Introduction
The Basics Controls Active Reload Weapons Enemies
Campaign Walkthrough Act 1: Ashes Act 2: Nightfall Act 3: Belly of the Beast Act 4: The Long Road Home Act 5: Desperation
COG Tag Locations Achievements

Gears of Wars - Act 1: Ashes

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14 Years After E-Day
Trial By Fire Fish In a Barrel
Fork in the Road
Knock Knock
Hammer
Wrath
China Shop


14 Years after E-Day
You are Marcus Fenix, stuck in a cold cell when your pal Dominic Santiago shows up to bust you out. Times have changed, this is war. You are first given armor and a weapon, then immediately thrust into the dark, gritty, war-torn world of Sera. Follow Dominic out of the cell and you are then presented with two options: Going left will take you into the eye of the storm, while heading right will take you through some training. For the purpose of this guide, choose to go right for training, since if you are reading and following this walkthrough you are undoubtedly new to the game.

Notice the Gears of War symbol (Crimson Omen) on the sheet of metal straight ahead. When you see the Crimson Omen, it signifies that there is a COG Tag nearby. COG Tags are required to unlock the following achievements: Time to Remember (Recover one-third of the COG Tags), Honor-Bound (Recover two-thirds of the COG Tags) and For the Fallen (recover all thirty of the COG Tags). If you are not interested in the COG Tag achievements, you can simply ignore all mention of the COG Tags within this walkthrough, though if you are planning on following this walkthrough, you may as well retrieve the COG Tags anyway.

COG Tag 01: Right below the Crimson Omen, on the sheet of metal straight ahead from the entrance of this area.

Pick the tag up, turn around and head up the set of stairs to your left. There is a green button on the table to your left when you enter the room. You are told to press the button by using the X button. Do so and the security gate ahead will open. Across the catwalk there is an electronically locked door. Hold the Y button to switch your view to the circuit breaker on the wall along the catwalk to your left.

Destroy the circuit breaker by holding LT to aim and then press and hold RT to fire your weapon. Once it is destroyed, the door will open and you can proceed through it. Stand in front of the door and press the X button to kick it aside. In this area, you will be able to learn the ins and outs of the cover system. Essentially, the A button is used for most cover maneuvers. Read and execute the maneuvers displayed in the help boxes that appear at the top of the screen. Practice rolling and taking cover until you have the hang of it.

In this next area, behind the cement box straight ahead as soon as you enter, there is a box of ammo. The X button is used to pick up ammo and weapons. Kick in the door to the left of the ammo box and proceed through it. Follow the catwalk to the end and turn right. There are enemies in this area, so Roadie Run to some cover by holding the A button down, you will automatically slam against the cement block as you approach it. Stay behind the cover until an enemy pops out to fire.

Once a Locust has left cover, aim and shoot, notice that when you are shot, the Crimson Omen is visible in the middle of the screen. This is your damage gauge and when the Crimson Omen is completely full, you are dead. If you are up from cover and shooting, and if the Omen is getting too full because you are being shot, release the left trigger and return to cover. Over time, the omen will fade, indicating that you have returned to full health. With the enemy dead, leave cover and approach the green button to the left. There is an ammo box to the right. Press the button and then Roadie Run across the bridge and into the next area.

Follow Dom through the next area, he will point out some grenades that you can pick up. You can only hold four of them at once. In the next area you will encounter two more enemies. You can take cover behind one of the stone pillars on the overlooking catwalk, then crouch down by pressing down on the left thumbstick, and shoot at the enemies through the bars. Once the enemies are dead, go right and follow the catwalk to some stairs. Go down and through the gate.

As you approach the door at the end of this area, some Locust will begin to cut their way through. It won't be long before they break through, so get behind some cover and ready a Frag Grenade. Hold the Left Trigger to swing the Frag Grenade, using the visible arc to line up the grenade near the doorway, then as soon as they break through, pull the Right Trigger to release the grenade. You should be able to take out all of the enemies that come through if well-timed. Use your gun to finish off any Locust that survived the blast.

