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Warhammer 40K: Rogue Tradergives players many different ways to customize their character before beginning their journey. While the origin of that character decides additional abilities and attributes of the character, the most important decision is a character’s Archetype.
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Archetypes are the character’s class, deciding what skills they learn and how they perform in combat. Each Archetype is important, as a well-balanced party will try to have every Archetype covered, but some still stand above the rest.
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
12Operative
Debuff Enemies' Armor For Others To Capitalize On Damage
The Operative is a useful Archetype when it comes to boss fights and stronger enemies but is greatly outpaced in overall usefulness by every other Archetype. The focus of an Operative is to apply a stack on enemies that can later be turned into a debuff, which does become very useful against bosses.
Aside from that, Operatives will spend just about every turn applying stacks or debuffs and will never deal much damage themselves. Depending on the Archetype chosen, the damage difference from the debuff would be outclassed by another damaged focused character.
11Assassin
Finding The Right Angle Deals More Damage
The Assassin adds the fun mini-game of lining up the right shot on enemies to get additional damage, but this isn’t always useful in the large-scale combat players often see in Rogue Trader. The additional damage is very beneficial, but players will often need to leave Assassins out in the open to line up these perfect shots.
There is another ability that helps Assassins not get targeted while out in the open, but this will often lead to it feeling like there is one less party member as they sneak around for the perfect shot on one enemy. Other Archetypes deal large amounts of damage in a much more straightforward manner, making the Assassin feel like extra steps to the same goal.
10Vanguard
Additional Bonuses For Taking Damage
The Vanguard further builds on the role of a tank, absorbing damage and attention from enemies to protect their allies. This Archetype gives Vanguards the ability to stack temporary wounds to be able to absorb additional damage while also increasing momentum earned when getting attacked, which will be happening often.
This Archetype’s Heroic Act also gives them the ability to retaliate against all melee attacks for themselves and nearby allies, making this a great option to fight alongside other melee-oriented characters. The Vanguard’s only downside is that it doesn’t do much to increase a tank’s survivability and instead focuses on other bonuses to prevent getting attacked.
8Master Tactician
Self Damage Buff & Party Wide Attack
The Master Tactician is a strong option as they get additional stacks for their unique ability based on party-made momentum, which is usually fairly high in most mid to late-game battles. These bonuses give them a large damage buff on their next attack, with the same overall effect as the Assassin but an easier system to work with.
The Last Volley Heroic Act can decimate close squads of enemies or bosses but doesn’t have many uses beyond that in more spread-out combat. Due to its damage bonuses from momentum, a Master Tactician can be played much like an assassin without the need to reposition the character each turn.
7Bounty Hunter
Gain Additional Buffs For Taking Down Marked Enemies
A Bounty Hunter focuses on killing marked enemies in order to get additional buffs. This Archetype does force a lone wolf playstyle, as this character will have to both mark and kill enemies to get the bonuses, but these buffs will quickly have this character stand out in combat.
The Heroic Act for this Archetype also gives the character multiple sure-hit attacks that deal large amounts of damage and can further buff that character for later moments after the initial ability ends. While this Archetype isn’t the best for squad-based combat, it does have its usefulness in larger fights by powering up and killing weaker enemies easily.
Focus On Ranged Weapons And Repositioning To Shoot Again
The Soldierfocuses on dealing damage from a distance and repositioning themselves when needed to either line up a better shot or find cover. The Run and Gun ability that lets the Soldier move after shooting not only gives them a chance to move behind cover after taking a shot out in the open but also lets them fire again if they have the AP.
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Not only that, the other special ability builds off the after-effect of Run and Gun to further the Soldier’s abilities in combat. Mixing Run and Gun with a powerful burst fire weapon can have Soldiers mowing down waves of enemies in single turns, only to be even stronger for those who remain on the next turn.
5Arch-Militant
Cycle Through Weapons To Deal More Damage
The Arch-Militant does require a specific weapon loadout to take advantage of but can grow to be very deadly in combat after a few turns. Each time a different attack type or weapon is used, the Arch-Militant gets a bonus to Ballistic and Weapon skills, as well as the chance for bonus damage.
By adding in other abilities to let this character attack multiple times in a single turn, the Arch-Miliant can quickly snowball and reach their full potential in battle in only a turn or two. This Archetype is only limited in that it requires a loadout built around the bonus it provides, but using the right loadout can make this Archetype one of the heaviest hitters in the party.
Give Allies Extra Attacks And Turns
The Officer is another very useful Archetype that every party needs at least one of, but its ultimate use comes down to how strong the other party members are. Officers are very support-oriented, giving other characters buffs to all their characteristics along with an additional turn with two more AP.
The Officer’s Heroic Action, “Finest Hour,” also gives another character another full turn with full AP, MP, and no attack limit. This is one of the best Heroic Actions in the right party, as strong characters can attack multiple times in a turn that wasn’t even their own.
3Grand Strategist
Buff Entire Sections Of The Map
The Grand Strategist is able to section the battlefield to offer party-wide buffs for whoever is within. Due to the simplistic nature and design of these zones, they will often be easy to hold and take advantage of, increasing the usefulness and uniqueness of all other Archetypes further.
This is a very support-oriented Archetype and should stay towards the backline to be the most effective. Mixing this Archetype with the Officer creates the perfect support that utilizes other Archetypes' specialties further than they can go alone.
