Hey guys, welcome back! It’s Librarian Husky here, and today we’re going to break down the class tier list for Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2. We’ll explore which classes excel and which fall short so you can make the right choice and enjoy the game to the fullest. Although this is a fantastic game, not all classes perform equally. Let’s get into the details, and may the Emperor guide us through this tier list.

The Tactical Class: Versatility at Its Best

The Tactical class is the most balanced, all-around option in the game. It boasts a wide selection of primary weapons, more than any other class, ensuring that you’re prepared for any battle scenario. You also have one sidearm and a melee option—the Chainsword, which stands out as one of the top melee weapons. Moreover, you start with three armor bars, giving you the highest starting defense of all classes.

Aspect Scan: A Game-Changing Ultimate

The Tactical class’ ultimate ability, Aspect Scan, exposes enemies within range, making them more vulnerable to attacks. This is especially handy against invisible foes, as Aspect Scan reveals their location. On higher difficulties, where enemies have considerably more health, this ability is invaluable for conserving ammo and speeding up your team’s takedowns.

The Importance of Efficiency in Harder Content

When playing on tougher difficulty levels, resource management becomes a key aspect, and debuffs like the ones from Aspect Scan are critical to success. The Tactical class shines in its adaptability, being effective in long-range, mid-range, and close-quarters combat. This versatility allows you to handle any situation without losing effectiveness.

Perks and Abilities: Maximizing Damage Output

The perks in the Tactical class offer numerous benefits. For instance, the “Mark for Death” perk allows you to instantly eliminate a Majoris or Extremis enemy marked by Aspect Scan with a headshot, and it refreshes every 12 seconds. Being able to one-shot such enemies is a huge advantage. Additionally, you gain strong area-of-effect damage with finishers, which you’ll be using often, as finishers are a core element of the game.

The Arsenal of Tactical: A Tier Class

Tactical’s wide variety of weapons is its greatest strength. You have excellent long-range options and can equip the Melta Rifle to literally melt your opponents. Thanks to its versatile weaponry and powerful abilities, the Tactical class earns its place solidly in the A-tier.

Assault Class: A Melee Powerhouse

Moving on to the Assault class. While Tactical offers a bit of everything, Assault is highly specialized, focusing solely on melee combat. In fact, this class doesn’t even give you a primary ranged weapon, emphasizing hand-to-hand fighting as its main strength.

Weapon Selection for the Assault Class

Since you won’t have access to a primary weapon, you’ll need to select from two ranged options and three melee weapons. All of these choices can be utilized with deadly efficiency. For your ultimate, you get the Jump Pack, which acts as your gap closer, enabling you to quickly reach enemies firing from a distance, where you are most vulnerable.

Armor and Combat Mechanics

The Assault class starts with three armor bars, the maximum amount you can have at the beginning. However, in large-scale battles, these bars can be depleted quickly. To restore health, you’ll need to engage in melee combat, and to recover your armor, performing finishers on enemies becomes necessary. This keeps you constantly active and in the heat of battle.

Ranged and Melee Weapon Choices

For your sidearm, you can pick between the heavy bolt pistol, which deals serious damage, or the versatile standard bolt pistol, which can be upgraded for use with other classes. In terms of melee options, you have three to choose from: the Chainsword, which provides a good balance between speed and damage; the Thunderhammer, which has slower attacks but deals massive damage; and the Power Fist, which is fast but has limited range.

The Thunderhammer: A Personal Favorite

The Thunderhammer is a standout choice due to its ability to hit multiple enemies and its extended reach, making it a highly effective option for melee-focused combat. This weapon’s extra range provides a much-needed advantage in close-quarters scenarios, and it’s a personal favorite among players.

The Ammo Advantage of the Assault Class

Ammo management can be one of the toughest aspects of this game, but the Assault class has a distinct advantage here. Since your primary focus is melee combat, you won’t need to worry much about running out of ammo. When your team is low on supplies, you’ll still be dishing out damage with your melee weapons. This allows you to remain a consistent source of damage, even when others are running dry.

