What's Up TTG I decided I'd post something for players new to the Gears of War Series to understand the series a little better.


Gears Of War Guide

Welcome to my guide on how to be a smart gears of war player. This will teach you
-Basic Rules
-Weapons
-So much other stuff

AN INTRO TO GEARS OF WAR
Gears of War is easily one of the hardest competitive multiplayer games ever made. From the outside it just looks like brutal mindless carnage, but inside the game, is an elaborate and never ending chess battle. I know what youre thinking. Chess? Yes. Its all about guessing what your opponent will do next. Where will he roll? What cover will he take? Its easily one of the most surprisingly strategic games out there. Yea, sometimes even perfect moves will fall victim to lag and host advantage, but 95% of the time, people who keep cool and play smart will dominate the match. The most important thing I can tell you about Gears of War if youre new to the series: Keep cool, youre going to die a lot, I mean A LOT, and in awful ways. Keep your cool and learn what your doing wrong.


WEAPONS:
Assault Rifles: In Gears of War, there are 3 assault rifles. The Lancer, the Hammerburst, and soon to be Retro Lancer. This guide in most aspects will refer to gears of war 2 and a new guide will be written upon ICY x Fl0ws experiences in Gears 3. To start off with, when you play the Gears of War series, you will quickly notice that most everyone uses their shotgun for most of the game. Dont give into peer pressure and think that the shotgun is the only way to get kills and good at the game. A steady Lancer is more than enough to get you a safe distanced kill. I will show key points on each rifle.
LANCER- USING- While using the lancer, it is for medium to short range combat, with very decent accuracy, only bettered by a steady paced Hammerburst. While using it, aim for the bulk of the body. The lancer will not get headshots so your wasting the bullets that youll miss tiny gears of war heads with. Shooting a person rushing you in the body will stop them in their tracks and down them. I recommend the lancer for warzone and guardian, so you can take out your downs from a distance.
AGAINST THE LANCER: My first rule against playing against is a lancer is dont rush them. The lancer has insane stopping power and will slow your character down by 2x. It also has a very large clip so they will keep spamming you with it. The best advice against a lancer is to sit back in cover, and use either grenades to flush them out or if you have a power weapon (longshot, boomshot, torque, etc.) or even well placed hammerburst headshots. Another problem rushing them is their chainsaw bayonet.

HAMMERBURST- USING- To use the hammerburst, a decent triggerfinger is recommended, or if you dont have one, steady well placed shots. The hammerburst is a long to mid range weapon, and in some hands an effective close range gun too. My advice for shot pacing is quite slow steady shots at long range and fast trigger finger shots from mid to close range. Headshots are possible with the hammerburst and if your comfortable with your aim I recommend this.
AGAINST THE HAMMERBURST- The first step is to see how effective the other players trigger finger is. Pop up for just a second and see how fast they can shoot. If its average, its quite possible to rush with a gnasher or lancer. If they are fast, either use smoke, lancer them if your close enough, or if they are picking you off from long range, simply run away.

RETRO LANCER- USING- Unfortunately, this section will be short due to ICY x Fl0ws short term use of this gun in the beta. The retro lancer is mainly a short range gun, basically the counter to rushers with a gnasher, and especially sawed off. When youre getting rushed, simply hipfire the retro, do not even aim, because the aim has too much recoil and aim is awful. Spraying down a rusher will down them in an instant. AS far as the bayonet, I recommend only getting people who dont know youre coming.
AGAINST THE RETRO LANCER- The retro has awful aim and range. The easiest thing in the world to do is simply stay away from it at close ranges. This will be very hard for people who rush or accustom to call of duty, but trust me, back off, and get them from a distance with any other gun (besides shotguns obviously) When getting rushed by bayonet charge, either roll the to the side and popshot them with your shotgun. DO NOT try to line up the shot while theyre coming towards you. Another useful tip is if you have the lancer, the chainsaw bayonet always beats the retro charge according to Epic Games Forums.


SOME BASIC INFO
-Right hand advantage is what a lot of players use to their advantage. All characters in gears of war are right handed. This means there weapon is on the right side. When you hide behind cover, try to stay to the right side, so you can get full range while still keeping your body covered by the cover. Most players with right hand advantage will win shotgun duels.

-Do not be too aggressive, it will get you lancered down or you will rush right into grenade tagged spots. Also dont be too passive, because someone WILL come up behind you and kill you in an annoying way, unfortunately thats just how the game is played. If you play stupid, veterans will make you pay and tear you apart.


