Current Version : V10.0.1 (07272020)
- Section 3-3 : Added images for better readability
- Section 3-4 ~ 3-7 : Text edited

This guide mostly concerns Insane difficulty on Standard Horde, where certain Modifiers (that add challenges in-game) can be disabled for shorter Time-to-Kill against enemies, non-popular strategies can also be seen in action, and reward quality is considerably increased.

The author has completed Horde on Master Difficulty.

The author’s first language is not English and may make grammatical or contextual errors. Please leave a comment to point out such issues.

This guide can be found on Steam Community Guide and Gears of War Sub-Reddit. However, the author has decided to only update the Steam version due to difficulty in management. In addition, "bumping" threads to promote updates is often viewed with negativity.

The author prohibits plagiarism; this guide is protected by Steam Copyright Infringement and watermark.


Proof of the author’s overall experience in Horde mode.

This guide currently contains outdated information from release version and will be slowly but properly edited over time to catch up with the latest releases.

Gears 5 Horde Mode is a PVE content where up to 5 players cooperate and fight against enemy AIs that come in multiple Waves. As the match progresses, Waves increase in difficulty; but players can also upgrade their Characters, purchase and reinforce Fortifications to combat the ever-dangerous threats.

Compared to its predecessors, Gears 5 Horde features new systems such as Character Classes, Ultimate Abilities, Non-Duplicate Characters, Forced Initial Loadouts and so on. This has made the game-mode more heavily reliant on teamwork than ever, since now each Character possesses unique functionalities and benefits that no other Characters have access to.

Victory depends on the players’ knowledge about their Characters, the game-mode in general, and most importantly, cooperation.

The aim of the guide is :

1) to improve the player-base overall
2) to provide a guide suitable for intermediates but not alienating beginners as well
3) to help Pick-up Groups (or PUGs) with barely any communications clear Insane Difficulty
4) to provide essential knowledge and strategies, especially for Engineer players
5) to encourage Engineer players - who are planners - to be more vocal and share their thoughts with the team
6) to demonstrate teamwork is vital and lone wolves don’t last that long


You’ll want Skill Cards like this; and to get it, you must cooperate with you team.

Starting from the top left to the bottom right, upon joining or creating a lobby, the UI will notify you of the currently selected Map, Game Mode, active Modifiers, selected Character, and joined players.
All of these UI components can be interacted by clicking on it. Feel free to navigate through multiple UIs and see how each component can help you manage your lobby.

If you are hosting a lobby, you can change your Lobby Browser Visibility here.

If you want to play with any random players, set the Visibility to “Visible (Public)”.
If you want to only play with friended players, set it to “Not Visible (Private)”.

At the bottom left of the Lobby UI, you’ll find the Difficulty Panel displaying the active Modifiers. Clicking it will display another UI which allows the host to enable or disable the Modifiers.

Each Modifier either gives the enemies a distinct advantage, or punishes the player team with a considerable penalty. However, Skill Cards you will receive by beating every 5 Waves increases in quality.
There are a total of 8 Difficulty options, starting from Beginner, Intermediate, Experienced, Advanced, Elite, Insane, Inconceivable, and Master. Each active Modifier will increase the Difficulty level by 1.

Some Modifiers in the image above are emitting a yellow aura, meaning that you cleared a map with them enabled.

It appears that activating each Modifier grants small, stacking Max Health and Damage bonuses to all enemies. But whether this is true and how potent the bonuses are have yet to be confirmed.

Trivia : In the early releases, in order to unlock a new Advanced Modifier for a specific map, the host player had to complete said map with an uncompleted Starter Modifier enabled.
This is now obsolete; any players can now enable any amounts of Modifiers on any map from the start since Operation 4.

All Modifiers are self-explanatory, but here are the deeper analysis of each Modifier :

• Survivor : No restarts! Game over if all players are down.

A Modifier very popular for boosting the rewards, since Survivor itself doesn't directly increase difficulty. Survivor has no effect if your team is capable. But it will have its final laugh if your team is wiped out.

If this is your first time to Horde mode, the author still recommends you to play Intermediate Horde with only Survivor enabled. Since many public lobbies enable Survivor for increased reward qualities, you will need to be familiar with the Survivor and have to try not to lose at all.

If Survivor is disabled, the fallen team can still attempt the current Wave again and again until they win. However, be mindful that upon respawn, Fortifications will still remain damaged or destroyed, and your team must repair or rebuild them before the Build Phase finishes (otherwise the destroyed Fortifications are gone forever).

Thus, failing too many times may leave your team dry in Power, soft-locking your match for inevitable failures (Power is an in-game currency for every purchase and repairs).
Even with the Survivor disabled on higher Difficulties, your team should realize that there may not be a third, fourth or more chances.

If playing Horde on solo it may be a good idea to actually disable Survivor, since Game-Over occurs when all non-AI players are currently dead.
This means all it takes to prematurely end a Horde on solo is a single death, and this might be too punishing for some lone wolves.

• More Health : Enemies have increased Health.

The other three players said “NO” to the bullet sponges and left as soon as Wave 41 hit.

A very simple yet powerful Modifier for the enemies, your team will soon realize how durable enemies become once Wave 11 and Wave 41 hit.
Wave 11 enables Health Poison for enemies, doubling their Max Health.
Wave 41 will strengthen all Poisons, increasing bonuses from 200% to 250% of base value.

This Modifier will let enemies deal more damage to you and your Fortifications. Most weapons will suffer from increased Time-to-Kill and exposes the user to potential damage. Single-shot weapons may not be able to kill an enemy with a single bullet, which makes the fight more frustrating.

To offset the enemy buff, obtaining Skill Cards that unconditionally increase weapon damage is highly recommended.

However if you don't have such Skill Cards yet, equipping a Lancer or Retro Lancer or both is recommended. The weapons' attachments (Chainsaw and Bayonet respectively) can instantly kill an infantry regardless of their Health. Note that they do not work against bigger, flying units like Scions and Bastions at all.

Hosts on Insane Difficulty can choose to disable 2 Modifiers. I suggest disabling More Health, as dispatching an enemy is the best way to control the crowd and minimize Fortification damage.

• More Lethal : Damage to players is increased.

Another very simple yet powerful Modifier for the enemies, enemies won't pull their punches anymore once More Lethal is enabled.

Although how much more damage players take is unrevealed by the developers, Wave 1 with More Lethal roughly equals to x2 Damage Poison enabled at Wave 31 without More Lethal (from author's experience).

This Modifier renders sustained fire from cover and close-range fights more dangerous in general. Only the snipers who hide between shots at the longest distances can somewhat play around this Modifier.

If you seek to directly improve durability, increasing Max Health by 50% and Damage Resistance by 26% will effectively double your Max Health to 202% of base. This is extremely useful for any Classes, but especially for Tanks, Scouts and close-range Offenses.

Meanwhile, if you wish to fight at longer distances to avoid damage in the first place, you could get Skill Cards that reduce recoil for your preferred weapons, so you can track distant targets easily while firing.
But be warned that enemies will gain x2 Accuracy Poison at Wave 21 to counter this tactic. Also, any weapons except Precision Weapons and Heavy Weapons will suffer damage falloff over distance. Attempting to fight at extreme ranges with scope-less weapons can be bothersome, and you will want maps with open sightlines to enable this play.

Hosts on Insane Difficulty can choose to disable 2 Modifiers. I suggest disabling More Lethal, as it is the culprit for too many player DBNOs (Downed but Not Out).

• Regen Penalty : Player Health regenerates slower.

An Advanced Modifier that forces you to hide behind cover more often and longer.

Automatic weapons and close-range weapons will suffer the most from this one, while single-shot weapons are relatively less affected as they can fire and quickly hide behind cover.

To counteract Regen Penalty, bring Skill Cards that provide healing or Stim.
COG Gear's Passive can completely offset Regen Penalty for the entire team, provided they stay close to the COG Gear.
Clayton's Passive converts 50% of heavy weapon damage done to healing.
Jack can also manually heal teammates.
Lahni's Passive heals herself for 50% of her Max Health whenever she scores a melee kill or a bleed kill.
Certain Classes can also buy Health Regen Perk which shortens regen delay AND regen speed.

Overall, Regen Penalty noticeably impacts the gameplay, but is also one of the preferred Modifiers for Insane Difficulty. General consensus is that the effective use of cover which everyone learns over time is good enough for it, and there are multiple ways to offset the negative if you are actually bothered.

• Execution Rules : Downed enemies must be killed up close.

An Advanced Modifier that considerably twists how the game should be played, it forces the player to engage in close combat.

When Execution Rules is activated, you must be in approximately 2.5 meters of the downed enemy to finish them. Otherwise you will hear a beeping sound whenever you shoot a downed enemy at further distances. The alert notifies the attacker that they cannot kill the unit because the Execution Rules is protecting them.

In addition, you can no longer kill downed enemies with Barriers and Bleed-Effect when you are away from them.
Sometimes, players who built the Barriers will constantly hear the alert due to a downed enemy crossing their Barriers.
Players also must get close to the downed enemies who are bleeding from their previous attacks. Note that as soon as you are in touching distance to your bleeding targets, Execution Rules is off and they will immediately die due to bleed tick.

Assault Rifles(ARs) and Light Machine Guns(LMGs) are the primary victims of the Execution Rules. They aren't pinpoint and have moderate recoil; they will frequently miss final headshot against infantries and hit their bodies instead.
It also becomes more difficult to approach downed enemies as Wave progresses, since enemies increase in numbers and combat power.

Thankfully, there are multiple ways to bypass Execution Rules for ranged weapons, and there are some exceptions to it.

• If an enemy reaches 0 Health due to a headshot, their head will decapitated and it dies immediately.
  
• If an enemy reaches 0 Health due to an explosive damage, they will be mutilated and die immediately. Downed enemy taking explosive damage will also be die.
  
• Specific Heavy Weapons that fire bullets cause mutilation, ignoring Execution Rules (Tri-Shot Chaingun).
  
• Fair amounts of enemies outright die instead of going DBNO when they reach 0 Health (Leeches, Imagos, Juvies, Mid-Bosses, Bosses and etc)
  
• MG Sentries and Shock Sentries will bypass Execution Rules and outright kill their target.
  
• Living Legend Ultimate autoaims for enemies' head, flawlessly supporting ARs and LMGs.

Overall, Execution Rules requires more precision and forethought for engagements. Since a plenty of methods exist to bypass it, it is mostly enabled on Insane Difficulty lobbies.

• Regeneration : Enemies regenerate Health over time.

An Advanced Modifier that punishes you for leaving wounded enemies untouched.

After not taking damage for a few seconds, enemies will rapidly regenerate their Health to full. Regeneration also allows downed enemies to recover from DBNO.

Regeneration heavily favors enemies with large Max Health, such as Bosses. Wounded Bosses can rapidly regenerate their Health if remain untouched, heavily punishing you for disengaging. Your team must determine when to avoid or attack Bosses altogether.

Automatic weapons have the advantage of reliably resetting enemy Health Regen delay, while single-shot weapons can entirely bypass Regeneration if they can kill an enemy with a single round.
However, Skill Cards that provide Bleed or Burn effect are the best for delaying and resetting Regeneration.

Overall, Regeneration is something that one should remember while fighting, but doesn’t significantly alter the vanilla gameplay. It is mostly enabled in Insane Difficulty lobbies.

• Power Drain : Fortification cost increased by 50%.

The Modifier is straightforward as it sounds. Power Drain makes Fortification purchases and upgrades more difficult, but especially at Wave 1~10 where killing enemies and collecting Power from them is the only option.

Since the penalty is Power-related, anything that increases Power income or reduces Power consumption will pay dividends for the entire team.

• Having an Engineer on the team will almost be necessary. Their Passive slightly reduces Fortification purchase costs, and they all have access to "Ingenuity" Skill Card that increases Repair Efficiency (which decreases Repair costs).
  
• Purchasing a Forge and having Jack forge weapons from fallen enemies will grant additional Power to all players. Forging a Heavy-weapon grants more 50% Power compared to a standard weapon. If a Jack player has "Optimizer" Skill Card, Power bonus is increased.
  However, do note that buying a Forge requires dedicated deposits from all players at the earliest Waves.
  
• Kait's Passive generates more Power from enemies killed by her at close range.

Note that Power Drain does NOT increase weapon purchase costs. It is good news to Classes that rely on rare weapons, such as the Breaker Mace.

Power Drain is usually enabled on Insane Difficulty lobbies instead of More Health & Lethal to keep combat same as is. But lobbies with "Deposit Free" name tend to turn Power Drain off, since some Engineer hosts presumably don't like begging others to deposit Power.

