Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 - Heavy Class Guide

One of Space Marine 2's most popular classes is the Heavy. These Astartes carry bulky primary weapons that tear through Tyranid swarms like a hot knife through butter. They deal amazing burst DPS, carry tons of ammo, and can even tank a solid bit of punishment through their signature ability: the Iron Halo.

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Playing as a Heavy isn't particularly difficult, but bringing the right tools for the job is vital to surviving harder difficulties. This guide will explain how the Heavy class works, showcase all perk options, and cover a powerful endgame build you can use in Ruthless PvE Operations.

How To Play Heavy

There's not much to the Heavy class. You use massive primary weapons to obliterate your foes with overwhelming firepower. Heavies have access to some of the highest DPS weapons in the game, including the Heavy Bolter and Multi-Melta. You don't have a melee weapon, so keep your distance.

Heavy units have access to Iron Halo, a frontal shield that absorbs all incoming damage. It's primarily used against Chaos forces in PvE and other players in PvP. While not ideal for Tyranids, you can modify this ability to give your squad a sizable damage increase, ability recharge speed, and constant AoE damage to nearby foes.

Perks And Equipment

Heavy Perk Tree

Core

Pick one per row

Restoration

Killing 10 enemies in rapid succession restores an armor segment. 15s cooldown.

Multi-Kill

Killing 5+ enemies with a single Multi-Melta shot refunds ammo.

Auxiliary Ammunition

While out of primary ammo, a 10+ multikill restores 20% of your ammo reserves. 30s cooldown.

Thermal Boost

Heavy guns at 50% overheat deal 15% more damage.

Fortitude

+20% HP

Strategic Stand

While aiming your heavy weapon, you restore 15% more Contested HP but can't move.

Overcharge

Charged attacks deal 20% more damage

Overwhelming Power

While Iron Halo is active, all squad members in 10m deal 10% more damage.

Versatility

Swapping to your secondary increases its damage by 20%. Lasts until you reload or swap weapons.

Passives

Pick one

Encompassing Aegis

All squad members receive 20% less ranged damage.

Additional Supplies

Squad members carry 25% more ammo.

Bonds of Brotherhood

Reviving a squad member restores them to max HP.

Gear

Pick one per row

Adamant Will

After Iron Halo deactivates, you take 20% less HP damage for 5 seconds.

Consecutive Execution

Killing 10+ enemies quickly restores an equipment charge. 180s cooldown.

Emperor's Protection

When Iron Halo expends all of its energy, all squad members gain one armor segment.

Obdurate Bastion

Iron Halo's durability is increased by 20%.

Field Adjustment

Iron Halo recharges 20% faster, but its durability is decreased by 30%.

Power Regulator

Iron Halo loses energy 15% more slowly.

Saving Grace

Reviving an ally restores Iron Halo's charge.

Brute Force

While Iron Halo is on cooldown, deal 15% more ranged damage.

Wrath of the Imperium

When Iron Halo expends all of its energy, you unleash a damaging AoE in a 5m radius.

Signature

Pick one

Offensive Capability

While active, Iron Halo deals damage over time to enemies within 5m.

Coolant Reserve

If both of your squad members are incapacitated, your primary weapon will not overheat.

Conversion Field

While active, Iron Halo buffs your squad's ability charge rate by 50%.

Heavy's skill tree focuses on primary weapon damage and ammo conservation. Multi-Kill is arguably one of the strongest perks in the game, refunding a Multi-Melta shot if you kill five enemies in a single blast. Considering the Multi-Melta has such a massive blast radius, that's not a difficult condition to meet. Ammo Supplies pairs nicely with this perk, giving you and your squad a 25% larger ammo reserve.

For damage scaling, you have quite a few options here. Brute Force is a free 15% damage boost for toggling your Iron Halo off. Overwhelming Power is a nice team support ability, and Overcharge is fantastic if you're using the Heavy Plasma Incinerator with venting speed upgrades—it buffs maximum vent capacity, not just how quickly it cools off. If you rock the Plasma Pistol, you can even run Versatility for a constant 20% damage buff, useful for sniping Majoris enemies from a distance.

Heavy Equipment

Primary

• Heavy Bolter
• Heavy Plasma Incinerator
• Multi-Melta

Secondary

• Bolt Pistol
• Plasma Pistol

Melee

• N/A

The Heavy class forgoes a melee weapon for bulky primary weapons, all of which are only usable by this class. The Heavy Bolter is a jack-of-all-trades primary, mowing down hordes of Minoris forces without sacrificing single-target DPS if you spec it for accuracy. If you're OK with trading add clear for beefier hits, then the Heavy Plasma Incinerator might be more up your alley.

The Plasma Pistol's ammo capacity and charge efficiency perks work with the Heavy Plasma Incinerator. Stack these perks on both weapons to drastically improve your ammo efficiency.

As strong as those weapons are, nothing comes close to the Multi-Melta for PvE content. This is arguably the best gun in the game. A single blast disintegrates Minoris targets and deals serious damage to Majoris foes. It's not bad against bosses either if you can stay close. Equip the Multi-Kill perk and spec for range, and you'll top the damage charts in most missions.

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Best Heavy PvE Build

Weapons

• Multi-Melta (Gathalamor Crusade)
• Plasma Pistol (Ophelian Liberation)

Weapon Perks

• Multi-Melta: Top row
• Plasma Pistol: Bottom row

Class Perks

• Multi-Kill
• Fortitude
• Overwhelming Power
• Additional Supplies
• Consecutive Execution
• Field Adjustment
• Brute Force
• Conversion Field

This build focuses on making the Multi-Melta a true powerhouse. We use the Multi-Melta (Gathalamor Crusade)for its extended range. We then spec into the top row of perks for a massive boost to the gun's damage and fire rate. Try to get up close before firing to land multikills. Killing five enemies in one shot will trigger Multi-Kill, refunding a round.

You'll want to constantly toggle your Iron Halo to proc your various gear perks. Brute Force gives you damage while it's recharging, while Overwhelming Power gives your squad a damage bonus when enabled. Try to find some Krak Grenades to deal with floating Zoanthropes or Chaos Terminators, and you should be set to counter just about every enemy type.

Finally, we recommend the Plasma Pistol (Ophelian Liberation)to snipe targets from a distance. The bottom row of perks makes this gun significantly more ammo efficient. Drop the last upgrade for a charge rate boost, and you'll have a workhorse secondary for killing Majoris-class targets your Multi-Melta can't reach.

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