Gears 3 Multiplayer/Horde Pre-analysis ~Dwlr

First off dedicated servers = profit for fans of the Gears series, no more rage-quits due to lag if you aren't host unless your internet is bad this run, but that's neither here nor there.

Balance
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For the multiplayer modes balance has improved from what I've seen in the Beta anyway, no more "gnasher is the only viable weapon" or "Boomshot ftw" The lvls are more accessable to cover based, squad based play so shotgun charging can get cut down pretty easy this go around. The gnasher was also powered down a decent amount so that only a headshot will take you down in one shot and that's basically point blank. The Sawed off has ungodly reload times if you're in a fire fight and is a one-hit wonder weapon only.

Weapons
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Digger Launcher* - Boom shot through cover, but there's a catch the projectile needs to pop-up so if you're observant and see a trail coming your way and it's not to bad to dodge, helps keep down camping.

Boomshot - Yeah you're still pretty much screwed, but with the respawn counter now when you die the match isn't screwed, plays on the low ammo of the boomshot.

Longshot - Close range ability has been hampered thanks to the better close combat options being able to beat most players before the close range head shot, long range you're still screwed but the respawn can kill some of that ammo for you and not cost you the match. The Zoom is a bit much this round making it annoying on some matches.

Torque Bow - Explosion dmg was reduced making the piercing damage more important so it takes awhile to charge this time through if you want an OHKO (Stepping next to the bolt stuck in the wall isn't a guaranteed insta-kill), the sight is much better this time around and it shows how charged it is much much better.

Butcher Cleaver* - No range and stunning melee, it's slow but you should win any melee duel including against the lancer's chainsaw since it should stun their attack.

Ink Grenades - They're lovely this time around a direct hit stuns you and usually results in the downing of your enemy, but a full kill is much less common. People are saying they're useless but they just have no idea how to use them. Complainers gonna complain.

Frag Grenades - Same as last game maybe a splash radius increase.

Flame Grenades* - Think ink grenades from 2, not really deadly but a direct hit is instant death making them a fair choice for confident players since they are medium range OHKO using this, they make decent enough tags usually downing the enemy dumb enough to step on them, they don't work real well when attached to the wall however and as a tag they glow pretty noticeably like the new flame skins people obsess over, all in all making them less effective.

OneShot* - It's a fricken rail gun, it kills no matter where you hit and pierces any enemies body does not pierce cover though and has noticeable laser sight so the enemies know when it's ready to fire and where you are aiming.

Mortor - same, better from the hip than it was in 2 though

Mulcher - slightly less bullet spread, but otherwise the same.

Boltok - Better accuracy than in 2 everything else is pretty much the same but the accuracy helps it ALOT.

Gorgon - Turned into an SMG ultimately nerfing it from it's once full round down in pvp, but this makes it a better choice against the ai since less bullets are wasted. The power has somewhat been reduced but since it's an smg it's a constant stream of bullets instead of the much quicker bursts of 8. The advantage is the better control if you start missing you don't waste a full 8 bullets and the clip size seems much better since you aren't just firing 4 bursts of 8. It's a decent alternative, but in pvp I'd stick with the boltok, in horde mode however this new take helps it alot.

*Payloads*

*Grenades (Smoke Grenade)
Smoke Grenades - Blinds enemy if it's right next to them, creates the smoke screen though not nearly as dense, anybody caught next to them when it goes off can't shoot. A grenade tag using these grenades is a down so they're viable albeit still pretty much suicide. Overall they're actually not useless anymore, of course in the past they've been actively harmful against the AI blocking the player's shot while not hampering the AIs.

Offhand (Gnasher or Sawed Off)
Gnasher - The 'effective' range is slightly higher but will take 2 shots to kill at it, point blank it can still OHKO on a head shot, the popular melee + hip fire for a guaranteed kill is no longer guaranteed. A perfect reload ups the power to the point it can play like it's Gears 2 version but with a little longer range still.

