Key Takeaways
- Master parrying and blocking for effective melee combat.
- Play methodically for success in the slow-paced Eternal War mode.
- Stick with your team to avoid being outnumbered and utilize class abilities effectively.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a third-person shooter set in the grimdark universe of Warhammer: 40,000. It is a sequel to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine following the story of Titus, an ultramarine recently re-instated after being accused of heresy, a crime that saw him serving the deathwatch until his reinstatement. The game has three main modes; Campaign, Operations, and Eternal War.
Eternal War is a 6v6 class-based PvP mode where players are randomly assigned two factions; loyalist Space Marine Chapters or Chaos-aligned Heretic Chapters. There are six classes players can choose from, each offering a unique way to fight enemies and approach the objectives. Each class also has specific weapons that can be used, each fitting the style and esthetic of the class. The aim of each match is to win via objective captures, killing enemies along the way. For players just jumping in to Eternal War, here are some tips they need to know.
6 Block & Parry
No Blue Indicator? No Problem
A large element of melee combat, as explained in the first campaign mission of Space Marine 2, is parrying and blocking. Parrying can be done just as an enemy attack would connect, signified by a blue indicator in both Campaign and Operations. The act of parrying an opponent’s attack kills smaller enemies and stuns larger ones, meaning it serves a crucial purpose in the midst of combat. Blocking is simply the act of reducing damage taken by holding down the parry key, with no offensive bonus.
In Eternal War, melee combat plays a pivotal role for multiple classes, and most players will engage in melee combat if they find themselves in melee range, regardless of class. Despite the lack of a blue indicator, players should be aware that they can still parry enemy players’ melee attacks with any melee weapon, and block incoming damage with the Bulwark Shield. This is not explained to the player, but will result in more consistent melee combat results and equate to more general success.
5 Play Methodically
Take Things Slow
Eternal War is an objective-based mode, and differently paced than Operations and the Campaign. Whereas Operations sees players frantically fighting hordes of enemies who group towards the player, Eternal War affords players the luxury of stealth and slower gameplay. Most objectives consist of attacking and capturing a marked point.
This slower gameplay and ability to sneak around more means that players should approach Eternal War far more methodically. Players should always attempt to flank enemies and attack the objective from unusual angles, allowing for easy kills rather than head-on combat. Players should utilize their class movement abilities to gain different angles of approach, and failing that, move through dead-space that the enemy team is not occupying. This methodical playstyle will result in easier kills, as players can whittle down the large health pool of their opponents without fully committing themselves to the fight.
4 Stick With Your Team
Don’t Get Outnumbered
In Eternal War, players have a large health pool that can itself be increased, depending on their choice of class. This large health pool means that committing to engagements takes a long time, with the slow time to kill providing ample opportunity to be outnumbered. This health pool is made up of two portions; armor and actual health. Some classes come with more armor that can then be restored through class abilities.
Players should always ensure they are traversing the map with teammates so that they can stack the odds of combat in their favor. Traveling in numbers makes it very easy for players to punish lone enemies and utilize the slow time to kill to their advantage. A secondary advantage of traveling with the team is that objectives can be easily contested, allowing players to push away any smaller numbers of enemy players and allowing their team to score the most points. The final advantage is that, when players are utilizing classes such as the Bulwark, they can place down a flag that restores armor to nearby teammates, thus prolonging their lifespan and potentially winning an engagement or objective capture.
3 Don’t Forget About Melee
Get Up Close And Personal
Melee combat is one of the core elements of Space Marine 2, and players will not often find themselves completing an Operation or Campaign mission without using melee, due to its efficacy and because of ammunition scarcity. Melee is a perfectly viable strategy to progress through every mode in Space Marine 2, with some Operations and Eternal War classes having melee as their primary focus.
For this reason, players should not overlook the efficacy of melee combat in Eternal War matches. While most players will engage in gunfights, opting to engage their enemies with a hail of bullets, some of the more effective strategies come from closing the distance and engaging opponents in melee combat. Of course, melee focused classes are expected to utilize melee combat primarily, using their movement tools to close the gap before using their melee weapon to deal damage. Melee, however, is not simply limited to these classes, and players who find themselves in close quarters are likely to have a far more successful time utilizing their melee weapon rather than attempting to shoot an enemy up close.
2 Utilize Third Person
Corners And Walls Are Your Friends
Third-person shooters have been popular for a significant amount of time, be they single-player experiences such as Uncharted or multiplayer giants like Fortnite. Third-person shooters provide interesting gameplay quirks that first-person games do not, most notably in their camera positioning and over-the-shoulder aiming.
Eternal War has very little hard-cover, and most areas of engagement are open spaces or wide corridors. This, coupled with the slow time to kill, often means players can find themselves standing in the open and hoping not to die first. This lack of hard-cover means that players should utilize the third-person camera to peek around corners or walls without revealing their bodies. This means players can evaluate how best to tackle an objective or enemy presence. Conversely, players should always keep in mind that the enemy may well be doing the same, and thus, they should approach each corner as though an enemy can see them.
1 Use Class Abilities Well
Support Or Traversal
Space Marine 2 includes six classes shared between Operations and Eternal War. Each class has specific weapons that it can choose from, as well as a class ability. These abilities can be traversal-oriented, like the Vanguard’s grapnel hook, or the Assault jump-pack. They can also be support abilities, like the Tactical Auspex Scan, or the Bulwark Chapter Banner.
Knowing how to utilize class abilities is the biggest change players can implement to improve in Eternal War and win more games. Traversal abilities can be incredibly useful, but also result in players putting themselves in bad positions, and thus must be used logically and carefully. For example, the Assault jump-pack is useful at engaging in melee combat, allowing players to dive-bomb their opponent. Despite this, players will find themselves suspended in the air and vulnerable before they dive-bomb. Players should be weary of this and ensure they remain out of the sightline of a ranged opponent. The Auspex scan for the Tactical class is useful, but should not be wasted. Players should use the scan primarily when attacking an objective the enemy holds, providing their team with information at the most crucial point of convergence.
