The lancer is a powerful weapon if used correctly however victory with the lancer is much more difficult than the Hammerburst.  Lets start with the stats.

Stats

-Ammo Capacity 50 rounds

-Chainsaw bayonet effective Range 5m(including the average vacuum)

-Active Reload 20% damage Bonus

-Maximum Effective Range 35m

-Accurate up to 65-70m

-Difficulty to Successfully Master- Hard

The lancer is the best support rifle, it simply provides the best cover fire around next to the Mulcher that is. Spraying bullets from behind cover is amazing for keeping people at bay. It also is amazing within 15m keep train on the target they will never reach you, Especially actived. You can fire the lancer for around 7 seconds before the clip is empty. That’s 49 seconds of fire from the spawn, counting active reloads you can fire back to back for about 56 seconds or so. When many enemies are approaching spraying one at a time then focusing on another target one by one is amazing.  If more than one enemy gets within a perimeter of 15m begin backing up or switch to the shotgun.

Onto the bayonet, the chainsaw is an amazing tool, sometimes referred to as the noob weapon. However to be used efficiently it takes a true master to use it and not be destroyed afterwards.  There are a few techniques to chainsawing effectively.

Tips:

-Only three weapons can stop the chainsaw from reving in one bullet

-Boltok – Shotgun – Mulcher(assuming multiple bullets connect)

-The shotgun can sometimes miss and still let a chainsaw go through.

-Reving the chainsaw past a smoke grenade will ignore the stun.

Lancer Techniques

Stalwart Firing

This technique is simply, put bullets into anyone charging towards you, this will slow them down and make them bait if they cant find cover. Simple but effective, keep bullets in them .

Ninja Lancer

Take cover behind and object concealing most of your body, fire a couple of shotgun shells towards your opponents, then conceal your entire body switch to the lancer and wait for your opponent to come close, then chainsaw them. Works round 70% of the time. The longer you can continue to fire shotgun shells the longer they will believe your going to go toe to toe with the shotgun.

The Dancing Blade(NEW!)

This is one of my favorites, when wielding the revved bayonet swivel your character back and forth to help dodge bullets, this helps keep your blade up, it keeps a full shotgun shell from hitting and helps dodging boltok, and hammer fire. It works often against anyone who isn’t a veteran at maneuverability.

The Blade from the Shadows(NEW!)

This is also one of my favorites, this involved some serious wall bouncing techniques, once you learn to wall bounce you can bounce around people with shotguns and lancer them. When it works its amazing, estimated success rate going toe to toe with a shotgun, 60% or so. If you’re a veteran or a master at wall bouncing I’d say around 80% chance. But experienced players will see a lower number.

Bottom line is that this weapon has been under rated for quite a while. It is amazing and I actually prefer it in every mode, except for wingman. Mainly because in wingman the strict downing power is a preference of mine, not necessarily better just my preference.  The intimidation factor I tell everyone about is simply astounding, everyone always back peddles away from the lancer as soon as its revved. Very few dare fight the fangs of a chainsaw’s blade.

PS: I’d like to establish credit to NinjaSwitch17, I learned the two moves that have “NEW!” next to them while training with him. If you can ever grab him in 1 on 1, he knows most of the techniques I know, and a few I don’t I’m sure. Plus he is a great wall bouncer, he helped me develop mine.

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

 Lets start with explaining the weapon in general.

-Ammo Per Clip- 7 rounds

-Active reload Function -  20% increased damage to each pellet

-Amount of pellets per bullet- 8

-Effective Range about 15m

-Actived Effective Range about 25m

-Difficulty to Mastery – Medium

This weapon relies on connecting as many pellets as possible, I thought it might help players if they knew the spread that this weapon possess. To clear up the connection needed per pellet for every pellet that doesn’t connect your weapon loses 12.5% damage. Meaning if you miss 4 pellets you lose out on 50% of the weapons damage.

Straight Aim

Hip Fire

Pop Shots

Notice the difference in aiming and just firing from the hip on the spreads, its pretty drastic, especially past 10m. Learning when each technique is useful is part of mastering this weapon.

Side note- The distance is measure in meters, which are guestimated 5m = a little less than a cars length from gridlock.

Wall Bouncing

This technique is very advanced and hard to master, something I myself am nowhere near close to mastering. Essentially what it is, is pressing the A button towards a wall, and right before actually covering coming off it, at the same time you hip fire the shotgun(or whatever weapon, even melee). That’s the first bounce in a wall bounce. To be successful you will bounce again into another wall, or roll. Out of that roll is a roadie run or another bounce. Now while its hard to get a grasp through text, that’s the best I can do. I’ll gladly teach anyone how to do the basics.

Wall bouncing helps dodge enemies in confined areas, it can also be used to close the gap between you and your enemy and helps you dodge enemy fire. Wall bouncing is especially useful for dodging sniper, torque, and Boomshot fire.

Straight Aim

This is just holding the LT while firing your shotgun at your enemy, it provides the most power but with the least mobility.