Sawed Off - Next to no effective range, but a point blank is an instant kill no matter where you hit them, it's a horrible weapon unless you sneak up on the enemy and can get close, it's a one shot clip so it's better for 1 on 1 situations since the reload time is a pretty large, even on a perfect reload you'll be dead to lancer fire from a capable opponent. People are whining about this gun being overpowered and Epic will probably scale it down even though it's not overpowered if the players are vigilant a user of the sawed off wouldn't get close enough to get a kill with it, but whatever whiners will whine as always. (I don't use this gun so I'm not just defending it because of that)

Main(Pendulum Lancer, Lancer Carbine, Hammerburst)
Pendulum (retro) Lancer - The new preferred weapon despite it being the predecessor of the Lancer Carbine it packs a much bigger punch than it's new version at the cost of control and it's a pretty dramatic cost. The first bullet is pretty sound that you will hit what you shoot at and the second is reliable, you're not going to kill anything with just two bullets though so you either have to suffer with the MASSIVE accuracy loss at a range or wait for the recoil to subside and fire in 2-3 bullet bursts, while this seems like a pain not other main weapon will win against this weapon at close range if it's in competent hands, it's nearly double the power of the other machine guns a comparable rate to the hammerburst and accurate enough to kill just outside the gnasher's effective range. Mid to long range however you're not going to be fairing quite so well, but the recoil will teach you not to waste ammo and since the AI keep damage this thing will make a great horde weapon both at mid range and close range. I'd go as far to say the Pendulum Lancer is just plain better than the new version for pvp at least. The bayonet charge is usually suicide but you run slightly faster and can get quite a few sneak kills using it, but if the team is competent you usually die before you kill anything if you try to charge an enemy position, the killing animation is slightly longer than the chainsaw so you're extremely vulnerable, the generic melee attack however is a 2 hit down and it's fairly fast to bring back up for the second strike too making it a good weapon to keep on if you run out of ammo or if the opponent is reloading and you don't want to burn your limited ammo stores. People are complaining about this weapon and they are reducing hipfire accuracy because of it, not a massive deal but it wasn't broken before they took it down.

Hammerburst - The new iron sight might annoy you, but you can't beat it's accuracy this time around. It's akin to the longshot if you don't speed up it's fire that is by spazing on the trigger. 4 -5 shots in the head should take an opponent down but the fire default fire speed has been taken down to balance it's new found range capabilities. Up close if you loved the old version you'll still love this one, spazing out on the trigger is about the same speed as it could achieve in 2 with the increased power for 3 it's pretty effective that being said that horrible recoil when doing so is much much worse and you're going to lose to the retro lancer at the range where you might be able to halfway control it. Fire from the hip while spazing doesn't hit anything this time through with any reliability anyway so that's a major downside since you can't abuse it's close range power while moving at a decent speed. I'd say it has an edge over the Lancer Carbine this time around if you have some support to track your wounded targets so they don't just heal off the dmg you did to them at a range, it does make for nice suppressing fire since nobody is going to want to take even a single shot from it this time around and in teams if you pair it with an advance Pendulum Lancer in your partners hand it'll deal a symphony of death that will surely become your favorite tune, unfortunately you'll be getting the assist, but it's a team game so you still win in the end.

Lancer Carbine - The former glory of the COG is dead in 3 and Lancer Carbine seems to be the reason why this time around. Everything people loved about this versatile weapon is still there, but you might find yourself wondering why you're not killing anything with it anymore. The power has been reduced, the recoil has been increased. the fire rate has been slightly increased. The recoil doesn't come in the form of bullet spread like the other two main weapons but causes your gun to move upwards with sustained fire meaning you have to constantly adjust your aim, now I know you're thinking it did that in 2, but it was far far less than it is now, in gears 3 you can hold maybe 3 bullets before needing to lower your aim if you're going for a head shot in gears 2 you could manage 5-6 easy with no correction and when you're running on decreased dmg on top of everything you'll find this gun to be nothing to brag about. It'll still beat a hammer burst if you can run head shots in sustained fire and they increased the fire speed of the hammerburst but you'll have almost no chance against the retro lancer at this weapons new effective range, that's right the bullets start to spread when you reach the hammerburst's effective range, it was an attempt to make each weapon have a niche range, but it just made this weapon suck. It won't even be very useful in horde mode anymore with it's pitiable damage, it makes a decent alternative close range if you want to run two main weapons in horde mode and it might still come in handy since it has the highest ammo reserves and the retro lancer's ammo reserves are very small even compared to the hammerburst factoring in the accuracy issues the retro has, all in all I'd give this the title of worst main gun, as an off-hand . . . no it still kind of sucks. If you like the chainsaw bayonet it's been improved you cut slightly quicker and you get stunned less not to mention it makes less noise (on your opponent's side on your side it sounds about the same) It beats the retro charge when it comes to priority, but the cleaver wins.

