It's time to buckle up because the Gears 5: Hivebusters DLC is live!

This DLC focuses on the origin of Scorpio Squad – the venerable trio of Lahni, Mac, and Keegan who were first introduced in Gears 5's Escape mode and whose story was expanded in the Hivebusters comic book series. This ragtag group of soldiers has been recruited by Victor Hoffman for an unorthodox mission to take out the Swarm and maybe even change the war forever.

Set in the Galangi islands, your adventures will take down treacherous lava flows, into dense jungles, and across sandy beaches all while fighting the Swarm and the Wakaatu, a deadly and never before seen predator. And to ramp up the action even further, each of our three heroes gets to use their Ultimate Abilities from Escape – yes, it's time for some of Lahni's sweet Electroblade action.

Here are a few other goodies you can enjoy in this expansion:

• Up to 3-player co-op, split-screen or online
  
• 16 new achievements to unlock on Steam!

You can get Gears 5: Hivebusters by purchasing it below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1415070/Gears_5__Hivebusters/

What are you waiting for? Get stuck in!

With another week upon us, we have another edition of This Week in Gears lined up for you.


As mentioned last week, 14 Player FFA will be staying around for another week which means we'll continue to bring the inevitable chaos you can come to expect in this mode, as a reminder we'll be using four specific maps in this playlist – War Room, Pit, Nethercutt, and Core.

Enjoy, and let us know how you're enjoying it!




We don't have a Horde event this week but don't fret PvE fans. There is still the daily Horde challenge as well as the daily & weekly Escape Hive (Lethal Engagements) which are chocked full of great rewards.

Stay tuned as we have a special Horde event coming your way soon!


Wow! We have been utterly blown away but the Gears Glory submissions and everyone's creativity. Feast your eyes on a few examples chosen by our Community team below.



Karnage! From @StormyValravn



@Raikou1015Sorry's favourite Gears drawings!



@epic_nero's amazing tattoo!



@CharlyCesar3's fantastic artwork!



@IvanDrawPiu's face-to-face confrontation

Thank you to everyone who's submitted content so far! Next week's This Week in Gears will reveal the new theme for Gears Glory.

• Locust Sniper – 250 Iron
  
• Sketched Full weapon set – 850 Iron
  
• Long Count Expression – 300 Iron

• Academy Anthony – 500 Iron or 4,000 Gears Coins
  
• Firestarter Benjamin – 350 Iron or 2,800 Gears Coins (30% off)
  
• Biker Gary – 500 Iron or 4,000 Gears Coins
  
• Pistol Pack: Cold Blooded execution – 300 Iron or 2,400 Gears Coins
  
• Tiger Legacy weapon set – 425 Iron or 3,400 Gears Coins

As Firestarter Benjamin is already in the store permanently, we've added a special feature discount price just for this week!


Last week we announced there will be no Chrome Steel skins for the next weeks; this means that there is no skin to purchase this week. Keep an eye because next week we start bringing back a selection of previously released Chrome Steel skins that you may have missed out on!

Take care and have yourselves a wonderful week.

TC

Clayton. Cole. A brand new one-life objective mode. This is Gears 5 Operation 3: Gridiron!

Hit the trailer up above for your first look at what to expect, then dive in to our What's Up below for all the details.

One Flag. One Life. Gridiron is our brand-new, single life objective mode!

In Gridiron, two teams of five battle over a flag that can be used to score a touchdown in the opposing team’s endzone. At the start of each round, the flag rotates between one of three locations along the center line of the map. Picking up the flag is as simple as touching it.

Don’t worry, there are no limitations for being a flag carrier other than the massive target on your back. Fight hard and slay up!

After picking up the flag and entering the enemy endzone you’ll need to survive for 5 seconds to score a touchdown. Be careful! If at any time you go down or die then the flag is dropped at your feet, and can be grabbed by the enemy team.

As much as the flag is the center of the action in Gridiron, this is a one-life mode so kills pay the bills. Eliminating the enemy team can also secure you a round victory, so you will need to consider how you focus your effort between the battle over the flag and the weapons and positions available on the map.

