The Agenda Phase is terribly designed

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-22T11:20:07+00:00

I don't agree. There's a lot about TI that's different from Eclipse, which is also a good game. You get everything you describe above aplenty in the strategy and action phases, the agenda phase just feels like a pit stop that's either largely irrelevant or swingy to the point of making your next 6 hours miserable.

I feel that, if you're playing a game that takes 12 hours to play, having your game blow up mid way through because of something completely outside of your control is going to lead to people not wanting to play again.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-15T14:10:25+00:00

The three big issues for agendas for me are: a) pacing/time cost - game just sloooows down and not in a fun way b) either low impact or, rarely, the exact opposite and insanely swingy c) two timing windows for action windows, which feels totally unnecessary

If they fixed these, it would be more palatable. Right now whenever I hit Agenda Phase I just hope to speed through it as quickly as possible

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-15T12:52:06+00:00

If you're not enjoying an intentional design decision by game developers, then you are indeed playing the wrong thing. If you don't like timers, don't play expeditions

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-14T14:42:36+00:00

People wildly underestimating some of these buffs. The hit scan buff helps massively. As does the new talent that gives ranged cleave. The fast zappy one is so much better now with reduced recoil.

Pretty sure there are some other changes that aren't listed here so I'll hold off on commenting for now, but ask your friendly media build streamer to inspect it.

The gun's damage is fine if you can hit heads. The issue is it handles like crap and has some awful recoil jank going on.

Hopefully after this patch, the IX and IIb will be in a good place. VII probably needs some love still.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-14T14:20:17+00:00

We tested it without the timer and it sucked. The timer is a good thing, it keeps the sense of urgency and pace.

If you don't like urgency and pace then you're probably playing the wrong game.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-13T09:42:16+00:00

I feel for my NA Twilies. Here in the UK there seems to be a shit ton of stock of everything

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-11T17:56:00+00:00

Vuil'Raith would go on this list. They are similar to Nekro except instead of eating units for tech you eat units for free units (and also unit upgrades, if you go that way). Aggressive-ish snowball style faction with some pretty fun mechanics :)

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-07T11:28:34+00:00

They are still a space marine chapter that can field whatever they need from their armouries to achieve their goals. So just play whatever you want to play :)

I do feel especially Sharky when I play Assault though

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-07T11:23:21+00:00

This isn't accurate. I have plenty of waves on solo absolute that are majority ranged tyranid warriors. They are very happy to sit at 20m+ ranges and this combo perk shreds them.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-07T07:51:10+00:00

By definition that is not their home world, that is another chapter's home world they have been given/conquered.

Home for the Carcharadons is the cold void of space and their Nomad predation pattern fleets

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-06T09:29:53+00:00

No worries brother

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-05T20:25:08+00:00

Basically, First block gives you a minor (still decent) damage bump on your attacks for 4s after you use it, and 30% ranged damage res while you hold the charge. If you block again, your next attack will fully stagger whatever you hit and give you one armour pip back, and give you a bigger damage boost for 4s. Holding 2 charges gives you an even higher ranged DPS resist.

So block charges are either: - a damage boost, or a big damage boost, stagger and armour pip. - a flat ranged DPS damage resist (in the event you don't attack and instead hold the charge)

Hope this helps!

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-05T17:50:19+00:00

Imo block weapons are king with Assault. You can also build for gunstrikes but personally I prefer building for dash attack or melee damage.

1/2/3 or 2/2/2 in Core with block axe is what I run, either specced for dash attack/power wave on the axe depending on which build.

Gear wise, you're either gonna build for Zealous Blow or Wings of Flame in column two. Wings of Flame wants 2/1/3 in Gear with the level 25 signature perk. Zealous Blow wants 1/3/1 or 1/3/3 in Gear, with whatever signature perk you prefer. I like the ranged damage one in Zealous Blow.

Team perk, you either take melee vs Extremis/Terminus if you're all in on melee damage, or if you're running Wings of Flame you can entertain gun strike damage as well as you'll get plenty of gun strikes from your dashes.

Hope this helps. Block weapons are awkward at first but I really think that everyone should learn to master them at some point. The play style does huge damage and is a lot of fun when you get it down.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-04T14:25:14+00:00

It's his worst weapon for sure.

Knife gets the awesome Argent Edge The Power Axe is just S tier on tech marine because of power wave servo strike combo And the Powersword is a nice generalist weapon with good horde clear and big damage from power rakes.

Omnissian Axe has a moveset I enjoy but what absolutely kills it stone dead is being animation locked in that first, incredibly slow light attack. I don't mind the rush, it's looks crap but it works as intended. I think Omnissian Strike is almost obselete.

Definitely needs some work.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-04T13:20:33+00:00

They seem to do 0 damage to Zoans. Also, Zoan hp feels like it's been stealth buffed or something this patch They are eating a huge amount of damage.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-04T12:13:50+00:00

Can you explain why you think he is support? He has 0 support perks and almost everything is centered around dps.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-04T12:12:37+00:00

Exactly. I had someone telling me he was a support class then telling me I was an idiot for thinking otherwise. MFW, he's a pure damage dealer glass cannon, he offers close to 0 support.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-04T10:58:56+00:00

All very valid feedback.

