While the true goal of every lobby in WARDOGS is to collect enough points to win, you won't get there if you're broke. In WARDOGS, the persistent cash you gain from each fight ensures you can come back stronger in the future, either by allowing you to invest in extra supplies and gear or by unlocking new weapons, armor, vehicles, and building hammers that can accelerate your team's path to victory. For that reason, many players will be looking for the quickest ways to make money in WARDOGS come launch day. Here we'll explore some great options to get fast cash for all different kinds of playstyles. Note that this isn't an exhaustive guide, and one of WARDOGS' strengths is that it rewards all playstyles and jobs, either with strong cash flow or important battlefield contribution. But here, we'll focus a bit more on the dollars!

WARDOGS Money Making Guide: Best Ways to Make Fast Cash On Launch Day

There are many ways you can contribute to your team in WARDOGS, and while all contributions are rewarded with in-game cash, some earn the money a little safer or faster than others.

Helicopter Pilot - Flying Taxi Work

While this is perhaps the highest skill-demand job in WARDOGS, if you can safely fly a helicopter, you can make some serious money without ever having to fire a bullet. This is done, of course, by taxiing your fellow teammates into battle, either by hot-dropping them at important locations like the hot zone or towers for offensive pushes, or simply getting them quickly to your nearest base to let them spread out into the field themselves. When ferrying your teammates in a helicopter, you're paid for every player you drop off in the zone, as well as more once they make it safely for a period of time afterward (as well as any tips from friendly players). On top of this, you will also get cash bonuses each time these players get kills until they themselves die. That means if you bring a serious infantry squad, you can see gigantic cash returns, quickly paying for your next bird and then some. It's important to note that you will face cash (and team victory chance) penalties for each player you don't bring safely to the zone. Unfortunately, under the current system, players who jump out of your chopper only to kiss the ground without a parachute will count against you, as will anyone quickly picked off after you drop them off, even if it's their own fault in the end. In fact, at the time of writing, you will even be penalized for team-killing if you're shot out of your helicopter and it crashes, killing passengers. To help your teammates arrive safely, it's good practice to ensure your helicopter is stocked with Flares to protect yourself from anti-air like SAM turrets, as well as plenty of parachutes players can grab right from the chopper mid-flight. This ensures they have the maximum chance to survive and make an impact in your game, and in the end, get you paid! To top it all off, if you run out of passengers to taxi or the helicopter competition on your team is too steep, you can always fill your spots with logi supplies instead and drop them off at your team's FOBs, which is a nice return of money while staying a bit safer than taxiing. Though if both are available, transporting players is preferred. Just make sure you are a competent pilot before you try to invest in your own helicopter in live matches. Thankfully, this is easy to practice at the firing range, giving you space to practice flying and adjust your controls without losing money or griefing your teammates.

Spotting and Recon Work (Binoculars, Monoculars, Range Finders)

While it might not be as exciting or glamorous as other ways to play on your first day in WARDOGS, spotting and recon work is a great way to earn consistent money without putting yourself in harm's way. It's also a great help to your team, as each target you spot is marked on the minimap and overall map for your teammates. This is especially useful in infantry conflicts in heavy cover, or against high-value targets like APC spawn vehicles, transport helicopters, or even bases and key base buildables like L81 Mortars for your Mortar or Assault teams to take out. To make the most of your spotting, rush to a good vantage point that covers particularly active areas. You can pair this job with any weapon type, but snipers are an obvious choice for helping to pick off targets yourself that you mark, giving you double the flow of Recon XP and cash as well. From there, use your Binoculars or upgraded Recon devices as you gain more XP, and ensure you highlight relevant targets with your reticle as often as possible, taking special care to mark things like transport helicopters and parachuting infantry while they're in your view. When spotting, keep your reticle trained on the target for three full ticks to ensure they're marked to the highest level, then return to marked targets periodically to increase their marking level so they stay visible for your team as long as possible. While it might feel frustrating to spot instead of shoot, especially with a sniper in arm's reach, it's often more valuable for you to mark targets first than to try and take a shot with your first bolt-action rifle (the Scout Rifle TD), especially if helmets are involved, as one-shotting is much harder with this weapon, and injured foes will simply hide behind quick cover and bandage, leaving you with no cash or XP gains from just injuring someone. If you're willing to invest the $25k to unlock the SKS at Recon Level 5 and prefer that style of ranged engagement, it can be a powerful step up from the weaker starting bolt-action rifle to help finish off targets you mark. The added benefit of the spotting playstyle is that it's low investment, safe, and it's also the fastest way to level Recon early on, ensuring you can get quick access to game changers like the Mosin, which make one-shotting enemies even in decent armor and helmets much, much easier.

Building Up FOBs & High-Value Buildables (Support)

While the builder life in WARDOGS starts slow due to being unable to build the most consequential buildables with the first hammers you unlock, it becomes an absolute gold mine as you continue down the building path. This is in part due to the constant influx of cash you'll get not only for placing buildables and hammering them into existence, but also due to the extra safety you naturally have as someone who's building the base backbone of your team, meaning you'll naturally stack more cash from passively being in the zone and not dying. \ To get a quick start, make sure you take advantage of the Medium Hammer that spawns inside of each placeable FOB, as you won't be able to purchase it from the Trader yourself until you reach the requisite level. Once you manage to unlock the third building hammer, the Large Hammer, you can then build mighty weapons and even the Drill as an eventual win condition to pull the zone to your base. These are fantastic streams of income, especially the L81 Mortar, which is good for every single base location in the game, but especially good when within 700m of multiple high-value locations like enemy towers. Building L81 Mortars and other weapons will not only get you paid as you put them together, but you'll also get residual cash as players use them to kill enemies and destroy buildables around the map. With your spare time after constructing bases, it's definitely worthwhile to jump into an L81 Mortar yourself as well and fire at any marked locations within 700m. Just know that this will likely inspire counter-mortar fire, which you can then use as an opportunity to rebuild any destroyed buildables around you and resurrect any fallen teammates in your base. When one base is complete, don't be afraid to break off and build up another FOB at another relevant location. You'll often see builders sit and wait in completed bases or overbuild locations without adding much value, but by ensuring you're always building something consequential, you'll not only stack cash but also help your team control more of the zone.

Driving In the APC Spawn Vehicle (M113 Spawn APC)

While driving can be good for early-game transport or logi support, one of the best individual ways to make money with Driving in WARDOGS is by bringing in the M113 Spawn APC spawn vehicle yourself. This vehicle spawns at every team's main base when any team in the game reaches 20 points. That means if you're heading out from your main base and the game is anywhere close to reaching this point threshold, it can be wise to wait at the spawn point and grab the vehicle immediately, not only for the extra cash it gives you with each spawning player and the kills they achieve along the way, but also to ensure your team has a relevant and active spawn point in the zone as early as possible. We certainly aren't recommending you camp this vehicle to the detriment of your team for too long. But if it's coming up soon, this is a great way to not only pick up money throughout the rest of the game and the lifespan of the spawner (which you can place safely underneath roofs/towers so it doesn't get mortared), but also help your team get a leg up in the deployment front early in the game to set the tone.