Horde mode of old is gone. Survival and Overrun is in. Following on from Beast mode in Gears Of War 3, this mode pits you against the Locust, who try to smash through your defences to get through to two E-Holes and then a Generator.
Which class should you pick? Our guide helps you determine who suits your playing style best and how to make the best of them…
Main Job: Barrier Repairs, Sentry Turrets
Engineers will score the most points across all four classes, thanks to their repair ability. The main job for Engineers is to fix damaged barriers.
When a barrier is destroyed, it can’t be rebuilt. There will be times when it’s better to risk repairing barriers while under fire if they’re about to be destroyed, relying on your team to deal with any approaching threats, because the reward of keeping the barrier active makes life much easier for your team.
The main things to look out when repairing barriers in Survival are grenades, Boomers, Corpsers and Maulers, which can instantly kill you through a barrier if you’re too close. You should also remember Wretches can jump over barriers and they’ll sometimes attack you before heading to the E-Hole. In Overrun, there’s the human factor to consider as well, with the other team likely to target you ahead of anyone else.
Also remember some barriers can be repaired by taking cover next to them and blindfiring the repair tool at the nearest part of the barrier.
Sentry Turrets are active for eight seconds and best placed just away from the path Locusts will take towards the barrier/E-Hole, as the AI doesn’t seek turrets out. In Overrun, you want to tuck Sentry Turrets behind barriers, so they have some protection against human players who tend to seek them out.
The only weapon Engineers have to defend themselves is the Gnasher but that’s perfectly adequate for most jobs. In Survival, Locust such as Grenadiers and Kantus will run towards you anyway (easy headshot opportunity) and in Overrun, hiding behind cover allows you to pop out and shoot any approaching Locust, who won’t know you’re there.
It’s also worth noting that Engineers are probably the only class that can go long periods of time without ammo, as they still have a job to perform (repairing barriers) and a way of defending themselves (deploying turrets).
Main Job: Providing Ammo, Damage
Soldiers are arguably the most important class besides Engineers, as they provide the only way for players to replenish ammo.
To replenish ammo, you need to throw a grenade that spawns an ammo box. The grenade bounces once or twice then spawns. It doesn’t bounce very far either – keep this in mind if trying to throw an ammo box to a distant team-mate (and especially to a high up Scout).
Most players will head back to the E-Hole/Generator between rounds waiting for you to throw down some ammo, so make sure some ammo is made available in a central area when the wave is over.
During the wave, this is the rough order of whom you should look to distribute ammo to:
That will change depending on the position of players, the current wave, the number of barriers remaining (Medics shift up the priority list when Locust have a clear run to the E-Hole/Generator),
Some players tend not to move much because they’ve picked a spot or they’re aiming/firing at a Locust, so aim the ammo crate to spawn at their feet or slightly ahead of them, so they can see it spawn.
As a Soldier, your main weapon is the Booshka, a grenade launcher that fires bouncing rounds. It’s not quite as powerful as its boom and bluster suggests it should be but its bouncing ability makes it useful. You can fire staggered, pre-emptive shots around corners to damage or even kill Locust before the rest of the team can open fire. When combined with the Scout’s beacon, Booshka is extremely useful.
The reason to stagger your shots is that you want to increase the chances of hitting something and also you don’t pick up Booshka rounds from ammo pick-ups at the same rate as your Lancer. You’ll replenish six rounds per ammo crate.
When faced against a Mauler, aim your rounds so they rest just behind the Mauler or near its feet. When the Mauler’s shield starts spinning, your Booshka shots will bounce off it.
Your other weapon is a Lancer. Not much explanation needed for how to use your Lancer except it’s better than Booshka for Tickers and Wretches (their speed makes them hard to hit) and if you’re near the E-Hole/Generator as a Wretch approaches, chainsawing them is often the better approach, as the erratic movement of a Wretch makes it hard to hit and you don’t want to risk any needless damage.
