Gears Tactics: Tips & Tricks for Beginners

Gears Tactics is a real change from the third-person gore-fest experience you’ll be familiar with from the main entries in the series. It’s all about strategically moving and commanding your units from combat scenarios to push back the Locust threat and stop their eugenicist Ukkon once and for all. To give you a helping hand fighting your way through the campaign, we’ve compiled a bunch of quick Gears Tactics tips and tricks. I know, aren’t we lovely?

Tips & Tricks for Gears Tactics

1. Frag Grenade Groups

Frag Grenades are going to be your best friend in Gears Tactics. When the Locust hordes start amassing, a quick frag into the middle of the group will not only wipe out about half the health of most enemy units, but will also interrupt them.

Interrupting an enemy unit will end their Overwatch, or end a sniper’s ‘Pinned’ ability on one of your units.

2. Use the Snub Pistol – Gears Tactics Tips

I’ll confess, I ignored the Snub Pistol for a good chunk of my playthrough. Then I realized every unit had one, and it was actually an incredibly handy option to have.

The Snub Pistol tends to be more accurate than a unit’s primary weapon at close-range, making it particularly great for Snipers. Not only that, the Snub Pistol has an ‘Interrupting Shot’ ability. Just like frags, these will interrupt an enemy Overwatch or a Sniper’s Pinned ability, allowing your units to move more freely around the battlefield.

Plus, if an enemy is low on health, too close for comfort, and your unit’s primary weapon needs reloading, a quick blast with the Snub Pistol can be enough to eliminate them and give you a bit of added safety for the next turn.

3. Pick Your Squad Units Dependent on the Mission Type

When you’re about to start a mission, you’ll want to take a look at what mission type it is. Some units lend themselves to certain mission types better than others.

For example, the Heavy is particularly useful for Control missions, as their Anchored ability allows them to increase accuracy and damage when in cover, and this stacks as time progresses.

The Scout, on the other hand, is great for Scavenger Run missions as their Cloak and Sprint abilities allow you to cover great distances undetected. It’s perfect for grabbing those Cases as you’re pushed through the map by the encroaching Nemacyst strikes.

This rule also applies to side missions, as not only do the mission types vary, but you’ll only be able to use a particular unit once in that section of side missions. So if you use them in the first of two side missions you need to complete before you can move onto the story mission, you won’t be able to use them again.

4. Chain Unit Skills and Abilities to Crush the Locust Threat – Gears Tactics Tips

I gushed a little bit in my review of Gears Tactics about how much Mikayla ended up being my MVP unit by the end of the campaign.

Having carefully spent time plotting out where I’d invest her skill points, she had a vast array of both passive and active abilities that enabled her to take up to eight actions per turn as opposed to the standard three, and decimate entire squads of Locust enemies.

It’s not just the Sniper class that can do this. Spending time looking at the Scout and Heavy skill trees, there are plenty of ways to ensure your units are more or less unstoppable. Even better, your Support units’ abilities are all about… well… supporting the rest of your team. Utilize these to make your other units’ abilities even more formidable.

5. The Overwatch Ability Is Always a Viable Option

It’s often easy to want to go on the offensive in Gears Tactics and push enemy units. This isn’t always the best option however, especially if you’re severely outnumbered. That’s where the Overwatch ability comes in.

Overwatch allows you to select an area for a unit to cover. If an enemy unit moves into that during their next turn, your unit will shoot at them and also interrupt their current action.

Overwatch can be used to set up a quick counter-attack, luring the Locust to push forward and expose themselves, before letting your Sniper and Heavy units wipe their remaining health and finish them off. You can even use Overwatch to cover your furthest forward unit if you’re worried about them being swarmed by enemy units.

To summarize, use Overwatch.

6. Get Every Case You Can – Gears Tactics Tips

During each mission, you’ll be able to find Cases lying around the map. You’ll need to move your units over these in order to pick them up. Cases contain weapon and armor parts that you can use to improve your unit’s base stats, and also give them additional ability buffs.

Cases can also be earned by completing the optional objective for each mission. Complete and pick up as many as you can to give your units a ton of different options.

7. Keep Upgrading Your Gear & Weapons

With the Cases acquired, open them at your ‘Home’ screen and then head to the Barracks. Any unit that can equip a new weapon or armor part will have a red triangle next to their name. The item type will also be flagged with this red triangle, so you can quickly compare your new gear or weapon parts with what they currently have equipped.

Make sure you’re keeping your units equipped with the best weapons and armor parts after every mission. They may not always seem all that exciting, but these can often give you the upper-hand in battle.

8. Always Execute If You Can – Gears Tactics Tips

Executions have always been a part of the Gears series, and they weren’t about to go away in Gears Tactics. They’re not just here to give you your gory Gears fix, however.

Certain weapon and armor parts, and certain unit abilities will grant your units with health regeneration or an additional action if any of your units execute an enemy. It’s always worth keeping this in mind if you find yourself in dire need of heals or an extra turn with an action or two to go in your turn.

9. Pick Up Boomshots and Torque Bows from Boomers and Theron Guards

Boomers and Theron Guards are just two of the many enemy unit types you’ll face off against in Gears Tactics. The Boomer carries the Boomshot grenade launcher, while the Theron Guard carries the Torque Bow.

Both weapons are capable of dealing huge damage to an enemy, or area of effect damage. They can have devastating effects against your units, so downing these units should be your priority as soon as they appear.

Once they’ve been killed, head over to where they fell and you’ll be able to pick up the Boomshot or Torque Bow, depending what unit you downed.

You’ll have three shots with these weapons before you’ll run out of ammo, so make every shot count.

10. Eliminate Enemy Snipers ASAP – Gears Tactics Tips

The enemy unit I dreaded seeing in Gears Tactics was the Sniper Drones. While only having 450 Health, Sniper Drones have the ‘Pinned’ ability. This causes them to target one of your units, resulting in a red line running from them to your unit.

If the ‘Pinned’ unit now moves or performs any action, the Sniper will take a shot at it. They tend to be annoyingly accurate too, though they can miss. A sniper shot will wipe off about half of your unit’s health, and will also cause your unit to fall out of cover if they were hiding behind some.

Make taking out these pesky Sniper Drones your first priority as soon as you see them, and the rest of the battle will be a lot easier.

Got any other Gears Tactics tips you want to share with your fellow readers? Share them in the comments below. For more guides, be sure to search for Twinfinite.

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