Mortars in WARDOGS are the quiet killers of the battlefield. While everyone else is running around with rifles and helicopters, a good mortar crew can erase enemy FOBs and farm cash without ever showing their face.
The easiest way to aim with mortar is when the enemy has been spotted. The game shows the distance of the spotted enemy so you can set the RNG based on that. The rangefinder way, map grid and calculator method are the other ways and I’ll explain how to do each. Oh, I’ll also cover many other tips and tricks.
About Mortars:
How to Build the L81 Mortar
You need the Large Hammer (the level-three Support hammer). Smaller hammers simply cannot place it. Open the build menu with right-click, go to the third page and select the L81 Mortar. Find a decent spot inside your FOB radius, place it and start swinging.
Once the mortar is finished, surround it with T-walls (sandbags are not enough). A naked mortar is a dead mortar the moment someone spots the muzzle flash.
If you hate the placement, hold V to dismantle it. Just know you do not get the supplies back, so try not to do this often.
Getting Inside and Learning the Controls
If you’ve played a game like Far Cry 4, you’re probably familiar with mortars and their basics. If you haven’t, here are the basics:
- WASD moves the tube quickly for big adjustments.
- The mouse is slower and meant for fine-tuning.
- Right-click zooms in so you can actually read the numbers.
When zoomed in you see three important pieces of information:
- Top: your compass (matches the big compass at the top of the screen)
- Left side: RNG, the range in meters
- Right side: Mils, the elevation of the tube (higher mils means shorter range)
Maximum range of a mortar is roughly 684 meters (min is 119). Anything farther and the shell simply will not reach.
A Golden Tip: Pulling the Hot Zone to your FOB with a Drill and then covering it with a mortar is one of the strongest combinations currently available. The drill brings the fight to you, and the mortar makes that fight very expensive for the enemy.
Firing, Reloading & Rapid Barrages
Left-click fires. After each shot, press R to reload. You can hold up to three rounds ready, so keep the tube topped up. Once you have the range dialed in, you can fire, press C to skip the long animation, reload, and fire again. With skipping animation, you can drop three shells on the same spot in very short order.
All the Ways to Aim with Mortar
I know four lovely methods to aim with mortars in WARDOGS, choose whatever you want!
Spotted Enemy
I start with the easiest one. If a target has already been spotted, open the map while sitting in the mortar and hover over the spotted icon. The exact distance appears. At the same time a 3D marker shows up in the world that you can line the tube up with.
Set the RNG to the distance shown, align with the marker and fire. This is often the fastest way to get a usable first shot when your team is actively spotting.
The Rangefinder Method
This is my favorite one. Pull out a rangefinder, get the exact distance to the target, then set the mortar’s RNG to that number. Align the tube using the little fixed piece on the sight as a rough guide, fire one adjustment round and correct from the impact mark. Two or three shells and you will be on target.
The Map-Grid Method
In this method, you don’t need rangefinders. Open the map and zoom until you can see the coordinate numbers on the left and bottom edges.
The space between those numbers is 100 meters. Count the squares between your mortar and the target and you have a usable range estimate. It is not perfect, but it is fast and works in a pinch.
Mortar Calculator Method
This is the most accurate one. Ping the target with middle mouse button so you know the direction. Then note the X and Y coordinates of both your mortar and the target on the map. Subtract the smaller from the larger for each axis, multiply by 100 to convert to meters, then take the square root of (X² + Y²). That number is the true distance. Set your RNG to it and fire. Community tools like this WARDOGS map calculator do this math for you if you would rather not pull out a real calculator mid-fight.
Practical Tips from the Battlefield
Like always, I’m glad that I have the honor to PUT my favorite tips here for you who have come to the end of the text. Here they are:
- Ammo does not magically appear. Someone has to deliver ammunition supplies to the FOB or the mortar eventually runs dry.
- One well-placed mortar can suppress an entire enemy FOB or wipe a squad that thinks they are safe behind walls.
- Adjustment fire is your friend. Never expect the first shell to be perfect. Use the impact mark as a reference and walk the next rounds onto the target.
- You can follow the shell in the air. It is weirdly satisfying and helps you learn the trajectory.
- If the enemy has a mortar of their own, the fight often turns into a counter-battery duel. The team that gets the range first usually wins.
Mortars reward patience and a little bit of math, but once you get the hang of the rangefinder or map method, they become one of the most powerful support tools in the game. Build one, fortify it, keep it fed with ammo and start raining steel on anyone who thinks your side of the map is safe.
