Space Marine 2 Vanguard Builds

An automatic Bolt Carbine Vanguard that leans on damage reduction and Grapnel dives. Upper Hand and Conviction guard against stagger and big hits, Thrill of the Fight cuts health damage after a perfect parry, block or dodge, and Consecutive Execution and Inner Fire hand back equipment and ability charge. Collateral Damage and Tenacity make the Diving Kick hit far harder, Adrenaline Rush restores health on Majoris kills, and the prestige row adds Battlefield Awareness plus armour from Launch Restoration and Restoration. The Argent Edge knife staggers enemies on a perfect parry.

Strengths: tanky and easy to run. Weaknesses: melee damage is modest by design, and it depends on Grapnel dives to trigger its best perks.

Loadout (every slot is filled; notes in brackets say where a pick is ours or one of his either/or choices)

• Primary: Bolt Carbine
• Secondary: Bolt Pistol
• Melee: Combat Knife
• Core: Upper Hand
• Core: Conviction
• Core: Consecutive Execution
• Team: Inner Fire
• Gear: Collateral Damage
• Gear: Tenacity
• Gear: Thrill of the Fight
• Signature: Adrenaline Rush
• Prestige: Battlefield Awareness
• Prestige: Fortitude
• Prestige: Launch Restoration
• Prestige: Restoration

The creator also covers a Melta Rifle version and an alternative setup using Tactical Prowess, Zone of Impact and Restless Fortitude. Weapon perk trees are not part of the link. The planner shows Heroic weapon variants as their base weapon, and the link does not include weapon perk trees.

Source

• First Tour Guardsman, “These Are Space Marine 2's Easiest Builds for Every Class to Complete Absolute Difficulty” (YouTube, 2026), Vanguard section from 20:13. Beginner-oriented builds for Absolute difficulty and the hard Stratagems, recorded before Patch 15; the loadout is his, and the description is our own summary.

Perk and weapon choices were checked against the planner's game data. This build has not been playtested by this site.