WARDOGS Season 2 Patch Notes Explained: Every Change That Matters (15 Oct 2026)

Season 2 of WARDOGS went live on 15 October 2026 with Update 0.2.0. BULKHEAD's patch notes cover far more than a balance pass — a new role XP curve, a reshuffled unlock order on every track, new weapons and vehicles, repriced kit and reworked cash rewards. This page is the plain-words version: when it went live, what happened to Season 1 progress, the new curve against Season 1, what moved in each role, what got dearer or cheaper, how the rewards changed — and what BULKHEAD walked back the same evening.

Written from BULKHEAD's Season 2 patch notes (Steam, 14 October 2026) and the "Season 02 is now live" post (15 October), re-checked against the Steam post on 16 October 2026; the launch-night backend update comes from BULKHEAD's X account, with no Steam post. Where BULKHEAD gives no figure, this page says so, and the percentages are our arithmetic.

When Season 2 went live

BULKHEAD's patch-notes post (14 October) scheduled a maintenance window on 15 October between 08:00 and 09:30 UTC and estimated "roughly 90 minutes of downtime before the new season goes live." The follow-up post "WARDOGS | SEASON 02 IS NOW LIVE" — "Update 0.2.0 is now live. Servers are back online." — went up at 09:59 UTC (11:59 CEST). No end date for Season 2 has been announced; in the 9 October devlog BULKHEAD only said Season 1 was always meant to be short and that later seasons will be longer. The season calendar shows the end date the day BULKHEAD posts one.

What happened to Season 1 progress

Read the patch notes top to bottom and you will not find the words wipe, reset or carry over. The reset was announced elsewhere: in the 9 October devlog "Road to Season 02" (chapters "Progression Wipe" at 02:40 and "Persistence" at 03:12), BULKHEAD's Joe Brammer and Howard Philpott explained that cash and progression reset at the end of a season, that remaining cash is converted automatically into gold bars at its value at the end of the season, that gold bars and cosmetics stay on the account, and that XP earned in Early Access is banked for long-term systems planned for 1.0 (player skills) — which are not part of this update.

Two things were never published: the cash-to-gold-bar rate BULKHEAD used for the conversion, and any compensation. The Season 2 wipe guide lists everything that reset and everything that stayed.

The new role XP curve

This is the change that matters most for anyone levelling a class. BULKHEAD's own table (total XP required, Season 1 → Season 2):

A note on the Season 1 column: it is BULKHEAD's own statement of the Season 1 values in the Season 2 post. The launch-day Season 1 changelog (10 September) had listed lower totals above level 20 — 500,000 at 35 and 1,000,000 at 50 — and no later patch note mentioned a change. Our XP calculator and climb pages run the Season 2 column; the levels between BULKHEAD's published points (and levels 2–9) are not published, so the calculator draws a straight line between them and marks those rows as interpolated.

The curve is front-loaded: levels 1–20 are now cheap, levels 35–50 still cost the bulk of the XP. No new thresholds were announced for the Wardog (career) track — only its unlocks moved.

Unlock levels and unlock prices per role

"Most attachments have moved to earlier levels or new tracks." These are the weapon, gear and vehicle moves from the notes; attachment-by-attachment lists are in the source post, and the loadout planner adds up the fees for your role.

Wardog (career) track

• The Gold Market now unlocks at level 35 for $150,000 (a new requirement); new Compact P-1 Red Dot at 21 ($12,500) and a Lonestar-only music tape at 29.
• Supply pallets are no longer free: Mechanical at level 5 ($10,000), Ammo at 9 ($25,000), Fuel at 16 ($50,000).
• Judge 18 → 1 ($15,000 → $5,000); GGX 17 1 → 18 ($5,000 → $15,000); Deagle 85 → 65; GGX 18 70 → 85 ($50,000 → $125,000); Level 3 Helmet & Armor 60 → 70; Kobra Reflex 21 → 4; Sport Parachute 35 → 34. The Tricon 1.5x Compact Prism (26) and Spitfire 3X (31) moved in from Assault.
• The SPH-2 leaves the track: it is now Driver 31, and its unlock fell from $500,000 to $350,000.

Assault

• The AK74 is unlocked by default; the T-21 moves to level 3 ($10,000); M4 20 → 28 ($100,000 → $150,000); FAL $200,000 → $250,000.
• New: Molotov at 13 ($25,000), TCX-SPR at 20 ($100,000). The Remote Detonator + C4 move in from Support at level 4.
• Attachments in from other tracks — 2.5x Combat Optic (17), Four Reticle Reflex (22), 3x Tactical Prism (33), RVG Vertical Foregrip (38, now $25,000), Spectr 4x (43) — and three new muzzles: Cross Rifle brake (32), Clutch Lok brake (37), SRD762TI-QD suppressor (40).

