In this Gears 5 Horde Mode Guide, we will guide you on how you tackle the brand new Horde Mode in Gears 5. Gears 5 is not the first game to receive the Horde Mode however this time around, the mode is completely revamped and there are tons of new mechanics that will totally change how Horde Mode plays out in Gears 5. It is vital that you have a sound knowledge of all new mechanics of Horde Mode in Gears 5 so that you can play it more effectively.
We have curated this Gears 5 Horde Mode Guide in which we have detailed all the new mechanics along with some tips and tricks that will help you play Gears 5 Horde Mode. Horde Mode is one of the toughest challenges that the game throws at you especially when you are nearing the 50th wave and then onwards as well. Fabricator from Gears of War 4 returns in Gears 5 as well.
Horde Mode Guide – Gears 5
Our Gears 5 Horde Mode Guide details everything that you need to know about playing Horde Mode in Gears 5.
Character Abilities
The biggest change in Gears 5 Horde Mode is character abilities. Each character in Gears 5 Horde mode is now a proper hero and comes with their own unique abilities which will drastically change your approach for different scenarios. You will find six unique heroes in Horde mode and each one comes with a unique ability. You will need to use their abilities to compliment your regular combat skills and manage them effectively to make the most out of them.
We have written a detailed guide on each hero and their abilities separately so we are going to get into a lot of details here as well. Make sure that you check out our Gears 5 Horde Mode Abilities Guide to know about each hero’s ability in detail.
Understanding the New Power Tap Mechanic
Hero abilities are not the only new trick Gears 5 Horde mode comes with. There’s a whole new Power Tap mechanic in place as well which will help you and your team gather some much-needed power for all your needs in Gears 5 Horde Mode. Power Tap is a special node type of pickup which grants you additional power after every round which can be used at the Fabricator. You will be required to protect it from enemies and ensure that enemies don’t take it away from you.
The main problem here is that the Power Tap node always spawns away from your fabricator which means splitting up. This is a choice that you and your squadmates will need to make. Securing a Power Tap means more Power for the Fabricator however it also means splitting up which is riskier because the Horde will not stop at anything to kill you or simply take control of the Power Tap. Make sure that try to keep as many Power Taps under your control while ensuring your squads’ survival to have the upper-edge at your enemies.
Always Collect More Power
Your Fabricator wants power for everything which includes Power, Traps, Turrets and even Perks. We will get to Perks in the next section of this guide. Every enemy you kill will drop Power however players will be required to pick them up manually. There is no automatic Power recovery system so if you want to purchase weapons, ammo, traps and more at the end of the round, make sure you collect the power from all the killed enemies.
Another power source is the newly introduced Power Taps which we have explained above in this guide. Make sure that you try to secure as many Power Taps as possible however you must keep in mind that sacrificing teammates over Power Taps is never advised so if it is too risky to go after Power Taps, avoid them and try the next ones. Power is important but it is not important enough to sacrifice your team for it.
Focus on Clearing Smaller Enemies First
Horde Mode throws everything at you and in later stages, you will come face-to-face with literally everything the Horde has. This includes enemies of all shapes and sizes. In such waves, you must ensure that you first focus on smaller and more agile enemies such as the drones and wretches. If you focus on larger enemies right from the start, these smaller ones will chip away on your health and down you.
Bigger enemies might deal more punch and might be difficult to kill but they are also slow and stupid giving you more room to play around once only they are left. Focus on smaller and more agile enemies first because they will be fast and will make your life a nightmare in higher enemy waves. Once the smaller enemies are dealt with, you can switch to more powerful weapons and kill the big ones.
Fine-Tune Your Hero with Perks and Skill Cards
Despite the heroes coming with their own strengths and weaknesses, you can make further adjustment to their stats by using Perks and Skill Cards. Starting with the Skill Cards, these are specific to your character and will only affect your own hero. You get multiple Skill Card slots which are further increased as you level up in the game. You can combine two similar Skill Cars to make a more powerful one as well. Skill Cards are given to you as rewards. Skill Cards can be used across the entire hero roster once you get them.
Perks, on the other hand, are limited and you will only find four Perks to choose from in the Fabricator. Just like Skill Cars, your Perks are also limited to each character. However, you must purchase them with Power from the Fabricator. Unlike Skill Cards, Perks focus on four basic stats of your hero and they are unique for each hero in the game. Each hero can only equip the perk which is in their own unique list, unlike Skill Cards which can be used across the entire roster.
Tips and Tricks
- Have a balanced team. Before the start of each match, discuss with your teammates and try to start the game with a team that offers one of every type of unique ability to maximize the combat effectiveness of the entire team.
- It is very common to run out of ammo during Horde mode waves and you might not have enough power to purchase ammo from the Fabricator especially in the early stages of the game. In such situations, you can always pick up weapons lying around you. Just like the campaign mode, enemies you kill will leave their weapons behind so keep switching to ensure that you survive the onslaught to collect enough Power for your main weapon.
- Sires are the absolute worse in Gears 5 Horde Mode. They work pretty much like the Snatchers but they can kill the player while staying in the game rather than going off the screen. Sires will grab a player and take them away from the action and a timer will pop up. When it reaches zero, the player will die and this it is vital that similar to Snatchers, you shoot the Sire to free the grabbed player as soon as possible.
- Plant grenades to make sure that enemies don’t sneak up from behind you. You can even plant grenades onto your enemies and have them explode while they are with their own kind. Simply press b with the grenade equipped near an enemy and you will plant the grenade to them. You can also plant it on walls and different covers to make sure that enemies cannot get to you from the backside.
This is all for our Gears 5 Horde Mode Guide. Make sure to check out more Gears 5 guides below.
This concludes our Gears 5 Horde Mode Guide. If you want to add anything to this guide, feel free to use the comments section below.
Suggesting people should buy ammo from the fabricator AT ALL is the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in a guide for horde mode.