Index
- Coalition of Ordered Governments
- Major Families
- Delta Squad
- DeeBees
- Locust Horde
- Lambent
- Stranded
- Gorasni
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General Tropes
The DeeBees
The DeeBees are a race of robots created by DB Industries after the Locust War to handle dangerous tasks like construction work and high-risk security details, but were later assigned to combat roles. They are deployed via drop pods from Condors and Vultures, and occasionally assisted by Kestrels. Despite their heavy armor compared to Gears and the Swarm, they lack combat maneuverability and flexibility, since they were initially designed and programmed for security. Furthermore, their shock weapons in general deal less damage than conventional Gear or Locust weaponry, though this changed when they started using lethal weapons. As their name implies, Damon Baird is the Gadgeteer Genius responsible for their creation, even though he is not to blame for repurposing them for combat.- Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted in the campaign, played straight in multiplayer. The DeeBees in the campaign display their natural blue color and are only really chasing J.D. and his team because he and Del are defectors from the COG, which for them translates to "law-breaking citizens that must be apprehended." There is also one area in the campaign where they are encountered engaging the Swarm in battle, showing they are capable of protecting humans. In multiplayer, their models change to a dark red color and they fight on the Swarm team. As far as that concerns the COG side, they are just another enemy to put down.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Their defining feature. Despite being created by Baird to help humanity rebuild and protect them from outside forces, the campaign devotes the first two acts to having them pursue J.D. and his team relentlessly to "pacify" them, even though this is due to Jinn having them repurposed for combat to enforce her leadership. This even extends to multiplayer, where their character models take on a hellish blood-red color and fight on the Swarm team, suggesting that they were hacked to turn against the humans.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Every DeeBee is primed to explode when they are defeated. This is the most obvious with the DR-1’s, who not only become mobile Action Bombs, but can be used to take out other enemies for you.
- Dissonant Serenity: They casually encourage their enemies to be wary of "anti-social behavior" and how they "will be dealt with harshly" all while laying into them with their various lethal weapons.
- Mecha-Mook: Since they are all robots, every one is this type of enemy by default.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Since they can be programmed by whoever is in charge (whether it's Jinn or the Swarm), they will not deviate from their orders for anything.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: They normally have yellow eyes when they aren't in combat mode, but if they turn red, you'd better put them down or run away because they won't stop coming after you until you're pacified or dead.
- Turns Red: They don't have any special abilities that grant them this, but the DeeBees in multiplayer have turned from their natural blue color into a deep red, which simply means that they became just as destructive and relentless towards attacking humans as the Swarm are.
- Undying Loyalty: To Jinn. However, as the campaign ends up showing, Swarm Pouncers are able to hack into them via their quills which can turn them over to the Swarm's command if they wanted to do so. This loyalty definitely shows in Horde mode, where the DeeBees won't attack the Swarm at all and vice versa.
DeeBee Classes
Deadeyes
Deadeyes are humanoid DeeBees that are a sniper class of the Shepherd on the battlefield, and are specialized in wielding the EMBAR rifle. They have less health than Shepherds, though this is offset by the damage their rifles can deal.
- Cyclops: They have this look about them, having a single wide eye to send a railgun bullet between the two of yours from 100 yards away.
- Do Not Run with a Gun: Like the Shepherds, they aren’t programmed to be able to run with their weapons. Although, this is somewhat justified in that they are snipers and often stick to the backends of battlefields to provide long range support.
- Glass Cannon: As mentioned above, they can dish out a ton of damage with those EMBARs, but they have less health than even the Shepherds.
- Lightning Lash: The only Deebee that has a unique execution, which involves them tying some kind of electric whip to downed players' torsos and shocking them to death.
DR-1s
DR-1s are humanoid DeeBees that are slower but stronger than the regular Shepherds. Armed with the Overkill shotgun, they use jets in their feet to shift sideways and evade attacks, and even jump over cover. When they take enough damage, their core will glow yellow and they will charge towards the player and explode. They are also capable of wielding the Guardian's heavy weaponry. They come in 3 variants: Protectors, Oppressors and Devastators.
- Action Bomb: When they take enough damage, they take on a yellow hue and charge full steam towards the nearest human to explode on in hopes of Taking You With Them. Although, this can be canceled with a well-placed headshot.
- BFG: Devastators and Oppressors wield the two-handed Salvo and Tri-Shot weapons respectively.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The only enemies in the series that are capable of shooting while roadie running.
- Dead Man's Trigger Finger: If you manage to take them out with a headshot, their bodies will flail about and fire off a couple of Overkill shots. It's kind of amusing to watch.
- Elite Mook: Shares this role with the Guardians and Sentinels for the DeeBees. They can take a ton of punishment, can deal a ton of punishment, are fiendishly fast for their sizes and can even explode on people before they finally fall. Not to mention that they are very good at dodging explosives thanks to their feet jets.
