Gears of War: E-Day Horde Siege class builds: gear, mods and weapons for all four classes

What each class brings

Every class is one Tactical Gear piece on a cooldown plus one passive. Everything else comes off a 30-level track, and a few milestone levels (level 10 is one of them) lift your base health and damage.

Three kinds of mod

Armor mods change your soldier. Think health, ammo reserves, how fast you swap weapons, or the odd perk like Perfect Ammo from executions. Tactical Gear mods change the gadget, usually cooldown, range or duration. Weapon mods change the gun, and they cost Weapon Parts on top of the level unlock. The official multiplayer overview covers the system if you want the full picture.

Weapon mods are shared across classes. Put mods on a Prototype Lancer while you play Assault and the same gun comes with them when a Medic equips it. That makes your first few mods go a long way.

The Perfect Reload habit

Most of the good mods hang off one skill. Muscle Memory widens the Active Reload window and keeps Perfect Ammo up longer. Mag Triage heals you on a Perfect Reload. Full Metal Jacket, which shows up on the Snub and Longshot in a lot of builds, only earns its slot if you land the reload.

If you’re missing the window half the time, those are dead slots. Drop the difficulty for a few waves, learn the rhythm and stop reloading out of panic. That’s usually the real problem.

Assault

Assault is the cover class. You deal more damage behind cover and the Disruptor stuns whatever’s charging you, so the plan is to stay put behind something solid and let the stun buy the time.

On the gear, Retention Battery makes the Disruptor last longer and Burst Capacitor trims the cooldown. Reload Servo is the odd one: deploying the Disruptor refills your Perfect Magazine. For armor, Opportunity Targeting does extra damage to stunned enemies, which is the reason to run a Disruptor at all. Best Defense gives health back on kills from cover.

Weapons are simple. A Lancer, either the Lancer Mk1 or the Prototype Lancer, and a Snub with Holo Sight, Aim Stabilizer, Forged Barrel and Concussion Ammo. Execution Tempo shortens the Disruptor’s cooldown when you finish something off.

Breacher

The Injector refills your health the second you use it, then hands you Adrenaline. While that lasts you take less damage and deal more. Breacher is the class for going in.

• Gear mods: Stability Compound steadies recoil during Adrenaline, Vitality Amplifier heals you on kills, Reload Amplifier reloads your weapon on kills and Regenerative Compound improves the health regen.
• Armor mods: Proximity Reload turns a close-range kill into a Perfect Reload, Proximity Scavenger can drop ammo from those kills and Perfect Vitality heals you off Perfect Ammo.
• Weapons: a Gnasher with Slick Breech to cut the reload, a Snub with Full Metal Jacket as the backup and an Incendiary Grenade for choke points.

Proximity Reload is the mod I’d get first. It hands you the Perfect Reload instead of making you hit it under pressure.

Marksman

The Longshot fires one shot and reloads slowly, so the wider window from Muscle Memory matters more here than anywhere. Muscle Memory is a level 3 unlock and Mag Triage arrives two levels later, so the useful part of this build is cheap.

Don’t take a Marksman into a wave with nothing for close range. Players do it constantly and the Longshot doesn’t care.

Medic

Medic can fight, so you’re not stuck being a first aid kit. The Stim Vaporizer is still the point, and it reaches anyone standing close enough, and that includes downed players on the other squads.

Vitality Emitter boosts the healing, Retention Battery extends how long the Stim runs, Focal Lens widens it and Burst Capacitor shortens the cooldown. Flesh Wounds and Combat Lifesaver are the armor picks, one for regen and one for sprint and revive defense. Add Muscle Memory if your reloads are clean.

Early on, a Lancer Mk1 and a Hammerburst do the job. The Prototype Lancer replaces the Lancer Mk1 later. Snub as the sidearm, Smoke Grenade for cover while you deploy.

Pop the Stim before the wave peaks. If half the squad is already down you’re late.

Squad and difficulty

Three squads of four make the twelve players. Class choice is free and duplicates are allowed, so four Breachers is a legal squad. I’d still want one Medic. If your squad already has one, Assault is the safe pick.

• Blitz: 1 or 2 objectives, usually 15 to 20 minutes.
• Siege: multiple objectives, 20 to 40 minutes.
• Horde: hold one spot against 10 waves, up to 60 minutes.

Difficulty follows class level. Infantry is suggested for levels 10 to 20 and Commander for 20 to 30. Allfather is for max-level classes only, and the game says survival chances are slim even then.

Quick answers

Which class is best?

None of them. They fill different jobs and the game doesn’t push a squad shape.

Do weapon mods carry between classes?

Yes. Mods and cosmetics stay with the weapon.

Where are the full mod lists?

This page covers what’s worth equipping first. The complete per-class mod lists with effects are on Mobalytics’ class pages, and credit to them for how clean those are.