You’ll need to learn how to use a helicopter in Wardogs to transport infantry and supplies across the map, using a highly realistic flight model and controls. This guide will show you how to fly and land a helicopter in the game, which offers little to no stabilization assist.
Best Settings for Mouse & Keyboard
If you’re just starting to learn how to control a helicopter in Wardogs, start with the cheapest model, such as MH-6 or Little Bird, before taking on armed and expensive airframes like the HAVOC. Learn to fly in open safe areas, instead of moving straight into combat flying. Use the following settings on your mouse and keyboard controls for testing:
| Settings | Values |
|---|---|
| Rotary Vehicle Mouse Control | Enabled |
| Heli Mouse Swipe Left/Right | Yaw or Roll |
| Heli Mouse Swipe Up/Down | Pitch |
| Heli Mouse Pitch Sens | 60–100% (start 80%) |
| Heli Mouse Yaw Sens | 60–100% (start 80%) |
| Heli Mouse Axis Isolation | 70–100% |
Also, enable all Flight Assists except Envelope Limits and check Invert Y Axis – Air Vehicle separately from infantry invert, which can reverse your helicopter pitch, so disable infantry invert if the pitch feels backwards. Vehicle sensitivity is separate from infantry sensitivity, so lower it if you over-correct in hover. Here are the main keybinds you have to learn before flying:
| Actions | Keybinds |
|---|---|
| Collective Raise (start engine and go up) | Spacebar / Left Shift / W |
| Collective Lower (descend) | Left Shift / Ctrl / S |
| Increase Cyclic X (nose down and pitch forward) | W |
| Decrease Cyclic X (nose up and pitch back) | S |
| Increase Cyclic Y (roll right) | D |
| Decrease Cyclic Y (roll left) | A |
| Yaw Left | Q |
| Yaw Right | E |
| Flares (against missiles) | V |
| Free View | Left Alt |
How to Take Off, Maneuver & Land
The very first thing that you need to practice is taking off repeatedly until you can lift a couple of feet and hold it well. Here’s how:
- Enter the pilot seat and start engines by holding Spacebar until rotors spool up.
- Smoothly increase the collective until the skids leave the ground.
- Hold a low hover until it stabilizes and stops wobbling.
- Do not add directional input yet.
- Once your helicopter is stable, add a small amount of forward cyclic with W, while maintaining collective.
- If your altitude drops while moving forward, ease off forward cyclic or add a bit of pitch back with S.
Stay relatively low and use terrain for cover. High altitude makes you an easy target for anti-air missiles. When you’re ready, start practicing basic maneuvers:
- Use yaw with Q/E or the mouse for gentle turns.
- For tighter turns, use A/D in one direction while coordinating with yaw and adjusting collective.
- Pitch up with S to slow down or reduce collective.
Finally, the most important part is to learn how to land without crashing, so don’t just dump the collective near the ground. Do this instead:
- Choose a large, flat area with an escape route.
- Avoid trees, wires, slopes, or crowded FOBs.
- Start landing by reducing forward speed with S, while managing collective so you don’t go upward or sink.
- Watch the momentum bar and make small corrections.
- As you get closer, tap the collective up slightly to soften the touchdown and land smoothly.
- After touchdown, hold it, so passengers can exit safely.
Later in the game, you’ll be able to hover over the hot zones and let your passengers parachute down.
