Every WARDOGS life starts at the spawn vendor, and every death deletes the receipt. You're given $10,000 once, per account (not per match), and from then on the balance you carry is the balance you earned. So the question before every spawn isn't "what's the best kit", it's "what can I afford to lose, given how much is left". This guide prices that question: what each part of a life costs, what whole kits come to, and the handful of rules that stop a bad run turning into a pistol-only evening.
The vendor sells six kinds of thing, from one balance:
Weight is the other bill. Under 10 kg costs nothing; 10-17 kg is -5% movement; 17-27 kg is -13% movement and +8% aim sway; 27 kg and up is -20% movement, +15-17% ADS time and +18-20% sway. Heavy armour and drum magazines are paid for twice: once in cash, once in speed.
Three rifles are free: the faction recruit rifles (Bushmaster M17S, A-91, KH-2002). Everything else:
The AMR 50 is 88% of a starting wallet on its own, before the $250 boxes it eats. The FAL is the best rifle in the game by most accounts and costs three Galils. Neither belongs in a kit you can't afford to lose twice.
Armour tiers are gated on Wardog level (Medium at 30, Heavy at 60, Super Heavy at 100), so for most of your first weeks the choice is Light or nothing. Light armour and a light helmet is $600: the cheapest insurance in the game. The ghillie set ($5,500 for both pieces) sits in the armour slot instead of plates: it hides you and blocks the killcam, and it stops nothing. A stalker's purchase, not a brawler's.
On ammo: hollow point costs two to four-and-a-half times standard; armour-piercing rarely more than 1.75x. The round that goes through a plate is cheaper than the one that doesn't. Tracer variants are free.
Totals are list price. Under Wardog 9, halve everything but the ammo and the vehicle.
