Operation 8 Drop 2 – Reveal

Hello everyone!

The time has come to talk about Operation 8 Drop 2! This post will cover everything you can expect to see when our final content title update goes live on Tuesday, September 14th.

Before you dive into the full post, check out the Operation 8 Drop 2 trailer!

Corporal Michael Barrick is a former Stranded who set aside his distrust of the COG to join the military. From battling General RAAM with Zeta-Six to fighting alongside Marcus Fenix in Delta Squad, Barrick became one of the COG’s most legendary Gears during the Locust War.

Private Alicia Valera is a Gear who specializes in reconnaissance warfare, risking her life to gather critical intel before the battle. Serving with Zeta-Six squad during the Locust War, she raced to evacuate her home city of Ilima before it was overrun by General RAAM’s horde.

Oscar Diaz is the leader of the Riftworm Village, one of the last Outsider communities left standing after incessant attack by the Swarm. A former Gear, and uncle to Kait Diaz, Oscar is a warrior who will sacrifice anything – including himself – to defend the people under his watch.

The Rager is a wiry, aggressive Grub. Similar in appearance to a Locust Drone but with a distinctively ferocious edge, the Rager rushes into battle with minimal armor and maximum savagery.

This Weilehan fishing village sits eerily abandoned after a recent Swarm attack. Scattered huts and a small dock area give players ample opportunity to push forward and ambush the enemy.

The Outsiders have repurposed this abandoned mining colony into a thriving village. Two defensive structures define the landscape – the high ground of the bar, and the entrenched mine.

As you all jump back into Season 8 of Competitive, we wanted to remind you of the rewards from this Operation.

If you finish in the top 100 this season you will be granted the Grandmaster Obsidian Gnasher.

For Season 9 of Competitive we will then swap the Obsidian Gnasher out for the Grandmaster Bloody Gnasher.

We are also adding new banners to earn for each of the Competitive modes in Operation 8 so make sure to keep an eye out for that!

So just to recap, here is how the Competitive rewards will now work:

• 100k points – Playlist Mark – 100k
• 500k points – Playlist Mark – 500k
• 1 million points – Playlist Master Banner
• If you finish in the top 1,000 – Some weapons from Heroic Obsidian Gnasher set.
• If you finish in the top 100
  • Playlist Grandmaster Banner
  • Trinity Skorge
  • Grandmaster Obsidian Gnasher
  • Golden Heart Bloodspray
• If you finish the season as the top player
  • Golden Gnasher Bloodspray

Note: After Season 9 we will not be granting the Top 100 rewards anymore, so make sure you get them before then!

On the release of Operation 8, we introduced two prototype weapons, these weapons were developed throughout Gears 5 but did not have the final polish.

We are happy to announce we are releasing one final prototype weapon, the Hammer of Dawn.

Note: Prototype Weapons will remain in Custom Versus only and will not have any customizable skins. When they were created, they were intended for PvP and we would need extensive work to bring them over to PvE.

A staple across the Gears franchise, the Hammer of Dawn targets an area and unleashes a deadly barrage, do not be near it!

We’ll also be adding the following tweaks in Operation 8 Drop 2 for PvP!

• We will be adding “Fully Loaded” versions of Control, TDM, and FFA to Custom Versus (this allows you to set most weapons as loadout weapons and to toggle melee in addition to the normal mutator options).
• Additional Medal groups for PVP and PVE focused on ribbon-based medals (1 group for PVP and 1 for PVE).
• Bullet penetration mutator added as an option to all Custom Versus modes.
• We will be updating the rate of XP gain for PVP to be in line with Inconceivable Horde.

Back in May, we announced our plans to move to Unreal Engine 5 with Operation 8 being the final Operation for Gears 5.

