The world is crumbling. Humanity's reliance on technology has become their downfall and enemies are uniting to wipe out all survivors.

As Kait you must journey across the biggest, most beautiful Gears world to uncover the origins of the Locust, and fight with your squad to protect what's left.

The time has arrived to start talking about Operation 6! 

Two Drops per Operation 

Based on feedback from the community, we spent the holiday period reorganizing planned Operations to give you more content more often. This change will see the length of our operations shortened from 16 weeks to 11 weeks.

Additionally, we know that you’ve all loved us releasing mid-operation content such as the Carmines pack, so we’re going to be shifting our Operations to two content drops per operation: one launch drop and one mid-op drop, each drop will contain at least one map and two new characters. 

And with that, let’s move over to the content! 

New Characters

Colonel Victor Hoffman: A soldier to the core, Colonel Victor Hoffman was instrumental in leading the COG to victory against the UIR and Locust. To meet the Swarm threat, the retired commander founded Scorpio Squad as a return to his favored approach: to strike the enemy where they live. 

Queen Reyna: Transformed after death, Queen Reyna is the prime conduit through which the Swarm hive-mind courses. Once an Outsider leader and mother of Kait Diaz, Reyna’s reawakening now poses a threat of existential proportions to the humans of Sera. 

Locust Zealot: The Locust Zealot is the result of Ukkon’s experiments with Imulsion and Kantus physiology. These religious fanatics are unique in their ferocity and unmatched in their devotion to eradicating humanity from the planet.

New Map 

Speyer

Evacuated long ago, this district is a picture of the pre-Locust-war life. Its opulent interiors and quaint plazas are suited to longer-range engagements. Controlling the sanctuary requires winning close-quarters fights while teams must coordinate to dominate the sprawling academy.

Versus: Control 

With PvP, we are going to be introducing a new featured Versus game mode to kick off Operation 6, we are calling this mode Control. 

Control is a new spin on classic ring-based modes but with some changes. The main goal is to capture a large objective area, but you will be required to stay inside the area to score points for your team. Unlike King of the Hill, each player will have an individual respawn timer, so you can get back into the action that much faster. 

To accommodate the heightened carnage during matches, we have made the objective 2.5 times bigger than the regular KOTH ring. This makes for more contested rings and more action! 

We feel that Control offers a unique approach to the area of control formula that Gears has to offer, and the individual spawning is the icing on the cake. 

Alongside Control launching for Operation 6 we have an exclusive medal group for you to complete, completing the medal group will provide you 3,000 Gears Coins. 

Name	Description	Tour of Duty stars
Ever Closer to Extinction	Get 100 Eliminations in the Control Versus event	4
Breached!	Complete 10 Rounds in the Control Versus Event	3
In Total Control	Win 5 Matches in the Control Versus event	4
Controlled Carnage	Deal 200000 Damage in the Control Versus event	5

Control will stay up for two weeks but keep an eye out for rapidly changing Versus events as we’ll be switching it up throughout the operation!! 

Ranked 

With a new operation comes a new ranked season, we will be keeping our current ranked playlists, Team Deathmatch, Free for All – 8 Players, King of the Hill, 2v2 Gnashers. We will, however, be providing you a new set of weapon skins to earn for your Hammerburst, Retro Lancer, and Boomshot. Click the name of the weapon above to see a preview. 

Get those ranked gains going! 

PvP Tweaks 

With Operation 6 we’ll be bringing back tracers to the Gnasher, allowing you to visually see where your pellet trails go when shooting. Check theimage below for an example of it in action. 

We have also improved the damage consistency when it comes to gibbing a player when they are sliding into cover, which will provide much more predictability in important fights. 

Horde: Escape from Kadar 

We have a brand-new Horde event kicking off Operation 6 – Escape from Kadar.  

Niles has been up to his old tricks again and has created unique enemies for you to take on in this 10-wave epic. 

This playlist introduces Locust enemies back into Horde for the first time in Gears 5. Build up your defenses because they’ll be coming with Retro Lancers and even the pipe! 

Oh… and expect many, many sires. 

Escape from Kadar will also provide a unique medal group. If you complete it you’ll unlock a special lab drone of your own: the Locust Hybrid. Details of the group are below. 

Name	Description	Tour of Duty stars
Severed Link	Get 5 Matriarch Eliminations in the Escape From Kadar Horde Event	5
Dirty Little Secrets	Get 50 Sire Eliminations in the Escape From Kadar Horde Event	4
New Hope	Win 1 Match in the Escape From Kadar Horde Event	3
Locust, Forever	Get 100 Locust Eliminations in the Escape From Kadar Horde Event	3

Escape from Kadar will be featured for two weeks, so make sure to get your medals done before then!  

