WARDOGS Season 3 Patch Notes: Overview of the changes

BULKHEAD published the Season 3 patch notes on November 11, 2026, the day before the season goes live. Season 3 adds Sabatulo, the first city map, along with a new Limited Mode, multi-track unlocks, and a slower climb through every role track.

The short version is that progression gets longer, DMRs and assault rifles hit harder again, parachutes cost far more, and tanks move 15 Driver levels later. The Infrared Range Finder and the Wager Vendor are both gone.

When Season 3 goes live

Maintenance runs on November 12, 2026 from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC, and BULKHEAD estimates roughly 2 hours of downtime before the season is playable.

• UK: 1:00 to 3:00 PM GMT.

• Central Europe: 2:00 to 4:00 PM CET.

• US East: 8:00 to 10:00 AM EST.

• US West: 5:00 to 7:00 AM PST.

The notes describe the new season length as roughly 3 months. The same post puts the end of Season 3 on January 28, 2027, which is 11 weeks after launch.

Sabatulo, the first city map

Sabatulo is the first city map in WARDOGS, built around tight streets, high-rises, and heavy destruction, with a central hospital, a swimming pool, a power station, and the river embankment as its key locations. BULKHEAD pitches it as room-to-room and street-to-street fighting, with rooftops for anyone who wants oversight of the city.

Our Sabatulo map page is where the interactive map goes live with the season, and our Season 3 announcement breakdown covers what BULKHEAD showed before these notes.

Limited Mode

Limited Mode restricts the vendor to what is typically available early to mid season. The notes list what you cannot buy there.

• Ammo: no Hollow Point or Armor Piercing rounds.

• Armor: no Level 3 or Level 4 armor.

• Vehicles: no attack vehicles.

• Buildables: no CIWS, Stingray, MG Nest, or Drill Rig.

• Explosives: no anti-tank mines.

All progression and cash you earn in Limited Mode carry over to the other modes. The server browser now lists Limited servers separately and lets you filter for them.

Example Scenario: You start playing three weeks into the season. In Limited Mode, nobody can bring Level 3 or 4 armor or AP rounds, so your Level 2 kit is competitive, and the cash you earn still counts toward unlocks you can take into regular servers.

Price a Limited Mode kit in our loadout builder before your first match there.

Multi-track unlocks

Some shared items can now be unlocked from more than one role track. Armor, backpacks, tactical vests, and parachutes unlock on every track, and each ammo type now sits on the tracks where the weapons that use it unlock.

Each role also gets its signature gear slightly earlier than the others. Assault gets armor first, Medic gets tactical vests first, Support gets backpacks first, and Recon gets AP ammo first.

BULKHEAD's own example shows .308 ammo unlocking at WARDOG level 140 or at Pilot level 40, for $75,000 either way. Dipping into several roles to farm WARDOG levels is no longer the fastest route to shared items, and BULKHEAD calls the system a stopgap until an intel-based progression system arrives next year.

Unlocks that moved

The notes move six unlocks to make room for multi-track items or to rebalance a track.

The Large Hammer and Verba swap is deliberate. Pushing the hammer back makes early mega-bases harder, and pulling the Verba forward gives Support an anti-air answer before the AH-6M Littlebird [Miniguns] comes online.

Both tanks move by the same 15 levels, which puts the T-72B3 at Driver level 35 and the L2A6 at Driver level 50. Our career unlocks by level table will follow the new levels once Season 3 is live.

Slower progression and the catch-up bonus

The XP required for every level goes up, bringing overall speed closer to Season 1. The notes do not list the new XP totals, so the exact curve will only be known once the season is live.

To keep late starters in the race, an XP catch-up bonus and an extended vendor discount switch on week by week for low-level players, growing through the season for each role. BULKHEAD expects a small group of min-maxers to unlock top gear in the first weekend, and points everyone else to early counters, teamwork, and the new player and Limited servers.

The losing faction discount also changes. It is now based on how far your faction trails first place, rather than the faction one place above it, which gives third place more firepower to catch up.