Hip Fire

Simply firing from the hip(not holding LT) This lowers the power and aim of the shotgun, but helps increase mobility.

Pop Shots

The art of pop shots is simple. You press the left trigger and as you release the left trigger your press the right trigger. For beginners its best to slide your left finger down the left trigger, when your finger slides off its time to hit the right trigger. Once you get good you’ll simply know the timing and be able to do it without sliding your finger off the controller. If your host you can hit them at the same time.

Pop Shooting is the art of mixing mobility and power/accuracy of the straight aim and hip fire. If you look at the spread its barely different from the straight aim. As soon as the timing is perfect the straight aim and the pop shots will be 100% identical.

1-2(two piece)

Simple melee then fire. The basic form of this technique is the melee, then to aim your shotgun and fire upon your opponent, while being the easier to master, the advanced 1-2 is much more efficient. The advanced version of this skill is meleeing then firing from the hip they will die, or be downed; regardless they are out of your way.

The Rollback

Quite simple really, when someone is coming towards you in an attempt to 1-2 you, back up slightly enough to be out of melee range, and once they miss their melee you roll the control movement stick forward and fire from the hip. It will either one shot them or weaken them enough where another shot will down them. While learning this technique is hard it is equally effective against anyone attempting to melee you, especially grenade taggers. It will take some work to do perfectly since your predicting your enemy’s melees.

The Rolling 1-2(Two piece)-

It is the ultimate close range technique. You melee rollback and roll forward and fire or melee roll back and pop shot. This allows you to setup your kill while dodging their counter attacks, the only reason this is useful is due to lag sometimes your melee attacks will not stun, and this covers your ass. This technique requires good aim and mobility combined all at once.

Ever been running from someone and it seemed no matter how far away you got they could still hit you? They were sniping with the hip fire. When your roll to follow someone(because you should be rolling into a roadie run and repeating that’s the fastest method of travel short of wall bouncing) As soon as you come out of the roll hip fire at your enemy, once you get accurate you’ll have no trouble chasing someone with the shotgun.

Happy Hunting Guys

I’ll be happy to explain any of this further if you want to message me, my tag is Gizmoh and my email is superjunkmail71@gmail.com

Getting up close and personal is what this style is about

Rundown

This style is simply face to face, no retreat, full power, never back down, now or never, blood blood blood! Or simply put close range combat that drives hard and is to be feared, most players that take up this style rock with the shotty.

Special Technique

Tunnel Vision-(passive ability)

Whether users of this style know it or not, they have this, tunnel vision is where they lock on to their target, anyone who gets in their way is dodge or disposed of. They simple get on track to close the gap between them and their target. I have a picture in my mind what that looks like, simply everything else blurs out and that target is clear.

Longshot Shotgun-(Using the Shotgun)

The Postulo Cruor style relies so much on the shotgun, they begin using it for short to medium-long range, and because they are so determined and know the weapon so well they end up downing people from fairly far away with this weapon.

Fighting 1 on 1-

Simple close the gap, by wall bouncing rolling, Wall sprints, anything to get in shotgun range. Then utilize hip fires, straight aims, and 1-2s to dispatch of the opponent in a timely manner.

Strengths

-Close Range Combat

-Works great in Packs

-Fearless

-Shotgun Kings

Weaknesses

-Long Range

-Gets outnumbered often(unless with other Postulo Cruor styles)

-Reckless

Requirements

-Veteran with the shotgun

-Veteran mobility Skills

-Good reaction Times

As with all my articles if you ever have any questions you can post on the forums or email me at superjunkail71@gmail.com

Tearing the enemy team away one brick at a time

The Rundown

Establishing a point of power and tear the opponent apart from its seems.

Special Technique

Maim-(Team ability)

Maim is a technique meant to be used against the team and less of a 1 on 1 ability. The maim skill basically finds the member that is alone or has the least skill, and finishes him/her off first, before the rest of the team can support him. And continuing to do so until only one remains.

How to use

On each map grab a power weapon if possible(its ok if you can’t or it too risky) Then evaluate. If it’s the first round quickly pick the guy that’s alone or to far from his team and eliminate him through any means.  If you can’t focus on the weakest player or lone soldier, find who is using the strongest weapon(well placed mortar/Well placed Mulcher/Exceptional Player).

Fighting 1 on 1

Use cover and fight from a range, avoid going toe to toe in close range combat until your experience with the shotgun. Once you get good with the shotgun using the 1-2 techniques and hip fire techniques, mixed in with some basic all around skills you will become fierce in 1 on 1 combat. Again use cover as much as possible.

Strengths

-Devours most standard teams

-Disrupts Most team flows

-Excellent for new players

Weaknesses

-No real combat strengths

-Not good if entire team is using this style

Requirements

-Knowledge of the Basic techniques in my guide

-Patience

-Basic Perception Skills

-Knowledge of Maps

As with all my articles if you ever have any questions you can post on the forums or email me at superjunkail71@gmail.com

Game battles are interesting beats, they are so different from normal ranked matches that we all play over xbox live. I’ve come up with a few key differences and some tips about playing in the gamebattles matches.

