Developer Blog: Deviant Enemies and Supreme Equipment

Welcome to another blog where we’re covering the new features being added to Gears Tactics. As a reminder, these will be available to both PC and console players. 

As we looked at adding new features to Gears Tactics, we wanted to ramp the action and encounters across the entire campaign. 

Welcome Deviant Enemies.

Deviants were sprung from the demented mind of the Locust geneticist Ukkon, who was continuing his experimentation by harnessing the power of Imulsion. He found that controlled injections of Imulsion into his foot soldiers resulted in highly powerful units like the Disciples and the Zealot. However, not every experiment had perfect results. These “Deviants” were more powerful and savage but a lot less obedient.

The traditional Locust Drone is core to the Locust Army where they use their Hammerburst assault rifle with deadly force at practically any range.

The Deviant Locust Drone features all the slaying power of regular Drone but they also have the Bloodthirsty Aura, which gives nearby Locust healing from the damage caused by their attacks.

Small, fast, and mobile, Wretches attack in packs using their ferociousness and short-range melee attacks to overwhelm your troops. The standard Wretch is lethal enough on its own but now you will need to contend with a Deviant Wretch in the pack. And to add to the fun, the Deviant Wretch wields an aura that buffs nearby Wretches with “Raging” which gives them a big boost to evasion.

Our suggestion – do whatever you can to intercept them before! Hint: frags and Jack’s Capsule Shock are your friends!

The Kantus is a Locust Priest that inspires and bolsters the Locust troops. Their impact on the battlefield should not be underestimated.

The Deviant Kantus unleashes a bloodcurdling scream that interrupts COG soldiers and knocks them out of cover. And if that isn’t enough…he also raises downed Locust enemies.

Locust Snipers use their Longshot to pin your units down. Their ominous red laser sight of doom triggers on any action and its presence is guaranteed to amp up your anxiety levels. The Deviant Sniper also looks to pin down your units resulting in a debuff that makes your squad easier to hit by the other Locust troops.

There is no point in hiding from these guys; just take them out as quick as possible!

Disciples are an amped up version of the Locust Drone thanks to the bio-fuel Imulsion pumping through their veins.

The Deviant Disciple is the amped-up version of the amped-up version. They throw Poison Mines which work like proximity mines that explode for moderate damage AND apply a debuff that reduces the damage of COG units caught in it.

To counteract these powerful new Deviant enemies and encourage some exploration, we’ve added ultra-powerful Supreme Equipment to help out your units.

These weapon mods will let you customize your equipment to create the best and most powerful version of each weapon.

There are four pieces of Supreme Equipment that are connected to each class. The Supreme Equipment is found as mission rewards, in equipment cases you can find in each level and by completing side missions.

Snipers become walking crit machines that should have heads popping all over the map.

The Scout gets bonuses from Executions – so make sure they fight up close and personal.

Heavy will see their Overwatch cone of death boosted by buffs.

Vanguard’s Retro charge and Reload become more powerful making them hit harder and function as even more of a tank.

The Support class buffs their healing and chainsawing abilities. You know, the little things that are great for helping out your squad.

Gears Tactics will be available November 10^th on all Xbox consoles and through Xbox Game Pass. The new Gears Tactics features will also be added for free as a major update to PC players on the same day.