The Chaos Space Maine is a surprising twist to the tale in Chapter 1, with its hulking armor and big old wound pool posing a significant threat to allies. Depending on the difficulty you’re playing on, the giant old sponge will get even spongier, raising its wounds from around 240 to upwards of 420, depending on your difficulty. So, to assist you with the challenges and hurdles this boss can throw at you, we’ve got a guide to beating the Chaos Marine in Rogue Trader, with tips on what all possible Companions can do.

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A guide to beating the Chaos Space Marine Boss in Rogue Trader, offering tips on using all companions to their best in the fight.

Chaos Marine Aurora Boss Battle Guide in Rogue Trader¶

While at the shuttle spot, you’ll find the marine walk out and menacingly threaten you in its tough guy World Eater armor. However, you’ll have time to prep your troops. Your party’s set-up is largely dependent on who is in your squad. Yet, we’ll throw some suggestions on placement and gear strategy.

For the most part, you want Pasqal and Abelard on either side of the marine at a minimum. You don’t want them stacking, as the Chaos Marine can get the initiative so I can start dishing damage in the early turn phase. Having your melee stacked close together will result in some heavy bolter splash damage. This is less punishing for your more normal difficulties, but harder difficulties it is. From there, your main job is for Abelard to be the main DPS on the boss, nuking the boss with a melee weapon alongside its heavy attack via the Reckless Strike skill to a large amount of damage when possible. Feel free to use an Officer’s Heroic Action to give Abelard more turns to swing his sword and reap the Chaos Marine’s monstrous health bar down. So, we advise bringing Cassia if you’ve not already got that covered. Plus, her added Navigator defensive buffs will allow you to maintain them and enhance their damage while debuffing the boss, too.

Meanwhile, Pasqal‘s job is to abuse his Omnissiah’s Axe bleed and Deathworld crit-themed playstyle to start the bleeding process on the boss. Combine this with Intimidation and stacking Exploits and Expose Weakness ready for Abelard’s big Heroic Act AP melee spam on the boss, and you’ve got yourself a burst window.

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(1 of 3) Have a dedicated horde clearer in your party to deal with the low wounds stabby men that come from the side of the battlefield throughout the fight.

However, the boss is not the only concern in the fight. The boss will have allies coming in via Chaos Cultists. These enemies appear on the right side of the battlefield. Here, you need a mop-up character who can handle them. Argenta with a Flamer, or burst fire bolter, works fine here Idrisa is also fine with her lightning or flamer staff if you want to use it. Having her pop War Cry before slaying the close-range reinforcements is also handy for farming that early Momentum for your Heroic Act usages.

Yet, there are other threats besides these. The pesky Sniper is. Way at the back of the map, on an elevated position, is a sniper cultist, which will pick off targets with its meaty 20-odd damage rounds. For someone like Cassia or Iddy, this is a death sentence waiting to happen. If any of your party is using a sniper rifle, you should buff them the best you can and try to get them to pick the creature off. Alternatively, Argenta’s Run and Gun may make it there and handle it. If you need another Warrior with Charge, Heinrix can also attempt it and sustain himself with his Biomancy staff and other temporary wound features from the Soldier tree. If you are desperate, save the Heroic act on Cassia for the troop, make a B-line for the Sniper, and close as much distance as possible before you get the Enemy at the Gate experience. When you farm more Momentum, Abelard can use his Daring Breach to get the extra AP he needs for a Burst window.

The other tip we recommend is having a save just before the fight. Having it roll lower initiative is a godsend. You don’t need to mop up your wounds in the first turn. Rather, you get to cheese the boss yourself.

Feel free to take the strategies you need, tips on managing the boss, and the adds as well as you want. Everyone’s companion setup is slightly different, and we didn’t even touch on all the possibilities your Main Character can be. So, you should have enough adaptive tools to take down the Chaos Space Marine in Rogue Trader, and move through Act 1 in glorious victory over heresy.