WARDOGS mortar: Large Hammer, Support level 8, heading and range — how to build and fire one

The wiki: 'Mortars are static indirect-fire weapons that can be constructed at FOBs. Mortars allow players to provide fire support from behind the front line without exposing themselves to direct infantry combat. A well-positioned mortar team can provide sustained fire against enemy positions, defensive structures, or areas surrounding an objective. Because mortars are static emplacements, they depend on a protected FOB.'

PCGamesN's framing is the same from the other end: 'Racking up kills doesn't have to mean being a crack shot with a rifle; building a Wardogs mortar can cause absolute chaos from afar.' Its one tactical example is the tower — mortars 'flush those camping snipers off that Wardogs tower' — which ties this guide to the towers guide.

Three things, per PCGamesN. 'To build a mortar in Wardogs, you need the Large Hammer and supplies either on your person or in the FOB. The mortar is only available to support players who are at least level eight, as that is when the highest tier of hammer is unlocked.' The Season 1 changelog agrees on the level: under 'Season 1.0 Unlocks: Support' it lists 'Large Hammer: level 7 to level 8', so beta-era guides that say level 7 are one level out.

The hammer's price depends on where you get it. The vendor's Large Hammer is $2,400 (was $1,600); the Support track's Large Hammer is $75,000 (was $25,000), tripled in the same changelog that tripled the FOB to $7,500. The sources do not explain the difference between the two listings, so we report both rather than guess which one you will see.

Mortars are one line in a longer list. The wiki's FOB defence options include 'Mortars', 'Talon anti-air launchers', 'CIWS air-defense systems', 'Other static defensive weapon systems' and 'Switchblade drone launchers', and it groups them for supply purposes: ammo supplies feed 'static weapon emplacements such as mortars and anti-air'. So a mortar shares its supply type, its building requirement and its base with the anti-air that protects it — a team that builds one and not the other has half a position.

A mortar is a team expense spread across three purchases: the FOB ($7,500 from the vendor), the Large Hammer ($2,400 from the vendor, or $75,000 on the Support track), and the supplies — building to place it, ammo to fire it — which a pilot buys as crates ($10,000 for the small armoured one on the Pilot track) and is paid for when teammates draw from them. The economy is designed so that the person firing and the person supplying are both earning: PCGamesN's money guide lists the supply shop as one of its six methods and the mortar guide tells the operator to 'politely ask your pilot teammates to drop some off'. On a community server until about 19 September 2026, everyone's end-of-match cash is 5% higher under patch 0.11.

PCGamesN's order of operations: 'it's always best to make sure your forward operating base is built and secure before moving on to offence.' A FOB is a player-built fortified position that unlocks 'larger construction options and defensive systems' (wiki), and it eats three supply types — building supplies for structures, ammo supplies for 'static weapon emplacements such as mortars and anti-air', and fuel. The mortar is built with building supplies and then fed with ammo supplies.

Where do supplies come from? 'This, like building supplies, is purchased from the spawn base — so make sure you either have some in your inventory or politely ask your pilot teammates to drop some off.' The logistics loop the money guide describes — pilots buying supply crates at spawn and flying them into the zone — is the mortar's supply chain.

PCGamesN's walk-rounds-in method works, but a Steam community guide by Jupliket ('L81 Mortar & Artillery — Exact Range From Map Coordinates', read 14 September) gives a way to land the first shell, and the arithmetic is checkable. Its case for bothering: ranging by eye 'costs you two or three shells at 30 ammo supplies each — and the first shell tells every enemy on the map exactly where you are.' The method: open the map and zoom fully in on your gun; right-click and choose Mark Coordinates, which posts the X, Y pair to chat; copy it (Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C); repeat for the target; then 'Range = square root of (difference in X² + difference in Y²), then × 100', and 'Dial that number into the RNG slider. Fire.'

