WARDOGS: How to Play With Friends as a Squad
Get your whole group onto the same faction, same match, and same squad. The friction is joining, comms, and regrouping after death. Here is the Steam Join Game method and the squad strategy that wins.
Core problem: Getting your whole friend group onto the same faction, same match, and same squad in WARDOGS, then staying useful together after deaths, because there is no squad spawn. The game is fine solo, but it clicks in a squad. The friction is joining, comms, and regrouping after you die.
1How to Join the Same Match
- 1Add each other on Steam before anyone queues.
Use Steam as the party system, not a separate in-game friends list.
- 2One person enters a server first.
Have one friend pick the server and load in. Everyone else does not browse separately.
- 3Everyone else: Steam, right-click that friend, Join Game.
You hit the same queue. After the queue, you land in their match. If that faction still has room, you are put on their team automatically and in their squad.
- 4Confirm the squad inside the match.
Press Escape, then Create or Join squad. Squad size is unlimited. A 3-stack and a 13-stack both work. Nobody has to sit out.
2Voice: Squad Radio vs Proximity
3Regrouping After Death
- 1Squadmates stay visible on the map at all times. Use that to pick a rally point.
- 2Buy a cheap vehicle or hitch a ride (heli or truck) back toward the Control Zone.
- 3Do not wander toward gunfire hoping you bump into them. Drive or fly to the marker.
4Play the Zone as a Blob
- 1Stack the zone together so your faction actually ticks points.
- 2One person flies or drives, the rest ride.
Pilots who drop people on the hill earn cash even with no kills.
- 3Revive instead of leaving people. Bleedout is long on purpose.
- 4Tip the pilot and medic.
Players who did this kept getting rides and revives.
Quick Decisions
| Situation | Better Choice |
|---|---|
| Friend already in a match | Steam Join Game. Auto team and squad if the faction has room. |
| Faction full | Wait or all re-queue together. Join-friend only works if there is a slot. |
| Comms | Squad radio for plans, prox for local. Enemies hear prox. |
| After death | Vehicle or hitch. Follow squad markers. No squad spawn. |
| Squad size | Bring everyone. No cap. |
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Queuing separately and hoping you land on the same faction. Use Steam Join Game.
- Talking tactics on proximity chat next to enemies. They hear you. Use squad radio.
- Treating the game like CoD and never grouping in the zone. Scoring is presence, not kills.
- Flying friends before practicing helis. Crashes cost you and them cash.
- Assuming you respawn on the squad. You do not. Buy a kit and drive back.