Lancer Assault Rifle
From Gears of War
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- "Fire up your Lancers, Delta."
- — Marcus Fenix, while training Benjamin Carmine.
The Lancer is the workhorse of the COG Army, being in service for 50 years[1]. The Lancer has seen action in both the Pendulum Wars and the Locust-Human War.
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[edit] Background
The Lancer Assault Rifle is the Coalition of Ordered Governments' current standard-issue assault rifle for Gears featured in Gears of War and Gears of War 2. The signature weapon of the Gears of War series, the Lancer possesses a fully automatic mode of fire and the iconic Chainsaw Bayonet attachment for melee combat. One of the most popular rifle designs on Sera, the Lancer has seen extensive use since the Pendulum Wars. The Lancer's long service record comes from its rugged reliability and reputation as a versatile assault rifle. Although intended for mid-range combat, the Lancer is also effective at longer ranges due to its low recoil. Despite the Lancer being the counterpart to the Locust Horde' assault rifle, the Hammerburst, Locust have been known to use the Lancer. In Gears of War, Theron Guards and Drones have used the Lancer against COG Gears. In Gears of War 2, Cyclops, a new type of Drone, are exclusively armed with the Lancer. Cyclops have a particular tendency to use the Chainsaw Bayonet. The idea of changing the original Lancer into the chainsaw bayonet Lancer was by Marcus and Adam Fenix, and inspired by a desperate combat maneuver performed by Tai Kaliso. Because many Gears, like Marcus were complaining that the original bayonet blade doesn't work well on Locust armor or hide. Marcus was aware and he told his father about it. Soon, Adam produced a prototype with a chainsaw bayonet on the Lancer, making it easy to slice through the Locust's thick hides.
[edit] Pendulum Wars-Era Lancer
The Pendulum Wars-Era Lancer is the older model of the current Lancer. Lacking the Chainsaw Bayonet attachment and a targeting sight, this earlier Lancer model featured a set of bayonet lugs below the barrel for mounting a standard combat knife and a conventional set of scope-mounting brackets on the receiver. This model was still in use over one year after Emergence Day[2], despite any shortcomings when used against the physically superior Locust. As a result, the Lancer's design was significantly revamped, resulting in the current model. A digital targeting sight and a Chainsaw Bayonet were added in response to the Locust Horde's superior physical strength and preference for close combat. The Lancer has since become a symbolic distinction of the COG and its Gears.
[edit] Tactical Use
The Lancer is undeniably the easier of the two Assault Rifles in Gears to use, and it's certainly the more forgiving of the two. Though it isn't as potent in terms of single-shot damage as the Hammerburst, nor is it as accurate, the Lancer fires more than 4 times faster and holds more than 3 times as much ammunition per magazine. Because of this, the Lancer is substantially better than the Hammerburst, as well as offering superior suppressive-fire capabilities.
The Lancer is fairly powerful, in spite of a relatively low single-round damage rating. Most of this comes from the Lancer's high fire rate; on full-auto, the Lancer deals fairly good damage, and boasts surprising accuracy, the Lancer is surprisingly controllable, even on fully-automatic. Because of this, the Lancer is actually decent even at longer ranges. Firing in bursts can increase the Lancer's accuracy substantially when dealing with foes at extreme-range. To get the most out of burst-firing very gently move the stick downward, while firing in 2-5 round spurts of gunfire every half-second or so. The result will be a cluster of rounds going to long range that will stay more-or-less on-target. Though this isn't the extreme-range marksmanship you can get from the Hammerburst, it will more than make up for the weapon's scatter at longer-range if used right. It won't be great at long-range, but it will work amicably in circumstances where you lack a longer-ranged weapon, like the Longshot.
As distance closes, the Lancer becomes much more deadly. In medium to close range, the full-auto fire rate makes it great for cutting down foes as they close in or flee, and the generous magazine size of the Lancer means you can afford to miss nearly half the magazine and still take someone down. The weapon's Blind Fire effect is quite deadly at close range as well (though not very accurate), and it proves extremely useful at keeping foes from charging directly at you, since the fusillade of fire the Lancer spews out will futz the enemy's aim up and risk of being Chainsawed will help keep them out of melee range. Aim for the head if possible; the Lancer does considerably more damage this way, and it's the difference between taking an enemy down in a fraction of a magazine or using most of a magazine to do the same job.
Also, note that when playing with teammates, the Lancer is incredible if your team can coordinate well. Two team members concentrating full-auto fire with Lancers can cut down a squad of foes in the blink of an eye; this is a contrast to the Hammerburst which is nearly as effective when grouped up but only under well timed co-odination. This stems from the Lancer's rate of fire and magazine size; it's very easy for teammates to see what you're firing at with the Lancer, and join you with fire support (or vice-versa). Do note, however, that the Lancer's damage comes from multiple rounds, its individual round-damage is low.
While it can crank out immense damage over a few seconds, especially with a Perfect Reload, it has to spray rounds into the target to do it. Because of this, the Lancer will lose a damage race to several other weapons, including the Hammerburst if rapid-fired, Gorgon Pistol or Boltok Pistol at close range, and Scorcher. The best way to beat these weapons in a damage race is to take headshots. Moreover, the Lancer is middling-at-best at long range, and a poor choice at extreme distances; don't try to turn the weapon into something it isn't, if you're going to be fighting at long range, the Hammerburst, Longshot, Hammer of Dawn, and Torque Bow are all better long-range combat choices.
