All prices and values are from Season 1 (Early Access). Season 2 arrives October 15, 2026 and may change them.
The cash loop
WARDOGS runs on one currency during matches: cash. The loop has three stages.
Earn. Team actions pay: revives, resupplies, building, logistics, transport runs and objective captures. Kills feed role XP, not the wallet. The exact payout numbers are not published by Bulkhead, so any specific figures on forums are unconfirmed.
Spend. Everything you carry into a match costs cash, paid fresh every life. Weapons, attachments, vehicles and the one-time unlock fees that gate them all draw from the same wallet. See the money guide for how to earn efficiently and the vehicles guide for the full price ladder.
Rebuy. Death costs you whatever you took out. A solvent player keeps a rebuy buffer of at least two full loadouts. A broke player runs the free Bushmaster M17S and rebuilds with team actions.
Every account starts with $10,000 in cash, once. The wallet is account-wide and persists across matches. There are no microtransactions in Season 1, which also means there are no redeem codes and no battle pass. If you see "WARDOGS codes" pages, they are guessing at a system that does not exist.
The seasonal wipe
At the end of each season, WARDOGS wipes progression. Season 2 arrives October 15, 2026 with the first wipe. Here is what resets and what survives, based on Bulkhead's announcements.
Wiped: cash, role levels, role XP, and all unlocks. You start the season re-earning everything.
Survives: gold bars. Any cash remaining in your wallet at the end of the season is automatically converted into gold bars. Gold bars persist across seasons. They buy exclusive cosmetics.
Two things Bulkhead has not published: the cash-to-gold-bar conversion rate, and the full Season 2 item list. Anything claiming specific numbers for either is speculation. Bulkhead has confirmed one structural fact worth building plans around: each season's XP curves and item unlock order can differ, so Season 1 prices and levels are reference material, not permanent.
Gold bars
Gold bars are the long-term currency. You cannot buy them with real money. You get them from the end-of-season conversion of leftover cash, and they carry forward while cash and levels do not.
Per the in-game Gold Exchange panel text, their use is exclusive cosmetics. The practical implication: cash spent late in a season disappears at the wipe, while cash stockpiled converts into something permanent. Players who stop buying expensive gear in the final days of a season and focus on stacking cash are converting short-term spending power into long-term cosmetics.
What gold bars will buy beyond the current cosmetic selection depends on systems Bulkhead has announced but not shipped. Which brings us to the roadmap.
The Vault and the Black Market: announced, not yet in game
Everything in this section is announced, not yet in game as of October 2, 2026. Do not treat it as current gameplay.
Bulkhead's roadmap describes three connected systems for a future economy layer:
Black Market. Announced as a storefront where cash buys things that come back into matches with you: gear, wagers and businesses. This is distinct from the normal vendor because it is a persistent, account-level system rather than a per-match purchase.
Vault. Announced as the storage where black-market goods sit until you use them. The roadmap notes that vault space is capped, and the cap is the constraint the whole system runs into first.
Gold Market. Announced as the cosmetic storefront where gold bars buy exclusive cosmetics, permanent on your account and not purchasable with real money.
None of these are live. The in-game Gold Exchange panel describes the design, but there is no functioning Black Market or Vault in Season 1. When they arrive, likely across Season 2 and beyond, this page will be updated with verified mechanics. Until then, any guide describing black-market strategies is describing a roadmap, not the game.
Why seasons change the numbers
One official design fact shapes how to read every guide on this site: each season can bring different XP curves, different item order and different prices. Season 1 values are Season 1 values. The helicopter guide and vehicles guide are labeled accordingly, and every price on this site will be re-checked after the October 15 wipe.