Gears of War 4

EDIT: I'm going to try to go into more detail with some of the areas that may be a little difficult for people. Also I will point out power weapons that can make your run a little easier when fighting the tougher enemies.

SPOILERS! In case it needs to be said there are minor spoilers in this guide. I dont give away story plot or anything which is why I say minor. You have been warned. :)

A lot of people have been messaging me asking for tips to do this achievement. So I'm going to write this guide to help anyone struggling or anyone looking to try this achievement. This will also get you the Pumping Iron achievement.

You do not have to do this in one sitting. You can back out and turn the game off. Then come back another day and resume. Just dont overwrite the ironman save slot.

First thing, yes you can use the cheese method to beat this. You do this by having your teammate switch to casual difficulty. To do this invite your friend to a lobby. Select campaign, co-op, host online friend, new, hardcore (make sure ironman is turned on), then pick a save slot. Once the game starts up your friend will have the option to pick a difficulty before taking control of their character. Have them choose casual. You will have to do the campaign twice, once for you and once for your friend, but it makes it much easier than both of you on hardcore. I recommend you do this on hardcore. Insane is too risky because its easy to die and you cant go down but not out on insane. It took me 2 attempts to get this. My casual friend wrecked on the bike part. Taking damage on hardcore is manageable but you are no superman. Some enemies can down you very easily. Lastly, you will notice you will get checkpoints throughout the campaign. These checkpoints will NOT start you here if you die. They are meant to be there in the event you want to end the game to stop or take a break and resume at a later time. This campaign run is meant to be flawless. No deaths!

Warning! Even though your friend is on casual the ironman challenge is still on. That means neither one of you can die or it ends your run and you have to start again.

Most people have already played through the campaign but I'm going to try to detail each section as much as possible so you know what to watch out for. I will also point out as many power weapons as I can to make it a little easier with the bigger enemies. Now that hopefully any questions you may have had have been answered lets get into the basics.

The Basics:
Take. Your. Time. Make sure you stay in the back and provide support fire and spotting to help track targets. The casual player will be carrying you through most of this.
Be mindful of the enemies you are fighting. If they are carrying lancers its best not to run out there and get chainsawed.
My friend and I used long range weapons through most of the campaign. The lancer and shotgun were the only weapons I ever used. But use whatever you are comfortable with.
If you feel that you will have trouble with a certain section then I recommend you do what I did. Do a test run on a different save slot to get a feel of what to expect. Do it on harcore as well to understand which parts you may struggle with. I did this trick on Act 2 Chapter 4, the bike part. I also did it for the windflare lightning bits and the last boss (which wasnt that bad as long as you dodge his quills he fires from his tentacles).
Take your time with the windflare lightning bits. These parts were by far the worst. If you have to backtrack as to not die then do it. If you see an opening and think you can make it go for it. Dont risk it if you dont have to. Like I said above do a test run if you need to. It can give you an idea of how much damage you can take before death. The lightning bits happen on Act 2 Chapter 3 (only one person has to get to end on this one, preferably the casual person) Act 4 Chapter 2, and Act 4 Chapter 5.
Be careful when fighting juvies. It takes 3 hits from a juvie to go down. Use your shotgun if they get too close. Do not let them mantle kick you as this can do a lot of damage.
Again stay in the back, provide support fire, and spot when you can. Always let the casual player take point.


Some tips for each section:

Act 1

Chapter 0 Prologue- Let the casual person run up and throw a grenade into the bunker with the turret while you stay at the back. When you get to the next turret stay back so it doesnt shred you. Kill the enemy on it as well as the others and a cut scene will happen. When the cut scene is over have the casual player use the turret and you hide in the back behind a wall. When you get to the mortar part keep moving and dont stop running. I got hit with some mortar splash damage but it was never overwhelming. When you get to the corpser stay up top in the back behind the tall pillars. There are wretches, boomers, and reavers that you need to watch out for. Let the casual person use the hammer of dawn. For Anvil Gate stay behind the sand bag wall while your casual friend kills everything. There is a boomshot on the wall next to the bridge you cross. When you run across the bridge to the turret I hid behind a small blue box while my friend killed the brumaks.

Chapter 1 The Raid- Watch out for trackers. Sometimes they will drop shock grenades you can pick up when they die. There are ammo boxes in the metal carts that carry the shepherds.