Here are the 3 ways you can secure a round victory and score points for your team:

2 Points for a Touchdown (scoring as above)
2 Points for an Elimination victory (squad wipe).
1 Point for a Possession victory (holding the flag when the round timer ends)
The first team to hit 13 points wins the match, and with a short two-minute time limit per round, combat in Gridiron is rapid and intense!

We’ve also created custom weapon placements for every map in Gears 5 exclusively for Gridiron. These weapon placements are aimed at delivering the best one-life experience possible, with varied initials and balanced power distribution. Our aim for Gridiron is to provide the most interesting and exciting Gears matches you have ever experienced, and we look forward to seeing how it evolves in your hands. This is just the beginning!



The one and only Cole Train is back baby! Augustus Cole makes his return to PVP and PVE in Gears 5 the only way he could – making one hell of an entrance.

In PVE, the Cole Train is an unstoppable force, bringing his legendary Thrashball plays to the frontline. His Ultimate sends Cole charging forward in a blaze of fire, staggering enemies in his path and leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

Cole is packing some extra tricks in his pocket too. This is Cole we’re talking about! Cole’s melee is replaced by a powerful punch that stuns enemies. He can also melee while roadie running to perform his signature Thrashball tackle too!

Cole also introduces a new status effect to the game – Burning. Once you level up Cole, you’ll find many of his cards are built around this new effect.

Role: Offensive

Ultimate: While active, Cole leaves a trail of fire while moving and can stagger and ignite enemies causing burning damage

Passive: Uses a powerful punch as a melee attack and can melee while roadie running to tackle. Killing enemies using the tackle gives stim.

All the Glory – Burning enemies explode when killed, dealing 50% of their HP in damage to nearby enemies.

Torch Tackle – Tackle burns victims and deals 250% damage to already burning enemies.

Perk Up – Max health and regeneration speed is increased by 50%.

Defensive Tackle – Damaging an enemy with a tackle gives Cole 50% stim.

Glow and Slow – Enemies that are burning are 50% slower.

Burn and Recharge – The Train Ultimate Ability recharges 5% faster for each enemy that is currently burning.

Haymaker – Melee hits deal 200% damage and drones are stunned for longer.

Play with Fire – Active rounds have a 25% chance to burn enemies.

Inner Fire – When The Train Ultimate Ability is available, Cole takes 50% less damage.

Burn Boost – Automatically active reload with 50% extra damage after melee killing a burning enemy.

Killing Time – When The Train Ultimate Ability is active, each kill increases ultimate duration by 2s.

Pyromaniac – Burn damage dealt by Cole is increased by 50%.

Damage Dash – Damage is reduced by 40% while sprinting.

Soothing Warmth – Health regeneration is 250% faster and has no delay when near burning enemies.

Steam Engine – 100% larger burn radius while The Train is active.

Thrashball Pro – Melee damage received is reduced by 60%

(All descriptions shown are for Card Level 5)

Passive: Kills produce Incendiary area of effect

Loadout: Lancer, Snub, Smoke Grenade

Weapon Tree: Retro Lancer (3), Mulcher (6), Boomshot (7)

Skull Bounty: Multi-Kills



The Grub Killer returns. The only Carmine to survive the curse of death (so far), Clayton is back to tear it up against the Swarm in both PVE and PVP.

In PVE, his Reflective Shell ability deflects all ballistic damage back to the enemy for a short time, allowing him to survive against overwhelming odds and turn incoming attacks into huge amounts of damage. With Skill Cards, Clayton can even deflect projectiles back to the enemy, including missiles, rockets and buzz saw blades.

Reflective Shell has the fastest charge time out of every ultimate – but only lasts five seconds when used, so timing is key! Clayton also features some Skill Cards that help his team become just as survivable as he is…almost.

Role: Tank

Ultimate: While active, deflect all ballistic damage back to the enemy.

Passive: Damage you take slowly recharges your Ultimate.

Bait Armor – Damage taken is decreased by 5% each hit taken by Clayton, up to 30%.

Concussive Explosives – Enemies hit with explosives are stunned for 3s.

Ice Armor – While Clayton is freezing, he will take 25% less damage.

Priority Target – Clayton taunts attacking enemies away from an ally within 10 meters for 5s.

Grace Period – Receive 3s of immunity upon being revived.

Blast Shield – Explosive damage reduced by 30%.

