Gears 5: How to Kill the Matriarch

The Matriarch at the end of Gears 5’s second Act is a tough foe that can take you down in the blink of an eye, but there’s a simple strategy to fight back once you get the hang of it.

The second Act of Gears 5 ends with a fight against the hulking Matriarch boss. While the strategy for taking the Matriarch down is fairly simple, it can still be quite a tough fight. The Matriarch can take you down in one or two hits, while you only have a small window to deal damage back, meaning this can be a drawn-out fight that ends with a single misstep.

How to Kill the Matriarch in Gears 5

You’ll encounter the Matriarch in an icy underground lab, something that you can use to your advantage. The Matriarch’s only weakness is a susceptibility to being frozen. If you’re playing co-op, that weakness is extremely easy to take advantage of, as one player can use the Cryo gun to freeze the Matriarch while the other distracts it. In singleplayer, you’ll need to use a different strategy.

Freezing the Matriarch in Gears 5

Because of the Matriarch’s natural armor, the only way that you can damage it is by shooting the obvious orange weak spot on its back, and to get access to that, you’ll need to freeze the beast first. You can use the Cryo gun to freeze the Matriarch even in singleplayer, but the Matriarch can attack faster than you can freeze it, making this strategy riskier than it’s worth. It’s much safer to use your environment, sinking the Matriarch into the ice to freeze it.

You’ll get a free shot at the Matriarch as soon as the fight starts. It begins with the boss already frozen, so just run to the back and shoot it before it thaws out. From that point on, getting hits it won’t be quite as easy. You’ll need to shoot at the Matriarch to get it to charge at you, then shoot at the ice directly in its path to break it, sending the Matriarch into the freezing water below. Alternatively, you can dodge out of the way and shoot the ice under the Matriarch after it’s finished charging. That will give you another few seconds to deal damage before doing the whole sequence over again.

Dodging the Matriarch’s Attacks in Gears 5

Unfortunately, the Matriarch isn’t quite that easy to take down. Throughout the fight, the boss will break that pattern to rip a spike out of its own body and throw it at you. If you’re hit with one, you’ll take a lot of damage and be momentarily stunned while you pull it out. Make sure you keep an eye out for this attack and roll out of the way to avoid being hit. The Matriarch will use this attack more often as the fight goes on, and sometimes even throw multiple spikes at once, so remember to keep your distance so you can avoid it.

Another complication comes from Kait herself. For spoiler reasons, at certain points in the fight, Kait will be debilitated by visions. When this happens, your screen will dim and blur, making it very tough to see the area around you. When that happens, try to get some distance from the Matriarch and avoid it until your vision clears, but be ready to quickly roll out of the way or shoot the ice below it if it charges.

Once you get the hang of dodging the Matriarch’s attacks, there’s not much more to this fight. Just repeat the process until the boss goes down and make your way into Act 3 of Gears 5.