I tried. I can't get behind your fav Horde class cards

Gears 5
#1

Pilot - Bleeding Mulcher
Yes, it melts, but having it in place of Healing Trishot means you need yet another card slot for healing if you want to actually take on heavies (or have the mobile decoy) for any Salvo-extended time. You could instead go Dropshot-only Pilot, but why not just have both avenues? (Not that many cards for such builds anyway.) Barring an Ultra Slow Recharge daily, the Silverback is just too useful/OP to only use it on boss waves/emergencies. So level 5/6 Salvo and Trishot keep it alive “forever”, and perk a bit to get it back even more quickly.

Combat Medic - Intervention
It’s just too situation-specific to be great or warrant a slot. I’ve given it a 57th chance (“fool me once…”), but I can’t get more than 2 or 3 uses out of the card per match, and some of those I probably could’ve manually picked up the people. Even on small maps or ones like Exhibit where an upstairs/downstairs kill ought to help someone on the opposite level. It’s just too hard to have line-of-sight/splash on a near-enough enemy (even 20m) that’s weak/damaged enough where CM can actually kill it quickly before the DBNO is executed or other revive options are available.

Clutch moments exists but are so exceedingly rare that it can’t justify a permanent card slot. I don’t run damage resistance cards but I’m sure I’d get more frequent personal & team value out of one if I did instead. Just go for frequent Ultimate revives, where you can give them stim and/or damage resistance + healing as part of the revive, and repair forts to boot. Plus you can use it without disengaging from your current enemy on the other side of the map or while locked in an execution animation.

Marksman - Longshot Handling
Similar to Icy Precision, this one was all but unusable for its stated purpose until it was level 6. I couldn’t stand the unpredictability. Like lag, if it’d be consistent you could at least compensate for it, but if it sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, you just pointlessly add mental workload.

At “100%” reload chance, I still didn’t like it… perhaps for more personal reasons, since I don’t reliably hit all my criticals and still have to pay closer attention which reload pattern I need to use. Also it’s supremely disappointing that I don’t get more ammo like a Relic Longshot. I’d suffer through flakiness if it had that bonus. As it stands, I’d just as soon have another card and have my reloads be truly 100% predictable.

Nomad - Armored Shot
You can’t rely on having a random Combat Medic or Anchor (of quality), and it’s way too hard to keep stim in fights otherwise. Plus it breaks Consecutive Shot stacking.

60% ballistic bleed should be OP, but it ends up just being POOP.

Change my mind about these cards. Or list your own opinions on cards that are overrated, only good on paper, or never align with your playstyles.

In defense of the Silverback's defense mode
Which class has the best support card?
#2

Great for dailies with Vampire. Practically don’t use it otherwise unless it’s something like a Mania run, but even then I generally find the Tri-Shot/Salvo combo more preferable.

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#3

Armored Shot, in my opinion, is better suited for CQC Nomad roles. For example, you run execution build cards and run out in the field and chainsaw/retro everything. And then when an larger enemy is in Fear i.e. Scions, Wardens, etc…you can use a Gnasher with bleed to take it out. Equipping Lifeline also helps you and your teammates regain Stim from killing enemies in Fear.

Long-distance Nomad - I would still use it but it is better for CQC.

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#4

Personally use it for Carriers and Flock. Stuff that get absolutely get wrecked by the bleeding and not much else. Especially if there are not a lot of Bleeding support on the team. Otherwise IMO you’re better off just using Dropshots than Silverbag.

Not mine but I’ve seen people use it to great effect with the Torque Bow (perk crit damage and focus on headshotting stuff). This way you can quickly provide support to the Blademaster/Infiltrator/Protector/Nomad who may got downed at the other side of the map and you don’t want to / don’t have your Ultimate ready.

From what I’ve read, it’s just the combination of it and the card that extends ulti duration by critic kills or something. Given you aren’t losing precious seconds recharging after every hit, you can focus on headshots = more kills = more ultimate time = wipe the floor with the enemies.

I’ve seen people use it in combination with Lifeline at the last of a wave. You use your ulti, kill the feared enemy and then you’ll have stim at the start of the next wave. If you’re careful enough you can get some damage (at the start of a wave) while enemies are busy trying to run/position themselves. You can use a GL if you wanna get dirty.

