E-Day Hard Case Locations

Gears of War: E-Day Hard Case locations begin in Act 2, not Act 1. Look for yellow weapon-mod cases, use the nearby-case notification and map marker to narrow your search, then inspect the actual street, room, or upper walkway. This route includes thirty-five documented Act 2 positions and twenty-eight positions across the first four Act 3 chapters. It does not cover every case in the campaign: one Act 2 entry lacks a usable location, the last two Act 3 chapters have missing directions, and Acts 4–5 are not mapped here.

Hard Cases unlock campaign weapon modifications. They are separate from narrative collectibles and from the Weapon Parts you extract with in Horde Siege. Do not spend time searching Act 1 for these yellow cases or assume a campaign pickup automatically establishes a Horde class unlock. The locations below identify campaign pickups; they are not a Horde leveling or farming route.

Identify a case and confirm its pickup

A Hard Case is a yellow container rather than a loose letter, magazine, or set of COG tags. When you approach one, the game can give a nearby-case notification at the top left, an audio cue, and a map marker. The controller view can also highlight its position and distance when holding LB. Use your own bound input if you have changed controls; this route does not assume a specific keyboard equivalent.

The notification establishes proximity, not the exact floor. A case in an apartment, parking structure, or bridge walkway can be close horizontally while remaining above or below your current route. Look for ladders, stairs, climbable objects, and underpasses before concluding that a marker points through a wall.

The yellow container is a Hard Case, distinct from the smaller narrative collectibles.

Use this short sequence at each stop:

1. Match the act and chapter. Several chapters revisit Kalona landmarks, so the same building name does not identify the same campaign moment.
2. Reach the route landmark and clear the immediate threat. Upper floors and alley interiors can have enemies even when the nearby street is quiet.
3. Follow the final direction to the container. The tables distinguish reaching a building from opening the case inside it.
4. Open the yellow case and check the unlocked modification. The listed reward is an identification aid, not a claim that it is the strongest option for your loadout.
5. At a Supply Cache, review any newly available campaign choices. Keep the pickup on your own checklist before moving through a story transition.

Numbers below identify stops within their chapter, not names displayed on the containers themselves. In open areas, collect nearby stops together rather than backtracking solely to follow the numbering.

Act 2 Hold the Line route

Act 2 Chapter 2 contains twenty-seven cases in its chapter count. The route has three progression sections, and not every area is available at the first visit. The directions below cover all entries with an actual documented position. Case 23 is omitted because its final position is not established; it remains a coverage gap rather than an invented stop.

The construction site’s upper level is the second documented Hold the Line case stop.

Opening district and East Kalona

The construction site, both parking areas, and the rooftop storeroom are separate stops. Treat a nearby marker as a reason to check elevation rather than repeatedly circling the same street. Case 5 requires entering through a climbable container; Case 13 uses a ladder to an apartment. Neither is described as a ground-floor doorway search.

At the bank, the underground parking and vault are also distinct. Clear the outside search before following the objective into the bank if that fits your current route, then turn right when the vault becomes accessible. The vault's narrative collectible and its Hard Case sit on different sides, so record the actual case reward before leaving.

Case 18 is tied to later access to Warehouse District. If the entrance is still closed, compare your main-objective stage with the description. Do not treat a locked story area as evidence that the case has disappeared or try to replace the access condition with an unrelated side activity.

West Kalona and the chapter's final section

The numbering jumps from 22 to 24 intentionally. There is no usable position for Case 23 in this route, and a listed reward without directions is insufficient to send you to a particular building. Case 22 also has a weaker landmark than most entries; match an available rappel line and the elevated walkway rather than treating it as a precise map coordinate.

The hotel approach and the hotel exit are different searches. Check the southern entrance for Case 24 before assuming the later firetruck stop is the same container. This route does not resolve every ambiguous reward entry by assigning the same mod pack to multiple containers.

Act 2 No Gear Left Behind and Overrun

No Gear Left Behind

Cases 3, 4, and 5 form a compact plaza group. Search the shipping container above, the opposite scaffolding below, and the exit gate as three individual checks. Finding a container at one elevation does not finish the other two locations.

Overrun

There are no cases in Act 2 Chapter 4, Flyboys. The next three documented stops belong to Chapter 5, Overrun.

The rally-point stop is easy to confuse with the nearby hangar datapad. The datapad belongs to narrative collectibles; the yellow case behind the cache gives a weapon modification. Check both if you are collecting both categories, but keep the records separate.

Act 3 Stranded and Enemy Lines

Check the area by the downed Raven for the opening Stranded Hard Case.

Stranded

At Fairlight, look for the red containers before using the hangar as your only landmark. The substation case is inside, while the narrative target and map are outside the same building. Follow the container category you need instead of leaving once any collectible appears.

Enemy Lines

The subway route alternates between upper walkways and train platforms. For Cases 4 and 5, use the wrecked train and the crossing through the subway car as distinct orientation points. Repeating “turn left” from the wrong side of the tracks can take you back toward the previous pickup.

Act 3 Last Foothold and The Convoy

Last Foothold

The library and hospital are useful anchors for grouping this district. Check the library interior, western garage, raised Last Dollar walkway, hospital awning, and skyrail platform as separate elevations. The underground garage explicitly uses a slide-under entrance; looking for a normal open doorway is the wrong approach to that stop.

The Convoy

The last stop is tied to a clear action boundary: inspect the shelf before operating the control-room lever. The truck case earlier on the bridge and the box-top case later are different containers, so keep both on your chapter checklist.

Keep an incomplete route honest

This page does not provide positions for Desperate Times, Desperate Measures, or the later acts. Their absence here does not imply that those chapters contain no Hard Cases. The available Act 3 chapter count includes cases beyond the twenty-eight positions mapped above, but a count is not a location route.

If you cannot find a listed case, first compare the chapter stage, final landmark, and elevation. Next check whether you already opened it and whether the reward is present in your campaign options. In co-op, verify your own War Journal and Forge records. The October 5 progress fixes do not establish that joining the host grants all earlier rewards, and this route does not promise such inheritance.

For the unresolved Act 2 entry, continue using the game's local proximity and map cues rather than searching an invented coordinate. Preserve the gap on your checklist. That keeps the confirmed route useful while distinguishing a missing direction from a collectible you have actually found.