Gears Tactics offers players a completely new roster of characters each with individual skills and perks to make the games experience more diverse and challenging. Gears Tactics is a turn-based tactical shooter, making it the first and currently, the only one of the franchise to dabble in this genre. It is certainly an interesting intermediary addition to the Gears of War roster in between main titles. Players must think critically and cleverly to progress in the game as encounters can become very difficult and frustrating depending on the level of patience players are willing to express. Enemies are quite unforgiving and move with the sole purpose of taking players out quickly and violently. Classes enhance players, giving them more perks, tools, and tricks to defend themselves and annihilate the Locust threat.
While gaining weapon mods, altering cosmetics, and skill upgrades occur very early within the game, acquiring new classes takes occurs over time before it's completely fleshed out. As seen with the first two characters, every character has a class-specific to them with a very large skill tree so customizing them can be crucial to how they perform in battle.
How to Earn more Classes in Gears Tactics
Earning new classes is parallel to just playing the game. For every each initial Hero or Troop players meet, a new class unlocked and ready to play. This happens within Act 1 and the first few chapters so players don't need to worry about hunting for class types. Heroes cannot die but troops are rather expandable and don't really affect the game, but losing them can quickly diminish manpower and disrupt strategies so maybe that's when players should be much more cautious. Troops tend to refresh on a regular basis but after losing them, the game should automatically provide players with more in the Barracks menu where they will have to be leveled from the ground up.
Skill trees are also very versatile and as mentioned before, have a large customizable interface. So while the limit maybe 5 base classes, each class can have a different specialization within their respective skill trees making the game more interesting and tailored to a player's preferences. The choices are quite vast and productive, so each class can feel completely unique offering many ways of playing the game, or like an entirely new class altogether.
Vanguard
The Vanguard is the front runner meant for doing a lot of damage and getting in quick while also receiving healing benefits at the beginning of their turns, and from killing enemies. The first vanguard Sid uses a bayonet and frags, so dispatching tough enemies is their forte. Their intimidate ability also forces enemies back and give other characters some breathing room. Class specializations are Warden, Paladin, Shock Trooper, and Assault.
Support
Gabe is the first support class and specializes in surviving. Able to heal single or multiple Cogs, they're goal is to make sure other Gears have a large enough safety net to push and do damage on the battlefield. Support classes can also buff other Gears, or reduce cooldowns. Specializations are Surgeon, Combat Medic, Paragon, and Strategist.
Heavy
The Guardian of the Unit. Perfect for keeping a large number of enemies in check, increasing magazine size is optimal for this character as fewer grunts mean more time to focus on the more challenging enemies. Heavies will keep cannon fodder in check while allowing players to set other classes up in better strategic positions, making better plays. Specializations are Specialist, Demolitionist, Artillery, and Defender. Keeping Heavy characters in an optimal position without having them move around much will greatly increase their effectiveness.
Scout
Scouts are close-range damage dealers that can hide their presence and get in close for a quick kill. Having the Cloak ability allows them to move freely and close the distance between troublesome enemies that prevent other Gears from moving too freely. The scout can evolve into a Raider, Slayer, Recon, and commando.
Sniper
The ranged class for keeping enemies pressured from a distance. Successful hits can grant the Sniper extra points for more turns, or interrupt enemies and keeping them from acting on their next turn. Very helpful for keeping more dangerous enemies at bay. Specialized versions are the Marksman, Hunter, Assassin, Stalker.
Gears Tactics offers enough skill points to give players a large amount of flexibility to make their classes feel personalized and effective. Try messing around with different builds, throwing points into different places along the tree and choose what's best for every situation. Reset skills if necessary, and start from scratch if things aren't working out!
Gears Tactics is available on PC.