Wardogs How to Play With Friends: Squads and Servers

To play Wardogs with friends, get onto the same server, pick the same faction, then form a squad: either right-click a friend in your Steam friends list and use the join or invite option, or agree on a server in the browser and join it together, then press Esc and choose Create Squad. There is no party lobby or group queue, so the server and faction steps matter. Here is each method in detail, plus the Season 2 team-switching rules that affect groups, as of November 2026.

We checked this against the developer's Steam posts, including the Season 2 patch notes and update 0.1.2, and how-to guides from Shacknews and Dexerto, in November 2026.

How Grouping Works in Wardogs

Wardogs is a 100-player, three-team game played on servers you choose from a browser, not a matchmade lobby. That means you do not build a party in a menu and queue together. Instead, you and your friends land on the same server, join the same one of the three factions, Lonestar, Valkyra or Manticore, and then group up in a squad once you are in.

The good news is that squads have no size cap. The developer's FAQ lists squad sizes as unlimited, adding that no friend is left behind, and explains that squadding up provides extra UI, communication tools and vehicle locking for better coordination. A group of two and a clan of twelve use the same system.

Each player needs their own copy. Steam Family Sharing was disabled for Wardogs on September 18, 2026, after the studio said some accounts were using it to get around bans, so a friend cannot borrow the game from your library. It is also PC only for now; consoles are planned for 2028, and our Wardogs release timeline covers what has been announced.

Method 1: Join Through Steam

The quickest route uses the Steam friends list, and it works best when one person is already in a match.

1. The host joins a server and picks a faction.
2. Open the Steam friends list (through the Steam overlay in game, or the Steam app itself).
3. Right-click the friend's name.
4. Choose the join option if you are joining them, or invite them to the game if you are the one in the match.

The guides describe this slightly differently. Dexerto says joining through Steam takes you to the friend's server and automatically places you on their team and squad if there is space, while Shacknews describes the host sending an Invite To Game that the friend then clicks to join the server. Both agree on the key condition: the server and the faction need room. On a full server or a full team, you will need to wait for a slot or use the next method.

Method 2: Pick a Server Together

For larger groups, agree on a server first. Dexerto recommends starting a voice call on Discord or Steam, picking a low-population server so there is space for everyone on one team, and having everyone join at the same time.

Update 0.1.2 added a Deploy flow that makes this easier: hit Deploy and choose Official, Community, Infantry Mode or Low-Level servers, with region selection showing how many regions you have ticked. After you click Join, the game shows that you are connecting and then your place in the queue if there is one. Shacknews also points to a Join By ID button at the bottom of the server browser, so one friend can share the server ID and everyone else types it in. Since the September 12 patch, community server IDs persist between matches and restarts, so a favorite community server keeps the same ID.

There is a bonus to picking an empty server. Season 2 introduced server seeding rewards: players who join and populate empty servers earn rewards and a vendor discount once the match begins, and pre-match entertainment, with guns and targets, a football and a hidden radio in each spawn, gives the group something to do while the server fills. Community servers count too: PCGamesN reports that cash and XP earned on them carries over to your regular account, though the studio warns it will not tolerate XP farming there.

Getting Onto the Same Team

Shacknews notes that you cannot invite friends straight into your faction, at least at the time it wrote its guide. Decide on a team before joining, and if your choice is full, keep retrying the faction screen until a slot opens.

Season 2 added rules that matter for groups who arrive at different times. To stop late switching from deciding matches, once a team is more than 10 points ahead, you cannot switch teams again for 15 minutes after joining one. If you switch teams or join a match in progress, your map stays obscured until you first reach the control zone, and you cannot use the spawn vehicle until then either. The patch notes say these changes add friction for team-switch abusers while still allowing you to join your friends' team if needed, so the practical advice is simple: pick your team when you join, and let late arrivals choose first if the score is lopsided.

Season 2 also introduced a discount for whichever team is struggling: if your side is at least 40 points behind second place, the vendor knocks 20 percent off, which softens the cost of joining friends on a losing team.

Creating and Running a Squad

Once everyone is on the same team, one person creates the squad. Press Esc and select Create Squad at the top right. Shacknews notes the squad takes the next free letter of the NATO alphabet, your friends join from the same screen, and the leader can lock it or leave it open to other players.

Season 2 improved the squad tools. Squad leaders can set a squad intent from a predefined list that every teammate sees before joining, which helps when you want to recruit strangers to a specific plan, and squad invites and other timed prompts now queue instead of overlapping. Squad voice chat works at any range, while proximity chat carries only a short distance and can be heard by enemies, so use squad voice for plans and proximity for nearby teammates.

Two more features reward playing as a group. Vehicles you buy have inventories private to you and your squad by default, so supplies you load stay with your group. And team kills are handled by a vote: when a teammate kills you, you choose Forgive or Punish, with punishments building toward kicks and bans for repeat offenders, which means a friendly-fire accident between friends is easy to forgive. Splitting roles inside the squad pays off too; our guide to Wardogs classes and role tracks shows how a medic, a builder and a driver complement each other, and our money guide covers the team payouts a coordinated squad can stack.

Playing Across Regions and Fixing Problems

Friends in different countries need to think about ping. Season 2 introduced region-based ping limits on official servers, and players who stay above a server's limit over a sustained period are kicked automatically and cannot rejoin that server until the next map. The server browser now shows maximum ping tags and filters. Community server admins can set their own limits, which the patch notes say allows cross-regional play, so an international group may have a better time on a community server with a relaxed limit.

If one friend cannot get into the game at all, the problem is usually a launch error rather than the invite. Our guide to the WD-L014 error walks through the official troubleshooting steps. If a Steam join fails, check that the target server and faction actually have space, then fall back to sharing the server ID.

A Quick Checklist for Squad Night

Most failed meetups come down to one missed step. Run through this list in your voice channel before anyone deploys and the group should land together on the first try.

1. Make sure everyone has updated the game, since a friend still downloading a patch will not see the same servers.
2. Agree on a region and filter the browser by ping so nobody gets kicked mid-match.
3. Pick a server with enough free slots for the whole group on one team, or one that is still filling up.
4. Agree on the faction before joining and have the first player in confirm there is space.
5. Have one person create the squad from the Esc menu, set an intent and lock it once everyone is inside.
6. Switch to squad voice for plans, and decide who drives, who builds and who heals before you leave spawn.

Repeat players often settle on one community server they like, since its ID stays the same between matches and the regulars get to know each other.

Catching Up to Friends Who Started Earlier

Joining a group that has been playing since launch can mean showing up with default gear while everyone else drives tanks. For players who want to close that gap, our Wardogs hub lists Steam accounts from independent sellers, typically labeled with level, role progress and cash, and the listings refresh daily. Know before you look that the game's Terms of Service on Steam state that players must not sell, transfer or try to sell or transfer an account or any part of one.

Frequently Asked Questions