Chapter 2 In And Out- Use your shotgun to take out the trackers and your enforcer for the shepherds. Stay in cover for the shepherds and shoot when you can. Throwing a shock grenade at the door they come out of will stun them and damage them. Use the fabricator to buy more ammo and shock grenades when you need them. Taking too much damage here was never a problem for me.

Chapter 3 New Friends- The trackers will change from shock grenades to frag grenades. The DR1s can do a lot of damage with their overkills and they suicide you when they take too much damage. Stay back and shoot. There will be DR1s with overkills and shepherds after you come out of the house in the next area. Stay on the porch as it provides good cover. Be careful of the trishot DR1 that comes from the left. After that when you go through the door frag trackers will roll off the ledge. You can pick up their frag grenades when they die. Careful of the DR1s in the next area. Nearing the end deadeyes and frag trackers will spawn. Let your casual friend kill the deadeyes before you go out there. In the last section where you shoot the crane to drop the platform you will fight more DR1s and deadeyes. Make sure to shoot the cranes holding the metal platforms when the deadeyes come out to make short work of them.

Chapter 4 A Few Snags- This is where you play horde mode with the fabricator. I used any money in it to build sentry turrets and placed them in the back by the big door. I stayed there letting them guard me... I mean keeping them safe obviously :). There is a sniper rifle in front of the horse statue. There is a giant ammo cache on the left side to use whenever you need it (this cache will not refill sniper rifle or embar ammo). This part wasnt bad. Just watch out for the guardians (trishot) and sentinels (salvo rocket). Between waves pick up the trishots and salvo rockets left by the guardians and sentinels. They will make fighting the guardians/sentinels and DR1s easier. I never got hit by a rocket when staying in the back.


Act 2

Chapter 1 The Prodigal Son- This chapter is short. Watch out for deadeyes for there are many outside the house.

Chapter 2 Geared Up- Now you will have the lancer and shotgun which were the only 2 weapons I used. Stay in the weapon room when the kestrel comes out. 2 rockets from the chopper will down you. After the kestrel dies a DR1 will bust through the door down the hall so watch out for that. When you get back outside a DR1 and a guardian will spawn after you kill some enemies. When you get to the greenhouse make sure the both of you stay in the back and shoot them until they're all dead. When I was running this for my friend I ran up the left side to flank them and was killed by one of the shelves in the room on the left when it fell over due to it being scripted to happen. When you get to the wooden shed you will fight 2 guardians. Focus fire them down because there is not a lot of ammo in there. After you go through the plane wreckage there is a sniper rifle against a stone bench. There is a sentinel that spawns in the area after that. Let your friend kill it before you head out there. There are also deadeyes in this area so be mindful of that.

Chapter 3 Plan B- Trackers will come at this part. Once they are dead a kestrel will come. Stay back and shoot from afar. When you get to the part where you split up I found that the hardcore person going left was easier. A DR1 spawns on the left. Wait for it to get in front of the hay bales and shoot the orange barrier holding them so it will crush it. There are 2 deadeyes up the hill. Kill them or let the casual person on the right do it. Take it slow for this next part. No need to rush through the door. Let the casual player help with your side. A guardian spawns at the end by the door. Now... this next part is the first real challenge. When you go through the door is where you will do your first windstorm lightning bit. You can only take a little bit of damage before it gets to be too much and kills you. The good news is only one person has to get to the end for this one. I would suggest it be the casual player. Make sure you still dodge the lightning as it will go all the way to the door where you start.

Chapter 4 The Great Escape-The bike part... This whole chapter is you focusing on not dying. I did a test run before attempting it for real by using a different save slot. Avoid the incendiary bombs that leave pot holes. Driving over them hurts you. Focus is key to not hitting any walls, rocks, or trees that will instantly kill you. Shoot the wooden barriers along the way because I'm not sure driving through them hurts you or not. When you get to the forest you need to avoid the trees. I bumped the side of 3 in a row and lived but my health was deep red. When driving through the forest you will get to a part where its on fire. This is harder because of the smoke in the air impairing your vision. Once past that a kestrel will fly in front of you eventually turning to you to fire rockets. When this happened I drove from side to side to avoid them. When you come out of the cave tunnel you will fight the vulture plane. Take out its 2 glowing engines in the back. Once that happens it will drop more incendiary bombs. Avoid the pot holes they leave. Shoot the engines until it goes to a cut scene. Now you have to shoot the turrets on the wings of the plane. Take these out fast as they can light you up quick. Once both wings are done the plane opens up exposing the glowing core inside. Shoot it while avoiding the bombs that drop out. If you dont kill the core the first time the plane's rotors will grind on the ground leaving a sort of line in the dirt that can hurt you if you drive over it. Repeat shooting the core if you dont kill it the first time. Once the plane crashes and turns sideways you will drive up its wing ending this section. Whew!


