WARDOGS Squad Guide: Get Your Friends on the Same Side of the War

TLDR

WARDOGS puts up to 100 players across three teams on one map, and there's no party to form before a match. You team up inside the match instead: same server, same faction, then a squad from the pause menu. Join a squad even with strangers, because squad voice carries at any range and map pings only reach squadmates. Getting friends onto the same team is the fiddly part, and Early Access may change how it works.

How a WARDOGS match works

WARDOGS, from Bulkhead and Team17, entered Steam Early Access on September 10 as a Windows game and sold 2 million copies in less than a week. Up to 100 players split into three teams and fight over randomized 2x2 km Control Zones. Whichever team has the most players inside the zone earns points, and the first to 100 points wins. You buy a loadout with cash each life, and the cash comes from teamwork: the store page lists reviving squadmates, transporting friendlies to the zone, and holding the objective.

That changes how a group should play:

• Numbers in the zone score. A squad that arrives together and stays alive moves the score more than one player chasing kills.
• Know the three sides. The factions are Lonestar, Valkyra, and Manticore (Shacknews). Settle on one before anyone joins a server.
• Budget the time. Matches can last an hour or more, so plan sessions around full games.

No party button: getting everyone onto one team

Squads only exist inside a match. As Shacknews puts it, "You can't create a party before entering a match," and nothing in Bulkhead's Steam announcements so far promises one. That's why Dexerto says Early Access "doesn't feature a traditional party system" while GameRant walks you through creating squads. Both describe the same in-match system. Until that changes, this is the workaround.

1. Agree on a server first. Patch 0.11 split the server browser into Official and Community lists and made community server IDs persist between matches and restarts. Everyone can then use the Join By ID button at the bottom of the Server Browser. Pick a low-population server if you can. A full one makes it harder to land on the same team.
2. Pull friends in through Steam. Right-click a friend in your Steam friends list and choose Join Game. Dexerto says that puts you on their server, and on their team and squad if there's space. Sending an Invite To Game is weaker: Shacknews found it gets friends onto the server but not onto your faction.
3. Pick the same faction. If your side is full, wait on the faction select screen until a slot opens. Shacknews admits this part "will mainly come down to luck."
4. Fix mistakes with the change team button. It sits below the squads list in the pause menu (GameRant), and players can switch teams mid-match. Some have abused that to sabotage the side they just joined. Bulkhead's Joe Brammer said on X that the studio is "deciding on a design fix," and Patch 0.11 lists Team Switching Controls as coming, so expect this step to change. Switch once to reach your friends, never to scout for them.

Creating, locking, and joining a squad

After you pick a faction, open the pause menu. The squad list sits on the right side of the screen (GameRant). If it looks empty, click the human icons at the top of the sidebar.

• Create one. Choose Create at the top of the list. The squad takes the next free letter of the NATO alphabet as its name (Shacknews), so your group gets a callsign for free.
• Set the door. Whoever creates the squad leads it and controls its settings. The lock icon at the top right locks it, and the mail button under the lock turns on request-to-join, which sends each request to the leader.
• Join someone else's. A squad with a Join button is open. Locked squads can't be joined, and request-to-join squads need the leader to approve you.
• Invite friends. Scroll to the Unassigned Players section and hit the plus icon next to a name. It works even when the squad is locked.
• Spot each other. Squadmates show up as yellow icons on screen.

Bulkhead's pre-launch top questions post promised unlimited squad sizes, but that was months before Early Access, so check the list in-game rather than assuming there's no cap. For a friends-only group, lock the squad once everyone is in. If you want strangers to fill spare slots, request-to-join lets you vet each one.

Squad voice, proximity voice, and pings

The Steam store page promises "local voice chat to either talk tactics with teammates or troll enemy players," and lists proximity voice chat among its Early Access features. Joining a squad adds a dedicated squad channel (GameRant). Shacknews explains the difference: squad voice "persists no matter the range, whereas the proximity chat is only over a certain distance and is open to enemy ears."

• Keep plans on squad voice. Proximity can carry your flank call to an enemy around the corner.
• Use proximity for everyone else, like a driver outside your squad heading to the zone.
• Ping instead of describing. Everything you ping on the map shows up for every squadmate. Pinging only works in a squad, though. Without one, nobody sees your pings, and you earn no XP for pinging enemies with monoculars, binoculars, or a range finder.
• Do a radio check. The pre-launch changelog fixed voice cutting out after a failed join and added a visible communication status, so make sure everyone can hear each other when you spawn.

If open mics with strangers make you tense, pings carry most callouts, and these tips for voice chat anxiety cover the rest.

Friends versus randoms

Playing with friends

• Check that everyone can play. WARDOGS is Windows-only on Steam for now, and the launch post puts consoles in 2028. Bulkhead also switched off Steam Family Sharing after accounts used it to dodge bans (PCGamesN), so every player needs a copy on their own account.
• Split the jobs before you spawn. Loadouts are bought each life, so agree who buys transport, who plays medic, and who carries binoculars for pinging.
• Pick a home server. Bulkhead recommends community servers "where admins can instantly ban bad actors" in a pre-launch post, and a persistent server ID lets the group find the same one every session.

Playing with randoms

• Join a squad anyway. Even a squad of strangers gets shared pings and a squad voice channel that solo players go without.
• Be easy to play with. Say hello, follow the squad's plan, and ping what you see. The good teammate checklist covers the rest.
• Keep the good ones. When a squad clicks, add each other on Steam so Join Game can reunite you next time.

If your friends list is thin, a teammate-matching app such as Player 2 can pair you with players who own the game and play when you do.

Before Season 02

Season 02 is due October 15, according to Bulkhead's Season 02 teaser, and the Steam page says Early Access should last around one to two years. Squad and team-switching features may change along the way, so skim the patch notes each season. For now the routine is simple: same server, same faction, one squad, plans on squad voice.