Major Differences

-Weapon Spawns are different

-Friendly Fire is on

-Default rifles are the same

Weapon Spawns

The weapon spawns on all maps are different on most maps. In fact most maps favor the torque bow over the sniper, meaning those with the torque will dominate if they can get their hands on it.

Friendly Fire is on 

Friendly fire is on, watch your aim! You can’t just shotgun into the crowd anymore, you have to ensure that your not blowing your teammates arms off. Explosive weapons like boomshots, torque and grenades should be used with caution as well.  Oh, and planted grenades work the same too, if you plant a grenade you better move fast, and never go by it again. Smokes, inks, and frags all trigger on yourself and your teammates. This is a huge deal, using plants seal you off from that spot as well as your teammates. Mainly it seals off that path, but I prefer not to use them as plants in a gamebattles match, I prefer to throw them.

Default rifles are the same 

Default rifles are the same. Meaning if Lancer is selected only lancers can be used and vice versa, however you can deny a challenge if you don’t like the default weapon you can refuse the challenge. Some teams will take the challenge even if their team is not familiar with the starting weapon, which poses a huge handicap. However all lancers to me seems crazy.

Strategy

Now basic concepts are focus firing, and strategy.  Focus firing means teammates call out who they are firing on and everyone focuses on that one target if they are able. This is especially critical in 2v2.  Strategy is key, iTz Cond3mned and I have a strategy for every map, if that strategy fails we adapt to what our opponent does to counter our attacks.  Predicting your opponents moves is a big deal, if you can manage to stop their attacks from happening its all gravy from there.

As with all my articles if you ever have any questions you can post on the forums or email me at superjunkail71@gmail.com

Dibs on the Torque!

 So you and your team is getting steam rolled? But why? You did everything correctly and played as hard as you could. Something I’ve noticed between me and my fellow running mates is this, we have are own strengths and weaknesses and we have noticed it. I’d like to explain further what I mean. Now I’m not saying do this every game because believe me it can  suck out the fun of it, but when you really want to win, use your strengths even if you want to use something your not good with. Example:

Gizmoh-

Expert-Torque Bow/Speed

Strengths-Torque Bow/Sniper/Hammer Burst/Scorcher

Weaknesses- Boomshot/Throwing Frags/Hardcore Offense

iTz Cond3mned-

Expert- Shotgun

Strengths- Shotgun/Boomshot/Sniper/Boltok/Hammerburst

Weaknesses- Torque Bow/Inks/Gorgon/Lancer/Scorcher/Too Aggressive

iTz Fubu-

Expert-Hammerburst/Medic

Strengths- Hammerburst/Sniper

Weaknesses-Torque Bow/Inks/Too Defensive

Corsian-

Expert- Decoy

Strengths- Torque/Shotgun

Weaknesses- Survival/Speed/Maps

(Corisan is a new player therefore his full abilities have not yet been discovered)

 There are our four regulars, so you can see all four of us have different strengths and weaknesses, and luckily we all four are experts with different weapons. Therefore when we are really getting beaten, we play on those strengths Cond3mned and Fubu stay near each other and dominate against most teams using the shotgun and hammer to make a devastating offense and defense. Corisan(new player) draws fire like its nobodies business and he tends to risk his life to pick people up. I generally pick up the torque bow, or follow cond3mned and Fubu using my Hammerburst.

 In every squad your members excel with certain abilities. Its always good to utilize them especially if you plan on using gamebattles. Now again ill repeat, don’t do this every game, you will get bored because we all love the power weapons and not all of us are pro with them. When I play with schnikes I forfeit the sniper to him because I’ve seen him have better headshot percentage than I. Basically the point of this article is to tell everyone that we all have strengths and weaknesses and dominating in clan matches and public matches relies on using those and slowing improving your weaknesses.

 The best setup so far is to have two people good with the four common power weapons and two people good with the shotgun/Hammer.  I’ve been experimenting with the idea of using a lancer as the leader of attacks.

 Explained-

Team of 5(since clan matches restrict either all lancers or all hammers)

Four members use the Hammerburst and one uses the lancer. The lancer is a great support weapon since when you hit someone longer than 2 seconds they begin to slow down thanks to the high rate of bullets, while the bullets don’t do a lot of damage, the slow alone allows your teammates hammer’s to find their mark easily. Plus if any enemies get brave having a lancer lead the attack is quite a defensive maneuver. Since the lancer can rev a chainsaw many players will back off immediately no one wants to get vacuumed in. I need to test this theory more, but I cant stand losing the power of my Hammerburst. I’ll get back to everyone on the success of the Lancer Leader as soon as I can.

As with all my articles if you ever have any questions you can post on the forums or email me at superjunkail71@gmail.com

(I really do check this email address guys!) >.<

There are 3 common techniques when using the shotgun the 1-2(two piece), The rollback(sometimes mistaken for common blind firing), and the Straight Aim.