Main Job: Damage, Scouting Enemies
Scouts are the powerhouse of your team, thanks to the Markza rifle. This semi-automatic sniper rifle can down all enemies with a few well-aimed rounds. The Scout’s ability to climb means the Scout can also shoot at Locusts from unusual and unique angles, which is useful if there’s a Mauler present, Kantus reviving Locust or a big pile-up of enemies at a barrier.
The main problem Scouts have is keeping ammo topped up. Having a good Soldier on the team is essential to having a useful Scout. The Scout’s alternate weapon is a Snub Pistol. The Snub Pistol has long been the most under-rated weapon in the Gears series but without active reloads, there’s no longer anything particularly remarkable about it. Its best attribute is probably the fast reload, that allows you to keep pressure up.
When you’ve climbed a ledge as a Scout, the main threat you’ll face are Wretches (which can climb up after you) and Ragers (which can snipe you). Those should take priority over anything else when they appear. Otherwise, if there are no Wretches or Ragers, the threats that take priority should be
The Scout’s Beacon is the skill that has the least cooldown time. It’s a grenade that fires out a pulse, highlighting all Locust who pass through. Beacons should be deployed as soon as they become available as they can be quick-thrown in the general area of Locust traffic. Though Beacons aren’t the most important skill in Survival, they’re good to let the team know when a horde of stronger enemies are coming through (particularly if it’s something tricky like a Mauler, Corpser or Serapede). They also show where Corpsers are while they’re underground.
Main Job: Healing, Reviving, Last Line Of Defence
Medic is the hardest class to score points with, particularly in the earlier waves when there’s not much action and the team can generally look after itself. Medic becomes more useful as the waves get tougher and barriers break down, when they can start patching the team up.
Medics will receive notification when a member of the team is below half-health or has died in a revivable state (ie: no headshots, no gibs). Throwing the stim grenade at them will heal or revive that player, as long as they’re within the healing range.
However, you don’t have to wait for their health to drop that low before you heal them. Pressing down to call up the Tac-Com will show you the overall health of each team member. If anyone’s health is less than 100%, you can heal them for easy points.
You can also use Medics in an aggressive manner too. A stim grenade creates something of an ‘invulnerability’ field where all damage is immediately healed. Providing you’re not killed by something that gibs you (grenades, boomer shots, corpser melee) and you’re not headshotted by a Rager, the stim grenade field will keep you alive. This means you can stand in the healing field and attack Locusts with relative safety (that very same stim grenade tactic is causing all sorts of mayhem in competitive multiplayer).
The Medic has sawn-off shotgun as its alternate weapon, which makes it the best class for mopping up emergencies. The sawn-off shotgun kills every Locust when double-fired from close range. This is particularly useful for Corpsers, which can dig underground to get through barriers and pop up right next to the E-Hole/Generator. This is especially true in Overrun, where this aggressive Corpser tactic is more popular. The sawn-off can also be used in emergency situations when a barrier is about to fall.
Because of the way the maps have been designed, you tend to find two groups of players bunching up at the furthest standing barrier at the two separate paths leading towards the E-Hole/Generator. Because the stim grenades can be thrown quite far and because of the sawn-off shotgun, Medics work best ‘between’ both groups, attending to whoever needs the extra firepower and healing fields.
One of the problems with playing Survival and Overrun is that players on Xbox Live tend not to communicate – they’re either in parties, don’t have headsets or are unwilling to do so.
This means you’ll often have to ‘fill in’ whichever class best suits your team’s needs, if you want to succeed and complete Survival or win Overrun.
The only absolutely vital classes are Soldier (for ammo) and Engineer (for barriers). Because Engineers tend to score so highly and are the easiest class to play, a lot of players tend to pick them. We’ve been in one team with four other Engineers before.
So it’s best to pick a class that isn’t represented and if all classes are represented, then pick whoever you want. The absolute ideal class set-up is this:
When all the barriers have broken down, you may want to switch the Scout for a Medic, as having two sawn-off shotguns and two players who can revive the fallen proves more valuable than a sniper rifle and beacon.
But ultimately, obvious advice alert – go with what works!
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