Last updated: 2 October 2026

WARDOGS Classes Explained: Progression Tracks & Unlocks

There is no class-select screen in WARDOGS — what you buy and carry into a life is what defines your role, and leveling up happens separately on a handful of progression tracks tied to that gear. This guide covers the tracks players and press call "classes" (Assault, Medic, Recon, Support, Driver, Pilot, plus the overall Career track), what BULKHEAD has actually confirmed about how they level and what unlocks where, the level-gate and economy changes from the Season 1 changelog, and why farming XP on exploit servers is a bad idea after the September 30 crackdown.

01There's No Class-Select Menu — Your Loadout Is Your Class

Unlike a traditional shooter with a class-pick screen, WARDOGS lets any player buy any weapon, tool or vehicle from the in-match vendor with persistent cash. There's no lock stopping an "Assault" player from grabbing a medkit or a "Recon" player from hopping in a tank. What people call your "class" in WARDOGS is really just the loadout you bought for that life.

This is widely reported by press and observed by players since launch, but it's worth flagging precisely: BULKHEAD has not published a single official statement spelling out "there are no classes, only loadouts" in those words. It's a strong, consistent pattern across coverage and official patch notes (which do name progression tracks individually rather than a unified class system), not a direct quote from the developer.

Don't confuse this with WARDOGS' three factions (Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore) — those are the teams you fight for in a match, cosmetic and lore-flavored, with no confirmed faction-exclusive gear or stat differences. Factions decide who you're shooting at; your loadout decides what you're shooting with.

02The Progression Tracks

Six tracks get discussed as WARDOGS' "classes," plus a seventh overall track:

• Career — your overall account-level progression, built from everything you do.
• Recon
• Support
• Pilot
• Driver
• Assault and Medic, completing the commonly cited six-track model.

Here's the important distinction: BULKHEAD's own patch notes directly name Career, Recon, Support, Pilot and Driver as progression/vendor categories with real level numbers attached to specific unlocks (see the confirmed gates below). Assault and Medic are not named anywhere in those patch notes — they come from converging player and guide coverage describing a six-track model, which is plausible and consistent with the rest of the system, but isn't something BULKHEAD has confirmed in writing. Treat Assault and Medic as community-identified labels for "the weapon types that aren't vehicles," not an official track name.

03How the Tracks Actually Level Up

The general mechanic, consistent across official and press coverage: infantry-side tracks level from using the matching gear in matches, while Driver and Pilot level from time spent operating ground vehicles and aircraft respectively. Career tracks your overall progress across everything you do.

What's not public: BULKHEAD hasn't published an exact formula for how much XP a given kill, revive, or minute of vehicle time contributes to its track, or a complete map of which specific weapons feed which track. If you see a guide claiming precise XP-per-action numbers, treat it as an estimate from play-testing rather than an official figure.

04Officially Confirmed Level-Gates & Vendor Changes

BULKHEAD's September 9 "Pre-Load Live & Season 1 Changelog" — the big patch that landed the day before Early Access launch — made leveling meaningfully slower and moved two vehicles to new level-gates. These are the specific, officially documented numbers, not farm-site estimates:

• XP curve reworked: leveling through levels 10–20 now takes roughly 40–124% more XP than it did in the beta — a deliberate slow-down so players have a longer-term progression goal.
• Artillery Tank moved to Career level 90.
• Heavy Tank moved to Driver level 35.
• Forward Operating Base (FOB) vendor price increased from $2,500 to $7,500.
• Large Hammer (building tool) vendor price increased from $1,600 to $2,400.
• Artillery Tank purchase price increased from $400,000 to $500,000.
• Several other vendor items — scopes and the smaller Hammer tool among them — also went up in price in the same patch, though BULKHEAD's notes didn't list every exact figure.

A follow-up hotfix on October 2 temporarily pulled IR Rangefinders from the vendor ahead of Season 2 (they'll require batteries when they return) and corrected an overcorrected CWIS (close-in weapons system) kill time against the Havoc vehicle.

05What the Full Unlock Tree Does NOT Officially Show

Be skeptical of any guide claiming to show a complete, level-by-level WARDOGS unlock table. BULKHEAD has only ever confirmed a handful of specific gates in its own patch notes — Artillery Tank at Career 90 and Heavy Tank at Driver 35 are the clearest examples, alongside the vendor price changes above. A full vehicle roster with exact unlock levels and prices for everything else circulates across guide sites, but none of it traces back to an official BULKHEAD list, and it varies between sources. Until BULKHEAD publishes a complete unlock reference, the safest approach is to plan around the confirmed gates and check the in-game vendor directly for anything not listed here.

06How to Level Each Track Legitimately

A few practical, low-risk ways to make progress on any track without relying on unverified tricks or exploit servers:

1. Play the Control Zone, not the kill feed. WARDOGS' match outcome and cash economy are built around holding the zone, not racking up kills — BULKHEAD's own framing is that teamplay is directly rewarded, not just encouraged.
2. Take teamplay actions that pay cash — reviving teammates, ferrying them to the fight, and holding the zone all pay out directly, and the "Hot Zone" sub-mechanic doubles cash during certain stretches of a match.
3. Put real seat time in vehicles if you want Driver or Pilot levels. Since those two tracks level from vehicle use specifically, infantry kills won't move them — drive, fly, and use the Firing Range to get comfortable with helicopter and ground-vehicle controls before taking them into a live match.
4. Budget around the confirmed level-gates, not guide-site price lists. Since persistent cash carries between matches, save toward the Artillery Tank (Career 90, $500,000) or Heavy Tank (Driver 35) deliberately rather than spending on rumored unlocks that may not match what the vendor actually shows you.
5. Don't bother with known exploit spots. Patches have already closed off tricks like the old church-roof exploit, vehicle-fly-through cash farming, and dropping supply pallets outside the zone for easy rewards — BULKHEAD has capped or removed the payout from all of them.

07Why XP-Farm Servers and Exploits Will Get You Banned

BULKHEAD has been explicit about cracking down on exploit farming rather than quietly patching it and moving on. The September 30 "Update 0.1.2" patch made several anti-exploit changes server-authoritative (revive checks, capped vehicle-fly-through rewards, scaled-down buildable-destruction and out-of-zone pallet rewards) alongside an explicit zero-tolerance policy. BULKHEAD's own patch notes put it plainly: players already caught abusing cash and XP exploits — or real money trading — have had their progression reset and risk a permanent ban, and "that leniency is now over." There's no indication any of this is reversible once it happens, so grinding levels through an exploit or a paid XP-farm service risks losing the Career, Recon, Support, Pilot or Driver progress you're trying to build in the first place.