To clear up some specific points regarding Gears 5 going forward:

• Once Operation 8 ends, the game will move into a phase of automation, where the following will happen.
  • Tour of Duty – Will reset going forward. See below for the list of rewards you can expect with each Tour of Duty:

Name	Reward Type	Reward Value
Recruit I	Coins	2000
Recruit II	Iron	50
Recruit III	Coins	500
Recruit IV	Coins	500
Recruit V	Iron	50
Private I	Coins	500
Private II	Coins	500
Private III	Iron	50
Private IV	Coins	500
Private V	Coins	500
Corporal I	Iron	50
Corporal II	Coins	1000
Corporal III	Coins	1000
Corporal IV	Iron	50
Corporal V	Coins	1000
Sergeant I	Coins	1000
Sergeant II	Iron	100
Sergeant III	Coins	1500
Sergeant IV	Coins	1500
Sergeant V	Iron	100
Officer I	Coins	1500
Officer II	Coins	1500
Officer III	Iron	100
Officer IV	Coins	2000
Officer V	Coins	2000
Lieutenant I	Iron	100
Lieutenant II	Coins	2000
Lieutenant III	Coins	2000
Lieutenant IV	Iron	100
Lieutenant V	Coins	2500
Captain I	Coins	2500
Captain II	Iron	150
Captain III	Coins	2500
Captain IV	Coins	2500
Captain V	Iron	150
Major I	Coins	2750
Major II	Coins	2750
Major III	Iron	150
Major IV	Coins	2750
Major V	Coins	2750
Colonel I	Iron	150
Colonel II	Coins	3000
Colonel III	Coins	3000
Colonel IV	Iron	150
Colonel V	Coins	3000
Major General I	Coins	3000
Major General II	Iron	250
Major General III	Coins	3500
Major General IV	Coins	3500
Major General V	Iron	250
General	Coins	4000

This will also come with a set of medals which will refresh at the end of each Competitive and Tour refresh going forward, see below for the full details.

Completion Reward: 2000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Team Medic	Revive 150 Teammates	All	6
Carnage	Do 10000000 Damage	All	6
Body Count	Get 10000 Eliminations	All	6
Finish Them	Kill 4000 Enemies	All	6
Marksman	Hit 500 Headshots Kills	All	6
Executioner	Perform 150 Executions	All	6

Completion Reward: 2000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Lancer Carnage	Deal 250000 Damage with the Lancer	All	6
Gnasher Body Count	Get 250 Eliminations with the Gnasher	All	6
Pistol Carnage	Deal 150000 Damage with the Snub, Boltok or Talon	All	6
Big Boom Body Count	Get 100 Eliminations with the Boomshot, Dropshot or Frag Grenades	All	6
Blazing Carnage	Deal 100000 Damage with the Scorcher or Incendiary Grenades	All	6
Marksman Body Count	Get 100 Eliminations with the Longshot, EMBAR or Torque Bow	All	7

Completion Reward: 3000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Battleworn	Complete 200 Rounds of Versus, Waves of Horde or Acts of Escape	All	6
Drop ‘Em	Get 100 Downs	All	6
Splish Splash	Do 50000 Damage with Incendiary and/or Shock Grenades	All	6
Active Living	Get 150 Active Reload Kills	All	6
Double Dipper	Get 20 Double Kills in Versus Matches	Versus	6
Do Your Part	Get 100 Assists in Versus Matches	Versus	6
Sending a Message	Get 25 Executions in Versus Matches	Versus	7

Completion Reward: 5000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Killjoy	Get 5 Ring-Breaks in a Single Versus Match	Versus	5
Busy Bee	Get 3 Triple Kills in Competitive Versus Matches	Versus	6
Show Off	Get 5 Executions in a Single Versus Match 3 Times	Versus	6
Goon	Get 5 or more Kills without Dying in a Single Versus Match	Versus	6
Tryhard	Score 5000 Points or more in 25 Competitive Versus Matches	Versus	7
Eager Beaver	Get  the First Kill 10 Times in Versus Matches	Versus	7
Bully	Survive 25 Waves of Horde and/or Acts of Escape on Inconceivable Difficulty or Higher	PVE	7

Completion Reward: 5000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Escape Attempts	Survive 50 Acts of Escape	Escape	5
Escape Carnage	Do 3000000 Damage in Escape	Escape	6
Escape Body Count	Get 1000 Eliminations in Escape	Escape	6
Boss Hunter	Get 30 Boss Eliminations in Escape	Escape	6
Hivebusters	Survive 10 Acts of Escape as Lahni, Keegan or Mac	Escape	6
Scion Hunter	Get 50 Scion Eliminations in Escape	Escape	6
Escape Master	Escape 10 Hives on Master Difficulty in this Operation	Escape	7

