Welding rods and associated cladded articles are described herein. Briefly, a welding rod comprises a hard particle component dispersed in a nickel-based alloy matrix or cobalt-based alloy matrix, the hard particle component comprising tungsten carbide particles having an average size of less than 45 μm, and the nickel-based alloy matrix or the cobalt-based alloy matrix comprising at least one metal carbide forming element.