Best Starter Assault
AssaultBuilt around Death's Grasp, the Heroic Power Fist, which is arguably the easiest melee weapon in the game to use. Its Follow-Up Shot hero perk marks a nearby Majoris for a gun strike every time you land a finisher, and it triples light attack damage, so the entire combat loop collapses into light attack spam, parry, gun strike, finisher, repeat. Every gun strike restores armour through Armour Reinforcement, and armour damage-caps melee hits completely, which means a sliver of it zeroes out an incoming attack. The result is a build that is very hard to take health damage on without asking you to learn charge timings or heavy attack spacing.
Damage
High and low-effort. 200% light attack damage on Death's Grasp, plus 30% squad-wide gun strike damage and a 25% damage-taken debuff from Act of Attrition
Survivability
Very high. Constant armour regeneration from gun strikes, armour damage-capping melee hits, Hammer of Wrath ranged reduction, and Unyielding Oath invulnerability on demand
Boss
Solid rather than exceptional. Power Fist heavies still hit hard despite the 50% penalty, but this build is built for swarms and Majoris pressure
Assault
The squad's aerial melee specialist. The Assault carries a jump pack instead of a primary weapon, trading ranged firepower for leaps, dashes, and a ground pound that flattens crowds. Its dashes cancel the recovery animation of anything it is doing, so it can commit to slow heavy weapons that other classes cannot safely swing.
The easiest melee weapon in Space Marine 2 and the whole reason this build works for beginners. It is a Fencing-stance Power Fist with 15 base Strength, so light attacks hit like a truck, and its hero perk hands you free gun strikes on a loop. The 50% charged-attack penalty barely registers because Power Fist heavies are already extreme, and you are not building around them anyway.
How to Obtain
Combat Strategy
- ▸Confirm Armour Reinforcement is slotted, not Overcharge. Death's Grasp does not use charged attack damage.
- ▸Pick the secondary by faction: rate-of-fire Plasma Pistol for Chaos, Bolt Pistol for Tyranids.
- ▸Take Defense Mechanism while learning, and move to Consecutive Execution once contested health management is second nature.
- ▸Light attack spam. Death's Grasp triples light attack damage, so this is your actual damage rotation.
- ▸Parry incoming swings, take the gun strike, then execute. Each gun strike restores armour.
- ▸The finisher marks another Majoris for a free gun strike through Follow-Up Shot. Chain into it immediately.
- ▸Use the jump pack constantly to keep Hammer of Wrath and Pride in Duty rolling.
- ▸Ground pound into a pack to trigger Smiting Angel and Pride in Duty damage, then Zealous Blow refunds the charge.
- ▸Heavy attack for the power wave when a group lines up. Tide of Battle pushes it to 20m.
- ▸With Ample Ammunition, land next to an Extremis target and fire three charged plasma shots to force execute range.
- ▸Armour is the health bar here. Keep gun strikes flowing rather than trying to heal.
- ▸Defense Mechanism keeps contested health on screen long enough to earn back with a gun strike.
- ▸Charged Plasma Pistol shots are the fastest contested health refill available.
- ▸Swap Ample Ammunition for Commitment once dash-cancelling is instinctive. The dash cancels the recovery of anything you are doing and gets you out of bad positions.
- ▸Hold the ground pound charge for a split second to trigger Unyielding Oath before committing to a descent into ranged fire.
- ▸Wings of Flame over Zealous Blow if you are confident landing on dense Hormagaunt or Genestealer packs.
Sources
Verified: 2026-09-04 · All content is original with full credit to original creators.