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The Vanguard is one of six playable classes inWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’smultiplayer. This class is a hybrid between the Assault and Tactical classes, giving players a suite of close-range weapons and a grappling hook to dive headfirst into enemy territory. They deal massive burst damage, have excellent mobility, but are arguably one of the most fragile classes in the game. One small mistake can spell disaster.
But a good Vanguard with the right build can become an utter nightmare. If grappling between units and decimating them with a shotgun sounds right up your alley, then read on to learn how the Vanguard works, what their best perks are, and how to build them for success in PvE endgame content.
How To Play Vanguard
The Vanguard is aclose-range skirmisherwho uses high-damage, burst DPS primaries to melt the opposition before they have a chance to react. Their signature ability, theGrapnel Launcher, is a grappling hook that launches your Astartes into your hooked target. It can only be attached to enemy units in PvE Operations, but a successful grapple is usually followed by adive kick, an AoE melee strike that deals moderate damage.
Most Vanguard players will want to pair their Grapnel Launcher with the mightyMelta Rifle.This close-range shotgun obliterates Minoris-tier enemies and deals great damage to Majoris targets, making it easy to clean up weaker foes with your Combat Knife or Bolt Pistol. You only have two armor pips with this class, so you’ll want to time your aggressive pushes carefully. Playing on the frontline for too long will lead to your demise on harder difficulties.
Vanguard Perk Tree
You may only select one perk per column.
This table is inverted, so colum options are listed as rows.
Pick one per row
Moving Target
Each melee attack you land reduces the ranged damage you take by 1% (up to 15%). If you do not land a melee attack for 3 seconds, the effect ends.
Melee damage is 10% more against Majoris-tier enemies and above.
Upper Hand
After a perfectly-timed parry or dodge, you cannot be knocked down or staggered for 5 seconds.
Perfect parry window increases by 50%.
Close-Combat Focus
You take 20% less melee damage, but 10% more ranged damage.
Conviction
When your armor breaks, you take 15% less HP damage for 10 seconds.
Retribution
After you’re staggered or knocked down, deal 20% more melee damage for 10 seconds.
Consecutive Execution
Killing 10 enemies in rapid succession restores a grenade charge. 180s cooldown.
Pick one
Your squad deals 15% more melee damage.
Unmatched Zeal
Melee finishers on Extremis-class enemies restore a small amount of HP.
Restless Fortitude
After a Dive Kick, you take 10% less ranged damage for 10 seconds.
Dive Kick deal damage in a 5-meter radius.
Collateral Damage
Dive Kicks additionally deal a small amount of damage to enemies in your path mid-grapple.
Zone of Impact
Performing a finisher with the Grapnel Launcher deals a small amount of damage to nearby enemies.
Tenacity
After killing 10 enemies in rapid succession, Dive Kick’s damage is increased by 25% for 10 seconds. 30s cooldown.
Tip of the Spear
Enemies hit by Dive Kick take 15% more ranged damage for 10 seconds.
Thrill of the Fight
After a perfectly timed parry or dodge, you take 15% less HP damage for 3s.
Grim Determination
While your class ability is on cooldown, deal 10% more weapon damage.
Adrenaline Rush
Melee kills on Majoris+ units restore 1% HP.
Vanguard’s perk tree modifies your Grapnel Launcher’s behavior and gives the class new tools for enhancing its survivability. TheDuelistperk, when paired with a Fencing melee weapon, makes parrying a trivial affair. If you’re in the block animationat all, you’ll perform a perfect parry. This synergizes nicely withUpper Hand’sstagger immunity andThrill of the Fight’smoderate damage reduction bonus.
Dive Kicks can be enhanced in several ways here.Shock Waveis generally what we recommend for most builds, causing your Dive Kick attack to damage all enemies within five meters. It’s a useful crowd control tool that makes the Grapnel Launcher much safer to use in higher difficulties. You can then useTip of the Spearto debuff the target once hit, making them more susceptible to your Melta Gun’s flesh-rending heat blasts.
Grapnel Launcher Finishers
If you grapple onto a critically wounded opponent, you will automatically perform an execution roughly half a second after you land. Don’t press anything to let the execution play out.
Keep this in mind if you plan on using the Zone of Impact or Tactical Prowess passives.
Melee
Vanguards have access to a selection of close-range firearms and melee armaments. TheMelta Rifleis easily the strongest weapon available to this class as of the launch version of Space Marine 2, as it can obliterate entire hordes of Minoris-tier units in a single shot. Tougher units can withstand a handful of shots, but that’s not a notable drawback since this gun has a sizable five-round magazine that can be further expanded with perks and variants.
If you need tofight something from afar, you can rely on either theInstigator Bolt Carbine, a burst-fire bolter with a magnification scope, or your trustyBolt Pistolsecondary. When your ammo runs dry and the horde is at your doorstep, you can choose between a modestCombat Knifeor the iconicChainsword.We generally find the Combat Knife to be more versatile in everyday combat, but the Chainsword’s stomp attack build can put in work against hordes.
Class Perks
Our build is specced towardsperfect parries and close-range combat. We highly recommend using anyfencing melee weaponwith the Vanguard togive yourself the widest parry windows possible. Even if you aren’t a parry savant in action games, a fencing weapon paired with theDuelist perkmakes it trivially easy to land perfect parries. This makes it easy to procUpper Hand’sstagger immunity andThrill of the Fight’s15% DR buff.
Instant Health
If you have any Contested HP, shoot your Melta Rifle into a pack of enemies. You’ll deal so much damage that you’ll overheal your Contested HP, usually restoring your HP to full.
Until this bug gets patched, make use of it.
You’ll need that parry forgiveness because we’re going all-in on CQC. TheMelta Rifle (Gathalamor Crusade)is the ultimate primary for Operations, decimating smaller units while chunking Majoris-tier units. We recommend the range variant with alltop-row upgrades—the perks that provide fire rate and magazine size. Run a damage variant of theBolt Pistol (Ophelian Liberation - Beta)and any fencing melee weapon (we use the Combat Knife).
As for the Grapnel Launcher, we useShock Waveto stagger nearby enemies with our Dive Kick andTip of the Spearfor a moderate 15% damage buff. Execute the enemy with your Grapnel Launcher to restore your charge viaTactical Prowessand even restore some spare energy through yourInner Fireteam ability.
