Tip: How to use the Boomshot on Gears of War 3

The Boomshot

Boooooom! say the Boomers on Gears of War 3 - it's their signal to you that a massive bomb blast is headed in your direction - time to duck into some cover and return fire with your lancer right?

If you are playing Gears of War on its notoriously difficult Insane Mode you may not be so keen to take on a Boomer or Drudge with simply a lancer rifle. You might want to soften them up with a grenade first - or you could get one of you squad members to do your dirty work for you!

The trick is to arm your squad member with some heavy firepower - that way you can utilise their special ability of unlimited ammo - so for instance if you load all three squad members up with the boom-shot there's a good chance during a fire fight at least one of them will chose to use the boomshot and increase the damage dealt out to the lambent horde!

I'd recommend that everytime you get a chance to pick up the boomshot during a campaign session you should do so and then immediately give it to an A.I. team mate. So every time you fell a Boomer, take their weapon and do the weapon swap. Also there's plenty of times you come across a handy weapons cache so stock up then too - you can kit out your entire squad at the times!

How to give you team mates the boomshot:

1. To exchange weapons or share ammo in any mode, move within close range of a squad mate.

2. Aim at said squadmate with the Left Trigger button and press [Y] to share ammo

3. [X] to swap your primary weapon or [A] to swap your secondary weapon.

4. Pistols and grenades may not be swapped...

Obviously you can swap any weapons you like, it doesn't have to be the boomshot - however on insane mode I think having your A.I. driven squad mates of having the option to use it increases you own chance of survival - some of the set pieces in GOW3 can be absolutely brutal so why not up your odds of making it through?

Using the boomshot effectively is also an art in itself. While you can use the reticle turning red as a rough guide that you have an accurate shot lined up, for further distances you may need to lead the shot a bit, or estimate  the angle you'll fire at - the boomshot's projectiles fall over time so you may need to aim higher than you think. 

Be wary of using the boomshot at very close quarters - you're likely to blow yourself up!

Want more? Here's a tip on taking down the Armoured Kantus with the Hammer of Dawn.