Trivia : Power Drain used to increase price by 5% every 3 minutes, and it also affected weapons, not just Fortifications. There was also a hidden base-game mechanic which increases every Fortification cost for every 5th Fortification purchases. All things combined, buying any Fortifications past Wave 26+ was a poor choice. Power Drain has changed to its current state as of Operation 4.

Horde mode is consisted of 50 Waves. In short, each Wave is a cycle between Build Phase, Combat Phase and Result Screen. But there’s a little bit more to that.


If you start the match from the very beginning, you’ll spawn after a short countdown. Note that the UI at the top left in the image isn’t displaying the current Wave number at the moment. We’ll be calling this period as “Wave 0” throughout this guide.

Wave 0 is where your team determines the position of the Fabricator, which acts as a spawn point, shop and bank for the players. It also prevents enemies from spawning near the Fabricator, so choosing where to put it will determine your team’s positional advantage and shape your defenses.


The Fabricator (and all Fortifications) cannot be deployed if it glows red, meaning that either an object or a wall is too close or the Fabricator is on a sloped surface. Try moving the Fabricator around until it turns blue again.
Wave 0 waits for your team indefinitely, until a player successfully relocates the Fabricator.


After then, your first Wave starts, and a message will alert the team that it is time to prepare your defenses. Build Phase is where your team has 30 seconds to plan, buy, repair, loot, forge and et cetera. At earlier Waves you might not have a lot to do, so feel free to vote for skipping the Prep Phase.
If 3 players in a 3-5 player lobby or all players in a 1-2 lobby vote for a skip, the Combat Phase starts immediately.


Once the Combat Phase is initiated, enemies will spawn, and your team will have to engage soon. The process here is self-explanatory, as the message in the image above suggests.
Once the last remaining enemy dies or all non-AI players are killed, the Result Screen will appear.


The Result Screen displays what your team achieved for the current Combat Phase. Do note that you can maintain interaction with objects even after the Result Screen appears, and still move around the map while your vision is obscured.
The Result Screen automatically disappears after a few seconds. Then the Wave advances, and your team will repeat this cycle until Wave 50.


Conversely, if all players are killed, your team will still face the same Result Screen, but will be brought to the Game-Over Screen afterwards.
The host can either restart the current Wave, or give up and bring the team back to the lobby. Note that Survivor Modifier disables the restart option, forcing the team to leave the match.

Power (or Energy) is an in-game currency required to buy, upgrade, repair and rebuild Fortifications. It is also used for purchasing weapons and Class Perks.

Currently, there are 3 ways to earn Power :
1) getting Power Pickups from killed enemies
2) forging any weapon on a Forge Fortification
3) interacting with an Energy Tap for 2 seconds

Of all methods, the only one that is available to the team at Wave 1 is the Power Pickup.


As mentioned, enemies drop Power Pickups upon death. Some enemies such as Bosses drop much more valuable Power Pickups, and this is discernable by counting how many Power symbols are hovering above one. Players should prioritize the better ones first, and attempt to collect all of them. All remaining Power Pickups will disappear at the start of next Combat Phase, so don’t forget to retrieve them.

Character Kait excels at collecting Power Pickups, since she can buy her Movement Speed Perk (up to 30%) and her Skill Card “Long Reach” to retrieve them faster and from a distance. Also, her Passive Ability improves Power Pickups from the enemies who were killed by her at close range.

All Power income is split evenly and automatically distributed to all players.

Carrying Power indicates how much Power YOU own.
Every player has their personal account for storing Power, and whenever Power is collected each share goes to their account, not to the Fabricator. No other teammates can access Power in your account.

Meanwhile, Fabricator serves as a bank, a shared Power storage that every player has access to. A player can deposit their own Power into the Fabricator so others can use the yielded Power instead.
However, note that you can only spend Fabricator Power to buy Fortifications and weapons. You cannot draw Fabricator Power to buy your own Perks.

Whenever a player buys a Fortification or a weapon, the game will always draw Power from their personal account first.
But if they don’t have enough Power, then the game will attempt to deduct Power from the Fabricator to make up for it
Again, do note that this mechanic does not apply to buying Perks..

These are simple yet important mechanics to remember. Players can help each other out by depositing at the Fabricator, so the other player can buy an important asset for themselves or the entire team. This is something that newer players might not realize at first, and they will often spend the shared Power without knowing it (or they know it very well and exploit it anyway).

In the image above, you’ll see an object with Power symbols hovering above it.
That is an Energy Tap. Energy Taps provide your team with free Power if you interact with them after end of Combat Phase. In addition, they provide Max Health bonus to all Players. These qualities improve as you interact with them.

Every 10 Waves, a new Energy Tap will randomly appear at one of predetermined locations on the map.
Depending on where the first Energy Tap spawns, your team may have to relocate your Fabricator to protect it.
This discourages camping on the same place in every playthrough, and encourages your team to adapt to the ever-changing environment. And when your team manages to do so, you’ll be rewarded with significant amounts of Power.



In order to actually claim Power, your team will need to capture it first.
An uncaptured Energy Tap will be highlighted in blue, and at least one player must stand inside the ring for 15 seconds.
Leaving the ring before capture is completed will regress its progression over time, and an enemy getting inside it will instantly reset all progress. Your team will need to pay attention if enemies are about to close in.



Once it’s done, an Energy Tap will become available. However, it only generates Power at the end of Combat Phase, so you’ll have to wait until a Power symbol appears above it.



Energy Taps ready for extraction will appear like image above. A player has to approach it and maintain interaction for approximately 2 seconds.
Anyone who isn’t an Engineer should volunteer to collect the Energy Taps, since Engineers are always busy with repairs and planning.

For each successful interaction, additional cylinder will now emerge when Energy Taps are available. The cylinder indicates the Level of an Energy Tap.
After collecting Power from an Energy Tap, Energy Tap will be upgraded by 1 Level, improving its Power generation, its Max Health and Team Health bonus, up to Level 4.
At Level 4, an Energy Tap provides 1500 Power and +30% Max Health to each Player. Note that multiple Max Health bonuses from each Tap stacks.

The subsequent Energy Taps will always spawn near the previous one, allowing your team to slowly push your defenses forward to cover more ground and get more Power.



Energy Taps can serve as a low cover in combat, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless the situation is dire; just like Fortifications, they can be damaged and destroyed. Players tend to draw enemy fire, and Energy Taps taking hits only gives more pressure to your Engineers. While not totally fragile, they aren’t built for combat.
Once they are destroyed, any stored Power is gone and their upgrade progression is reset as well, and your team will have to capture them again.

<This is the end of the latest update for this guide. Further contents may contain outdated information.>

Upon interacting with the Fabricator, an UI will appear. It will offer you a variety of Fortifications and Weapons available for purchase. Depending on who you are playing as, you might see less or different options in the Fabricator UI. Only the Engineer Characters have access to all Fortifications, and all Characters have limited Weapon options, which also include the ones in their Starting Loadout.

As explained in the “Personal / Shared Power, Depositing” section, it is the Fabricator where you can deposit your own Power for the team.

Certain Characters such as JD can buy duplicates of powerful Weapons such as Boomshot or Lancer GL for the team. If a certain Weapon seems to be beneficial for your teammates, you could provide them with it.


Repair Tool is available for all Characters, but sold at a very steep cost. Your team may be able to purchase one at Wave 40+ and help out your Engineer if he’s the only repair-man.

Engineer Characters can consume Power to upgrade Fortifications for increased performance.
While grabbing and moving around a Level 1 ~ 3 Fortification, Engineers can select the option for an upgrade, provided there is enough Power.

Fortifications receive Maximum Health boost upon upgrade, while some also enjoy an increase in damage, range, angle, new abilities and et cetera. Feel free to upgrade Fortifications to see what they can offer.



Meanwhile, any Non-Engineer Characters can also upgrade themselves in four aspects. The UI in the image above will appear for any Characters who are not Engineers. Such Characters will have different upgrade options that can go up to Level 10. However, it is very difficult to fully upgrade all of them since you are also encouraged to regularly deposit your Power for your Engineer. In most cases, you can only afford to fully upgrade a single option, leaving the rest untouched.

Overall, prioritizing the upgrades of Fortifications over Character upgrades is essential for counteracting the ever-increasing effects of Poisons. Being able to store overpowered Heavy-Weapons such as the RL-4 Salvo or the Tri-Shot AND getting Forge Level 1 at Wave 5 heavily outweigh the benefits of personal upgrades such as +2% Shotgun Damage and +5% Critical Damage, which quickly falls off at Wave 20+.

If you REALLY desire Character upgrades, try to persuade your team by promising to master a single Character upgrade that is considered the most vital and forgo the rest. Any common-sensical teammates won’t say “No” to others who are trying to make compromises and sacrifice for the team.


This can be done with cooperative teammates who care about the team.

Your view when you go Downed But Not Out.

When your Health reaches 0, you will be in a state called “Downed But Not Out (DBNO)”.
All humanoid Characters in DBNO state cannot use firearms, but can still crawl to get into safety or use a Grenade if they were holding in hand before going down. Pressing Space Bar at the right time slightly increases their movement speed, and recovers some stamina back. If someone interacts with you or Jack heals you enough, you will recover back from this state. If no one picks you up until your stamina reaches 0 or an enemy interacts with you for execution, you die.

Upon DBNO, most enemies will ignore you for a short time to give you some chances of escape. However, you can’t always rely on this breathing room, since some enemies such as Snatchers will heavily prioritize capturing a DBNO player, and Juvies will not ignore DBNO players. Most importantly, some enemies such as Bosses may use a technique that can instantly kill a player, bypassing DBNO mechanics.

Jack will prove extremely beneficial at reviving DBNO allies, since his cloak lets him slip past through the thickest crowds, and his healing can also revive people from a distance.

Note that Jack cannot move while in DBNO State. This obviously means the team should pay attention to his life, even more at higher difficulties.

A Blue COG Symbol, a Dog Tag of your fallen teammate.

From time to time, every player in the game will experience death. When they do, they leave their Dog Tag on the floor.

Currently, there are 2 ways to respawn your dead teammates :
1) wait until the start of next Prep Phase
2) pick up their Dog Tag and bring it back to the Fabricator

Obviously you want them to be back as soon as possible, so it is quite important to know who’s currently alive or dead, where they were, and then retrieve their dropped Dog Tags quickly.

This means that all players need to be aware of how far they are from the base and the other teammates. Only Jack can retrieve the furthest Dog Tags safely, and Kait’s Ultimate Ability lets her emulate Jack for a bit, but not too long.
Don’t be bullish, run straight into the enemy lines and die outright, as this will make revives and respawns much more difficult to accomplish.

Players carrying a Dog Tag just need to get close to the Fabricator to trigger a respawn, no other interactions required. The default Respawn Delay is at 5 seconds, and each death will increase the Respawn Delay by additional 5 seconds. This resets once you clear the Wave, but until then, you’ll have to avoid dying too many times in a single Wave.

Finally, you cannot carry more than 1 Dog Tag, meaning that attempting to bring more than one teammate back alive may prove to be difficult.

The bane of your existence.

Over time, enemies will receive a major increase in accuracy, Health and damage to keep up with your team and your defenses. This is what makes Wave 30 and further challenging, especially if More Health and More Lethal Modifiers are enabled.

Every 10 Waves will activate a Poison or increases the effects of active Poisons. After Wave 40, all Poisons are active and maxed out, increasing enemy parameters to 250% of their base. This obviously means if your Fortifications are not upgraded enough, reinforced enemies will have no problem dislodging your team.

Ammo management in Gears 5 Horde is generally difficult, especially if you intend to only use COG and UIR Weapons which can be rarely found from enemies. It becomes even more challenging if More Health and Regeneration Modifiers are enabled, as enemies become more resilient and Weapons take more shots to kill.

There are a number of ways of getting more ammo, although methods listed below are the most reliable :

1) getting 2 free Ammo Pickups that respawn at the start of Prep Phase



- Every map offers 2 free Ammo Pickups that spawn at the start of Prep Phase. If you are new to a map, look at the mini-map or the Map UI to find where the Pickups are located at; they are displayed as ammo icon.

- It gives you 1~2 magazines worth of ammo for all Non-Heavy Weapons, regardless of any brand. It also grants a Grenade charge if there is at least one charge in your Grenade slot.

- Since it’s free and can refill any Weapons, it is very helpful for Characters who use Lancer, GL Lancer, Retro Lancer, and to some extent, Longshot, EMBAR and Markza.

