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How to J-hook in Wardogs

Come in fast and low, then turn hard toward the landing zone so the turn itself kills your speed. From above, your track draws a J.

Updated 2026-09-28

Why the J-hook

A straight-in approach leaves you slow and exposed in the open for a long time. The J-hook keeps your speed until the last moment, then trades it away in a tight turn right beside the landing zone. Cologne TM uses it to land on tower tops and take FOBs from above: the approach and stop are so quick that an AA gun on the roof cannot get onto you before you are down.

Step by step

This is Cologne TM's sequence, from his J-hook tutorial (the most-watched Wardogs flying video on YouTube):

  1. Come in with as much speed as you can, low.
  2. Once you have picked the landing zone, lower the collective fully and keep it down through the whole manoeuvre.
  3. Roll toward the landing zone: left if it is off your left side.
  4. Yaw the same way so the nose stays pointed at the spot the whole time.
  5. As the speed falls to zero, level the nose and cushion the landing with collective.
  6. Start the turn earlier than feels right.

OnMapleWings adds planning: the faster you are, the wider the turn and the longer it takes to bleed the energy, so pick your turn point with that in mind. Hieb names the variable that decides it: bank. Too little bank and you climb; too much and you hit the ground.

Where you land matters more than how. Cologne TM's point is that pilots die from landing zone choice more than from flying. Never land in an open field with no cover. Land behind your own team, where they have just cleared, and use the turn to look the zone over before you commit.

The barrel-roll landing

Hieb prefers a faster alternative for the minigun Little Bird: from about 200 to 250 km/h and 30 to 50 m up, around 100 m from the target, level the nose, set the collective to neutral and hold it there, then pitch up, roll and yaw together (he holds E + D + Space for a roll to the right). Pick one side and practise only that one. He calls the J-hook the smoothest, lowest-profile landing, and the barrel roll the fastest and most repeatable.

Common mistakes

The drill

Run in fast up the corridor at a normal height, 28 m/s or more by the gate, then hook it left onto the pad at the end of the curl and land. Arrive over the pad at walking pace with the disc level and go straight down: the debrief counts the time you spend slow in the open.

Fly the J-hook drill All drills

Related drills

Speed-reset flareStop from 180 km/h in 400 m without ballooning.Clean touchdownSet down on three small pads with no sideways drift.Hot dropDrop troops at three LZs: low, slow and still.

Sources