WARDOGS IR Rangefinder and CIWS Hotfix: What Changed

What changed in the October 2 hotfix?

The official IR Goggles & CIWS Balance Hotfix makes two balance changes. IR Rangefinders are disabled in the vendor as regional servers restart, and the developers say they will return in Season 2 with a battery requirement. CIWS now destroys a Havoc in around six seconds instead of twelve.

The announcement says no new client download or server downtime is required. That makes this a staged server-side balance change rather than a separate Steam patch to install.

What happens to IR Rangefinders?

Do not expect an IR Rangefinder to remain purchasable while the regional restarts roll through. The official wording says the item is disabled in the vendor until Season 2. It does not publish a replacement price, a precise restart timetable for every region, or whether an item already owned is removed from a loadout.

The same announcement says IR Rangefinders will return in Season 2 with a battery requirement. It does not publish the battery cost, capacity, duration, recharge behavior, or the exact Season 2 release hour. Use the Season 2 guide for the announced date and keep those item details open until another official note names them.

How does the CIWS change affect Havoc helicopters?

The official note says CIWS now destroys a Havoc in around six seconds instead of twelve. This is a balance value for the interaction described in the hotfix, not a complete anti-air table. The announcement does not list range, ammunition, targeting rules, damage ticks, or how the result varies by distance or vehicle state.

Havoc pilots and ground teams should therefore recheck the current build before relying on an old helicopter or anti-air route. Do not turn the six-second comparison into a universal survival guarantee for every aircraft or CIWS position.

Does this hotfix require a download?

No. BULKHEAD says no new client download or server downtime is required. Regional server restarts apply the vendor and balance changes over the stated window. If a client still shows an old state, close and relaunch Steam and confirm the current server region before treating the mismatch as a permanent account or progression issue.

What remains unlisted?

The announcement does not publish the IR Rangefinder battery price, battery duration, vendor return time, exact CIWS range, Havoc damage model, or a full anti-air balance table. Those values should remain tied to a dated official post or reproducible current-build testing. Community reactions can identify follow-up questions, but they do not replace the hotfix wording.

Sources

• WARDOGS IR Goggles & CIWS Balance Hotfix
• WARDOGS official Steam announcements
• WARDOGS Season 2 guide

(Guide information is for reference only.)