Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader: Melee Warrior Build Guide

Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader lets players create incredibly detailed character builds, each emphasising a different element of gameplay.

In this guide we’ll be specifically breaking down a Melee Warrior Build.

If you want other options, you could check out our Melee Psyker Build guide as well!

Melee Warrior Build Guide

This guide will break down the character creation stats you’ll need for the build, as well as detailing the most effective abilities and talents to level up.

In the game, Warriors are highly effective combatants. They specialize in hand-to-hand combat against enemies and can be subbed in as tanks to soak up the damage. Wielding two-handed great swords, they can clear a path of enemies.  

Home World

After customising the look of your character, your first important decision will be your Homeworld.

To create the most overpowered melee character, you’ll want to select Imperial World as your Homeworld.

Imperial World can offer you great talents. For instance, the Better to Die for the Emperor talent will add a +10 bonus when under 40% wounds.

It also grants you Humanity’s Finest, which will allow a further +10 to any characteristic except your Weapon and Ballistic Skill.

Alternatively, Death World is another strong option for Melee characters.

By selecting it, you will already add +5 to your Strength, Toughness and Agility, all three areas we’ll be focusing on in this build. However, you will also knock off -5 Intelligence.

Origin

Again, there are several options for your Origin. As a general rule of thumb, when creating a melee focused character, you want to prioritise you weapon skill.

Weapon skill relates your effectiveness in close-quarters combat, highly important for a melee warrior.

Here, the Crime Lord and Commissar can offer you that, with the Crime Lord being the better pick due to its Sure-Fire-Plan ability.

This can be used multiple times in battle, stacking your Intelligence bonus and dealing free damage for one consecutive round.

The Commissar is still a solid option for allowing that Weapon Skill enhancement, but its main ability “At All Costs” can only be used once per combat turn and has far less of a damaging effect.

Archetype

Now, this selection should be obvious! For your Archetype, you’ll want to select Warrior.

As the character taking the brunt of the damage in your party, the Warrior archetype will give you skills and abilities to enable that playstyle.

You get the Charge ability, letting you travel great distances towards an enemy.  You also get the Daring Breach ability which will enhance your melee combat.

Characteristics

Whilst you do have some wiggle room for the characteristics – generally you’ll want to increase your Strength and Weapon Skill.

We would recommend reaching +45 for both of these as a minimum.

Strength is important for your character to dish out damage, and weapon skill increases your general effectiveness in combat by getting more critical hits.

Other areas you might want to max out are your toughness. Since this build works well in the defence role, increasing this will help reduce the damage you take.

You’ll also be getting up close and personal with enemies, so you’ll need to ensure you can survive that!

Finally, if you chose the Crime Lord as your Origin, then increasing your Intelligence will really help stack up your Sure-Fire-Plan ability.

Abilities

Endure is what you’ll need first, especially if you’re playing the game as a tank. It will let you reduce your incoming damage until your next turn, so very effective for close-quarters melee.

Next choosing the Sworn Enemy compliments the build well. It means you’ll be able to mark your enemies and dish out huge amounts of damage on your turn,  stacking up your strength modifier.

There are a few other strong abilities you could take as your third, but we’d recommend Reckless Strike.

This is a preliminary ability that will also surge the damage on your next move. It can be especially beneficial when dealing with bosses you want to clear out quickly.

Whilst other abilities are available, these work especially well for the melee focused build type and playstyle.

Talents

Be strategic with your talents and make sure you’re selecting ones that play into your melee class build.

Now then, that just about covers it! The general idea with this class is to create a character that can both dish about and take high levels of damage -perfect for the defensive role.

This guide should be treated as a blueprint not a bible! Feel free to experiment with your choices, just always make sure you’re putting your Strength and Weapon skills first, since this is what really impacts your melee capabilities.

ALSO READ: How To Get Past The First Mission in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader