What hammer do you need to build a mortar in WARDOGS?

The L81 mortar requires the level 3 hammer. The smaller starter hammers cannot build it. The L81 sits on the third page of the build menu on the left-hand side.

How far can a mortar shoot in WARDOGS?

The L81 mortar tops out at roughly 700 metres. On the range ladder the last tick is about 684 metres at around 150 mils of elevation; anything beyond that is out of bounds.

How do you calculate mortar range without a calculator?

Read the X and Y grid coordinates of both your mortar and the pinged target, take the difference on each axis, multiply by 100 to convert to metres, then apply the Pythagorean theorem to the two legs to get the direct range.

How do you resupply mortar ammunition in WARDOGS?

Mortar rounds are replenished by having ammunition delivered to your FOB. Wasting adjustment rounds matters because a thin FOB ammo stockpile leaves the tube dry mid-fight.

WARDOGS L81 Mortar Walkthrough: Build, Aim & Range Calls

Indirect fire wins or loses 100-player WARDOGS matches, and the L81 mortar is the cheapest way for a single engineer to make a whole enemy squad miserable. The problem is that a mortar is not a “point and shoot” weapon: you have to build it, then solve a small geometry problem before every shot or you will burn expensive rounds on wild impacts.

This illustrated walkthrough reconstructs SC Haulers’ complete mortar tutorial into seven actionable steps, pairing each with a verified in-game screenshot and a deep link to the exact moment it is demonstrated.

Source and Verification Card

Field	Detail
Weapon	L81 Mortar (infantry indirect fire)
Class / Tool	Engineer, level 3 hammer
Max range	~700 m (last ladder tick ≈ 684 m @ 150 mils)
Source channel	SC Haulers (“Sax”)
Source video	How to Use Mortars in WARDOGS — Complete Tutorial

SC Haulers — How to Use Mortars in WARDOGS (full tutorial)

Step 1: Build the L81 with the Right Hammer

You cannot place a mortar with a starter hammer — the level 3 hammer is mandatory, and the L81 is on the third page of the build menu, left-hand side. Once it is set down, start construction and watch for the yellow X marks: hovering turns them white, and hitting an X raises build progress by about 10% versus roughly 1–2% per normal hit.

Step 1 (0:40) — Tap the white X marks as they appear; it is a Fortnite-style build shortcut that finishes the tube far faster.

Watch the build (0:40)

Step 2: Fortify the Pit Before You Fight From It

A bare mortar is a dead mortar. The default sandbag ring gives only token protection, so open the build wheel and pull Bag Walls around the tube, then upgrade to Hesco barriers or T-walls for real cover while you lay fires.

Step 2 (0:25) — Ring the tube with walls from the build wheel; treat the pit like a mini FOB, because it is one.

Watch the fortification (0:25)

Step 3: Learn the Zoomed Firing HUD

Press into the tube and zoom. The interface is the whole skill: top is the compass (it matches the white compass heading already on your HUD), left is range/RNG in metres, and right is elevation in mils. Higher mils drives the round shorter, lower mils sends it further. Out of zoom there is no UI at all, so all your numbers live in this view.

Step 3 (2:25) — WASD is your fast traverse up and down the tube; the mouse is a slow precision mode for one-click nudges.

Watch the firing UI (2:25)

Step 4: Ping the Target and Read Its Coordinates

The military protractor method is overkill. Simply middle-click to ping: the marker shows on screen and drops a small white diamond on the compass so you instantly know the bearing (for example, southwest). Open the map tool and hover the ping to read its X/Y grid coordinates, then hover your own mortar to read its coordinates.

Step 4 (10:50) — The map toolbar carries Ping and Mark Coordinates; those grid values are the raw inputs for the range call.

Watch the ping method (3:05)

Step 5: Turn the Grid Gap into True Range

Guessing wastes rounds, and rounds come off your FOB’s delivered ammo. Do the math instead:

Y leg — subtract the smaller Y from the larger Y, multiply by 100.
X leg — subtract the smaller X from the larger X, multiply by 100.
Range — take the square root of (Y-leg² + X-leg²).

Step 5 (6:40) — Worked example from the video: 174 m and 195 m legs give a √(174² + 195²) ≈ 260 m shot.

Worked coordinate example (260 m and 602 m shots)

Shot one — target Y 107.36 / X 94.71, mortar Y 109.11 / X 96.67.

Y: (109.11 − 107.36) × 100 ≈ 174 m
X: (96.67 − 94.71) × 100 ≈ 195 m
Range: √(174² + 195²) ≈ 260.67 m → set ~240 m, fire, hit on target.

Shot two — legs come out to 442 m and 409 m.

Range: √(442² + 409²) ≈ 602.2 m → dial 602, hit on target again.

Watch the coordinate math (6:40)

Step 6: Lay the Bearing and Fire the Adjustment Round

Set the compass bearing you derived, then dial the range just under the target — in-game range ticks are coarse (they jump from ~510 to ~545), so you cannot hit an exact number. Fire, read the impact marker, and walk the next round onto the target with one- or two-click corrections on the mouse.

Step 6 (5:25) — Aim by the compass heading, then bracket: the first round is a walking shot, not the kill shot.

Watch the firing run (5:25)

Step 7: Dismantle Cleanly and Keep the Ammo Fed

Placed the tube badly? Press and hold V to dismantle it — but note that dismantling returns none of the materials you spent, so commit to a site deliberately. Keep the pit supplied by calling ammunition deliveries into your FOB; a dry tube is worse than no tube at all.

Step 7 (0:50) — Hold V to dismantle any built object; it is a sunk cost, so build where you actually intend to fight.

Watch the dismantle (1:01)

Mortar Rules of Thumb

Bring the level 3 hammer — no mortar without it; grab it before you deploy a tube.
Math saves money — one coordinate calculation is cheaper than two wild adjustment rounds off a limited FOB ammo stock.
A mortar anchors a FOB — pair the tube with the defensive layout in our FOB combat walkthrough and read the grid system in our maps and tactics guide.
Know the vehicle alternative — for mobile heavy fire, the SPH 2 artillery tracked gun in our vehicles guide uses the same IDF-calculator inputs.

This mortar guide was reconstructed frame-by-frame from SC Haulers’ tutorial and will be expanded as the L81 and SPH 2 balance shifts through Early Access. For related loadout economics, see our cash-making guide.