Act 3

Chapter 1 Almost Midnight- This chapter is just some walking. You dont fight anything.

Chapter 2 Night Terrors- You will fight juvies here. Lots of them. Stay back and use your lancer when they are at a distance and your shotgun when they are close. A few hits and you will get downed. There is a shotgun against a wheelchair straight ahead when the chapter starts. When the cut scene with the snatcher happens go slowly through the stables. There are a lot of juvies and pods here. When you make it into the house after lifting the stone pillar there will be 2 snot bubbles on the ceiling. One has a retro lancer and the other has a mulcher. This mulcher can make the next part easier. When you go outside you will go up a narrow walkway. Stay back and use your mulcher or lancer for this part. When you are in the church you will fight juvies and drones. Be careful, some of them carry lancers which means they can chainsaw you. Take your time and lancer them. When the nests (emergence holes) close up they usually have some guns or grenades in them. Its worth a look to see if anything good is in there. Once you kill everything on the second floor and go through the door there are grenades to the right. At the graveyard you will fight a sniper. Kill him first and deal with the drones. Close the nests with grenades whenever possible. After the graveyard you will go into a house. There is a snot bubble with a lancer in it. At the train station you will fight 3 pouncers. Run to the far side and lancer them. Watch out for their quills. The quills hurt but the damage is manageable. Always run away if they get too close. If you get jumped by one spam the B button to get it off.

Chapter 3 At The Doorstep- Take it slow going through the ruins. Close nests with grenades whenever possible. Some of the drones here carry lancers. At the next part 2 snipers will spawn at the far side after killing some juvies and drones. Be careful with them. Also be mindful that some drones here carry lancers as well. When you get to the dining hall 3 pouncers will spawn when you get to the middle of the room. Again lancer them and dont get too close. There are some grenades on the right side of the room next to the ammo box. The next part is the museum. Watch for the turret and take your time. There is a sniper rifle next to the stairs on the left by the log. There are also some grenades half way up the hill on the left. Go inside and clear them out. When you do you will have to defend the museum. I hid in the corner to the left of the turret. There is a boomshot in a display case behind the turret. I alternated between lancer and shotgun here. Have your casual friend use the turret to kill as many juvies and drones as possible and get off if they make it through and get inside. Have your teammate stay close to you in case you need to be revived because this part gets hectic. Be mindful of any drones that will come up the back stairs as some will carry gnashers. Stay close to that corner and try not to wander down the side paths where the drones come from. After the museum you will go through some more ruins. There is a buzzkill next to some scaffolding. Its right before you fight some swarm drones. Close the nests when you can. These drones carry lancers (so be careful not to get chainsawed). When you shoot the bridge down 2 snipers and a gnasher drone will spawn on the other side of it. Then you will get to a part where you are at the top of some stairs and a lot of enemies out in front of you. Be careful here because there are many drones with lancers and sniper rifles in this area. I say this so you will not get chainsawed. Take your time. Move slowly. Be thorough. There are a lot of hiding places for the swarm here. When you get halfway and have to turn right there is a snot bubble with a mulcher on the ceiling.

Chapter 4 Do Not Go Gentle- Take it slowly here. There are a lot of juvies and drones. The first room of enemies carry lancers and gnashers. Be careful with the pods because most of them have juvies in them. Also, its worth mentioning, shoot the pods that hang from the ceiling. I am not sure if they can fall on you and crush you if you are standing under one and someone shoots it. In the next part when you drop down there is a buzzkill straight ahead you can use. This same room has a lot of juvies in it. In the room after that there is a sniper rifle on the right side when you walk in. This room has enemies with lancers and gnashers as well. A sniper drone will spawn at the far side by the gate. When you go down the spiral stairs and into the next room 2 torque drones spawn at the far end. When you get to the room with the giant golden statue is where you will fight many juvies and pouncers. Stick close to your teammate here in case you are downed. Kill the pouncer, then the juvies spawn, then another pouncer. When you get split up again have the hardcore person go left (low side). That way the casual player can shoot from up top to help you. Be careful though. High side has hunters (torque bow drones) that will fire at low side. Stay at the start behind the rock wall until they are dead. Then move slowly killing the drones in front of you. The AI character will go low side with you. After you meet up again you will get to the elevator drill. Watch out for dropshot drones as well as a sniper drone. There are 3 dropshot guns you can pick up here. 1 is straight ahead when you start this area, 1 up top on the left, and the last is in the middle next to a dead cog.

