The Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 PVP multiplayer mode, ‘Eternal War’, is a savage Marine-on-Marine brawl between the heroes of the Imperium and renegades of Chaos. We’ve summarised everything you need to know about the Space Marine 2 multiplayer classes before you dive into battle.
When we wrote this guide, we’d had access to a review build of Space Marine 2; although PVP multiplayer was up and running, there weren’t enough players online to test it. We were able to test the classes in ‘Operations’, the Space Marine 2 coop multiplayer mode, but we expect they will all perform very differently when facing off against humans instead of the regular AI controlled Space Marine 2 enemies.
Here’s the essential information you need about Space Marine 2 PVP multiplayer classes and modes:
Multiplayer classes
Space Marine two has six multiplayer classes, which you can use in both Operations mode and PVP multiplayer. Each class has access to unique equipment, a subset of the Space Marine 2 weapons arsenal, and a default capability.
Tactical
| Special ability | Auspex scan |
| Armor segments | 2 |
| Unique equipment | None |
| Starting ranged weapon | Bolt rifle |
| Starting pistol | Bolt pistol |
| Starting melee weapon | Chainsword |
The Tactical class is the easiest to start with, as it’s the closest to Lieutenant Titus from the base game – you can adapt the loadout to favor specific ranges and roles, but this is always an all-rounder. The Auspex Scan highlights enemies in an area around your target point, illuminating them for your team and granting everyone a damage buff against them.
Tactical Ranged weapons
- Bolt Rifle (default)
- Auto Bolt Rifle
- Heavy Bolt Rifle
- Bolt Carbine
- Marksman Bolt Carbine
- Melta Rifle
- Stalker Bolt Rifle
- Plasma Incinerator
Tactical Pistols
- Bolt Pistol (default)
Tactical Melee Weapons
- Chainsword (default)
Bulwark
| Special ability | Chapter banner |
| Armor segments | 3 |
| Unique equipment | Storm Shield |
| Starting ranged weapon | None |
| Starting pistol | Bolt pistol |
| Starting melee weapon | Chainsword |
The Bulwark class has powerful close range weaponry, a protective storm shield, and a banner that can repair the armor of nearby allies. It offers an aggressive form of defense: the Storm Shield can soak up incoming enemy fire, allowing you and your allies to advance, while its strong melee weaponry means you can repel enemy Assault or Vanguard marines. The Chapter Banner will provide your forces with a second wind, refreshing their armor before you join to an assault.
Bulwark ranged weapons
Bulwark pistols
- Bolt Pistol (default)
- Plasma Pistol
Bulwark melee weapons
- Chainsword (default)
- Power Sword
- Power Fist
Sniper
| Special ability | Camo cloak |
| Armor segments | 2 |
| Unique equipment | None |
| Starting ranged weapon | Bolt Sniper Rifle |
| Starting pistol | Bolt pistol |
| Starting melee weapon | Combat knife |
The Sniper class has high-powered long ranged weaponry, and the ability to cloak themselves with their Camo Cloak until they next make a ranged attack. You need to coordinate with other members of your fire team: your weapons can crack the enemy’s armor, or kill an unarmored marine, but you don’t have the rate of fire to do both.
Sniper ranged weapons
- Bolt Sniper Rifle (default)
- Bolt Carbine
- Stalker Bolt Rifle
- Las Fusil
Sniper pistols
- Bolt pistol (default)
Sniper melee weapons
- Combat knife (default)
Assault
| Special ability | Jump Pack |
| Armor segments | 3 |
| Unique equipment | None |
| Starting ranged weapon | None |
| Starting pistol | Bolt pistol |
| Starting melee weapon | Chainsword |
The Assault Class’ jump pack provides them great mobility and a powerful and disruptive slam attack. They are equipped with powerful melee weaponry but have effectively no long-ranged firepower. While your jump pack is recharging you are effectively stranded. The Assault Class is the natural predator of the Heavy, forcing the enemy to switch from ranged to melee combat, but – after their initial jump assault – they have very little ability to project threat. Go in alone and you’ll get shot to pieces as enemies retreat beyond your range.