1-2(two piece)

Simple melee then fire. The basic form of this technique is the melee, then to aim your shotgun and fire upon your opponent, while being the easier to master, the advanced 1-2 is much more efficient. The advanced version of this skill is meleeing then firing from the hip they will die, or be downed; regardless they are out of your way.

The Rollback

Quite simple really, when someone is coming towards you in an attempt to 1-2 you, back up slightly enough to be out of melee range, and once they miss their melee you roll the control movement stick forward and fire from the hip. It will either one shot them or weaken them enough where another shot will down them. While learning this technique is hard it is equally effective against anyone attempting to melee you, especially grenade taggers. It will take some work to do perfectly since your predicting your enemy’s melees.

Straight Aim

It is as it is said. Aim your shotgun and fire, this technique should be used at a distance only, if your in melee range and your opponent is not stunned you should not be using this technique.

Advanced Techniques

Sniping with the Hip Fire

Once you become skilled with firing form the hip you can be a far distance from your opponent and hit them, this technique is used mainly for chasing people, and you should never try and engage someone front to front with a hip fire from a range.

The Rolling 1-2(Two piece)

It is the ultimate close range technique. You melee rollback and roll forward and fire or melee roll back and pop shot. This allows you to setup your kill while dodging their counter attacks, the only reason this is useful is due to lag sometimes your melee attacks will not stun, and this covers your ass. This technique requires good aim and mobility combined all at once.

Now for a little info, the Straight Aim is only good outside of melee range.

Number 7, Hammerburst Techniques:

The Super Trigger

Simply aim at your targets knees, and pull the trigger as fast as possible. This only works if they are standing still your running to you or from you in a straight line, not many people can do this at a person running sidewise.

The Spray and Pray

Simply aim at the target and fire fast but not so crazy that you cant keep your aim trained on the person.

The Safe Bet

Trying to simply do damage? Hold the right trigger, the hammer is slower but the recoil is a lot less vicious.

1-2-Skip a Few

Melee, then aim and fire as fast as you can. It actually works!!! Now don’t try and do this against a shotgun, unless your surprised. However for a ambushee kind of thing it works great.

Number 8 Learn how to use Power Weapons:

Torque

My favorite weapon of the Gears of war Arsenal. After enough practice no one can touch you if you’re holding one of these puppies.  For starters holding the torque down long enough to ensure a stick is key. When it’s actived it will charge faster.  The common aim technique is the stick flick, where you flick the control stick just enough and release mid turn, it allows you to move your aim fast enough and release the shot into its target, there is no other way to get accuracy so quick and precise short of taking your time and adjusting it.

Using the environment, to your advantage, like sticking the wall right behind somebody, or shooting behind him/her so it will explode on them, teach them to use cover. This weapon can also destroy plants, but that’s a waste of the torque.

Close range

Melee twice using the rollback of the shotgun but for meleeing, or charge the torque and fire it where your opponent will be next and if that’s in front of you… fire and roll back.

Flubber Shots

Charge the torque just enough to see the arc in the line, and release against the wall so it bounces, this makes indirect shots possible, though I don’t recommend it if the torque is not actived, other wise you will only hurt them badly, very few times will a kill result from a flubber shot without active powers.

LongShot Sniper

Basic snipers will just zoom in and try and aim for the head, but that is not always the case at all. Now sniping can be very similar to the Torque in the sense that you just pull the sniper and let the trigger go, now this is not always the case, but when someone is running around a lot the pull and fire is a big help.

Warning: Sometimes characters duck their when they hear the shot(you’ll see this through the scope) However it means you missed, if it was a headshot their head would have been obliterated, they didn’t dodge it, you just missed.

2-1 Sniper

This is kind of like the reverse 1-2, you aim your rifle, fire, then melee. This 2-1 is a little harder to do because its harder to fire on someone in melee range and it be accurate. However the technique is very powerful if you can perform it.

Beat Down Dance

Not exactly its on technique. Basically it’s a double beat down but you need to roll your stick around like your doing the rollback, or spinning around to your opponents back, being that close and only having melee is a dangerous thing, however the longshot’s melee seems to have a bit more of a reach than other weapons, but it also has a longer delay between the next attack.

Advanced Sniping

No Scoping

This is so easy to do. In fact after you get to a certain skill level with the sniper 70% of your shots will be these types of shots. All you have to do is aim your sights over their head and adjust for lag, or none at all.  Again once you hit a certain skill level just standing in the open against certain covered opponents can be the best type of advantage, for you can sometimes shoot their head, or you can wait for them to pop up to shoot you and you can take their head.

BoomShot

This weapon doesn’t have any of its own techniques to use, simply aim at your opponents’ feet and fire.  On river if you aim at the enemy’s power weapon as son as you get it you can kill the power weapon very easily, since everyone is vulnerable when they pick up a weapon.