If you play to the Lancer's strengths, however, keeping to medium range and relying on the Lancer's sheer fire rate to cut enemies down in a hail of bullets, and utilize the Bayonet if an enemy gets too close (you'll often find that merely using the Lancer is enough to discourage some enemies from getting close, especially if you make a habit of revving the engine on the Bayonet every now and then), and you'll find the Lancer to be a useful weapon indeed.
[edit] Chainsaw Bayonet
Main Article: Chainsaw Bayonet
One of the Lancer's most distinctive and popular features is its notorious Chainsaw Bayonet. The Chainsaw consists of razor-sharp, carbide-tipped blades powered by a variable-torque motor, and is capable of instantly killing an enemy in an excessively violent fashion. The Chainsaw Bayonet in Gears of War was hard to use outside the element of surprise, as the slightest bit of damage would cause you to lower it. This was probably an intentional design decision, since a player was invincible while chainsawing. In Gears of War 2, players using the Chainsaw Bayonet are not stunned as easily, making it deadly in close-range combat. However, players are no longer invincible when chainsawing an enemy. As of Title Update #3, the player wielding the Chainsaw is now more easily susceptible to becoming stunned when shot. This has been seen as both a blessing and a curse for some players, as it detracts from the amount of chainsaw kills against them, but it is now very difficult to get a single kill with it, as when the player has it revved and is shot, the player will bounce back repeated times for about ten seconds. The Chainsaw Bayonet notably works well with the stun created by Smoke Grenades. The concussive force created in smoke grenades knocks down or stuns enemies, rendering them vulnerable to the Chainsaw when they recover. As of title update five the smoke grenade has no effect to the player as in Gears of War.
Bear in mind that in Gears of War 2, when two players rev up their chainsaws and go towards each other, both will enter a duel. You must keep tapping B to win the duel. They will also enter a duel regardless as long as the player being attacked has a Lancer equipped and is attacked from the front. When you are in for a duel, there are 4 things that might happen. First, if you tapped B more times than your foe, you will win, and your enemy will be sliced through with the chainsaw. Second, if your foe tapped B more times than you, you will face the same fate. Third, sometimes the console decides a draw, that is VERY unlikely to happen, but, if it happens both players will stop the duel, and will have another chance to try. The fourth thing that could happen is that an enemy other than the one you're dueling can shoot/kill you while you're in the duel. The same thing can happen with YOUR teammate. In other words, he can shoot/kill the opponent that you're dueling with. When you chainsaw someone you may note that your chainsaw does not move it just stays stiff
[edit] Gold-plated Lancer
A code to unlock a golden lancer will be included in the purchase of the limited edition of Gears of War 2 for use in multiplayer mode. These codes are similar to Xbox Live trial codes, and are unique. Once it is used, that particular code cannot be used again, preventing sharing. In the event that a player wielding the Golden Lancer is killed, another player may pick the weapon up and use it, regardless of whether or not they actually possess the Golden Lancer DLC. It does not appear to provide any ingame bonuses. Also, if two players sharing a console are playing multiplayer and one account has the Gold-Plated Lancer, the other account will have the option to use one regardless of whether or not they have unlocked it.
[edit] Exploit for the Golden Lancer Code?
Due to a bug on November 7th, in order to fix the problem, players need to go to their dashboard at the market place, followed by the Account Management, then Download History, and if the code was valid, players will be able to re-download it again with no problem.
[edit] Trivia
- As with other weapons except the Gnasher Shotgun, the Lancer has several "affiliation lights". In the Lancer's case, two small bars along the sides of the weapon and the two small lights on either side of the clip holder will be either blue or red, depending on whether the user is a Gear or Locust, respectively.
- The Lancer's Chainsaw Bayonet lowers rather slowly in Gears of War 1 when shot.
- The Gears of War 2 Lancer seems to have had it's chainsaw "pushed" back further inside the gun, shortening the grip for the gun, the grip is too small for the hands of the characters to go through so their fingers pass through part of the chainsaw. The original Lancer didn't have this design flaw.
- In the Gears of War 2 Limited Edition Bonus Disk, it is mentioned in a documentary that Cliff Bleszinski wanted to add a chainsaw to a gun ever since he was little. When he put this idea out for Gears of War, several art designers, such as senior concept artist James Hawkins, didn't like the idea and then eventually came to like it once it was finalized.
- The Gears of War 2 Lancer has a longer barrel and holographic crosshair sights. The barrel will also exhibit a red glow and will start smoking after a prolonged period of firing.
- In Gears of War the Lancer doesn't have a holographic sight like in Gears of War 2 but rather a crude circular iron sight.
- In Gears of War 2, the Lancer's audio file for firing is inaccurate in terms of rate of fire. While the audio makes the sound of about one and a half shots firing, only one shot is actually fired. This has little to no effect on gameplay, but if a player wants to analyze the Lancer's rate of fire, the audio is not a reliable source.
- When in chainsaw mode for the lancer, the chainsaw can be revved up. Press your melee button when Lancer is in primary weapon and hold it like you would then press you fire button or trigger to rev up it's motor.
[edit] References
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant
- ↑ Gears of War:Jacinto's Remnant p.138
| Weapons of Gears of War | ||
|---|---|---|
| COG | Lancer Assault Rifle · Gnasher Shotgun · Longshot Sniper Rifle · Snub Pistol · Bolo Grenade · Smoke Grenade · Hammer of Dawn · Chain Gun · Mortar · Longspear | |
| Locust Horde | Hammerburst Assault Rifle · Hammerburst II · Boltok Pistol · Boomshot Grenade Launcher · Torque Bow · Troika Heavy Machine Gun · Gorgon Burst Pistol · Ink Grenade · Boom Shield · Mulcher · Scorcher | |
