Lesson 2

Strategies:

Shotgun Rush:

In most matches this is pretty much what you'll see as the standard strat. This is because how versatile the shotgun is and how Gears of War focuses a lot on close quarter combat. It's harder to land a kill from far away, especially in Execution mode, thus rushing with a shotgun will bring the fight to a short distance battle and guarantee you'll be able to follow up after downing someone if not outright instant killing them.

Chainsaw Bait:

Letting someone get chainsawed sometimes can be used as a "Take one for the team" effort, since when the opponent is stuck in the Chainsaw animation, he will be completely vulnerable afterwards.

Camping the Frags/Keeping the fight long distance:

If your team isn't that great at using the shotgun, then it's up to your team to keep the fight at a long distance. Camping a key item like Frags and waiting until they respawn to continually keep your attackers away is one way of doing so.

Maps:

For this section we'll just focus on the Competition Maps used in MLG

- Canals

Layout:

Each team starts with their own Longshot sniper rifle on a bridge above near their spawn.

In the center of the map is the Torque Bow and Frags on a bridge above the Torque.

There's a center gauntlet that runs under the bridges and paths on the bridges level on the left and right sides of the map.

Key Points:

Whoever can get to the sniper first may be able to get a quick pick shot off at the other person who runs to the sniper rifle on the other team.

The other key point is whoever controls the middle of the map where the Torque/Frags are. The Torque Bow is generally a better weapon than the

Sniper in Execution mode because it kills on hit.

- Clocktower

Layout:

Each team starts on opposite sides of a Clocktower which has an upstairs and a downstairs.

The upstairs holds the only sniper rifle on the level. While the downtsairs holds the Frags and Boomshot.

Key Points:

As good as the Frags and Boomshot are, they are still no match for the Sniper, so the key point is being able to take the upstairs.

- Fuel Depot

Layout:

Each team starts on opposite sides of a Helicopter and a Garage; each team has their own trailer in which inside is a Sniper Rifle for each team. In MLG, the Hammer of Dawn is replaced by the Boomshot, which is inside the Garage and each side has Frags near their spawn. This is probably the most balanced map for competitive play.

Key Points:

This is a very wide open map, the key point is having your team being able to spot people moving across the map and not focusing too hard on pinning down any one area, as it's pretty easy to get flanked on this map.