The classes in Space Marine 2 are all varied and unique weapons and skills. For Tactical this seems like the most standard space marine to ever space marine but the devs made Tactical unique by giving him all the guns. This makes Tactical have the most build expression in both PvP and PvE and this guide is here to show you which ones are the best.
7. PvP Sniper Tactical
Weapon: Stalker Bolt Rifle
Secondary: Bolt Pistol
Melee: Chainsword
Grenade: Shock Grenade
This first build takes the long-range approach with the highly accurate Stalker Bolt Rifle. This Bolt Rifle boasts the second-highest damage-per-shot of all the Bolt weapons and an enhanced zoom letting you get good shots off at opponents at long ranges. Combo that with the scan ability which highlights any enemy in range and gives your team a damage buff against them and you turn into a pseudo-sniper being able to take long sightlines and force close-range classes to you.
The shock grenade acts as both a deterrent and stun on enemies forcing them to fight you at range and if they’re not a Heavy or Sniper then 9 times out of 10 you will win that engagement. The Bolt Pistol and Chainsword acts as a last resort when people get too close but don’t forget your scan even in a melee fight. The damage buff the scan provides gives you a good counterattack option if your opponent is careless or misses their melee.
6. PvP Scout Tactical
Weapon: Bolt Carbine
Secondary: Bolt Pistol
Melee: Chainsword
Grenade: Krak Grenade
This PvP build is more focused on close-range assault with the Bolt Carbine a fast-firing Boltgun with a quick time to kill. Combine that with the Tactical’s scan ability and you will be winning close-range 1v1s. Remember the Chainsword however since a close-range weapon like the Carbine will lead to your enemy taking a swing with their melee if you’re close enough. The Krak grenade also acts as a good mid-range option especially if you can stick an enemy with it ensuring heavy damage.
This build plays the opposite of our sniper build with you wanting to avoid long sightlines like the plague and take fights around corners whenever possible. Try to dodge Assaults who are about to slam down and Multi-Melta Heavys since both can counter your close-range options. Snipers can also counter you but they shouldn’t be a threat as long as you don’t go into their sightlines.
5. PvP Basic Bolter Tactical
Weapon: Bolt Rifle
Secondary: Bolt Pistol
Melee: Chainsword
Grenade: Krak Grenade
The basic loadout for Tactical barring the Krak Grenade is a surprisingly good build. Being a jack of all trades is really strong since every other class is specialized in some way. The Bolt Rifle is alright in all of its stats from range to accuracy to damage which doesn’t sound exciting but when the Bolt Rifle is compared to every other weapon that has some sort of gimmick being a gun that shoots bullets makes the Bolt Rifle always useful because it doesn’t have a massive disadvantage against something.
This is the most flexible build with the Tactical being able to be put in any scenario and perform decently. While this build doesn’t have the specialization like other builds you aren’t as heavily penalized in any specific area like other builds. Keep in mind what your enemy has and play around them since you can be flexible with the Bolt Rifle and exploit their weaknesses instead of playing around your strengths.
4. PvE Headtaker Tactical
Core: Balanced Distribution/Relentless Pursuit/Final Shot
Team: Aligned Aim
Gear: Priority Targeting/Battle Focus/Expert Timing
Signature: Marked For Death
Primary Weapon: Stalker Bolt Rifle (Gathalamor Crusade)
Standard: Long shot
Master-Crafted: Survival Instinct/Adamantine Grip/Fast Regeneration
Artificer: Head Hunter/ Head Hunter/ Increased Capacity
Relic: Reloaded Restoration
Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol (Ophelian Liberation-Alpha)
Standard: Great Might
Master-Crafted: Retaliation/Iron Grip
Artificer: Divine Might/Extended Magazine/Head Hunter
Relic: Elite Hunter/Head Hunter
Melee Weapon: Chainsword (Aquilan Dedication)
Standard: Perpetual Strength
Master-Crafted: Swift Recover/Perpetual Strength/Perpetual Strength
Artificer: Saw Blade/Tyranid Slayer/Minors Slayer
Relic: Full Throttle/Extremis Slayer
Our first PvE build also starting with the Stalker Bolt Rifle focuses on taking out elites, extremis, and boss enemies with heavy headshot damage and making our team deal even more damage to scanned enemies. Skills like “Priority Targeting” increase the scanned time of enemies while only scanning elite enemies and above which perfectly cancels out the scan time debuff of “Expert Timing” while still giving a 100% damage boost to scanned enemies.
Don’t forget to parry and perfect dodge in melee though because the “Relentless Pursuit” skill gives gun damage after a gun-strike and “Battle Focus) scans gun-striked targets giving the Stalker high damage even in melee, finish it off with “Final Shot” reloading the Stalker for each execution or gun-strike and you can more than hold your own in melee.