Weapon and equipment changes

The Infrared Range Finder has been removed from the vendor. BULKHEAD says the Season 2 battery nerf did not stop it showing up in almost every match, and it stays out until a redesign.

Damage changes

Assault rifle torso damage returns to Season 1 values, and LMG torso damage now matches assault rifles. Against Season 2, that is +13% upper torso, +3% middle torso, and +3% lower torso, with armor reducing damage by the same percentage as before.

DMRs get a partial rollback, landing between their Season 1 and Season 2 values. BULKHEAD says the Season 2 damage cut was overtuned once it was paired with the recoil changes.

Neck damage also goes up, though it still takes 2 shots. Arms and legs are unchanged.

• TCX-SPR: less vertical climb in full auto and less side-to-side drift.

• Compound Bow: arrow speed up 50%, so you lead moving targets less.

• Molotov Cocktail: fire now sets you ablaze and forces you to drop your held item, but it does less damage to armored vehicles and heavy armor.

• Halligan Bar: can now force open enemy supply crates, dropping a random item.

• Item weights: the AMP-9 20 RND Magazine drops from 1 kg to 0.3 kg, the IED rises from 1.5 kg to 2.7 kg, and the IED Trigger drops from 1.5 kg to 0.2 kg.

Parachutes

The two parachutes now have separate jobs. The Basic Parachute becomes an emergency chute for bailing out of helicopters, while the Sport Parachute is built for BASE jumps.

The Basic Parachute is now 2.5 times its Season 2 price, takes longer to open, and cannot be pulled within about 20 m of the ground. The Sport Parachute turns, glides, and dives much faster, with a stronger flare, but it also comes down a little faster.

Helicopter passengers now see their height above the ground over the minimap, and parachuting into an enemy FOB pays a new reward to offset the higher prices.

Example Scenario: You bail out of a Littlebird at around 70 m with a Basic Parachute. That is above its 60 m survival floor but well below its 100 m comfort zone, so you need an instant pull, while a Sport Parachute would be inside its effective range at the same height.

Vehicle changes

Wheeled vehicles now roll downhill off the throttle, and the Ural and Humvee get slightly better rear traction. The Ural, Kodiak, Humvee, Dune Buggy, and Wolf-110 also lose grip when pushed past their normal top speed, such as downhill.

Reverse speed goes up across every wheeled vehicle, so backing out of a bad position is much quicker.

• Vehicle miniguns: damage against infantry rises between 50% and 78% by hit zone, landing between Season 1 and Season 2 levels.

• AH-6R Littlebird [Rockets]: now fires its own 70mm rockets with in-flight wobble, slightly weaker against infantry and unchanged against vehicles and FOBs.

• Littlebird cockpits: pilots and co-pilots in the MH-6, AH-6R, and AH-6M survive a few more hits.

• Vanguard CIWS: 20x102mm rounds now hit each vehicle section once per round, and the emplacement's maximum aim angle drops from 65 to 60 degrees.

• Tanks: more resistant to grenades, and the grenade launcher now needs 3 hits to break tracks and 5 to 6 to disable the engine.

• Destruction: vehicles other than the Bobcat flatten box hedges, and tanks and artillery can now destroy stone walls.

The first-person window smear that arrived with Season 2's rain has also been fixed.

Supply crates and pallets

Supply crates can no longer be deployed inside safe zones, matching pallets. Every crate and pallet also breaks at much lower drop heights.

Speed counts as well as height, and you can still deploy safely at up to about 80 km/h at these heights. Armored crates still resist bullets and explosions, but they no longer survive higher drops.

Prices and rewards

Four armed vehicles get cheaper, to make each bad life less punishing during the longer grind.

Destroying an enemy weapon emplacement now pays double. The L81 Mortar, Talon 9K-SAM, MG Nest, and Stingray rise from $650 to $1,300, and the Vanguard CIWS from $1,200 to $2,400.

Rewards for killing a spotted high-value target go down.

• Air kill streaks: killing enemy players from an air vehicle pays kill streak rewards again.