- However, ammo gain isn’t shared and only resupplies the person who interacted with the Pickup. It will be gone as soon as a player picks it up. Thus, in Pick-Up Group matches, it is not uncommon to witness players who are camping at the Pickup’s spawn location.



2) looting Weapons from dead enemies

- Looting the Weapons lying around the battlefield is one the most reliable methods of refilling ammo. You will never be left wanting for ammo if you decide to use DB or Swarm Weapons such as Enforcer and Hammerburst as your secondary. After every 10 Waves the enemy Faction changes, so you could also replace your secondary with another.

- However, note that most DB and Swarm Weapons either lack range or are slightly tricky to use. Enforcers and Hammerbursts are the most common, but the former has a short effective range while the latter has a mandatory delay between bursts. Overkill and Gnasher are strictly for close quarters, and EMBAR is a rare Weapon that also demands skill.

- In addition, looting Weapons from the enemies mean the player who does the smelting job may have difficulties finding a suitable item. However this is seldom an issue, since the Weapon drops are so abundant they can’t smelt all the guns before they disappear in the first place.



3) buying Weapons from the Fabricator



- If you or the Fabricator is carrying enough Power, you may purchase a fully loaded Weapon in the Fabricator UI.

- While certainly the fastest way to obtain or refill a Weapon, they cost moderate amounts of Power. When playing matches with a well-organized and communicating party, be sure to ask them before you buy at the Fabricator, as they probably have an ongoing strategy that likely requires you to deposit your Power as well.

- You may upset other players if you keep spending Power deposited at the Fabricator, rather than drawing it personally to buy Weapons. They may regard you as a selfish player and start to avoid depositing, which is a sign of disbelief.



4) stowing Weapons at Weapon Locker


- Another most reliable way of refilling ammo, Weapon Locker Fortification slowly regenerates ammo for all stowed Weapons and HEAVY WEAPONS.

- Each level of a Weapon Locker represents the amount of Weapons slots available for resupply. As with the other Fortifications, Weapon Locker can be upgraded to Level 4.

- When a Weapon is stowed, Weapon slot will display a panel to indicate its available ammo in percentages and coloration. Red panel means the Weapons has no ammo at all, while a blue panel tells you that the resupply process is complete and the Weapon is fully loaded. If half of the blue panel is greyed out, it means the resupply process is at 50%.

- Thus, Engineers should aim to provide the team with at least 3 fully upgraded Weapon Lockers, so the other players can stow their primary and still have 8 Heavy Weapons ready for use.

- As the Wave progresses, you will find that the Heavy Weapons such as the Tri-Shot and the RL-4 Salvo are terribly effective against any foe. From then on, try to stow Heavy Weapons instead of your primary if possible.

- Character Del is best suited for building any Fortifications, and only he has access to the Skill Card “Overclocked Locker“ which allows his Weapon Locker to resupply faster. Therefore, it is Del who should be building the Weapon Lockers.



And there other means to secure additional ammo as well, but they are not as reliable and consistent as the aforementioned ones :

5) generating Pilfer Ammo Pickups by scoring headshot kills with Offense Characters

- It gives you 1 magazine worth of ammo for all Non-Heavy Weapons, regardless of any brand.

- Although only every 6th headshot kills drop a Pilfer Ammo Pickup, it is nonetheless still useful since it can refill COG and UIR Weapons.

- Consider bringing a good Offense player who is good at scoring headshots, as they will be definitely beneficial to the team.

- Pilfer Ammo Pickups will eventually disappear after a while, so it is never a bad idea to pick them up upon spotting them. Or instead, you could mark and yield it to a player who suffering from lack of ammo.



6) automatic resupply at the end of Combat Phase

- Upon killing the last enemy, the game will give you a magazine worth of ammo for all your Weapons except Grenades.

- However, this does not occur if the game considers that you have plenty of ammo for a Weapon.

- Some Weapons noticeably receive much more ammo this way. i.e. Hammerburst.

- While it is certainly less than enough, it is better than nothing.

All Weapons, Grenades and Power Pickups lying around the battlefield will eventually disappear if players don’t pick them up. This is intended to prevent the floor from being flooded. Your team will have to think fast and move fast to get what they want and smelt the rest.



Also, any destroyed Fortifications (highlighted in yellow) can be still interacted, but will be gone forever if your team doesn’t rebuild them until the start of next Combat Phase. It often costs considerable amounts of Power to rebuild them, so it is generally wise to stockpile some Power so you can always re-buy them on demand.

This guide has already mentioned several times that in most cases, Engineers, especially the player who is playing as Del should be building Fortifications while the rest support him by depositing Power at the Fabricator.

There are two major reasons for this :

1) Engineers have access to every Fortification, can upgrade and buff them with Skill Cards, and conserve more Power with their Passive Ability

- Unlike other Classes, Engineers can buy ANY Fortification on demand. This means that an Engineer doesn’t have to wait for the others to set up their defenses.

- All Engineers can upgrade Fortifications to Level 2 ~ 4, significantly increasing their performances.

- Some Engineers have access to Skill Cards that directly buff their Fortifications.

- Some Engineers can significantly reduce the initial construction cost of Fortifications.


Currently, Del is the only character who can provide much needed boost for your defenses.



2) too many cooks spoil the broth.

- While it is true that everyone has their own opinion and they want theirs to be heard and respected, having too many leaders on a team will eventually cause a conflict. When a player starts to build Fortifications, other players who also had a building plan will often modify the existing defenses without notifying its original buyer. This behavior may upset the other teammates, and more importantly, the overall strategy.

- It is much more better to let a single Engineer handle everything for you. This also means that the Engineer player should speak up and share his plan with the team regularly. Since everyone now trusts you and shares Power to get Fortifications while forgoing their Character upgrades, Engineers must remember this, thank them, and repay the favor by constantly communicating and getting better defenses.

For every 5 Fortifications a player builds, the initial construction costs for ALL Fortifications increase by 1,000 Power. This encourages people to rotate the role of purchasing Fortifications.
However, even if the penalty is enabled on your Engineer, they should still be the one who is buying defenses until the very end; the amounts and potency of Fortification buffs they can provide is unmatched.

Note that this penalty is removed if the player leaves and re-joins the match, allowing players to potentially exploit it.

When attempting to upgrade a Fortification, its missing Health is converted to an Upgrade Cost Penalty, making upgrades more expensive.

The game expects you to repair Fortifications before you upgrade them. Upgrading a damaged Fortification instantly repairs it back to full Health, but draws large amounts of Power to discourage players from doing so again.

Players’ camera when Stim is in effect.

Stim is an additional layer of defense for Characters. When your Character receives Stim, their lost Health is restored, and provides additional stacking-hitpoints if already at full Health. These additional hitpoints do not decay on their own. They are only lost when Character takes damage, and Stim hitpoints are lost first in order to prevent Health loss. Maximum Stim Capacity limits how much you can stack Stim.

Stim always remain beneficial at any difficulties. Even with More Lethal Modifier enabled, full Stim lets you survive an EMBAR shot from an Elite Sniper, a melee attack from Juvies and Imagos, 2~3 missiles from DR-1 Devastators in Wave 40 and further.

Only some Skill Cards provide your Character with Stim effect, and not all Characters have access to it. Most Stim-generating Skill Cards are the rarest of all, and are only dropped in Elite Horde and above. 

Engineers excel at building Fortifications and boosting their performances.

- Thanks to their Passive Ability, Engineer Characters have 10% discount for purchasing Level 1 Fortifications. They can also relocate Fortifications and Fabricator faster, which is handy in any situation and necessary when your team attempts to relocate the entire base.

- All Engineers have access to any Fortifications, but their Character upgrades are unavailable and their Weapon purchase options at the Fabricator are limited. This means Engineers are less effective in combat and fare better when supporting their team in the background.

- All Engineers have access to Skill Cards that improve repairing efficiency. Some Engineers can buff Fortifications they built, and conserve Power when purchasing Fortifications. These advantages obviously mean Engineers are the prime candidates for planning, building and maintaining your defenses.

- Having at least 1 Engineer is essential, since only they start with the Repair Tool which is required to repair Fortifications. In addition, the benefits of Skill Cards they provide to your Fortifications are tremendous.

Offense Characters can do more damage than others with their Weapons.

- Offense Characters require some degree of precision, as their Passive Ability rewards them for securing headshot kills. Pilfer Ammo Pickups they generate are handy for refilling any Weapon.

- All Offense Characters only have access to 2 Fortifications, but their Character upgrades are available and Weapon purchase options at the Fabricator are more varied. This means Offense Characters can be more effective in combat, but probably should leave the building to their Engineers.

- All Offense Characters have access to Skill Cards and Character upgrades that improve firepower, the usage of certain Weapons and tactics. Combined with their Passive Ability, they are most useful when using mid-to-long range, accurate Weapons.

Scouts favor mobility and are designed to move around the battlefield.

- Scouts’ Passive Ability encourages them to be mobile and get close to their enemies. They can support their team by generating more Power from kills, aiding the team in the long run.

- All Scouts cannot purchase any Fortifications at all, but their Character upgrades are available and Weapon purchase options at the Fabricator are more varied. This means Scout Characters can be more effective in combat, but are forced to rely on their teammates for building.

- All Scouts have access to Skill Cards and Character upgrades that improve mobility, the usage of certain Weapons and tactics. Combined with their Passive Ability, they are born to use close-range Weapons.

Supports provide the team with a tactical advantage, covering many possibilities.

- Supports’ Passive Ability encourages them to mark enemies and support their teammates. They will also be rewarded for doing so.

- All Supports have access to 2 Fortifications and their Character upgrades are available, but their cannot purchase Weapons at the Fabricator. The latter is rarely an issue, since their focus is not the use of such Weapons.

- All Supports have access to Skill Cards and Character upgrades that improve the means of supporting their teammates. This means Supports have much better ways to assist their allies, in and out of combat.

- Supports severely lack in firepower and have overall weaker combat-prowess than other Roles. In most cases Supports should stay in back ranks, and other players should watch over their Supports.

- Having at least 1 Support in a team is nigh essential, as they make everyone around them better.

Tanks focus on absorbing damage and holding the frontline.

- Tanks’ Passive Ability encourages them to stay on the front ranks, get enemies’ attention, and absorb damage for your teammates. While they can’t do this forever, they turn enemy damage into useful Ultimate Ability charges which isn’t possible to other Roles.

- All Tanks only have access to 2 Fortifications, but their Character upgrades are available and Weapon purchase options at the Fabricator are more varied. This means Tank Characters can be more effective in combat, but probably should leave the building to their Engineers.

- All Tanks have access to Skill Cards and Character upgrades that improve durability, crowd-control, the usage of certain Weapons and tactics. Combined with their Passive Ability, they are proficient at using close-to-mid range Weapons.

In practice, Characters are categorized into either one of the following roles : Engineers, Off-Engineers, Supports, Combatants.

■ Engineers
- Prep Phase : Engineers plan out defenses and buy, upgrade, repair, rebuild, relocate Fortifications.
- Combat Phase : Engineers prioritize reviving Supports and repairs over combat.
- Suitable Characters : Del
- Recommended Players : 1

■ Off-Engineers
- Prep Phase : Off-Engineers repair Fortifications. They are tasked with Engineer jobs if there are no Engineers in a team.
- Combat Phase : Off-Engineers prioritize reviving Supports and combat over repairs. Repairs take higher priority than combat if there are no Engineers in a team.
- Suitable Characters : Kat-B320
- Recommended Players : 0~1

■ Supports
- Prep Phase : Supports smelt Weapons and repair Fortifications. Smelting takes higher priority if there is at least 1 Engineer in a team.
- Combat Phase : Supports prioritize revives over smelting, heals, crowd-control.
- Suitable Characters : Jack
- Recommended Players : 1

■ Combatants
- Prep Phase : Combatants collect Energy Taps, refill ammo, stow Heavy Weapons.
- Combat Phase : Combatants prioritize reviving Supports and combat.
- Suitable Characters : Emile-A239, Fahz, JD, Kait, Markus, Sarah Connor
- Recommended Players : 2~3

Del is an Engineer who not only excels at repairing, but is also capable of buying Fortifications at a much cheaper price and buffing them. However, he actually needs upgraded Skill Cards to do so, and thus newer Del players can’t exactly jump straight into higher difficulties.

