Each of Space Marine 2's classes has a spice to them whether that be the Assualt’s jump pack or the Bulwark’s banner. Still, nothing in the game is quick as satisfying as the Vanguard’s grapple and the player base agrees with Vanguard becoming a fan favorite. This has led players to wonder what is the best build for Vanguard, from melta spam to the difficult decision of the chainsword or the knife this guide has 7 builds for you to use in both PvP and PvE.
7. PvP Scout Vanguard
- Weapon: Occulus Bolt Carbine
- Secondary: Bolt Pistol
- Melee: Combat Knife
- Grenade: Krak Grenade
This first PvP Vanguard build focuses on hitting hard and fast and hitting enemies with the grapple launcher. The Occulus is a rather standard Boltgun with its main draw being the fast fire rate but having a high spread so getting close is the name of the game with this weapon. However, be mindful to not get close enough for the enemy to melee you, the Occulus is a good counter to melee spammers who want to run up and melee or Assaults who missed their slam, but relying on it too much can cause your opponent to get the upper hand.
For melee, the knife is rather strong since it hits rather fast but isn’t going to beat the raw strength of a thunder hammer or charged power fist. This is where the grapple and Krak Grenade come in, with the grapple being able to stun enemies if it hits allowing you to start the fight at an advantage while the Krak Grenade can be used to combo before or after a grapple for an easy trade. The main combat strategy of this build is to flank and get any angle that gives you more time to fight than your opponent. More bullets fired than your enemy, a few more Combat knife stabs before your opponent can retaliate, and hitting a Krak Grenade from the side to get an easy kill is what this build is all about.
6. PvP Presicion Vanguard
- Weapon: Instigator Bolt Carbine
- Secondary: Bolt Pistol
- Melee: Combat Knife
- Grenade: Shock Grenade
This Vanguard build focuses more on range than the last build with the Instigator Bolt Carbine being the star of this build. The Instigator is an accurate burst-fire Boltgun that can easily land headshots from long range. This lets you take longer-range fights and forces most classes to tap-fire their guns in order to keep their spread low while you can fire as normal.
The Shock Grenade is used to keep enemies still with a quick blind and a massive slow you will win firefights more often than not. The Bolt Pistol is a close-range option when the Instigator won’t cut it and the knife acts as the melee version of the pistol with it being a fast-swinging weapon.
The grapple is used in two different ways for this build, the first is just like before with the grapple being a stunner and closer for melee kills, but the second is for positioning. Unlike in operations mode, the PvP grapple can grapple to walls allowing a quick escape. If you find yourself in a bad firefight and know there is a corner you can go to a quick grapple can put massive distance between you and your opponent. The main two threats of this build are Heavys and Snipers with the Heavy’s shield stopping your range and the Sniper being able to either outrange you or sneak behind you with their cloak.
5. PvP Objective Vanguard
- Weapon: Instigator Bolt Carbine
- Secondary: Bolt Pistol
- Melee: Chainsword
- Grenade: Melta Bomb
This PvP Vanguard build is focused on controlling objectives and setting up kill zones acting as a defender more than an attacker. This build is better in game modes like Capture and Control rather than a normal team deathmatch since this build utilizes the Vanguard’s speed and grapple to get to objectives faster than anyone else. Once we’re there we set up traps with the Melta Bomb and get into a good defending position with the grapple and Instigator.
The biggest pro of this build is the use we can get from combining the Melta Bomb, grapple, and map knowledge. Knowing where the enemy has to go in order to reach you can lend to some despicable Melta Bomb traps that can stop entire pushes.
4. PvE Horde Clear Vanguard
- Core: Moving Target/Close Combat Focus/Consecutive Execution
- Team: Inner Fire
- Gear: Collateral Damage/Zone of Impact/Thrill of the Fight
- Signature: Adrenaline Rush
- Primary Weapon: Occulus Bolt Carbine (Ophelian Liberation-Beta)
- Standard: Perpetual Presicion
- Master-Crafted: Elusive Precision/Fast Reload/Perpetual Penetration
- Artificer: Reloading Immunity/Extended Magazine/Divine Might
- Relic: Magazine Restoration/Increased Capacity/Fast Regeneration
- 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 first PvE build for Vanguard focuses on pure horde clear with the Occulus and Chainsword being the main focus. Oculus perks like “Perpetual Penetration” and “Extended Magazine” helps with clearing hordes from range while the “Collateral Damage” and “Zone of Impact” allows the grapple to deal damage while grappling to an elite enemy and deal area damage on the final hit.
