Combat
In Space Marine 2 you are fighting various enemies of the Imperium, and there is a decent amount to learn with the combat system.
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This page will give you a brief overview of the most important mechanics of combat to help you survive, and slay anything that gets in your way.
Parrying/Blocking/Dodging
Enemies have a lot of different attacks in this game, and you have to react differently to each one in order to counter it effectively.
Melee attacks with orange rings
If you see an enemy with an orange ring around them then you have to dodge their incoming attack. It will also play an audio queue.
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Melee attacks with a blue ring, or no ring
These attacks can be dodged similar to the orange ring attacks, but you can also parry/block them with your melee weapon. The blue rings will have a separate audio queue from the orange ones.
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​Ranged attacks
You cannot parry or block ranged attacks with your melee weapon, you have to dodge these.
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Note:
Enemies will chain attacks, and attacks also have different timings. For some attacks you will need to delay your response while others can be reacted to right away. It depends on the enemy, which attack they're using, and which type of melee weapon you have equipped.
Don't worry if you get hit initially, this takes practice to get used to.
​​​Minoris
Sometimes the small enemies (minoris) will also get blue indicator rings on them, which means they are trying to lunge attack onto you. If you press block/parry when you see this you will intercept the attack and be put into a short animation to kill the enemy. You are invulnerable during this animation and it will give you back some of your armor.
Gunstrikes
If you do a parry combo or perfectly dodge an attack you will be prompted to use a gunstrike. This is indicated by a red target marker on the enemy. If you press your shoot button while this is on an enemy your character will fire their sidearm at the target automatically, and it will also stagger most enemies (both your target, and everything else in a small area around it).
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It is important to keep in mind that you are not invulnerable during a gunstrike. You can still take damage and even be staggered out of your animation. Only use gunstrikes if it is safe to do so.
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If you aim down sights your character will ignore gunstrikes so you can keep shooting.
Executions
When an enemy has been damaged enough they will go into an execute state. This leaves them stunned for a while, and you can press your execute button to go into a special kill animation if you are close enough to the enemy.
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You are immune to damage while executing, and enemies around you will be staggered when you finish the animation as well. Additionally, executing enemies will give you back some of your armor.
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If you do not kill or finisher an enemy that is in an execute state they will get back up and start attacking again. If you bring an enemy into execute state three times, most will automatically die.
Reinforcement Calls
The Majoris class of enemies in this game can call for reinforcements. When they do this you will hear them call out and a diamond icon with a skull will appear above their head, slowly filling up with red as they channel the call.​
If you interrupt them by dealing enough damage or staggering them then nothing will happen and you can fight on like normal. If you don't interrupt it in time though then an extra wave of enemies will spawn in.
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Lock-On
Locking onto enemies will do 2 things:
1: Your camera will automatically rotate to keep your target in line of sight
2. You will get an enemy health indicator.
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You can see the 3 pointed shapes around the outside of the lock-on indicator. Each of these is a health segment which will disappear as the enemy takes damage, turning red if they are on their last segment, meaning they are on low health.
Keep in mind; you do not have to use this feature. Some players find it more of a hinderence than a help. Try it out and see if it's for you.
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Explosives
There are two types of explosives in this game: grenades and environmental explosives. Both are very useful for clearing out hordes of enemies but there are dangers you should consider before using/firing upon them:
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If you throw a grenade too close to yourself it will damage you, and if you throw one near an ally it will stagger them (but not damage them). Try to avoid throwing grenades near your allies since you staggering them could result in them dying.
​Environmental explosives are the same: they will damage you if you shoot them too close to yourself, and will stagger teammates if exploded near them.
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Being Grabbed
The extremis class enemies in the game have a special attack where they will rush at you with an attack, but if you don't dodge in time they will grab you and pull you into a quick time event.
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You will need to mash 2 buttons on PC, or rotate a thumbstick rapidly on controller, to fill up a bar. The enemy will constantly be attacking you during this, so the faster you can fill the bar the faster you can get it off you.
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Once the bar is full a parry prompt will appear. If you hit this parry your character will kick the enemy off you. If you fail though, the enemy will instantly kill you.
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​​When someone is grabbed they can be freed if someone else shoots at the enemy holding the grabbed teammate. This gets them off faster than going through the quick time events, so if possible try to shoot them off if you see someone get grabbed.
The damage while being grabbed also scales with difficulty, so on high difficulties this attack will drain your health incredibly fast and you will likely lose all your health unless saved by an ally.
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