• Vehicle dogfights: destroying a vehicle with your own vehicle within 1,000 m of a control zone pays the full control zone reward.

• Logistics: pallets deployed outside a friendly FOB pay less, low-value crates pay in line with their contents, and fueling a FOB drill pays a new kickback.

• Community servers: playing on one now pays a small cash bonus.

Cosmetics, Movember, and Twitch Drops

Five new Gold Market camos arrive: Defibrillator Black & Gold (limited time), MAAWS Two-Tone Desert, Compound Bow Digital Wood, M1911 Chocolate Chip, and FAL Chocolate Chip. The Black & Gold Littlebird camo stays for 2 more weeks, and our Gold Bar Market tracks the gold bar price.

The Tactical 'Stache DLC raises money for Movember, with 100% of profits going to the charity. The mustache grows the more you play in November and can only be worn that month, while the Movember 2026 Scoreboard Badge stays equippable all year.

Twitch Drops are enabled for Season 3. Link your accounts at account.wardogs.com, watch for the required time, and claim on Twitch, after which the items show in your vault and can be redeemed at in-match vendors.

Quality of life

• Server browser: separate Official and Community sections per mode, plus favorites from the browser or the pause menu.

• Squads: invites and join requests now queue, up to 5 each, instead of replacing each other.

• Seeding: a few unarmed vehicles spawn free for each team during seeding, and all vehicles clear when the match starts.

• Team switching: the map penalty now only applies if you were already connected while the current match was running.

• Community servers: admins can set a Server Rules popup that shows when you join.

• Controller: hold A to move straight to the driver's seat, hold X to reload by discarding the magazine, and world interactions now take a single press.

• Steam: three new achievements and Steam recording timeline events for kills, revives, and giving up.

Bug fixes

Season 3 also ships a long list of fixes. These are the ten most likely to have affected your matches.

• Death bags: downed bodies and death bags no longer count as team kills, so teammates can loot them, and bags now show their owner's name.

• Disconnects: downed players who leave the server or disconnect now drop their loot bag.

• Vehicle weapon kills: hits from a vehicle weapon are no longer credited to your hand-held weapon or dealt with its damage.

• Crash kills: a vehicle crash kill now goes to the player who downed the driver, not the downed driver.

• T-72B3 driver: bullets can no longer kill the driver from outside the tank.

• Cover visibility: distant players aiming over low walls from high ground no longer appear hidden behind cover.

• TCX-SPR: no longer uses standing recoil while prone.

• Zestafona mortars: mortars can no longer fire through the roof of the green brick warehouse.

• Loadouts: Rebuy Last Loadout no longer fails on a locked magazine, and the loadout total no longer shows a wrong value after refunds.

• Server crashes: fixed crashes when a locked-on target became invalid and when vehicle tires or engines took damage.

The full list, including map collision, controller, and community server fixes, is in BULKHEAD's Season 3 patch notes.

Confirmed and derived

Find WARDOGS on the official Steam store page, compare against last season in our Season 2 patch notes, and follow everything else on the WARDOGS hub.

FAQ

Will WARDOGS cost more after Season 3?

Yes, by $5 at the end of Season 3 on January 28, 2027. If you already own the game you pay nothing extra, and the next increase is planned around the first anniversary of Early Access in September 2027.

Can I use NVIDIA Inspector in Season 3?

Not to remove smoke or grass, change geometry, LOD bias, or textures, which is now bannable. The game blocks you with a warning on launch if those settings are active, and the lowest shadow setting resets on boot if it was edited outside the game's own menu.

What is the ping limit on official servers?

It rises to 250 in every region on official servers. Community server admins still set their own limits.

Is the Wager Vendor gone for good?

He is removed for now and back in development. BULKHEAD says his redesign weakened the high-risk, high-reward role he was meant to fill, so he returns only once the systems he needs exist.

Are the DDoS attacks on Asian servers fixed?

BULKHEAD says it has identified the attack and targeted infrastructure changes for the Season 3 release. It is also acting against accounts found attacking its servers.