Recon is the track built to punish the obvious approach. The rifle it starts you with cannot reliably kill, and the tool that levels it fastest is not a gun at all. Get that one idea right and it is the easiest role in the game to progress. Get it wrong and you will spend a weekend collecting assists.
This guide is the Recon ladder as it stood in Closed Beta 02, from our progression data, with what each unlock does from the players who used them, and the damage figures and spotting payouts observed in the beta. For how Recon fits with the other tracks, start with how to level up in WARDOGS.
Recon levels when you mark or when you hit
Two things pay Recon XP: spotting, and kills or damage with Recon weapons, which means sniper rifles, marksman rifles and the Compound Bow. Spotting is the one that does not need a kill, and it is the one the game hands you on day one.
The Scout Rifle TD is the only Recon weapon with no gate. It costs 1,100 dollars, it is a break-action, and in the beta a headshot on an unhelmeted player left them alive. The climb from Recon 0 to 2 is 750 XP earned only by hitting people with it, the hardest early game of any role. Skip it.
Spot first: 75 dollars and no level
Binoculars cost 75 dollars, need no level and sit in slot three, so they cost you nothing in bag space. Hold them on a player or vehicle and a timer marks the target for your whole team. The mark pays Recon XP on its own, and in the beta paid 800 dollars when a teammate killed a target while the mark was live and 400 dollars if the kill came later.
So the route is: binoculars in slot three, the free recruit rifle or an SMG in your hands, and a high seat over the Control Zone. Players building bases stand still and look at their walls. Vehicles on roads are marks that pay twice. Recon 2 arrives quickly and unlocks the Monocular for 7,500 dollars, which changes how the whole role levels, and the Rangefinder at 8 adds distances for 15,000 dollars.
Level 5 is the SKS, and it is the gun to grind on
| Level | Unlock | Unlock cost | Price | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Monocular | $7,500 | $150 | faster spotting |
| 3 | Strelix suppressor | $7,500 | first Recon suppressor | |
| 5 | SKS | $25,000 | see catalogue | semi-automatic, one-shot unhelmeted head |
| 7 | SKS bipod | $10,000 | ||
| 8 | Rangefinder | $15,000 | $400 | distances |
| 10 | Mosin Nagant | $50,000 | see catalogue | first bolt-action |
| 11 | 3x-6x LPVO Short Dot | $15,000 | the first real scope | |
| 12 | SVD | $50,000 | see catalogue | semi-auto, 10-round mag at 16 |
| 17 | Compound Bow | $75,000 | silent, arrows at 17 | |
| 19 | SV98 | $100,000 | see catalogue | bolt-action |
| 22 | Claymore | $50,000 | $900 | covers your back while scoped |
| 24 | Ghillie armour and helmet | $80,000 + $60,000 | $3,000 + $2,500 | blocks the kill cam |
| 25 | MK22 | $150,000 | see catalogue | bolt-action |
| 35 | AMR 50 | $200,000 | see catalogue | .50 calibre |
The SKS at Recon 5 is a semi-automatic marksman rifle for a 25,000 dollar unlock. It one-shots an unhelmeted head, which the Scout Rifle cannot, and holding a tower beside your team's spawn vehicle with it is a proven way to farm the levels from 5 to 10. It forgives a miss, which on a track that pays for hits is the whole point.
Level 10 is the Mosin, and 11 is the scope it needs
The Mosin Nagant at Recon 10 is the first one-shot precision rifle and the target the early grind is for. It costs a 50,000 dollar unlock, and the 3x-6x LPVO a level later is the first variable scope, so budget for both. From here Recon pays for hits at range, with a bonus for headshots and for distance, and the spotting stream keeps running underneath.
The mid-track is choices rather than steps. The SVD at 12 is a semi-automatic with a 1.3x torso multiplier, and its 10-round magazine at 16 makes it the follow-up gun. The Compound Bow at 17 makes no flash and no sound. The SV98 at 19 and MK22 at 25 are the bolt-actions for people who prefer one shot. The Claymore at 22 exists because a scoped sniper has no peripheral vision, and the ghillie set at 24 hides you in grass and from the kill cam.
Level 35 is the AMR 50, and the glass costs more than the gun
The AMR 50 at Recon 35 is a 200,000 dollar unlock. It has 107 base damage, enough to delete infantry through any armour and punch light vehicle plating. The Frontier 2.5x-10x scope that suits it is a separate 95,000 dollars at Recon 43, the heavy .50 suppressor is at 37, and the 10-round magazine is the last unlock on the track at 50.
Community guides quote a role cap of 100. Bulkhead has not published one, and nothing above Recon 50 opens a tile, so past that point your spotting is buying Wardog levels. The builds snipers are running are on the sniper loadout page, the towers that give you the high seat are on the towers guide, and the weapons catalogue has the full stats behind every rifle in the table.