Dodging this Weapon

Jump, I can usually tell when people are about to shoot, if they aren’t shooting fire into them a few bullets enough to be confident enough that they will hit you, and then jump. Some people will fire as much as they can hoping to hit. Another strategy is to close the gap tot hem, if they fire that close they are likely to hit themselves and canceling out their kill is always great. (Their kill is cancel out because they died to, so your team isn’t at a disadvantage by losing you, and they lose points for killing themselves.)

Mortar

Firing the mortar is simple. However there are two techniques used for the mortar to be effective.

Raining in my Head

Walk into the building with a mortar(easier said than done) and fire it inside, the mortar shell will hit the ceiling and break apart and fall down on the inside of the house. Be sure to move out of there as fast as possible.

Hip Fire

Fire the mortar from the hip, raise your camera so your looking up to do this though, otherwise the mortar just dumps into the floor.

CAUTION: Right now the mortar is buggy, only 50% of the time do they hip fires explode, or the mortar will fire before you even hit the trigger. Too many bugs for it to be a reliable weapon except for the standard shot.

Mulcher

Point and aim. Try and stay behind cover, use LB often to cool the gun instead of keeping the heat levels high, being able to dump your full heat bar into open enemies is important.

Scorcher

Active Reload as much as possible. Now if a smoke grenade is coming be sure to hold down your fire button, so when you get smoked you will keep firing flames. After stunned the flamethrower will continue to fire as your downed.

Bouncing the Fire

When actived you can fire against the floor when they are behind cover and still burn them.

Hot Swapping

After hitting someone, f they escape your flame switch to your pistol and unload on them. That way you can down them from afar.

Lancer

Noob Patrol!   Just kidding…

The lancer does sub par damage but has a nice slow on it, when directly firing on an enemy for a good period of time they will be slowed down.

The chainsaw is invaluable if used right, it is a good ninja technique, because the more veteran players won’t expect it to be around the corner. However straightforward the chainsaw is a poor technique.

Hammer of Dawn

Aim hold and fire. Simple.

Snub Pistol

Fire as fast as possible and aim. Great all around pistol.

Boltok

Aim and fire, aim for the head, or if your wanting a headshot for sure, fire at the chest twice, the recoil of the second shot usually brings the gun to the head. If its actived three shots, sometimes two will down an opponent then the next shot will kill from a far even if its execution, but execution is harder to finish off since it requires a headshot.

Gorgon

An impressive weapon if you can keep your aim on your target. If all bullets connect its as powerful as the hammer; If this weapon is actived and all bullets connect two trigger pulls will usually down the enemy.

Number 9 Learning to Grenade

Smoke

The smoke grenade stuns for 2 seconds and if by stairs they will slide down those stairs for the duration of the stun.

Offensively

Throwing smokes at your enemy is a good way to down them, then go shotgun them in one hit. I recommend the hip fire for me its more accurate. Most people use the straight aim. Also smokes can be used to assist teammates since they cannot be effected by them only the enemies will be stunned, however your grenades will stun you.

Defensively

Planting a smoke can be a great defense however just planting against walls is way to noticeable. If you do a floor plant your opponent is much less likely to see the plant. Just aim at the floor and stand back a little and hit B.

Countering

Smokes can’t be body blown, meaning you can’t run by them and jump back, you will usually get stunned.  However you can fire your weapons on them to blow them.  And you can use their grenades for your own escape, simply jump away from the grenade, the stun will throw you further away from you enemies helping you avoid getting one shotted.

Ink

Offensive

Throwing them into big frays works, it scatters the battle, or it kills a lot of people. Throwing inks behind the big battles works to cut off retreating enemies. You can also floor plant it and wait by them, when someone triggers them fire your ranged weapons into them, the ink explosion and small duration will be enough to help you down them quickly. Don’t tag with these, the tag won’t finish them, only down them, and then it becomes their ink explosion oddly enough.

Defensive

Smoke + Ink plant is perfect when they get stunned and inked. They usually always die.  Another defensive technique is to throw the ink early to cut off anyone running through, because if they ran through they would be so wounded few bullets will drop them.

Counter

Risking yourself through the ink makes a great barrier. The person who threw the ink will never run through it, they will take way to much damage since its theirs.

Frag

Offensive

Simply toss at the opponent. Or you can do the double toss. Where you toss two grenades and they chain react on each other, allows for mass deaths or trapping someone in between the two and guaranteeing the kill. Or you can tag them and they will die, but be wary, run from them, the explosion can kill you too.

Defensive

Floor plants. Are the best.

Counter

Shoot them or body blow them. (body blowing is running past the grenade slightly enough to trigger it, right when the grenade beeps roll back. You may take some damage but not a lot.

Number 10 Speed and Accuracy

Speed

The faster you move the better, in any sense. The faster you are to a weapon, the faster you can run, or the faster you can maneuver around someone. Speed is learned by watching someone; there is no other way to learn to do this effectively.

Accuracy

Every bullet counts, learn to shoot by them when they are behind cover the more accurate the attack the better you can master every technique in this guide. However this is learned by experience.

