Best WARDOGS Faction in Season 2: Lonestar vs Valkyra vs Manticore

Updated October 15, 2026 for WARDOGS Season 2 and Update 0.2.0.

Which WARDOGS Faction Is Best in Season 2?

WARDOGS has three factions: Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore. They still share the same core match objective, progression structure and battlefield, but Season 2 introduces an important temporary difference between them.

Lonestar receives Season 2-only Cash and XP bonuses that Valkyra and Manticore do not have. That makes Lonestar the most attractive faction if your main objective is progressing efficiently, especially when your playstyle generates frequent teamplay rewards.

It is not accurate, however, to call Lonestar the guaranteed best faction for winning. Season 2 has only just begun, and BULKHEAD has not published a new faction win-rate breakdown after the balance changes.

Our current Season 2 pick: Lonestar for progression value. There is not enough post-patch evidence to rank the three factions by actual Season 2 win rate yet.

What Are the Three WARDOGS Factions?

The factions are not traditional RPG classes. Choosing one does not turn your character into a different combat role. Assault, Medic, Recon, Support, Driver and Pilot progression exists independently of whether you are fighting for Lonestar, Valkyra or Manticore.

The official faction identities are:

Up to 100 players are divided between the three teams. All three fight for the same Control Zone, and the first faction to reach 100 points wins.

Why Is Lonestar Different in Season 2?

Season 1 created a self-reinforcing problem for Lonestar. BULKHEAD confirmed that one faction had a noticeably lower win rate than the other two and identified Lonestar as the faction suffering from negative player sentiment, complaints about uniform visibility and problems with certain spawn positions.

The developers believe perception became part of the balance problem. Players who expected Lonestar to lose became less willing to join it, which could further reduce the number of coordinated and experienced players choosing blue.

Season 2 attempts to break that cycle with several changes:

• Lonestar receives an additional Cash and XP reward for winning.
• Lonestar receives Cash and XP multipliers for teamplay actions.
• Lonestar uniforms are more desaturated so they stand out less.
• All three faction spawns on Bakurani have been moved and rebuilt.
• Late team switching is now more restricted.

The Lonestar bonuses are explicitly described as Season 2 only. They should not be treated as a permanent faction trait.

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How Big Is the Lonestar XP and Cash Bonus?

BULKHEAD has not published a universal numerical value for the Lonestar Cash and XP bonuses in the official Season 2 patch notes.

That distinction matters. There are two separate benefits:

• a Lonestar Cash and XP win bonus;
• Lonestar Cash and XP multipliers for teamplay actions.

Do not confuse either of these with the 20% vendor discount. The vendor discount is a separate comeback mechanic available to any faction that falls at least 40 points behind second place.

Until BULKHEAD publishes fixed multiplier values or enough live data can be measured reliably, articles claiming an exact permanent Lonestar percentage are going beyond the official information.

Is Lonestar the Best Faction for Leveling?

For Season 2, Lonestar is the strongest faction choice for progression incentives. It is the only faction currently confirmed to receive additional faction-specific Cash and XP rewards.

The advantage should be especially relevant to players who consistently perform teamplay actions rather than only chasing infantry kills. WARDOGS rewards logistics, transportation, support and objective contribution alongside combat, so multipliers attached to teamplay can compound across a long session.

That does not mean every Lonestar player will level faster than every Valkyra or Manticore player. A good squad winning matches and completing high-value actions can still outperform a poorly organized Lonestar team.

For the new XP curve and role unlock requirements, use our WARDOGS progression guide.

Is Lonestar Still the Worst Faction?

It would be premature to say so.

Lonestar entered Season 2 with the weakest reputation because BULKHEAD's own data showed it had a lower win rate than the other two factions in Season 1. Community discussion also repeatedly described blue teams as less coordinated and complained about their visibility and Bakurani positioning.

Season 2 directly targets all three of those problems: incentives are intended to attract more players, the uniforms have been desaturated, and the Bakurani spawn layout has been rebuilt.

There is not yet enough Season 2 data to determine whether the experiment has made Lonestar the strongest faction, brought it close to parity, or simply moved the population imbalance elsewhere.

Is Manticore the Best WARDOGS Faction?

Manticore developed a strong reputation during Season 1. Community posts frequently described green teams as more organized and reported Manticore winning a large share of their individual matches.

That reputation should not be confused with an official permanent gameplay bonus. BULKHEAD has not published a rule giving Manticore higher weapon damage, faster progression, stronger vehicles or a hidden win-rate modifier.

