All Fencing, Balance, and Block differences in Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2

The melee weapons you use in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 are essential to your builds, as you can expect to spend a good amount of combat fighting in close-quarter situations. Each weapon comes with a distinct type of defense: Fencing, Balance, or Block.

The type of melee weapon defense you have means you have a different playstyle. Knowing how these styles work and differ is critical to keeping yourself and your team alive, especially during complex Operations. Here’s what you need to know about all Fencing, Balance, and Block differences in Space Marine 2 and how these styles vary.

All differences for Fencing, Balance, and Block in Space Marine 2

There’s a full breakdown of a weapon’s stats while in the Armoring Hall as you’re equipping your character in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. For all melee weapons, there’s a description on the bottom detailing if it is a Fencing, Balance, or Block type, which indicates the defense it uses during combat. These all work differently from each other, and there are pros and cons to each choice.

Among the three, Fencing has the highest defense potential of any style in Space Marine 2. If you’re using a Fencing weapon, the parry window to block an attack and perform a Perfect Parry is the largest, giving you the greatest chance to stagger a foe and land a Gun Strike. You’ll know you can land a Gun Strike attack on an enemy when you see a crosshair appear on them after successfully landing a parry, and if you land the Gun Strike, you can deal a moderate amount of damage to the foe, regaining armor. These increased defensive benefits lower a weapon’s overall damage potential, though.

Using a melee weapon with Balance suits those who want a healthy mix of power and defense. You have a decreased Perfect Parry window with a Balance weapon, but you don’t lose as much damage potential as you do from the lower power of a Fencing melee weapon. You’ll need to practice with the parry window of a Balance weapon far more in Space Marine 2, which means spending more time in Trials or on lower-level Operations.

Finally, Block has no chance for a Perfect Parry. You cannot perform one at all while using these weapons. However, this does not mean you cannot parry with a Block melee weapon in Space Marine 2. Using a Block weapon means you absorb and prevent any damage from coming into you when you successfully deflect a foe’s attack, but you’ll never get a Perfect Parry. You must rely on landing counters or having allies regenerate your armor rather than using a well-placed Gun Strike.

Although the weapons have similar defense style choices, each melee weapon has different animation windows for combat in Space Marine 2. For example, the Power Fist and Power Sword don’t parry at exactly the same time. Mastering these animation windows and your preferred defense style is important. You can practice in the Trials or try lower-level Operations to test your skills before jumping into the more difficult Operations.