Heavy Charger – Each successive hit with a heavy weapon reduces the cooldown of Reflective Shell by 0.15s.

Heavy Deflect – Heavy weapon damage reduced by 30% for Clayton and allies within 10 meters.

Sole Survivor – Reflective Shell Ultimate Ability recharges 300% faster if Clayton is the only surviving teammate.

Uncle Clay – When Clayton is 10 meters from Lizzie, both receive 25% damage resistance.

Phoenix Armor – Receive 50% stim when respawning after death.

Reflect Shredder – When Reflective Shell is active, reflected damage deals 50% bleeding damage.

Team Resist – When Reflective Shell Ultimate Ability is activated, all allies receive 90% damage resistance for 5s.

Heavy Shell – Reflective Shell can reflect projectiles for 5s.

Practice Every Day – 25% faster reload speed, 50% larger active reload window and bypass reload when firing during Reflective Shell.

Ultimate Battery – Ultimate cooldown for allies within 10 meters reduced by 0.3s for each hit Clayton takes.

Freeze Resist – Time to freeze Clayton is 90% slower.

(All descriptions shown are for Card Level 5)

Passive: Headshot damage reduction

Loadout: Retro Lancer, Snub, Flashbang Grenade

Weapon Tree: Ammo Case (3), Mulcher (6), Torque Bow (7)

Skull Bounty: Multi-Kills



Now they begin to understand! Queen Myrrah returns to the battlefield raining fiery destruction wherever she goes.

In Arcade, Myrrah causes the radius around any enemy she kills to set on fire. It’s her homage to the Tempest, we guess. Or that toaster in her palace…

Passive: Kills produce Incendiary area of effect

Loadout: Lancer, Snub, Smoke Grenade

Weapon Tree: Retro Lancer (3), Mulcher (6), Boomshot (7)

Skull Bounty: Multi-Kills


It’s definitely not just the wind, because the Theron Guard are making their dramatic return to the battlefields of Sera.

In Arcade, these elite Locust have a penchant for headshots, causing a huge explosion whenever they land one. Try not to stand close to anybody when these guys are around.

Passive: Headshot kills with precision weapons produce AOE explosion damage. Aiming with precision weapons mark enemies through cover / walls

Loadout: Lancer, Snub, Flashbang Grenade

Weapon Tree: Boltok (2), Markza (4), Longshot (6)

Skull Bounty: Explosive Kills



Pahanu is a brand new map set among the ruins of an old civilization and the twisted oversized trunks of the jungle.

This intense jungle landscape puts a unique twist on Gears combat, with its organic cover, strong flanks, intimidating rifle positions and position-obscuring fauna that’s unlike anything else in Gears 5 today.

Two intimidating hills mark the spawn area for each team, leading into the open swamps of the middle of the map. The altar in its center contains a key weapon pickup, but making it there is half the battle.

Flank through the cave side for ranged weapons and another key weapon pickup. Prepare for close-range battles thanks to the tight nature of the cave formation and surrounding cover.

On the opposite side, the larger Ruins area offers a mix of combat, with solid Lancer positions overlooking the cover-filled center. Watch for risky, but deadly flanks from the mid-cut.


Does it get any more classic than snipe battles on Canals? This Gears 1 favorite is back in it’s new look introduced in Gears 4. Own the bridges, own the map.

Allfathers Arena is getting the 2v2 treatment with this 3-in-1 map! Duke it out in the middle lane of the Arena with three different possible tile combinations. Be ready for anything.

Two routes, two places to send ‘em home. This tile based 2v2 map offers two locations to fight in. Which will you choose?

We’re introducing a brand-new series of Tiles in Operation 3 with the arrival of Barracks! This new tile family sports a militaristic look and is packed with close-quarters, tight spaces that diversity it from the existing tile sets.

Mining and Ventilation also get a new tile each with the new Venom Scrubber room, which delays the spread of venom for a short amount of time.

The Barracks Tile family contains 18 tiles and will be available in future Operation Hives and through Map Builder.

We know traditional Versus / Horde Maps are incredibly important to you. We’ve recently been re-evaluating the game from the ground up to assess how we can deliver more of the content you want and prioritize accordingly.