Go to Part 1 | Go to Part 2

Power Weapons: 3 Gorgon/Boltok, Boomshot, Torque/Sniper, Ink/Frag

Mansion such a fun map, I’ve found out that 5 to Boomshot seems to work great, the sniper and torque don’t seem to be effective enough on mansion due to its small map. However like jacinto you can send 3 to torq/sniper and 2 to Boomshot, sending one down the bottom level to flank enemies. Very simple map, if you’re a lancerjunkie, watch out for using the chainsaw in the mansion plenty of chainsaw magnets that wil get you killed.

Pavillion

Power Weapons: 2 Gorgon/Boltok, 2 Ink/Frag, BoomShield, Mortar, Mulcher.

I love this map. My favorite strategy is 2 to the shield hall, 2 to the middle and 1 to mortar. The one to mortar goes grabs fires, the top tries to push, if they meet 0 resistance grab the shield and come down on the enemies. The 2 middle people rush to the mulcher one guards(the shotgunner) and the other grabs the Mulcher and fires cover fire. Again with the other maps you can cut up your 5 people between the 3 paths.

River

Power Weapons: 2 torque/Sniper, 2 Ink/Frag, Boomshot, Mortar, 2 Gorgon/Boltok

My old favorite map. However everyone is learning how to intercept the torque/sniper. My favorite strategy is 1 to Torque/Sniper, 1 intercepts sniper/torque, 2 to Boomshot, 1 to bridge. 1 Torque sniper should look out window to check on a grenade thrower in the river, the interceptor grabs frags/ink and throws the grenades onto the enemy’s sniper/torque. The person to the bridge should check for resistance, if none he crosses and flanks Boomshot or power house, if there is he backs up and covers his sniper/torque teammate. With this map there’s 3 paths bridge, boom, and powerhouse, you can divide equally as long as you send 1 to each path.

Ruins

Power Weapons: 2 Gorgon/Boltok, 2 Frag/BoomShield, 2 Sniper/Troque, Scorcher

My favorite map, the only map I truly believe a 5 on 1 is easily done. As for strategies their abundant and far and few between perfection. I truly believe there is no one solid route to run this map, 5 to any side works wonders, middle left right it doesn’t matter. Oh? Want to know how the 5 on 1 works don’t ya? Easy grab sniper/Torque (dropping your hammer/lancer) and from there its cake, run long enough to create distance between your pursuers, stop to take a shot, keep moving. The strategy is simple fight one on one, do your damage and run. Works almost every time. If you get pinned? Easy whoever has the power weapon is who you want to fight unless it’s a scorcher, if it’s a scorcher go to the opposite opponent try and defeat him, if you see this going badly simple stun and run. As for strategies, simply make sure you don’t let your enemy have your power weapon or your frags, then its all skill from there. There are some cheap tricks like rushing to a certain point on the bridge and hammering down your opponents sniper/torque guy. Or fragging the opposing torque/sniper.

Security

Power Weapons: 2 Ink/Frag, Boltok/Gorgon, Mulcher/Mortar, Scorcher

Simple grab grenades, 2 to tunnel and 3 in the middle, and flank. This map is mainly based on player skill no true strategies to make this map easier unfortunately.

Stasis

Power Weapons: 2 gorgon/Boltok, 2 Ink/Frag, Boomshot/Mulcher, Torque/Sniper

More complicated but the perfect strategy is sound. 2 people go straight to the middle grabbing frags/inks and heading for torque/sniper, 2 more go straight down the path that leads to the enemys Boomshot stairs, one goes to Boomshot stairs and fires along the rafters keeping his opponents of of the Boomshot. As long as everyone on the bottom floor does their job and the opponents don’t get the Boomshot. Cake map.

Subway

Power Weapons: 2 ink/frag, sniper, Mulcher/torque, scorcher.

This map is intricate as well, each side is different therefore there is no one set strategy for this map, the best thing to do is to play to your teams strengths. Speed or defense? But no matter which strength it is don’t let your sniper/torque or grenades fall into the opposing teams hands.

Tyro Station

Power Weapons: 2 sniper/torque, Frags/inks, 2 gorgon/boltok

I hate this map, but I know how to work it. Its simple send 2 bottom 3 top, one top for power weapon 2 to cross the tracks. CAREFUL the train is fast, but once you learn how to cross fast and perfect its an easy map, the two bottoms should flush through and use grenades on sniper/torque spot(unless you had to use them to win the fight down bottom). Perfect strategy if executed correctly.

UnderHill

Power Weapons: Scorcher, BoomShield, 2 frags/inks, 2 gorgon/Boltoks, torque/sniper, Mortar

Simply put the faster team wins, with so many power weapons and such a large map, whoever can navigate and swarm faster will have an advantage over the other team, plus Hammerburst and pistols become key for the long range combat that takes place on this level. 2 to middle, one to mortar 1 to grenades then to opponent’s grenades fighting and killing on the way there, and 1 to scorcher. Speed and accuracy are keys on this map.

