WARDOGS Season 3 Guide (12 Nov 2026): Wipe, Sabatulo, Prep

WARDOGS Season 3 starts on 12 November 2026, four weeks to the day after Season 2 went live. That's earlier than anyone planned in October: BULKHEAD brought it forward after calling Season 2's faster progression "the wrong call", and the date went from a CEO's reply under a Steam review to an official post on 6 November. This guide sorts what's confirmed from what's only reported, explains exactly what the wipe takes and what it leaves, and gives you a checklist for Season 2's last days and Season 3's first. BULKHEAD promised its full Season 3 patch notes for the week of 9 November — anything below marked "not announced" is waiting on them, and we update this page when they land.

How Season 3 got its date

Season 2 went live on 15 October after maintenance from 08:00–09:30 UTC. Its first weekend went badly by BULKHEAD's own account: the quicker curve let some players reach Tier 4 armour and main battle tanks within days, and a Driver exploit put tanks into a large share of games. BULKHEAD removed the Lonestar win bonus and slowed the Driver track that evening, and on 17 October it said on X that faster progression had been "the wrong call" — but ruled out a mid-season reset because it "would punish everyone mid-climb", saying Season 3 might come earlier instead.

The date followed on 23 October, in an unusual place: CEO Joe Brammer, answering a negative Steam review, wrote that Season 3 had been "brought forward to 12 November". The studio's podcast the next day spoke of a season of "four or five weeks instead of six to eight", and a devlog meant to make it official slipped twice. It arrived on 6 November as "WARDOGS | Road to Season 3" on Steam, which confirmed 12 November, named the new map and promised the full Season 3 patch notes for the week of 9 November.

What the wipe resets

BULKHEAD laid down the rules in its 9 October devlog, before the first wipe, and applied them on 15 October. Season 3 keeps them:

Two things BULKHEAD has never published: the rate it used to turn Season 1 cash into gold bars on 15 October, and any compensation for progress lost to a wipe. Expect the same on 12 November. If you bought a boost or unlocks in Season 2, they end with it — BULKHEAD hasn't announced any carry-over.

Your cash before the wipe

Asked on X whether players who never unlocked the Gold Market would still get their cash converted when Season 2 ends, Brammer answered yes on 27 October. So nothing is lost outright — but you don't see the rate the conversion uses. The Gold Exchange (Black Market → Gold Market → Gold Exchange) converts at a rate shown in the panel that resets daily at 00:00 UTC, and it has swung widely during Season 2. That gives you three choices for a Season 2 bank:

More on the exchange in the Gold Exchange explained and on what gold buys in the vendors guide.

What's new in Season 3: confirmed, reported, unknown

Here's everything said about Season 3 so far, sorted by how firm it is:

BoostPirate's expectation, not BULKHEAD's: with BULKHEAD calling Season 2's pace a mistake, plan for Season 3 to be slower to the top gear than Season 2 was. On its podcast the studio also mentioned a hospital map in internal testing, without a release date.

What BULKHEAD says went wrong in Season 2

The Road to Season 3 post is unusually frank. BULKHEAD acknowledged two mistakes: the faster progression, and the reactive mid-season changes that followed it, which it says made things worse. Its answer is a fixed plan toward version 1.0 instead of mid-season course corrections. The data behind that came out on the podcast: on day one Drivers went from about 9% to 44% of players as the tank exploit spread, the Lonestar bonus pushed one faction to roughly a two-in-three win rate before it was pulled, and end-of-match bonuses had made up 30–40% of a role's progression. For you that means two things: Season 3's numbers should hold for longer once published, and exploits that inflate progress are a ban risk — BULKHEAD banned and reset exploiters within hours in Season 2.

Checklist: Season 2's last days

• Stop paying unlock fees. A six-figure unlock bought on 9 November lasts three days.
• Check the Gold Exchange every evening and convert spare cash in whole bars on a good day — or leave it for the automatic conversion if the panel is locked for you.
• Buy cosmetics you want with gold bars you already have — gold and cosmetics carry over, and the Black & Gold Little Bird was announced as a Season 2 exclusive.
• Play the roles you'll level in Season 3. Your XP is banked for 1.0 either way; your hands keep the practice.
• Learn close-quarters fights. Sabatulo is urban — Season 2's buildings and the steel mill are the nearest practice.
• Read the Season 3 notes when they drop (week of 9 November) before you plan a route.

Season 3 day one: a plan

Until the numbers are out this is BoostPirate's general plan, built on what worked on 15 October; we'll replace it with gates and prices once BULKHEAD publishes them.

1. Hour 1Cheap kit, one role

   Start on the default weapons and spend nothing big. Role XP never splits, so pick the role you'll play most.

2. Evening 1The first Wardog unlocks

   In Season 2 the first supply pallets sat at Wardog 5 and 9 and paid for themselves on every delivery; look for their Season 3 gates.

3. Week 1One power unlock, with a bank behind it

   Unlock the mid-track tool for your role only when ten spawns of it are in the bank.

4. Month 1+Pace for a long season

   Three months is three times Season 2. There's no need to race: fees bought early last the whole season this time.

Beyond Season 3: Intel, skills and 1.0

The XP you earned in Seasons 1 and 2 isn't wasted: BULKHEAD says it's banked for long-term systems planned for version 1.0, starting with player skills. On the podcast the team described Intel, a seasonal resource that would pace unlocks — earned at a steady rate, reset each season, uncapped but slower at the top — "pencilled in for around the second quarter of 2027", with persistent skill trees after it. Coverage of the Road to Season 3 video also mentions a player trust-score system planned for next year. None of these has a firm date. The unlocks and progression guide explains the system they would change, and the Season 2 wipe guide what happened at the first reset.

Should you buy levels now?

Honestly, not for Season 2: anything levelled now ends on 12 November. If you want a head start in Season 3, the time to order is once the Season 3 notes show where the unlocks you care about sit — early levels are the quickest of any season, so most players are better off playing their first evening themselves.