As of Operation 3, we have significantly scaled back development of Tiles in order to put more resources into the development of maps for Versus / Horde. Unfortunately, the benefits of this change weren’t able to increase the number of maps in Operation 3, but rest assured, more maps are coming. Stay tuned for more news in the coming months.


Tour of Duty is back and better than ever in Operation 3, with a fresh suite of awesome content and new improvements that reward you for playing your way.

The most noticeable change when you log in on March 31st will be the extra Objective slot in the Tour of Duty system. This goes hand-in-hand with our re-work on the Objectives in Operation 3.

Two Objectives slots are now dedicated to generic objectives (e.g. Kill X enemies) that can be completed in PVE or PVP, plus one slot for PVP and one slot for PVE. This should help you complete more objectives more consistently just by playing in your preferred modes of choice.

Secondly, we’ve added a new mechanic where playing the game in any way also earns you Stars. As you finish matches in PVP or PVE, you’ll see progress towards earning additional Stars to bolster your Tour of Duty. Now, whenever you play, you are always working towards completing your Tour.

Did someone say RECRUIT CLAYTON? Operation 3 is jam packed with our strongest Tour of Duty lineup to date featuring insane executions, eye-catching weapons skins and those super sweet Character Skins.

Show ‘em how you roll with new prop based Expressions. Throw down a Thrashball with ‘Thrashball Spike’ or pump some weights with ‘Do You Even Lift Bro?’.

Put down your enemies with a varierty of new executions, like the electrifying Charged EMBAR finisher or the brutal on-your-knees Boltok execution of Cold Blooded. You might wanna throw on one of those new Greater Than or Silent Skull bloodsprays while you’re at it.

Rock some new style with our latest Tour of Duty weapon skin selection. Speak their language with the Locust Runes weapon skin set, go to the source with the remaining Niles weapon skins or go flashy with the animated Ink and Liquid Metal sets.

Finally, but certainly not least, the stars of our show – Character Skins. Tour 3 drops a mix of fan favorites from the past with brand new favorites of the future including Recruit Clayton, Savage Swarm Characters and more.

At the top of the mountain lies the ultimate bragging rights skin – the Ronin Armored Kantus. If people you see you rocking this skin, you know they’re gonna be jealous. This is one to make it to general for.

Operation 3 also marks our first ever drop of New Achievements for Gears 5, including retroactive tracking for any relevant achievements.

We’ll reveal the full list of achievements dropping with Operation 3 along with our Title Update notes on Monday, March 30th.

On Thursday, March 26th, we’ll take you through our extensive Versus Tuning updates including the changes to the Up-A Speed Boost from our roadmap, the removal of Flashbangs as a loadout option, standard reload mechanics returning to the Gnasher and more.

On Friday, March 27th, we’ll be dropping a comprehensive look at our major tuning changes for Horde, including Character buffs, improvements to the post-wave flow and a whole host of other changes.

Finally, on Monday, March 30th, you can read the full patch notes for TU5 including the reveal of our new achievements!

We’re so excited to launch Operation 3 and for you to get your hands-on Gridiron. Let us know what you think by sending us a message on Twitter, the forums, Discord or the community reddit /r/GearsofWar!

The next multiplayer Operation for Gears 5 is currently planned for December 11, 2019 (pending certification). This update features fourteen-player Free For All, Arcade Blitz, 2v2 Gnashers, two Heroes, two villains, seven maps and a whole lot more.

Two Gears of War characters in the heat of battle surrounded by flame-like light
Free For All is back and better than ever as the biggest Versus mode in Gears history. Fourteen players will battle against each other in a holds barred fight to be the first to 30 kills.

Free For All will initially be launched as a featured playlist with the launch of Operation 2, and will convert to a Ranked mode in early January.

FFA in Gears 5 keeps it simple – core tuning (not Arcade tuning), standard loadouts and quick respawns. To dominate in FFA, you’ll need to master the fundamentals while taking advantage of any weapon pickups on each map. To support fights this big, we’ve created dedicated maps built specifically to support a great FFA experience, each with their own distinct style of gameplay.

Want some more? Feast your eyes on pure Free For All slay up gameplay on the new FFA map, Pit.