Chapter 5 Elevator To Hell- Another horde mode section. Hardcore player should stay in the control room with the fabricator. Place a barrier at the door and fill the room up with sentry turrets or shock sentries or both. Dont leave that room unless necessary. At the end when the elevator starts to fall you have to make it to the other side and push a button. Let your casual friend take point here. You are timed here so kill them fast.

Chapter 6 Origins- The first room you fight enemies have lancer and gnasher drones. When you kill them and go to the back of the room a scion carrying a mulcher will come. It spawns you a few feet away from him so run back. Kill him and the enemies that follow him out of the hole in the wall. When you kill enough another scion spawns with a dropshot. Be careful not to get headshot or blown up by it. When you find the dead scavenger there will be a room after that with a pouncer and juvies in it. In the next room there is a torque bow on top of a box. After that you will get to a room with 2 snipers on top of a balcony. When you approach the metal door a scion carrying a buzzkill will bust through said door. There are some grenades in the room with the loader. Let the casual friend use the loader. He can charge the enemies and take more damage than you. Stay back when you go down the hill. There is a scion with a mulcher that can shred you if you are not careful. Let the loader charge it. Now you will get to a room where you will fight a snatcher. There is a boomshot on the ground at the other end of the room to the left of where the snatcher comes down from. Stay as far away from it as you can be. Its tail shot ability will down you. It can breathe out acid and ground stomp you if it gets too close. All of this does a lot of damage so be careful. Make sure if someone gets swallowed that you shoot it to get them out or they will die.


Act 4

Chapter 1 Get Out- Again let the casual player use the loader. Watch out for juvies, lancer drones, and a torque drone here. You will fight a snatcher in this same room. Kill it as quickly as possible while dealing with the juvies. If you have to you can jump off the ledge if the snatcher gets too close to you and run back up. However it can be dangerous becuase you may be down there by yourself. After that make your way back up the way you came while killing some enemies which include torque drones. Along the way there is a dropshot in a metal cart with rocks in it. Its before you fight any enemies on your way back up. When you get to the room where you killed that first scion you will fight another snatcher. There is a buzzkill when you walk in this room up against a barrier. Stay in the back and lancer it. Kill the remaining enemies. Now you will have to do the cable ride up the mine shaft. You can die here easily if you hit one of the metal columns when the metal beams start to bend and fall. Make sure to focus so you dont die. When it starts shoot the webbing above you holding the incendiary bombs. When the counter weight falls and gets caught shoot the webbing holding it in place. Now you must dodge the metal columns. Shoot the giant spinning glowing blades after that so they wont kill you.

Chapter 2 No Detours- Take your time going through this part. Stay back and lancer them. You will fight juvies and drones armed with lancers and gnashers. When you get to the windflare blowing wind make sure to shoot the orange barriers to kill the enemies with the debris and dont get hit by it. Now you will have to do another windflare lightning bit. Sadly the both of you have to make it to the end. I recommend you do a practice run on another save slot. Take your time. Watch for where the lightning will hit. If you need to move backward to avoid the lightning do it. Look for openings and try not to risk it. I tried to thread the needle when two were close together and took damage from both of them. I lived, but barely. When both of you make it to the end lift the door to progress the game.

Chapter 3 Knock Knock- When you get to the plane wreckage there is an embar in the rubble. Watch for the scion carrying a mulcher. The drones here carry lancers so be careful. When you go up the ladders be very careful with this area. The drones here carry lancers which means chainsaws. They also throw grenades and have sniper rifles. Shoot from the back and move up slowly. Dont be afraid to retreat here. Sometimes they will reach over the barriers and pull you over then knife you. Dont let that happen. There is a boomshot upstairs on the ground in the second story building and a buzzkill across the road from this 2 story building. There is also an embar to the right when you enter this area. Its down the stairs from the buzzkill. When you go in the tunnel there are grenades by the dead cog when you jump down as well as up on the right. There is another boomshot by the grenades up on the right. This tunnel you go into has your first carrier. When it spawns run to the back and light it up. Kill the seeders it shoots out and throw any grenades that you have. The buzzkill and boomshot should be enough to kill it. Do NOT get close to it because it will pick you up and eat you thereby killing you.

