Saber Interactive has finally releasedWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2’s Patch 8, which comes alongside the new Siege Mode and introduces a wealth of changes to the popular third-person shooter. Besides the new Siege Mode and changes, the update brings many fixes across several areas ofWarhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.
Space Marine 2was highly acclaimed by players right after its release. True to itsWarhammer 40kstyle, the game introduced chaotic gameplay, bringing back Lieutenant Titus as he battles against massive waves of foes in a high-stakes campaign. Even though the game was praised for many reasons, such as its cinematic encounters, its engaging and quite visceral combat, among other things, developer Saber has continued to improve it with many updates. In them, Saber not only fixed issues like bugs and game balance, but also rolled out new features and content, which has ledSpace Marine 2’s popularity to spikeeven more, recently crossing seven million copies sold globally. Now, players have yet another bigSpace Marine 2update to be excited about.
Fans knew thatJune 26 was going to be an exciting day forSpace Marine 2, and Saber has not let them down, finally delivering the long-awaited Siege Mode. For those unfamiliar, this is a new PvE mode resembling Horde Mode, though emphasizing the endless waves of foes even more. As described by Saber onSteam, players will be deployed in a fortress with three rotating sectors, battling their way through Tyranid and Thousand Sons enemies. The difficulty of these enemy waves will ramp up as players progress, and they will have only 1 minute to take a breath and plan some strategy between waves.
Players can also pursue side objectives that can help them unlock Siege Mode resources to spend in the shop to get ammunition, armor boosts, summon specialized Space Marines, and more. Common foes are not the only challenge in Siege Mode: every fifth wave, players will have to face off againstSpace Marine 2’s bosses, sometimes even fighting several at the same time. Saber has noted that the final version of Siege Mode differs slightly from the PTS one in order to address players' feedback. Now, instead of having a limited timer per wave, there is a general time limit for the whole session.
Patch 8 has also brought new Season Pass content along with a lot of gameplay and balancing changes forSpace Marine 2’s weapons, difficulty, and classes, and it has addressed several issues to improve the overall gameplay experience. PlayStation, Xbox, and PC players can already try out everything new in Patch 8.
GAMEPLAY AND BALANCING TWEAKS
Extended Weapon arsenal in PvE
We are adding this option only because we think it will be very cool and it’s a shame that only 1 class can use the Thunder Hammer. We are not done with Bulwark, more interesting gameplay things are to come.
Bulwark Prestige Perks Update
Old: “Chapter Banner additionally removes negative Status Effects while active.”
New: “When the Chapter Banner is active, all Squad Members do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and cannot be knocked back within its zone.”
Assault Prestige Perks Update
Old: “Collecting an Armour Boost restores Ability Charge by 100%.”
New: “When charging a Ground Pound, you become Invulnerable for 3 seconds.”
New: “Equipment Damage radius increases by 15%.”
Heavy Prestige Perks Update
Old: ” Activating Iron Halo removes negative Status Effects.”
New: “Equipped Weapon’s Maximum Spread decreases by 25% when firing without aiming.”
Class Perks Updates
Bulwark Perks Update
Perks have been updated to reflect the addition of the Thunder Hammer to the Bulwark’s arsenal.
Old: “After a Shield Bash, Melee Damage increases by 30% for 10 seconds.”
New: “After a Shield Bash or Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash, Melee Damage increases by 30% for 10 seconds”.
Old: “Shield Bash deals 200% more Damage.”
New: “Shield Bash deals 200% more Damage. Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash deals 100% more Damage and deals area-of-effect Damage within a 7-metre radius. Cooldown is 5 seconds.”
Old: “After a Shield Bash, Melee Damage increases by 15%, you do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds”
New: “After a Shield Bash or Thunder Hammer Pommel Smash, Melee Damage increases by 15%, you do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits, and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds”.
“Every 40 seconds, all Squad Members automatically restore 1 Armour Segment “ -> Cooldown decreased from 40 to 30 seconds.
Tactical Perks Update
Old: “After a Finisher, the equipped Ranged Weapon reloads automatically.”
New:“After a Finisher, the equipped Ranged Weapon reloads automatically, and your Primary Weapon deals 20% more Damage for 10 seconds”.
Old: “Recoil is reduced by 25% and Ranged damage against Extremis-level enemies is increased by 10% for all Squad Members.”
New: “Equipment Charge is restored by 1 for all Squad Members. Cooldown is 60 seconds.”
“Weapon Spread and Recoil is reduced by 20% and Ranged Damage against Terminus-level enemies is increased by 10%” -> Ranged Damage bonus increased from 10% to 15%.
Assault Perks Update
“Damage from Melee Attacks executed while sprinting or dashing increases by 40%.” -> Damage increased from 40% to 100%.
“After a Ground Pound, you take 15% less Ranged Damage, do not lose control upon taking Heavy Hits and you cannot be knocked back for 10 seconds” -> Damage reduction increased from 15% to 20%. Knock back immunity duration increased from 10 to 15 seconds.
Vanguard Perks Update
“Each Melee Attack you land reduces the Ranged Damage you take by 2% (up to 20%). If you do not land a Melee Attack for 5 seconds, the effect ends.” -> Consecutive hit multiplier increased from 2% to 5%. Max bonus increased from 20% to 30%.
“After you are grabbed or knocked back, you deal 25% more Melee Damage for 15 seconds.” -> Bonus damage increased from 25% to 30%. Duration increased from 15 to 20 seconds.
Sniper Perks Update
“Weapon Spread is reduced by 25% and Ranged Damage against Extremis-level enemies is increased by 10% for all Squad Members.” -> Ranged Damage against Extremis-level enemies increased from 10 to 15%.
“Bolt Carbines reload 20% faster, and their Weapon Spread and Recoil are reduced by 15%.”
Weapon Perks Update
Inferno Pistol Perk Update
Old: “When your Health is below 10%, Reload Speed increases by 30%”
New: “If your Armour is fully depleted, Reload Speed increases by 20%.”
Neo-Volkite Pistol Perk Update
“After a Gun Strike, heating speed increases by 30% for 6 seconds.” -> Duration increased from 2 to 6 seconds.
Combat QoL
Firearms (PvE Only)
There are not many weapon balance tweaks in this patch because our statistics show that usage and win rate for all weapons is in a good spot right now. With the next big update we are going to focus on weapon versions balance inside each archetype, because this is where we see a big room for improvements.
Inferno Pistol
PvP
With the next patch we are going to take a closer look at PvP weapon balance.
Customisation
We are preparing a very big update for customisation, players will be able to reuse chapter champion armour parts on other classes (with lore accuracy, clipping and technical restrictions). While it’s not going to be in this patch, we wanted to mention this in this patch notes to assure you that we are going to continue expanding our customization system.
Levels
General Fixes
Intimidating Aura and Battle Focus are probably the most overpowered perks right now, but we think that it should still work independently from selected weapon
