Contents show Vanguard Build Class Perks Vanguard Weapon Builds
The Vanguard class in Space Marine 2 is an advanced class with its two-armour bar setup. Yet, the class is very strong, with its ability to dive bomb enemies with its grapple, contest an elite in close range, or annihilate packs. The class is extremely well-rounded, hence its lack of armour. There are a few different playstyles for it too. So, we are here to help you with a Vanguard build in Space Marine 2 to help take advantage of the unique and fun playstyle.
Here is an example of a Vanguard build you can run if you need defensiveness and loss of control prevention.
Vanguard Build Class Perks
There’s some flexibility within Vanguard’s class perks build, depending on preferences. Though some come with strengths, others come with weaknesses. Some of it depends on your weapon set too, which we’ll go into later. But, as a safe starting point, this is the type of build you’ll be running.
| Perks | Details |
| Moving target | Each Melee Attack you land reduces the Ranged Damage you take by 1%, stacking to 15%. If you do not land a Melee attack for 3 seconds, the effect ends. |
| Close Combat Focus | You take 20% less Melee Damage, but take 10% more Ragned Damage, |
| Consecutive Execution | Killing 10 enemies in quick succession restores 1 Equipment Charge. 18-0 seconds cooldown. |
| Unmatched Zeal | Melee Finishers of Extremis enemies additionally restore a small amount of Health for any Squad Member. |
| Shockwave or Restless Fortitude | Diving Kick additionally deals damage in a 5-meter radius.. You can potentially go Restless Fortitude if you’re struggling with ranged enemies due to the ranged damage debuff. |
| Tenacity | After killing 10 enemies in rapid succession, Diving Kick damage increases by 25% for 10 seconds. Cooldown of 30 seconds. |
| Combat Readiness | Grapnel Launcher recharges 20% faster. |
| Adrenaline Rush or Emperor’s Blessing | Melee kills against Majoris or higher enemies to restore health. Emperor’s Blessing allows you to restore all armour when you get uncapped instead of going down. Cooldown of 180- seconds. |
The Vanguard has a lot of keywords targeting enemy types and Terminus enemies. You can get a lowdown in our seperate guides.
In general, the Vanguard playstyle is typically about buffing your survivability and interactions with health and armour. You also focus on improving your Grapnel and your ability to get into the thick of it. The building is very much fast-paced to get into the swarms. Jumping in with Grapnel, getting multiple hits on swarms and staggering them is important. You can then unlash with your melee weapons and continue rapid duelling or cleaving with the Chainsword.
No matter your weapon of choice, you’ll want to fly into combat using your Grapnel Hook.
Vanguard Weapon Builds
For the most part, we think Vanguard players perform best with the Multi-Rifle, which will be the focus of our primary weapon. This does high burst damage baseline, alongside easily mowing down hordes in a quick and effective manner. When you reach Relic, unlock the Ophelian Liberation – Alpha for its second highest damage stat, alongside major buffs to ammo and reserve capacities.
In terms of melee weapons, you have a few options. The Combat Knife is more favoured for duelling, while the Chainsword is much better for cleaving swarms. It’s largely preference what you prefer.
| Perk | Combat Knife | Chainsword |
| 1 | Perpetual Strength – 5% increase in melee damage. | Perpetual Strength – 5% increase to melee damage. |
| 2 | Kinetic Energy – Consecutive Heavy Attacks increase heavy attack melee damage by 3%, stacking to 30% for 3 seconds. | Swift Recovery – Heavy Attacks restore 100% more Contested health to Quick Punch, Front Kick, Shoulder Bash and Stomp. |
| 3 | Perpetual Strength – 5% increase to melee damage. | Perpetual Strength – 5% increase to melee damage. |
| 4 | Shoulder Bash – Replaces distant stab with shoulder bash. Active by evading or sprinting and tapping the attack button to perform an AOE shoulder barge. | Perpetual Strength – 5% increase to melee damage. |
| 5 | Tyranid Slayer – Force to take, handy on Tyranid maps though. | Reverberating Impact – Stomp AOE radius increased by 50%. |
| 6 | Reeling Blow – Hitting enemies with Whirlwind slash deals 30% less damage over 4 seconds. 10-second CD. | Chaos Slayer – Forced to take it. Handy for Chaos maps. |
| 7 | Extremis Slayer – 15% melee damage bonus against Extremis-level enemies. | Hard Target – Take 15% less ranged when performing a light attack combo. Handy for more defensiveness. |
| 8 | Either the final bottom row node if you want LoC denial or Terminus Salyer for more boss damage. | Trampling Stride – After performing a Stompp, hold the attack button to perform another stomp. |
If you’re running the Chainsword, you want the Aquilan Deciation relic weapon. You lose cleaving potential from it, but you get Fencing and huge damage increases. Furthermore, the Stomp AOE increase makes up for the loss of Cleave potential. You also do not want to take the speed loss or the balanced weapon. Block is fine if you’re not bothered about Perfect Parry either, so it is up to you.
Combat Knife players should unlock the Blood of Vossis. The strength, speed and balanced playstyle are important for the duelling you need. No other option is particularly worth it. Getting to the heavy attack move buffs, alongside your flat damage buffs is important for the Speed, as it is a major DPS increase.
With that said, this concludes the Space Marine 2 Vanguard build. You’ll have a better idea of the styles you can run, alongside the perks and weapons you want to use.
