Could some Horde enthusiast give me a breakdown of 4.0?

Gears 5
#1

Going to try and make this as short as possible
but bare with me for I am trying to learn 4.0 from scratch

THE META
• Are supports still important?
in 3.0 Scout/Engineer was KEY to success but in my 5hrs of playtime it seems like no one really cares? I’m almost certain this is because I’ve been playing Beginner but can’t be too sure. I certainly hope there are still classes dedicated to power and building, that was fun.

• Should I give my free 10k to the fab?
Perhaps this is more opinionated but I’ll just go with popular opinion lol

• Are upgrading the D-pad skills important?
This is a feature I DO NOT like in all honesty. Giving me additional option to level in-game skills with power doesn’t seem right. I much preferred the shared energy system.
here is a picture if no one knows what I’m talking about

• Energy Tap?
Another feature I don’t really care for…Unless there’s some kind of Scout build that benefits the scout from grabbing these? Otherwise giving everyone the option to collect taps is kind of weird to me.

• Is the character class system complex?
Man what the flip happened here?! There are like a billion characters all with different abilities now. I Get that having some unique different types of playstyles makes for a more exciting experience but it feels like there’s multiple sub genres of support and offense now and not all are even balanced!

• I enjoy being helpful so whats recommended to level first?
I’d like to be as helpful as possible when it comes to early game so what are some good characters/classes I should pick up to support my offense? I’ll do DPS classes later.

• Heavy/Scout/Engineer/Soldier/Sniper
What are the characters that fit these 5 classes cloest to 3.0? I’d like to keep it simple as possible.

Man I sound like an old man complaining about new tech! sorry if this comes off as a rant, I just hate learning new things.

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#2

Look up @Hu1k_Daddy as he’s put together lots of character guides in various threads on the forums. Some are a bit out of date due to changes since launch, but it gives you a good idea of what the characters/classes involve. The threads also contain discussion, views and feedback from other people with their own ideas etc.

Here’s a couple of links:

You can find the rest of the characters using the search bar.

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#3

If you really just want to play support at the start, I’d go with either Jack or Cog Gear. Both are very good support characters and give the team a lot of benefits.

As @Bleeding_Pepper said, @Hu1k_Daddy threads are also very helpful if you want to look through those and come to your decision after that.

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#4

Do you mean in 4.0?
In GoW4 the Scout was essential for getting energy with “Deposit Bonus” and then the Engineer could win the game by building a base that killed freaking everything.
In Gears 5 the Engineer is no where near as powerful, they initially gave that privlege to JD but people got mad so they gave it to Marcus (and people got mad).
They seem pretty intent on having 1 class that can carry an entire team but now instead of Scout + Engineer you will have Jack + Engineer where the poor soul playing Jack spends his whole game smelting weapons until wave 40 when he can revive some people too.

This depends… If you’re only playing beginner then nothing at all matters. On higher difficulties it still depends because sometimes you get people who don’t know how to play that will spend that 10k inappropriately and you’re better off spending it on perks. Communication is important - if you have a good engineer and people are working with them then sharing is caring, if you have a good engineer and people are pretending that they’re the engineer then it’d be better to just give it to the engineer directly. If you have an awful engineer then figure something else out.

For some characters yes! Clayton really needs ammo regen for his mulcher build, Marcus needs ammo regen to work best, Keegen too and Lahni needs about everything. Paduk, Jack and Emile’s perks aren’t so great, although Paduks will become great. The Cog gear does better with perks but they’re not great it just helps him be less weak.

Sure yes - I started to boil down a simplified synopsis but I’m already too long.

Jack is the best medic - but Cog gear has easier to level cards and you can level him up in escape (unlike Jack)

Del is usually the best Engineer, but Baird is nifty. Kat is undermined by lack of cards.

Keegan says he’s support however he spawns with a boomshot that he can rapid fire bleed which lets him be a heavy despite the label. He helps with his exposive resupply and that is combolicious.

Everyone else fights -but fighting is most fun - Mac is meh in hord though.
If you want to fight and support then Keegan can boost people in a number of ways and Clayton can too. Lizzie can stun oncomming threats while apex predators destroy them and Clayton could but they nerfed that so it’s more limited than Lizzies (sort of).

If you want simple and fast then max out Clayton.
You can build him 3 different ways and he will crush with any one of them.

2 Likes
#5

supports?
Yes! Many supporters are very useful. And while right now in Operation 4 Engineer isn’t completely necessary but the harder the difficulty the more its much more survivable. I wouldn’t recommend no engi on Inconceivable or Master unless you have a great team.

10k?
Yes! Always! Now if you need to buy a agun for you class with some its ok to do so then deposit the rest.
But in both regular horde and Frenzy in a good general rule to depositint he beginning then perk. There are exceptions and the host or engi will let you know in title or chat.

Perks/D pad skills
They are dependent on the class you play. Some like Keegan are highly dependent on perks others like JD who only has one that’s somewhat decent.

Engery Taps
Are definitely useful especially in Frenzy so yes try to get them. But in say regular horde the taps don’t show until wave 10 and they can turn up on the other side of the map. Its up to the engineer (group is no engi) if they want to move but it is a BIG risk.

Characters
Hmmm… they are a bit more complicated but once you know what they do it’s not too hard to use each one and put the cards on for it. Hu1k Daddy definitely is a good choice to check out for this for sure.

Recommend Support
Baird Or Del if you consider Engineer support . I recommend trying egineer with Del first. (I prefer Baird though)
Cog gear is great! A litte underated by many too
Jack is great as well!