His Ultimate Ability, “Reinforce”, spawns 2 Shock Trackers that target and chase enemies. Once they reach their intended mark, they will explode, dealing moderate-to-high damage. They can also distract close enemies, steering enemy fire away from your team. They can stay alive for a limited time, and they will expire once this duration ends.


■ Strengths
- As mentioned several times, Del is currently one of the most valuable asset to the team, as his ability to empower defenses more efficiently is unparalleled; no other Engineers can keep up with his engineering prowess.

- Del’s Starting Loadout includes DB Weapons, which are relatively easier to manage in terms of ammo, and is appropriate at close-range.

- Del has a variety of Skill Cards to choose from; he can either be a pure-Engineer who brings much needed utility to the team, or play as a combat-Engineer to provide fire-support (although the former playstyle is more recommended).


■ Weaknesses
- Unless he replaces one of his starting Weapon with another, he has difficulty tackling enemies at longer ranges.

- His Ultimate Ability falls off in terms of damage at later Waves or on higher difficulties, where enemies possess increased Health.

- As an Engineer, he cannot buy Character upgrades; this renders him less powerful in combat.

- His usefulness is entirely dependent on fully upgraded Skill Cards; low level Dels are not very helpful for the team.


■ Highly Recommended Skill Cards
1) Ingenuity : Unconditional repair speed and repair cost bonuses are nigh essential for any Engineers.

2) Reinforced Fabrication : Unconditional Maximum Health bonus for all Fortifications is required to avoid their destruction, and is especially important for defensive Fortifications such as Barriers and Decoys.

3) Armor Plating : Fortifications at high Health receive Damage Reduction. Armor Plating is beneficial if you want to minimize time spent on repairing Fortifications and reduce its Power cost. It also provides extra protection for Barriers and Decoys.

4) Overclocked Locker : Weapon Locker refills ammo for all Weapons faster. Weapon Lockers are always on demand as they provide much needed ammo for COG, UIR and Heavy Weapons.

5) Efficient Fabrication : Initial construction costs for all Fortifications are reduced by %. Having this Card allows your team to rush Forge and Weapon Locker before Wave 5 hits, letting you establish economy more faster.

6) Healing Repair : Gain Stim while repairing. This is a huge boon for Del as it lets him stay at the dangerous frontline and repair, so long as he doesn’t attract too much attention. As long as you have something to repair nearby, you can even serve as a human-decoy.


■ Recommended Skill Cards
1) Flow : Gain Damage Reduction while repairing. Essentially a pseudo Card of Healing Repair, this gives you moderate protection when repairing the frontline. Combined with Healing Repair, you become a bullet-sponge, but usually either one of these Cards is enough.

2) Best Friends : Gain repair speed and repair cost bonus when Jack is nearby. This provides a significant bonus for accelerating the tedious process of repairing Level 3+ Fortifications. However, since Jack is also loaded with smelting and revives, you may not be able to receive such bonuses at all times.

3) Overload : Undamaged Fortifications do more damage. While more firepower is always beneficial, maintaining Fortifications at full Health is not easy to achieve. This Card is only useful to MG Sentries and Shock Sentries, as they generally stay at the back line, drawing relatively less fire.

Kait is a Scout capable of close-combat and Power collection. Depending on what Skill Cards and upgrades are selected, she can either provide high firepower at close distances, become a support that helps the team on and off the field, or be a frontliner with some degree of survivability.
Her Ultimate Ability, “Camouflage”, renders her invisible to enemies, allowing her to roam around the battlefield freely until either she fires a bullet or its duration ends. While cloaked, she can instantly execute enemy infantries up close.


■ Strengths
- Kait’s Ultimate Ability is useful at any situation and is especially excellent for self-preservation and revives.

- Kait’s Starting Loadout and Passive Ability make her suitable for close-quarters.

- Kait is offered with a balanced variety of Skill Cards for offense, support and defense.

- Kait can provide tremendous firepower at close-range if certain Skill Cards are brought.

- Kait requires little knowledge to play effectively; her playstyle is generally straight-forward.


■ Weaknesses
- Kait’s Starting Loadout is more focused on close-range battle and not effective at longer-ranges.

- Kait’s Starting Loadout is consisted of uncommon COG Weapons which are difficult to resupply; however this can be somewhat negated by heavy usage of the Retro Lancer’s Bayonet.

- Kait cannot buy Fortifications and thus entirely relies on teammates for defenses. This may or may not be an issue depending on who you are playing with.

- Kait’s playstyle requires skill and reflexes rather than knowledge; she is not appropriate for players who can’t perform well in chaotic close-quarters.

- Her damage-potential is held back by its short-range, and often replaced with Heavy Weapons in later Waves where getting close to an enemy is dangerous and ill-advised.


■ Highly Recommended Skill Cards
1) Laceration : An essential cornerstone for maximum damage-output, additional Bleed damage caused by shotguns becomes far more effective when in conjunction with another Skill Card.

2) Custom Gnasher : Since Kait and her Skill Cards highly favor shotguns, it is a also good idea to improve the starting Gnasher even further. With this Card, Kait can upgrade her Movement Speed instead in-game to reposition faster and deliver her lethality.

3) Cloak Batteries : Cloak Batteries extend the Camouflage’s duration, allowing Kait to move extreme ranges undetected. This is a boon when Supports are unavailable and Kait is the last one standing.

4) Blood Resonance : Another vital cornerstone for maximum firepower, Blood Resonance heavily amplifies damage of shotgun shots against bleeding foes. This allows Kait’s shotguns to actually keep up with or even outpace Heavy Weapons in later Waves.


■ Recommended Skill Cards
1) Overkill Stock : Since Kait is designed to use shotguns and Overkill is relatively common, it is not a bad idea to replace your Retro Lancer with Overkill instead. With this Card, Overkill can actually reach out enemies at mid-range, and successive headshots become more doable.

2) Reaper : Gain Stim after a successful execution. Reaper is essential for Stim build. While Kait can perform executions more reliably thanks to her kit, it is still a dangerous move in later Waves where picking enemies off from range is recommended, and you cannot execute certain foes. Kaits with Reaper still have to be more careful when approaching an enemy.

3) Enhanced Stim : Gain damage-reduction while Stimmed. This gives her the necessary durability for getting close to targets and performing consecutive executions.

4) Overkill Ammo Capacity : Increases ammo capacity for Overkill. While Kait doesn’t start with an Overkill, it is generally easy to find one from the enemies, and Kait does have the option to purchase it. Provided Bleed build is employed, taking this Card can also be a good choice considering the Overkill is slightly ammo-inefficient.

5) Stim Batteries : Increases maximum Stim capacity. This improves the maximum damage Kait can take while Stimmed, and is considered essential for her Stim build.

6) Epic Score Boost : Increases team-score. An unpopular choice for many, but handy for professional Master players who attempt to reach higher places in Leaderboard. Since Kait’s Skill Cards either require the player to select everything for maximum synergy or to pick nothing at all, Kait players tend to pick a build and still have 1~2 reserve slots for more options. Thus, she is a good candidate for bringing an Epic Score Boost for the team.

(※ Images are collected from Gears of War Fandom Wikipedia)
In Section 7 and 8, templates are used to list a Weapon’s parameters in a concise format.

An example of a template is shown below :

Weapon Image

Afterwards, a subjective opinion will be written to measure a Weapon’s overall worthiness in Horde matches. Reviews of all Weapon focus on their ability to handle Wave 1~20, where Heavy Weapons haven’t entirely replaced most small-arms.

Claw is a LMG effective at medium-to-long distances. Its damage-per-shot is high, offers a generous magazine size, and an increase in accuracy when user sustains weapon-fire. Unlike most other Weapons, Claw’s damage doesn’t drop off quickly until they attempt to reach the furthest of enemies, allowing the user to lay down fire at almost any range.

However, Claw’s unreliable accuracy means despite its leviathan reach, it cannot hit targets behind cover reliably. Its rate-of-fire will also prove to be bothersome unless Active effect is enabled. You may burst-fire to reset its fire-rate, but then the accuracy will also reset to its worse default-value. Furthermore, its severely slow reload-time is the price you pay for such a huge magazine. Its attachment allows the user to defend against Lancer Chainsaw, but such threat currently does not appear in Horde mode. Whether the attachment also grants bonus melee-damage is unconfirmed and requires further experimentation.

Claw can be a powerful primary if you can bear its quirks and enable Active effect whenever possible. Otherwise, it will frequently disappoint and let you down in most scenarios. There is no middle-ground experience when using the Claw.

Boltok is a close-to-medium range revolver Pistol with high firepower and stopping-power. Its damage-per-shot is high, even surpassing some of the Precision Weapons such as the Markza. Since the Boltok is a Pistol, its handling traits are also great; reload is swift, and recoil is surprisingly mild for such a hard-hitting revolver.

However, the Boltok still suffers from being a sidearm; its damage starts to quickly fall off even after a few meters. You also need to wait between shots, as the Boltok’s spread is maximized upon firing, causing subsequent shots to be inaccurate. More importantly, Pistols do not have related Skill Cards that significantly increase their performance. These downsides limit the Boltok’s long-range potential.

Overall the Boltok is a good backup to have for anyone, especially Offense Characters, as they tend to go for headshots which is totally viable with the Boltok. Unfortunately, it cannot serve as a surrogate primary since no enemies drop it, leaving the resupply issue unsolved.

Boomshot is a simple and straight-forward grenade-launcher that can devastate almost anything that gets caught in the blast. Its damage profile is formidable and will kill most infantries with just a single-shot, while an Active effect lets you tackle much stronger foes as well. Its medium blast-radius implies you can defeat multiple enemies with a single round. You can definitely score a headshot with the Boomshot, though the exact amount of damage it inflicts has yet to be confirmed. And headshots with this Weapon is very difficult to achieve; Boomshot is not meant to serve as a Precision Weapon in the first place.

Other than its sheer firepower, the Boomshot’s other traits suffer from being an explosive launcher. Fire-rate is terrible, reload is slow, reserve ammo is severely limited, and it’s rare and too expensive to purchase, making resupply difficult. The wielder is also not safe from the explosion, meaning using it in close-quarter can be dangerous and often results in suicide. Finally, the travel-time and parabolic arc of the warhead mean the Boomshot is not capable at tackling flying units and enemies at long-range.

Still, the Boomshot costs 5,000 Power for a reason, and as long as you point the Boomshot at the right target, it will blast almost anything to smithereens. It’s a powerful secondary that will earn your trust with ease.

Breaker Mace is a lethal melee Weapon. Wielding it greatly increases melee-damage. Upon pressing [Fire] Button, the wielder hits the ground with an overhead-slam, dealing severe damage to all enemies who either directly contact with the Weapon or are caught by a shockwave. One special trait for this shockwave is that it can go through cover and walls, meaning it is entirely possible to set up an one-way fight with this Weapon. It is actually recommended to make most of this wall-piercing quality, since the wind-up time before the attack leaves the user vulnerable.
Note that missing a melee costs 2 ammo, while landing one spends 7, and charged attacks always use 10 ammo.

While a potent means of dislodging your opponent, its damage-per-shot is actually matched by a single shot from an Active Gnasher. Meaning that in some cases, the Breaker Mace will be less effective than other close-quarters Weapons. While it has some reach, you will never be able to catch flying enemies or enemies even at mid-range. The Breaker Mace is also lengthy, and can often block your vision while aiming with other guns. Most importantly, it can never be a part of your tactics until you defeat the Warden. Finally, you must put the Weapon at the Locker if you wish to sustain its use; otherwise, your Character will automatically discard the Breaker Mace when its ammo is depleted.

The Breaker Mace provides an unique challenge to your gameplay, and can remain viable as long as it is in hands of a melee-focused Character and tactics. While there are much more safer and consistent options available, the Breaker Mace can sometimes outperform them in unexpected situations.

Dropshot is a peculiar explosive-Weapon capable of blowing up entrenched enemies behind cover. Pull your trigger to fire a floating mine that flies forward, and hold your trigger to keep its momentum. If you aim high before firing the Dropshot, the mine will keep ascending upwards to approach enemies in higher ground. Once you release the trigger or the mine runs out of fuel, it will drop perpendicularly to the ground and explodes afterwards. If the mine accidently collides with an object while flying, the mine bounces off and the user loses direct control of the mine (it will still explode after a short delay). It deals heavy damage that can easily kill an infantry, and heavily wound larger-and-stationary foes. Its unique mechanics allow an experienced player to ignore enemy cover and even decapitate their head.