COG Tag 02: From the door that the Locust broke through, turn around and go straight until you reach the two downed pillars near the end of the room. Facing these pillars, turn right, notice the Crimson Omen on the standing pillar. Behind this pillar is a box of ammo and the COG Tag.

When you are ready, proceed through the door marked "EXIT" and you will find yourself in the middle of another firefight. Take cover behind the blocks on your right as soon as you enter this outside area. Be wary! Some enemies may leave their cover and run straight towards yours.

COG Tag 03: While behind the blocks, turn left. Notice the Crimson Omen.

Once the amount of enemies has dwindled, leave cover, turn left and Roadie Run up the stairs. As soon as you are at the top of the stairs, turn left and retrieve the COG Tags in the corner. If you want this COG Tag, you must get to it before all of the enemies are dead, because if you don't you will be forced into the chapter end cutscene. When all of the Locust in the area are dead and you hear the "battle end" sound effect (you'll know it when you hear it), wait for a moment and the chapter end cutscene will begin.

Trial By Fire
As soon as the cutscene has ended, you will find yourself in the middle of another firefight. This is war, what did you expect? The two Locust should be killed off by your allies fairly quickly. You now have a Lancer in your arsenal. The Lancer has a faster rate of fire than the Hammerburst that you initially had, and of course it has the esteemed chainsaw bayonet. To use the chainsaw, with the Lancer out, press and hold down on the B button to start the chainsaw, then connect with an enemy to cut them in half. In the beginning, chain-sawing your enemies in half may seem to be consistently awesome, however, you will likely quickly grow tired of the chainsaw animation and move on to an alternate means of removing your enemies.

Follow your squad up the stone steps. Enter the ruins, turn left, and you will find yourself in an outside area. You will encounter some more Drones in this area. Hop over the first piece of cover and move to the one next up, as it provides much better battlefield coverage. From here, carefully dispose of the Locust. Go on, give that chainsaw a try, you know you want to. Once all of the enemies have been dealt with, notice the Crimson Omen on the stone block at the far end of this area. Approach it, and while facing it, turn right.

COG Tag 04: Look in the grass between the stone blocks for the set of tags.

Follow your squad to the stone stairs at the end of this area. There is a box of ammo at the foot of these steps if needed. Head up the stairs and into the next area. Whilst the group is admiring the scenery, they are rudely interrupted by a contingent of Locust. Immediately Roadie Run and take cover behind the nearest piece of stone. A small help box will appear at the top of the screen that will explain Emergence Holes. To quickly seal one of these holes, drop a grenade down it. It's as simple as that.

There is an open Emergence Hole at the end of this area, so you will want to move between cover to try and get closer to it. A good one to use is the one just after the stone planter. Now, from behind cover, prepare your grenade. Don't stand out too long, as you will still be taking fire from your enemies. If need be, release the left trigger to drop back down and wait for your health to recover. Just don't move your camera and the arc will retain its position. Aim carefully, and when the arc is leading to the Emergence Hole, press the Right Trigger to throw the grenade. If your grenade is true, the hole will be closed. There is a box of ammo behind the stone planter just below the sealed hole.

Follow your squad to the next portion of this area. Take cover, and if you are too close to the battle be wary of the charging Locust that may try to jump your cover. Once the Locust have been dealt with, follow your squad to the bridge. There is a box of ammo in the area to the left of the bridge gate if needed. When you are ready, cross the bridge to the other side. Once the door has opened, go through and you will encounter more Locust. As soon as you enter, Roadie Run straight ahead and hop into the square of cover. Take the grenades and ammo box. There is an Emergence Hole that opens up in this room. When you hear the "Emergence Hole open" sound effect, move to the cover behind the area of the Emergence Hole and ready a grenade. When it opens, throw the grenade down it.

There is plenty of cover in this area, so you can easily move around between them to try and get a free view of enemies behind cover. Be careful though, as the Locust move around, too. They also like to use melee attacks, so they can come up behind you and hit you while you are trying to shoot at different Locust. There is another Emergence Hole that will open at the end of this area so be ready with a grenade COG Tag 05: Once the Emergence Hole has been closed and the room is clear of Locust, before heading out through the recently opened door, turn left while facing the door and look down. The COG Tag is along the wall.