PvE Tweaks

In addition to the new event above, we’ve also been making small tweaks to the daily hives for Escape. Right now, you may see repeating hives for your challenges. To address this we’ve adjusted the rotation so that you won’t see the same hive on the daily challenge for at least 14 days, which should help provide a lot more variety for your daily Escape adventures. 

Additionally, we’re improving the coin and skill card rewards offered during the daily Horde and Escape challenges, check out the full changes below: 

• Skill Cards (Advanced) 3 -> 4 
• Coins (Beginner) 100 -> 200 
• Coins (Inconceivable) 300 -> 400 
• Coins (Advanced) 150 -> 300 

PvP/PvE Tour of Duty Medals 

Here are the new PvP and PvE medals to earn with the new operation! 

Escape 

Name	Description	Stars
Escape Attempts	Survive 50 Acts of Escape	4
Escape Body Count	Get 1000 Eliminations in Escape	5
Send in the Tanks!	Get 100 Eliminations in Escape as Anchor, Gunner, Pilot, Veteran or Brawler	5
Scion Hunter	Get 50 Scion Eliminations in Escape	4
Boss Hunter	Get 30 Boss Eliminations in Escape	6
Hoff-buster	Survive 10 Acts of Escape as Hoffman	4
Escape Master	Complete 10 Master Difficulty Escape Matches	5

Completion of this medal group will grant: 5,000 coins 

Horde 

Name	Description	Stars
Wave Survivor	Survive 150 Waves of Horde	4
Family Business	Survive 60 Waves of Horde with Anthony, Benjamin, Clayton, Gary or Lizzie Carmine	6
Horde Carnage	Do 6000000 Damage in Horde	5
Power Horder	Collect 500000 Power in Horde	4
Support Carnage	Get 300 Eliminations as Mechanic, Robotics, Combat Medic, Tactician or Jack Class	4
Drone Hunter	Get 250 Drone Eliminations in Horde	5
Boss Hunter	Get 30 Boss Eliminations in Horde	6
Horde Body Count	Get 3000 Eliminations in Horde	5

Completion of this medal group will grant: 5,000 coins 

Versus 

Name	Description	Stars
Quickplay Veteran	Win 10 Classic Quickplay matches	4
Gridiron Denials	Get 25 Denials in Versus Gridiron Matches	4
Versus Medic	Revive 50 Teammates in Versus	4
COG Victories	Win 25 Versus Matches as COG	5
Swarm Victories	Win 25 Versus Matches as Swarm	5
Ring Master	Capture 100 Rings in Versus KOTH or Escalation matches	5
Season Slaughter	Get 5000 Eliminations in Versus	6
Versus Carnage	Do 1500000 Damage in Versus matches	6

Completion of this medal group will grant: 3,000 coins 

Ranked 

Name	Description	Stars
Diversified	Win a Versus Match in every Ranked mode	6
2v2 Gnasher Veteran	Win 10 Rounds of Ranked 2v2 Gnasher Matches	4
Free-For-All Veteran	Get 100 Eliminations in Ranked Versus Free-For-All Matches	4
King of the Hill Veteran	Win 10 Rounds of Ranked King of the Hill matches	4
Team Deathmatch Veteran	Get 100 Eliminations in Ranked Versus Free-For-All Matches	5
Ranked Veteran	Win 100 Rounds of Ranked Versus modes	6

Completion of this medal group will grant: 3,000 coins 

Versus Events 

Name	Description	Stars
Event Champion	Win 50 Rounds of Versus Weekly Events	5
Event Victories	Win 10 Matches across any Versus Weekly Events	5
Event Eliminator	Get 250 Eliminations across any Versus Weekly Events	5
Event Veteran	Complete 100 Rounds of Versus Weekly Events Matches	4
Event Executioner	Get 10 Executions across any Versus Weekly Events	4
Event Marksman	Get 30 Headshots across any Versus Weekly Events	4
Coming Soon
Coming Soon

Completion of this medal group will grant: 3,000 coins 

Here are the patch notes scheduled to release in Operation 6:

PvP: 

• FFA Gnashers/Torque Bow Tag: Regular weapon spawns that persisted in certain maps will no longer continue to do so.
• A rare instance in which a user may start with no weapon on ‘Gnashers Only’ modes has been addressed.
• The observer numbers when spectating will now correctly line up.
• Players now spawn in their correct position in Escalation. 
• Players will now spawn after joining a Guardian game in progress while their leader is still alive.
• Players will no longer see the placeholder leader skin if they have no customization installed. 
• Gridiron: A endzone projection will no longer clip into a boat on Canals. 
• Gnasher: The Gnasher will now show ‘tracers’ when firing, this will allow you to visually see where your bullet trails go. 
• We’ve now improved the consistency when it comes to gibbing a player who’s sliding into cover.
• Playlists that are set as 4 v 4 will no longer fill to 5 v 5 when bot backfilling is enabled.