However, this Weapon requires very high degree of skill, reflexes and positioning to be effective. Even with the visual aid, it becomes difficult to keep track of its flying mine as it goes further. The firing mechanism also requires you to pay attention to both the target and the mine, discouraging disengagement and potentially exposing you to danger. While it has a tremendous reach, it is practically next to impossible to truly exploit this.

Players generally stay away from the Dropshot since it is quite challenging to use properly, especially when you are forced to fight in close-range. It could be useful against long-range units to counter them from afar, but this is definitely not easy to achieve.

The Electromagnetic Break Action Rifle is a long-range sniper rifle capable of piercing through multiple targets. It has a high damage-per-shot which yields acceptable results when going for bodyshots. Recoil does exist but is negated by its fire-rate. Headshots double the base damage, rewarding for marksmanship but not by a huge margin compared to the Longshot. The EMBAR has extreme accuracy that allows the user to land accurate shots while moving. Its piercing quality can be situationally helpful as well.

The EMBAR’s biggest issue is that after you charge it up, you must fire the weapon within ~1.5 seconds. Otherwise the weapon will overheat, resetting the charge-process. Combined with scarce ammo, short magazine, lack of scope and somewhat lengthy reload-time, EMBAR is one of the most challenging Weapon to master.

EMBAR is one of the few Weapons which can be used to counter Elite Snipers, Deadeyes and Elite Hunters in later Waves. But in general, the Weapon is held back by high-skill requirements and the low difference between maximum and minimum damage. EMBAR is outmatched by the Longshot’s potential to score 7,500 damage in a single-shot, while the total amount of critical damage a Markza can inflict outrivals the EMBAR.

The Enforcer is a submachine gun designed for close quarters. Its blazingly fast fire-rate reaching around 1000 RPM will yield a consistent hip-fire performance, and good results when directly aimed at a target. Another key strength of the Enforcer is that it is one of the most commonly found Weapons in the battlefield, making it ideal for sustained use and smelting. The Enforce can easily outperform other automatic weapons when it is deployed in close-quarters situations.

However, the Enforcer’s major flaws such as inaccuracy and short range will quickly start to emerge once your targets decide to stay outside of its pathetic reach. And aside from its rapid-fire, the Enforcer hardly offers any other tactical options for the user.

In most cases the Enforcer serves as a decent backup Weapon for close combat. Players using Enforcer as a full-blown primary are rarely seen, as its sustained-fire and limited range require players to expose themselves, which isn’t a good idea.

Gnasher is a formidable close-range shotgun. Compared to its DB counterpart Overkill, it has lethal damage-per-shot which can almost shut down any infantries with just a single buckshot. Thanks to a large number of pellets, Gnasher also offers a good hipfire performance in close quarters. Its Active Reload can be activated early, which is a crucial strength for a close-range Weapon that can’t afford to be caught off guard. However note that imperfect Active Reloads will only load 3 shells.

Gnasher requires some degree of precision, as its rate-of-fire is very slow. And Gnasher is strictly limited in range, meaning that its key strengths start to pale once targets are outside of its grasp. It also cannot critically hit even if you land a headshot. This means that against a lumbering, hardened target with a giant weakspot, the Gnasher can’t exploit its weaknesses. Furthermore, while Grenadiers are relatively common, you may find yourself wanting in ammo once they are replaced with Elite Grenadiers. Finally, you may find its one-shot-kill being unreliable once your enemies have fully upgraded their Maximum Health.

The Gnasher is a reliable close-range Weapon that can be used either as a primary or a secondary. If you seek to maximize its potential as a primary, pair the Weapon with appropriate Characters; Kait is offered with Shotgun Damage upgrade in-match while also has access to shotgun-related Skill Cards.

The Hammerburst, unlike its previous incarnation, is a fully-automatic assault rifle with mid-to-long range capabilities. Each trigger-pull fires a burst of 6 shots. The Weapon’s damage-per-shot, range and accuracy are average, allowing the Hammerburst to retain its damage-profile to some degree. Recoil is almost non-existent, thanks to its burst-fire mechanic controlling the recoil for you. It also possesses a generous magazine-size and you can stockpile a lot of reserve ammo. Since Drones are common, the Hammerburst is popular for smelting and sustained firefights.

The Hammerburst is still far from perfect, as its mandatory delay between bursts mean that despite its fast rate-of-fire, it is still ill-advised to use it in close-quarters. And since the Weapon has an average spread and lacks Variable Zoom, long-range Precision Weapons will still outpace you in sniper-fights. More importantly, it doesn’t offer a powerful attachment unlike the Lancer-series Weapons. As the Waves get more difficult and your defenses become more complicated, the Hammerburst might be too simple for these scenarios.

Still, the Hammerburst is a well-rounded Weapon that can keep you going and won’t leave you wanting for more ammo. If you are starving for bullets, just ditch a secondary that seems inconsistent and pick this one up instead. As long as you are fighting the Locust faction, you won’t even need to stow this in the Locker or roam around for Ammo Pickups.

A tactical variant of Lancer MK3, the Lancer GL is a fast-firing assault rifle with an underslung mortar. Compared to its brother, its faster rate-of-fire and good magazine-size offer consistent close-quarters performance of an SMG, while its overall accuracy and range are on par with other assault rifles. The biggest asset of the Weapon is the Under-Barrel Mortar; while holding [Reload] Button on PC, you will switch to an alternate fire-mode where you can mark the coordinates for a mortar shell. A successful placement will launch a shell from the Weapon, and the shell will split into 10 bombs, decimating enemies who are caught in the blast. This is quite useful against crowds, bigger opponents and even Bosses who are immune to ballistic damage but still vulnerable to explosive damage.

The most problematic weaknesses of the Lancer GL are its ammo consumption and lack of resupply methods. The Weapon relies on spitting a lot of bullets to keep up with the other Weapons, and it can only hold up to 3 shells. Be careless and you will find yourself dry during gunfights; this will often force you to hog the Ammo Pickups as well, potentially upsetting your allies. Buying the Lancer GL from the Fabricator is possible but the Weapon is more expensive than others, so some JD players attempt to produce multiple Lancer GLs in a rather odd way. Also, the mortar has a minimum-range and cannot target nearby locations. You should also avoid fighting enemies indoors, as the mortar’s split bombs might explode prematurely by touching the ceiling.

Nevertheless, thanks to its formidable attachment and respectable damage-profile, the Lancer GL is arguably one of the most powerful Weapons in Horde mode, and it is quite common to see a team trying to exploit the mortar’s firepower on any difficulty.

The mascot of the Gears of War franchise, Lancer is a versatile assault rifle appropriate for any player. The weapon is balanced all-around, meaning that it is reliable and will stay relevant in most firefights. Active Reload is relatively easy to achieve, so the Lancer can jump into most fights with an advantage. One major strength of the Lancer is its Chainsaw attachment; when powered up, the chainsaw will automatically target the closest hostile infantry within range and execute them, killing them outright. This allows the user to easily take down melee enemies with high Maximum Health, such as Rejects. The Chainsaw can be used infinitely, so the Weapon can fulfill some purposes even when it’s completely dry.

However, the biggest weakness of the Lancer is its resupply. Since it’s a fully automatic rifle that spends a lot of ammo, it requires a regular restock; but no enemies carry the Lancer. In general, the Weapon lacks specialization; Longshot and Markza will outperform you at longer ranges, and by the time the Chainsaw finishes an execution, Gnasher and Overkill might be already engaging their second or third target. The Chainsaw is quite a situational attachment that won’t save your skin when facing flying units and ranged foes in a gunfight.

Unlike most other Weapons, the Lancer provides the user with two tactical benefits rather than one. Especially, a Chainsaw lucking in the corner can be highly effective in higher difficulties if you can force the enemies to come into its reach. The Lancer is a flexible primary Weapon that won’t let you down so easily, but you will need to find a way to enhance the Lancer’s ranged firepower or resolve its ammo problem.

The Longshot is a long-range sniper rifle, lethal enough to snuff any infantries with a well-placed headshot. The Weapon’s accuracy becomes pinpoint when the wielder is not moving and using its scope attachment. A critical hit with an Active effect is equal to 5 bodyshots and will immediately shut down most threats.

The downsides of the Longshot is that it requires a high degree of skill, whether you are shooting at an enemy or trying to land an Active Reload. But this isn’t always possible, and you will experience a great deal of frustration whenever you make a mistake; long reload time and lengthy Active-effect cooldown won’t forgive your incompetence. Also, enemies rarely drop Longshot, making ammo management a great challenge.

Nevertheless, Longshot offers the greatest one-shot-kill potential of any Weapon. Unlike most Weapons, it still remains useful in later Waves where enemy Elite Snipers, Deadeyes and Hunters can harass your team from afar. I would recommend pairing a Longshot with a good secondary for close-combat.

The Markza is a medium-to-long range marksman-rifle. With its reliable accuracy, mild recoil and fair magazine size, it can rapidly score critical hits at any distances. Its reserve ammo is generous when compared to the Longshot and the EMBAR, implying that you can inflict untold amounts of critical damage until it runs out of ammo.

However, the Markza deals pitiful damage for a marksman rifle if you do not hit an enemy’s weakspot. It also lacks a scope, making long-to-extreme range shots somewhat difficult to achieve. Only a few enemies carry the Markza, so it will have to rely on Weapon Lockers for sustained-use.

While the Markza is a forgiving Precision Weapon intended to allow a few mistakes, in practice the abysmal bodyshot-damage demands you to aim for enemy weakspots. Even though it can potentially deal extreme amounts of critical damage, If you don’t feel confident with this Weapon, you may as well replace the Markza with something else.

Overkill is a close-range shotgun capable of rapid-firing. Thanks to its 13 pellets per shot and fast fire-rate for a shotgun, it has a very forgiving close-quarters performance. Pulling the trigger fires half of a round, and releasing it shoots the other half. Aiming greatly improves accuracy, allowing the Overkill to reach further than the Gnasher.

Its unique trigger mechanism may throw you off from time to time, and its magazine size and reserve ammo aren’t sufficient enough to tackle multiple enemies head-on. Its one-hit-kill potential is unreliable compared to the Gnasher due to its average damage-per-shot.

In most cases the Overkill serves as a good backup Weapon for close combat. To make the usage of Overkill viable in later Waves, players will have to secure successive headshots with Active effects enabled, which is easier said than done.

Definitely more of an engineering tool rather than a Weapon, the Repair Tool still remains essential for any players who attempt to repair. It is a role-defining Pistol that is very difficult to acquire due to its price tag written with a lot of zeroes.

As a Weapon, it can only be used against point-blank enemies, and even then a kill is not guaranteed. Note that it cannot critically hit enemies, even if you somehow manage to hit them in the head.

An assault rifle from the old times, Retro Lancer is a Weapon appropriate for close-to-mid range combat. It has more damage-per-shot than most automatic Weapons and damage drop-off doesn’t occur too immediately, so it can stay effective in mid-range firefights. Reload is swift, which is beneficial for any close-quarters Weapons. One key strength for the Retro Lancer is its Bayonet attachment; the user will start charging forward with the Weapon until either stamina is depleted or the user collides with an object. If the user collides an infantry enemy such as Grenadiers, Rejects, and Peace Makers, they will execute the victim. If the target is too big or the user hasn’t run enough distance, then the Bayonet will only deal 750 damage instead. The Bayonet can be used infinitely, so the Weapon can stay relevant even when it’s completely dry.

While the Retro Lancer offers 2 tactical options in a single package, whether they can actually remain viable at all times is questionable. As a firearm the Retro Lancer isn’t very remarkable, as other than its damage-per-shot, the traits are average at best; Fire-rate is a bit slow for frantic close-combat, magazine size is rather small, and the recoil and accuracy may fail you at longer distances. And the Bayonet, while very handy on higher difficulties with More Health Modifier enabled, it cannot hold a defensive position like the Lancer’s Chainsaw; it forces you to be aggressive and take risks, which may lead to your own demise. Resupply still remains a major problem since no enemies carry the Retro Lancer.

Nonetheless, the Retro Lancer is a flexible Weapon that can remain relevant on some of the harder difficulties. Combine with Barriers, Decoys or Jack’s Zapper to slow enemies down and greatly improve your accuracy of the Bayonet charge. Although Heavy Weapons will quickly replace the Retro Lancer in later fights, having the Bayonet as an emergency tool is never a bad choice.

The Snub is a semi-automatic Pistol. For a Pistol, it surprisingly has good damage-per-shot, surpassing that of a Retro Lancer. Aiming for an enemy’s head with the Snub is viable as it also possesses excellent recoil and reliable accuracy.