Assault ranged weapons
Assault pistols
- Bolt pistol (default)
- Heavy bolt pistol
Assault melee weapons
- Chainsword (default)
- Thunderhammer
- Power fist
Vanguard
| Special ability | Grapnel launcher |
| Armor segments | 2 |
| Unique equipment | None |
| Starting ranged weapon | |
| Starting pistol | |
| Starting melee weapon |
The Vanguard has a Grapnel launcher that allows it to rapidly close the distance with an enemy rapidly, landing an immediate melee hit. It’s more lightly armored than the Assault, so while it can disrupt Heavy or Tactical marine shooting, it will fold much more quickly when outnumbered. Its rapid redeployment makes it effective at hunting down fleeing enemies, and at hit and run attacks on the fringes of the enemy formation.
Vanguard ranged weapons
- Occulus bolt carbine (default)
- Instigator bolt carbine
Vanguard pistols
- Bolt pistol
Vanguard melee weapons
- Combat knife
- Chainsword
Heavy
| Special ability | Iron Halo |
| Armor segments | 3 |
| Unique equipment | None |
| Starting ranged weapon | Heavy bolter |
| Starting pistol | Bolt pistol |
| Starting melee weapon | None |
| Gains access to |
The Heavy class wields the heaviest guns, but has no melee weapons at all. The Iron Halo forcefield projects an aura of protection against enemy ranged fire. Heavies are an all-or-nothing class: with a good vantage, enemies at a distance, or protection from more melee-centric marines, they put out more ranged damage than any other class – but they shut down totally when caught in melee.
Heavy Ranged Weapons
- Heavy Bolter (default)
- Multimelta
- Heavy Plasma Incinerator
Heavy pistols
- Bolt pistol (default)
- Plasma pistol
Heavy melee weapons
Eternal War game types
Three game types have been revealed for Space Marine 2’s Eternal War PVP multiplayer mode: Annihilation, Seize Ground, and Capture & Control. All three game types pit two teams of six players against one another.
Annihilation
Annihilation is a team death match mode – kill enemy marines to earn points for your team. Nice and simple!
Seize Ground
In the original Space Marine, Seize Ground sees teams battle for Control Points across the map, which provide both a flow of victory points, and act as spawn points. Whether this mode functions the same in the sequel remains to be seen.
Capture & Control
In the original Space Marine, the Capture & Control game type tasks the teams with claiming a single Control Point, which provides Victory Points. This Control Point is on a timer, and moves around the map once it has been held for long enough. Whether this mode functions the same in the sequel remains to be seen.
Chaos Space Marines
One of the two teams in each match is made up of Chaos Space Marines. This is purely cosmetic. Both teams have access to the same classes, and functionally identical weapons and perks.
Each class is locked to a specific Chaos Space Marine legion:
- Tactical
- Assault
- Heavy
- Bulwark
- Sniper
- Vanguard
For those readers less familiar with Warhammer 40k lore, here’s a brief summary of what Chaos Space Marines even are. 10,000 years before the current timeline of Warhammer 40k, the Emperor of Mankind conquered the galaxy with legions of Space Marines, genetically modified super soldiers.
Thanks to some bad decisions and the meddling of the Chaos gods, half of those legions turned traitor, in what was known as the Horus Heresy civil war.
When the traitors eventually lost that war, they were driven out of the Imperium and into an area where surreal ‘Warp space’ overlaps with material reality, known as the Eye of Terror. Though the surviving loyalists believed they were gone for good, the traitors survived, and have sallied forth from the Eye to wreak havoc on the Imperium of Man ever since.
There are lore differences between the Chaos Space Marines and the current generation of Space Marines active in the Imperium. Chaos Space Marines have been gifted with unnatural power by the forces of Chaos, while loyalist Space Marine armor, weapons, and even genetically modified Space Marine organs have been upgraded in the intervening millennia.
As a result, many of the Space Marine 2 weapons revealed so far are not technically part of the Chaos Space Marines arsenal. Ordinarily Games Workshop are absolute sticklers for making videogame representations of their IP lore accurate. However, the ridiculous Call of Duty Space Marine mode shows that they’re willing to bend this when it’s necessary for the gameplay of a AAA Warhammer 40k game.
Check out Wargamer’s exhaustive Space Marine 2 review to see what we think about everything but PVP multiplayer in this sometimes excellent, sometimes frustrating, oddity of a game.
Source: Wargamer