SHOTGUN PLAY
AHH. Here we are in the bread and butter of gears of war. More than once a match you will be involved in a shotgun duel with atleast one other player at a time. Im going to first put some pointers down in bullet points.
-NEVER roll towards the player. It will get you killed.
-Pay attention to right hand advantage and keep it as long as possible.
-If they are close to you, popshot until you are comfortable with blindfiring, which is even more effective at close range. When at mid-semi close range, popshot or hardscope with the shotgun.
-Dont reload unless youre out in your mag. Too many players reload when they dont have to and get shot up.
-When on the same corner, blindfire. If they get the blindfire in first and miss it, roll away, for they will NOT usually miss the next time. I recommend rolling sideways as its harder to follow with gears lowish sensitivity.

SHOTGUN SCENARIOS
This will all run through the mind of a good player while in a shotgun fight. Keep track of all the pros and cons to each move.
ON SAME PIECE OF VERTICAL COVER
I mean vertical cover as in a small piece over cover where your character is hunched over. In Gears 3 this will play out slightly different with the new mantle kick technique, but this will mainly focus on gears 1 and 2 principles.
YOUR MOVE: Pop up to shoot his hunched back for the oneshot
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: He will blindfire and kill you instantly
TIP: Only perform this over technique if you know they are reloading or swapping weapons.
THEIR MOVE: They move to left/right side of that cover piece.
YOUR MOVE: Mirror their movements. Never move opposite directions.
IF YOU DONT MIRROR: they have a clear shot at you from your side faced towards them.
(You are still on left/rightmost side on cover with them)
IF THEY: quickly tear away from the cover TOWARDS YOU.
YOU: Blindfire or SWAT TURN (tapping up, A, and blindfire) will earn you a single shot kill.
IF THEY: Roll sideways into the open.
YOU: wait just the smallest instant, if they come back towards you, roll away in the same direction and get their side or back
IF THEY: Roll away from you
YOU: Stand up and chip away with them with gnasher or if possible get out your rifle for an easy down.

That was just one scenario, but you should understand now what you should be thinking. Gears of War is a thinking game.

MORE SHOTGUN TIPS
-Never roll too much, I cant stress this enough. In mid range shotgun fights, basically whoever gets the first shot in gets the down eventually. When you roll, it gives them a free shot, and if they connect its just more damage on you. Also, when rolling, you cant shoot, so youre really screwing yourself over. Only rule to flank them or get away completely.
-I in No WAY support this next technique and am quite happy it wont work as well in Gears 3. Two piecing. Basically rolling up, meleeing, and while theyre stunned, shotgun them. Easy, fast, and effective. However, veteran players DO know how to counter this easily.
-Aim for the body, not a headshot to brag to your friends about. More mass=more bullets hitting them. Take an easy unclean kill over a hard stylish one. If you ever get into gamebattles in this game, that flashy-ness will get you killed.

TEAMWORK
One of the best things about Gears of War is well, its not Call of Duty. Theres no Rambos going off by themselves being douche bags. Gears is 95% of the time, teamwork or die. You will find this game much easier with people your comfortable with and can easily communicate with. Even if you arent the best player, playing as a team will make you ultimately win. Organize map strats and plans if you want. If you want to be a killwhore, atleast bring your best friend with you to watch your back. On a side note, as an honor gears player, I find it VERY annoying when random kids steal your kills. So please, make the game a better place and call your downs, and respect peoples calls.
TEAMWORK OUTNUMBERED
Something else I recommend is when you and a friend or friends are outnumbered, dont worry about steal killing. One person should lancer down the all the downed enemies (with the exception of execution) I know that from experience, it works very well. If its just you, have your friends call out positions from ghost cam.
OUTNUMBERED ALONE
If you are outnumbered in Team Deathmatch, Guardian, Warzone, Etc., dont worry. First off, DO NOT CAMP. Just hiding will just get you gangbanged by all the other team. If possible, string one of them out at a time, work your way down the line of victims so to speak. Dont move around too much, and dont just rely on your shotgun, unless its large numbers in CQB. If you down an enemy and see another one coming from directly in front of you, meatshield the downed player. keep him facing the incoming enemy. If the other enemy somehow gets behind you, hit the left arrow on your dpad, it will automatically drop the meat shield and have your shotgun out, without wasting precious seconds with the meatsnap animation. If they are behind you, I recommend hitting the left arrow then roll back and hope you land behind them to get the body shot. If you manage to down the enemy while still having your old meatshield, drop it and pick up the new guy. Also, even though its sometimes controversial, use wall bouncing. Wall bouncing is basically tapping a to slide in cover but rapidly doing so onto different pieces of cover in order to get yourself in a better position on the enemy. Best positions are
-Left Side
-Back
Also, dont forget the right hand advantage, defend a small room or chamber using the right hand advantage.