*Pistol (Snub Pistol)
Snub Pistol - They made it worse what can I say it was great in gears 2 maybe a little lacking in pvp compared to the other options, but it was your best friend in horde when you ran out. If you liked the old snub pistol you can still make due, it's slightly weaker, but fires faster and the latency after using a melee attack was reduced even farther making it the most effective point blank pistol unless you can manage a point blank headshot with the boltok. Melee and being able to go right into fire is a good reason to hold onto this if you're playing horde mode and want to run long range weapons for the most part to hit them before they get to you and still have a little something when they rush you if you become the last player standing though you'd need to have them pretty well thinned out to come out on top still. It'll still pop the head off of an opponent it just takes a little more doing, but hey the recoil for increasing it's firerate has been reduced so that's something for the more caffeinated gamers out there. If you spaz out it'll have a higher dps than the gorgon still, but it doesn't have the ammo reserve the gorgan has or the clip capacity so you'll be trying to hit that perfect reload more, but if you do the dmg boost is nice since the increase is almost double what it was in 2, which makes it about equal to the perfect reload damage from 2 but maintaining the reduced recoil and the higher fire rate. The ammo reserves will hinder this pistol in horde mode and the lack of power hinders it in pvp all in all this time through I'd say pick one of the other pistols for pvp, horde and even the campaign.

Final Synopsis
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Gears 3 kills Gears 2 and is faster paced than Gears 1

The active reload only applies to the reloaded bullets so no firing 1 bullet to get an entire clip buffed anymore, but hey the reload bonus lasts longer and if you need to active reload you're in the middle of a fight anyway so it can be overlooked, the weapon balance looks great this time through both for pvp and horde mode since you can expect to see the locust take advantage of the new features as well.

You have more weapons and maybe even some more that haven't been announced yet always a plus

The executions need to be unlocked by getting kills with that weapon, but most executions take a bit so you'll be tied up, however they do net you a score boost in pvp as well as keeping the player being executed out of the match longer so they have their uses to tie up the enemies mvp or to point press if you want to say screw your team, the latter being a bad idea fyi.

It's squad based, yea gears has always been, but in this go around you go solo you die in pvp you go solo in horde you pretty much die as well depending on the weapons the locust have, you don't want to get caught by yourself with retro lancer spray from multiple locusts you won't last long I assure you even if their accuracy is horrible.

The AI is better, yes that's right all you nooblets better run because a lot of you sucked in Gears 2 and you'll suck harder in this one, the AI is more accurate the main weapon for the Locust is better so you're going down faster if you don't use cover or think you can solo which you failed doing in Gears 2.

Horde mode has a money system, time will tell on if that is a good idea or not.

Beast mode is amusing, the concept of being the locusts before was that they were the same as the COG, well know you can be a lowly ticker or a wretch, it'll be amusing until you reach the max rank unless they reset somehow.

More modes, always welcome have fun playing Torque Bow tag with the Carmines they're great at it least that's what they claim.
-3 way matches are possible but just speculation, don't get your hopes up.

More maps, with Gears 2 and Gears 1 to draw from with the new locales you're going to have a lot of maps to play with have fun.

Loadout thoughts
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*Starting
Basically it's what you're comfortable with and since you only have the option of 2 slots on your loadout there really isn't much of an option unfortunately. Basically I'd take the Retro Lancer the shot gun is your preference, but the retro lancer has an edge over the other main guns, the hammerburst at second choice for would be snipers and support players. Personal choice would be the gnasher for a shot gun it can still one hit kill and has more ammo less frantic if you miss the OHKO aswell.

