WARDOGS Season 2 meta: what actually kills fastest

Season 2 cut the big calibres twice and moved half the unlocks, so most Season 1 loadout advice no longer holds. This guide ranks the primaries by how fast they kill at each range. Every number comes from the site's ballistics model run on verified Season 2 data, and each tier shows the number that put a weapon there. To change range, armour or round yourself, open the live tier list.

Short answer.

• Close, up to 50 m: Super-45, 5 hits and 343 ms against Level 2 armour at 50 m.
• Mid, about 100 m: M4, 7 hits and 569 ms, with the second-lowest recoil climb of any rifle.
• Long, 200 m and beyond: SV98, one head hit through a Level 2 helmet at any range. AMR 50 kills through a Level 3 vest with one chest hit.
• Against Level 4: HP rounds to the thighs. The SKS, SVD, BMR-308 and M14 need 2 hits, a 5.56 rifle 4.
• Budget: T-21 at 3 for $1,200, 7 hits and 537 ms at 50 m.

All times assume an upper-chest hit, a vest and helmet of the same level, FMJ rounds and every shot on target. TTK runs from the first shot to the kill and includes bullet flight.

Close range, up to 50 m#

Key picks:

• Super-45 35: 5 hits, 343 ms (50 m, Level 2). 1200 rpm. Arrives with a 13-round magazine; the 30-round one needs 43. Damage falls after 50 m: 9 hits at 100 m.
• TCX-SPR 20: 6 hits, 449 ms (50 m, Level 2). Fastest rifle. AP at 60 kills Level 4 in 7 hits, 524 ms.
• M4 28: 7 hits, 507 ms (50 m, Level 2). 30 rounds, low climb, $2,800.
• M249 SAW 20: 7 hits, 480 ms (50 m, Level 2). 200 rounds, but 0.68 s to aim and 4.3 MOA.
• AMP-9 20: 7 hits, 439 ms at 15 m. 900 rpm. 15-round magazine until 30; damage drops after 100 m.
• MP43: 2 shells, 107 ms at 15 m. One two-shell volley kills through Level 1 to 3 vests. $400, no unlock. The model assumes every pellet hits. Outside the top 10 above.

Mid range, about 100 m#

Key picks:

• M4: 7 hits, 569 ms (100 m, Level 2). 910 m/s, 0.84 MOA, climb 10.4 per 10 shots. Level 3: 8 hits, 644 ms.
• Galil 10: 7 hits, 668 ms (100 m, Level 2). Lowest rifle climb (10.1), fastest bullet (950 m/s), 35 rounds. Players call it a laser at range. Outside the top 10 above.
• TCX-SPR: 6 hits, 529 ms (100 m, Level 2). Kills fast, but the bullet flies at 700 m/s and the climb is 15.9.
• M249 SAW: 7 hits, 542 ms (100 m, Level 2). 4.3 MOA. Best prone or on the bipod, which cuts vertical recoil to ×0.2.

Long range, 200 m and beyond#

Key picks:

• AMR 50 35: 1 chest hit through Level 3 at 200 m, 234 ms. 2 chest hits through Level 4, 1 head hit through any helmet. $14,800 (was $8,800).
• SV98 18: 1 head hit through a Level 2 helmet. No damage falloff before 1,000 m. 2 chest hits through a Level 3 vest. With AP at 82, 1 head hit through any helmet. $5,200. Outside the top 10 above, which ranks chest hits.
• Mosin Nagant 10: Same hits as the SV98. 5-round magazine and the fixed 3.5x PU scope. $4,500. Outside the top 10 above, which ranks chest hits.
• M4, M14: 200 m, Level 3: M4 8 hits, 782 ms; M14 5 hits, 595 ms. M4 0.84 MOA and 910 m/s; M14 0.73 MOA and 853 m/s.

Against Level 4 vest and helmet#

Key picks:

• AMR 50: 2 chest hits, 1 head hit. One head hit with standard rounds. Outside the top 10 above.
• Any weapon with HP to the thighs: 2 to 4 hits. No vest covers the thighs; see the leg section. Outside the top 10 above, which ranks chest hits.
• SV98 or Mosin Nagant with AP: 1 head hit. 7.62x54R AP at 82; FMJ needs 2 head hits. Outside the top 10 above, which ranks chest hits.
• TCX-SPR with AP: 7 hits, 524 ms at 50 m. 7.62x39 AP unlocks at 60, the earliest rifle AP.
• M14: FMJ 6 hits, 488 ms. .308 AP: 4 hits, 317 ms, but only at 140.
• Super-45: FMJ 8 hits, 493 ms. Within 50 m.