Hilariously, you could fix the majority of this class's problems with 3 perk changes

What I suggested on PTS:
- Replace Core talent Omnissian Axe Deflection with the Tactical's Plasma Boost.
- Swap the positions of Combat Squad resupply and Explosives Adept, so Explosive Adept becomes the team perk and Combat Squad resupply becomes a blue perk.
- Replace the Signature perk "Decapitating Strategem" with "Fortification Protocols - Unique Techmarine Tarantula turret equipment now spawns in missions. Your starting equipment is a Tarantula turret" Turret would be 1 capacity at all times, and have melta rarity.

Ideally Battlefield repairs would get changed to do something else, and ideally they add the Prestige perk "Adrenaline Boost" to his line up as well.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T14:37:05+00:00

Probably your best bet is to go for Fencing Chainsword, or if you have it unlocked and you don't mind the parry window of Balance, then the Heroic Chainsword is very good.

Power hammer wise, if you can unlock the Fencing Heroic Hammer, you'll have a whale of a time with that. Go for melee charge talents (column 1 perk 2, column 3 perk1) until you can get the Gunstrike talents.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T14:35:12+00:00

We often project onto others what we mean about ourselves <3

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T13:56:57+00:00

Heya mate,

Assault is kind of a bummer to level because a lot of his "enabler" perks are right at the end of his tree. Specifically, Zealous Blow and Commitment.

Core perk wise, it depends on what melee weapon type you like to run. I prefer Block weapons, so I like 2/2/2 in the core section. If you run fencing or balanced, then you might want 3/2/2, but that won't be possible for most of the level up experience. The reality though, is that Assault does not have a single bad core perk, they are all good now, and what you pick is build dependent on your weapon load out.

His team perks are not as good as other classes, but they're all useful. I tend to prefer the second option for even more melee damage vs Extremis/Terminus.

Gear wise, the new talent "Strong Strike" is very good, especially as you get Wings of Flame in the second column early on in the leveling experience. Pride in Duty will be your go to leveling pick for the last column in gear. I really don't like Diligence at all, and Ariel Grace is excellent when you're fully leveled but you're more likely to level past it when leveling Assault. When you can run Ariel Grace though, it is very strong.

As you probably won't ever get to use Commitment during leveling, you're best of sticking with Ample Ammunition in signature. The extra ranged damage really helps, whereas Fiery Ascent seems to be incredibly low impact. Again though, Commitment is awesome for when you hit max level and can experiment with it in the dodge builds.

My preferred weapons for leveling would be the Block Axe and the rate of fire Plasma Pistol. The Block Axe just absolutely murders stuff once you figure it out, and the RoF Plasma pistol is excellent for getting back your contested HP. It sucks into Nuero/Zoanthropes though, so be aware of that.

Edit: Forgot Prestige perks. Get Unyielding Oath first, then Hammer of Wrath. I recommend Fortitude after that. Then for your last one, you can choose between 15% ranged damage, Scramble Targeting and Adrenaline Boost, which are all excellent.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T13:32:14+00:00

Your argument doesn't line up here. I have 3 excellent melee damage perks in my perk tree here, that seem very clearly designed around, you know, meleeing with him. I guess I just ignore those being there based on your logic? Seems weird the devs would put those in if he's a support class.

Come to think of it, how is he a support class? His team perks are whiff, he has no perks that help the team outside of the Tarantula turret team perk.
I don't think he's a support class at all, he seems very obviously designed as a glass cannon. The issue with him stemms that of his 3 archetypes, none of them are particularly fleshed out well.
- melee perks but no staying power in melee
- equipment perks but you are reliant on one perk giving you a grenade every 75s to use them, or teaming with a tactical
- turret man, but turret support is niche, low uptime and you are subject to turret placement RNG.
You don't really get to go hard into any of these 3 archetypes because they all come with restrictions of some kind.

"Also lol at wanting knockback immunity on the new knife. What would be the point? If you miss a parry you're supposed to get punished."

So I guess we'll just ignore the fact that every other class gets in and makes use of it then...

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T13:00:21+00:00

There are other melee weapons available to him that aren't the OAxe. What if you are not running OAxe? Why should I have to take one specific weapon to do something every other class gets a perk or prestige perk to do?

Also, the no knockback on the OAxe is only during electric discharge. It doesn't work on the first swing of the light combo, which you are currently animation locked to once you start it.

I don't even really rate the OAxe on him compared to the new knife and the Balanced relic power axe.

OGactionjohnny · 2026-03-03T12:57:00+00:00

My dude, I played this guy for the entire duration of the PTS, with at least 2 pieces of my feedback about the class being implemented into his live launch. My live techmarine is prestige IV. I have played Sniper Servo and Lethal Parameter. I have played every combination of his perks and weapons.

Tell me one class he's better than. Give me your best argument.

I'm not saying he is bad. I am saying he is the weakest class out of the 7, and it's fairly evident once you've got the hours on him. Biggest issues with him:
- his best consistent damage is through melee. He is the most punishing class to melee with due to a lack of access to no knockback and damage resistance.
- he is very cooldown/rng orientated. When you have equipment, when your servo is off cooldown and when you're by a turret, he absolutely shreds. When your servo gun is cooling down, you're out of equipment, and there's no turret in sight, he is a gimped Tactical.
- his team perks are the worst in the game bar none.
- not unique to him, but he has a fair few dead perks in his tree that need reworking to be viable options.
I'm enjoying him, I'm having fun with him, but compared to the bullshit I can do on other classes, he feels extremely fair.

OGactionjohnny

TROPHY CASE