate Official and Community sections for each mode.
- Community servers can now be favorited from the server browser and the in-match pause menu, with a favorites filter and sort column.
- The server browser now shows Limited servers and lets you filter for them.
HUD
- Helicopter passengers now see their height above the ground, above the minimap. Check it against your parachute’s effective height on the item tooltip before you jump.
- Squad invites and join requests now queue (up to 5 each) instead of replacing each other.
- Fixed chat getting stuck collapsed and blocking movement inputs.
- Fixed various UI buttons getting stuck between states.
- Littlebird attack variants’ repair locations are now reachable.
UI Bug Fixes
- Fixed spelling, grammar and punctuation across in-game text, and standardised English text for consistency.
- Fixed several popup messages displaying the wrong text, including server kick and ban popups.
- Fixed several tooltip and button prompt display issues, including garage vendor prompts and the promotion notification.
- Fixed the spawn vehicle deployment screen closing too early or getting stuck open.
- Fixed the “Rebuy Last Loadout” button failing when the loadout included a magazine you hadn’t unlocked.
- Fixed the loadout total sometimes showing an incorrect value after refunds.
Audio
- Hitmarkers when using Hollow Point ammo now play new sounds for armor hits and helmet hits.
- Armor and helmet break sounds now play consistently.
- Added new spotting voice lines, including specific lines for tanks, anti-air vehicles, the Wolf-110, MG Nests and supply crates. Refreshing a spot plays a new sound.
- Added voice lines for players on fire or stuck in barbed wire.
- Added new weapon inspect sounds, including separate sounds for inspecting an empty weapon, and fixed broken inspect sounds.
- Added unique 2D rain ambience sounds per space rather than per biome.
Controller
- New: You can now move directly to the driver’s seat in a vehicle. To make room for this, Handbrake and Fire (Pilot) have moved from A to B.
- A: Change Seat
- A (Hold): Change to Driver’s Seat
- B: Handbrake / Fire (Pilot)
- New: Added Reload Discard to X (Hold), allowing you to reload faster by discarding your current magazine.
- Updated: World interactions now require a single press instead of a press and hold. X (Hold) remains unchanged for interactions inside vehicles.
- Updated: Downed bindings:
- A: Call for Help
- B: Damage Log
- X: Give Up
- Y: Bribe
- Improvements & Bug Fixes:
- Analogue cursor improvements.
- Reduced the hold time needed to open the Tac-Map and Pause Menu.
- Fixed the analogue cursor drifting after closing one screen and opening another.
- Fixed being unable to change the minimap zoom level while downed.
- Fixed D-Pad navigation issues in the Learn to Play section.
- Fixed IED detonation behaving as an uncontrollable toggle instead of a hold interaction.
- Fixed being unable to buy Stingray ammunition.
- Fixed being able to navigate to the top bars on the main menu using the D-Pad.
- Fixed the vehicle gunner seat also applying focus when aiming down sights.
Performance & Stability
- Improved performance of ground clutter such as ivy, leaves, rubble and litter, and fixed unnecessary shadow updates across the map.
- Improved rain rendering performance, and fixed rain flickering on vehicle windows and stopping after using a vendor.
- The loading screen now stays up until match data has arrived, so players no longer briefly see incorrect data after joining.
- Fixed server crashes when a locked-on target became invalid and when vehicle tires or engines were damaged.
- Fixed the graphics benchmark running twice on first launch.
- Using NVIDIA Inspector or any other 3rd party software to remove smokes, remove grass, modify geometry, alter LOD bias or changing textures is now considered bannable.
- In Season 3, if you have one of these settings set by NVIDIA Inspector, you will be blocked from playing with a warning popup on launch politely asking you to close the game and change the settings.
- If you force a work around this warning to continue playing with unfair advantages, we consider that bannable.
- In WARDOGS we do not display or allow users to set the ‘potato’ shadow setting via the ingame settings menu unless we have detected your hardware is truly min spec on boot.
- Players who do see this setting ingame are barely able to hit our minimum spec standards to play WARDOGS with their friends. Those specs and standards are displayed on our Steam Store page.
