Assault Rifle Head-to-Head

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Tier lists tell you which rifles are good. They do not tell you which one to buy with the $10,000 you are holding, or which one your class level actually lets you pick up. This page runs the eight confirmed WARDOGS assault rifles against each other directly and gives a verdict per matchup.

The Field: All Eight Rifles Side by Side

Prices marked "Unrecorded" appeared in the beta shop but were never captured by community trackers. Tier placements are from the August 2026 community tier list.

Two things stand out immediately. Only two rifles have a confirmed shop price, and the three B-tier rifles that do have recorded ballistics share a single identical stat block. That shapes most of the verdicts below.

T-21 vs FAL: The Two S-Tier Rifles

These are the two rifles the community agrees on, and they are not competing for the same job.

Verdict: T-21 first, FAL as the goal. The T-21 is reachable immediately for $600 — about 6 percent of a starting budget — and is widely treated as the best value-for-money weapon in the game. Its 910 m/s velocity and 0.87 MOA mean a flatter trajectory and tighter grouping than anything else at that price.

The FAL is the opposite shape: gated behind Assault level 35, it delivers 60 base damage at 650 RPM, making it one of the hardest-hitting automatic weapons available. Its advantage shows up at mid range, where damage per shot matters more than a flat trajectory. Because the T-21's per-shot damage was never recorded, an exact damage gap between the two cannot be stated — only that the FAL's 60 is the highest confirmed figure in the assault rifle category.

T-21 vs Bushmaster M17S: The $600 Question

Every new player starts here, because the Bushmaster is the only zero-cost firearm in WARDOGS.

Verdict: the T-21 wins on every recorded number, but the Bushmaster is still the correct first rifle. The T-21 is nearly 200 m/s faster, roughly 40 percent tighter in MOA, and adds full-auto fire that the semi-auto-and-burst Bushmaster does not have.

The Bushmaster is not a mistake, though. Death strips your whole loadout, so a free rifle means re-deploying without spending anything, and a cheap player still occupies a full slot in the Control Zone. Inside the Hot Zone cash rewards double and a standard kill pays $1,200, which means even a free-rifle run can earn a T-21 within a single match. Start free, bank the Hot Zone income, then upgrade.

Bushmaster vs A-91 vs KH-2002: Three Copies of One Rifle

This is the cleanest comparison on the page, because all three share an identical stat block: 5.56x45mm, 28 base damage, 700 RPM, 715 m/s and 1.5 MOA. All three also sit in B tier.

Verdict: run the Bushmaster. It is the only one of the three confirmed free. The A-91 and KH-2002 appeared in the beta shop with no recorded price, so paying anything at all for ballistics you can get for $0 is a straight loss.

There is one non-statistical reason to pick the other two. The Supporter Edition bundles three faction-themed weapon camos, and two of them sit on these rifles: a Valkyra A-91 and a Manticore KH-2002. The third is a Lonestar Bushmaster M17S. Those camos change appearance only — no stat or faction perk — so if you own the Supporter Edition, choose whichever of the three you like the look of and lose nothing. See the faction comparison for how those three camos map onto the teams.

M4 vs Galil: The Level-Gate Ladder

Two rifles sit behind Assault class progression: the Galil at level 10 and the M4 at level 20. Neither has recorded ballistics or a recorded price.

Verdict: the M4 is the better rifle, but neither is the fastest route to a good one. The tier gap says the M4 outperforms the Galil, and the Galil is best understood as an early milestone reward for players committing to the Assault class.

The awkward truth for level-grinders is that the ungated T-21 outranks both at S tier and costs $600 with no class requirement at all. Cash and levels are two separate progression tracks in WARDOGS, and on the assault rifle line the cash track reaches a better weapon sooner. Keep levelling toward the FAL at 35 — that unlock is genuinely out of reach any other way — but do not treat the Galil or M4 as necessary stops.

AK74 vs the Free Trio: The C-Tier Problem

The AK74 is the only assault rifle placed in C tier, which puts it below the B-tier Bushmaster, A-91 and KH-2002. Beta trackers recorded neither its price nor its ballistics, so the comparison rests on tier placement alone.

Verdict: take a free rifle instead. The Bushmaster M17S costs $0, sits a full tier above the AK74, and has a documented stat block. Whatever the AK74's real-world reputation suggests, the in-game evidence puts it below a weapon you do not have to pay for. Unless the AK74's unrecorded price turns out to be free as well, there is no scenario in the current data where it is the better budget pick.

Which Rifle to Buy, by Situation

What the Beta Data Does Not Tell Us

These matchups are only as good as the numbers behind them, and the August 2026 beta left real holes. Stating them plainly is more useful than filling them in:

• Six of the eight rifles have no recorded shop price — only the Bushmaster ($0) and the T-21 ($600) are confirmed.
• Per-shot damage is confirmed for only four rifles: 28 for the Bushmaster, A-91 and KH-2002, and 60 for the FAL.
• The T-21's RPM is listed as full-auto without a figure, and the FAL's muzzle velocity and MOA were never captured.
• No magazine capacity, reload time, recoil pattern or effective-range data exists for any assault rifle.
• Weight is recorded for LMGs, snipers and the bow, but not for assault rifles, so mobility differences between these eight cannot be compared.
• Tier placements are community rankings from the beta. WARDOGS reaches Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026, and balancing can move before and after that date.

Ammunition is a separate line item on every one of these rifles. Basic rounds run about $10 and specialised ammunition reaches $250, and guides consistently recommend carrying loose rounds rather than pre-loaded magazines because loose ammo takes less backpack space and can be sold back for emergency cash. For the full category breakdown, see the assault rifles field report and the gunplay and ballistics report.