Its solid cover system notwithstanding, the Gears of War series is perhaps best-known for its awesome and unique weaponry. The amount of weapons in your arsenal is somewhat limited, but what does exist is often distinct, powerful, and a hell of a lot of fun to use. It can be super satisfying blasting foe after foe with a Gnasher, or raining hellfire on an enemy team with Mortar Shells.
Fans are now geared up for the highly anticipated fifth iteration of Gears of War, set to release on PC and Xbox on September 10, 2019. One of the biggest hype generators lies in the introduction of crazy new weapons like the freezing Cryo Canon and Breaker Mace. But we shouldn't forget about the lineup of awesome weapons from the previous games, especially since many will be making a return in one form or another. With that said, lets take a look back at the last decade-plus of Gears weaponry and examine the best of the best, as well as the all-time worst. Lock and load!
10 Best: Dropshot
Only in post-apocalyptic Gears lore that involves war with underground dwelling reptilians could a modified tool for mining and drilling be reworked into a devastating weapon.
Gears of War 2's unique Digger, which burrows underground before emerging to blow up an unsuspecting foe like an explosive groundhog, was a "blast" to use, but often felt imprecise and slow. This weapon resorts to lobbing a drill through the air before exploding downward and taking out all in its wake - feeling more precise and effective in the process. It's particularly damaging and swift while active reloading, which can be done more resourcefully thanks to Gears 4's ability to active without firing.
9 Worst: Sawed-Off Shotgun
This Gears of War 3 addition to the COG arsenal is truly bizarre. It somehow manages to feel both cheap and borderline broken. On the one hand, it can be a clunky and ineffective mess with its lack of shells and brutal reload time. On the other, it can be vastly overpowered from close-range, to the point where it actually replaced the Gnasher as the go-to shotty for some.
This thing essentially takes the random free-wheeling, shot-spamming nature of the Gnasher to an absurd level, and strips down a lot of skill and intensity as a result. It's highly-powered with a wide spread, but still requires you to be pretty close to an enemy to nail a successful one-shot. Basically, it's yet another "instakill" weapon - did we really need more of these in Gears?
8 Best: Hammer Of Dawn
If there's any weapon that is both devastatingly powerful and uniquely fun to play with, it's the mighty Hammer Of Dawn. The epic nature of its name alone should be enough to tip you off to how absurd it can be when hitting its mark.
Powered by Imulsion, this weapon is actually activated by a satellite from space, which rains down an intense beam of destruction upon pinpointing a target. The Hammer is often tossed to a player as the most effective - if not the only - means to take out massive bosses during the campaign. Though it can also be quite useful in clearing out an entire zone full of opponents in multiplayer.
7 Worst: Enforcer
The weaponry in Gears is usually such that it comes with distinct, often wacky characteristics that give it a unique feel or fulfils a certain purpose. The Enforcer? It's pretty bland and doesn't have much use, besides being a sort of mediocre starting SMG replacement for the Retro Lancer.
It acts as sort of a "jack of all trades" assault rifle in that most of its traits are "sufficient," but excels in virtually nothing. Its overall power, accuracy, headshot damage, and recoil are all rather subpar. It has a quick rate of fire (but not to the extent of the Lancers) and it is a decent close range weapon - but you're better off whipping out the Gnasher in this case anyway.
6 Best: Gnasher
From the competitive level down to newcomers screwing around, the majority consensus is that the Gnasher is the definitive weapon - and also one of the most fun to wield. Pulling off a cheeky roll towards your unsuspecting opponent while one-shot blasting them to pieces is a satisfying feat, and is part of what makes Gears so appealing.
This powerful default shotty has seen its ups and downs throughout its appearances in each Gears of War entry. The weapon has seen a number of tweaks to its range and accuracy, reaching a point where it's often considered overpowered. As a whole, this is the gun you'll want when looking to rattle off several close-range kills quickly and cleanly.
5 Worst: Hammerburst
While this Locust battle rifle was made more effective for the third iteration of Gears, (then dialed back again for Gears 4), its first 2 versions prove pretty spotty overall.
You could make the case that even the lesser versions of the Hammerburst can be useful once you get the hang of them, but ultimately the Lancer is a more versatile and effective weapon. Not only is this missing a useful close-range finisher like the Lancer's chainsaw, but it has some rough recoil, few shots per clip, and damage that isn't particularly high.
4 Best: Retro Lancer
This by no means implies the Lancer is a weak or ineffective weapon; far from it. It's just that, when compared, the Retro has a slightly higher ceiling in terms of its impact. The issue, of course, lies in the accuracy of the weapon. Like the Hammerburst, it's less of a user-friendly weapon, but when utilized correctly, it can cause quite a bit of hurt.
The key is to hit those tricky active reloads and stick to shorter shot bursts to keep the recoil manageable. Unlike the normal Lancer, which can be spammed Rambo style, the Retro swaps steadier kickback for greatly increased damage. Pull these off correctly, and you can down foes in the blink of an eye. Plus, that bayonet charge move, while not quite as satisfying as a chainsaw slice, can still be just as effective.
3 Worst: Gorgon Pistol
There are few redeeming qualities for this semiautomatic Locus-made weapon. Both its damage and its accuracy are quite low, which is only compounded by its slow fire rate. Since it fires in bursts of 8 rounds and its spread is pretty erratic, we guess you could get some use out of it close-range.
Yet, it's difficult to imagine too many scenarios in which you'll want to bust out a pistol when you're facing a baddie up-close-and-personal. This is where Gnasher thrives anyway - which you're granted as a starting weapon. Even at close range, downing an opponent can take some doing, and headshots are difficult to come by with its inaccurate spread for a pistol.
2 Best: Boomshot
Sure, its clip size is small and its rate of fire is slow, but most who rock this beastly grenade launcher find that this tradeoff is very much worth it. The best thing about this weapon is that even if you're not too sharp mechanically, simply firing a clean shot at the enemy's feet is often sufficient to blast them to smithereens.
Its splash and overall damage are just that potent. Unlike a Gnasher, you don't have to rely on super close range shots for one-hit kills, as the Boomshot allows for long "Hail Mary" range to take out enemies. You can even wipe out players on higher ground or behind cover if you pull off a successful active reload.
1 Worst: MX8 Snub Pistol
Pistols are certainly a weak area of Gears of War, at least to those of us who can't nail headshots with ease, but the MX8, in particular, has few redeemable qualities. While the Boltok Revolver at least comes with a high damage output and devastating headshot ability, this meager pistol is weak in most areas aside from its fire rate.
But with low damage, 12 rounds per magazine, average accuracy, and mediocre range, it essentially negatives this slight advantage. It can often take an entire mag just to down a player! The only reason to really bust this thing out is if used as a desperation, last resort gun.