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The best Space Marine 2 PvE builds for Operations mode

warhammer 40k space marine 2

For those ready to wade into xenos and heretic forces, here are the best Space Marine 2 PvE builds for the Operations mode.

Operations are the bulk of the progression and character customization of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. They introduce skill trees, weapon progressions, and more, to the grimdark action game. We’ve separated each of the multiplayer classes into a quick-and-easy build for you to follow, from weapon selection to our favorite Perk Tree loadouts.

Assault Space Marine 2 PvE Build

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Assault is fast, deadly, and brutally effective. Their job is to seek out the most elite enemies in Space Marine 2 and the biggest swarms and send themselves barrelling in as close to Mach-4 as possible. Assault is incredibly skill-intensive, and this build will require sharp Jet Pack dashing and dodges.

Primary Weapon: Thunder Hammer

Secondary Weapon: Heavy Bolt Pistol

Core Perks

  • Overcharge: The Damage of charged attacks increases by 15%
  • Auxiliary Arsenal: Your Secondary Weapon deals more damage
  • Knowledge of The Enemy: Your Melee Damage increases by 15% against Majoris and Extremis level enemies

Team Perk

  • Proven Efficacy: Your team deals 50% more Gun Strike Damage.

Gear Perks

  • Hammer of Wrath: You can’t be staggered for 10 seconds after using Ground Pound
  • Maneuverability: Your Jetpack recharges 20% Faster
  • Aerial Grace: Using your Jetpack for a perfectly-timed Dodge makes you deal 25% more damage for 5 seconds

Signature Perk

  • Commitment: A perfectly-timed Dodge, using a Jump Pack Dash, restores a charge of the ability.

This build is meant to be a swarm killer, with the ability to isolate individual Majoris+ enemies and tear them to pieces. The Thunder Hammer can reap chaos in the enemy lines, though swapping to more anti-elite options for Thousand Sons missions may be a good option.

Bulwark Space Marine 2 PvE Build

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Bulwark is the tankiest of the tanky classes, and has lots of mechanics and abilities to stay healthy and fighting even when on the edge of being incapacitated. This bulwark build will focus on helping the squad stay healthy. This includes stacking defensive buffs across the team that hold up even in the hardest operations.

Secondary Weapon: Plasma Pistol

Melee Weapon: Power Sword

Core Perks

  • Conviction: When your armor is fully depleted, you take 25% less Health damage for 5 seconds
  • Scrambled Targeting: If you are surrounded by 5 or more enemies, you take 20% less damage from Ranged Attacks
    • Alternative: Armor of Contempt: When you block a ranged attack, enemies within 10 Meters take the damage instead
  • Steel Within: When your health is less than 50%, take 25% less Health damage

Team Perk

  • Advanced Conditioning: Contested Health fades 50% slower for your entire team

Gear Perks

  • Focused Strength: Shield Bash knocks enemies back and makes them lose control for a longer amount of time
  • Invigorating Icon: Your banner grants you and your teammates 100% Contested Health when you plant it
  • Rejuvinating Effect: Your banner automatically revives downed allies in its area

Signature Perk:

  • Defensive Mastery: A perfectly-timed parry on a Majoris or Extremis enemy will instantly incapacitate it, on a long cooldown

Advanced Conditioning, combined with Invigorating Icon, are the key parts of this build that helps share durability to your team. These are converted into heals by planting a banner right before the team executes multiple Majoris or Extremis enemies.

Majoris and above executions fully heal contested health, so planting a banner right before pilling off an execution will guarantee a full heal. This can also be done to help allies, as planting a banner can also help them recover. This is especially good if when setting up an execute near a downed ally. Simply plant a banner and let them heal to full.

Heavy Space Marine 2 PvE Build

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The heavy’s job is very simple: shoot everything until it stops moving. For the highest difficulty operations, we’ll be using the heavy as our ranged damage machine, abusing the Multi-Melta’s incredible damage and knockback potential to turn this class into a Promethium-belching dragon. This build focuses on stacking as much raw damage and sustained offense as it can on the Multi-Melta, combined with souping up allies’ abilities.

Primary Weapon: Multi-Melta

Secondary Weapon: Plasma Pistol

Core Perks

  • Multi-Kill: When you kill 5 or more enemies with the Multi-Melta, restore 1 shot of Ammunition
  • Fortitude: Increase your Health by 20%
  • Overwhelming Power: While Iron Halo is active, team members within 10 meters deal 10% more damage

Team Perk

  • Encompassing Aegis: Your team takes 20% less Damage

Gear Perks

  • Consecutive Execution: Killing 10 enemies in rapid succession fully restores Iron Halo’s cooldown
  • Obdurate Bastion: Iron Halo gains 20% Durability
  • Brute Force: When Iron Halo is on cooldown, Ranged Damge increases by 15%

Signature Perk:

  • Conversion Field: While Iron Halo is active, allies gain Ability Charges 50% Faster

This heavy build is meant to hunt down either big groups of Majoris enemies, or swarms of Minor enemies, and lay them to waste with the Multi-Melta. Its specialization, however, is having Iron Halo available for back-to-back uses. Overwhelming Power and Multi-Kill mean it’s as easy as it can be to pop Iron Halo, lay waste to an enemy horde, and have another charge ready to go right after.

Sniper Space Marine 2 PvE Build

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Like any sniper build, this one focuses on dealing as much damage as possible to the toughest targets. When the team isn’t taking down Majoris+ enemies, the sniper will be clearing out hordes and refreshing ammunition while waiting on a big Camo Cloak combo. This build specializes in recharging Camo Cloak quickly, then dispatching Majoris and Extremis level enemies with a single well-placed Las Fusil round.