One major weakness of the Snub is that it requires a fast trigger finger to be truly effective. It also lacks range and reserve ammo, so attempting to engage further targets only results in a waste of precious bullets. And there are no Skill Cards that substantially upgrade the Snub. Thus, the Snub cannot truly substitute a primary or a secondary Weapon.

The Snub can serve as a decent backup Pistol to cover most situations. But if you seek a specialized Pistol for your tactics, then the Snub can be easily ditched.

Talon is a fully-automatic machine-pistol. It’s excellent fire-rate and fair magazine-size allow the Talon to liberally pepper a target from the hip, while aimed fire proves to be more effective.

However, The Talon is designed to be used at close-range. And as such, its accuracy and range are poor in general. Its tremendous recoil will definitely hamper your performance if you attempt to use the Talon anywhere other than in close-combat. Its voracious appetite for ammo is also a major issue, since no enemies possess and drop the Weapon. For a Pistol, it also has a rather slow reload. Definitely faster than most primaries and secondaries, but not spectacular either. And finally, there are no Skill Cards that vastly improve the Talon.

Talon can serve you decently if you need a backup for close-combat, and as long as you can handle its ammo problem, it could potentially replace your Enforcer, leaving an empty Weapon slot for you.

Torque Bow is a mid-to-long range Weapon, with a blend of explosive and precision. It fires an explosive bolt that explodes after it collides with an object. Holding the trigger slowly changes the bolt’s trajectory from a curve to a straight line. You must fully charge the Torque Bow to gain the ability to stick the bolt to an enemy, pierce through multiple heads, and decrease the fuse delay; otherwise the bolt will just bounce off from a quarry, and it will take more time to create an explosion. Its reload is fast compared to other Precision Weapons.

Unfortunately, the Weapon lacks in terms of firepower, even with an Active Reload. Considering that the Torque Bow requires a full charge to be truly effective, is a single-shot, and limited in reserve ammo, 1500 damage-per-shot isn’t enough to slay the entire horde. After a full charge, the Torque Bow will automatically fire the bolt within a few seconds, rendering itself difficult to use. You also need to be careful when a stuck victim is nearby, as the wielder is not safe from the bolt’s explosion.

The Torque Bow can still be a very good asset in higher difficulties and potentially replace other Precision Weapons, thanks to its ability to decapitate. But if you keep failing to exploit it, then the Torque Bow is not worth your time.

Minions wielding Heavy Weapons appear around the second half of every 10 Waves. Specific Bosses with Heavy Weapons may also appear at every 5 Waves. Heavy Weapons provide tremendous firepower to your entire team, and are essential to progress through later Waves. It is important to identify where your minions of interest are, what they are wielding, steal their loot and stow them back at the Weapon Locker so they can be exploited forever. It is recommended to stow multiple RL-4 Salvos and Tri-Shots since they provide the most consistent damage. Mulchers are decent when Tri-Shots aren’t available, while the retrieval of Buzzkills and Cryo Cannons depend on the situation.

Upon picking up a Heavy Weapon, you will notice your Character is moving at a much slower pace than before. Their melee-attack becomes slower to perform as well. If the wielder wishes to switch Weapons, they must drop their Heavy Weapon on the ground first in order to do so. Attempting to switch to your Weapons, Pistols and Grenades will automatically force your Character to drop the Heavy Weapon in hand. Characters can still interact with objects such as Ammo Pickup and Energy Tap while wielding a Heavy Weapon.


While wielding a Grenade in hand, the user can attach it either on an enemy or a surface by pressing [Melee] Button. A Grenade stuck to a surface will now behave like proximity traps, and will detonate when an enemy is nearby.

When buying Grenades from the Fabricator, the number of Grenades you receive is based on your maximum Grenade capacity. Characters who are equipped with related Skill-Cards, such as Sarah Connor with “Grenade Capacity”, will benefit much more while spending the same amount of Power.

Please note that description for Grenades will have a different table-format.

Buzzkill is a Heavy Weapon suited for mid-range combat. Upon pulling the trigger, the Weapon launches a circular-saw that can bounce off walls. There is a short delay before firing subsequent saws at a faster output. Each saw does high damage, surpassing that of the Longshot. With the Buzzkill, you can inflict huge amounts of damage until the entire supply runs dry.

However, its wind-up time and movement penalty can be detrimental in close-range, and the projectile travel-time will challenge you if you attempt to use it at longer ranges. It also cannot critically hit enemies, meaning exploiting weak-spots is a no-go with the Buzzkill. Fired saws can bounce off and damage you if you do not aim the Weapon properly. Finally, it is the only Heavy Weapon that requires a reload, which is also slow, as expected from a Heavy Weapon.

Nevertheless, the Buzzkill still provides serious firepower to the team. While it can be tricky to land shots at range, and it is often replaced with the RL-4 Salvo and the Tri-Shot, it is still considered as a formidable Heavy Weapon.

Cryo Cannon is a Heavy Weapon designed for close-quarters crowd-control. It fires a stream of endothermic chemical that chills and eventually freezes enemies who have been exposed long enough. The time required to freeze a target depends on their Health, meaning tougher enemies will resist for much longer. Chilled combatants are slowed, but can still move and attack. Frozen enemies and players are entirely disabled, take much more damage than normal, and may be instantly killed by a melee attack. But the latter is not true for bigger opponents and Bosses. The biggest strength of this Weapon is that its cryo-beam also applies to Bosses. It is a very useful tool on the highest difficulties where beefier enemies cannot be shut down quickly, but the team still needs to somehow prevent them from overrunning the base entirely.

The Cryo Cannon is less useful in earlier Waves and especially on lower difficulties where enemies possess less Health and don’t demand heavy crowd-control. As a Heavy Weapon, its limited reach and movement penalty render it as a defensive tool rather than an offensive one. You can’t kill enemies only with the Cryo Cannon, so the Weapon also demands fire-support from your teammates. Certain enemies such as flying units cannot be chilled and frozen, and only take laughable damage instead. While its capacity is decent enough to freeze most infantries without venting, it is certainly not enough against larger targets such as Scions and Bosses.

It is generally a good idea to have at least 2 Cryo Cannons available at any time, so 2 of the 5 players can equip them and stop a dangerous opponent in its tracks immediately. “Gatekeeping”, camping behind high cover and freezing unwise enemies who attempt to pass through the base’s chokepoint is a good tactic with this Weapon.

The Mulcher is a standard mini-gun with respectable performance. It fires high-damaging rounds at an elevated output, and becomes more accurate when deployed from cover. The Mulcher, similar to other Heavy Weapons, gains heat over time while firing. While the heat itself doesn’t directly affect the Weapon’s attributes like the Tri-Shot, once the Weapon is overheated it will shut down, and you will have to start venting heat in order to enable it again. When compared to the Tri-Shot, it is more consistent in general and can sustain fire longer. And aside from the usual heat-management, the Weapon doesn’t have quirks that require special attention.

However, the biggest weakness of the Mulcher is that it cannot critically hit enemies even if you shoot them in their weak-spots, greatly limiting its overall firepower. The Tri-Shot’s deadly initiation means it also can end the fight much more quickly without taking major damage, rendering the Mulcher’s sustainability unimpressive. Furthermore, the Mulcher becomes very inaccurate and unstable when it is being used outside of cover, forcing the user to stay in cover and be stationary. It can be difficult to scavenge this Heavy Weapon, as Mulcher Scions are the only enemies who carry it.

Still, it is a reliable Heavy Weapon that doesn’t particularly demand caution, and can remain effective in most scenarios. When Tri-Shots are unavailable, this mini-gun can leverage the team’s overall firepower instead.

The RL-4 Salvo is a multi-fire rocket launcher that can easily mincemeat unfortunate enemies who are caught in the blast. In terms of damage, each rocket is equivalent of a Longshot bullet that explodes on impact; meaning you can swiftly dispatch tight groups of enemies. Getting a RL-4 Salvo is actually quite easy, as long as you are facing against DB faction.

While it’s truly a remarkable Heavy Weapon, it is somewhat held back by its inaccuracy and lack of reserve ammo. It will prove challenging to directly hit flying units or enemies behind cover, as the rockets tend to lose their initial mark and scatter around. Its shallow reserve-ammo also poses a problem; an entire magazine spent means your RL-4 Salvo is no longer available. Aim at enemies on lower ground while in cover, and you might harm yourself by striking your own cover as well; it is sometimes best to use this Weapon while out of cover to avoid self-damage, and this is often a bad idea in an intense firefight.

Still, the RL-4 Salvo is the go-to Heavy Weapon that warrants your victory, provided your team doesn’t forget to loot and stow it at the Weapon Locker regularly. Each RL-4 Salvo will significantly increase your chances of victory.

Tri-Shot is a mini-gun that can mow down anything with its sheer damage-output. When the Tri-Shot is cooled off, no other Weapons can outpace the Tri-Shot’s immense firepower. Its infinite range means this astounding damage-profile is kept at all situations. The Tri-Shot also gains stability when deployed from cover, increasing its accuracy and reducing recoil. Even a graze will stagger most infantries, making subsequent shots easier to land. It is also accurate, so headshots are very doable. For such a powerful Heavy Weapon, it is relatively easier to obtain, but only if you are facing against DB factions.

As you sustain fire, the Tri-Shot will accumulate heat. Reaching a higher heat-level considerably reduces its damage-per-shot and fire-rate, so you must maintain its heat as low as possible by frequently venting out heat; otherwise, its key strengths will quickly fade away. Its vertical recoil becomes noticeably stronger when you are firing it out of cover, forcing you to be stationary and become easy prey for enemy Snipers and such.

Despite its heat-management and immobility issues, the Tri-Shot is currently only matched by the RL-4 Salvo in terms of firepower. Bodies will hit the ground when a Tri-Shot is present on the battlefield. It definitely deserves to occupy multiple Weapon Locker slots and is considered mandatory when you are playing on higher Difficulties.

Flashbang is a non-lethal Grenade capable of stunning multiple enemies within its blast-radius. Stun effect will last around 7 seconds and can even stun bigger and robotic opponents such as Scions and DR-1s. Tagging infantries will yield inconsistent results; they will either go down immediately, or simply be stunned. Stunned infantries can be executed up close.

When players are stunned, they can only move and duck behind cover; they cannot aim, attack and interact with objects. They will also drop their Heavy Weapon if they were wielding it. Flashbangs can often be seen when fighting the Locust faction, and picking them up is never a bad choice.

While they cannot deal damage, they still remain as a valuable crowd-control option when the owner is in a pinch. Note that while Kait and Sarah Connor start with 2 Flashbangs, they cannot buy it at the Fabricator again; their options are replaced with the Incendiary Grenade and the Frag Grenade respectively.

Frag Grenade is a lethal Grenade that explodes after a short delay. The explosion does high damage and has some reach. When tagged, it does outstanding amounts of damage to the victim, highly rewarding the tagger for taking risks.

It is an all-around lethal Grenade that can stay relatively relevant in later Waves thanks to its high area-damage, especially when tagged. Tagging enemies with a Frag Grenade is a very dangerous move that is foolhardy to attempt on higher Difficulties, but nonetheless it is still worth noting.

The Incendiary is a lethal Grenade that creates a damaging field of fire upon impact. Unfortunate targets who are either directly hit by the Grenade or got tagged will take major damage. If tagged, it will explode after a short time rather than immediately, so the tagger can escape from the blast-radius.

However, residual damage from fire is not impressive, and requires a target to stay inside for the duration of the Grenade to take full damage. This can be used against Stumps who stay stationary once they are rooted.

As of now, only Kait has access to the Incendiary Grenade, and it cannot be found from any enemies. Its overall worthiness is questionable when considering its rarity, as its lethality is easily outmatched by the Frag Grenade and even the Shock Grenade.

Shock Grenade is another lethal Grenade that creates an electric field after a short time. While its initial damage is mediocre at best, its damage-over-time can be surprisingly effective if you can force the enemies to stay inside the area of effect. It is best paired with Decoys or Barriers to make the most of it, but otherwise it may disappoint you for most of the time. It can be commonly found when fighting against DB factions, so you could pick it up if your Grenade slot is empty; Shock Grenades are still much better than nothing.

While the Shock Grenades are mostly replaced with Flashbangs and Frag Grenades, they can still be effective when deployed in conjunction with Fortifications. Note that players who are taking damage from the field cannot aim, attack, interact and more importantly, revive.