Fish in a Barrel
There is a Troika gun emplacement in this area, so as soon as you gain control of Marcus, immediately get yourself behind some cover. From your initial position, you will have to make your way to the right side. Roadie Run and then roll to avoid the enemy fire. Once you are at the end, move along the wall and there is a doorway that will lead you right next to the Troika Gunner. If you approach him, the gunner will more than likely leave the emplacement and take some cover further away. There is also a foot soldier near the Troika, so be wary of that. When the two Locust are dead, approach the Troika and hold the X button to man it. You will encounter some charging Locust running towards your post, but with the Troika you can effortlessly cut through them and its ammo is unlimited, so just hold down the right trigger and direct your fire towards them.

When the Locust are dead, follow your squad to the next area. Hop into the fountain and collect the ammo boxes and grenades within. Prepare yourself now, as a couple of Emergence Holes will open up. When you hear the sound effect signifying that a hole is opening, but if you can't see it, run around the fountain until it comes into view, then lob a grenade into it to seal it up. All the while, be careful as you will be taking fire while you are aiming and preparing to throw the Frag Grenade. You initially won't have enough grenades to plug up all of the Emergence Holes, but a couple of them will help stem the onslaught somewhat.

For the holes that you are unable to close due to lack of grenades, you will just have to kill the Locust that emerge from them until that hole closes by itself. There are some more grenades in the area if needed, near a set of COG Tags. While in the fountain, look around for the shinning of the tags, then hop out of cover and move towards them, the grenades are next to a stone block.

COG Tag 06: While in the Fountain, look around for the shinning of a COG Tag. Once you�ve spotted the tag, hop out of cover and go to pick it up.

Once all of the Locust are dead and all of the Emergence Holes sealed, follow your squad into the next area.

Fork in the Road
If you choose Left: Move up towards the doorway, there are Locust up above. Just take cover and they should come charging down at you. Kill them and then move up into the next area. You can kill the Troika Gunner who is in the hall outside of this room by shooting him through the hole in the wall at the end of this room. Go through the door once you are finished.

If you choose Right: Move up and go through either doorway. There is another Troika run emplacement at the end of the hall in the next area, so take cover behind the wall. Step away from the wall, roll into the area behind it and break the wooden cross blocking the hole in the wall. Help Kim and Dom kill off the Locust in the room. If the Troika Gunner spotted you, he may leave the post and go confront you. If not, Kim and Dom should kill him for you. He tends not to stay on that Troika either way. Some more Locust will appear behind you. Kill them and then open the door at the end of the hall.

Whichever path you choose, once you go through the door you will meet up with your buddies in the next room. There is a Troika gun emplacement in this area. While facing towards it, go through the doorway to the right. Grab the ammo in here and then continue going right and back out into the open. Roll and take cover behind the large steel drum. Roadie Run and roll to the door up ahead to the right of the steel drum, and kick it in. Go up the stairs and kill the spotter located up here. From the window, shoot down at the Troika Gunner and the Locust surrounding him. The gunner might leave his post to take cover, so you may have to head back down the stairs to take him out if your allies don't.

As soon as all of the initial Locust in the area have been dealt with, run to the platform and man the Troika. A group of Locust will appear behind the squad, so kill them with the Troika as they charge towards you. There are some that will stay behind and shoot through the windows, but you can take them out with the Troika as well as soon they pop up to shoot. When you are done, there is a box of ammo behind the Troika emplacement. Go through the hallway and kick in the door at the end.

Knock Knock
Follow the hall and kick in the door at the end. You will find yourself back outside. A COG Tag is near.

COG Tag 07: Facing towards the steps, turn left and stand along the edge of the giant gap in the street. Climb up the stairs here, the tag is along the stone fence.

