WARDOGS classes: there are none — here are the six progression tracks, the XP bands and every unlock level BULKHEAD published

BULKHEAD's FAQ names two — 'From Medic to Pilot' — and the changelog's unlock lists name the rest: Career, Medic, Support, Driver, plus Recon and Pilot in the economy list. Career appears to be the account-wide track (its unlocks include the Sports Parachute, Large Backpack, AP ammunition and the Deagle), while the other five map to roles: Medic (the PP-19 drum magazine unlock is listed there), Support (hammers), Recon (scopes), Pilot (helicopters and supply crates) and Driver (ground vehicles). The sources do not say exactly which actions feed which track, beyond PCGamesN's notes that building gives Support XP and that taxi work progresses 'the Driver or Pilot progression tree'.

Each track has its own curve. The changelog: 'Rebalanced the role track XP curve from level 6 upward. Level 6 moves from 8,750 to 9,250, roughly 5.7% slower, with a larger increase at level 10.' And each season will differ: 'Each season we will have a different XP curve with different item orders.'

In a class shooter the menu decides your tools and your tools decide your job. In WARDOGS the order is reversed: you decide the job, buy the tools each life with cash that persists, and the game credits XP to whichever track the tools belong to. The wiki's phrasing — 'Different equipment combinations allow players to specialize in roles such as Medic, Pilot, combat, reconnaissance, or logistics' — is deliberately open-ended. A player can carry a defibrillator and a hammer and a scope in the same life if they can afford the loadout, and be credited on three tracks.

That has two practical consequences the sources spell out. First, the cost of a role is a price, not a level: the changelog prices the Little Bird with miniguns at $50,000 and the MOA scope at $45,000, and PCGamesN's money guide says the base rifle is free. Second, the gate on the best items is a track level, not an account level: the Heavy Tank is Driver 35 specifically, which means a Career-90 sniper who never drove anything cannot buy one. The classes people search for — 'best faction', 'best loadout', 'unlock tree' — are answered on this page by the tables, not by a ranking, because nobody has measured the weapons and the factions have no published mechanical differences.

The changelog published the bands outright, with the percentage slowdown at each. Below level 6 nothing changed. The steepest change is levels 15–20, which BULKHEAD deliberately slowed so that 'our median players, at 20 to 25 hours, will be around level 20'.

One more track-level fact, from PC Gamer's beta play rather than the changelog: the defibrillator unlocked at Medic level 11, priced $1,600 with $150 batteries good for five revives, and revives paid $900 in the beta. Beta figures; the changelog may have moved them.

The changelog lists unlock changes by track. These are the only unlock levels BULKHEAD has published; items not listed here have unpublished levels.

BULKHEAD explained the intent in a paragraph worth quoting whole: 'Looking at the data we have decided to slow levels down around 10 to 20, and flatten the curve from 35 onward. This means our median players, at 20 to 25 hours, will be around level 20, and those wanting the big ticket items, the top 5%, will need to grind. Artillery moves to Career 90 and Heavy Tank to Driver 35. Driver has also been rejigged to give a satisfying escalation through attack vehicles.' The previous curves, it said, 'were designed specifically for weekend long beta tests.'

The Driver 'escalation' is visible in the table: URAL at 3, Kodiak Assault at 6, Dune Buggy at 8, Kodiak Flatbed at 10, Large Supply Crate at 16, URAL Covered at 18, Music Tape at 23, URAL Attack at 25, Humvee with minigun at 30, Heavy Tank at 35. It reads as a designed ladder from transport to armour. PCGamesN's summary of the same notes: getting from level 10 to 20 'will take a little over twice as long as before'.

Because roles are loadouts, the closest thing to a class guide is the list of things BULKHEAD and the press describe people doing. Medic: revives are a paid teamplay action, and the 'Do Not Resuscitate' achievement (kill with the defibrillator charge, 0.8% of players) tells you the defibrillator exists. Support/builder: hammers, FOBs, mortars — Support XP per structure. Recon: the $40,000–45,000 scopes, spotting as a paid action, the 950 m 'Long Shot'. Pilot: Little Bird ($50,000 armed), Z20 Lakota ($35,000), supply crates; 'how to fly helicopters' is a trending community guide for a reason. Driver: the ladder above, taxi fares and tips, the mobile spawn point. Infantry: the free base rifle and looted upgrades, per PCGamesN.

The announcement trailer's own list is broader still — 'CQC Combat, Sniping/Spotting, Medic, Building, Demolitions, Transport, Building & Logistics, Artillery… the list goes on!' — and the Steam description adds the ghillie-suit sniper, the helicopter supply pilot and the artillery tank commander as archetypes. None of them is a menu option; all of them are purchases.

A builder. Support level 8 unlocks the Large Hammer (was 7). Level 8 sits between the changelog's level-6 band (9,250 XP) and level-10 band (35,000 XP), so it is an early milestone; from there the mortar and the full FOB list open up. The Medium Hammer costs $25,000 on the track, the Large $75,000 — or $2,400 from the vendor, which is the version PCGamesN's guides assume. A driver. The ladder runs URAL 3, Kodiak Assault 6, Dune Buggy 8, Kodiak Flatbed 10, Large Supply Crate 16, URAL Covered 18, Music Tape H 23, URAL Attack 25, Humvee with minigun 30, Heavy Tank 35 — 500,000 XP on the Season 1 curve for level 35, which BULKHEAD says is the 'flatten from 35 onward' point. A tank commander. Artillery Tank at Career 90: the bands only go to 50 (1,000,000 XP) in the published table, so level 90 is beyond anything BULKHEAD has quantified; it is the 'top 5%' item by design.

The pattern across all three is the same as the money guide's: cheap and useful early, expensive and rationed late. Season 1's curve is the first one BULKHEAD has tuned for a live game rather than a weekend test, and the studio has said it will change again next season.

BULKHEAD's April 2026 'Early Access & Beyond' post promised 'a robust metagame, including: The Black Market & Vault; Player Skills & Challenge System', built 'throughout Early Access'. The Steam Early Access Q&A repeats that the plan is 'more in depth progression systems, a stronger seasonal meta game'. So the six tracks are the current system, not the final one, and the changelog's line that each season gets 'a different XP curve with different item orders' means this page's tables have a shelf life — they are dated for that reason.

Ignore any guide with a 'skill tree', 'perks' or 'class abilities'. The wiki's Progression page was a stub on 14 September; the only data is the changelog's.