POWER WEAPONS
We all know power weapons. Mortars, Mulchers, Boomshots, Scorchers, Torque Bows, Longshots, Hammer of Dawn, and soon to be the Digger and Oneshot. You get the point. Basically anything you pick up from the map excluding grenades and pistols are power weapons, and vital to winning a match. I will provide some points for each power weapon.
MUlcher- Only recommended in a room with only 1 entrance, and even in that, youre an easy target for a lancer or hammerburst. Dont try to just rush a mulcher and run with it, you cant run, so youll get gunned right down.
Mortar-Takes a little bit of practice, but really leaves you a sitting duck, even after you shoot it. Only thing I can say is practice, even hipfire mortars because believe it or not, they can save your life
Boomshot-Probably my least favorite, mostly because its pretty much the only gun I cant use. I have been told at mid range you aim at the body and long range you aim at the feet. I would recommend playing with bots using the boomshot to get used to its arc.
Longshot- Ahh, one of my favorites. Always take a quick shot over a 20 second hardscope. Gears of war is much faster than cod, and theyll roll or roadie run right away. If they are running away from you, aim for the right shoulder blade, because in gears of war your head is on the left side of the player. on the same note, if they are running toward you, aim a little right because it will catch them mid run. Practice with bots because they dont roll too much, but when you think you are ready, pick it up on live and get going. The same head side principal applies to when they are rolling as well, its just harder to hit until you get used to it. Another slightly noobish technique but effective is to melee then blindfire for an instant down.
Torque Bow- Different people vary on this weapon. Many people also charge it for too long. Count to 2 or 3 and then youll get the kill with it. Similar to the gnasher, go for body, not just the sick headshot, youre playing for kills, not style. Personally, I find it easier to charge it by my hip then sort of quickscope the enemy. Some people are better at aiming then blindfiring. Like most power weapons, practice a couple times with bots to see which shooting method best fits you.
Scorcher-Another one of my personally iffy guns, but I atleast know how to use it effectively. The best use Ive seen for it is blindfiring around a corner with it to flush out enemies. The scorcher is honestly 50/50 if youre getting rushed by a veteran from in front of you.
Hammer of Dawn- Id recommend to know what areas of the map are the most crowded and used, and just randomly point the hammer laser over there to get a lot of random kills. Never use this at close range, it will hardly ever warm up in time, and If it does, it often kills yourself as well.
Digger-New in gears of war 3, and quite effective in the right hands. My first tip: dont aim, the aimer is a weird torque bow aimer. Another tip is dont try to snipe people with it, its really close to mid range. Ending the beta with around 35 kills with it, I have a good understanding of how to use it. Shoot it under mass amounts of cover, so the enemy doesnt see the big trail the digger makes coming towards you.
OneShot- Didnt use this one too much in the beta. All I can really tell you is, if youre getting rushed, completely disregard this weapon. But the oneshot is quite effective at long range and you can get collaterals with it.

ANTI-DOUCHEBAG LESSONS
Nobody likes douchebags in gears of war, the problem? Theyre everywhere. If you have to be a douche in this game, atleast read this section and warning.
-Dont play with your food- If you down someone, dont pretend to hump them etc., half the time you will have someone come up behind you and chainsaw or shotgun you, and the thing is, youll deserve it.
-Dont Steal Kills- Unless the person who got the down is occupied or dead, leave their downs alone.
-Weapon Griefing- If you cant use a gun, dont pick it up. Too many times Ive seen noobies rushing the longshot thinking its going to be as easy as an Intervention from CoD. Please, leave it for a veteran who can actually get some headshots or atleast downs with it.
-Dont Rage Quit- Gears of War is a team game, just because youre getting hammered by a douche with a sawed off doesnt mean you can just rage quit and leave your team in an even worst position with a bot (even though gow3 bots are much better than previous)
-Dont Be A Shitty Leader- If youre a leader for Guardian or Capture the Leader, please do not rush and get yourself killed. It makes everyone on your team pissed and will most likely cost you the round win.
Final Words
As you can see, Gears of War is a very challenging game, and is a far cry from youre precious little CoD games. If you die, you either wait 14 seconds or dont respawn at all. You pay for stupid moves, you cant just respawn and pretend nothing happened. Players in Gears are brutal. They will rub it in and send you private messages. Keep your cool, play smart, and theyll leave you alone. Know the maps, know the weapons inside and out. There is no sympathy in gears of war. Its an easy game to rage at, hell, getting your arm ripped of and beaten with it will make anyone yell. Play Smart, Play Hard, and follow this guide, it will help you, Ive played this series my whole life. And its not like Im saying Im the perfect Gears player. Im not. I know exactly how to play and what to do, its just the process of learning what you did wrong and how to fix it the fastest and prevent it. Bullshit will happen in this game, but its up to you about the rest.

If you have any questions, message ICY x Fl0w on xbox, message our youtube ICYxProductionz, or ask me on twitter, @ICYxFl0w