Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 just got a hefty patch that’s less about flashy new content and more about fixing and tweaking what’s already there. Saber Interactive’s patch 9 dropped on July 29, and it’s packed with quality-of-life changes, weapon rebalancing, and class perk updates that will definitely disrupt how you play.
Datavault and Gameplay Updates
- New Ordeals added for Siege mode.
- Updated Datavault reward screen with better user experience.
- Trygon added to the Tyranids tab in the Datavault.
Gameplay and Balancing
Assault Ground Pound Damage: Chainsword and Power Sword ground pound damage have been increased to match Power Fist and Thunder Hammer levels. so your ground pounds just got deadlier.
PvE Melee Weapons Overhaul
The devs decided the melee weapon progression was too confusing, so they cleaned it up. Now, Relic tier melee weapons will always be better than Artificer ones, following these rules:
- Balanced weapons: moderate damage and speed.
- Fencing weapons: fastest speed, lowest damage.
- Block weapons: slowest speed, highest damage.
This is a major overhaul, so some favorites might feel different, but it’s a fresh start for melee progression.
PvE Firearm Weapon Tweaks
Firearms are mostly balanced well, but some versions needed love to stand out more. Here are some highlights:
- Master-Crafted Bolt Rifle (02): Spread reduction doubled to 30%, recoil reduction doubled to 40%, and headshot damage coefficient increased by ~33%.
- Salvation of Bakka Artificer Bolt Rifle (03): Similar boosts with spread and recoil reduction increased and headshot damage up ~33%.
- Gathalamor Crusade Relic Bolt Rifle (04): Spread and recoil reduction boosted further, plus the same headshot damage increase.
- Drogos Reclamation Artificer Bolt Rifle Alpha (03b): Clip size increased from 30 to 40, reserve ammo nearly doubled.
- Ophelian Liberation Relic Bolt Rifle Alpha (04b): Clip size increased to 45, reserve ammo more than doubled.
Similar upgrades were applied to Stalker Bolt Rifles, Bolt Carbines, Occulus Bolt Carbines, Meltaguns, Las Fusils, Bolt Sniper Rifles, Instigator Bolt Carbines, Heavy Bolters, Multi-Meltas, Plasma Incinerators, Bolt Pistols, Heavy Bolt Pistols, Plasma Pistols, and Inferno Pistols. Rate of fire, damage coefficients, clip sizes, and ammo reserves were tweaked, sometimes significantly.
Class Perks and Combat QoL Changes
Assault Perks
- Winged Fury: Now boosts melee damage by 100% when sprinting or dashing, adds 7-meter AoE damage, with a 5-second cooldown.
- Defense Mechanism: Contested Health fades 50% slower.
- Act of Attrition: Damage increased from 10% to 15%.
- Smiting Angel: Damage increased from 10% to 25%.
- Hammer of Wrath: After using Jump Pack, you take 30% less ranged damage, don’t lose control from heavy hits, and can’t be knocked back for 15 seconds.
Heavy Perks
- Thermal Boost: When a ranged weapon is 50% overheated or magazine ammo is at 50%, ranged damage increases by 15%.
Firearms PvE Updates
- Aux Grenade Launcher: Grenade pickups increased from 50% to 75%.
- Inferno Pistol: Base damage +15%, Gun Strike damage +20%, knockback radius doubled, plus a fixed typo in the perk description.
- Bolt Pistol: Gunstrike damage increased by 25%.
- Neo-Volkite Pistol: Contested health recovery greatly increased to match other pistols.
Combat Quality-of-Life Improvements
- Anti-stunlock system added for heavy hits: repeated heavy hits get shorter durations.
- Assault is invulnerable during ground pound landing animation.
- Fixed Power Sword stance switching issues during some animations.
- Plasma Incinerator charge progress no longer resets when Heavy enters heavy stance.
- General responsiveness of combat controls improved.
Siege Mode Changes
- Shop costs reduced for Guardian relic, Armor Kit, Dreadnought, and Guardsman at higher tiers.
- Guardsmen HP and damage increased by 50% on Normal and 100% on Hard difficulty.
- Dreadnought timer extended from 3 to 5 minutes.
- Enemy spawn logic streamlined after wave 16 for Terminus enemies.
- Fixed multiple issues with enemy spawns, stuck enemies, and progression to next sectors.
- Minor fixes to Siege level geometry and collision.
- Completing waves as Assault unlocks Inferno Pistol skins.
PvP Updates
- Expanded available weapons for all classes, including Combat Knife, Plasma Pistol, Heavy Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, Instigator Bolt Carbine, Marksman Bolt Carbine, and Bolt Carbine.
- XP required for rewards reduced for faster progression.
- New max level increased to 44.
- Minor fixes for private lobby gameplay modifiers.
AI Fixes
- Neurothrope beam damage fixed in rare cases.
- Lictor invulnerability on spawn fixed.
- Cultist Sniper firing twice fixed.
- Various minor enemy animation fixes.
Customization and General Fixes
- Reverted fix that blocked decals under knee pad geometry.
- Minor fixes for armor parts and emblem customization.
- Fixed rare cases where Gun Strike prompt did not appear after perfect parry.
- Battle Focus perk trigger issues fixed.
- Blocking weapons now properly apply debuffs after perfect parry.
- Visual effects fixes for explosions and smoke.
- Loading screen bot mismatch fixed.
- Player animation and UI/sound improvements.
- Localization fixes.
Technical Fixes
- Crash fixes and stability improvements.
- Matchmaking and network stability improved.
Wow, that’s a lot to take in! Saber Interactive seems pretty serious about smoothing out gameplay and balancing the weapon meta. Some of these changes might surprise you, especially the melee weapon overhaul and the huge stat boosts for certain firearms. Are you ready to test out these changes and see how they affect your combat style? Yikes, the Inferno Pistol just got a serious buff!