The Smoke Grenade is a non-lethal Grenade that upon impact or tagging, creates a cloud of smoke that lasts for a short time. Enemies respect the obscurant, and will not target players who are inside or through the cloud. You could exploit this to break line-of-sight and run away or safely revive a teammate. Be more creative, and it allows you to stealthily capture an Energy Tap while in Combat Phase, or repair a critical Fortification unnoticed.

Tagging an enemy with a Smoke Grenade results in nothing, only creating the cloud as usual and potentially drawing a counter-attack. The cloud also prevents you from marking enemies through it. It is the rarest Grenade to obtain from enemies, since only the Elite Hunters carry it.

The Smoke Grenade is a situational tool that can be either very decisive, or entirely useless. Analyze the situation and try to think creatively before throwing the Smoke Grenade.

Fortifications are vital means to win later Waves and secure the final victory. While they look somewhat flimsy and unreliable at Level 1, as you upgrade them to offset the Poisons, you will find them effective and almost essential for your defenses. All Fortifications are valuable, but Shock Sentries are a low priority as they are situationally beneficial and require delicate positioning.

It has been frequently mentioned that only Engineer Characters can buy and upgrade every Fortification, possess a discount benefit, and a few Skill Cards that buff their Fortifications. This means that unless there are no Engineers on your team (which isn’t recommended), you need to deposit most of your Power so that the entire team can benefit from better defenses. And Engineers also should not waste their Power and refrain from buying unnecessary Fortifications for the moment.
For instance, on Inconceivable Horde and below, MG Sentries, Shock Sentries, Barriers and Decoys are generally not needed in Wave 1~10 where manpower is sufficient and your base location has not been permanently determined.

Fortifications count as player damage done, and the player who bought them will be considered as contributors. Thus, it is not uncommon to see Engineer players prioritizing MG Sentries first, and seizing MVP in later Waves.

And finally, all Fortifications can draw enemy attention, not just Decoys. So it is important to place non-combat Fortifications in safe locations.
Below is the basic statistical table for all Fortifications.

Fortification Image

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

Barriers greatly slow down and inflict minor damage to enemies who attempt to cross through. Upgrading improves their damage and durability, and Level 3 Barriers can prevent enemies from passing through.

Low-Level Barriers let you flank Rejects who are stuck inside, while High-Level Barriers do considerably more damage and can actually kill most infantries on their own in earlier Waves.
Barriers serve as your first line of defense and buy your team valuable time before enemies overrun your base. They are also cheap to purchase and upgrade, so some Engineers prefer to deploy them in early Waves. Barriers are especially important against groups of melee-attackers who try to overwhelm you with their numbers and high Health.

However, even though the potential damage Barriers can inflict is considerable, they are still less lethal than Sentries and thus should be positioned defensively to block entrances and vault-able locations. And Barriers are next to useless against Pouncers, ranged enemies and flying targets. Finally, high-Level Barriers take a long time to repair, demanding Engineers to bring a repair-speed Skill Card to alleviate this issue.

Note that laser grid of Level 3~4 Barriers are automatically disabled when players are nearby, potentially giving enemies a chance to slip through. They also now draw enemy attacks, so watch their Health-bar regularly.

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

Decoys draw enemy attention and absorb damage until they are destroyed. Upgrading improves their Maximum Health. Level 4 Decoys also explode when they are destroyed, but you generally never want to rely on this explosive destruction as rebuilding them sets your team back.

Decoys allow you to bait enemies into a disadvantageous location, and more importantly, take damage for your team so all players can spend less time regenerating their Health and more time gunning down targets. Players will definitely notice the difference when a Decoy is effectively deployed, and when it is finally gone. They are also very useful when attempting to execute Rejects from behind.

Decoys serve as your first or second line of defense, depending on their location. Do note that enemies will still go after players if they don’t have line-of-sight to the Decoys or players are simply too close to them. It is a good practice to place the Decoys close to cover, so Engineers can safely repair them while in combat.

Note that high-Level Decoys take a long time to repair, demanding Engineers to bring a repair-speed Skill Card to alleviate this issue. Repairing Decoy should be one of your highest priority during Prep Phase, as you will likely take collateral damage while repairing it during Combat Phase.

Decoys are essential in Master difficulty where enemies cannot be easily dispatched and do far more damage, yet players and their base aren’t well-equipped and prepared to deal with them.

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

Forge allows players to dismantle (or smelt) their Weapon currently in hand to gain Power for the entire team.

Jack is nigh mandatory for smelting job; his mobility is unmatched, his cloak lets him loot the battlefield with safety, and most importantly, is offered with a Skill Card “Optimizer” that significantly increases Power gain from smelting. Also, Jack doesn’t have Weapon slots to manage in the first place, so he can smelt loot with less concern.

Smelting at Level 1 Forge generates at least 20 Power to each player in a match, while Level 4 Forge grants 120 Power. This implies that securing a Forge early will pay dividends, and it loses its merit the lesser the player-count.

Forge is the most difficult to acquire and upgrade as its costs are the most expensive amongst all Fortifications. However, its long-term benefits heavily outweigh the opportunity costs. Never let the enemies destroy the Forge, or it will set the team back considerably. This means repairing the Forge is top-priority and overrides any other duties except revives.

In all situations, your team will never need more than 1 Forge. Buying another Forge only allows you to smelt at another location.

As a side note, you cannot smelt Pistols and Grenades.

Don’t ever buy another Forge.

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

MG Sentry is a Fortification built for firepower. It automatically targets an enemy within range and fires numerous lead upon it. Upgrades increase its firepower, range and sustainability. The number on its ammo storage indicates their current Level. MG Sentries cannot friendly-fire.

MG Sentries even at Level 3 aren’t terribly powerful on their own, and they must be fully upgraded in order to be truly considered as an additional player. They also don’t have enough stopping-power to repel a rushing attacker; combine with either a Decoy or a Barrier so enemies can’t just run past the MG Sentries.

It is also recommended to place a MG Sentry for each entrance guarded by players, since its targeting AI is not smart enough and will keep firing upon an enemy shielded by a Bastion. They will often need a helping hand from players to prevent wasting ammo.

Since MG Sentries are bulky and their bullets can be blocked by objects, a defensive location already crammed with Barriers, Weapon Lockers, Energy Taps and cover may not provide an effective position for a new MG Sentry.

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

Shock Sentry is Fortification built for ranged crowd-control. It automatically targets an enemy within range and fires electricity upon it, stunning them for short duration. Upgrades increase its firepower, range and sustainability. Shock Sentries cannot friendly-fire.

Compared to MG Sentries, Shock Sentries do far less damage, fire-rate is slower, their ammo capacity is limited, and their angle is more narrow. But they have superior range and the ability to stun bigger opponents, rendering them suitable for guarding long corridors.

Shock Sentries are rarely seen, since their niche is overshadowed by the benefits of Decoys and Barriers. Some players also believe that killing an opponent outright with MG Sentries is far better than just stunning them. Since their fire-rate is slow and can only stop one enemy at a time, they can be easily overrun without the aid from Decoys and Barriers. Shock Sentries also cannot hold many shots and require a regular resupply, Their effectiveness is heavily dependent on map layout, and their situational advantage is mostly not enough to justify its somewhat pricey cost. Thus, they are usually purchased in later Waves where the base has finally been settled and players are starting to feel comfortable.

When placed by a smart Engineer, they can effectively serve as a frontline Barrier which you don’t have to take risks and repair while in Combat Phase. Their long-range capabilities are also great against Snipers, Hunters, Deadeyes and Sentinels. Professional players still purchase Shock Sentries for this reason.

(※ Values above Image affected by Penalties, Modifiers and Skill Cards)

Weapon Locker is a non-combat Fortification that slowly regenerates ammo for stowed weaponry. Each upgrade boosts its durability and more importantly provides an additional slot for storage.

Weapon Locker is an additional, reliable method for getting ammo for Weapons and Heavy Weapons. These Lockers are a common sight and always in demand, as they continuously resupply ammo for popular Heavy Weapons such as the Tri-Shot and the RL-4 Salvo. When it comes to stowing non-Heavy Weapons, Lancer GLs and Boomshots are good candidates.

It is recommended to build at least 1 Weapon Locker before Wave 5 arrives, so the players can start stealing and stowing Heavy Weapons. Engineers should also aim to have at least 3 Weapon Lockers, so players who aren’t playing as main Engineer and Support can stow their Heavy Weapons of choices and wreak havoc in combat.

Note that you cannot stow Pistols and Grenades in Weapon Lockers.

In Chapter 1, it is mentioned that this guide will provide crucial knowledge for any Engineer players who wish to improve their personal skills, knowledge and overall gameplay. This Chapter will focus on introducing small tips and bigger strategies that once correctly deployed, will prove decisive for your team.

This whole Chapter assumes you are playing as an Engineer Character, especially Del.

Since Engineers tend to be leaders and strategists who design their defenses and ultimately determine the team’s fate, it is not a bad idea to host your own lobby, create an atmosphere that suits you, and have more control over other players. You can also change the name of your lobby to filter unprepared players, and kick players that deem untrustworthy for the match; but note that you cannot kick players while in a match.

One additional advantage of being the host is that you get a head start upon spawning in Wave 0; the host always spawns at the foremost position. This allows you to get to the Fabricator first, and not let a lone-wolf player place the Fabricator on a whim.

Unlike the others, the host can also pause the entire match when they press [Escape] Button on PC. This can be useful if you, as an Engineer, really need to think about the current situation, or someone has to deal with an unexpected real-life problem. Of course, you should probably notify the others before using this feature, otherwise they might get irritated by your frequent pauses.

Be a player that everyone likes to play with.

Voice-chat is an important tool that will drastically strengthen your presence on your team. A mere message on the text-chat tends to get ignored in a heated gunfight, but it is nearly impossible to not hear a player’s voice.

Voice-chat is beneficial for hosts, and crucial for Engineers. Hosts can solidify their authority and create an atmosphere that they prefer with voice-chat. Meanwhile, Engineers are planners and tend to think a lot about building their defenses. Considering that humans aren’t capable of mind-reading, everyone will appreciate it if their Engineer is vocal and frequently shares the plan with them.

At all situations, repair efficiency is vital to repair high-Level Fortifications. Without it, you will be stuck forever repairing them in Combat Phase, and you cannot perform certain strategies such as Decoy Stalling.

It is generally a good idea to select Skill Cards that universally affect all Fortifications rather than a single one. Every Fortification possesses Maximum Health and Cost values, but only a handful can do damage and reload Weapons.

Increasing durability of your Fortifications is nigh essential to prevent destruction and potential setback. Durability is especially important for Decoys, Barriers and Forge; the formers can stall enemies for much longer, while accidentally losing a Forge will heavily punish the team.

Carrying a Skill Card that boosts your survivability or provides Stim is also a nice choice, since you will be often repairing Fortifications in the frontline where enemies are swarming. But picking more than one will make your Fortifications less desirable.

Unfortunately, you will have to forgo Skill Cards which increase personal firepower; Engineers don’t really shine in combat scenarios in the first place, and teammates and Fortifications will be doing the heavy lifting for you. This is a part of the price you have to pay for getting all the Power from your teammates.

Depositing even a little will make your Engineer happy, and will also help you in the future.

Teammates depositing their Power at the Fabricator is essential for setting up your team’s Power and Ammo economy.

Most players who are either pressured by a new Difficulty setting, or have already accumulated enough experience tend to act selflessly and deposit their Power. However, there will ALWAYS be a single person that act selfishly and spend Power to meet their needs. It is up to the host and their teammates to encourage donation and stop people from spending personally.

If no one calls them out, distrust and conflict will start growing between players, which is detrimental to your chances of success. It is better for you to speak up first, as uncooperative players may bring up excuses such as “But you didn’t ask me to do so” when they are being blamed upon. But don’t be too hostile, as it will likely cause unnecessary arguments.

Do gently mention this before starting the game, and if already in a match, try to resolve this as fast as possible. Since if teamwork is unlikely to happen, your team will have to abandon the match and return to the lobby to remove problematic players. Resetting the entire progress isn’t fun for everyone.

However, these don’t mean that only Engineers should have all the fun. it is still recommended to periodically purchase certain Character Upgrades such as Movement Speed, Repair Cost and Weapon Damage. However, non-Engineer players will have to select 1 option for a full upgrade, and forgo the rest for better Fortifications.

Prioritize securing these first.

When playing on Inconceivable or below, the author attempts to obtain Fortifications in the following order;

1) Forge Level 1 : Squeezing out the Forge early allows Jack to turn uninteresting loots into additional Power.
2) Weapon Locker Level 2 : This allows one of the three Combatants to stow one Weapon for ammo, while the other two can collect Ammo Pickups from the ground. Level 2 allows to stow a Heavy Weapon should the team happen to find one around Wave 5.
3) Forge Level 2 : Increasing the efficiency of the Forge allows the team to accumulate Power for Weapon Locker and Forge upgrades.

