Cover

"Golden Rule of the Gears is, Take cover or die."

Cover is a key component of the Gears of War series. No matter what difficulty level, any Gear, Red Shirt, or even Locust who runs into the open is guaranteed a swift and likely painful death. To learn to use cover, refer to the Golden Rule of the Gears. To learn about cover itself and what kinds of cover there are, please continue here.

The Fundamentals of Cover[]

Please note that this portion of the article refers to Xbox 360 controls and does not reference PC controls.

Taking cover is performed by pressing the A button while standing near or running to cover. The character slams his back against the cover, shielding himself from enemies on the other side. While in cover, you can use the Left Thumbstick in combination with the A button to perform different actions.

From a cover position, players can press the Right Trigger to blindfire with their weapon around or over their cover object. Another option is to press the Left Trigger to lean out and aim before firing. This over-the-shoulder view gives the player more accurate shots.

In Gears of War, when you vault over a cover, you will get down near to the cover. In Gears of War 2, you will jump down of the cover. AI allies sometimes roll or glitch through the cover.

Types of Cover[]

Cover comes in many forms and variations, but it can be separated into four major categories:

Standing[]

Walls
Pillars
Door frames and edges of windows
Large debris

Crouching[]

Low fences and barriers
Beneath windows
Small debris
Wrecked cars
Benches/pews
Fountains

Moving[]

(Occurring only in the second game)

Destructible[]

(Occurring primarily in the first game)

Couches/Sofas
Chairs/Benches
Desks
Armoires/Dressers

Tips[]

One of the disadvantages of the Boom Shield is that, if it is planted, an enemy can kick it over. A trick is to plant it backwards, then take cover on what would normally be the outside of the Boom Shield. Enemies cannot kick it over from the inside.
- This was removed with a patch.
In the Gears of War series, cover is unnaturally conveniently accessible. Most pieces of cover in-game don't look like they have fallen into the position they're in, but more like they were put there by someone. This could just be how the game ends up because you never really get to see any of the battlefields you fight on in a wide-scale perspective. Or it could just be for gameplay reasons, as without these abundances of cover, the cover aspect of the game would be ignored by players.
If you find a destroyed car in the Gears of War world, with two doors blown off, you can not move from one side to the other. Instead, you must lean your joystick to the left or right, and press A to roll to the other side. Be wary when doing this, for you CAN be attacked while you switch in between either side.