WARDOGS Season 3 went live on November 12, 2026. It brings Sabatulo, the game’s first city map, an optional Limited Mode, a new way to unlock shared gear and a long list of balance changes. As with every new season, levels and cash have been reset, so everyone starts from zero.
This guide sums up everything that matters from the official Season 3 patch notes: what changed, what it means for your loadout and what’s new for community servers.
Season 3 at a Glance
- New map: Sabatulo, an urban map built for close-quarters combat and verticality
- Limited Mode: an optional mode without endgame power items
- Multi-track unlocks: armor, backpacks, tactical vests and parachutes can be unlocked on every role track
- Catch-up mechanic: XP bonus and vendor discounts for low-level players later in the season
- Slower progression: closer to Season 1, with seasons of roughly three months
- Balance: Infrared Range Finder removed, DMR buffs, reworked parachutes and Molotov
- Community servers: free seeding vehicles, a cash bonus, a rules popup and favorites
- Also new: Movember DLC, Twitch Drops and new Gold Market camos
Sabatulo: The First City Map in WARDOGS
Sabatulo is the first city map in WARDOGS. Instead of open hills and industrial areas, you fight through tight streets, towering high-rises and buildings you can tear apart. Key locations include a central hospital, a swimming pool, a power station and the river embankment.
The map is all about urban firefights, close-quarters combat and verticality. You can clear it room by room, push street by street or grab the high points for a view over the city. Since the whole player base is learning Sabatulo at the same time, squads that scout it early will have a real edge.
Limited Mode Explained
Limited Mode is a new, optional game mode. In the vendor, you can only buy items that are typically available early to mid season. According to the patch notes, Limited Mode has:
- No Hollow Point (HP) or Armor Piercing (AP) ammo
- No Level 3 or Level 4 armor
- No attack vehicles
- No CIWS, Stingray, MG Nest or Drill Rig
- No anti-tank mines
Bulkhead built the mode for players who want fairer fights with fewer endgame power items, and for anyone joining later in the season. All progression and cash you earn in Limited Mode carry over to the other modes.
Do I have to play Limited Mode?
No. The default mode is still there with the full arsenal, as long as you have unlocked it. You can switch between modes at any time, and the server browser lets you filter for Limited servers.
Limited Mode on community servers
On community servers, Limited Mode works as a modification. Server admins enable it per map in their map rotation by ticking the Limited Gear modification, next to other modifications like Infantry and Hardcore. That means a community server can run Limited and regular matches in the same rotation.
On an xREALM server, open the RCON tool from your server panel, go to Map Rotation, choose a map and tick Limited Gear under Modifications before adding the entry to your rotation.
Progression: Multi-Track Unlocks and Catch-Up
Progression is slower again in Season 3. The XP required per level has been increased, bringing the pace closer to Season 1, and the season runs for roughly three months instead of a few weeks.
Multi-track unlocks
Shared items can now be unlocked on more than one role track, so you can earn them by playing the role you enjoy. Armor, backpacks, tactical vests and parachutes can be unlocked on every role track, and ammo types are spread across the role tracks based on where the weapons that use them unlock. Each role still gets certain items a bit earlier than the others:
- Assault gets armor first
- Medic gets the tactical vest first
- Support gets backpacks first
- Recon gets AP ammo first
Bulkhead calls this a temporary solution until the intel-based progression system arrives next year.
Notable unlock changes
- Tanks: moved later, to Driver levels 35 to 50 and WARDOG level 200
- Large Hammer: Support level 8 → 14, to slow down early mega-bases
- Verba: Support level 14 → 8, as an earlier answer to minigun Littlebirds
- Molotov: Assault level 13 → 8
- C4: Assault level 4 → 5
- AMR 50: Recon level 35 → 41
New catch-up mechanic
Worried about falling behind? As the season goes on, low-level players get an XP catch-up bonus and an extended vendor discount, increasing week by week and per role. That gives players with less time a shot at midgame items and the counters to endgame gear before the season ends.
Bulkhead also warns that a small number of players who min-max progression will unlock top items within the first weekend. The advice: use early-game counters and teamwork, or stick to new player and Limited servers.
The Biggest Balance Changes
Weapons and equipment
- Infrared Range Finder: removed from the vendor until Bulkhead is happy with a redesign
- Assault rifles and LMGs: more torso damage again (upper torso +13%, middle and lower torso +3%)
- DMRs: every DMR now kills an unarmored player in 2 body shots and a player without a helmet in 1 headshot
- TCX-SPR: less recoil and less side-to-side drift
- Compound Bow: arrows fly 50% faster
- Molotov: now sets you ablaze and forces you to drop your held item, and it’s cheaper to unlock ($12.5k)
- Halligan Bar: can now force open enemy supply crates
Parachutes
Parachutes now have clear jobs. The Basic Parachute ($1,250) is an emergency chute for bailing out of helicopters and is effective above about 100 m. The Sport Parachute ($2,250) is built for BASE jumps, steers much better and is effective above about 60 m. Helicopter passengers now see their height above the ground above the minimap, so check it against your parachute before you jump.