And while these perks are good you have to know how to deal with hordes in melee. The most important thing to do when dealing with hordes is to learn how to gun-strike stunned enemies. Doing a heavy after a light makes one horde enemy eligible to be hit with a gun-strike which restores an armor pip. So using combos like “light, heavy” or “light, light, heavy” gives a quick option to stun a horde and get a gun-strike in.
3. PvE Duelist Vanguard
- Core: Melee Mastery/Close Combat Focus/Consecutive Execution
- Team: Inner Fire
- Gear: Shock Wave/Tip of the Spear/Grim Determination
- Signature: Adrenaline Rush
- Primary Weapon: Instigator Bolt Carbine (Gathalamor Crusade-Alpha)
- Standard: Head Hunter
- Master-Crafted: Efficient Hunter/Fast Reload/Adamantine Grip
- Artificer: Honed Precision/Great Might/Increased Capacity/Cleaving Fire
- Relic: Rampage
- 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 PvE build focuses on precision with the Instigator, maintaining constant headshots, and dueling elite and extremis enemies with strong melee. We use “Head Hunter” and “Efficient Hunter” to have a massive headshot damage buff while also using “Tip of the Spear” and “Grim Determination” to buff damage even more after a grapple which stuns elite and extremis enemies for a little bit giving you time to get those important headshots in. This build also goes well against bosses that are difficult to hit like the Neurothrope who can be a pain to deal with if your team lacks a Sniper or Heavy.
Going over to the melee side the light, heavy mix still works well against elites since heavy attacks have a ton of stagger power. “Melee Mastery” is an obvious buff to melee damage but “Grim Determination” also works for your melee hits giving you the option to conserve your ammo for long-range threats. “Shock Wave” also helps in melee by giving much-needed breathing room by making the grapple kick hurt and push back enemies around your target giving you time to use your buffs on the enemies that matter.
2. PvE Melta Vanguard
- Core: Melee Mastery/Close Combat Focus/Consecutive Execution
- Team: Inner Fire
- Gear: Shock Wave/Tip of the Spear/Grim Determination
- Signature: Adrenaline Rush
- 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
Trading long-range damage for close-range, this Vanguard build focuses on being a fast-moving Melta threat. We still use “Tip of the Spear” and “Grim Determination” but instead of turning that into precision headshot damage, we turn it into powerful Melta blasts that destroy anything close range. And just like the Instigator the Melta Rifle can work well against bosses, because we took the Gathalamor variant the Melta Rifle has enough range to reach Neurothropes as long as you get close enough.
The Chainsword still serves as a good melee option but it is mostly used as ammo conservation since the Melta Rifle does not have the luxury of a massive ammo stash. Keeping tabs on the amount of shots you have is important because then you will have to rely on the Bolt Pistol for ranged damage which is very lackluster.
1. PvE Slayer Vanguard
- Core: Moving Target/Close Combat Focus/Consecutive Execution
- Team: Inner Fire
- Gear: Shock Wave/Tenacity/Grim Determination
- Signature: Adrenaline Rush
- 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: Combat Knife (Ophelian Liberation-Alpha)
- Standard: Perpetual Strength
- Master-Crafted: Kinetic Energy/Perpetual Strength/Perpetual Strength
- Artificer: Shadow Stab/Chaos Slayer
- Relic: Tide of Battle/Terminus Slayer
Swapping the iconic Chainsword for the Combat Knife sees this build take a more speedy approach. “Tenacity” giving the grapple kick a damage boost after killing 10 enemies is easy given the Melta Rifle’s blast radius and “Moving Target” gives a good defense from ranged damage thanks to the knife’s quick hits letting you stack range defense quickly.
The Knife itself is a very duelist-oriented melee with quick single target-focused attacks, great for elites and extremis enemies which delegates the Melta Rifle to horde clear which it does well with one or two shots. Like the Chainsword the light, heavy mix still stuns well but you have the luxury of doing one or two more lights because of the knife’s quick speed.
For similar articles check out.
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/space-marine-2-best-bulwark-builds
https://www.gamersdecide.com/articles/space-marine-2-best-heavy-builds
