Gears of War 5 has kicked off Operation 3 with the introduction of a new game type “Gridiron”, and some returning fan-favorite characters, playable in multiplayer. Seasons would happen to be one of the new features added to Gears 5, allowing it to stand alongside current “live service” games that give players the ability to unlock content for free by earning experience and completing bounties/tasks to level up. But, paying for said content is also possible.
Gears 5 as a whole is a bit of the same in what made the popular franchise what it is today, but with a few new tricks and changes. All across Campaign, Versus, Horde and it’s new game mode (Escape), present some changes that make the game a little more interesting and entertaining. This guide will help players become acquainted with these changes, as well as provide some advice for a lot of the techniques carried over from previous generations.
Campaign Tips For Gears of War 5
Jack of All Trades
Jack is a powerful ally, tool, and partner. His skills offer different ways to be helpful throughout the campaign, including keeping enemies from getting too close with zap and moving around seamlessly and undetectable with camouflage. Skills are earned by playing and progressing through the story, but also by locating upgrades strewn about the world. Choosing which tree to focus on is up to the player through trial and error, as each tree favors different situations and play styles. One specific tree has a lot of dedication to keeping fellow players alive, so have fun and choose wisely.
F is for Friends Who Do Stuff Together
Co-op is a huge recommendation for the Gears 5 campaign as it will become immensely difficult depending on what difficulty you’re playing. While the easier difficulties can be done alone, having an extra pair of eyes is helpful to…
1. Look around and check for collectibles including Jack upgrades
2. The Swarm will swarm players. A little backup keeps the pace up, and the firefights concise. Lingering around too long for the sake of killing everything to move forward can be exhausting, irritating, and take the fun out of the experience.
3. Jack! A third person can play as him, giving players more intelligent backup. While this does take away the option of manually deploying him, it can be a lot to think about in the immediate range of a firefight. Playing alone often means doing everything alone since the AI-controlled characters do have a tendency to do absolutely nothing.
What Does This Weapon do?
If a new weapon drops or appears, USE IT. Have fun with the different weapons as they will further increase the ability to move forward. Active reloading is key to killing enemies faster, with as little ammo possible so abuse that function and master it. Relic Weapons are a rare find but a beast in clearing out enemies, so look out for the Crimson Omen symbol and enjoy mowing down swarm.
Versus Tips For Gears of War 5
Don’t Get Lost.
Location, location, location. Learn the maps, and always have a mental plane or bird’s eye view of the players’ current position relative to everything else. While this can apply to many other online shooters and/or platforms, Gears offers a variety of weapons and grenades to take advantage of any scenario, and turn the tide of the game. These weapons can take over a minute to re-spawn, so being the first person to get their hands on it is essential, but be prepared to fight for it. The Tac-Com enables players to check where weapons are by highlighting them through walls, but this can be a distraction and waste of time, so memorize their surroundings. Also, there a good number of shortcuts and paths between lanes, so knowing how to maneuver them is an easy way to flank an opponent and catch them off guard.
No Running in the Halls!
Over exhausting the roadie run may be okay in the campaign as well as the other game types, but not in Versus. As the in-game movement can feel a little clunky, charging straight ahead will have players primed on the other end of a shotgun barrel like a deer in headlights. The Gnasher is iconic to the Gears of War franchise as the primarily used weapon for entering into a gunfight. But do not be fooled, if players aren’t careful, the gnasher can be a very unforgiving weapon. When moving around, especially in tight spaces, using short bursts when roadie running is more ideal, giving players more time to respond to any sudden contact or to move into cover to check the immediate surroundings. Also, there is a slight delay before stopping or using weapons after running, which can mean life or death in a gnasher battle or succumbing to a grenade planted nearby.
The Insta-gibbing Shotgun
The Gnasher is an immensely powerful and versatile tool for getting out of a sticky situation or instantly wiping opposing players out of existence. A well-placed shot can blast an opponent to pieces like an exploding deck of cards. Gnasher play is very fun and engaging as their a modest array of techniques to walk away victorious from a gunfight. Pre-Active Reloading may seem cheap, but if there is a chance of being outnumbered (which will always happen), a supercharged shotgun shell is the way to go for quick and easy kills. Another method for mobility and overall trolling is wall-bouncing. It sounds pretty simple on paper but putting it into practice can feel like having two left thumbs. Wall-bouncing is sliding from cover to cover without fully mounting it while firing at opponents simultaneously. It’s very effective making your way into a gunfight, or escaping an overwhelming situation by taking the least amount of damage possible.