Chapter 4 Powerless- After you pull the lever and activate the wind turbine you will go back inside to fight some enemies armed with lancers and gnashers. After the fight 2 pouncers will come. Make sure to spam B if they jump on you. If your teammates get jumped run into that pouncer to kick it off. When you split up I went Generators (low side). I found it to be easier because that way the casual player can be up top helping you by shooting down. When you turn on the generators run back becuase a lot of juvies will spawn. Lancer them down from afar. Do not go up to the room after that. 2 drones will walk across the hall up there and go into that room. One carries a gnasher and the other has a sniper rifle. Some juvies will jump down from the hole in the ceiling in there as well. Have the casual player shoot them then go up. There is a snot bubble with a sniper rifle in it up the stairs from the first generator. Stay in that room for the rest of the time. The drones here also carry lancers. Watch for the scions. One carries a dropshot and another a buzzkill. The buzzkill busts out from a wall with some lancer drones after you kill everything else. Keep this buzzkill for the carrier you will soon fight. When you get back to the main room and pull the elevator lever you will go to a big room with a giant metal door on the other side. A carrier comes out of it. Again light it up, shoot the seeders and throw grenades at it. Watch out for when it ground slams. This will cause the pods to explode and juvies come out of them. The room is not very big so you need to kill it quickly before it gets to you. If it does get too close you can run past it (make sure not to get close to it or it will pick you up and crush you thereby killing you) to the door where it came from and shoot it from there. After you pull the levers and cross the giant wind turbines you will fight a more drones and then a scion with a mulcher. Now comes the giant chain rooms. Be very careful not to get hit by the giant chains. They will instantly kill you. Try not to spend too much time in these rooms after the enemies are dead. One time and only once an AI character walked under a chain and died and it made me restart the checkpoint. That was a long time ago though and only happened once. So try to get out of those rooms and fast as posssible. When you get to the second chain room a dropshot scion spawns. Avoid him until he walks down to you then kill him. When you get to the top of the dam you will fight drones, hunters, and a snatcher. Stay back and use your lancer.

Chapter 5 Storm Warning- Use long range weapons here. You will fight 2 scions and some hunters. Let the casual player use the siege beast while you stand off to the left of it and shoot the bombs it throws out. After that catapult bit you will fight juvies and a sniper inside. After that some nests will open up. Now is your last windflare lightning bit. Again both of you have to make it. Once more I recommend doing a practice run on a different save slot. If you get past this give yourself a pat on the back because you can breathe a little easier. Now the last part is the swarmak. I ran to the left side up the stairs and never left that post. I let my casual teammate activate the levers and I helped shoot them and the scions that come. Watch out for juvies. I planted some grenades at the top of the stairs to help deal with them. You can take some damage from the swarmak's hand cannons but not too much. The damage here is manageable but be careful. Even the casual player needs to be mindful of the enemies around him. This is a hard room to get revived in because there are a lot of enemies. Once the scions are dead it gets a little easier. But just watch your surroundings. Dont let a gnasher drone sneak up on you. There are boomshots, torque bows, grenades, and mulchers scattered all around this room. If you want an easier time go up stairs on the left like I did and just provide supporting fire.


Act 5

Chapter 1 Convergence- Once you can start moving you will fight 2 pouncers. The next area has some swarm fighting deebees. Let them duke it out or just start shooting. 2 scions come from the swarm side. One has a mulcher and the other has a dropshot. A guardian will come from the deebee side. The next area has some more scions. One has a dropshot and the other 2 carry mulchers. Stay back and lancer them. When you get into the centaur factory be careful upstairs. There are drones with lancers (chainsaws) and a scion with a buzzkill. When you get outside watch out for the turret. Move slowly here. There a many drones and juvies.

Chapter 2 Killing Time- One more round of horde mode. I only used the money to buy sentry turrets and placed them in the back. My casual friend used the troika turret the entire time. You will fight juvies, drones, scions, snatchers, and carriers. With the manned turret it wont be so bad. I didnt have any problems here. Just stay behind the fabricator with the sentry turrets.

