Gears 5: Multiplayer Tips & Tricks for Beginners

Gears of War’s multiplayer has always been aggressive, tactical, and competitive, and that can make coming in as a beginner a pretty daunting and unforgiving experience. To try and give you a helping hand in the latest entry’s Versus mode, here are a few Gears 5 multiplayer tips and tricks to get you started.

The Lancer Is a Viable Option

Gears 5 Multiplayer Tips and Tricks

Okay, so for complete beginners, this might not make much sense, so let us explain. Back in Gears 4’s multiplayer, everything game pretty much devolved into pulling out the Gnasher Shotgun and getting up close to blast your enemy to smithereens.

In Gears 5, that’s changed, thanks to a few tweaks to the way the Lancer handles.

Simply put, the Lancer is far more accurate than it’s felt in previous entries, and as such, is much better at dealing damage to enemies, especially when aiming for the head from a distance.

This means that if you spot an opponent in the distance heading towards you, Gnasher at the ready, you can drop them before they even get to you.

Plus, if you can nail the perfect reload (spoilers for the next tip), it packs even more of a punch and can drop enemies easily if you can nail headshots.

Perfect the Perfect Reload

Obvious tip is obvious, but it really shouldn’t be understated how much of a difference getting a perfect active reload can make in Gears 5’s multiplayer.

Aside from the obvious fact that it’s faster than failing the active reload and jamming your weapon, or just not trying to do it at all, but it increases the damage output of your weapon ever so slightly.

It’s noticeable by the color change of the bullets or projectiles you’re firing off after executing a perfect reload, and your reticle will go a gold color when this buff is applied.

The Perfect Reload is useful for any weapon and can be what gives you that extra edge in damage output over your opponent to win the battle.

Melee Is Your Friend

Gears 5 Multiplayer Tips and Tricks

While your weapons are the best way to deal damage 99% of the time, that doesn’t mean your melee attack (B on Xbox One) is completely useless.

Not only is it handy for finishing enemies that you’ve downed to save yourself some ammo, but it can also give you the advantage in close-quarters battles with enemies.

The melee can actually be used as a way to steady your enemy in close-quarters combat before using the Gnasher Shotgun to finish them off.

Melee deals a tiny bit of damage, which if you get a good shot off with the Gnasher, is enough to eliminate an enemy.

By steadying your enemy, you’ll find that they’re less able to move around — or slower in doing so — after you’ve given them a quick taste of your fist.

Use Your Tac-Com

If you’ve played through Gears 5’s campaign, or any of the previous campaigns for that matter, you’ll probably already be aware of what Tac-Com is.

It basically allows you to see the silhouettes of your teammates and other valuable information on your surroundings.

In Versus multiplayer, this is an invaluable tool for keeping track of where your teammates are, when they might be in trouble, where the fight’s going off, and most importantly, when and where power weapons are available.

By pressing and holding LB, Tac-Com will turn your screen black and white, while also showing you little icons for the various power weapon drops across the map.

These can turn the tide of battle, but will only respawn once picked up after a set amount of time has passed. And guess what, Tac-Com has a countdown for each power weapon respawn, too.

Seek Out Power Weapons & Learn the Map Weapon Drops

Gears 5 Multiplayer Tips and Tricks

Speaking of power weapons and spawn points, these can actually be the difference between dominating a game and racking up huge XP and getting rekt round-in-round-out by your opponent.

Power weapons, as the name suggests, are some of the most powerful weapons in the game, such as the Longshot, Boomer, Torque Bow, and Frag Grenades to name a few.

With these weapons (in normal game modes) only being obtainable from these spawn spots on the map, having a long-range or explosive weapon at your disposal can give you a massive advantage.

For example, a Longshot when in just about any game mode can help you take enemies out before they even get close to you or the objective.

Of course, with such power comes massive competition, and you’ll often find a number of other players will be ready to pounce on power weapons in Gears 5’s multiplayer just about as soon as they pop up.

Learning the maps and the fastest ways to these weapons, combined with utilizing the Tac-Com effectively can give you the edge to get you there first.

It’ll take a good while to learn the maps, but the more you play, the more naturally it’ll all come to you.

Communication Is Key

In objective-based game modes such as the very esports-centric Escalation, or a good ol’ game of King of the Hill, communication is essential to beating some good competition.

If they’re talking to one another, advising each other where to go, asking for back-up, or splitting up to cover the current and upcoming capture point, and you and your team are sitting in silence, there’s only going to be one winner there, and spoilers, it’s (probably) not you.

If you’re hopping into the Ranked game modes in Gears 5’s multiplayer in particular, don’t stay silent on your mic, speak up and communicate with your team.

Or just play with friends who are all happy to do so as you play, the difference will be noticeable.

Make Sure You’re Using the Right Weapon for the Job

Gears 5 Multiplayer Tips and Tricks

Earlier we mentioned power weapons and how they can turn the tide in a match of Gears 5’s multiplayer, but there’s a crucial tip to go alongside it.

Just because you’ve got a power weapon, doesn’t mean it’s all you should use.

As tempting as it might be to sprint into a congested area and blast your enemy in the face with that Boomshot, you’re just gonna blow yourself into red, meaty confetti, too, and lose the power weapon you worked so hard to get in the process.

Similarly, trying to use a Torque Bow at close range if the enemy has a Gnasher Shotgun might not be the wisest decision.

At least, this final tip applies for while you’re still getting to grips with Gears 5’s multiplayer.

Once you’ve got a good few wins and hours of playtime under your belt, you’ll begin to learn your weapon preferences for all scenarios. And hey, everyone’s different, what might work for some won’t for others.

For the meantime, though, hopefully, this Gears 5 multiplayer tips and tricks guide has given you some handy hints to help ease you into it all. For more of everything Gears 5, be sure to check out our ever-expanding Gears 5 guide wiki.

If you’re looking for information on Gears 5’s Horde mode, we’ve got a breakdown of all character Ultimate Abilities. Or, if you’re looking for a guide on how to level up fast in Gears 5’s online multiplayer, we’ve got you covered there, too.