Combat Challenges and Team Reliance

That being said, focusing on melee combat does come with challenges. You’re more exposed on the front lines, which means you’ll take more hits. In these moments, you need to rely on teammates to leave stim packs for you. Without proper support, the Assault class can struggle, particularly in higher-difficulty encounters. Your survival will depend heavily on cooperation and efficient resource sharing.

Perks and Jump Pack Utility

Many of the Assault class perks are designed to enhance your Jump Pack, allowing you to use it more frequently to close the distance between you and enemies. This ability is vital for staying effective in combat, as your class relies on quickly getting into close range to deal damage.

Downsides of the Assault Class

Despite its strengths, the Assault class does have several notable weaknesses. One of the biggest is dealing with flying enemies, which can be both hard to hit and deal significant damage to you. Using your sidearm against them can feel sluggish and inefficient. Additionally, during boss fights, you may struggle to engage as certain bosses remain out of reach from melee attacks, making you wish for a proper primary weapon.

Issues with the Jump Pack

In my experience over the past week, the Jump Pack has been inconsistent and occasionally unresponsive, which has resulted in some frustrating deaths. While it’s likely that the developers will patch this soon, it’s worth considering if you’re planning to play the Assault class. You might want to wait until this problem is resolved before committing to it.

The Need for Ranged Weapons

One of the key difficulties the Assault class faces is handling tough enemies that require ranged attacks. Additionally, when you encounter large groups of over 20 enemies, they can quickly tear through your armor and start draining your health, making it tough to survive prolonged battles.

Current Class Placement

Due to the unreliability of the Assault class’s ultimate and the vulnerability in armor combined with a lack of ranged options, this class feels somewhat overlooked. As a result, I’m placing the Assault class in the SE-tier for now. I anticipate future updates will address these problems, likely with some much-needed buffs.

Vanguard Class: A Mobile Alternative

Now, let’s talk about the Vanguard class. Vanguard offers a more mobile, but slightly less armored version of the Tactical class, coming with some fantastic perks. However, you only start with two armor bars, which means enemies will reduce your health more quickly than with most other classes.

Vanguard’s Mobility and Ranged Arsenal

Despite having lower armor, Vanguard’s mobility and access to strong ranged weapons make survival easier. One standout perk is Emperor’s Blessing, which allows you to recover all your armor if you take lethal damage, preventing death. This ability has a cooldown of 180 seconds, making it a crucial tool for staying alive during difficult encounters.

Emperor’s Blessing: A Lifesaver

With Emperor’s Blessing, you can avoid death every three minutes, as it restores all your armor instead of letting you die. Since it’s rare to die more than once every few minutes, this perk is incredibly valuable, letting you focus on dealing damage and supporting your team without worrying too much about your health.

Inner Fire: Boosting Squad Abilities

Another important perk for Vanguard is Inner Fire, which lets your entire squad regain 15% of their ability charge whenever they perform a finisher. Since finishers are a regular part of gameplay, your squad will constantly be recharging their abilities, making Vanguard an essential part of any team composition.

Weapon Options for Vanguard

Vanguard has access to three primary weapon choices, including reliable single-target rifles and the powerful, enjoyable Melta Rifle. The Melta Rifle stands out as one of the most entertaining weapons in the game, perhaps only rivaled by the Multi-Melta, offering Vanguard players great versatility in combat.

Exploring Vanguard’s Sidearms and Melee Options

If you haven’t yet experienced the power of the Melta weapons, they are an absolute must-try! These weapons bring an intense punch to your loadout. As for your sidearm, the Bolt Pistol is your sole option, but it performs admirably. On the melee side, you can choose between the Combat Knife and the Chainsword. The Combat Knife swings faster but covers less ground, while the Chainsword strikes more enemies simultaneously and delivers a heavier impact during melee engagements.

The Chainsword: A Strong Melee Option

The majority of players are likely to favor the Chainsword due to its overall feel and effectiveness in combat. If you find yourself relying on melee combat frequently, the Chainsword will provide a much more gratifying and forceful experience compared to the faster but less impactful Combat Knife.

Adrenaline Rush Perk and Health Recovery

Another essential perk to keep in mind is Adrenaline Rush, which restores 1% of your health with each melee kill of a Majoris or high-tier enemy. This perk becomes incredibly valuable during high-difficulty missions, where sustaining health can be particularly challenging due to relentless enemy attacks.

