WARDOGS Season 2: What Changed in Update 0.2.0

All details come from Bulkhead’s Season 2 posts on Steam unless a press outlet is named.

When did WARDOGS Season 2 start?

Date	What happened
Sep 10, 2026	Early Access launch and Season 1
Sep 22	Season 2 teaser names October 15 as the date
Oct 9	Season 2 preview
Oct 14	Full Season 2 patch notes
Oct 15	Maintenance from 08:00 to 09:30 UTC, then update 0.2.0 goes live

Did Season 2 wipe progress?

None of Bulkhead’s official Season 2 posts mention a wipe or reset of cash, XP or unlocks. The Season 1 changelog did say each season would bring a different XP curve and a different order of item unlocks, and Season 2 changes both. The only resets Bulkhead has described are punishments: players caught abusing cash and XP exploits have had their cash and progression reset.

PCGamesN reported on October 17 that, according to Bulkhead, many players don’t feel Season 2 gave them a real fresh start, which is why Season 3 may come sooner. See the Season 3 page.

What’s new in Season 2?

Category	Additions
Weapons	TCX-SPR (7.62x39mm assault rifle), PP-19 Bizon (SMG), Evo-3 Ultra (.308 Win LMG), M14 (.308 Win marksman rifle), plus new optics, muzzle devices, magazines and bipods
Throwable	Molotov: impact damage plus fire that burns anyone standing in it; can burn destructible foliage; weakened by rain
Vehicles	Wolf-110 (light transport), Wolf-110 [M2 Browning], T-72B3 (main battle tank; cheaper but slower than the L2A6), Flakpanzer Gepard (anti-air)
Buildables	MG Nest (large hammer), Large Shelter (medium hammer and up), Wooden Step (small hammer and up)
Weather	Rain: wet surfaces, rain through destroyed roofs, shorter spotting range, and server-wide thunder loud enough to mask footsteps
Gold Market	Eight camos in four families; Black & Gold for the Little Bird is a Season 2 exclusive, and the Black & Gold AK camo was removed
Wager Vendor	Wager your own cash on how well you play. Not available at launch; opens later in Season 2 and is meant to come and go

Where the new gear unlocks and what it costs per life:

Item	Unlock (track, level, cost)	Vendor price
PP-19 Bizon	Medic, unlocked by default	$1,000
Molotov Cocktail	Assault 13, $25k	$340
TCX-SPR	Assault 20, $100k	$3,200
M14	Recon 25, $100k	$7,400
Evo-3 Ultra	Support 30, $200k	$7,250
Wolf-110	Driver 8, $50k	$2,200
Wolf-110 [M2 Browning]	Driver 16, $125k	$7,800
T-72B3	Driver 20, $250k	$16,000
Flakpanzer Gepard	Driver 25, $300k	$14,000

What changed in combat balance?

• High-caliber damage cut: base damage drops by 25% for .308 Winchester, 20% for 7.62x54mmR, 19% for 7.62x39mm and 16% for .50 Cal, on infantry and vehicle weapons alike. Sniper rifles get higher hit-location damage to compensate.
• Rifles: torso damage on assault rifles and LMGs is more even, assault rifle body shots are slightly weaker, and LMG body damage now matches assault rifles. DMRs hit slightly softer to the head and upper body and get a recoil pass.
• Armor: Level 3 damage reduction falls from 55% to 50% and Level 4 from 65% to 60%. The Level 4 helmet now muffles audio and proximity chat, narrows your view and fogs when sprinting.
• Suppression: rebuilt and much stronger from small and medium calibers. Level 3 helmets cut it by 68%, Level 4 by 80%.
• Other: the Infrared Range Finder (pulled from the vendor on October 2) returns with batteries of about 80 seconds each. Parachutes open slower and not at all below about 10 m, Basic Parachutes rise from $100 to $500, and the MGL-40 loses 25% muzzle velocity.

How did progression change?

Role track levels are much quicker. Bulkhead says getting to level 20 now needs under half the playtime it took in Season 1:

Role level	Season 1 total XP	Season 2 total XP
10	35,000	25,000
15	110,000	54,750
20	250,000	111,500

Higher levels are also 23% to 43% quicker, according to the notes. Notable unlock moves:

• Assault becomes the base-attack role: C4 moves to Assault level 4, the Molotov arrives at 13, and the TCX-SPR takes the M4’s level 20 slot (the M4 moves to 28).
• Medic: the Medical Bag unlocks at 14 instead of 24, and the MP5 at 4.
• Support: the PKM drops from level 30 to 15; the M249 moves from 15 to 20.
• Pilot: the Little Bird AH-6M [Miniguns] moves from level 4 to 8 and its unlock cost rises from $50k to $125k.
• Driver: new armed vehicles fill the path to the L2A6, and the SPH-2 moves to Driver 31.
• WARDOG track: supply pallets are no longer unlocked by default, and the Gold Market unlocks at level 35.

How did the cash economy change?

• New rewards: assault-archetype kills pay $2,000 (up from $1,500), teammates near a FOB hack get $1,000, breaching a door pays $100, and destroying a FOB adds up to $7,500 based on its stored supplies.
• Logistics: base pay is lower, but delivery streaks add a bonus for each consecutive crate, pallet, player drop or return trip.
• Spotting: about 30% lower than Season 1, scaled by the target’s value.
• Vendor prices: the L2A6 rises from $14,000 to $22,000 and the Havoc from $18,000 to $28,000; the AK74 drops from $1,600 to $800, and most muzzles and grips are up to a third cheaper.
• Building: a full cost pass, such as the L81 Mortar from 150 to 600 supplies, with shorter Drill Rig uptime.
• Catch-up: a team at least 40 points behind second place gets 20% off at the vendor, and players who seed empty servers earn rewards and a discount.

What else changed?

• Team switching is restricted once a team leads by more than 10 points.
• Teamkill victims vote to Forgive or Punish; repeat offenders face kicks and escalating bans.
• Region-based ping limits on official servers, with ping filters in the server browser.
• All three Bakurani spawns were rebuilt.
• Purchased vehicle inventories are private to the driver and squad by default.
• Controller aim assist strength slider (Settings > Controller > Advanced; 0 turns it off) and rebinds.
• Bulkhead plans to add WARDOGS Steam Trading Cards and Point Shop items during Season 2, once Valve approves them.

What happened to the Lonestar bonus?

Season 2 launched with what Bulkhead called a social experiment for Lonestar, the blue team with the lowest win rate: a Season 2-only cash and XP win bonus, teamplay multipliers, and less visible uniforms. Rock Paper Shotgun reported on October 16 that Bulkhead canceled the team-specific cash and XP bonus after one day, with CEO Joe Brammer saying in a video, “We were wrong.” PCGamesN reported the same day that Bulkhead acknowledged frustration with the bonus and with how fast Driver progression had become, and outlined fixes.

What hasn’t been announced yet?

• Wager Vendor date: Bulkhead only says it opens later in Season 2.
• Season 2 end and Season 3 start: no dates; see the Season 3 page.
• The Driver progression fixes: reported by PCGamesN, but no official Steam post on them as of October 19.

More: the WARDOGS FAQ, live player count and the WARDOGS hub.