Medic

• Medical Bag 24 → 14 ($75,000 → $50,000); MP5 15 → 4 ($75,000 → $25,000); the PP-19 Bizon is unlocked by default.
• PP-19 Vityaz 4 → 15 ($25,000 → $50,000); Defibrillator 11 → 22 ($50,000 → $110,000); the AMP-9, the old default, now costs $75,000 at level 20; Super-45 $150,000 → $200,000.

Recon

• BMR-308 30 → 20; MK22 25 → 30; SV98 19 → 18; Compound Bow 17 → 16 ($75,000 → $150,000); Claymore 22 → 23 ($50,000 → $90,000); Range Finder $15,000 → $25,000.
• New: the M14 at 25 ($100,000) with its own bipod and magazines, and the PU 91/30 scope for the Mosin at 10 ($12,500).

Support

• PKM 30 → 15 ($150,000 → $100,000); M249 15 → 20 ($100,000 → $150,000); MAAWS 20 → 18 ($125,000 → $100,000); MGL-40 $200,000 → $250,000; Heavy Drill $25,000 → $50,000.
• New: the Evo-3 Ultra with a 50-round box at 30 ($200,000).

Pilot

• Little Bird AH-6M [Miniguns] 4 → 8 ($50,000 → $125,000); Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] $75,000 → $85,000; HAVOC $500,000 → $650,000. Music tapes were reshuffled between Driver and Pilot.

Driver

• New: Wolf-110 at 8 ($50,000), Wolf-110 [M2 Browning] at 16 ($125,000), T-72B3 at 20 ($250,000), Flakpanzer Gepard at 25 ($300,000); SPH-2 at 31 ($350,000).
• Humvee 15 → 14 ($25,000 → $75,000); Ural Defender 18 → 15; Ural Defender [M249] 25 → 22 ($125,000 → $100,000); Humvee [M249] 20 → 24; Dune Buggy 8 → 9.

Per-spawn prices: what went up, what went down

New kit: PP-19 Bizon $1,000, TCX-SPR $3,200, Evo-3 Ultra $7,250, M14 $7,400, Molotov $340; Wolf-110 $2,200, Wolf-110 [M2] $7,800, Flakpanzer Gepard $14,000, T-72B3 $16,000.

Also up: T-21 $600 → $1,200; AMP-9 $900 → $1,375; MP5 $1,500 → $1,800; Super-45 $2,600 → $5,600; Compound Bow $800 → $1,350; MGL-40 $6,000 → $7,500; Level 3 Armor $2,000 → $2,500 and Helmet $1,500 → $2,000; Range Finder $400 → $1,450; IR Range Finder $1,200 → $3,200; Basic Parachute $100 → $500; Binoculars $75 → $180; Kodiak [M249] $3,750 → $6,750; Ural Defender $6,000 → $7,200 and [M249] $6,750 → $9,500.

Down: Deagle $900 → $750; Galil $2,200 → $2,000; RPG-7 $2,000 → $1,800; MAAWS $2,600 → $2,400; PKM $4,500 → $4,100; FAL $6,500 → $6,000; Ruck Backpack $2,400 → $1,600; Gunner Backpack $3,500 → $2,400; Arsenal Backpack $5,000 → $4,000; Halligan Bar $1,100 → $885; Medical Bag $2,000 → $1,800; Field Resuscitator $500 → $425; Sport Parachute $1,000 → $700; most muzzles, grips and foregrips by up to a third (the Birdcage brake $900 → $600).

