There are plenty of tools of aggression at your disposal in Space Marine 2, and while the game’s various firearms often steal the show - boasting far more variety and filling more diverse roles than their melee counterparts, there is a bit of nuance between the melee weapons that isn’t explained nor is it readily apparent. This page will help disperse the fog on some general melee weapon stats and mechanics, notably Cleaving Potential and Defence type in Space Marine 2.

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Melee Weapon Stats in Space Marine 2¶

Ranged weapons are generally pretty straight-forward - Firepower represents the weapon’s damage, Accuracy Rate of Fire, Reloading Speed, Range and Magazine Capacity are all self-explanatory. You can usually tell what a gun does just by looking at its stat spread: high damage, range and accuracy but low rate of fire and reload speed? Probably a sniper rifle. Melee weapons, on the other hand, are both less numerous and have fewer stats while also somehow being more obtuse. The only way to sort out how some of these weapons work is to equip them, give them a few swings, and maybe check out the game’s pause menu for details on light attack and heavy attack combos and alternate attack modes (looking at you, [Power Sword]).

Two of the stats shared by most melee weapons - Strength and Speed - are pretty self explanatory, but “Cleaving Potential” and “Defence” and arguably far more important stats that newcomers might not be familiar with. It’s worth noting that while most ranged weapons offer relatively simple upgrades as you unlock new variants - some variants might have more range, or more ammo, etc., - melee weapon stats can be quite divergent and impactful. A fast, lower damage weapon with high Cleaving Potential and the “Block” Defence type functions quite a bit differently from a slow, high damage weapon with low Cleaving Potential and the “Fencing” Defence type!

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You can see what weapon stats do by hovering your cursor over them.

Cleaving Potential Stat in Space Marine 2¶

According to the game text, this stat determines a weapon’s “Power to cleave through consecutive targets with one strike.”, which functionally determines how much AoE a melee weapon will have. This generally makes a weapon better at cutting through swathes of minoris-tier enemies, although the weapon’s Speed and Strength will also determine its effectiveness, of course.

Combat Knives tend to have fairly poor Cleaving Potential (1-3) and Thunder Hammers have a high Cleaving Potential (6-7) with the other melee weapons generally falling between these two (3-4), although certain variants may have exceptional Cleaving Power at the expense of some other stat. If you’ve got a ranged weapon that can handle mobs, you probably don’t need much in the way of Cleaving Potential, but this will vary greatly by class and loadout.

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(1 of 3) A Thunder Hammer with the “Balance” Defence type - it has no strengths or weaknesses compared to the standard Thunder Hammer.

Defence Stat in Space Marine 2 - Block, Balance, Fencing¶

Perhaps the most perplexing stat in the game, Defence type is incredibly important, as you’ll discover if you unwittingly equip a weapon with the “Block” Defence type only to wonder why you can’t parry anymore. You should note that, as compared to “Balance”, the “Fencing” mode is listed with positive green text and “Block” is marked by negative red text, and if you hover your cursor over the stat, you’ll see why:

• Fencing: Increased Perfect Parry window
• Block: No Perfect Parry window
• Balanced: Moderate Perfect Parry window

That’s right, weapons with the “Block” Defence type will eliminate perfect parries altogether, making it much more difficult to score Gun Strikes. “Balanced” seems to be the default for most weapons, and “Fencing” makes it easier to perfect parry. If you’re wondering why anybody would want to remove perfect parries from their repertoire, the answer is simple: some weapons give significantly better numbers in other areas to make up for it, and while parrying isn’t much use anymore, you can still dodge. Some classes (or players) just do better with dodging and if you can forfeit a function you weren’t using to get better stats that actually matter… well, it’s an easy trade.

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(1 of 3) With a “Block” weapon, you cannot perfect parry.

You will pay a premium for “Fencing” weapons, most of the time, as they’ll generally sacrifice Strength, Speed or Cleaving Potential to make up for it - there’s definitely some incentive to polish your parry timing, at least so you can comfortably use “Balance” weapons and enjoy perfect parries with weapon that have higher base stats!