Primary Weapon: Las Fusil

Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol

Melee Weapon: Combat Knife

Core Perks

  • Block Break: Deal 25% more Ranged Damage to blocking and Shielded enemies
  • Vantage Point: Standing still for 2 seconds increases your Primary Weapon’s Ranged Damage by 20%
  • Lethal Efficiency: When you kill more than one enemy with a Las Fusil shot, restore the used ammunition

Team Perk

  • Squad Renewal: Headshots restore Ability Charge by 10% for your team

Gear Perks

  • Renewal: A Headshot kill restores Camo Cloak’s Cooldown by 5%
  • Targeted Shot: The first Ranged Weapon shot that you fire while in Camo Cloak deals 75% more damage
  • Lingering Concealmeant: After an attack would break your Camo Cloak invisibility, stay invisible for two seconds longer

Signature Perk:

  • Evasion: After a perfectly timed dodge, Camo Cloak activates without spending an Ability Charge, the invisibility lasts for 5 seconds

This sniper build revolves around setting up high-impact shots with either massive damage or chaining kills on smaller enemies to charge up for a big Vantage Point + Targeted Shot combination. After standing still in Camo Cloak for 2 seconds, the next shot will deal a full 95% more damage, including additional headshot damage.

The core pattern is to farm small enemies to wait for Camo Cloak, pop Camo Cloak, stand still to proc Vantage Point, then send a Targeted Shot headshot at a Majoris+ enemy and scuttle away as Lingering Concealment fades.

Tactical Space Marine 2 PvE Build

This tactical build is an elite enemy-destroying machine. It stacks tons and tons of bonuses to Auspex Scan to focus on Majoris, Extremis, and Terminus enemies with the team. This makes the tactical a jack of all trades, capable of making allies shine.

This build focuses on turning Auspex Scan into a boss-shredding tool like no other, while still packing a bit of horde-clearing capability with an extra-piercing Heavy Bolt Rifle.

Primary Weapon: Heavy Bolt Rifle

Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol

Melee Weapon: Chainsword

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Core Perks

  • Kraken Penetrator Rounds: Bolt weapons pierce one additional enemy
  • Relentless Pursuit: After a Gun Strike, increase your Ranged Damage by 25%
  • Final Shot: After a Finisher, fully reload your equipped weapon

Team Perk

  • Transhuman Physiology: Your team restores 30% more Contested Health

Gear Perks

  • Vital Data: The mark from Auspex Scan lasts twice as long (Base: 8s), but ignores Minoris level enemies
  • Precise Calibration: Enemies take 75% more Damage while marked by Auspex Scan, but the radius is reduced by 25%
  • Rejuvenating Effect: Enemies take 100% more Damage when marked by Auspex Scan, but the duration is decreased by 4 seconds

Signature Perk:

  • Radiating Impact: Every 90 seconds, your next Melee Finisher deals huge AoE damage

This tactical build focuses on helping the team deal with the biggest and baddest enemies on the field. Thanks to Precise Calibration and Rejuvinating Effect, the tactical can hit Major, Extremis, or Terminus enemies with a whopping 175% damage multiplier on top of Auspex Scan’s base damage increase.

Keep in mind Auspex Scan cannot affect Minoris-level enemies, so the rest of the team needs to help out with swarms of Traitor Guardsmen or Tyranids.

Vanguard Space Marine 2 PvE Build

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This vanguard build is a single-target damage monster, focusing on weaving through the fray with ease and chaining Grapnel Launch finishers. The Perk Tree will focus on offering tools to survive in between opportunities for Grapnel Finishers; specifically more perfect dodge and perfect parry opportuniteies. This also emphasizes being self-sufficient and the ability to fly across the battlefield to target key enemies.

Primary Weapon: Melta Rifle

Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol

Melee Weapon: Combat Knife

Core Perks

  • Moving Target: Moving Target, each Melee Attack decreases the Ranged Damage you take by 1%, stacking up to 15%.
  • Duelist: Perfect Parry window increased by 50%.
  • Honed Reactions: When below 50% Health, your Perfect Dodge window is doubled.

Team Perk

  • Melee Champion: All Squad Members deal 15% more Melee damage.

Gear Perks

  • Shock Wave: Diving Kick deals AoE damage in a 5-meter radius around the enemy hit.
  • Zone of Impact: Performing a Finisher with the Grapnel Launcher deals damage to nearby enemies.
  • Thrill of the Fight: A perfectly-timed Dodge or Parry makes you take 15% less Health Damage for 3 seconds.

Signature Perk:

  • Tactical Prowess: Performing a Finisher with the Grapnel Launcher restores its cooldown entirely (this ability has no cooldown.).

This vanguard build is meant to hunt Majoris+ enemies in a fight and chain Finishers with its Grapnel Launcher. With tons of abilities to increase survivability through Dodges and Parries, the vanguard is meant to buy time before cleaning up the battlefield by bouncing from Grapnel Finisher to Grapnel Finisher. Like many builds, this is a Majoris+ hunting build, meant to help deal with the most potent individual threats in Operations.

That’s everything there is know on how to play each of the classes in Space Marine 2. Time to get out there and purge the Xenos and the Heretic alike in the name of the Emperor.

Written by Nicholas James X Twitter Logo

Nicholas James is an Honors Theatre Graduate from the University of Wales TSD, originally hailing from the Pacific Northwest region. His work has been featured by such outlets as TheGamer, WIN.gg, esports.gg, and others. A repeated All-Pro media vote in League of Legends and an avid historian of the game, Nick spends much of his spare time pushing blue toy soldiers across a table. He can be found on Twitter / X at @NicholasISJ.

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