Chapter 3 Gate Crashers- So first thing you need to know is in the robot mech you can not get downed. If you take too much damage the mech blows up and you die. That goes for the casual player as well. So stay back and use your buzzkill gun and hold LB to lock on missles. The carriers can do some serious damage to you if you get hit by his seeders. The snatcher's tail shot has enough damage to almost one shot you! So always stay back from them and kill them from afar. When you get to the first swarmak stay back and try to avoid his rockets. You can go into cover behind the buildings like normal. Use your rockets to hurt him and your buzzkill when they are cooling down. Execute it when the skull appears above it's head. Go slowly after that because you will fight a lot of carriers and snatchers. Then fight your last swarmak the same as before. Use the giant rocks for cover.

Chapter 4 Release- Last part. I can not recommend this enough to do a test run on hardcore on a different save slot to get a feel of the damage you can take before you die. Take out the seeders that come out from the ground. You can dodge with left stick and A if you need to. The most important part is to avoid the quills the boss shoots from his tentacles. They do a lot of damage. You need to get the timing down to dodge the quills. Shoot the tentacles to get them to fall. You should stand mid ways back and always let the casual player staple the tentacles to the ground. Make sure to dodge (left stick and A) when the tentacle falls to avoid being stunned. Then press Y to staple it to the ground thereby ripping it off. Then hold LB to fire a rocket at the exposed red bit to seal the wound or it will regrow the tentacle. Do that for all 4 of them. Once that happens let the casual player pick up the raven rotor. Make sure you stand behind them a little ways and have them use the rotor to block the seeders. You can and should help shoot the seeders. Once the casual player gets close enough dodge the claw and press Y to cut it off. Do that again to the other claw. Then have the player holding the rotor finish the boss off by pressing Y when standing close to its head.

Congratulations you beat the game flawlessly. :)

Conclusion:
This achievement is not that hard but it is also not easy. Take your time. Stay back and provide support fire and spotting to help. Do practice runs on different save slots to get a feel of things. Dont run out there gung ho and get yourself killed by chainsaw or grenade tagged.

If anyone has any more tips I missed or better solutions post them down in the comments. If you have any questions or there is a section you are having trouble with let me know below and I will try and help you. I hope this guide helps you with this nerve–racking achievement. Remember to breathe and good luck!

If you just want to get this over with, and don't mind cheesey methods then you are in luck.

This method will allow your partner and yourself to die as many times as you want, and you get to keep your progress!

1. Host an online or local co-op game, have the second player set difficulty to casual. Or you can both play on hardcore, it's just easier with one on casual.

2. If you, your partner, or an AI dies both of you stay at the death screen. From the death screen hit the guide button and press start on the gears of war 4 tab. After this go to "manage game" and go to save data, press start on your save data (it will have your gamertag on it) and select delete save data. Here you will be prompted with "delete from console only" and "delete from everywhere", choose delete from console only. DO NOT continue from checkpoint if the AI dies.

Make sure the save file with your gamertag is gone, some have reported it takes multiple attempts for it to disappear.


3. Reboot the game (it will automatically kick you off the game after deleting the save). Your save is now on the last chapter you completed, and still on ironman! Rinse and repeat from here.

The second player doesn't have to worry about messing with their save. If you want to save a specific checkpoint in a chapter you should exit out of the co-op game and gears 4, then reboot the game. Otherwise it automatically updates your save each chapter.

Just make sure to NEVER delete save from everywhere, it will erase all your campaign saves. Enjoy!

This is not a complete guide, but some advice for some achievement breaking/run ending game bugs. I did this achievement with two controllers in local, with one on casual (inviting a buddy in for the bike and the last boss). Perf3ct Chaoz has written a great breakdown of section by section, but please read the below before starting the run.

So to just add to the above solutions, there are two known potentially broken checkpoints that can end your iron man run, even if you are exploiting the cloud saves. I hit these two checkpoints on two separate runs, finally getting the achievement on my third attempt, so know first hand how frustrating this can be.

I wanted to add these notes (whilst not a complete solution) to help people avoid having to do multiple runs. As you can see from my link on the official forums (https://gearsofwar.com/en-us/forums/e9b54fc61eb74ad783d533ca...) as well as posts on the TA forums, this is quite a common problem.

These are the two specific areas and how to avoid backing up a broken game save.