- In Season 3, we will now be forcing a reset of this specific potato shadow setting on boot if it has been tampered with outside of the ingame settings (in your .ini files) to prevent users who the setting was not intended from being able to abuse it for an advantage.
- If players force a work around to this override, for example by spoofing their system specs whilst using higher end hardware than the min spec users the potato shadow setting is intended for, we will consider that action a bannable offense from Season 3.
- Graphics settings:
- The Global Illumination setting now only appears on the Overkill preset, and you can turn it on or off there.
- On every other preset, Global Illumination is off and the setting is hidden.
- When you choose Overkill, Global Illumination starts on. If changing preset needs a restart, it takes effect after the restart.
Ping Limit Increase
A core pillar of the game is playing with your friends, and many of you play with others globally. After our ban wave of 185,000+ players, and after checking regional biases against real data, we are increasing the ping limit to 250 across all regions on official servers. Server admins on community servers can still set their own limits.
Bug Fixes
General Fixes
- Fixed several visual issues, including terrain gaps, distant objects and ground pieces, helicopter glass, supply crate colors, and ceilings on the lowest graphics settings.
- Fixed distant players aiming over low walls from high positions sometimes appearing hidden behind cover when they should be visible.
- Fixed mode-specific vendor restrictions carrying over into the next match after map rotation.
- Fixed unbans and reserved-slot removals on community servers being undone after a server settings save.
- Fixed death bags and downed bodies being treated as team kills, which could stop teammates looting them. Death bags now show their owner’s name, and downed players who leave the server or disconnect now drop their loot bag.
- Fixed several buildable issues, including floating pieces after their supports were destroyed, the MG Nest not being repairable, items snapping on top of it, and build tool prompts going missing or freezing.
Weapon Bug Fixes
- Fixed bullet and collision issues on church railings, hedges, car windows and vehicle prop windows.
- Fixed the TCX-SPR using standing recoil while prone.
- Fixed the AK74 drum magazine using the wrong inspect animation.
Vehicle Bug Fixes
- Fixed a mounted weapon’s reload menu repeatedly opening and closing.
- Fixed vehicle weapon hits sometimes being credited to, and using the damage of, the player’s hand-held weapon.
- Fixed vehicles sometimes failing to spawn on flat ground.
- Fixed being unable to change a vehicle’s lock state in the Shooting Range.
- Fixed incorrect death poses for Wolf-110 occupants.
- Fixed vehicle crash kills being credited to the downed driver instead of the player who downed them.
- Passengers can now switch fire modes within range of the garage vendor.
- Fixed the grenade launcher destroying tank tracks in 1 shot and disabling the rear engine in 3. It now takes 3 hits to destroy tracks and 5–6 to disable the engine, matching grenades.
- Fixed bullets being able to kill the T-72B3 driver from outside the tank, and fixed T-72B3 clipping and animation issues.
- Items moved into a vehicle’s inventory now top up existing stacks before using empty slots.
- Fixed gunners being unable to buy vehicle ammo at the garage.
- Fixed the MH-6 Littlebird body being unrepairable on its gun and rocket pod variants.
Map Bug Fixes
All Maps
- Fixed missing collision, clipping objects, gaps and lighting issues in shared buildings, shops and props across maps.
- Fixed doors staying up after their walls were destroyed in older apartment and office buildings, and fixed destruction issues on a residential house.
- Fixed some players falling through the ground and appearing invisible to others at match start.
- Removed Lonestar propaganda posters from spawn areas.
Bakurani
- Rain now realistically falls through the glass of the factory roof.
Zestafona
- Fixed mortars being able to fire through the roof of the green brick warehouse.
- Adjusted collision on abandoned tractors.
Ozeti
- Fixed blocked vehicle spawns.
- Vehicles can no longer drive through the stadium’s front retaining wall and pillars.
Misc Changes
- Many QoL improvements, bug fixes, and performance and stability improvements.
- Server stability & security improvements.
Which Season 3 change do you expect to affect the way you play most? Follow WARDOGS’ progression and Limited Mode updates through X, Bluesky, YouTube, Instagram, Steam, and Telegram.
Wardogs
Developed by Bulkhead