Cash and XP rewards

• The kill bonus for an Assault-archetype weapon is $2,000 (was $1,500).
• FOB hacking: the hacker keeps $2,500 / 250 XP and teammates inside the FOB radius now get $1,000 / 250 XP; destroying a FOB pays up to +$7,500 / +250 XP depending on the supplies it held; breaching a door with the Halligan Bar pays $100 per door (and the bar now lasts 7 uses instead of 5), closing a friendly FOB door $75.
• Capturing a hostile drill tower: $1,500 / 300 XP (was $750 / 250).
• Logistics base rewards are lower — player delivered $150 → $100, supply crate $500 → $250 small and $1,000 → $500 large, supply pallet $2,500 → $1,250 (Control Zone values) — but delivery streaks add +$100 / +50 XP per consecutive crate, +$250 / +100 XP per pallet, +$25 / +5 XP per player and +$50 / +25 XP per return trip, each up to 10 in a row (players up to 25).
• Spotting pays about 30% less than in Season 1 and scales with the value of what you spotted; a spotted target destroyed by another faction pays 25% (was 50%).
• Vehicle-destroyed rewards are per variant, and armed variants pay 1.5× the XP: Humvee $600 default / $5,000 minigun, L2A6 $11,000 (was $14,000), HAVOC $14,000 (was $18,000), T-72B3 $8,000, Gepard $7,000. A destroyed buildable now pays its build-supply cost, with XP about a quarter of the cash.
• Exploit fixes: selling from a supply crate has diminishing returns per buyer, selling to an enemy pays nothing, destroying an empty enemy crate pays half, FOB-supplied assists are split between the assisting players, barbed-wire kills pay nothing.
• Role rewards moved: destroying buildables and IED and C4 kills now give Assault XP (destroyed buildables used to be Support's); artillery gives Driver XP; repair XP goes to Driver or Pilot, depending on the vehicle.

Combat, armour, building and vehicles

High-calibre rounds lose base damage everywhere they are used — .308 −25%, 7.62x54mmR −20%, 7.62x39mm −19%, .50 Cal −16% (vehicle miniguns included) — with sniper hit-location damage raised to keep one-shot potential. Level 3 armour and helmets drop from 55% to 50% damage reduction, Level 4 from 65% to 60%; the Level 4 helmet now muffles audio and proximity chat, restricts field of view and fogs while sprinting, and Level 3/4 helmets resist suppression (68% / 80%). Parachutes open slower and not at all below about 10 m; the Medical Bag lasts longer (durability 100 → 150). Suppression was rebuilt around shared falloff curves. Vehicles: inventories of purchased vehicles are private to the driver's squad by default, tracked vehicles are weightier and the Humvee's handling was reworked.

Building got dearer at the top: L81 Mortar 150 → 600 supplies, Stingray 150 → 650, Hot Zone Magnet 2,250 → 2,750, doors 22 → 80, gates 85 → 200, while the Talon dropped to 650 and the CIWS to 1,200; the three new buildables are the Wood Base (15), the Large Shelter (250) and the MG Nest (650). Drill rigs need at least 2,000 fuel (was 1,500), hold up to 10,000 (was 7,500) and run for at most 300 seconds (was 375).

Lonestar, team switching and servers

• The notes gave Lonestar (blue) a Season-2-only cash and XP win bonus plus teamplay multipliers (amounts not published) and rebuilt all three Bakurani spawns. Any team at least 40 points behind second place gets a 20% vendor discount, and seeding a server pays rewards and a vendor discount once the match begins.
• Once a team leads by more than 10 points you cannot switch teams again for 15 minutes after joining; switchers and late joiners see an obscured map and cannot use the spawn vehicle until they first reach the control zone.
• Team kills go to a Forgive / Punish vote with kicks and escalating bans for repeat offenders; official servers enforce region-based ping limits with automatic kicks and a rejoin block until the next map.
• The Wager Vendor is not available at launch — it opens later in Season 2 and is meant to come and go. The Gold Market adds eight camos (the Black & Gold Little Bird is Season 2 exclusive) and drops the Black & Gold AK. Steam trading cards and Point Shop items are planned within Season 2 pending Valve's approval.

What changed on launch night

At 20:58 UTC on 15 October BULKHEAD posted on X that it had "got a few things wrong" and pushed a backend update — no client download and no Steam post. It removed the Season-2-only Lonestar cash and XP win bonus, fixed Driver progression, closed a Driver exploit that had let many players reach the tanks too early, and announced limited-mode servers without power weapons or vehicles as coming, with no date. The XP tables were not touched, and BULKHEAD said nothing about rolling back progress made through the exploit. Our WARDOGS news page follows the patches as they land.

What this means if you are buying a boost

Every WARDOGS class, cash and Wardog-level price on this site is quoted live per level or per 100K by the same engine as checkout, and each climb page shows the Season 2 XP for its span. Season 2's curve moved most of the work to the top: 1 → 20 is now 111,500 XP, 35 → 50 is 625,000. If you want a specific unlock, check its new level first — the M4 is Assault 28, the T-72B3 Driver 20, the minigun Little Bird Pilot 8 — and set the target on the class page.