Arcade Blitz is a fast paced objective mode, where hills move quickly and points can only be captured by standing within the hill.

This is an Arcade mode, so choose a character whose passive abilities and weapon upgrade trees will help drive your team to victory. Do you take a more survivable Character and focus on capturing rings, or do you play a more defensive Character and keep your opponents away from the hill? The choice is yours.

Arcade Blitz will be available in Custom Lobbies and the Arcade Quickplay playlist alongside Arcade Deathmatch.


Grab a friend and warm up that Gnasher – 2v2 Gnashers is back in Gears 5!

2v2 Gnashers is all about intense duo duels where hitting shots and covering your teammate is all that matters. To serve these deadly duels, two maps will be returning for 2v2 Gnashers.

The OG showdown in the middle of War Machine. Positioning is everything to come out on top of this intense fight.

Fights in Foundation Mid leave you nowhere to hide – risk going wide in Closed or fight pillar to pillar in Open.

2v2 Gnashers will be a ranked playlist with competitive tuning. One more thing, more maps are coming in future Operations.


Operation 2 brings two new Heroes and three new Villains to the battlefield!

A driver for the COG and member of the iconic Carmine military family, Lizzie is a total badass that never backs down from a fight. In Horde and Escape, she can summon a Silverback with her Ultimate to wreak havoc on the battlefield.

Use her Skill Cards to customize the Silverback with different weaponry to create your own recipe for Swarm destruction and to maximize her on-foot potential to draw aggro.

PvE Details

• Role: Tank
  
• Ultimate: Summon Silverback – Summon and pilot a Silverback on the battlefield
  
• Passive: Enemies that die with your mark reduce the cooldown of your Ultimate
  
• Skill Cards: 16

Versus Arcade Details

• Passive: Hot Footed – Taking damage makes you move faster for a brief time
  
• Loadout: Lancer, Talon, Smoke
  
• Weapon Tree: Shock Grenade (2), Gnasher (4), Dropshot (6)
  
• Skull Bounty: Multi-kill Eliminations

The one and only Baird is back, bringing his engineering talents and endless sarcasm to the battlefield. As the head of DB Industries, Baird can summon a heavy hitting DR-1 to help protect him as he performs his engineering duties on the battlefield.

Use his Skill Cards to buff and get bonuses from using precision weaponry or specialize in boosted fortifications like the Weapons Locker Overclock or higher damage MG Sentries.

PvE Details

• Role: Engineer
  
• Ultimate: Reinforce DR-1 – Summon a DR-1 that targets enemies
  
• Passive: Build new Fortifications at a small discount and carry Fortifications faster
  
• Skill Cards: 16

Versus Arcade Details

• Passive: DB Specialist – Significantly reduced recoil on DeeBee Weapons
  
• Loadout: Enforcer, Snub, Flashbang
  
• Weapon Tree: Shock Grenade (2), Overkill (4), EMBAR (6)]
  
• Skull Bounty: Multi-kill Eliminations

This Locust sniper hails from the ranks of RAAM’s vicious Bloodied Vanguard where he played a key role in the defeat of Sraak.

As a capable survivor, Jermad has reduced headshot damage, making him a significant threat to Heroes using precision weaponry.

Versus Arcade Details

• Passive: Hard Headed – Headshot Damage Reduction
  
• Loadout: Retro Lancer, Snub, Flashbang
  
• Weapon Tree: Ammo (3), Mulcher (6), Torque Bow (7)
  
• Skull Bounty: Multi-kill Eliminations

The iconic Locust Drone emerges once more into the fight! With a highly adaptable nature, the Locust Drone has recoil mastery over DeeBee weaponry (Baird mirror).

Versus Arcade Details

• Passive: DB Specialist – Significantly reduced recoil on DeeBee Weapons
  
• Loadout: Enforcer, Snub, Flashbang
  
• Weapon Tree: Shock Grenade (2), Overkill (4), EMBAR (6)
  
• Skull Bounty: Multi-kill Eliminations

Coming in early 2020, the iconic Kantus will be added to the ranks of the Swarm.

Beginning with Operation 2, Mac, Keegan and Lahni will be playable in Horde (all Levels and Skill Card you’ve earned in Escape will apply in Horde). In addition, each character will have perks based on their playstyle just like every other Horde character.

