George In The Meta
Are claymores overpowered in WARDOGS?
By George In The Meta ·
Short answer: if it's used correctly, yes. A claymore at the top of a single stair route can't really be countered, because you can't get the elevation to see it before you're on it. Placed badly, other players say you can walk round one. It unlocks at Recon level 23, then you pay to unlock it and pay $900 every time you take one into a game. It rewards Support XP, which is a bit strange.
Why are claymores so hard to counter in WARDOGS?
Claymores are annoying as fuck. They mean a sniper can just not listen to anything, put a claymore at the top of the steps and be safe for the rest of their life. There's no way to see a claymore when there's only one stair route up to someone.
I died to one recently, and that's what sparked this. It was in one of the housing blocks, about eight floors up, and the claymore was on a floor above the one I was going to. My only route up was to slowly go up the steps. I'm unsure if there's a way, maybe on the banister, to see a claymore that's pointing at the top of the stairs. I don't think you can get the elevation to be able to see it. I could be wrong.
It depends where it's used. In the tower blocks, people sometimes stand on the banister to walk up, so you're slightly higher than if you were standing on a step. But even then it can see you before you see it, or at least it could me. If they do it right and you can't build something, there are a lot of choke points where they easily have the elevation over you, so you can't see the claymore to counter it.
How do you unlock the claymore in WARDOGS?
You have to unlock everything in WARDOGS: you get to the level, you pay to unlock it, and then you pay to get it in the game. For the claymore, the level is Recon 23, and after that it's $900 from the Equipment Vendor's Tactical tab every time you take one in. My screenshot only shows the level lock, not the unlock price; one fan database, Wardogs Zone, lists it at $90,000. It weighs 1.6kg and goes in a quick slot as a lethal. The game's own description: "Placeable Anti-Infantry Claymore", "Motion Triggered by Infantry & Vehicles", "Perfect for placing traps and taking enemy Infantry by surprise."
It's weird that it works this way. You unlock it with Recon, but it rewards Support XP.
I'm a long way off. After that round my Recon was level 1, against Support 13, so I'm not going to get to 23 for ages.
The class you need for an item isn't always the class it levels. I've written up the cross-class unlocks for vehicles and scopes.
Is there a counter to claymores?
If it's used correctly, not really. If it isn't, other players have some answers. On Steam, one player put the claymore's detection range at about 1 meter and said badly placed ones "can be easily walked around without triggering". The same thread says they show up on the map.
Your own team is the other risk. Claymores go off on teammates too: one player on Steam says he got banned because his own team didn't know what a claymore looks like, and another replied that the ban only lasts a couple of minutes. Players in the same thread ask people to stop putting them in the main FOB. More on how the game handles that in friendly fire in WARDOGS.
Would I use claymores?
I've not unlocked them yet, but I would use them, because there are some very easy places to put them where there's only one point of entry. A lot of the time you can put it at the very top of that point, so there's no way to get the elevation high enough to see where that landing was.
Will WARDOGS Season 3 change the claymore?
Maybe. Season 3 starts on 12 November, and BULKHEAD says "any item that might plausibly be used by a given role can now be unlocked by playing that role" (Dork). The full list of which items move is due in the Season 3 patch notes, which weren't out when I wrote this. Until the wipe I'm carrying on getting Support points, because I want to get to some of the explosives.
Do top-tier unlocks ruin WARDOGS?
For me, claymores are another proof that some of the top-tier unlocks just destroy the game. I said the same about tanks in Season 02.
