Gears 5's Horde mode shares a lot in common with Horde 3.0 that was introduced in Gears of War 4. Like that game, players need to build their defenses around the Fabricator machine that they can put anywhere on the map. The Fabricator is used to purchase new weapons and ammo, in addition to fortifications that can be a huge help when it comes to surviving on the higher rounds. However, some may be confused on how exactly to upgrade Fabricator fortifications in the game.
Gears 5 uses a class system for Horde, which each playable character slotted into a different class. For example, Marcus Fenix is a Tank-class character, whereas the helpful robot JACK is labeled as a Support character. If players want to upgrade fortifications in Gears 5's Horde mode, they will want to have an Engineer-class character on their team, which means playing as either Del Walker or as the Halo: Reach Spartan Kat-B320.
Whether Gears 5 Horde players play as Del or Halo: Reach's Kat is up to the them, but with one of those two characters selected, the next step is actually building something in Horde that can be upgraded. Players will find that the Engineer class has access to a lot more Fortifications than the other classes, and build pretty much anything. Additionally, the Engineer spawns with a repair gun, which means that they can easily fix damaged fortifications as the Horde waves march on.
After building a fortification, whether it be a barricade, turret, or anything else, the Engineer class can then pick up the object again to see how much Power it needs to upgrade. If they have enough Power available, then they can upgrade the Fabricator fortification to the next level.
While this seems simple on paper, the fact that other classes are unable to upgrade fortifications can definitely make Gears 5's Horde mode confusing for some. Those jumping into Horde for the first time without paying too much attention to the classes may be pulling their hair out and trying to figure out how to upgrade Fabricator fortifications, but they just need to play an Engineer class to do so.
Gears of War 5 launches on September 10 for PC and Xbox One.