Melee combat is not only a thematically important aspect of Warhammer 40k, but it’s also a vital mechanic to master in Space Marine 2’s combat encounters. Since both Tyranids and Rubric Marines will inevitably engage you with sword and claw, mastering skills such as parry and dodge will make combat so much easier. In this guide, we’ll get into the nitty gritty of how it all works so you can become a master swordsman.
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Space Marine 2’s melee mechanics
In Space Marine 2, you have two defensive options: Parrying and dodging. Parrying keeps you in melee combat longer while dodging will allow you to place some space between you and your opponent. Executing either of these moves before an enemy can land a hit on you will reward you with a Gun Strike on the target.
Another mechanic , that all melee weapons have is the light and heavy attacks. Light attacks are your standard damage-dealing moves that burst down a single target. On the other hand, heavy attacks deal more damage, break enemy blocks, and allow you to get a Gun Strike on smaller enemies.
How do parries work?
The game teaches you early on the button input of the parry action, but it doesn’t explain how the parry window works. Whenever you execute a parry, your character will first raise their weapon in front of them, then swing their weapon away at the latter half of the animation. The first half of raising the sword is considered the “block” phase of the animation. The parry occurs at the second half of the animation, meaning that there is a slight delay in the actual parry.
Committing a successful parry is indicated by the brief slowdown and a Gun Strike indicator on the enemy you parried. Gun Strikes deal significant damage and will help you kill Majoris-targets quicker than unloading your gun at them with all headshots.
Some melee weapons have better parry windows while others have none at all. This is where weapon styles come into play.
Perfect Dodge
While dodging can be used to move away from combat or stay out of reach from enemy attacks, you can turn them into an offensive maneuver by dodging at just the right time. If you dodge into an attack just before it hits you, time will slow down for a brief moment and reward you with a Gun Strike.
Note that the perfect dodge window is somewhat small, which is around the first few frames of the dodge animation. Also, you’ll need to dodge towards the attack for you to receive the Gun Strike against an enemy. Dodging back or away from an attack will not reward you with a Gun Strike.
All enemy types except Minoris can be Perfect Dodged. However, be beware that Minoris threats can still chase you down even if you spammed the dodge.
Understanding weapon style differences
Whether you’re using the Chainsword, Combat Knife, Power Sword, Power Fist or Thunder Hammer, they all come with the same three weapon styles: Balanced, Fencing and Block.
Balanced styled weapons have the standard parry window of the first half constituting a block while the second half counts as the parry.
Fencing styled weapons have a far larger parry window, which extends to most of the first half of the parry animation, making it easier for you to react to incoming attacks with a parry at any given time.
Block styled weapons have no parry window at all regardless of when you parry an attack. This means that you can never execute a Gun Strike on tougher targets, though Block weapons deal more damage, swing faster and have better cleave values.
Enemy melee attack indicators
All enemies from Majoris to Terminus will have an indicator showing which attacks can be parried or not. When enemies show a blue flash, this means they’re winding up for a parry-able attack. If they flash red, however,this means that you won’t be able to parry their attack, and you must dodge instead.
Be aware that enemies all have attacks that don’t flash either color, meaning that those attacks can be both parried and dodged. However, for the purpose of mastering melee, those attacks without indicators should be parried for extra damage.
Minoris enemies can be parried, which not only instantly kills them at any difficulty, but it knocks back nearby enemies away from your position, giving you some space to reposition or fight back.
Surviving in melee combat
Usually, you’ll be surrounded by Minoris targets while Majoris enemies either pelt at you with ranged weapons or join the fight in melee. This is where combat gets dire.
- At higher difficulties, taking one hit by a Minoris enemy removes one armor segment from your health bar. Whenever this occurs, you can execute a Heavy attack on the horde, knocking some of them back while letting you get a Gun Strike on the enemy you hit. This restores one armor segment, so you should always mix up your Lights and Heavies to ensure that you mitigate all unnecessary damage.
- Minoris targets may sometimes leap at you which is indicated by a blue light. When this occurs, always parry this attack as this is a free armor segment for you, especially when you’re swarmed by a group.
- For Tyranid missions, try to prioritize the Warriors first. Killing a Tyranid Warrior will cause the smaller Hormagaunts to die since Warriors lead the swarm. Remember to watch each Warrior in melee as they’ll attack you all at once.
- As for Chaos missions, you’ll need to separate yourself from the Rubric Marines to try and clear out the smaller Tzaangors that’ll try to swarm you. Some of them will be wielding shields and can resist your heavy attacks, unless you mix up a light attack into a heavy. Other than the Tzaangors, you can parry the Rubric Marines with bolters and the Scarab Terminators with Power Swords if you engage them in melee.
- Also, take a look at your melee weapon’s combo list, which will show you the inputs for certain attacks like the Chainsword’s Stomp attack and the Power Sword’s multi-hit spin combo. You can check these on the pause menu at any
- Lastly, use the Trials missions available for every class to try and get a better feel for the parry windows of your weapons. Learning each Tyranid Warrior’s attack animations will help you get a better sense of when and how you can parry or dodge these.