Now, you're going to have to take things slow here. There is a Troika gun emplacement, as well as shotgun wielding Locust who will not hesitate to blow you to pieces. Start by taking cover behind the sandbags to the left of the fountain, then gradually make your way to the sandbags, enclosing the Troika gun emplacement by rolling to the pillar, then to the sandbags. Wait near the pillar for a moment, as a few Locust will come through the door behind the gunner and hop over the sandbags to attack you.

Once you are taking cover behind the sandbags next to the gunner, wait near him and he will more than likely leave his post to take some cover in the adjoining area. Kill any Locust that come out through the door from behind the sandbags, and then hop over the sandbags and go into the building. Take cover within, just watch out for the aforementioned shotgun wielders, as they are the shirtless Locust. A hole will open up inside too, so if you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, head back outside and take some cover further away.

The Gnasher is a nice weapon that you will want to take for yourself once you have dealt with the Locust trying to kill you with it. Keep your Lancer and swap the Gnasher for the weapon in the second slot. To switch through your current weapons, use the D-pad. Pressing left on the D-pad tells Marcus to switch to the weapon on the left side of his back, and pressing right on the D-pad make him switch to the weapon on the right. So, since you will be keeping your Lancer, switch to the second weapon on Marcus' back that you are not using. Then move up to the Gnasher on the ground and hold the X button to drop your weapon and pick up the shotgun.

After the cutscene, hop on the Troika and take out the Locust approaching from behind. When they are dead, a new set of doors will open and you can follow your squad mates inside. Again, watch for the guys with the Gnashers.

Hammer
Up the stairs, you will encounter one of the Alpha Squad. Before going through the doorway leading into the next room, and while facing the doorway, turn left, then go straight to the end and pick up the grenades there. Help the Alpha squad member take out the Locusts below. Follow your squad mates down the stairs and into the area below. Once all of the Locust in the area have been disposed of, you will gain another squad member, Cole. When you gain control over Marcus, pick up the ammo box and grenades. Follow your squad up the set of stairs to the left. Wait for Kim to open the door.

COG Tag 08: As soon as you step through the doorway, turn left and move to the end of the hall. The tag is next to the cement block on the right.

In this area, you will encounter the Wretches. If you are playing the game on either the Casual or Hardcore difficulty level, switch to your Gnasher (or another weapon, one other than the Lancer) and use the B button to beat them down. One melee attack will kill them with one strike on either difficulty. You can wait by the giant hole to the right of the entrance door and beat them down as they climb up. Once all of the enemies are dead and Jack has finished opening the door, proceed into the next area.

Here, you will have to switch out your second weapon for the Hammer of Dawn, for the time being. A help box will appear at the top of the screen that explains how to use this newly acquired weapon. As it explains, the Hammer of Dawn can only be used when satellites are available and you are in an area with an open sky. The door will open, step outside and look northeast; that is the Seeder that you see in the distance. Hold LT to aim the weapon with the laser guide and hold down on the right trigger, but do not move at all while it is charging. A beam will fall from the sky and hit the Seeder. It will take two blasts to defeat it. All the while, the Seeder is firing Nemacyst at you. They deal a lot of damage (instant death on Insane), so in between blasts, if your squad isn't already on it, switch to your Lancer and shoot the Nemacyst when they are too close. Once you have hit the Seeder with the second beam, it's dead.

You can still use the Hammer of Dawn at this point to kill the Locust on the other side of the bridge. While the beam is active, you can slowly move it around by moving the Right Thumbstick. When everything is dead, cross the bridge, turn right, and follow the squad into the next area. Another Seeder, so kill any Nemacyst flying towards you, then use the Hammer of Dawn in the same fashion to finish it off. Use the Hammer of Dawn to beat down any of the Wretches that you encounter in the next area. Once the hallways are devoid of enemies, Kim will open another door. Proceed through it. There are some more Wretches in the area below. After they have been dealt with, continue following the squad.

You will face a group of Locust in the next area. Stay behind the benches and beat down the Wretches that jump over them with the Hammer. When the room is clear, follow the group.

COG Tag 09: The group soon reaches some steps. As soon as you reach the bottom of these steps, turn right and look in the corner for the tag.

Go through the doorway down here and head up the stairs.

