Gears of War: E-Day pits you against five boss types across seven encounters: the Brumak twice, the Corpser twice, the Weaponized Brumak, the twin Scorias, and Vraahk, the final boss. Count it out, two Brumak fights, two Corpser fights, one Weaponized Brumak, one twin Scoria fight, and one Vraahk battle fought in two phases, seven in all. None of them is a damage race: every fight is a mechanics check with one intended answer, and this guide gives you that answer fight by fight. The rest of our coverage is collected in the Gears of War: E-Day section.
Brumak: Act 1, Chapter 4 and the Evacuation
The first Brumak arrives at the end of Act 1, Chapter 4, during the City Hall defense, and a second one shows up later during the evacuation push. The same tactics cover both fights. Its arm-mounted guns throw heavy, partially tracking fire, its stomp and melee punish anyone who walks up close, and some of its attacks destroy the cover you are hiding behind, so planting yourself in one spot is the fastest way to die.
Fight it from mid range and relocate the moment your cover takes damage. When the arm guns swing up, duck and wait out the volley instead of trading. Explosive and armor-piercing weapons clearly outperform standard rifles against it: during the City Hall prep wave, when the defenders tell your squad to gear up, pick up the Gut-Puncher and spend its explosive rounds on the boss. Smaller Locust join the fight, but clear them only when they actually reach your cover, then go back to working the Brumak. The guns that earn their ammo slot in these fights are ranked in our Gears of War: E-Day best weapons guide.
Corpser: Act 3 Tunnels and the Later Route Block
The Act 3 Corpser fight, in Chapter 2 right after Cooper Station inside the Locust tunnels, is a terrain kill, not a shootout. Its shell shrugs off sustained rifle fire, so you win by feeding it the arena instead. Stand between the Corpser and one of the concrete pillars, let it commit to a charge, sidestep at the last moment, and let it slam into the pillar and bring the pillar down. Repeat on the remaining pillars until the collapse finishes the job for you.
Two details keep this reliable. First, never stand in front of it for long except when you are actively baiting, and always leave yourself a sidestep lane before you provoke the charge. Second, when it burrows, step off its emergence line and wait for it to surface before you set up the next bait. Late in the fight it spawns smaller Locust, including Tickers, so hold your heavy ammo for that phase instead of burning it early. A second, shorter Corpser blocks your route late in the campaign with the same read-and-dodge rhythm, which is exactly why you should not overspend ammunition the first time.
Weaponized Brumak: Fort Vigil
The Fort Vigil defense, which begins after the evacuation plan is set, fields a Weaponized Brumak: a heavily armored variant carrying a mounted launcher and a mounted machine gun. A supply cache sits just before this fight, so top up before you commit. Its suppressive fire exists to push you out of cover, and its armor blunts casual shooting, which is why the fight has a fixed priority order:
- Break the armor plating that blocks your current firing angle.
- Hit the launcher as soon as it is exposed, your squad calls it out.
- Remove the exposed mounted machine gun.
- Only then pour damage into the Brumak itself.
Fight from the elevated firing position and keep shifting along that elevated route as your cover becomes unsafe. Each weapon you disable removes one tool it uses to displace you, and once both are gone the Brumak dies to normal damage, which ends the Fort Vigil defense.
Scoria Twins: Act 4, Critical Failure
The Act 4 mission Critical Failure ends at the refinery's light mass converter with two Scorias at once. Both spend most of the fight airborne, which forces constant repositioning and wrecks close-range loadouts, and the unstable refinery adds environmental hazards that you should never chase firing angles through.
One rule decides this fight: focus a single Scoria until it is dead, then switch. Splitting damage across both lengthens the fight without achieving anything, and the converter objective only resumes once both are down. Keep a ranged weapon equipped for this chapter, reposition instead of tracking from a fixed spot, and treat the hazards as walls rather than shortcuts.
Vraahk: Act 5, Chapter 5, the Final Boss
Vraahk closes the campaign in Act 5, Chapter 5, after the east bridge controls fail, and he goes down in two phases: first at the east bridgehead, then again after you push through the damaged bridge and the Skytrain toward the detonator.
Phase one is a cover-rotation fight with three threats. His grenades turn the ground around the impact point into a hazard, so when one lands near your cover, move to the next piece immediately. His long-range fire punishes anything exposed, watch for the wind-up, get behind cover, and answer during his firing gaps. His melee hits very hard up close, so when he advances, back off and re-establish distance before you shoot again. Enemy reinforcements join mid-fight: clear them before they flank you, then return your attention to the boss.
Phase two changes the pressure. Vraahk pushes toward you aggressively, and holding one piece of cover will get you cornered, so keep circling away and re-open the gap before you commit to a long reload. After he finally falls, the story does not advance on the kill alone: walk to the detonator nearby and activate it to finish the mission.
FAQ
How many bosses are in Gears of War: E-Day?
Five boss types across seven encounters: the Brumak twice, the Corpser twice, the Weaponized Brumak once, the twin Scorias in one fight with two targets, and Vraahk once in two phases.
What is the hardest boss in Gears of War: E-Day?
Vraahk, the final boss, asks for everything at once: grenade dodging, cover rotation against heavy ranged fire, add control, and distance management in phase two. The Act 3 Corpser is the other common wall, because players keep trying to shoot out a fight that is solved by pillars.
What are the best weapons against bosses in Gears of War: E-Day?
Explosive and armor-piercing options lead: the Gut-Puncher for the Brumak fights and the Fort Vigil defense, and a long-range rifle such as the Longshot for the airborne Scorias. The full mode-by-mode ranking is in our E-Day weapons tier list.
I killed Vraahk but nothing is happening. What do I do?
Walk to the detonator and activate it. Downing Vraahk alone does not advance the story, the mission only ends once the detonator goes off.