Gears of War 3 Walkthrough

Beast

Beast mode is the reverse of Horde. You have control over several types of Locust, each purchased with different amounts of money. Keep in mind that the playable Locust do not have regenerating health, so defense is as important as offense. Your goal is to break down fortifications and kill every human in the area. You have one minute to complete this objective, but will be rewarded with time and money for each down and kill your team scores. If you fail to kill all enemies within the time period, you'll be struck down by the Hammer of Dawn.

Locust

You have four different tiers of Locust, each of which are unlocked as you gain more money. As a rule of thumb lower end enemies are weaker and cheaper, but can still be useful when paired with the beefier (and costly) allies. Try to balance your budget, typically using tier 2 and 3 Locust for the bulk of your team, and reserving tier 4s for enemy miniguns and clustered heroes.

Among our favorite team of five includes a Mauler, Savage Drone, Boomer, Savage Grenadier, and Armored Kantus. The Mauler acts as a tough frontline tank that can smash down barriers. The Boomer is equally strong and causes further havoc with his explosions. The Grenadier is the main form of surprise damage, sneaking and rolling around back, getting in quick kills with their Gnasher. The three of them are supported by the Drone's cover fire and quickly healed by the Kantus' Screams.

Level 1 Locust

The first wave of Locust are cheap and defensively weak, however they have some great utility skills that will still help the rest of the team. The Wild Ticker ($75) has a huge bonus for taking down enemy fortifications and can eat grenades. Your team should have two or three of these early on to quickly hit the enemy. The normal Ticker ($75) is good for a single quick explosion, but their kamikaze attack might waste precious seconds as you wait for a respawn. Rounding out the smaller runts includes the Wretch ($225), which can use cover and stun enemies. Once fortifications are removed, the Wretch's quickly and wily movement will help with taking down basic Stranded.

The more humanoid Locust includes the Savage Drone ($450) and the larger Butcher ($300). The Savage Drone is armed with a Retro Lancer, making for a good mid range attacker that can be placed in the back rows. As this is your first ranged Locust, you can use the Savage Drone to attack passed fortifications and forgo having to break them down with a Wild Ticker. Finally, the Butcher is a hulking Boomer type Locust armed with a cleaver. They are slow, but make up for it with strong attacks and extra resistance. However it's better to wait for the next upgrade of Boomers: the Mauler.

Level 2 Locust

The second level of playable Locust requires quite a jump in money. Overall their power, defense, and buffs make the price tag worth it. First to join the fray is the Kantus ($975), who are armed with a Gorgon Pistol and Ink Grenades. Their most potent ability is Scream, which heals and revives injured teammates (Note that it doesn't affect the caster). Having one--or even two--Kantus on your side will greatly boost your survivability.

The more attack based units include the Bloodmount ($750) and Mauler ($1350), both of which make great additions to the party. The Bloodmount can stomp on enemies for high damage. They are additionally mounted with a Rider that freely guns down enemies. The Rider normally goes after who ever they see (including wasting time on Human decoys), but can be directed with spotting. The Mauler is a stronger version of the Butcher, this time geared with a Flail and Boom Shield. Use of the shield will greatly slow down movement, but can make you near invincible while advancing. The Flail is a powerful melee weapon capable of both destroying fortification and killing clusters of Humans.

Level 3 Locust

Level 3 Locust are more situational, but still provide heavy damage. First on the list are Giant Serapede ($1350), who have a strong electrical bite and are well protected from the front. Their only vulnerable area is their back, so make sure your team has some type of Drone or Boomer to help with protection. They aren't very good at destroying fortifications, so make sure a path is cleared before switching to a Serapede.

Rounding out the beast types is the Corpser. Savage Corpsers ($900) have good defense from their armored legs and have a strong stomp attack. They can burrow into the ground to surprise enemies, but if usually too defensive for most fights.

This tier also includes new Drones and Boomers, the Savage Grenadier ($1050) and the species named Boomer ($1500). Grenadiers are armed with Frag Grenades and a Gnasher Shotgun. They can deal out heavy damage but require getting in close. Like with Wretches and Serapede, you'll want to create a path to the enemy before switching to a Grenadier. Alternately, they make for a good rear support as the rest of your team distracts the Humans. Last, the Boomer is armed with a Boomshot that can easily lay waste to Turrets and Miniguns.

Level 4 Locust

The Level 4 Locust include the heartiest of the bunch. First is the deadly Berserker ($5625) who can soak up ridiculous amounts of damage. Their charge and smash and instantly kill or down most enemies, but can be hard to control. It's best to leave these expensive monsters for the hardiest fights, including the final wave against Prescott.

Among the best defensive units is the Armored Kantus ($3375). While it loses the Ink Grenades from its earlier form, the Armored version is blessed with dual Gorgons, high defense, and the ability to make attack rolls. It is recommended that you always have one of these tough cookies to help protect the team.

The final ally is the Savage Boomer ($1650), who is armed with a Digger Launcher. The Digger is a great weapon for taking out clusters of baffled Humans, but keep in mind that it can often stop short of its intended target.

Humans

The Humans are your intended target, but it's not like they are going to willingly bend over and take it lightly. They have a number of defensives and weapons to keep your Locust Army at bay.

Fortifications

The Humans are bunkered down in a small area of the map, and are using a number of creations of various quality to hinder your assault. Barriers slow down and damage your advance; you can walk through them, but your movement will be so slow that you'll be incredibly vulnerable when crossing them. It's best to first break down these walls with a Wild Ticker or Mauler before advancing.

The Humans will also set up Decoys, which can distract those not paying clear attention. The main obstacle of Decoys is for Bloodmounts who will need to manually spot for their Rider, or else the mounted Drone will waste their time gunning down a piece of cardboard.

Among the more deadly Fortifications includes the automated Sentry and the Mounted Lancer Turret. Sentries will fire at anyone that comes in close, while the Turret needs to be controlled by a living character. Both of these should be taken on by either a swift unit (Such as the Serapede) or a very strong one (Boomer).

The final Fortification is the Silverback Minigun, an exoskeleton mech that is armed with rapid-fire machineguns and rockets. It is tough as nails and require Boomers (or even Berserkers) to take on. It's strong enough that you might even need a Kantus or two to help keep your Boomers alive. Keep in mind that if a vacant Silverback can be manned by other Humans, so be sure to destroy the armor fully before moving on.

Soldiers

The Human survivors are mainly comprised of weaker soldiers and refugees, still with their array of weapons and Fortifications they can still be deadly. Stranded are the most basic type of enemies, whom are easily killable with one or two melee hits. Next up are the COG Gears who have more health and access to stronger weapons. They aren't much of a threat, but should still be quickly dealt with like the weaker Stranded. The strongest grunt is the Onyx Guard, who typically only arrive to help important heroes such as Hoffman and Prescott. They are more lethal than the other COGs, often starting with Silverbacks. Outside of Heroes, Onyx Guards should be the number on priority target.

Heroes

Hero units are the best of the Human forces. They include the main stars of the game: Marcus, Dom, Baird, Anya, Sam, Dizzy, Carmine, Jace, Cole, Hoffman, and Griffin. Prescott also joins for the final 12th wave and your main objective is to eliminate him. As a rule of thumb Heroes are much more deadly and intelligent than soldiers, making them a higher priority to engage and kill.

Unlike the lower grunt soldiers, Heroes can survive the initial kill and will only be downed. This will require you to quickly follow up with another attack or execution, otherwise the Hero might be revived, or worse alert the rest of the enemies to your presence. As a bonus Heroes will grant more time and money than the generic troops.