You May Be Playing Gears 5 Totally Wrong

With an epic narrative to boot, Gears 5 from The Coalition and Xbox Game Studios is the sixth (and arguably most difficult) game in the franchise's relatively brief but impactful history. When the original Gears of War hit the Xbox 360 in November of 2006, fans were blown away by the game's special blend of bloody sci-fi horror and brutal third-person action. Years later, the core mechanics remain the same, but a few improvements and revisions have helped shape the current Gears landscape — notably, the continued refinement of the game's cooperative modes like Horde and Escape, along with its harrowing, unforgettable co-op campaign.

If you don't know the lay of the land, your Gears 5 gameplay experience can be equal parts fun and frustrating. Sure, you're allowed to play however you want to play; but, simply put, Gears 5 can be downright punishing at higher difficulty levels, and (given the many tweaks over the years) can even serve the most seasoned veteran a heaping slice of humble pie when they least expect it. With that in mind, we thought we'd delicately point out a few of the many ways you might actually be playing Gears 5 totally wrong.

The key to surviving the stacked odds of higher difficulty levels in Gears 5 is knowing how to successfully navigate the terrain. When you're not stopping and popping in, around, and over cover, you'll be Roadie Running from one location to the next. This hasty, low-to-the-ground maneuver makes your character harder to hit by shrinking the hit box, and (naturally) speeds up your movement. But what if we told you there was a not-so-hidden benefit built into the Roadie Run that just might change the way you think about movement in Gears 5?

Since the Roadie Run locks you into a character animation throughout the course of the run, there's little else to do but get to where you're going. You can, however, perform an active reload with the greatest of ease during this traversal. And, in case you missed it, a successful active reload increases the damage of your weapon by 8%. If you take anything away from reading this article, let it be this: there is never — and we repeat — never a good reason to not perform an active reload while doing the Roadie Run.

Etiquette and protocol are important parts of the Gears 5 online experience. But let's face it: this game lives online, where lawlessness reigns. Unless you're playing co-op with your closest pals, chances are you'll have to run a veritable rat race to maintain the proper ammo supply. And if you don't know each map's weapon and ammo spawn points (or if you just get left behind), you might be out of luck until the next drop comes around. When you're playing Gears 5 at higher difficulties, a combination of sparsity and stinginess won't cut it.

Sometimes, there's simply not enough ammo to go around. The onus, therefore, is on each of us, as good Gears citizens, to understand the status of our fellow players, including their access to desired and/or required ammunition. If you're not in a chat channel with your teammates, use your Expressions or some basic courtesy to ensure everybody on the squad is outfitted with a little ammo. Your key to success is their continued survival.

It's been said that the best offense is a good defense. With that in mind, we'd like to suggest that the best Horde runs in Gears 5 are made with squads that highly value their Engineers. Ever since the advent of Horde 2.0, Fortifications have played an important part in this breakneck game mode and the various strategies found therewith. And now that the Fabricator is a central component to Horde gameplay, Fortifications can play an even larger role in how you take on a match.

Nothing crushes the opposition like a bank of well-barricaded and fully upgraded turrets. Sure, Offense characters like Marcus, Fahz, and Emile can be extremely fun to play, and Support characters like Jack have their own utility charm, but only Engineers like Del and Kat can upgrade Fortifications from the Fabricator. So if you want the best defensive setups, you're gonna want an Engineer (or two) on the squad. Plus, their ability to repair fortifications (combined with those of a Support character like Jack) change the pursuit of Fortifications from little more than a hopeful effort to a worthwhile investment.

One of the most important changes to hit latter-day iterations of Horde — and one that takes center stage in Gears 5 — has been the development of Fortifications and the Fabricator. As you collect the Power consumable during any given Horde run, the Fabricator allows your squad to build an assortment of Fortifications. From simple decoys and barriers to full-blown turrets, these Fortifications help guard and defend whatever corner of the map you decide to call home.

Certain enemies like Snatchers and Matriarchs can run roughshod over your fortifications, often destroying them in a single pass. When waves including these larger enemies and similar bosses come your way, be sure to disable your fortifications by moving them into an undeployable area so they won't get demolished. You'll notice a Fortification is unplaceable when its outline turns red instead of blue; and if you set the red, undeployed fortification down in this manner, enemies will ignore it completely. Once the enemy threats have been eliminated, simply grab the red Fortification and re-deploy it "in the blue" to get back to business. With a bit of hasty effort, you'll quite often find you've saved yourself a little headache and a lot of Power.

Critics and fans seem synonymous in their assessment: Gears 5 is, by many accounts, one of the most challenging installments in the series. As VentureBeat simply puts it, "In a couple of the boss fights and even some of the battles with the waves of enemies, the odds of survival are not good."

To take on some of the game's higher and heart-pounding difficulties, you just might need to step outside of your comfort zone and squad up with a few relative strangers more often than you're used to. This means expanding your friends list with some less-than-best pals for a roster of diehards when the time is right.

Some of the best candidates for your newly augmented friends list are the folks that actually show up on the battlefield with ethical gameplay that keeps the objectives of the entire team in mind. They're the players who'll mark the problematic targets, who'll share with you the ammo you so obviously need, and who'll revive you whenever you're downed (not simply when it's convenient). So leave your bashfulness at the door and just send that friend request. Your Gamerscore and XP progression will thank you.