Reviving in WARDOGS is done by approaching a downed teammate and pressing F, either bare-handed or with a resuscitator. It is not instant, so the position matters more than the button — start a revive only once the body is screened from fire.
The part that makes this system unusual is the bribe. While you are down you can tap F1 to raise a cash pot from your own balance in $50 steps, and the amount floats above your body for anyone deciding who to pick up first. You are bidding for your own rescue.
Why being revived is worth paying for
The economics are the whole reason the bribe system works. A revive restores you with your entire loadout intact, while bleeding out sends you to a respawn where every weapon, attachment and piece of equipment has to be bought again.
That makes a few hundred dollars a rational offer when the kit on your body is worth thousands. Players report pushing pots up to around $500, which is cheap against a full loadout and expensive enough to jump the queue.
It also produces the behaviour the system is designed to create: someone crossing open ground for a stranger because the number over that stranger is larger than the number over anyone else.
The bribe comes out of your own balance, not the team's. You are spending your money to make your rescue someone else's priority.
How to revive someone
The action itself is simple and the timing is what kills people attempting it. Clear the immediate threat first, because a revive commits you to standing still beside a body that an enemy is very likely still watching.
- Approach and press F — Works bare-handed. No special equipment is required to pick someone up.
- Use a resuscitator — The dedicated tool for bringing back a fully downed teammate.
- Smoke first — Break the sightline before you commit. A screened body is a revive; an exposed one is two deaths.
- Approach on a curve — Moving straight at a downed teammate walks you into whatever put them there.
- Check the number — A pot above a body tells you what that revive pays on top of the usual reward.
Anyone can revive — there is no medic to wait for
WARDOGS has no class you select at spawn, so there is no dedicated medic whose absence leaves your squad without an answer. Every player can carry bandages, medkits and a resuscitator, and every player earns for using them.
Medic is a progression track rather than a role you have to commit to. Reviving people feeds that track while you are doing whatever else you were already doing, which is why it is the least aim-dependent way to earn.
The practical consequence is that waiting for a medic is a mistake. If a teammate is down beside you, you are the medic.
What is not confirmed about the pot
Several details of the bribe system have not been documented by BULKHEAD, and the community has not settled them either. This page will not guess at them.
Specifically: whether an unclaimed pot is refunded when you bleed out anyway, whether the full amount always transfers to whoever completes the revive, and whether enemies can see the number floating above a downed player. That last one matters tactically, because a large pot would then advertise a trap.
Treat the pot as spent once you raise it, and assume it is visible, until any of this is published.
Refunds, exact payout and enemy visibility of the pot are all unconfirmed. Plan as if the money is gone and the number is public.
A bleedout timer fault worth knowing about
One player has reported on the Steam discussions that being downed at low health can leave the bleedout timer stuck, so that they can neither give up nor be revived by teammates. The stated workaround is to open the menu or inventory panel and close it again.
This is a single report with no replies and no developer acknowledgement, so treat it as an isolated account rather than a confirmed bug. It is included here only because the workaround costs nothing to try if you find yourself frozen in that state.
Revive questions answered
Short answers to the most common revive questions.
- How do you revive in WARDOGS? — Approach the downed teammate and press F, bare-handed or with a resuscitator.
- How do I bribe a medic? — Tap F1 while downed to raise a pot from your own balance in $50 steps.
- Do I keep my loadout if revived? — Yes. Bleeding out and respawning means buying everything again.
- Is there a medic class? — No class is selected at spawn. Anyone can revive, and doing it feeds the Medic track.
- How much should I bribe? — Players report pots up to around $500, which is cheap against a full loadout.
- Do I get the money back if nobody revives me? — Unconfirmed. Assume it is spent once raised.
- Can enemies see my bribe? — Unconfirmed. Assume they can.