2.) Ok so the second thing on my list is knowing where your teammates are. Now honestly I won’t explain how to do this, because.. really… But I’ll stress that its key knowing where your teammates are, especially if you get downed or if they get downed. Now on strategy point of view the more you have with you the more likely your opponent will break offense and retreat into a corner. And when retreating if you retreat at a slower pace than your normal ability to run away, you can entice the greedier player to walk right into your teammates/plants. That’s really all that should be said on that matter.

3.) Active reload as much as possible. Active reloads decrease reload time and allow bonuses to your weapons, here is the active chart: Note: Active reload damage only lasts for a few seconds, all other bonuses stay until you switch your weapon. The damage bonus stays for roughly 8-10 seconds. Any time you switch weapons all actives are nullified.

4.) Fourth on the list, predicting common moves from your opponents. Surprising them with some crazy plan has an increased chance of success. Defensively speaking though as you play gears you will see common moves like the 1-2(two piece). And that ability is simple to see coming and easy to defeat, as you play more you will see common moves and learn to intercept them. With each move I explain I’ll explain its counter.

5.) Communicate everything, whatever you see wherever their going, don’t give false information even if you really think that’s what the enemy will do. No information is better than false information. Call out who is doing what or who is carrying what. Information is key for a team to win.

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Top Ten Golden Rules

1. Know the maps
2. Know where your teammates are
3. Active reload as much as possible
4. Predict common moves
5. Communicate everything
6. Learn how to Shotgun effectively
7. Learn how to Hammerburst effectively
8. Learn how to Power Weapons
9. Learn how to Grenades
10. Speed and Accuracy

1.) First off I’ll explain the maps and some common ways they are worked. I’m assuming players will know the map layouts as I give strategies.

Avalanche

Power Weapons: Mulcher/Mortor, Ink/Frag, BoomShield, 2 Gorgon/Boltok, Torque,Boomshot(after avalanche)

There are a few different ways to run this map. The grenade path is to run out of the spawn and turn right, then left outside, and up and left again down to the grenades. Often times tossing a smoke across the map towards your mirror position, will slow down their grenade rushers.

Next, Mortart/Mulcher can be powerful if used as support and not a main weapon. The best thing to do in round 1 is to send 2 to each side and one grenade runner to measure your opponents. Then you can decide how many you need on each side, or you can simply flush all five down one side, and even 4 down one side leaving 1 down the other to hold them off until the 4 flank his opponents. The only bad thing about this map is the avalanche, it comes at random times and can be deadly if your not watching for it, however it doesn’t reach past the grenade spawn, so if your by the truck it will never reach you. Some advanced campers will post up in the spawn, and use the balcony to down their opponents, having a boltok makes this easier.

BloodDrive

Power Weapons: Torque/Sniper, 2 Gorgon/Boltok, Scorcher, 2 Ink/Frag

There are numerous strategies on this level. Starting with My favorite 3 to the middle 1 to the grenade and 1 down towards the middle but cut to the right for the scorcher, the scorcher then turns around and runs to support the middle, or if its an ink round runs up the enemy grenade tunnel. Another notable one is 4 to the middle 1 to the frag/ 5 into the middle. Some teams even post all 5 members on their stairs, using grenades and long range rifles to defend their grenade hall, the boltok/gorgon helps defend the stairs. The only problem with posting up there is sniper/torque can be devastating in a veterans hands, especially against campers. Now there are several strategies where you mix how many go middle and how many go down the tunnel and through the back into the enemy’s grenade tunnel. If your outnumbered, near the end of a round or its 3 of you and 2 bots posting up in the spawn can be efficient to the mediocre teams. This won’t stop a veteran team however.

Canals

Power Weapons: 2 Snipers, Torque/Boomshot, Boltok/Gorgon, Ink/Frag

My favorite strategy for this map is 3 to the center for boom/torq and 1 to our sniper, then I usually run up our center stairs to the back long hall and rush through the hall and past the grenades to go and kill their sniper immediately. Other strategies are 4 to the middle and one to the sniper, 3 to the middle and 1 to the sniper and 1 to the grenades, Some bizarre teams will send 5 to the middle or 1 to the middle to at least stop the boom/torq and 4 down the back hall. However I recommend all teams pick up their sniper, some veteran teams know how to rush fast enough for it not to matter, but not many.

Courtyard

Power Weapons: Boomshot/Torq, 2 Boltok/Gorgon, Ink/Frag, Sniper/Mortar

One of my favorite maps from the DLC, statues that can fall? Sweet. Common strategy is the simple 2 top, 2 bottom, 1 middle. My favorite strategy is 2 to the top and 3 to the bottom, however only 2 go to the torq/boom while the third runs on the other side of the wall and comes up on the backs of the opponents at the torq/boom. Again with most maps you can put 5 to any side, the 1 and 4 crush. Not many unique strategies on this map, mediocre teams commonly camp the top side though.