Grap Nail Launcher: The Ultimate Disruptor

Vanguard’s ultimate tool is the Grap Nail Launcher, which allows you to hurl yourself toward an enemy, landing a powerful diving kick. This attack not only deals considerable damage but also disrupts the target, halting any attempts to summon reinforcements. This is crucial in more intense missions, where uninterrupted summoning can result in overwhelming enemy waves.

Vanguard: The Ultimate S-Tier Class

Vanguard excels in fast, efficient, and highly tactical missions, making it indispensable in any group. Its overall balance, impressive ultimate ability, and game-changing perks blessed by the Emperor ensure that Vanguard holds its own in any scenario. With all of these strengths, I confidently place Vanguard in the S-tier. You’ll have no regrets picking this class!

Introducing the Bulwark: The Tank of the Game

Now, let’s move on to the Bulwark class, which serves as the closest thing to a tank in Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2. Similar to the Assault class, Bulwark doesn’t have access to a primary weapon, making it more difficult to combat flying enemies or distant bosses. However, Bulwark makes up for this with substantial team-based abilities and durability.

Armor and Survivability on the Front Lines

Bulwark starts with three armor bars, providing essential defense for frontline combat. Though your armor can be worn down quickly, the key to thriving as a melee-focused class is in the ability to restore health after armor loss. This class shines when it comes to staying alive while surrounded by enemies in the heat of battle.

Weapon Choices: Bolt Pistol or Plasma Pistol

For ranged options, Bulwark offers a choice between the Bolt Pistol and the Plasma Pistol. The Plasma Pistol operates much like the Bolt Pistol but has the added advantage of being able to charge shots for a more powerful blast. This brings some extra tactical flexibility when faced with tougher foes.

Ammo Consumption and Weapon Choices

When using the Plasma Pistol, charging it up does come with increased ammo usage, but the damage payoff is well worth it. As for your melee choices, you can opt between the Chainsword, Power Fist, and Power Sword. The Power Sword bears resemblance to the Chainsword but offers a slightly varied move set and attack combos. In my opinion, it delivers a similar experience, so it’s worth experimenting with to find your preferred style.

Group Utility: The Bulwark’s True Strength

Bulwark’s real edge comes from its exceptional group utility. Its ultimate ability, Chapter Banner, replenishes armor for all nearby squad members within the area of effect. This move can be a game-changer during intense moments when your team is on the brink of falling apart. Reinforcing the squad’s defenses at critical junctures allows your team to push forward confidently.

Buffing Abilities and Support Perks

Bulwark has access to several impressive passive perks that boost its role as a support class. One perk grants squad members within the Banner’s influence a 10% damage increase. Another key perk, Rejuvenating Effect, revives downed teammates when the Banner is deployed, giving your entire squad a second chance. These perks make the Bulwark invaluable to any team composition.

Formation and Damage Reduction Perks

Additionally, the Bulwark boasts the passive ability “Effective Formation”, reducing incoming health damage by 20% from Terminus-level enemies for all teammates. This perk provides a massive advantage during difficult battles. As a melee-focused class, you also won’t need to worry about ammo shortages, allowing you to focus purely on combat and supporting your team.

Bulwark: A Tanky Option for Tougher Difficulties

In higher-difficulty missions, the main challenge will be keeping your health up. If your team struggles with survival and needs more durability to complete objectives, the Bulwark is a solid option. However, without strong ranged capabilities, especially against flying or faraway enemies, Bulwark falls short in versatility.

Bulwark’s Limitations and B-Tier Placement

The absence of primary weapons in melee classes like Bulwark limits their flexibility, especially in a game where ranged enemies are often a significant threat. While fun to play, Bulwark is inherently more difficult compared to ranged classes. For this reason, I’m placing Bulwark in the B-tier. Although the Emperor provides, the Bulwark could benefit from additional support to truly excel.

Introducing the Sniper Class

Moving on, the Sniper class delivers exactly what you’d expect. With only two armor bars, the Sniper depends on its rifle to land devastating, long-range damage. The main drawback lies in managing large hordes, particularly Tyranid forces, though they rarely present the same danger as the more powerful enemies that the Sniper is built to handle.