Act 3 Chapter 3 : At the Doorstep

"There is a buzzkill next to some scaffolding. Its right before you fight some swarm drones. Close the nests when you can. These drones carry lancers (so be careful not to get chainsawed). When you shoot the bridge down 2 snipers and a gnasher drone will spawn on the other side of it." (Credit to Perf3ct Chaoz for this description)

At the point you close the nests, and before you shoot down the orange bridge supports there should be a checkpoint. DO NOT back up or shut down your xbox after this point until you have finished the chapter. There is a bug that can stop the first wave of enemies in the next area spawning, meaning you will be unable to cut through the slime and progress.

Act 3 Chapter 6 : Origins

After the section where there are two snipers, up on the walk way and a scion bursts through the door, you'll come to the loader. As you progress through this section there will be a mulcher stood on top of some yellow crystals. Once you knock him over the edge you'll break the loader and go through a door way. Here you will get a check point. BACK UP at this point, as the next checkpoint, in the room with the snatcher itself is the second glitched checkpoint

If you die in either of the specific areas where the bugs can be found, load up your save from the two earlier points I mention above, as running into the area again should fix the glitch.

I believe these to be the only bugged checkpoints, but if there are any more please let me know and I can add them.

There is a way to repair broken checkpoints (in my case the first snatcher). Continue your campaign-run from the main-menu while being ONLINE and during the loading-screen disconnect from the net. Now you have to the option to restart the chapter. Do that and wait until the loadingscreen is over and you got your checkpoint. Quit to the main-menu and connect to the internet. You're now at the beginning of the chapter with Ironman still active.

Cheers

I have found a way to back up your save in case you need to roll back to an earlier act or chapter. This is helpful if your game bugs out (Act III Snatcher) or your Ironman gets turned off by accident on your current save. For this to work you need a 2nd Xbox.

I invite you try this out yourself before you get serious. For me it worked every single time I tried it even though I did not end up needing it because we got lucky (savegame stayed valid for the entire run).

Step 1: On First Xbox - Save game as you would normally. Exit the game and shut the Xbox down. Probably not necessary but I did it anyway in order to be a 100% sure it works correctly.
Step 2: On 2nd Xbox - Start up Gears. It will sync the save from the Cloud. Awesome! You're done for now. I now shut the 2nd Xbox down and disconnected the network. Again, not necessary but I wanted to play it safe.

Alright, now let's say are back to your first Xbox and messed up on your save and need to roll it back.

Step 1: Make sure at least 1 day has passed between the Backup save on the 2nd Xbox and the save on the first Xbox. When I didn't do this it just overwrote the sync I had on the 2nd Xbox.

Step 2: Load up the game on your 2nd Xbox. You will be getting a notification that the game is syncing with the cloud. It is now that you will be getting a popup telling you that the save in the cloud and the save on your Xbox are different. It will also list the date/time difference between the two saves.

Choose the local save. It will now sync the backup save file back up into the cloud. Nice!

Step 3: Back on your 1st Xbox, delete your local save before starting up the game to be safe. In theory this is not necessary as the game will ask you the same thing as in Step 2.

* * *

Once you start up the game now you should have rolled your savegame back to what you had on your 2nd Xbox. Ironman should be ON again and you can continue your grand adventure. Good luck!

Please let me know if you got any questions or further insights regarding this mehod.

2 controllers method

If you're unable to find someone to play with, it's still possible to complete this on your own if you have a 2nd controller.
You should use the cheese method(2nd controller on casual) to make things easier.

This method is quite simple, just do as I did:
Play the campaign on splitscreen until Act 2 Chapter 4: The Great Escape aka the bike part, then quit to main menu. Hit splitscreen again and continue. With the second controller you will have the option to choose Del or Kait. Choose Del and he will be standing still at the beginning, while Kait will be riding the bike. After the first cutscene, Del will be again on the bike, so do the same thing again.
This was the only part where you would need someone else's help, but with the above method you can complete this part on your own, like I did. As for the rest of the campaign, just have the hardcore controller always on cover while you kill the enemies with the casual one and you should be fine. In case you die, you can use the delete save method mentioned in the others guide. Good luck.
Credits to burogozzz from XA.

Confirmed that 2nd player on casual and deleting local save if someone ĺincluding AI died) still works as of November 6, 2018.

I did split screen with other 2nd controller on casual untill motorcycle part. Then did rest with online friend. Both this and the pumping iron achievement popped at the end.

