Best Starter Vanguard
VanguardThe Vanguard build that plays itself. The automatic Bolt Carbine has the best contested health recovery and ammo economy in the class, and Honed Precision removes the need to aim down sights at all by cutting hip-fire spread in half. Around that sits a defensive stack that is far tankier than the Vanguard's reputation: Thrill of the Fight, Conviction, and Upper Hand together cover most of the unavoidable damage in the game. The damage comes from the grapnel itself. Tenacity pushes diving kick damage by 130% after any ranged Majoris kill, so you spend the whole match grappling on cooldown and one-shotting Majoris enemies almost by accident.
Damage
Very high burst on demand. Tenacity adds 130% to diving kick damage and Collateral Damage another 50%, enough to one-shot Majoris and nearly one-shot Extremis on Absolute
Survivability
Much higher than expected for the class. 45% health damage reduction from Thrill of the Fight plus Conviction, permanent no-knockback from Upper Hand, and armour on every grapnel
Boss
Moderate. The build is built around Majoris and Extremis deletion rather than sustained single-target boss damage
Vanguard
The squad's diver. The Vanguard carries a grapnel launcher that yanks it onto a distant target and lands as a diving kick, and it recovers contested health faster than any other class. It is built to pick a target across the arena, arrive on top of it, and be somewhere else before the swarm closes.
The easiest primary in the class to use well. Contested health recovery on this weapon is top tier, the ammo economy is excellent, and it fits the Vanguard's in-and-out rhythm exactly. With Honed Precision slotted you can hip-fire it accurately and never touch the sights, which sidesteps the Bolt Carbine's mediocre ADS accuracy entirely.
Alternatives
How to Obtain
Combat Strategy
- ▸Confirm Honed Precision is slotted. The build assumes you never aim down sights.
- ▸Take Tenacity, not Zone of Impact, unless you have also swapped to Tactical Prowess, Restless Fortitude, and the Fencing Power Axe.
- ▸Upper Hand makes Indomitable Spirit redundant in the Prestige tree. Take Battlefield Awareness instead.
- ▸Hip fire the Bolt Carbine into a Majoris and kill it to arm Tenacity.
- ▸Grapnel immediately into the next target. The diving kick lands at +130% and usually one-shots it.
- ▸Finish Majoris enemies in melee to trigger Inner Fire and refund grapnel charge to the whole squad.
- ▸Repeat. The grapnel comes back faster than its base cooldown suggests.
- ▸Collateral Damage adds damage to everything along the grapnel path, so line the flight up through a group.
- ▸The grapnel scales with difficulty, so it hits hardest on Absolute. Use it on Extremis targets, not just Majoris.
- ▸Chain grapnels while Inner Fire is refunding charge to keep the diving kick coming.
- ▸Bolt Carbine fire is the fastest contested health recovery in the class. Shoot rather than retreat.
- ▸Parry regularly to keep Thrill of the Fight refreshed. It resets on every trigger.
- ▸Adrenaline Rush returns health on Majoris melee kills, which is the main heal in the kit.
- ▸Launch Restoration refills armour on every grapnel use.
- ▸Swap Collateral Damage for Restless Fortitude if you are dying to ranged damage rather than melee.
- ▸The Recoupment carbine line trades ammo economy for an armour segment on every Majoris headshot kill, which pairs well with grapple-and-headshot play.
- ▸Zone of Impact is the alternative build direction. It is stronger but demands execute positioning, so move to it only once the Tenacity loop is automatic.
Sources
Verified: 2026-09-04 · All content is original with full credit to original creators.