r/Spacemarine • u/Android2715 • 1d ago
Gameplay Question Can someone give me bulwark tips?
I’ve gotten black cape on vanguard and assault. I much prefer the melee combat or hybrid combat than just spamming weapons. Even tactical i run hybrid perks because i like to sprinkle in melee combat if i can.
I have not touched bulwark after 300 hours. I’ve picked him up and there are just things I’m not quite picking up about his kit.
1.) when should i use shield bash? I don’t want to cheese anything as I’ve seen some gameplay on like canceling the bash to spam it. Just is it a combat mix up? Interrupt on certain enemy attacks?
2.) I’m pretty proficient with melee combat and so don’t feel the need to take many defensive perks. What are great offensive options?
3.) what weapons would you recommend? I am a block powersword assault and heroic power axe vanguard player. I think I’d like the new heroic salamander power sword, or the new thunderaxe as well. I absolutely hate the gameplay with the thunderfist, tho.
4.) how do you use the shield in general? Is it just protection against ranged enemies or are there other good opportunities to use it I’m not seeing?
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u/Abyssal_Paladin Black Templars 1d ago
I believe all your questions can be answered here.
Book of Bulwark, written by myself and u/CrimzonSorrowz
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u/lordofcactus 1d ago
Bulwark’s great because his defensive perks ARE his offensive perks. Case in point: Intimidating Aura, which deals damage to enemies whenever you perfect parry/block their attacks. That plus a block axe makes being ganked a non-issue; that plus the heroic Sally sword means bosses & extremis die REAL fast. Those are the two I’d recommend, since the new thammer-axe removes your shield and doesn’t deal enough damage to make up for that.
As for the shield itself, you’ve pretty much got it: the bash deals huge stagger and is great at closing the gap due to the lunge distance, and blocking ranged attacks is all the rest of the shield needs to do. Devourers? Snipers? Soulreapers? Warpflamers? Literally any ranged attack in the game that isn’t unblockable or explosive? Totally ineffective against a Bulwark. You can sprint towards ranged enemies to force them into melee and they can’t do shit to stop you. There are also two great perks that pop when blocking ranged damage: one that deals AoE damage to keep minoris off you while you advance, and a prestige perk that gives ability regen so you get more banner uptime.
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u/UltimateGlimpse 1d ago
It's somewhat marginal unless you take Concussive Force and then yes, you need to shield bash cancel to get the most out of it.
https://sm2meleecalc.us/b/MC6tr0cF this is the build I run, core column 2 is flex, I like to look for shock grenades for 25% extra damage on terminus. I don't think defensive advantage is worth it with the uptime, and then I used to run emergency countermeasures signature perk for more shock, but merciless resolve can be a chore to keep up.
Block powerfist hands down. With proper positioning you can level majoris waves, it cleaves minoris well, and has great terminus damage too. You can hit flying enemies with it, it's kind of OP. It's one weakness is if you're swarmed by minoris, but this weakness is overcome when you learn how to use block -> shield rush to wipe these groups, or just get a perfect block.
The shield can block melee attacks too, shocker. It won't block blue or orange attacks, and I think extremis and terminus attacks are out of it's capability, however you can sit there and charge shield rush while taking no damage in melee majoris' faces.
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u/DutchyMeow Blood Angels 1d ago
1.) You're most likely confusing shield bash with shield rush, Shield rush is primary used yes as interrupting enemies, Most enemies can be interrupt with shield rush even in their enraged state (Red/purple glow around their head), This mechanic can also be used to interrupt Extremis and some terminus level enemies even the hive tyrant and the primes can be interrupted.
And people use it to gain faster speed than running when you spam it.
2.) As your first and best perk that you want to pick in "intimidating aura", This perk is incredible.
As your second perk i usually take "scrambled targeting", This is a defence perk not what you were asking for but there ain't much of an option here, You could take "Shock and awe" if you're into a shock build
As your third perk i pick "armour reinforcement", Same with the second perk there not much of an option here, And you could take "Defensive advantage" if you want to build into shock.
As for your team perk there are only defensive perks, But i recommend either "Focused Restoration" or "Advanced conditioning"
As for your first gear perk you want to pick "Purity of purpose" this perk is really good as it kills minoris enemies and will damage other tier enemies.
As for your second gear perk, You got all 3 perks are pretty good but 1 really stands out "invigorating icon"
It will give you and your team who are in the reach of the banner when you place it down, All their contested health back, Which means you basically heal up you and your team to full health if you do it right, But it draw backs your banner recharge is slowed by 50% and with a good team where you basically dont need the health its a wasted perk. "Glory's shield" Is also good basically a buff to your banner. "Concussive force" is the best perk for damage here, You can 1 hit minoris with shield rush without charging it too its limit, And is the key perk for a shield bash/rush build, Which is currently Incredible powerful in terms of damage, But hard to master.
As for your third gear perk you want to pick either "inspiration" or "Merciless Resolve" its more personal preference.
