The most reliable way to play with friends in WARDOGS is to have one person join a server and team first, create a squad there, and then have everyone else join them through the Steam friends list. That single action puts you in the same server, the same team and the same squad at once.
In-game invites also exist, but community reports during testing describe them failing intermittently. If you want this to just work, use the Steam route.
AI concept artThe Steam join method, step by step
One player goes in first and picks the server and team you all want to play on. Once they are in the match, they create a squad so there is something for everyone else to land in.
Everybody else then opens their Steam friends list, right-clicks that player and chooses to join their game. Steam hands you straight into their server, their team and their squad without you having to navigate any in-game menus.
This is why the order matters. If everyone queues separately and tries to find each other afterwards, you are fighting server capacity and team balance at the same time.
Creating and joining a squad in-game
Once you are in a match, press Esc and you will find a Create Squad option at the top of the menu. You can also join any squad that is currently open rather than starting your own.
From the main menu there is a social and squad panel where you can send Steam invites or in-game invites before anyone has loaded in. This works, but it is the route where players reported the most inconsistency during the beta.
If you are organising more than two or three people, creating the squad first and having everyone join into it is far less error-prone than sending individual invites.
When the squad is locked
Squads can be locked, and if every squad in the match including your friends’ is closed, you cannot simply drop yourself in. This is the most common reason a group ends up split.
The fix comes from inside the squad. Someone already in it opens the Unassigned Players list, finds you there and invites you across. You do not need the squad to be unlocked for this to work.
Ask for this explicitly rather than repeatedly trying to join, because from your side a locked squad and a full team look identical.
Team slots can fill up
A match splits 100 players across three teams, and those teams have capacity. Being in the same server is not the same as being on the same side, and if your friend’s team is full you will be fighting them rather than alongside them.
This is the second reason the Steam join method is worth using: it resolves server, team and squad in one step instead of leaving you to solve each separately.
If a team is genuinely full, the practical options are to wait for a slot or for the whole group to move to a different server together.
Why being in the same squad actually matters
The game runs two separate voice channels: local proximity chat that anyone nearby can hear, and squad chat that only your squad hears. Being on the same team but in different squads means you have no private channel.
That is a tactical problem, not just an inconvenience. Anything you say over proximity chat can be heard by enemies standing close enough, so coordinating a push without squad voice is announcing it.
If your group is talking on Discord anyway, this matters less — but you still lose the squad-level tools and the ability to keep track of each other in-game.
Squad size and friend passes: what is not confirmed
Two questions come up constantly and neither has an official answer, so this page will not invent one.
The first is the maximum squad size. A community video claimed squads are effectively unlimited, but neither the store page nor any official documentation gives a number. Treat “unlimited” as an unverified community claim.
The second is whether pre-ordering and receiving beta access lets you bring a friend in with you. A Steam discussion thread on exactly this question produced directly contradictory answers from different players, with no developer stepping in to clarify.
There is no friend pass listed anywhere on the official store page. Until BULKHEAD says otherwise, assume each player needs their own access, and check the official announcements before buying on that basis.
If invites keep failing
Fall back to the Steam friends list rather than retrying the in-game invite. Players consistently reported the Steam route as the more dependable of the two during testing.
Confirm your friend is actually in a match rather than sitting in a menu, and that they have created a squad for you to join. A player idling in the main menu has nothing for Steam to drop you into.
If nothing works, the crude but effective method is for everyone to leave, agree on one server, and have one person enter and build the squad from scratch.
AI concept artWhy the order of operations matters
Three things have to line up for you to actually play together: the same server, the same team, and the same squad. Solving them separately is where groups get stranded.
Queuing individually and hoping to meet up means fighting server capacity and team balance at the same time, with no mechanism to correct either once you are in.
Having one person establish all three first turns it into a single join action for everyone else. That is the entire advantage of the Steam route.
Playing together effectively once you are in
Squad voice is the immediate benefit, and it is worth using rather than relying on an external call. Proximity chat can be heard by nearby enemies, so it is not a safe channel for coordination.
Staying near each other has a mechanical payoff too. Going down beside a teammate means you can be revived, while going down alone usually means a full respawn and the travel time back.
Reviving pays the person doing it, so a group that sticks together earns more than the same players scattered across the map.
Grouping questions answered
Short answers to the most common problems.
- Fastest way to group up — One player joins and creates a squad; everyone else joins via the Steam friends list.
- How do I create a squad? — Press Esc in-game and use Create Squad at the top of the menu.
- Their squad is locked — Someone inside selects you from the Unassigned Players list and invites you.
- In-game invites are failing — Use the Steam friends list instead — it proved more reliable in testing.
- We ended up on different teams — Team slots can fill. The Steam join resolves server, team and squad together.
- Max squad size? — No official number has been published.
- Is there a friend pass? — None is listed officially. Assume everyone needs their own copy.