3. PvE Plasma Tactical
Core: Plasma Boost/Relentless Pursuit/Emperor’s Vengeance
Team: Aligned Aim
Gear: Priority Targeting/Battle Focus/Expert Timing
Signature: Marked For Death
Primary Weapon: Plasma Incinerator(Ophleian Liberation-Beta)
Standard: Common Cooling
Master-Crafted: Rapid Cooling/Perpetual Velocity
Artificer: Adamant Velocity/Supercharged Shot/Charged Cooling
Relic: Retaliation/Common Speed/Perpetual Velocity/Charged Speed/Efficient Charge
Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol (Ophelian Liberation-Alpha)
Standard: Great Might
Master-Crafted: Retaliation/Iron Grip
Artificer: Divine Might/Extended Magazine/Head Hunter
Relic: Elite Hunter/Head Hunter
Melee Weapon: Chainsword (Aquilan Dedication)
Standard: Perpetual Strength
Master-Crafted: Swift Recover/Perpetual Strength/Perpetual Strength
Artificer: Saw Blade/Tyranid Slayer/Minors Slayer
Relic: Full Throttle/Extremis Slayer
The Plasma primary is not limited to Heavy with the Tactical boasting a smaller variant that still blasts high-priority targets away with ease. The “Plasma Boost” skill giving a damage boost at 50% heat gives your charged blast extra power to anything that survives the first few charged shots. The “Emperor’s Vengeance” skill effectively gives the Incinerator infinite ammo because upon killing an elite or higher it gives the Tactical a full magazine of ammo back but since the Incinerator is just one big magazine of ammo it gives you all of your ammo back meaning you can be fairly liberal with your shots.
Melee parrying and dodging while still giving the damage buffs like the last build isn’t as useful as the Stalker build since the Incinerator wants to charge up to those big shots which gives other enemies time to swarm you making the Plasma build even more ranged-focused than the Stalker build.
2. PvE Melta Build
Core: Balanced Distribution/Relentless Pursuit/Emperor’s Vengeance
Team: Aligned Aim
Gear: Priority Targeting/Battle Focus/Expert Timing
Signature: Marked For Death
Primary Weapon: Melta Rifle (Gathalamor Crusade)
Standard: Extended Magazine
Master-Crafted: Magazine Restoration/Great Might
Artificer: Divine Might/Extended Magazine/First Shot
Relic: Elusive Fire/Perpetual Fire
Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol (Ophelian Liberation-Alpha)
Standard: Great Might
Master-Crafted: Retaliation/Iron Grip
Artificer: Divine Might/Extended Magazine/Head Hunter
Relic: Elite Hunter/Head Hunter
Melee Weapon: Chainsword (Aquilan Dedication)
Standard: Perpetual Strength
Master-Crafted: Swift Recover/Perpetual Strength/Perpetual Strength
Artificer: Saw Blade/Tyranid Slayer/Minors Slayer
Relic: Full Throttle/Extremis Slayer
Boasting the Melta Rifle alongside the Vanguard, the Tactical arguably can make this weapon hit even harder than his grapple-using brother. If you haven’t mastered perfect dodges and parries then your damage in this build will suffer greatly since we still keep the scanning gun-strike skills as the previous builds and with the Melta Rifle being a close-range you want to keep the scan debuff on enemies as much as possible.
Another thing that helps the Tactical in this build is something that comes free with the class and that’s his third armor bar. Unlike Vanguard the Tactical has three armor bars which gives him more survivability than the Vanguard in some situations albeit without having the powerful grapple. Keep an eye out for Extremis and boss enemies since getting one perfect parry or dodge can allow the Melta Rifle to melt them.
1. PvE Demoman Tactical
Core: Balanced Distribution/Relentless Pursuit/Emperor’s Vengeance
Team: Aligned Aim
Gear: Priority Targeting/Battle Focus/Expert Timing
Signature: Marked For Death
Primary Weapon: Bolt Rifle with Grenade Launcher (Gathalamor Crusade)
Standard: Extended Magazine
Master-Crafted: Magazine Restoration/Perpetual Precision
Artificer: Able Precision/Great Might/Increased Capacity/Cleaving Fire
Relic: Rampage/Extended Magazine/Honed Precision/Tyranid Eliminator
Secondary Weapon: Bolt Pistol (Ophelian Liberation-Alpha)
Standard: Great Might
Master-Crafted: Retaliation/Iron Grip
Artificer: Divine Might/Extended Magazine/Head Hunter
Relic: Elite Hunter/Head Hunter
Melee Weapon: Chainsword (Aquilan Dedication)
Standard: Perpetual Strength
Master-Crafted: Swift Recover/Perpetual Strength/Perpetual Strength
Artificer: Saw Blade/Tyranid Slayer/Minors Slayer
Relic: Full Throttle/Extremis Slayer
This Tactical build is all about the Bolt Rifle or more accurately the grenade launcher attached to the Bolt Rifle which can be swapped to just like zooming in on any other weapon. The grenade launcher is a powerful weapon being able to take out elite, bosses, and hordes with just a few shots and with the launcher having the same one mag size as the Incinerator the “Emperor’s Vengeance” skill restores all of the grenades on an elite kill albeit with a cooldown of 30 seconds.
Don’t forget about the actual Bolt Rifle though since it can do decent damage on its own and hits far faster than the grenades. Using “Marked for Death” to one-shot an extremis enemy with on Bolt Rifle shot then going to a horde and firing off 3 grenades that just decimates them is something only this weapon can do making the Bolt Rifle a gem among the Bolt weapons.