I have completed the co cop campaign with 2 controllers on Inconceivable

I have tips for you, you can us the cheese method, but I recommend the host play on casual (the dummy account) and your main account on Inconceivable.
The casual guy does all the work until the bike part, in this section you can do 2 things:

1.-When you get a new checkpoint quit and then wait for 2 minutes for the game to "update" your save file, then return, and when the 2 player get the option to play as Kait/Del, don´t do it immediately, let the casual player shoot the plane, avoiding the firebombs, the second account will take control from Del/Kait about 30 seconds (average).

2.-Play solo with the casual Gamertag until the part when you destroy the huge plane, immediately pause the game, and invite your main account using Pc (if u have game pass you can download Gears of War 4 for free) or if u have a 2nd Xbox you can log in and join to your dummy account, when the screen says something like "the host has paused the game" you must be very quickly to unpause and change the difficult to Inconceivable, that way you will complete Inconceivable without firing any bullet.

You can use the second method on the lighting parts, the main account gets close to the door and Kait and Del will follow JD, after they get to pass through the hard session, immediately invite your main account and u will pass the windflare section with no trouble!

You don´t need to complete the whole chapter, just join in the last checkpoint and choose the
Inconceivable difficult to unlock several achievements, anyway, I hope my advices will make u things easier.

Happy Hunting!
Sorry my English, have a nice day :)

Some tips and comments for players attempting the life-saver method of @ArcCsc, playing solo split-screen with 2 controllers:
- It still works as of today .
- It works every time (as long as you do it right). I died at least 20 times (with the majority of them on the bike chapter 2-4 -- it is very confusing controlling two bikes at once but you get used to it eventually) and every time I relaunched the game and then chose the continue option, the "ironman" setting was on.
- The secondary account does not need to delete the save data, only the primary one.
- After deleting the save game from console, the game will return to the Dashboard. The icon to return to the game will say "Resume" although the game will load anew. This is normal.
- When the game loads, first sign in the second account and then select "Campaign". Personally, everytime, I used the option to "Continue" and not "Load" (I don't think it made much of a difference though).
- During play, you may see a message "left the game" on the bottom left of your screen. Initially I worried that this could void the co-op part of the achievements (i.e. win only the "Pumping Iron" and not the "Legends of Sera" achievement) but this was not the case, as both unlocked when the credits began to roll. So do not worry about it.
- Seriously consider doing what OLOT suggests in the comment section of ArcCsc's solution: from time to time (i.e. before and after difficult sections), when you are not dead, the host should pause and return to the menu. Then quit the game completely and give some time for the cloud save to sync with your local save (in my case, 1-2 minutes were enough). Then, secured with an "ironman-on" save on the cloud, relaunch the game.
- Finally, an important note about some isolated cases of ironman not being on after relaunching the game from the Dashboard. I think I know why: when I was playing, one time a message came up (I believe it was on the bottom right of the host player, appeared just like the ribbons are showing) mentioning "online connection lost" or something similar. Fortunately, I immediately paused the game, only to see that there was no mention of the ironman setting (it had somehow been turned off). If something like this happens, DO NOT PROCEED ANY FURTHER, immediately use the "delete save - relaunch game" method (even when you are not dead). Upon relaunching the game and syncing from the cloud, you will find that ironman will be again on (congratulations -- you just saved yourself from infinite boredom, having to replay all the campaign until that moment ). The above also explains why ironman was turned off for some players: if those players lost their online connection but kept playing without having noticed it, they would eventually reach their next checkpoint without ironman. Then the game would save without it and there you have it: ironman setting lost forever. Beware!!!

So this is actually inspired by MustangNights and my own experience.

I didn't really try in this way but it can be working :
You may not have to play the campaign in co-op all the time. You just need to be in co-op in the last checkpoint before you finish the chapter. So potentially in the bike part, you can get pass of the driving and dodging part solo if you find it is too hard, then return to main menu and load it again in co-op.

As MustangNights said, they started a new casual save until the point when they lost their save.

In my experience, I died in the beginning of the last chapter, and ironman got turned off. So in the campaign record, all previous chapters showed hardcore ironman in co-op except the last one. So many thanks to vl Realistic lv, he loaded his last save on ironman which started at the last checkpoint, and we finished it and finally I unlocked the achievements. (I actually avoided shooting the tentacles part)

So this means the game only checks when a chapter ends instead of at every checkpoint.

Hopefully this helps and it can be helpful for anyone who fails at the very last. :)