Warhammer 40k has one of the best armouries in all of sci-fi. Forget your “elegant weapons for a more civilized age” – the guns, swords, and explosives in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium are big, ugly, and ridiculously fun to play with. This guide to Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 weapons covers the whole arsenal revealed for the game so far.
Wargamer’s time with the Space Marine 2 preview build has us hopeful that it will be one of the better Warhammer 40k games out there. For a long time, the original Space Marine held the title of “best representation of a boltgun in 40k media”, though we’re inclined to give the crown to retro-shooter Warhammer: 40k Boltgun nowadays.
We’re tracking news of the Space Marine 2 release date eagerly, and we’re preparing new guides as you read this – check back on Wargamer to find out how Space Marine 2 combat works, and all the enemies that are confirmed to be part of the game.
Here’s everything we know so far about Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 weapons:
Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 main weapons
You can only carry one main weapon at a time in Space Marine 2, so pick one to suit your playstyle. We got to play with five in the preview build. The boltrifle, auto boltrifle, and bolt carbine are all assault rifles (well, technically they’re assault rocket-grenade launchers), but they each offer a different tempo of violence.
The Meltagun fires a short-range pulse of superheated energy that pulps weaker enemies and stuns larger ones. The Heavy bolter is excellent at breaking up swarms of smaller Tyranid creatures, but it has limited ammo – if you pick one of these up, expect a set-piece battle to follow.
| Gun | Ammo /max | ROF | Strength | Range | Notes |
| Bolt rifle | 25/150 | Moderate | Medium | Medium | Strong vertical recoil when aiming |
| Auto bolt rifle | 35/210 | Fast | Medium | Medium | |
| Bolt carbine | 30/270 | Fast | Medium | Medium | |
| Meltagun | 4/16 | Very slow | Catastrophic | Point-blank | Fires a short-range blast |
| Heavy bolter | 200 | Fast | Strong | Medium-long | Overheats; cannot be reloaded |
Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 grenades
So far, only frag grenades have been revealed for Space Marine 2 – these are classic, explosive, anti-personnel grenades, perfect for blasting apart hordes of Tyranid Termagants. We hope that we’ll get some of the more exotic explosives from the 40k universe later – implosive krak grenades, tank-killing melta bombs, or reality-splitting vortex grenades.
Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 pistols
The Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 pistols are back-up ranged weapons that never run out of ammunition, though they still need to reload. It’s quicker to swap to a pistol than to reload any of your main weapons, and you’ll often whip out your pistol for a quick execution shot.
The Plasma Pistol shows up in the most recent Space Marine 2 gameplay trailer, but wasn’t available in the demo build that Wargamer played.
| Pistol | Ammo | ROF | Strength |
| Bolt pistol | 12 | Fast | Weak |
| Heavy bolt pistol | 8 | Slow | Medium |
| Plasma pistol | Unknown | Moderate | Strong |
Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 melee weapons
Space Marine 2 has a full melee combat system, with parries, dodges, stuns, and executions. Warhammer 40k has a massive arsenal of melee weapons, and we hope to see more of them in the final build of the game: the Thunder Hammer in the original Space Marine was hilarious.
When you pick up a Heavy Bolter, you’re unable to access your regular melee weapon, and must club your enemies with its metal bulk.
| Melee weapon | Speed | Strength |
| Combat knife | Fast | Weak |
| Chainsword | Medium | Medium |
| Heavy bolter smash | Slow | Weak |
If you’re a fan of third-person action games but you’re new to Warhammer 40k, we actually have a guide answering the question “What is Warhammer 40k?” just for you. You can also check out our guides to the many Warhammer 40k factions, which go in depth into the lore of the many warring species in the setting.
Source: Wargamer