Vehicles
- Wheeled vehicles reverse much faster
- Vehicle-mounted miniguns deal more damage to infantry again
- Littlebird pilots and co-pilots are better protected in the cockpit
- Tanks are more resistant to grenades, and tanks and artillery can now destroy stone walls
- Price drops: Wolf-110 [M2 Browning] $6,800, Kodiak [M249] $6,250, AH-6M Littlebird [Miniguns] $10,480, Havoc $26,000
Economy
- Cash for destroying enemy weapon emplacements has doubled (e.g. Vanguard CIWS $2,400)
- Air vehicle kill streak rewards are back
- The losing faction’s vendor discount now depends on the gap to first place
- The Wager Vendor has been removed and is going back into development
What’s New for Community Servers
Season 3 gives players more reasons to join community servers:
- Seeding vehicles: while a server fills up, a few unarmed vehicles spawn for free for each team. They are cleared when the match starts.
- Cash bonus: players earn a small cash bonus for playing on community servers.
- Server rules popup: admins can create and customize a rules popup that players see when they join.
- Favorites: players can favorite community servers from the server browser and the pause menu, with a favorites filter.
- Limited Mode: admins can enable the Limited Gear modification for any map in their rotation, and players can filter for Limited servers in the server browser.
- Ping limits: official servers now allow up to 250 ping, while community admins still set their own limits.
Bulkhead also fixed unbans and reserved-slot removals being undone after a server settings save.
On an xREALM server, you manage reserved slots and bans by Steam ID, follow the action in the killfeed and choose which region your server is listed under, all from our panel. Through the RCON tool linked in the panel, you can also turn on Limited Gear for any map in your rotation. As an official Bulkhead hosting partner, we receive new WARDOGS builds straight from Bulkhead, so your server is ready for Season 3 without manual updates.
Rent your WARDOGS server at xREALM and get your community together on Sabatulo.
More Season 3 News
- Movember DLC: the Tactical ’Stache DLC gives you a mustache that grows as you play in November, plus a permanent scoreboard badge. 100% of profits go to Movember.
- Twitch Drops: link your account at account.wardogs.com and earn rewards like a Littlebird, a TCX-SPR kit or Level 2 armor by watching WARDOGS streams.
- Gold Market camos: new camos for the Defibrillator, MAAWS, Compound Bow, M1911 and FAL.
- Steam extras: three new achievements and Steam Replay timeline events for kills, revives and giving up.
- Fair play: using NVIDIA Inspector or similar tools to remove smoke or grass is now bannable.
- Price increase: WARDOGS will cost $5 more at the end of Season 3 on January 28. If you already own the game, you pay nothing extra.
WARDOGS Season 3 FAQ
When did Season 3 start, and when does it end?
Season 3 went live on November 12, 2026, after a maintenance window from 13:00 to 15:00 UTC (2 pm to 4 pm CET). It runs for roughly three months and is set to end on January 28.
What resets and what carries over in Season 3?
Your role levels, WARDOG level, cash and unlocks were reset, so everyone starts from zero. As with previous wipes, leftover cash is converted into Gold Bars, and your Gold Bars and cosmetics, such as Gold Market camos and DLC items, stay on your account.
What is Limited Mode, and do I have to play it?
Limited Mode is an optional mode without HP or AP ammo, Level 3 or 4 armor and attack vehicles. You don’t have to play it: the default mode still has the full arsenal, and all cash and XP you earn count in both modes. On community servers, admins enable it as the Limited Gear modification in their map rotation.
I’m starting late. Will I fall behind?
Bulkhead added a catch-up mechanic for exactly this. As the season goes on, low-level players get an XP bonus and an extended vendor discount that grow week by week and per role. Limited Mode and new player servers are also a good place to start.
Is the Infrared Range Finder gone?
Yes. It has been removed from the vendor until Bulkhead is happy with a redesign.
Can I host my own WARDOGS Season 3 server?
Yes. As an official Bulkhead hosting partner, xREALM gets new WARDOGS builds straight from Bulkhead, so your server is ready for Season 3 right away. Rent your WARDOGS server at xREALM.
Get Ready With Our WARDOGS Guides
- What Is WARDOGS? Everything You Need to Know
- How Progression Works in WARDOGS and Why Every Player Matters
- How to Connect to Your WARDOGS Server
- WARDOGS Server Restarts: Schedules and Match-End Explained
Source: official WARDOGS Season 03 patch notes by Bulkhead. Images: © Bulkhead.