PvE: 

• Upon dying, Jack characters would see an “Ultimate Ready” text line, this is now fixed.
• Users should no longer encounter multi-second freezes while playing Escape.
• Horde: Fortifications placed inside walls will now be able to be picked back up.
• Horde/Escape: Decreased the Frozen Damage Multiplier for Snipers from 5x to 3x.
• Horde/Escape: Reduced Fabricator spawn blocking distance on River from 30m to 25m.
• Horde/Escape: Decreased Frozen Damage Multiplier for Shotguns from 7x to 3x
• Horde/Escape: Tweaked the following daily rewards
• Skill Cards (Advanced) 3 -> 4
• Coins (Beginner) 100 -> 200
• Coins (Inconceivable) 300 -> 400
• Coins (Advanced) 150 -> 300
• Blademaster: The Blademaster now correctly receives 30% damage resistance from melee attacks. (Previously hotfixed)
• Pilot: When equipped on the Silverback, the Scorcher will no longer point to the ground.

Characters: 

• Outsider Kait: Kait’s gums will no longer clip through her lip while performing the “Thumbs up” expression.
• Esports Kait: Kait’s shoulders are now weighted correctly during expressions which addresses clipping issues.
• One of Dizzy’s character lines will no longer have a narrator voice play.
• Characters will no longer display the wrong full model when full customization is not installed.
• The character skin faction icon for cards will no longer overlap with the rarity. 
• Sid will no longer say “get out of my way” when shot by a teammate.
• Abominable Grenadier: A minor weighting issue has been fixed on the cloth.
• Recon Sid: A minor weighting issue has been fixed on Sid’s wrist while in high cover.
• Swarm Elite Hunter: When held as a meat shield, the Hunter’s tassel will no longer flail out of control.
• Lambent characters will now have their glow appropriately applied.
• Jade skin: A texture seam present on the Jade Boomshot has now been fixed.
• Myrrah: Myrrah’s Double Time voice expression no longer uses the incorrect voice line.
• Onyx Guard Keegan: A skin clipping issue on Keegan’s left shoulder has been fixed.
• Museum skin: The museum material at the back of the Markza will now be wooden instead of metal.
• Jermad: Jermad will no longer use two fingers to point to his one eye in the ‘Watching you’ expression.

Maps: 

• Foundation: An issue with a level of detail pop on a specific window has been addressed.
• Nexus: Jack will no longer clip through certain segments in the map.
• Nexus: During Horde users will no longer be able to attempt to vault through the gates at both spawns.

Other: 

• Players can now access the Extras menu even if they do not have the full campaign chunk installed.
• The Heroic Venom Gnasher will no longer have brown crystals on the weapon when playing as the Swarm.
• Users who have outdated graphics drivers for Gears 5 will now be advised to upgrade them to ensure they get the best gameplay experience.
• The Async compute graphical setting being turned on will no longer cause graphical issues.
• Fixed numerous crashes in-game across the game.
• An issue related to players not spawning in a match has been fixed.
• If you retro charge/attempt to chainsaw and get stunned your character will no longer automatically attempt to reload their weapon.

Key Features:

• Never Fight Alone. Play solo or with a friend in local split-screen co-op, or online co-op. Battle alongside your friends anywhere with cross-play between Xbox One and PC.
• Tours of Duty: Rank up from new recruit to four-star general in Gears Tours of Duty. Take on new and exciting challenges, earn awesome rewards, and show off your loot.
• Boot Camp: New to Gears or just a little rusty? Bootcamp is a fun way to learn the ropes, from the basics to advanced combat techniques.
• Explore Sera. Skim across glaciers, sail over deserts and descend into sunken ruins to discover the largest and most diverse Gears world ever created.
• Visual Showcase: Play every mode in 4K Ultra HD resolution with stunning HDR at a smooth 60 frames per second.
• Play as Jack: Play as Jack, your personal flying support bot that can protect allies and damage enemies - perfect for players new to Gears.

Gears 5 is currently available for Xbox One and PC.