- Evil Sounds Deep: While it's debatable on how evil they are (since that depends on what they're programmed to do), they have much deeper sounding audio clips than the other DeeBees.
- Gatling Good: DR-1 Oppressors wield the heavy Tri-Shot gatling gun and they can potentially be more dangerous with it than Guardians.
- Giant Mook: They're about twice the size of normal humans, Shepherds and Deadeyes and are even a bit taller than the Scions, which helps amplify their creepiness factor.
- Lightning Bruiser: Despite the game telling you that they are slower than the other DeeBees, they are actually the fastest among them. While this is true for their walking speed, they often move at a brisk jogging pace and are the most maneuverable of the DeeBees. They also dish out tons of damage with their weapons too.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: DR-1 Protectors rock the Overkill shotgun. Best to keep your distance if you don't want to get plastered by them in 5 seconds.
- Taking You with Me: Right when they are on the verge of dying, they enter a self-destruct mode and sprint towards the nearest enemy to inflict this.
Guardians and Sentinels
Guardians and Sentinels are weaponized versions of Watcher security drones. They are large, flying DeeBees equipped with a regenerating shield on their front side and heavy Dee Bee weapons. Guardians are equipped with the Tri-Shot, while Sentinels wield the Salvo rocket launcher.
- Airborne Mook: They are always hovering in the air while attacking, which makes them an especially obnoxious foe since this allows them to easily fly around your blind spots.
- Big Brother Is Watching You: They're happy to let you know that video footage of your defiance has already been logged.
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Demonic Spiders: With their high damage, tanky shields, and ability to flank players heedless of cover or fortifications, they're often a greater threat to players than actual boss enemies in Horde mode. Gears 5 upgrades the Sentinel to full boss status. - Elite Mook: Shares this role with the DR-1’s. They have a shield on their fronts that must be disabled before they can be damaged, take quite a bit of punishment to put down and will shred through your health with their heavy weapons.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Along with the DR-1’s, they have much deeper sounding audio clips than the other DeeBees and can even come off as Hell Is That Noise.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: They’re somewhat of a Shield-Bearing Mook. They have energy shields that protect them from gunshots from the front. You can either shoot the shields until they drop or try to hit them from behind to deal damage.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The Sentinels.
- More Dakka: The Guardians.
Kestrels
Kestrels are fully-automated attack drone helicopters that act as air support for the DeeBees. Their primary means of combat are two massive machine guns along with a missile launcher. Each Kestrel also comes with a storage compartment for a single DeeBee pod that can be dropped onto the battlefield.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Damage to a Kestrel's engines deals the most damage to it.
- Death from Above: Very much so given that they're basically raining machine gun and rocket launcher fire down on those below it.
- Future Copter: Kestrels are futuristic-looking DeeBee helicopters.
- More Dakka: They're equipped with two frontal machine guns.
- Silent Antagonist: While other DeeBees incessantly play canned messages of admonishment during combat, Kestrels say nothing at all.
Shepherds
Shepherds, also known as Peace Makers, are humanoid DeeBees and are the standard DeeBee encountered on the battlefield. They are armed with the Enforcer SMG, providing light fire but often in larger numbers.
- Do Not Run with a Gun: They are incapable of moving any faster than a sauntering walk, since they were intially designed to be more of patrolmen than soldiers.
- Averted in Gears 5, where they've been upgraded and can now move faster than living enemies can while still firing their weapon.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: When they are introduced in the campaign, you are informed and can clearly see that they are using non-lethal shock Enforcers. However, if you take enough damage from them, you'll still die.
- Mook: They are the standard infantry for the COG by Gears of War 4 and are the most basic and common of the DeeBees.
- Shock and Awe: When they are first encountered, they use Shock Enforcers to fight and in Horde, they are capable of lobbing Shock Grenades at you.
- Zerg Rush: While they are slow moving, they tend to attack in packs and can spray targets with huge amounts of Enforcer fire, giving them a ranged version of this tactic.
Trackers
Trackers are small ball-like DeeBees that roll around the battlefield to close in on the enemy and explode. A variant of this DeeBee known as the Shock Tracker attempts to shock the player instead of exploding.
- Expy: They’re pretty much robotic versions of the Locust’s Tickers, the only difference being they can also explode into electricity and hop up surfaces to reach their targets.
- Mini Mook: They appear as often as the normal Shepards, but are weaker and smaller.
- Rolling Attack: Given that Trackers are ball-shaped, rolling around the battlefield is how they move.
- Shock and Awe: The Shock Tracker variant attempts to give off an electric shock to stun the target.
- Weaponized Ball: Trackers can basically be summed up as mechanical balls that attack ya.
- Zerg Rush: Trackers usually appear in packs as they roll towards their enemies to try to explode or shock their target.
