M249 SAW
M249 SAW
LMGs
7.5 kg
$3,200
- –Semi / Full Auto
- –5.56x45mm
RewardsSupport XP
A well-rounded LMG that is highly configurable for both aggressive and defensive playstyles.
“The average life of a Machine Gunner in Nam was 7 seconds - I hope to improve on that”
Reach Support Lvl 15
Unlock: $100,000
The vendor's own card, as shown in the Closed Alpha. The level it opens at and the one-off unlock are not from that tile: they come from a progression snapshot dated 2 September 2026, and are reported rather than confirmed.
Weapon stats
Damage per hit and rate of fire are the M249 SAW's two base figures — the numbers every other calculation on this page starts from.
- Damage
- 28
- Rate of fire
- 850
per hit, by calibre
rounds per minute
From here down it is our model. Those two numbers give a time to kill against a 100-health target, re-run per range band at assumed hit rates.
- Shots to kill
- 4
- Time to kill
- 212 ms
- Close range
- 364 ms
- Medium range
- 812 ms
- Long range
- 1,946 ms
- Speed rank
- #12 of 20
Figures move between patches — how the model works and what it ignores. Where the M249 SAW lands once price is the tiebreak is on the tier list.
Attachments
Magazines
32 of the 3 change aim time, equip speed, horizontal recoil and vertical recoil. The build names the attributes; it does not publish the amounts, so neither do we.
| Magazine | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| $10 | ||
| ||
| $180 | ||
| ||
| $200 | ||
| ||
Optics
15All 15 change ADS zoom and aim time. The build names the attributes; it does not publish the amounts, so neither do we.
| Optic | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| $820 | ||
| ||
| $580 | ||
| ||
| $520 | ||
| ||
| $840 | ||
| ||
| $650 | ||
| ||
| $640 | ||
| ||
| $740 | ||
| ||
| $880 | ||
| ||
| $860 | ||
| $1,650 | ||
| $680 | ||
| — | ||
| $200 | ||
| — | ||
| $850 | ||
Muzzle devices
2All 2 change aim time, horizontal recoil, spread and vertical recoil. The build names the attributes; it does not publish the amounts, so neither do we.
| Muzzle device | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| $350 | ||
| ||
| $380 | ||
Foregrips
6All 6 change aim time, horizontal recoil, spread and vertical recoil. The build names the attributes; it does not publish the amounts, so neither do we.
| Foregrip | Price | |
|---|---|---|
| $800 | ||
| View attachment | ||
| $1,050 | ||
| View attachment | ||
| $1,120 | ||
| View attachment | ||
| $1,250 | ||
| View attachment | ||
| $1,350 | ||
| View attachment | ||
| $1,400 | ||
| View attachment | ||
These are the attachments the game pairs with the M249 SAW in the alpha. The pairing is the game's own rather than a menu we opened, so read it as what the game associates with this weapon — accurate to the build, and worth checking in game before you plan a loadout around it.
A further 3 are paired with it that we cannot yet name, with no vendor entry we have seen. Those are held back until they have one — why we do that.
Ammunition
The M249 SAW fires 5.56×45mm, bought separately from the weapon. Which weapons take which calibre is the game's own association rather than a menu we opened, and it agrees across all three places the build records it.
The M249 SAW itself costs as much as 213 boxes of what it fires, at $15 a box. The spread across calibres runs $10 to $250, wider than the gap between most of the rifles that fire them, so a cheap weapon on an expensive calibre is not a cheap loadout.
| Load | Per round |
|---|---|
| $1.50 | |
| $4 | |
| $2.50 |
Per-round prices are arithmetic — a loaded magazine's price minus the empty one's, over its capacity. How much difference each load makes has never been published. Everything we have on 5.56×45mm.
At $3,200 the M249 SAW is 32% of a full loadout budget, leaving $6,800 for everything else you carry. What a complete kit costs.
What “Support XP” means on that card
WARDOGS has no fixed classes. Progression runs on six XP tracks, and Bulkhead has confirmed they are earned by using specialist gear rather than picked from a menu — so the REWARDS line is not flavour, it is the rule. Carry the M249 SAW and the XP goes to Support, whatever the rest of your loadout is doing.
That makes the vendor tab a progression choice as much as a combat one. Every weapon we saw in the alpha pointed at exactly one track, and the tracks split along the vendor tabs: rifles fed Assault, SMGs fed Medic, shotguns and LMGs fed Support, everything long-range fed Recon.
Which is the argument for picking a weapon by what it leaves you rather than by what it does: what a full kit around the M249 SAW costs decides whether the track is affordable to grind, and where the M249 SAW lands once cost is the tiebreak is a different question from raw damage.
Six tracks and gear-driven progression are confirmed by Bulkhead. Which weapon feeds which track is our Alpha 1 reading, and it can change.
Other lmgs in the vendor
The rest of the tab the M249 SAW is sold under, cheapest first.
Also earns Support XP
Different vendor tabs, same progression track — carry any of these and the XP goes to the same place.
Guides that cover the M249 SAW
Where this weapon sits in the game
The skin for the M249 SAW
Two Tone Desert M249 SAW — with the gold bar price of each, and what a bar costs today.
Where the M249 SAW ranks
The tier list, and why cost decides it more than damage does.
Complete builds by what they cost
What a full kit around this weapon leaves in the balance.
Every weapon we have recorded
The full Closed Alpha roster, by category.
What a round actually pays
One complete payout, line by line, and the loadout refund on death.