Gears of War 3 multiplayer weapons and maps guide

Damage: 700 (805 + increased splash w/perfect reload)

Magazine Size: 1

The Digger Launcher is a wicked weapon. It fires a little creature that will crawl underground and surface near any enemy just before exploding. This totally negates cover, making the weapon great for assaulting a defensive position. A point blank shot to an opponent’s chest will nab you an instant kill as well.

Once the Digger is in the ground, the creature will burrow loudly and slowly in a perfectly straight line until it gets near an enemy. You can arc the shot through the air in order to speed things up and decrease your enemy’s time to react.

Only use the digger when you have a clear shot or there are a group of enemies ahead of you. Because of the creature’s slow speed, your opponent will have no trouble getting out of the way if he/she sees it coming.

The torque bow is peculiar yet powerful, requiring patience and steady aiming to wield effectively. The arrows fired from the bow can stick into any surface or person (as in skewer, not nerf dart suction-cup) if the bow is charged long enough. Once the arrows are fired, they will explode after about a second. This will instantly kill if the arrow is stuck in a person, and will do medium damage to anyone in the small blast radius. Also, headshots travel through the target.

Because the bow requires a full charge to be effective (arrows not charged enough won’t travel far or stick to anything) this is not a weapon designed for close range. It’s best used as a sniper weapon to pick off players sticking out of cover or being distracted by someone or something other than you. No matter where on your opponent’s body the arrows stick, the shot is lethal. Just remember that the charge cannot be held indefinitely, so the bow will eventually fire on its own.

This flamethrower is certainly a flashy weapon. The range is very short and you need to keep the flames held on an opponent for several seconds to score a kill, meaning premature ignition will simply alert everyone to keep their distance and prompt them to aim their guns at your stupid face. It’s a great weapon to use on a group of attacking enemies in a last-ditch effort. Even if it doesn’t kill anyone, it will disorient your pursuers, giving you time to escape or your friends time to save you.

Above: How is forcing someone to vomit flames not awesome?

The Scorcher is also great for holding objective points. When you're hiding behind cover in these areas, many enemies will charge you, sometimes attempting a mantle kick. Since the Scorcher doesn’t lose accuracy when you hip fire it, simply wait until they are in range and light ‘em up. On the other hand, you can use the Scorcher to easily damage enemies hiding behind cover.

The Boomshot falls somewhere between a rocket launcher and a grenade launcher. The projectile does arc downward after being fired, but the arc is so slight that you need not compensate your aim for anything mid-range or closer. The radius of a Boomshot projectile’s explosion is quite large, so always aim at the feet of your enemy to avoid an accidental and very wasteful miss.

The Boomshot is one of the most valuable weapons in the game, so you should memorize which maps it spawns on and the specific locations. Instead of attempting to grab the weapon at the start of the match, you can hang back a second, wait for the enemy to make a move, then take them out as they try to pick it up.

The Oneshot lives up to its name. One shot to any point on an enemy’s body results in an instant and messy kill. It’s a fantastic long range weapon, but it’s also very slow and difficult to aim, so make sure there are no enemies around before using. It’s a good idea to guard your teammate if he/she has the Longshot (don’t be bitter, they got to it before you fair and square).

There are a few issues with this weapon that you should be well aware of before using it for the first time. For one, you have to mount the weapon on the ground or some cover before you can even look through the scope, and when you do, your field of view is very restricted. If enemies are too close, they can simply dash out of your crosshairs and you may have difficulty finding them again. The Oneshot also requires you to wait a second or two after aiming before you can fire. Finally, the weapon emits a visible laser beam whenever you look through the scope and makes an audible noise when charging, so be aware that when you are tracking a target, they’ll often know.

The following weapons have fewer subtleties, so we won’t spend too much time on them. This does not necessarily mean they are any less powerful or useful. Except the Snub Pistol. That thing is shit.

Gorgon SMG:

Damage: 70 (84 w/perfect reload)

Headshot Bonus: Yes

Fire Rate: 700

Magazine Size: 32

The Gorgon pistol is now a fully automatic SMG. It is relatively inaccurate, but is still arguably the best handgun.

Boltok Pistol:

Damage: 200

Headshot Bonus: Yes

Fire Rate: 60

Magazine Size: 6

This powerful revolver can be zoomed by pressing the right stick, making it a very valuable long-range weapon. Unfortunately, it still takes two shots to the head to kill.

Snub Pistol:

Damage: 65 (78 w/perfect reload)

Headshot Bonus: Yes

Fire Rate: 500

Magazine Size: 12

This glorified BB gun is your starting sidearm. It’s not at all powerful, but it can be zoomed.

Mortar:

Damage: 800 (960 w/perfect reload)

Once you plant the Mortar on the ground or some cover, hold the right trigger to start cranking the angle, then release to fire. It’s hard to tell where the shells will land without practice, so try setting up easy matches against bots on each map to get better at gauging distance.

Mulcher:

Damage: 77

Fire Rate: 1200

Magazine Size: 200

The Mulcher is a very powerful minigun that needs to be mounted on the floor or some cover before it can be fired accurately. You don’t need to worry about reloading, but watch the bar in the upper right corner to avoid overheating. Hold RB to cool the weapon down.

Hammer of Dawn:

This weapons paints a target for an overhead satellite. Once you hold the trigger, it takes a couple of seconds for the satellite to calibrate. Once it does fire down that massive beam of death, continue holding the trigger and you can drag the laser around.