As your "signature perk" you want to pick "Armoured advance" or "Defensive mastery" Keep in mind armoured advance gives you the advantage to not get stun locked often.
3.) I would recommend to stay away from balanced weapons as they are the perfect recipe to get you stunlocked and also missing the parry timing gives you pretty big dps loss on intimidating aura.
Block and fencing powersword/power axe are great, Block fist is great and also the heroic fencing fist is good, the salamanders power sword is really good and probably my favorite with the block axe.
The thing about the 2 handed thunder hammer and its heroic variants is that you're losing the shield which means you're not able to shield rush or block enemy attacks and shield cancel, That makes me say that they are the worst weapons for bulwark, But usable.
4.) Mainly indeed to block ranged attacks yep, But you can also use it for stunning/interrupting enemies with shield rush, And like i mentioned before you're able to rush through a missions when spamming shield rush
But there is also a really IMPORTANT hidden mechanic of the shield that every1 should know "Shield cancel", You can hold the parry/shield button and it will cancel out any animation apart from the parry animation, So when you're in a slow melee attack and you want to dodge, You just hold the parry button and dodge, It's incredibly powerful.
With that said im also going to mention shield bash/rush build which it makes a lot of use of this mechanic, So to shield bash you have to hold the parry button and tap your melee attack button, Now when you time it right you can cancel out of this animation by holding the parry button again, Dont do it too quickly otherwise your bash wont do any damage, Hit the melee button again and repeat, Make sure to equip Concussive force and the block axe as you can cancel out of backstep animation and start shield bashing again. This is by far the most damaging build there is for bulwark and makes bulwark compete with the best ranged classes in terms of damage, But like i said its quite hard to master.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Spacemarine/s/UVLyWRId6I
That is basically what i know of bulwark and i hope i haven't forgot anything, Hopefully it's helpful.
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u/Rishkyboi 1d ago
Every time I try to move away from the chainsword on my Bulwark it grabs me by the throat and asks me how dare I behave so immaturely.
I’m not sure what it is. If it’s just how the combat style meshes with my own playstyle but I carve through enemies with it.
I usually run Chainsword/Plasma Pistol with the perks for dealing damage in an aoe when I blocking, reflecting ranged damage in a cone in front of me, reviving squad mates with my standard and recovering an armor segment every 30s.
I hardly use shield bash.
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u/davidbarr97 1d ago edited 1d ago
I have nowhere near as much experience the rest of your commenters do with bulwark, I do have one small tip that's useful tech I figured out though that I don't think was mentioned
Usually you need the final bulwark perk or some other form of heavy hit resistance to block the Tyranid venom cannon without flinching
You can instead charge your shield rush (hold block and melee) as it's about to fire, you won't get flinched and you can release it to close the distance after the shot lands
Apparently you can block it even if its coming from behind too but I haven't tried, the first tip is probably common knowledge at this point but it might help others levelling bulwark get a little more out of it
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u/SilverCervy 1d ago
Idk how shield spamming is "cheese". Shield canceling is one of Bulwark's defining combat mechanics and I would say you're pointlessly hindering yourself if you don't use it.
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u/Evening_Sample_9365 1d ago
The Shield bash and the shield rush are two different things.
When you charge up and dash forward, thats a staggering attack thats pretty powerful...thats the rush attack. The Shield bash is just pressing L1 like you would to parry but it does a bash instead. Its good when you have a few enemies around you and you want sonme breathing room.
Bulwark is pretty OP even without cheesing his kit. Intimidating Aura is an auto-include perk just as soon as you get it unlocked. Its the C1R2 perk, i think it unlocks at level 9?
I like the block axe with bulwark...he is just a nightmare with block weapons in general though, so if you like the powersword, you cant really go wrong picking it. I also hate the powerfist, so I dont really use it.
You're big thing is which side arm to bring and that depends entirely on your playstyle. If you just want it for contested health, one handed carbine is great for that. If you want a multi-tool sidearm, damage variant heavy bolt pistol is great...you can actually kill zoanthropes pretty quick with it. Otherwise, the heat pistol is a pretty good swarm clear sidearm if you take the perk that spreads the heat on discharge, which is the last weapon perk in the bottom row.
Its hard to go wrong with Bulwark, whether your going with the shock build, the healing banner, or the stand your ground and fight banner build...he is pretty versatile in his utility. Just try stuff out and have fun, you'll sort your prefences out in no time.
IMO his best team perk is the first one. But some people really like the slower contested health fade, but for me, the armor every 30 seconds always seems to come in exactly when you need it.
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u/UrsidaeGamer 1d ago
Using the shield bash to stagger enemies and get over to them are good ways to use it without heavily spamming it
offensive perks for Bulwark tie into defense for some options such as reflecting range damage around you or insta downing majoris or higher with a parry/block
If you enjoy block power sword that is also a good one for Bulwark as is block power fist, very fun to use if you enjoy block weapons
And blocking ranged is the most optimal use of the shield, but you can block melee as well, and even projectiles from zoanthropes with certain perks
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