More advanced techniques such as using camera angles will become easier over time, making the game feel less oppressive. Gears of War has always used a 3rd person camera, so using it to peek around corners without being spotted, or “playing dead” are other ways of surprising opponents and luring them into a trap. When playing dead, aim the camera behind the character, so when an enemy player approaches expecting a quick and easy kill, quickly sliding off the wall will prompt the controlled character to snap to the camera so players fire away.
Put Your Back Into It!
Don’t be afraid to push. “Pushing” is the concept of putting pressure or advancing on the opposing team by moving together either as a team, pair, or even solo. Maintain a solid read on teammates, opponents, and where deaths are occurring on the field. Some players take it as far as memorizing re-spawn points to prepare for enemy backup. Spotting a confident player, an indecisive player, or someone not paying attention can be an indicator of how to proceed. In game-types like Guardian, the leader will tend to sit back very far in enemy spawn, so knowing how to push and/or flank to move them out their comfort zone can alter the pace of the game beneficially. Execution gives players only one life, so while sitting back may seem plausible, operating alone without any back up is a quick way to being ambushed if opponents are ambitious enough. Using the Marked for Death function is also helpful, as a troublesome opponent that might make pushing difficult can be highlighted and targeted to increase chances of success.
Horde & Escape Tips For Gears of War 5
Fabricator is Everything (Horde)
The fabricator is quite literally the center of everything. Players are usually recommended to use the fabricators’ location as a defensive position. The fabricator can be picked up by one or two players, so moving it can present better defensive options as the waves become more difficult over time. The Fabricator is also the best method for getting more ammo for base weapons as ammo crates are very modest. Weapon/ammo drops will also litter the playing field after defeating enemies but contain very meager ammo within them. The Fabricator creates fortifications which consist of decoys, turrets, blockades, etc… In order to fix fortifications, a tool must be purchased from the fabricator that will occupy the pistol slot. Unfortunately, upgrading fortifications is a privilege held by characters in the Engineer class, so have at least one or two will increase the survivability and effectiveness of fortifications in the long run. Everything costs power so make sure to pay the fabricator it’s taxes, and become armed to the teeth.
Power Taps are an extra objective that will appear after a certain number of rounds have gone by. Power taps must be captured by staying in the ring around it for the duration of a round, and maintained by keeping enemies away that attack it and fixing it up with the repair tool. Power taps will give players extra power in between rounds and can be accessed after every round, once. The amount of power isn’t consistent, so waiting for a round of two to see if the gains increase substantially is a risk not really worth taking.
Class Is Now In Session (Horde & Escape)
Engineer, Offensive, Scout, Support, Tank, are the different classes assigned to every character playable in Horde. These classes also apply to Escape, but what’s different are the load-outs; no guns except a pistol. Also, not everyone is enabled to play in Escape, but all Cogs can play in Horde. Snub pistols or Boltok’s are assigned to characters depending on class, but any other weapons must be found or looted off corpses in Escape. Spending time with a character and using their abilities will help decide how useful they can be in relation to play styles. The Ultimate Ability is unique to every character and can change the flow of the game. Some differ in technical aspects, others in visually entertaining ways.
In Horde, players can only half-alter load outs as the weapons usable from the beginning are fixed per each character. What can be adjusted are the skins, executions, and blood sprays. These can be earned by purchasing with Iron, Gears of War 5 in-game currency that can also be purchased via micro-transaction. Supply Drops also award cosmetics and can be destroyed for scrap to create other craftable cosmetics. As for the other half of the load out, Skill Cards can be swapped around for desired buffs and effects. Skill Cards are unlocked through leveling up the character, and characters level up pretty frequently as long as their role is fulfilled adequately. Playing passively and letting teammates rack up kills will decrease earnings tremendously.
Run. (Escape)
Keep moving, that’s the main point of this game type. Spending too much time exploring can be deathly depending on the game type, so embrace that sprint button because time is not on your side, and neither is the swarm. There are different modes that slightly alter the objective such as “The Detour” game variant which increases reward gains the further you traverse a passageway. There are occasional side rooms housed in random passageways holding ammo and Cog Tags for extra points. Only if there’s enough time and distance between the squad and venom, explore as much as necessary. Use ammo sparingly, line up those headshots, and hit the pavement.
Gears of War 5 is available on Xbox, and Microsoft Windows.
