WARDOGS Season 3 DMR Changes: SVD, M14, BMR-308 and SKS Shots to Kill

WARDOGS Season 3 brought DMR damage back up after the Season 2 cuts, landing between the Season 1 and Season 2 values. Every marksman rifle now drops an unarmored player in two body shots, and a player without a helmet in one headshot. The SVD, BMR-308 and M14 got the larger share of the buff against armor and helmets, while the SKS's armor change covers only two armor levels.

What changed for every DMR in Season 3

These changes went live with Update 0.3.0 on November 12, and they apply to all four marksman rifles:

• Body: an unarmored player now goes down in 2 body shots instead of 3.
• Head: a player with no helmet now goes down in 1 headshot instead of 2.
• Neck: damage went up, but a kill still takes 2 shots.
• Arms and legs: no change.

The DMR damage cuts in Season 2 landed in the same update as a set of recoil changes, and together the two made these rifles weaker than intended. Season 3 gives back part of that damage.

SVD, M14 and BMR-308 against armor

The SVD, BMR-308 and M14 got the bigger armor buff. Each of them needs 1 to 2 fewer body shots at every armor level than in Season 2. Against helmets, all three now kill through a Level 3 helmet in 2 headshots instead of 3.

The SKS gets a smaller change. It needs 1 fewer body shot against Level 2 and Level 4 armor. The Level 3 helmet change covers only the SVD, BMR-308 and M14.

DMRs were not the only infantry weapons to gain torso damage. Assault rifle torso damage is back to Season 1 values, and LMG torso damage now matches assault rifles, at +13% on the upper torso and +3% on the middle and lower torso.

DMR unlock levels and prices

All four DMRs sit on the Recon track. The unlock fee is a one-time payment, and the price is what you pay each time you buy the rifle from the vendor:

Unlocking all four rifles costs $300,000 in fees alone, before magazines, scopes or ammo. That fee comes out of the same Wardogs Cash you spend on every respawn loadout, and an M14 at $7,400 a life costs about three times as much to field as an SKS at $2,400.

Magazines, fire modes and handling numbers

Magazines add to the climb. The SVD unlocks with its 5-round magazine and the M14 with a 10-round magazine, and their larger magazines open further up the Recon track. As for the BMR-308, it has no magazine of its own, so it takes FAL magazines and unlocks alongside the FAL 10-round magazine.

The M14 is also the only DMR here with both semi-auto and full-auto fire, and at 700 RPM it fires much faster than the other three. Every other DMR in the table is semi-automatic only. Higher muzzle velocity means less lead on a moving target. The BMR-308 is the fastest at 880 m/s, followed by the M14 at 853 m/s, the SVD at 800 m/s and the SKS at 735 m/s. At 5.3 kg, the SVD is also the heaviest, while the M14 weighs 4.2 kg, the BMR-308 3.9 kg and the SKS 3.85 kg.

Recon progress toward the M14

Season 3 raised the XP needed for every level, so each Recon level takes longer to level up than it did in Season 2. Spotting pays a little less too. A kill on a player you spotted now gives 125 XP instead of 150, and destroying a spotted enemy FOB gives 200 XP instead of 250.

Some of the climb got easier. Armor, backpacks, tactical vests and parachutes can now be unlocked from every role track, so a Recon player no longer has to level another role for them. Ammo types moved later in the WARDOG track and are now spread across the role tracks, and Recon gets AP rounds before any other role. If you fall behind, an XP catch-up bonus and an extended vendor discount kick in week by week for low-level players, per role, and both grow as the season goes on.

Further up the same track, the AMR 50 moved from Recon 35 to Recon 41, so the anti-materiel rifle now opens well after all four DMRs. Whether you grind Recon yourself or use Wardogs Boosting, the M14 at Recon 25 is the last of the four DMRs to open.

DMRs in Limited Mode

The new Limited Mode removes several endgame items from the vendor, and two of those cuts change how DMR fights play out:

• No Hollow Point (HP) or Armor Piercing (AP) ammo, so every DMR fires standard rounds.
• No Level 3 or Level 4 armor.

That leaves every DMR shooting into Level 2 body armor at most. The SKS still saves its one shot against Level 2 armor there, and the SVD, BMR-308 and M14 keep their savings against Level 1 and Level 2 armor. Progression and cash earned in Limited Mode carry over to the other modes, so Recon levels toward the SVD or M14 still count.

DMR range on Sabatulo

Sabatulo, the new city map, mixes tight streets and room-to-room fights with towering high-rises, and its high points give oversight of the city. From those floors, the range gap between these rifles shows. The SVD reaches 800 m of effective range, against 500 m for the BMR-308 and M14 and 400 m for the SKS.

One piece of kit is gone this season, on Sabatulo and every other map. The Infrared Range Finder has been pulled from the vendor until it gets a redesign, because it was used in almost every match and the Season 2 battery nerf did not curb its power.

Two body shots now drop an unarmored player with any DMR, so the SKS at Recon 5 already gives you the new breakpoint. The armor and helmet gains start with the SVD at Recon 12.

The U4GM Team