Day One

Power Weapons: 2 Boltok/Gorgon, BoomShield, Sniper/Torque, Mulcher/Hammer

The strategies on this map are common enough, since there are only two paths from the start its basically how you wish to divide your team, I prefer 3 towards torq/sniper and 2 towards hammer/Mortar. There’s an arcade that can be camped in as well, inside the arcade theirs a certain machine that nobody checks if your trying to stall the game. Other than that there is not much else to say about this map, other than 5 to one side doesn’t work that often.

Fuel Depot

Power Weapons: 2 Torque/Sniper, 2 Ink/Frag, Hammer/Mortar, 2 Gorgon/Boltok

This map is a classic. Tip for your expert Torq user, if you rush to the torque fast enough and get out of the trailer quick enough you can tag the opponent who is going for their torque. Favorite strategy, 1 left 2 middle 1 right, leaving whoever got the torq/snipe to roam between which 3 paths he/she wants. 5 to the middle is not bad. 5 grenade side is not bad but requires speed. Another common strategy is 2 grenade side, 1 middle and 2 factory side. The gas pumps explode enough said. Despite the mortar being inside it can be effective if you fire it inside, it’ll land on unsuspecting foes also in the factory.

Flood

Power Weapons: 2 Boltok/Gorgon Torque/Boomshot, 2 Ink, 2 Frag, Mortar/Hammer

Wait 2 Ink and 2 frag? This must be a joke right? Nope sure enough there are Inks and Frags every round. I hate this map though, it was not built well at all. However it’s a basic map, think Avalanche with except the center has all the power weapons. Generally I say 4 to one side then one to the other but the 1 moves slower so he can flank the enemies. If you get the hammer/mortar first that helps in the big brawl. Really this map is too simple not to get.

Fuel Station

Power Weapons: Gorgon/Boltok, Ink/Frag, Mortar, Mulcher, Scorcher

I love this map, don’t get me wrong the setup on it is really strange, but it is a fun map. My favorite strategy is 5 men to the gas station. Collect mulcher go up top, collect frags go up top and tag elevator and stairs for defense, grab scorcher, and avoid mortars. The common strategies are rush for power up weapons, there is no flow to this map, simply everyone goes to the middle or behind the gas station, not much to it really. That’s one of the things I love about this.

Gold Rush

Power Weapons: 2 Gorgon/Boltok, Mortar/Boomshot, Ink/Frag, Torque/Sniper.

The flow for this map is high vs low. Perfect strategy is 2 high 3 low. Or 5 to either side works really well. That’s pretty much it for this map.

Gridlock

Power Weapons- 2 Gorgon/Boltok, Frag/BoomShield, Boomshot

This map is fun, my favorite strategy is 3 to Boomshot, and 2 to torq/sniper. The three that go to Boomshot should do: One to the far end of the wall closest to the BoomShield, one should grab the Boomshot, the last should be against the wall right behind his teammate grabbing the Boomshot in order to pick him/her up in the event he/she is downed, its likely. You could also 5 to one side, on either side, but if your going to do it do it on the Boomshot, plus there’s the 2 top 2 middle and 2 bottoms strategy, I’m not fond of it because most people going middle cant decide whether to help Boomshot or torq/sniper, and end up wasting time instead of killing.

Grindyard

Power Weapons: Boomshot, Scorcher, Frag/Ink, 2 Gorgon/Boltok

This map is awesome, simple enough. The strategy I like is 3 to Boom, 1 to frag, and 1 to scorcher, in the event that its ink send 2 to scorcher. Also 5 to Boomshot is not bad, or 4 to Boomshot and 1 to grenades is not bad either. This map is kind of like Fuel station its an open fighting ring.

Hail

Power Weapons: 2 Ink/Frag, Torq/Sniper, Sniper/Torq, Boomshot/Mulcher, 2 Boltok/Gorgon

Watch out for the rain, seriously I get tired of seeing people die to the hail of their own accord. My favorite strategy is 3 topside no matter what and 2 bottom, the bottom pushes through and around, unless top asks for help faster. This map can only be 5 to topside, never send all 5 to bottom your asking for it if you do. This map is simple, you can even send 4 top and one bottom, if the bottom has to much trouble he can simply run up the stairs to join the middle.

Jacinto

Power Weapons: Torque/Sniper, Boomshot/Hammer, 2 Ink/Frag, 2 Boltok, 2 Gorgon/Boltok, Mortar

This map has been overplayed lately so I have plenty of strategies. My favorite is 3 to middle and 2 to Boom/HoD. The three that go to the middle go as follows, your best sniper/torq grabs torq, someone supports him incase he is downed, your best shotgunner goes to the mortar stairs(top) and runs past the pillars and sneaks up on anyone trying to oppose the Boom/HoD. If your having trouble getting to the torq/sniper have someone with accuracy grab the Boltok across from the snipe/torq and fire across, plus smokes can cause good cover. As for other strategies you can put 4 to any side and 1 to the other and do decent, 5 to one side is never good on this map. Plus the grenade spawns can make good camping spots with proper plants and common sense.

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