*Horde
Personal Choice *Jack of all Trades
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Main: Hammerburst (Start with Gnasher)
Off Hand (saved bullets):Pendulum Lancer <- take this in your starting build it's far less common in the match than the Hammerburst
Pistol: Gorgon Pistol
Grenade (throw don't tag): Ink Grenades
The Retro Lancer doesn't have a lot of bullets and the Hammerburst doesn't have all that many so the Gorgon can balance that out, the ink grenades are weaker but have a longer and wider effect than the frags and the Incendiaries are only good for contact kills comparatively to ink. If you have to hold out the R.Lancer has your back with it's high dmg at close range, but the hammer burst is strong to point blank in the panic moments and before those moments hit makes a great weapon for thinning the crowd without needing to go to the sniping weapons which have pitable ammo and don't offer much when they get within a certain range. The Gorgon Pistol has the ammo of all the pistols and is a nice mid range gun sort of like the Lancer Carbine just with less power and taking a less valuable slot.

Thinner *Range Support*
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Main: Hammerburst (Start with Gnasher)
Off Hand: Lancer Carbine <- Take this in your starting build again less common than the Hammerburst
Pistol: Boltok
Grenade: Incendiary Grenades
Yea yea I told you the Retro Lancer was the best of all the main guns, but if you're playing second banana this build is for you, the Hammerburst is great for sniping and you're trying to kill them before they get to you and your buddies' hold out point so it's a very solid choice and has the ammo reserves to let somebody else get the sniping weapons (See Heavy Support), the boltok pistol is better for tougher enemies than the hammerbust just on ammo efficiency and time reasons so that's why it's there and not the gorgon. I know I told you flame grenades were borderline novelty and that's why they're here actually. The flame grenades will explode if they hit a roof and rain fire below, while it doesn't kill usually it hurts...a lot the spread on this fire is pretty decent as well making them better than the inks at long range when you can't predict where it's going to land quite so well and they make good tags when placed on the ground and the locusts will still run over them with enthusiasm so they're fairly versatile.

Holdout *Close Combat*
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Main: Pendulum Lancer
Off Hand: Sawed Off Shotgun
Pistol: Gorgon
Grenade: Frag Grenades/Smoke Grenades
Finally a build you don't have to scavenge that much to obtain, that in itself is handy right? The Gorgon fixes the ammo supply issues and you'll want to use that for range, when they start advancing switching to your retro lancer is safe for mid range since you don't want to burn it's ammo supplies fire out of range unless you run out of gorgon. The Sawed Off is the Oh S*** moment when a boomer gets in your hold out zone and you want to take him down before he causes some serious dmg or that pesky bloodmount. If you don't kill it in one shot don't wait for the reload switch guns and continue firing then reload the shotgun when the pressure is off if you wait to reload you'll let your team down and they'll hate you for life due to your incompetence.

Slim Fast *Heavy Support*
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Main: Torque Bow (Start with Sawed Off)
Off-hand: Hammerburst
Pistol: Snub
Grenade: Incendiary Grenade (This build has first dibs on them by far)
Do you have a weight problem? Some of the Locust sure do and that's where you come in. The trusty Torque Bow is just made for killing Heavy Locusts and the Hammer Burst has some decent ammo for when the Big Guns are down. The Snub pistol has been reduced to mediocrity, but has a balance of Range and Close Combat abilities that this build may run into since it's using a very limited ammo gun as it's main weapon. The Incendiary Grenades are great on contact and those Heavy Gunners are a big target so you can melt that fat off in no time.