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#5

For Horde, I’ve been using Healing Munitions card instead, so the Salvo is what heals me instead. I really like the Bleeding Mulcer because it doesn’t overheat as quickly; and from longer ranges you only need to graze enemies with a couple of bullets and they bleed. I drop the Cold Finish card nowadays just because it only kicks in when the enemy is low on health anyway; and I personally find it only really makes a difference on the spongy bosses like Swarmak and Matriarch. My Horde build for the Pilot is: The Hammer, Silverback Salvo, Bleeding Mulcher, Aggressive Armor; and Healing Munitions.

I only ever use this in Escape. With Horde, I find it’s alot less critical as long as you’re dealing damage and recharge your ultimate quickly. I favour: Perfect Condition and Dodge for tankiness; Helpful Headshots; and for Horde, Custom Lancer and Overdoing it (or Get Up if there’s an Infiltrator). In Escape I tend to swap out Custom Lancer on hives without Lancers, and put Intervention on.

I definitely agree on this for anything less than level 6. The randomness just throws you off and risks jamming a reload. I used to use this card, but having to manually reload isn’t that big a deal and as long as you have a high level Critical Parade you can make your ultimate last long anyway. I tend to favour Ambush, Exploit Weakness, Modified Longshot (or sometimes EMBAR if the Escape hive has lots of EMBARS), Critical Parade (unless there’s the short ultimate mutator on); and Explosive Headshot (unless there’s reduce explosive damage or Heads Up). The 6th card I swap in/out is Icy Precision.

I only use this for close-range execution builds. It’s great for enemies you can’t execute like Scions, Pouncers etc because you’re working in restricted environments (usually) and have more cover, and when causing Fear you get that extra damage buff on top of it (plus the Feared enemies usually don’t attack you, except for when the game decides to BS you…)

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#6

Here’s a tip to make it more useful:
Grab a meatshield and bring it to base, if someone nearby goes down soon drop the meatshield by switching to your primary/secondary weapon and you will revive them, turning the card into a delayed remote revive on demand. I’ve lost count of how many times I saved the game and revived all 4 teammates with this card, especially on the first/last set of waves.

To be fair, this card was not worth it before they changed it so that it can revive multiple teammates and increased its max radius to 20 meters.

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#7

Its 100% busted. But if you’re truly not hitting your shots I can see why you’d say this.

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What is your "algorithm" for prioritizing Horde targets?
#8

I’ve noticed some players having issues with it. Like the card at level 6 doesn’t bypass the reload if you continually get a consecutive critical kill.

Like the card straight up doesn’t work and you have to reload manually each time. I’ve never experienced it but I know it is glitchy like that.

#9

It happens on Guardians, DR1 Heavies, and Poppers. Something these all have in common is that they don’t have normal heads. DR1 Heavies have the self destruct feature which If It goes on too long you legit cannot headshot them at all but will still get handling reload bug. Guardians are just weird and Poppers don’t count because of their kamikaze feature I assume?

Anyways, those are the only enemies you’ll get that handling bug on. That isn’t even the worst bug for handling imo. The one where you fire the longshot twice is way worse because you’re wasting ammo. But Handling shouldn’t bug out on drones, pouncers, scions etc
Atleast I haven’t seen it with many hours of Marksman.

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#10

I have a friend where the card straight up doesn’t work lol. Manual reload each time.

#11

Have the dodgiest headshot hitbox known to mankind… or at least in Gears 5. Shooting them straight in the head is like playing roulette for whether you get a headshot registered or not.

#12

Oddly the most satisfying to hit for that reason lol. But yeah its really strange.

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#13

If you’re looking at it from the front, try aiming more at the rear of the neck, slightly above the eyes iirc. I consistently get crit shots that way.

#14

The damage that thing does is nasty. If you got Salvo and Healing Explosives, you can make the SB last a long time. Bonus points if you got a Tac with you to fill up your rockets. You can also get the SB back with Dropshot easily which is great.

Depends on what you are doing. In Mania, I get a lot of value out of it. In Escape, it is amazing. You can get meatshields and drop them when you need to revive someone. It even works on yourself but it is rare. In Frenzy, I can get value out of it, but it takes more work. I still run it since whenever I don’t, I wish I had it.