Recommended level
It goes by Character/class level. Many people say don’t try inconceivable or Masters until at least lvl 16+. Elite and below doesn’t matter really and Insane around lvl 14+

Heavy/Scout/Engineer/Sniper

  • HEAVY? Closest to 3.0 is JD but there are differences
    -SCOUT? Well there are no actual scout for 3.0 its not needed. If you collect power everyone gets the same amount you collected. Kait is indeed the closest but for the reasons I just said she is really DPS
    -ENGINEER? Del is near Identical with only a couple changes to 3.0 engineer. This is why I recommended to use Del first. Kat the halo character is no good…yeah…
    -SOLDIER? none really. But Marcus is sort of close?
    -SNIPER? Fahz! Very close with some changes of course.

Hu1k Daddy definitely is great to check out for way more details. Also with Operation 5 coming some of these just might change.

3 Likes
#6

Hey there,

Yes as stated even the old guides will give you the right idea for how a character will operate. Unfortunately due to some TC confusion on an update that never dropped the updated guides to the current OP4 was delayed, and will update after OP5.

If you would like some in game Help. Please feel free to FR me as my Gamer Tag is the same as it is here. If you see me online just hit me up, ill help whenever I can.

Also, thank you @Bleeding_Pepper, @Sable_Collie @SPARGELKOHL for the help and looking out :slight_smile:

Cheers!

4 Likes
#7

Someone that wants to learn and does it without being cocky and or arrogant? color me impressed.

Engineers are extremely good, you can get by without them but having a character that can build better than anybody else and repair well can’t be scoffed at, they aren’t as necessary as they were in Gears 4 but to pretend they’re useless is simply false. Top tier engineers can carry their team, give them tons of time to kill enemies, enhances everybody with Overclocked lockers and more stable defences.

There are no real scout classes in Gears 5, this was probably intentionally done for whatever reason.

If there is an Engineer yes, if not then no. That being said I recommend everybody donate to fab first few waves then you slowly build up your perks throughout the match, I don’t mean spend everything on them, just make sure to gradually spend power on them as waves progress.

It depends on what character/class you use, for some its necessary for others its less important. It’s complicated so it’ll take you a while to understand which ones are more helpful and when to invest in them. I know this isn’t the answer you wanted but its the answer it deserved.

Extremely important, they give health and tons of power, They are just mini objectives that encourage you to defend certain areas, if its in an undefendable location don’t bother with it, if its close to base (Sometimes its best to migrate where one is btw) then by all means defend it.

Short answer: yes

Long answer: it takes a good while to master, I recommend folks just start off as one character, play that character for a while (not one day like a week) then as you slowly become accustomed to that character you build a better repertoire in terms of the rest of the game. If you jump from class to class every match it will take you far longer to understand them I feel.

Heavy: JD/Keegan
Scout: nobody really
Engineer: Baird/Del
Soldier: Marcus/COG Gear
Sniper: Fahz/Paduk

Going into any sequel expecting it to be exactly like the previous ones is bound to be a shock, its grows on you over time. Just take it slow, you are also free to add me if you’d like GT: Thee Bluejay
I play all the modes so if I’m on you are free to invite me, if you have a mic I can explain things to you better (I hope) but my main gripe with people that are new to Horde is that they paint themselves geniuses, can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people. I only play on Master/Inconceivable so if you enjoy a challenge hit me up :smile:

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#8

I do too, He’s definitely the better Engineer.

1 Like
#9

I can guarantee you I’ll out damage Paduk as Baird if we’re talking about sniping.

#10

If you hit consecutive crit shots with Paduk, he makes Baird seem awful.

Still weak with his sniper build though.

1 Like
#11

I’ve never seen Paduk do that successfully without being babied by Marcus.

#12

You’ve never seen a good Paduk using his sniper build then lol. You aren’t a powerhouse, but you still put in work

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#13

I haven’t seen any Paduk worth his weight in a horde match.

1 Like
#14

Shame

3 Likes
#15

To deposit or not deposit? it depends. On the decency of the engineer, on which character you’re playing and if they need some perks to contribute, and the difficulty level. You’ll get a feel or instinct, by playing the mode, building up your knowledge base as to what to do.

Push the limits. I’d step into advanced as soon as possible, and focus on the three or four primary meta characters: Kait, Marcus, Fahz, JD, to level them up, get them strong enough to contribute in the upper levels. Which is where most often you’ll get the better cards, play with the better (more knowledgeable) players and have generally a better time.

#16

Also just to add, Escape is a good way to grind for XP to level up characters and acquire skill cards.

The Surge up to Insane difficulty, or The Clock up to Inconceivable (or even Master once your character reaches a minimum level) are popular choices for grinding as they are quick (The Surge) or easy (The Clock). Other hives are also quick and easy like The Descent or The Blight. They can be done using a range of different characters.

If my memory serves me correct, you get 1 skill card for completion if playing with 1-3 difficulty mutators; and 2 skill cards for 4-6 mutators; amd 3 for 7 mutators (Master). You also get 1 card per act completed as standard, so for a 2-act hive like The Clock you get 5 cards.

However each hive also gives you a limited number of bonus cards per act cleared. You can see by highlighting the difficulty / mutators tab in a lobby screen (it will indicate something like 0/30 - the number of bonus cards available).

2 Likes
#17

You really love Baird don’t you ? :3

I’m aware of how great Baird is, but paduk just has more damage dealing methods than Baird does (as he should), whether it be basic stuff like the perk giving extra damage or that if an enemy is feared they take double damage etc. If you want to argue that Baird is a better character overall then that’s fine because for Horde he probably is (great engineer+good sniper? sign me up)

#18

He’s just soo good. Del has merit as a typical engineer and just starting out he is great. But after you get used to engineering I highly recommend Baird. But for some one NEW Del is better.

#19

I usually use jd because i have the razor hail card that makes enemies bleed out after explosive hits. With fabricator points i do use some but mostly put it in the fabricator for everyone else can use them as they need them.