More importantly, Season 2 changes the conditions that created the old reputation. Bakurani spawn positions have moved and Lonestar now receives dedicated incentives designed specifically to change player behavior and faction population.

For that reason, we would not rank Manticore first based on Season 1 anecdotes alone.

Is Valkyra Better Than Lonestar or Manticore?

Valkyra currently sits in the simplest position: there is no confirmed faction-exclusive Season 2 reward bonus, but there is also no special penalty attached to playing red.

Like Manticore, Valkyra uses the same core progression and game systems. Its real strength in an individual match comes from who joined the team, how its squads communicate, how much logistics support it has and how consistently players contest the objective.

If your regular squad plays Valkyra, staying together is usually more valuable than splitting the group simply to chase Lonestar's additional rewards.

Do WARDOGS Factions Have Different Weapons or Vehicles?

Season 2 does not introduce separate full weapon or vehicle progression trees for Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore. The major new Season 2 weapons, vehicles and role unlocks belong to the wider progression system rather than being locked exclusively to one of the three factions.

Do not confuse faction-themed cosmetics or visual identity with an exclusive combat arsenal. A faction-branded skin does not mean only that faction can use the underlying weapon.

The important Season 2 asymmetry is currently economic: Lonestar receives temporary Cash and XP incentives.

Does Uniform Color Give a Faction an Advantage?

Visibility became a genuine Season 1 balance discussion rather than only a community joke. Players repeatedly argued that Lonestar's brighter blue equipment was easier to identify against much of the environment.

BULKHEAD acknowledged that complaints about Lonestar uniform visibility were valid and changed the uniforms for Season 2 by making them more desaturated.

That does not prove that Manticore's green or Valkyra's darker appearance produces a measurable universal combat advantage on every map and in every weather condition. Rain, lighting, distance, environment and player movement all affect visibility.

For Season 2, the safest conclusion is that Lonestar's old visibility disadvantage has been deliberately reduced.

What Is the 20% Losing-Team Vendor Discount?

Season 2 introduces a comeback system that applies to all factions.

If your team falls at least 40 points behind the team in second place, your faction receives a 20% vendor discount. Lonestar, Valkyra and Manticore can all qualify.

This mechanic is important when comparing factions because it prevents the Season 2 economy from being described simply as “Lonestar gets every economic advantage.” A struggling Valkyra or Manticore team can receive a meaningful purchasing advantage during the match as well.

The vendor discount is not the same thing as Lonestar's Cash/XP bonuses: one reduces what you pay while behind, while the other changes Lonestar's Season 2 reward structure.

Can You Switch Factions in WARDOGS?

You are not permanently locked to one faction for your entire WARDOGS account. Team switching exists, but Update 0.2.0 adds restrictions designed to stop players from jumping onto the winning faction late in a match.

When the team-switch restrictions apply:

• you cannot switch again for 15 minutes after joining a team;
• if you switch teams or join a match already in progress, your map remains obscured until you reach the Control Zone for the first time;
• you cannot use the spawn vehicle until you have reached the Control Zone once.

The goal is to keep the ability to join friends without making late-game winner switching an easy strategy.

Which Faction Should You Pick?

Our Season 2 Faction Ranking

We would not publish a traditional S/A/B faction tier list yet because it would imply a level of live win-rate evidence that does not exist on the first day of Season 2.

Instead, our current ranking is based on what can actually be verified:

1. Lonestar — best for Season 2 progression value. Exclusive Cash and XP incentives give blue the clearest measurable faction-specific benefit.
2. Valkyra and Manticore — tied for general gameplay. Neither has a confirmed permanent combat-stat advantage or equivalent faction-specific reward package.

If BULKHEAD publishes new faction win-rate data after enough Season 2 matches have been played, this ranking should be revisited. The purpose of the Season 2 Lonestar experiment is precisely to see whether rewards, new spawns and changes in player perception alter faction performance.

Best WARDOGS Faction: Final Verdict

Pick Lonestar if your main goal is Cash and XP progression in Season 2. Its additional win rewards and teamplay multipliers create the strongest confirmed economic reason to choose one faction over another.

Do not choose Lonestar because someone claims it now has the highest win rate; there is not enough live Season 2 evidence for that conclusion. Likewise, do not automatically choose Manticore because it had the strongest community reputation during Season 1.

For actual match results, a coordinated squad, good logistics, transport and consistent Control Zone presence remain more important than the faction logo.

For the rest of Update 0.2.0, including the new XP curve, weapons and vehicles, see our WARDOGS Season 2 guide.

Last verified: October 15, 2026 · WARDOGS Update 0.2.0.