Knowing how armour works changes which ammunition you buy, where you aim, and whether to keep firing or reposition. It's the mechanic that connects ammo prices to armour weight.
Damage-reduction percentages, durability and 100 HP are from the 14 Aug Closed Beta patch notes. The ammunition behaviour is community-observed. Balance is explicitly a thing Bulkhead will keep moving through Early Access — see Sources & Data Freshness.
Armour is a pool, not a percentage
Two things about armour that most players get wrong:
1. It covers zones, not your whole body. Helmets and vests protect specific areas and reduce damage there. Limbs stay soft. No amount of armour makes arms and legs tough — which is why a target behind cover with only limbs exposed is still killable, and why body shots aren't automatically the right answer against heavy armour.
2. It's a durability pool that depletes. Each hit spends some of the armour's protection. Once the pool is empty, those zones are unprotected again — the armour doesn't keep reducing damage forever.
That second point has a direct tactical consequence:
Sustained fire beats armour twice — first through the damage reduction, then by emptying the pool so the next burst lands on bare target.
Which means the instinct to stop shooting a heavily armoured enemy and look for a better angle is often exactly wrong. The shots that "did nothing" were spending their armour. Keep firing, or hand the fight to a squadmate who can continue it — see Role Guide: Support on suppression.
The actual numbers
The Closed Beta patch notes put figures on it. You have 100 HP, and armour reduces damage in the zones it covers by:
| Tier | Damage reduction |
|---|---|
| Light | 30% |
| Medium | 40% |
| Heavy | 55% |
| Super Heavy | 65% |
Armour durability runs 80 to 300 across the tiers, wearing through four stages as it takes hits. So "the pool depletes" is literal — a Super Heavy vest absorbs a lot before it stops helping, but it does stop.
Even Super Heavy is only 65%, not immunity — and it costs 18 kg, see Manage Loadout Weight.
Ghillie gear is not armour. Ghillie Helmet ($2,500) and Ghillie Armor ($3,000) are confirmed concealment-only with zero damage reduction. They sit in the armour slots but protect nothing — a deliberate trade for Recon, and an expensive mistake for anyone who reads the gear table as a ladder.
Ammunition: the actual trade
This is where your ammo purchase stops being a budget line and becomes a tactical choice.
| Type | Against flesh | Against armour |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (FMJ) | Baseline — honest damage | Baseline |
| Hollow Point (HP) | Roughly double | Badly blunted |
| Armor Piercing (AP) | About a fifth less | Meets far less plate |
Read that table against the prices (full list):
| Calibre | Standard | HP | AP |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.56×45mm | $15 | $25 | $40 |
| .308 Winchester | $40 | $70 | $180 |
Standard is the correct default. You do not know what you'll meet, and FMJ is the only round that isn't badly wrong against half of it. Against mixed opposition it's the safest purchase, and it's the cheapest.
Hollow Point is a bet that your targets are lightly armoured — double damage is an enormous swing when it lands, and nearly wasted when it doesn't. Worth it if you're fighting infantry in the open; poor against a dug-in position.
Armor Piercing is a bet the other way, and an expensive one: 4.5× the price on .308. Buy it when you know you're facing heavy armour or vehicles, not by default. Two AP boxes for a .308 cost more than a Galil.
Tracers deal the same damage as their base round — the cost of tracers is that they show the enemy where you're firing from, not damage. See Recon.
Where to aim
- Head — helmets are also a depleting pool, and headshots carry the biggest cash multipliers at range.
- Limbs — always soft. Against Super Heavy armour, an exposed arm or leg may genuinely be the better target than a plated chest.
- Centre mass — right against light armour, and right whenever you can put sustained fire on it, because you're spending their pool.
Practical rules
- Buy Standard unless you know better. The information you'd need to justify HP or AP usually arrives after you've bought.
- Don't stop shooting an armoured target. The first shots aren't wasted; they're spending armour.
- Take limb shots when that's what's exposed. Waiting for a chest shot against a heavy target can be the worse choice.
- Match ammo to your role's likely fight. Medics fighting in buildings meet lighter targets than Support players attacking a FOB.
- Remember armour costs weight, not just cash. A Super Heavy enemy is slow — see Manage Loadout Weight.
Common mistakes
- Buying AP "to be safe". It's the most expensive round and it's worse against unarmoured targets.
- Disengaging from an armoured enemy after a few hits, resetting their pool advantage.
- Assuming armour protects everywhere. Limbs never armour up.
- Buying Hollow Point for a role that mostly attacks fortified positions.
Sources: wardogs.zone — Armor, Ammo & Time to Kill, wardogshub.gg — Ammo. See Sources & Data Freshness.