Wrath
Take cover behind the pillar in the middle of the room. Avoid the chairs and sofas as they are destructible cover. There is another Seeder here to be dealt with. Use the Hammer of Dawn in the same fashion as before to kill it. Two blasts will do the trick. You can switch out the Hammer of Dawn for a Hammerburst if you would like, as you won't be needing the Hammer for now. After the radio transmission, some Locust will begin breaking through the door. Take cover behind the side of the pillar opposite of this door. There is a Gnasher user among them, so if you want a Gnasher, kill him and take it. Take cover behind one of the desks in the next area and kill the two enemies. Down the next hall, take cover behind a cement block. There are Drones up ahead. Watch out for the shotgunner who will more than likely charge at you and jump your cover.

To the right of the couch, you can find a box of ammo in the adjacent room. Down the next hall there is a Troika gun emplacement. You will have to flank the gunner. The shooting will be sparse due to distance, so step out into the hall and roll to the right. You will find yourself in a hallway parallel to the one controlled by the Troika Gunner. Beat down the Wretches and kill the Drone in here. Sneak up behind the Troika Gunner and either chainsaw him or blast him with the Gnasher. Man the Troika and shoot at the Wretches that are coming down the hall. If any of them manage to jump the sandbags in front of your Troika, step off of the Troika and beat them down. Go through the doorway to the right of the Troika. Go straight ahead, turn right and go down the stairs here to find a box of ammo.

Back up the stairs, go through the doorway straight ahead and follow this path into the next area. Take cover and kill the Drones in this room; remember that the chairs and couches are destructible cover. Not trying to sound like a broken record here, but also watch out for the shotgunners. Into the next area, climb up the long set of stairs and onto the balcony. Surprise the Troika Gunner up here with a couple of shotgun blasts. Before you man that Troika, kill the Nemacyst in the air. They're nasty. Once they sky is clear, use the Troika to kill the Drones down below.

China Shop
After the cutscene, switch your second weapon for the Hammer of Dawn that is on the ground.

COG Tag 10: Move past the burning table that is along the wall and turn right. Look down on the right side of this hall next to the fire for the tag.

Head back to the other end of the hall and slowly make your way into the next area. Eventually you will come to a wall and a Berserker will break through. Remember: Berserkers are blind, so they use scent and sound to detect their enemies. What you will need to do is get her outside. This way you can use the Hammer of Dawn to down her.

To the right of where the Berserker smashed through the wall, there is a door. Roadie Run straight ahead to the other end of this area and position yourself in front of the big door. Shoot at the Berserker to get her attention; she will charge at you. When she is about to crash into you, roll to the side. The Berserker will break through the door, allowing you to access a new area. Lead her through the next room until you reach a door that looks like the first breakable one. Again, shoot to get her attention. Once it has been broken down, move into the next room. There is another breakable door here.

COG Tag 11: When you reach the third door, face the breakable door and turn left, the tag is in the corner below the window there.

Stand in front of the door and shoot to provoke the Berserker once more. With the third door broken, you will find yourself outside.

COG Tag 12: As soon as you are outside, turn left and Roadie Run down to the large stone planter with the lamppost next to it. It is right beside the stone planter.

BOSS BATTLE: Berserker
Now that you're outside, how are you supposed to kill this beast? Well, if you recall, you should currently have a Hammer of Dawn strapped to your back. Remember what it did to those Seeders? Same deal here, however this one is far more mobile than those Seeders were. One thing to be careful about: Never use the Hammer of Dawn too close to yourself because it will kill you as well. If you don�t have a Hammer of Dawn, you find one as soon as you step through the door.

You need to get the Hammer because you�re going to hit the Berserker with it (while she is being struck, she is rendered immobile). So allow her to charge towards you, then roll out of the way. Now Roadie Run until you are a safe distance away. While she is confused and searching for you, charge up the hammer. Once the beam has been deployed, you are free to move it around with the Right Thumbstick, so if you miss hitting her with the beam, just move it onto her and she will then become immobilized. The Hammer of Dawn must hit her a couple of times to kill her. Once she has been dealt with, the act ends.



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