Budget and early game#

Key picks:

• T-21 3: 7 hits, 537 ms (50 m, Level 2). $1,200. The fastest rifle before 20; 20-round magazine.
• AK74: 7 hits, 614 ms (50 m, Level 2). No unlock, $800 (was $1,600). 5.45 HP at 6 opens leg shots from day one.
• Galil 10: 7 hits, 609 ms (50 m, Level 2). $2,000 and the best long-range handling of the early rifles.
• MP43: 2 shells within 15 m. $400, no unlock. Outside the top 10 above.

Why .308 and 7.62x54R fell so far#

The patch notes list one cut: .308 base damage went from 60 to 45 and 7.62x54R from 55 to 44. A second, per-class multiplier applies on top of it. In assault rifles and machine guns, .308 and 7.62x54R deal ×0.75; in DMRs, .308 deals ×0.85 and 7.62x54R ×0.80. Season 2 also lowered the upper-chest multiplier of rifles and machine guns to 0.9735 and of DMRs from 1.43 to 1.177.

The FAL shows how the cuts stack: 45 × 0.75 = 33.75 damage per round, down from 60. Against Level 2 at 50 m it needs 6 chest hits instead of 3, and its TTK more than doubled.

Players measured damage per hit in game after launch, and their values match this model to 0.01, so the second multiplier is live. Bolt-action rifles went the other way: a ×1.33 sniper multiplier lets the Mosin and SV98 kill through a Level 3 vest at 200 m in 2 chest hits instead of 3. Line the DMRs up in Compare or see all four cut weapons in Ballistics.

HP to the legs beats Level 4#

HP rounds deal double damage to flesh but lose badly against plates: the armour stops 1.5 times as much and the round deals ×0.54. No vest covers the thighs, and Level 4 adds only the pelvis and upper arms. Thigh hits at 50 m, the same against any armour:

The M14 with HP kills in 2 thigh hits and 145 ms; the SKS gets the same 2 hits at 11. Keep HP away from armoured chests: the M4 then needs 17 hits against Level 2 and 40 against Level 4. A thigh is smaller than a chest and moves more, so expect fewer clean 2-hit kills than the table shows. Players reached the same advice on their own: shoot the legs. Try it in Ballistics. The tier list with HP to the legs against Level 4 ranks every weapon this way.

Big magazines cost handling#

Each magazine multiplies the weapon's recoil, aim-down-sights time and sway.

An M4 with the STANAG 20 gives up 10 rounds for 16% less vertical recoil and 15% faster ADS. The M249 accepts STANAG magazines too, and the 100-round fabric magazine carries no penalty. The site's suggested builds keep the standard magazine, so check this trade yourself in the loadout builder.

On paper vs in the hands#

Numbers vs players.

• M14: 4 hits and 317 ms at 50 m against Level 2, the fastest of any rifle. It also has the highest recoil climb we measured (31.3 per 10 shots; M4 10.4), a 10-round standard magazine good for 2 kills, and no foregrip slot, so the best build cuts vertical recoil by only 15%. The 30-round magazine adds ×1.22. Paper rankings put it first; players who use it rate it low.
• TCX-SPR: the fastest rifle kill (449 ms at 50 m) and the earliest AP, so players who fight close against armour rate it high. At 100 m and beyond its 700 m/s bullet and 15.9 climb hold it back, and many players call it average.
• SVD and BMR-308: 5 and 4 hits at 50 m look strong, but the TTK assumes you fire every semi-auto shot at 480 and 450 rpm. Both carry 10 rounds, 2 kills per magazine, and the SVD climbs 21.8. Players say the DMRs died this season.
• PKM vs Evo-3 Ultra: the Evo kills faster on paper (493 vs 562 ms at 50 m). The PKM is the better bipod gun: deployed vertical recoil ×0.2 against the Evo's ×0.4, and the Evo has the second-highest climb (31.0; PKM 24.0). The PKM also unlocks earlier, 15 against 30, and costs $4,100 against $7,250. Players rate both low, and a few call them lasers on the bipod.

Check each pair yourself: M4, TCX-SPR and Galil, M14, BMR-308 and SVD, PKM and Evo-3 Ultra.

Method and limits#

• We computed every number with the site's ballistics model from verified Season 2 data. Ballistics and Compare show the same values.
• Assumptions: upper-chest hit unless stated, vest and helmet of the same level, 100 health, every shot hits at the listed fire rate. TTK = (hits − 1) × fire interval + bullet flight time.
• Players' own damage measurements after launch match the model to 0.01.
• The model leaves out recoil feel, visual recoil, visibility and sound, shotgun pellet spread, and the MP5 and DMR recoil changes from the patch notes, which do not show in the Season 2 data and may sit on the servers.
• We did not test in game. The tiers weigh the numbers against handling, magazine, unlock level and price, so they include our judgement.

Further reading#

• Live tier list: the same ranking for any range, armour level and round.
• Ballistics: hits and TTK for any weapon, zone and distance.
• Loadout builder: what a weapon with its build costs you on death.
• What changed in Season 2: every changed weapon number, old and new.
• Season 2 first week guide: what to level first and where the money is.