In response to player feedback, Fahz is receiving a significant buff as part of Operation 2 and we’ve added three new Skill Cards to Kat to increase her viability in Escape.

And finally, an old veteran becomes a new Hivebuster as Marcus makes the jump to become playable in Escape! How will you use Living Legend to best your time on old and new Hives?


Set in an old coliseum dedicated to the founding members of the COG, Allfathers Arena is now destined to once again be filled with the sound of battle!

Available in Horde and Versus, this unique arena is home to an exciting, never-before seen feature in a Gears map. The middle of the map showcases three dynamic areas – the Room, the Field and the Hall. Each area has three different cover configurations, resulting in a total of 27 possible map layouts, each a new way to fight. Be prepared to learn fast if you want to survive the Arena.

In Title Update 4, Allfathers Arena will also allow players to choose the combination of zones they want to play in Private Match.

Lift is returning Gears 5, with improved lighting and texture quality, as well as a few new changes. The best of Lift and Lift Apex have been combined to make the perfect version of the map. The most notable improvements include the popular “Top Rocks” area’s return to the battlefield and changes to the control room shutters, which now start closed and can be freely controlled by players.

Here’s a list of all the improvements coming to Lift when it arrives in Operation 2:

• “Top Rocks” (from Lift) added to Lift Apex
  
• Lift Apex shutters: Now begin closed as default (was open). Removed cooldown on opening / closing
  
• Added new position to Submarine Bay side that houses a secondary pickup
  
• Blocked some sightlines from Submarine Platform into spawn
  
• Added more cover in and around spawn
  
• Widened stairs leading to the Submarine Platform to improve player’s ability to contest the area
  
• Escalation Home Rings on Submarine Bay side moved to a safer position
  
• Submarine Bay side weapon pickup moved to the raised covered platform area
  
• Brand new set of KOTH rings added
  
• Escalation rings have been flipped (Previous A, B, and C rings now second half and vice versa)

Operation 2 continues your Hivebusting adventures with 6 brand new Hives still to come over the duration of the Operation!

In addition to the new Hives, we’ve also introduced 27 new tiles that give you more ways to experience – and build – Escape Hives. These new tiles for the Ventilation and Mining tile families place an increased focus on vertical tiles, from winding staircases to huge cavernous slides, and new ways to control player behavior like the timed bridge.

Screengrab showing Onyx Gear and Collector Winter Marcus from Gears 5
The Tour of Duty in Operation 2: Free For All features more than 200 exclusive earnable items that can be unlocked through completing daily Objectives and season long Medals. These items include character skins, weapon skins, Iron, expressions, executions and more.

This Tour of Duty brings more high-quality content to the Tour throughout the experience from the word go, like unlocking Collector’s Winter Marcus at Rank 1 and Onyx Guard at Rank 10.

Tour of Duty doubles the number of earnable medals groups for Versus players to 4 Medal Groups, plus an additional Medal Group tied to Versus Special Events. This provides more opportunities for Versus players to earn big hits of Stars in Versus to match the number available in PVE.

In response to community feedback, we have also excluded Character Skins from any of the mode specific Medal Group Rewards and placed them in the main Tour of Duty level rewards instead.

All boosted players will earn Double Stars throughout the Operation regardless of when you play. Moving up the ranks just got a lot easier!

We have broadened our range of available Tour Objectives, and sunset others, to provide a more varied experience of Tour Objectives that can appear each Tour.

Stay tuned for full Operation 2 / Title Update 3 notes in next week’s What’s Up including a detailed look at Tour of Duty and the Totems Challenges for the new Characters.

The Operation 2: Free For All bundle includes all four new characters, the complete Eclipse weapon set, 1000 Iron and 30 days of Boost, all for $19.99. All Heroes and Villains can be individually earned by playing or purchased via the in-game store for 500 Iron each.

See you then,

TC

The Gears 5 Esports San Diego Major is happening now at Town & Country in San Diego. Visit the Event Hub for bracket updates, or the home page for more details.

Tune in to cheer on your favorites and win some weapon skins and a chance at a NVIDIA Graphics Card at http://live.gearsofwar.com. For a full list of prizes, details, and conditions, click here.