SKS
SKS is a marksman rifle in WARDOGS, chambered in 7.62x39mm. It does 34 damage per round at 420 rounds per minute, with a muzzle velocity of 735 m/s and an effective range of 400 m. It weighs 3.85 kg. It costs $2,400 and unlocks at Recon Lvl 5. On the tier list it is A tier.
Details
- Category
- Marksman rifle
- Price
- $2,400
- Share of $10,000 budget
- 24%
- Unlocks at
- Recon Lvl 5
- Unlock cost
- $25,000
- Rewards
- Recon XP
- Weight
- 3.85 kg
- Tier list
- A tier, #10 of 37
Weapon stats
- Damage per round
- 34
- Rate of fire
- 420 rpm
- Fire modes
- Semi
- Muzzle velocity
- 735 m/s
- Effective range
- 400 m
- Accuracy
- 0.73 mrad
- Deviation
- 5.5°
- Zeroing
- 100–1000 m
- Melee damage
- 35
- Suppression
- ×1.1
The platform's own figures from the game files, before any attachment moves them. 1 mrad is about 10 cm of spread at 100 m.
Shots to kill
| Target wears | Body shots | Body TTK | Head shots | Head TTK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No armour | 3 | 286 ms | 2 | 143 ms |
| Level 1 | 4 | 429 ms | 2 | 143 ms |
| Level 2 | 4 | 429 ms | 2 | 143 ms |
| Level 3 | 5 | 571 ms | 3 | 286 ms |
| Level 4 | 6 | 714 ms | 3 | 286 ms |
Every round on target, standard (FMJ) ammo, zero range, 100-health target. Head hits use the helmet of the same level. Damage falloff is not decoded, so long-range figures are a floor.
In-game vendor card
SKS
Marksman rifles
3.85 kg
$2,400
- –Semi automatic
- –7.62x39mm
RewardsRecon XP
A classic marksman rifle from the 20th century that has great recoil control.
Reach Recon Lvl 5
Unlock: $25,000
The vendor's own card, as shown in the Closed Alpha. The level it opens at and the one-off unlock come from a progression snapshot dated 2 September 2026, and are reported rather than confirmed.
Attachments
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 | ||
| — | ||
| $1,800 | ||
| — | ||
| $850 | ||
Foregrips
1Changes 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 | |
|---|---|---|
| $810 | ||
| View attachment | ||
These are the attachments the game pairs with the SKS 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 2 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 SKS fires 7.62×39mm, 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 SKS itself costs as much as 60 boxes of what it fires, at $40 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 |
|---|---|
| — | |
| — | |
| — |
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 7.62×39mm.
At $2,400 the SKS is 24% of a full loadout budget, leaving $7,600 for everything else you carry. What a complete kit costs.
What “Recon 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 SKS and the XP goes to Recon, 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 SKS costs decides whether the track is affordable to grind, and where the SKS 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 marksman rifles in the vendor
The rest of the tab the SKS is sold under, cheapest first.
Also earns Recon XP
Different vendor tabs, same progression track — carry any of these and the XP goes to the same place.
Guides that cover the SKS
How to level up Recon in WARDOGS: spot before you snipe
Every Recon unlock in WARDOGS with level and cost, why binoculars level you faster than the Scout Rifle, and the route to the SKS and the Mosin.
How to level up in WARDOGS: every role, fastest route
How XP works in WARDOGS and the fastest way to level Medic, Support, Recon, Assault, Driver and Pilot, with every early unlock level and cost.
Where this weapon sits in the game
Where the SKS 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.