Completion Reward: 5000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Wave Survivor	Survive 150 Waves of Horde	Horde	5
Horde Carnage	Do 6000000 Damage in Horde	Horde	6
Horde Body Count	Get 3000 Eliminations in Horde	Horde	6
Boss Hunter	Get 30 Boss Eliminations in Horde	Horde	6
Power Horder	Collect 1000000 Energy in Horde	Horde	6
Locust Hunter	Get 200 Locust Eliminations in Horde	Horde	6
Horde Master	Survive 50 Waves of Horde or Frenzy on Master Difficulty	Horde	7

Completion Reward: 3000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Quickplay Veteran	Win 10 Classic Quickplay Matches	Versus	6
Versus Carnage	Do 1500000 Damage in Versus Matches	Versus	6
Season Slaughter	Get 5000 Eliminations in Versus	Versus	6
Versus Medic	Revive 50 Teammates in Versus Matches	Versus	6
COG Victories	Win 25 Versus Matches as COG	Versus	6
Swarm Victories	Win 25 Versus Matches as Swarm	Versus	6
Ring Master	Capture 100 Rings in Versus	Versus	6

Completion Rewards: 3000 Gears Coins

Name	Description	Mode	Stars
Competitive Veteran	Win 20 Competitive Versus Matches	Versus	7
Competitive Slayer	Get 200 Eliminations in Competitive Matches	Versus	6
2v2 Gnasher Veteran	Win 15 Rounds of Versus Competitive 2v2 Gnasher Matches	Versus	6
Free-For-All Veteran	Get 100 Eliminations in Competitive Free-For-All Matches	Versus	6
Control Veteran	Win 10 Rounds in Competitive Control Matches	Versus	6
Guardian Veteran	Win 20 Rounds of Competitive Guardian Matches	Versus	6
Execution Veteran	Win 5 Matches of Competitive Execution 2.0	Versus	6

Finally, we are reducing the stars per rank in this Tour of Duty and we’re increasing the stars awarded for each daily objective completed by 1.

See the list below for the ranks and stars needed for each rank in this Tour of Duty:

Rank	Name	Stars	Sum
1	Recruit I	5	5
2	Recruit II	5	10
3	Recruit III	5	15
4	Recruit IV	5	20
5	Recruit V	5	25
6	Private I	6	31
7	Private II	6	37
8	Private III	6	43
9	Private IV	6	49
10	Private V	6	55
11	Corporal I	7	62
12	Corporal II	7	69
13	Corporal III	7	76
14	Corporal IV	7	83
15	Corporal V	7	90
16	Sergeant I	8	98
17	Sergeant II	8	106
18	Sergeant III	8	114
19	Sergeant IV	8	122
20	Sergeant V	8	130
21	Officer I	9	139
22	Officer II	9	148
23	Officer III	9	157
24	Officer IV	9	166
25	Officer V	9	175
26	Lieutenant I	10	185
27	Lieutenant II	10	195
28	Lieutenant III	10	205
29	Lieutenant IV	10	215
30	Lieutenant V	10	225
31	Captain I	11	236
32	Captain II	11	247
33	Captain III	11	258
34	Captain IV	11	269
35	Captain V	11	280
36	Major I	12	292
37	Major II	12	304
38	Major III	12	316
39	Major IV	12	328
40	Major V	12	340
41	Colonel I	13	353
42	Colonel II	13	366
43	Colonel III	13	379
44	Colonel IV	13	392
45	Colonel V	13	405
46	Major General I	14	419
47	Major General II	14	433
48	Major General III	14	447
49	Major General IV	14	461
50	Major General V	14	475
51	General	15	490

While this update marks the final content update for Gears 5, we will still refresh Gears 5 up to the holidays. This will also involve more events for you to participate in and get special rewards for.

We will also be looking to update the store with “Essential Drops,” with the end goal to have the store full of all previously released content, with some exceptions such as the top character skin awarded in each Tour of Duty and exclusive promotional content. Keep an eye out as we will be announcing when we are doing these significant store drops.

To celebrate Drop 2, we will be running a double XP (+Character XP) event with free Boost from Friday, September 17 to Monday, Sept 20. This will go live at 10:00 AM PDT, so be sure to be around!

And that is it for our Operation 8 Drop 2 reveal. Keep an eye out for next week’s This Week in Gears post which will contain the patch notes.

TC