Definitely needs to be 6 but it is great for Critical Feedback wave clearing.

Situational but I think Dr Shwazz covered it well.

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#15

I agree with you on the pre-level 6 versions of this card, but definitely not afterwards. I love it. It’s fantastic for very easily wiping out entire waves (save for the Boss waves) with a single ultimate, via Critical Parade. Such simple slaughter, even better to provide a friendly inconvenience to your fellow CQC compadres.

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#16

I’ll make a point of trying that pattern, but isn’t this still pretty situational in Horde? I’ve played Interrogation Tactician many times, and just getting the meatshield with any kind of regularity is non-trivial. I can’t see it without Grenade Pouch so you’re not constantly going back (& paying for) flashbangs, so that’d be one more card slot down (and you can’t double-purpose it well with Suppressive Recharge since those aren’t killing grenades).

Also, if I’m walking around with a saved meatshield frequently, I’ve sacrificed normal mobility. Is “downs 20m around me” a zone I likely can’t reach by running? Further, I’m not picking up ammo, or helping with power & taps.

Lastly and certainly not least, you also can’t do as much damage with a pistol, which slows getting your ultimate back. And that’s otherwise quite easy with Lancers, especially on Boss waves (and miles faster compared to the early Operations).

The simultaneous group revive aspect seems like it would have to be the primary gained value (where I totally agree, the card wasn’t worth entertaining at all pre-buff). So far with Intervention, I almost never get those, let alone multiple times a match, so I struggle to see it carrying its weight for a Horde card slot.

#17

I really only use(d) that for the Flock and Carrier, generally bosses bot those two in specific. Dropshot handles the rest.

Unnecessary card in my opinion. Sure it’s nice to be able to revive CQC classes almost across the map but the same thing works with the Ultimate (also almost across the map). No need for Intervention really. There’s better ones to pick. Even “Get Up” is better than that, especially if you have an Infiltrator.
“Overdoing It” is usually the card in that slot. That ultra regen and dmg resistance really comes in handy for yourselves and CQC classes to try and get out of hairy situations.

One of the most broken cards on level 6. A decent sniper can clear wave after wave as long as he’s being provided ammo (e.g. via Weapon locker).

I’m no Nomad really but this card can be crazy strong if you’re provided Stim. You could pair it with another card to get Stim yourselves via feared enemies. GL is absolute insanity with Armored Shot but hardly anyone play(ed) that way.

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#18

Bleeding Mulcher is a MUST in my Books

Intervention is meh i think of it as a mainly useful Escape type of Card.

Longshot Handling is OP and is one of the Reasons (besides X-Ray) why the Marksman is OP.

Armored Shot mainly helps because it stops bigger Targets from regenerating Health and does finish lots of dodgy Drone-types when they get back in Cover and won’t show their Face anymore.

It also helps finishing Enemys that run away in Fear. So IMO a really good Card for both Ranged and CqC-Nomad.

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#19

I agree with all except I don’t think Bleeding Mulcher is a “must”. It is nice to have but the Pilot can do just fine on a Dropshot stun/healing/Stim build alone.

#20

I tried it (specifically Salvo, Mulcher, Cold Finish, Healing Munitions, Hammer) since it was yesterday’s daily, and it worked. Does Vampire actually heal the Silverback or just you?

I still feel like there were more close calls (especially if the Silverback was healing from bleed), where I was lucky to have 1 or 2 rockets left to really heal, and that the Silverback might not have always survived if Overload weren’t such a small map that we’d/I’d cleared most enemies by then (the Mulcher shot spread also matters less, and we only got soft bosses because of the map & RNG).

The bleed didn’t hit quite as hard as I remember, though the Mulcher’s overheat compared to the Trishot’s is always very refreshing.

Side note: I don’t play Overload except sometimes as a daily, so it’s been a while. Did something change about spawning or did everyone just forget and/or decide not to put the Fabricator where you close off half the map and don’t get enemies behind you?

This isn’t even counting the 2-engineer start where they saw the initial Frenzy taps were on one side and yet dragged the Fabricator to the opposite side (no Blademaster where maybe that might have made sense).