Warhounds Recruitment and Recovery

Before hiring in Warhounds, compare the available candidate with the next mission: check the class and abilities the current interface shows, any displayed hiring requirement or price, the equipment you can provide, and who the recruit would replace. Official material confirms generic recruits alongside ten unique veterans, plus treatment and downtime between operations.

Use this guide to hire soldiers, expand your roster and plan recovery between missions. Find named characters in the veterans overview and compare battlefield roles in the classes overview.

The Rookie examples below were tested on October 25, 2026, in BUILD 1.0.22(3313). Their prices and results belong to that campaign. Exact veteran unlocks, recruitment refresh rules, the maximum campaign roster and recovery durations remain unconfirmed.

Warhounds Barracks personnel list with portraits, levels, class icons and Ready status. — Use the Barracks list to compare the operative’s callsign, portrait, level, class icon and readiness before hiring or deploying. Official press-kit screenshot, version 1.0.0 (2997). View full-size image. Image: Everplay DMCC / Brightika, Inc., via the official press kit.

Tested Rookie hiring after Steel Sails

Our opening-base route was BRIDGE → Hire Soldiers. The page was labeled HIRE / EXPANDING THE SQUAD. Select a candidate, compare COST OF HIRING with CONTRACT FEE, then use that candidate’s HIRE button.

Sadness / Zoe Newman showed 2,500 upfront, 200/month, and ARRIVES IN 0 d. After confirmation her row changed to Hired while her class remained Rookie. Funds changed 75,000 → 72,500, and roster use changed 4/10 → 5/10. The immediate deduction was 2,500, not 2,700: the monthly quote is separate, and no monthly payment was observed during this action.

Hire screen showing Sadness Rookie, 2500 hiring cost, 200 per month and 75000 funds. — Check both amounts: Sadness costs 2,500 to hire and lists a separate 200/month contract fee.

Sadness marked Hired while still Rookie, funds 72500 and roster 5 of 10. — Sadness is hired: funds fall by 2,500 and the roster increases from four to five soldiers.

We then hired Muse, Squirrel, Bosun, Jade, and Spring. Six hires left 60,000 funds and 10/10 soldiers, a total of 15,000 funds spent. The budget summary changed from −3,700 to −4,900; that display change does not prove a monthly settlement had occurred. These are observed tutorial offers, not universal Rookie prices or the maximum campaign roster.

Hiring did not open a class picker in this flow. See the separate BARRACKS → PERSONNEL → SKILLS route and permanent confirmation. Later, Barracks construction raised this roster’s capacity to 15.

Iron Tower: a completed two-Rookie assignment

Sadness and Muse entered IRON TOWER preparation as Rookies. It displayed TEAM 2, DURATION 2 d., and purple resource +30. The completion panel recorded 2 d. spent, +40 Exp. each, and both as TIRED. The following strategic HUD showed 30 of the purple resource.

Iron Tower completed in two days, plus 30 resource, Sadness and Muse Tired with 40 experience each. — Iron Tower is complete after two days. Sadness and Muse each gain 40 XP and return Tired.

The completion panel uses a purple resource icon; its name is not written on that panel. This single result does not establish fixed covert rewards, recovery durations, or a Black Market reopening procedure. Sadness later displayed Tired (2 d.); that is her state then, not a universal covert-mission penalty.

Warhounds recruitment: a hiring checklist

Use this sequence when recruitment is available in your campaign:

Choose the vacancy first. Identify the next mission and the job an unavailable operative would normally cover. A replacement should solve that problem.
Inspect the offered candidate. Read the displayed class, attributes and ability descriptions. Compare actual information rather than assuming a veteran’s callsign describes their role.
Check the hiring requirement and price. If hiring is unavailable, look for an explanation in the interface before spending money elsewhere. This guide does not assume that a missing option always means insufficient funds or a full roster.
Budget for a usable loadout. Compare the equipment you already have with what you intend to give the recruit, and leave room for the recovery needs already visible at base.
Review the operative after hiring. Inspect the equipped weapon, armor and utility items before selecting them for a mission. Check ability costs and conditions against the gear you actually intend to use.
Recheck the deployment team. Confirm who is available for this operation. Hiring someone and fitting them into a particular mission’s squad are separate decisions.

