Gears of War 2: Horde

           Having a base in Horde is the most important thing you can do. Actually without a base you can't win. It's just not possible. To fortify your base you'll need Boomer Shields. The shields drop from the Maulers that start to come out at wave 8. Each level has an area that can be isolated from the rest of the level with shields. The only way the enemy can get past a shield is if one of the Drones, Grenadiers, Theron guards or sires kicks it down.

           It's smart to make your base at a location where a weapon spawns. Hammer of Dawn, Mortar or Sniper are the usual base locations. It's also smart to make your base a decent size as well. One ink grenade shouldn't be enough to take you all out.

Boomer Shields

           Shields are the bread and butter of Horde. They'll save your ass many more times then you can even imagine. Here are all the different things you should know about shields;

1. The shield disappears at the beginning of every wave, unless you pick it up and replant it within ten seconds of the start of the wave. It's best to have two people plant all of your shields (If you have 4, If you only have 2 or 3 you can easily do it.)

2. Place the shield, handle facing your base. This makes it so the least amount of baddies can get in.

3. Don't touch the shield in the middle of the wave, EVER. If you pick it up then you may not always be able to put it back down. Planting the shield is very buggy so it may not always be replant able. Locust, Blood, Weapons and a bunch of other crap can bug out the shield and make it not replantable.

4. The golden rule; Your life is not more important then a shield. Cruel I know, but its the truth. The shield is protecting everyone inside the base, you're not. Just.. Don't.. Fuck.. With.. It.

Ammo

           At the end of the every round when there is 3 or less locust left it's generally smart to leave the base and collect ammo. If you get lucky enough at the end of the a match where only one wretch is alive, It's lootin' time. Run around and grab all you can, then return to base. Also something to keep in mind is if you grab the ammo crate at the end of the match, also grab it at the beginning of the match when it respawn's.

           Also one thing to note is some weapons get ammo at the end of every round (Or so they say). These weapons are Shotgun, Lancer, Hammerburst, Magnum, Gorgon and the Handgun you spawn with.

Being Overrun

           Now if you listened to my piece of advice before and made a base, there is always a possibility to be over run. What I mean by this is some jackass kicks down a shield and now you got 4 sires, 3 boomers, 6 grinders, 2 wretches and a Partridge in a pear tree up your ass. An over run won't always be bad, and sometimes can be stabilized. The best thing to do is if they over run you (Easiest to do in River) is chuck grenades at your bases entrance or where they're coming in.

           Sometimes it's smart to have a backup plan if you get over run. A Back up plan like getting the fuck out of there. If you have an escape route and you have to run it becomes every man for himself, throw the women and children behind you so the locust kill them first.

           If you're the last one alive after running its important to find a place that's safe and bunker yourself down. Have a dead team mate watch the door with his Ghost Camera and have another team mate be a spotter. Both of which will help you a ton if they can keep feeding you accurate info.

Different Types of Locust

Wretch - Wretch's can be killed with a simple melee attack from any weapon. They are the single most weakest mobs that you have to fight in horde.

Ticker - Tickers are those little explosive annoying bastards. They're really hard to hit with a gun, but if they get close to you you can wack them to send them flying away. If you're holding a lancer, you can't shoot them away or even cut them in half (Not like you'd want to).

Blood Mount - Really only thing I can say about these guys is HELL! RUN FROM THESE DO NOT TRY TO MELEE THEM, DO NOT GET NEAR THEM, DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT WITH THEM, STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM THEM. I'm serious, for you idiots out there. Don't fucking attempt to melee these stay the fuck away from them or you'll be blood mount food.

Grinder - These are the boomers that are holding machine guns. They are mean mofo's but not the strongest of their kind. If you want to easily take out a grinder then pop out of cover and shoot at him for about 2 seconds then go back in cover for 3 seconds. This will make him start to charge up his gun but not shoot off any bullets.

Boomer - The Boomer is the big guy with the Grenade Launcher. If you lack the most basic form of common sense you won't be able to kill the Boomer with ease. When the Boomer says "Boom" that means get the fuck down. He always says "Boom" before firing a grenade at you, which gives you about a half a second to get down before it hits you and blows you to bits.

Butcher - The butcher is a slow moving, easy to kill target. They hold a sword in their hand and literally crawl towards you. Under no circumstances should this guy kill you. (P.S. YOU CAN'T CHAINSAW THEM)

Sire - The sire is the almost invincible fast moving ugly piece of shit. They don't wield guns and can easily be cut in half with a chain saw. They can knock down Boomer Shields that are protecting your base.

Sniper, Drone, Cyclopes - One shot in the head with a sniper will take these guys right out. They're pretty weak at the lower levels of Horde but once you start getting up around levels 20-50 these guys get pretty powerful. It's important to never under estimate them as an opponent.

Kantus - The Kantus is a fairly powerful adversary. They have one attack that is unexpectedly evil. The ink grenade. Normally he just stands back and shoots with his crappy pistol but he will throw an Ink Grenade and it will land in your base so be prepaired for it.

Flame Boomer - These guys move rather slow, but pack a punch if they get to you. Around 4 seconds in the flames and you're toast. The good news is you can really easily take them out by shooting their flame tank. This will cause them to explode and also kill all other nearby enemies.

Flame Drone - Similar to the boomers they move rather slow but pack a punch if they get to you. The main difference is, is that they are much easier to take down when you're not shooting the Flame tank.

Gun Setups

The Usual - Sniper and Lancer. It's the most common and one of the most effective combinations you can use for your weapons. If you can pull of a headshot with ease I recommend almost always carrying a Sniper around with you. The lancer in this setup is more or less used as the "Oh Shit" gun for when they break through your shields. You can also use the lancer for when you get low on ammo.

Artillery - Mortar, Hammer of Dawn and Lancer. This setup is most commonly used on Day One. One person grabs the Mortar and Hammer of Dawn (Which ever spawns at the beginning of a match) and uses them as his main weapons. If at any point he runs out of ammo he can switch to his lancer. You'll usually find this guy at the top of the kills of every game.

Protector - Lancer, "Anything" and Boomer Shield + Pistol. This guy generally stays near the entrance of your base and blasts anything that thinks it can get in. He is really only effective at the higher waves and really only effective if you're having a problem with locust getting in your base. Usually you'll need a protector if someone leaves a match.

One Shot kills Plz - Boom Cannon and Sniper. Sometimes I use this combination to kill everything I get my sites on in one shot. The Boom Cannon works well to kill anything that you want to be killed in one hit.

I'm Lazy - Sniper and Torque Bow. Usually people use this combination (Since they share the same spawn location) when they're too lazy at the end of every game to run out and grab some ammo.