The guide's worked example: gun at 98.43, 110.38 and target at 94.53, 109.03 gives a = 3.90, b = 1.35, a² + b² = 17.03, √17.03 = 4.127, × 100 = 413 m. Signs do not matter because squaring removes them. It also warns against the folk rule 'take the first three digits of the square root', which 'gives the same answer under 999 m, but it breaks above that'. The guide names the weapon the L81 and the range control the RNG slider; neither name is in an official source, and the 30-ammo-supplies-per-shell figure is the guide's, so treat the numbers as a player's measurement with a stated method — the kind of community claim this site will cite, with attribution.

The mortar has two settings. 'The heading is the direction you want to shoot, and the range is how far your mortar shell will travel.' There is no map overlay on the sight: 'you'll want to look at your map before you jump in, mark enemies, and figure out how far away they are.' Inputs: 'You can use WASD to adjust the aiming of the mortar, then use your mouse for smaller tweaks.'

Correction is visual. 'Your camera follows the mortar round the entire way, so pay attention to the area surrounding the explosion, as that will make it much easier to make micro-adjustments for the next volley.' In other words, the first shell is a ranging shot, and the operator adjusts by watching where it lands. For players who prefer arithmetic to walking rounds in, the community guide on exact range from map coordinates is the resource the Steam guides list pushes to the top.

Putting the guide's steps in order. Reach Support level 8 and get a Large Hammer — $2,400 from the vendor. Confirm the team has a FOB ($7,500) that is 'built and secure', ideally at a tower or on a route the wiki lists as a good site. Bring building supplies, or use the FOB's stock, and place the mortar. Buy ammo supplies at the spawn base, or ask a pilot on squad voice to drop a crate — the money guide notes that pilots earn cash when teammates buy from their crates, so a mortar team is a customer.

Open the map first. Mark the enemy position, estimate distance and direction, then get on the mortar and dial heading and range with WASD, fine-tuning with the mouse. Fire one round and follow it with the camera; adjust from where it lands, not from where you meant it to go. Keep firing while the ammo supplies last, and keep someone watching the approaches — the operator cannot. When the target moves, the process restarts from the map. That is the entire documented loop; anything about lead, wind or dispersion would be invention.

Two lines in the 9 September changelog touch indirect fire. Under Gameplay and vehicles: '155mm, 122mm and flare deployables now take up more room in your loadout.' Those are artillery calibres, and the change makes carrying them a heavier loadout choice. Under Balance: 'Artillery moves to Career 90', with the Artillery Tank's price rising from $400,000 to $500,000 — that is the vehicle, not the emplaced mortar, but it is the same design intent: the top-end indirect fire is now a late-game item for 'the top 5%'.

BULKHEAD's stated goal for the rebalance: 'our median players, at 20 to 25 hours, will be around level 20.' Support level 8 for the Large Hammer is well inside that, which is presumably why the mortar remains an early-mid-game tool while the Artillery Tank does not.

Nothing in the register describes counter-battery detection, so this section lists only the tools that exist. The wiki's FOB defence list includes Switchblade drone launchers, and the Pilot track's Little Bird with miniguns ($50,000 after Season 1) is the obvious airborne answer to a static emplacement — which is why the same FOB list has Talon anti-air launchers and CIWS systems. A mortar team that has not built anti-air is relying on nobody flying.

The other counter is the one PCGamesN warns about: snipers with line of sight to the operator. A tower base solves this for the defender and creates it for the attacker, which is the whole argument of the towers guide. Given that the changelog moved the top-tier artillery to Career 90 and made 155 mm and 122 mm deployables 'take up more room in your loadout', BULKHEAD clearly intends indirect fire to be rationed by levels and loadout space rather than by hard counters — at least in Season 1.

Different tiers of the same job. The mortar is built at a FOB with a hammer you can have at Support level 8; it costs building supplies to make and ammo supplies to run, and it cannot move. The Artillery Tank is a $500,000 Career-level-90 vehicle. For almost every player in the first weeks — median level 20 at 20–25 hours, per BULKHEAD — the mortar is the only indirect fire available. The vehicles guide covers the tank; the FOB guide covers what else the base can hold alongside the mortar (Talon anti-air, CIWS, Switchblade launchers).