4) Weapon Locker Level 4 : By the time you upgrade the Forge, Heavy Weapons become a common sight. It is important to expand the number of Locker Slots to 4 as fast as possible, so your team can store more Heavy Weapons and have a fighting chance against the first Boss.
5) Forge Level 4 : A capable team can handle Wave 10 and below just fine without MG Sentries, Shock Sentries, Barriers and Decoys. Not building a lot of Fortifications also makes it far easier to relocate your base after Wave 10. Thus, it is recommended to focus on getting the final upgrade for the Forge instead.
6) 2x Decoy Level 2, 2nd Weapon Locker Level 4 : After relocating your base at Wave 11, it is time to start building basic defenses. The author attempts to cover 3~4 entrances with 2 Decoys first, so the team can spend less time recovering lost Health and more time doing damage. The author also favors Heavy Weapons over MG Sentries in most cases, so the team builds the second Weapon Locker for eliminating the ammo-resupply issue and storing more Heavy Weapons.

7) 2x Decoy Level 4 : Fully upgrading the Decoys’ Maximum Health naturally decreases their chances of destruction.
8) 2x MG Sentry Level 2 : Basic MG Sentries behind Decoys will naturally finish off any enemies who are surrounding the Decoys, decreasing the damage Decoys take.
9) Multiple Barriers Level 3 : 3~4 Barriers at Level 3 are sufficient to block 2 entrances, and will increase lifetime of the Decoys.
10) 3rd Weapon Locker Level 4 : Having 3 Weapon Lockers allows all Combatants to place each individual Locker wherever they want, and fill the Lockers with their Weapons of choices.

After this, the author modifies, upgrades, or adds defenses depending on the situation and where a new Energy Tap appears. This order doesn’t always stay the same, as the team’s ability to handle a certain map on a certain Difficulty changes every time. However, one thing remains the same; getting the Forge and the first Weapon Locker fully upgraded as soon as possible.

And finally, when playing on Master Difficulty, consider buying at least a Level 1 Decoy at Wave 1, and add 2~3 Level 1 Barriers at chokepoints soon. Enemies die hard and hurt badly; they can easily dislodge even the most prepared teams around Wave 5. On Master, your teammates might need something that can divert their deadly attention and slow them down in the earliest Waves. Of course, Level 1 Fortifications are fragile, and your highest priority will be repairing them to prevent destruction.

This is a question that often appears in Tower Defense genre, where a player can upgrade their Towers to repel incoming attackers easily.
In short, in most cases, Quality is more important for many reasons :

1) Preventing Destruction of Fortification
- This has already been repeated multiple times; you never, NEVER want your Fortifications to be destroyed. Rebuilding Fortification costs Power, and this can be a serious detriment to your ongoing strategy. Increasing the damage threshold a Fortification can take significantly reduces the chances of destruction.
You don’t want to see yellow silhouettes, at all.

2) Lowering Stress from Repair Management
- Covering a few routes by having many low-Level Fortifications may make an Engineer feel happy and safe at first. Soon, you will find that each one will require a lot of attention as their low Health and shallow ammo capacity require more care and frequent resupply.

3) Less Space-Occupation
Fortifications will crowd your base over time.
- Decoys, Forge, MG Sentries, Shock Sentries and Weapon Lockers occupy space; while not a concern when less in numbers, cramming too much in an area will make navigating more difficult. This can often even be a cause of death for your teammates.

4) Significant Upgrade Benefits
- Each upgrade greatly improves a Fortification, potentially offsetting a 50% Poison effect. Acquiring specific Level for a Fortification also offers unique functionality and more positional flexibility (range and angle) as well.

5) Base Relocation
- If your team is still at or below Wave 10, it might be best to avoid purchasing 6 or more Fortifications, as your base has not been permanently decided yet and your team may have to relocate to the other end of the map. Moving a Fortification takes considerable time, and you will be very vulnerable while doing so in Combat Phase.


Weapon Locker is the only case where quantity may be more beneficial. Since each Combatant may be defending different locations, and the difference between initial construction cost and upgrade cost is relatively low (500), buying multiple Weapon Lockers first, placing them at key locations and upgrading them later may prove more convenient for Combatants. This can actually become a very viable strategy, IF Del player also brings “Efficient Fabrication” Skill Card that provides a high discount for buying Level 1 Fortifications.

Again, prioritize repairing them first.

As an Engineer, you will be doing a lot of repairs throughout the match to keep them up and running and prevent destruction. Every Fortification requires regular care, but some will demand more attention, especially non-combat Fortifications, which are the cornerstones of your Power and ammo economy.

This is the maintenance-priority recommended by the author :

1) Repairing Forge : Destruction and re-purchase of the Forge will seriously set your team back. Since the Forge takes minimal damage when placed safely, it won’t frequently call you for help as long as enemies don’t overrun the base. But if something hits the fan, guarding your Forge is one of your biggest concerns.

2) Repairing Energy Tap : Destruction of the Energy Tap removes any Power stored inside, resets its upgrade progression and restarts the lengthy procedure of capturing. As the team cannot solely rely on Jack for Power generation, keeping the Energy Tap safe is also your key concern.

3) Repairing Weapon Locker : While the Weapon Locker takes relatively less damage than others in general, they hold critical weaponry for your Combatants; permanently losing them will heavily hit your team’s killing-power, which is a huge factor in later Waves.

4) Repairing Barriers and Decoys : Barriers and Decoys will take the most flak and require you to keep an eye on them. This is the task that actually takes the biggest portion of your time.

5) Repairing and Reloading Sentries : Sentries generally stay at the back ranks, so their health-loss isn’t as critical as other Fortifications. They go inactive when there is no ammo available. Inactivity is not good by any means, but as long as a Barrier, a Decoy, or a player is guarding an entrance, they can wait.

How you set up your defenses is highly dependent on the characteristics of a map and Energy Tap locations. Please note that the suggestions below cannot be applied to all situations, and may also differ based on the team’s ability and Power economy as well.

The screenshot above is a traditional way of building your defenses.

- All Fortifications are deployed to guard the Energy Tap nearby.
- Decoy is placed where enemies must see it first in order to approach the base, naturally directing their ranged firepower to a wrong target.
- Level 3 Barriers are placed around the Decoy, so they can absorb melee damage from intruders for the Decoy.
- MG Sentry is deployed where it can target the melee attackers, preventing them from damaging the Barriers too much. It will also block enemy fire that comes from the right flank for the Energy Tap.
- Combatants can access the Weapon Locker to dispatch enemies who are swarming the Barriers and the Decoy.


- Forcing the enemies to see Decoys first, is again, a very effective way of drawing their fire away from your team.
- The Decoy is also receiving protection from low cover, potentially reducing the amount of damage it takes.


- Note that 2 Combatants in above image have their personal Weapon Locker (left and right) nearby. This allows them to spend less time moving and more time shooting.


- Sometimes, a traditional defense can be difficult to built, especially if an Energy Tap appears at the center of the map; this allows enemies to assault from all sides.
- You may have to conceal an exposed Energy Tap by body-blocking it with MG Sentries and redirecting enemy fire to nearby Decoys (not seen in the screenshot). Less important entrances can be guarded by Level 3+ Barriers or Combatants instead.


- This setting exploits the fact that Level 1~2 Barriers don’t draw enemy attention, and thus can minimize the damage that Level 3~4 Barriers will take.
- MG Sentries and Shock Sentries (not seen in the screenshot) can easily take down enemies who are stuck at a Level 2 Barrier. Even if they happen to escape from it, they will now have to deal with more lethal and sturdier Barriers.
- MG Sentries and Shock Sentries will also spend less time rotating, thanks to multiple Barriers locking down a chokepoint.
- It is still a good idea to leave a Decoy if a player is guarding the entrance, or for in cases where Pouncers and flying units bypass the Barriers.

Combat Phase does not end until either all enemies or all players are killed. Players can exploit this rule to down the last enemy and let it bleed out while they buy time for repairs, looting and smelting.

This is important in later Waves where Engineers are loaded with repair tasks and often have too much on their plate, 30 seconds of Prep Phase simply become insufficient. Stalling also allows Support to smelt more Weapons as well. Some patience from Combatants can really help their Engineer and their Support.

Decoy / Barrier Stalling is a simple and straightforward tactic; repairing a Decoy or a Barrier that is being heavily focused by melee-attackers.

While this might not look creative or interesting for some Engineers, it actually demands a constant Stim-supply or dedicated healing from Support to perform this at frontline. It is effective against melee units such as Rejects, Grenadiers, Sires, and especially Wardens.

This can be quite useful if your Combatants and Support have to fight a Boss while your defenses need to fend crowds off on their own. You can force enemies to target a Barrier that is almost invincible, and buy time for your allies to finish the Boss.

Note that you cannot repair if you and the Fabricator do not have any Power at all. This means that you can’t do this forever, and will eventually have to request for help from your teammates.

Low covers are vault-able by not just players, but also enemies. This is something newer Engineers are not aware of, and enemies can exploit this to bypass your defense and deliver a nasty surprise.

The upper barrier in the screenshot is placed in front of a low cover (barricade). Since it is a Level 4 Barrier, enemies cannot pass through the Barrier and vault the barricade to slip through the defense. They will rather target the Decoy, or attack the Barrier instead.

You can also place a Decoy behind such cover, preventing the enemies from vaulting over.

Just like the Fabricator, Fortifications are disabled when they are colliding or overlapping with the environment. However, this can be exploited to prevent them from taking damage.

This is especially important against specific Bosses, namely the Matriarch. Since they have the ability to instantly destroy any Fortifications with just a single attack, they can easily bankrupt a team and potentially cause an unrecoverable situation.

Note that the Fabricator is immune to damage, and thus do not require such method.

If your team is capable, your base will stabilize and only require maintenance around Wave 35 and above. Adding Fortifications is okay but note that you will be more busy repairing and reloading Fortifications, which leads to less time spent on your frontline.

I highly recommend stockpiling at least 30,000 Power in Wave 40+, since there is no guarantee that your teammates won’t make a major mistake and enemies manage to take advantage of this, overrunning your base.
In the #1 Video Example recorded on Master Difficulty, one of the teammates made a crucial mistake that cost the team around 20,000 Power. The responsible teammate concealed what exactly happened, but I suspect that he or she lost Level 4 Forge by the enemies and had to rebuild it.

Whatever the truth was, the point here is that even the most skilled players will trip from time to time, and having some extra buffer is never a bad idea for situations like those.
When you are hoarding more than enough, it could be a good idea to build an “emergency base” so your teammates have somewhere safe to fall back.

Video Examples are provided to show how theories written in this guide can hold up in practice, especially in Pick-up Group matches. The latest video, #1, was recorded on 21/09/2019.

Unfortunately, the currently uploaded videos include some players who actively exploit bugs and unintended mechanics of the game (such as Duplicate Characters, Infinite & Numerous Ultimates, Weapon Reproduction and et cetera). Since hosts lose the option to kick players, playing with such players was unavoidable on public matches.

The author apologizes for the inconvenience and will attempt to provide videos with much better quality in the future.

Rather than regarding the video examples as how Horde matches should be played, the author recommends to focus more on how an Engineer player should behave and help their teammates.

This match is done with 4 random players, no friends.

The early sections of the match didn’t go exactly well, since some players were not content with JD player’s ability to handle enemies in general. In addition, most players were lacking Bleed-related Skill Cards, which are considered essential to defeat higher Difficulties.

Kait player left the lobby, making the game more difficult to manage and spoiling the mood.

The team eventually stood victorious after Wave 50. While the author is not entirely content about the overall flow of the match, it still provides a good example of handling early Waves where the odds are entirely against the team.

This match is done with 4 random players, no friends. More Health Modifier was disabled.

The author and JD player had some hiccups about placing the Fortifications at the west side of the map. And since they were presumably a Chinese player, the communication didn’t go smoothly. Nevertheless, the team still won the match.

This match is done with 3 random players and 1 friend. More Health Modifier was disabled.

Please note that due to a recording error, the author’s voice is missing in the video but the team had actually been listening to the author for the entire duration of the match.

If there are missing or wrong details that need to be addressed, please let the author know about your thoughts by leaving a comment.

Thank you for reading! The author sincerely hopes that you will now have a better time playing Horde.