Second Banana *Jack of All Trades #2*
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Main: Lancer Carbine <- Take this it's more common but allows more room to die
Off-hand: Pendulum Lancer (Start with Gnasher)
Pistol: Boltok
Grenade: Frag Grenades
This build is for those who want a nice rounded build, but maybe isn't as confident about their surviving skills as somebody running my personal preference which basically requires you to not die so you never lose that hammerburst. This build plays on the heavy ammo capacity of the Lancer albeit it an inferior gun the extra ammo allows more leeway, the gnasher works fine if they bust through your main hold out so no need to kill yourself trying to get a Retro Lancer. I wouldn't recommend using the Lancer Carbine if they break through this time around though. The Boltok Pistol is heavily preferred for the extra long range and if you get one it'll be your main stay untill you run out of ammo. The frag Grenades are for taging the entrance to your holdout and maybe save on for throwing.

I just want to play *Casual Players*
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Main: Hammerburst
Off-hand: Gnasher
Pistol: Gorgon
Grenade: Smoke Grenade
The idea behind this build is just to play, requires no gun scavenging unless you want the Gorgon which will have the edge over the Snub but either works fine no need to kill yourself for a pistol. Smoke Grenades are useful, but keeping them lets the more experience players run their favorite grenades. Just make sure not to blind your teammates with them or use them as tags next to ink grenades to help the Ink's damage as they become kills thanks to the stun from the smoke for anybody caught in the ink. The gnasher is an easy to use weapon on a breach, but it may have some trouble on the later waves of Horde.

Two's Company, Three's a Party *Jack of All Trades #3*
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Main: Hammerburst
Off-Hand: Sawed Off Shotgun
Pistol: Gorgon
Grenade: Incendiary Grenades
No gun hunting for your main weapons, the Hammerburst is a solid weapon, and the Sawed Off is a little hard to use but packs a wallop, Incendiary Grenades are deal more damage to heavy enemies than any other grenade and they're easier to hit. The Gorgon provides Ammo, but the Snub will work. It's probably the easiest to use build that covers all ranges and doesn't sacrifice in effectiveness. It's better at handling breaches of heavy enemies than the other all range builds, but is meant to be played with a team since it'll lack sustainability in a breach if you can't get a moment free to reload safely.

*PVP
Personal Choice
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Main: Pendulum Lancer
Off-Hand: Digger Launcher
Pistol: Boltok
Grenade: Frag Grenades
Straight forward Retro Lancer covers close range and digger launcher takes down cover, boltok is a mini sniper rifle and frag grenades are usually a kill tag or thrown. Any extra OHKO capable weapons when you're out of the digger launcher is substitutable for the Digger Launcher thanks to respawn times on the weapons you don't want to be caught waiting for the digger launcher.

Second Banana
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Main: HammerBurst
Off-Hand: Gnasher
Pistol: Boltok
Grenade: Smoke Grenades
Straight forward support, gnasher is easier to use than the sawed off and lets the main player have the one shot kill weapons if they want them. the boltok pistol is a substitute if you run out of HammerBurst only in this case so it's not a priority. Smoke Grenades for the Stun quality so the person you're supporting can get closer to the enemy positions.

Casual
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Main: Lancer Carbine
Off-Hand: Gnasher
Pistol: Snub
Grenade: Smoke Grenades
Lancer Carbine is the easiest gun to use albeit lacking in effectiveness, the gnasher is easier to use than the sawed off and again lets the more experienced players have their preferred weapons. Smoke Grenades are simply the best support grenades provided you don't hit your own team with them. This build should follow the majority of team members while the other two builds can manage in just pairs.

Well between reading this and the recent matches I've played on GOW2 that basically everyone was using the gnasher and no one really bothered with anything else unless there was the possibility to snipe, I'm really glad that the gnasher isn't the only gun that will be showing up in 3.

Now for the guns. Sadly I was unable to play the beta so I can't confirm one way or another which guns I'm going to use but with that in mind the first thing I would like to try out is the Pendulum Lancer of course. I think I'm going to like this gun after I get use to the recoil and the stabbing is just added fun. As my secondary I'd like to avoid the gnasher or sawed off but obviously if they come in handy a lot or something I'm not going to not play with them just cause. Looking at the pistols I'm thinking I'll be fine with either the gorgon or the boltok prolly using them as the guide suggests. Grenades I'll stick to the Frags for the most part but I'm not picky.