For the broader opening routine, see first session and base setup.

Recruits, veterans and capacity are different questions

Question	What is confirmed	What to use in your campaign
Are recruits and veterans both available as roster types?	The official website describes recruits and ten unique veterans	The candidates and requirements currently displayed
Is there a maximum roster?	All the King’s Men rewards hiring the maximum number of soldiers	The capacity information in your game; the achievement gives no number
Can I hire all veterans?	Gang’s All Here is the achievement for hiring all veterans	Your recruited characters and remaining available offers
How many can enter one mission?	Roster achievements do not establish deployment slots	The squad selection for that specific operation

Do not use a full roster, a full deployment team or an unavailable veteran offer as interchangeable explanations. Each concerns a different part of preparation. The veterans guide covers character choices and the recruitment achievement.

Recruit for coverage and rotation

Roster depth is useful when it reproduces essential battlefield jobs. Before hiring, identify which of these would disappear if one operative became unavailable:

reliable lane control;
safe flank creation;
information gathering;
protection or recovery support;
mission-specific utility.

A recruit who overlaps one job but solves it differently can be more useful than a duplicate loadout. For example, if your only information tool would leave with an unavailable operative, review whether another equipped team member can cover that task before buying a second damage-focused loadout.

Can I choose a new recruit’s class?

Yes. Major Update 1.0.2 added Rookie class selection. Our test found it after hiring, on the hired Rookie’s BARRACKS → PERSONNEL → SKILLS page. The five-class picker warns that the choice cannot be changed. Follow the illustrated class-selection steps before confirming.

This route was observed for Sadness in one campaign state. It does not establish veteran retraining, the earliest unlock, or a class-selection fee.

Make medical decisions before deployment

The safest treatment plan starts in the mission-selection screen. Check whether a contract’s likely rewards justify deploying a partially recovered specialist when a healthier squad can complete a lower-risk objective.

Use a simple readiness state:

Ready: suitable for the planned objective according to the live game status.
Limited: available, but an injury or missing equipment narrows safe roles.
Recovering: better kept in treatment or downtime unless the campaign demands otherwise.

These are planning labels, not official status names. Follow the current UI for actual restrictions and penalties.

Treat extraction as a valid result

Official material explicitly mentions treating, extracting, and protecting operatives. If the mission state has become unrecoverable, preserving trained personnel may be worth more than optional kills or loot.

Before continuing a failing engagement, compare:

the remaining primary objective;
the route and conditions for extraction;
the risk to injured or isolated operatives;
the cost of losing a unique tactical capability;
whether another mission can advance the campaign more safely.

Exact extraction rules vary by mission and must be read from the live objective panel.

Use downtime to maintain options

Downtime is part of the strategic layer, so schedule missions around the whole roster rather than waiting for one favorite squad. Alternate veterans, generic soldiers, and equipment packages when possible.

Before the next deployment, review the soldiers you intend to use, the equipment assigned to them and any recovery still needed. The base management guide covers the finances and expansion that support this routine.

Frequently asked questions

How many soldiers can I hire?

Our opening roster held 10 soldiers; completing Barracks raised its capacity to 15. That is an observed expansion, not a verified maximum for the whole campaign.

Are there exactly ten recruitable veterans?

Official material advertises ten unique veterans, and a public achievement rewards hiring all veterans. Their recruitment order and conditions may contain spoilers.

Why did hiring all veterans not unlock the achievement?

The August 31 Hotfix #6 notes include a fix for the all-veterans recruitment achievement failing to unlock. Check your installed version before assuming you missed a character. The announcement does not say whether the fix awards the achievement retroactively in every affected save. More troubleshooting is in the veterans guide.

When does a particular veteran become available?

This guide does not have a verified per-character unlock schedule. Check the offers and requirements shown in your campaign. A veteran mentioned in dialogue, a community ranking or a modified-game screenshot does not establish when you can hire them.

Should I always finish a mission after someone is injured?

No universal rule applies. Compare the objective, extraction conditions, and campaign value of preserving the operative.

Warhounds Recruitment, Medical Care, and Downtime Guide