Purging the galaxy of heretic scum is something you’ll be doing quite a bit in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2. Human-sized bugs and Chaos-warped brothers are your primary targets throughout the campaign and PvE Operations game mode, but there’s one thing the game never makes clear: what’s a Terminus enemy?
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Many perks and ability descriptions mention certain enemy classifications that are never mentioned in-game, making it difficult to discern the value of these boons. The good news is that enemy classifications are fairly straightforward for both 40K veterans and newcomers today. Let’s get straight to it. Here is every enemy category in Space Marine 2 and the enemies included in each classification.
Updated December 20, 2024, by Charles Burgar: The Obelisk update has added a new majoris-class enemy to the Chaos ranks: the Tzaangor Enlightened. We’ve updated this guide to include information on how this new enemy type behaves in PvE Operations. We’ve also added all Operation bosses to the Terminus section of our enemy type table.
Enemy Types
Enemies in Space Marine 2 are broken up into threat categories, of which there are four: Minoris, Majoris, Extremis, and Terminus. Whenever a weapon or class perk states that it increases Terminus damage, for example, it’s referring to boss units with a visible health bar. If a gun gets bonus damage against Minoris foes, that affects Hormagaunts and Tzaangors.
An exact breakdown of these classifications can be found in the table below.
Minoris Enemies
Minoris enemies tend to be small units that spawn in large packs. For the Tyranid faction, that includes 
Hormagaunts
and their ranged Termagant
variant. Parrying a Tyranid Minoris foe will kill the unit outright and stagger nearby Minoris units. If you kill a Majoris-tier threat or higher, a synaptic break will cause nearby Minoris enemies to become temporarily stunned.
The forces of Chaos employ the help of Tzaangors
instead, bird-like daemons who wield melee weapons and bulky shields. They do not become staggered when you kill a nearby Majoris-class enemy, so you’ll need to be more proactive with crowd control to take them down. Traitor Guardsman deal a ton of damage from a distance, but they are a one-hit kill with any weapon. You can even pulverize their bodies under the weight of your armor by simply running into them.
Majoris Enemies
A Majoris enemy is roughly the size of your Astartes and takes significantly more punishment. These include Tyranid Warriors and all their variants—whip, cannon, and dual blades. Warriors come in melee and ranged configurations, while Rubric Marines can do a little of both. Execute these enemies with a finisher to restore some of your armor and, against the Tyranids, disrupt the Minoris horde.
As for Chaos, you’ll be fighting Rubric Marines and Tzaangor Enlightened. Rubric Marines tend to fight at a distance and teleport when attacked. High-damage weapons like the Las Fusil make short work of them. Enlightened Tzaangors are a hybrid unit that float near the frontline, attacking you with spells and melee attacks. Parry these enemies to create an opening.
Extremis Enemies
An Extremis-tier enemy is any miniboss that appears in the kill feed when executed, excluding enemies with a visible health bar. For the Tyranid faction, Extremis units include the Lictor
, Raveners
, and Zoanthropes
. These enemies are highly vulnerable to Krak Grenades, Heavy weapons, and Sniper’s ranged weapons.
Chaos uses heretical magic to gain the upper hand at this tier, relying on Chaos Sorcerers to spawn enemy units while Scarab Occult Terminators
charge into the fray. Sorcerers serve as a summoning unit mixed with a ranged harasser, so you’ll want to focus fire on them briefly to create an opening. Rubric Terminators will require a flawless string of parries and dodges to create an opening. Or you can purge the unclean with a Heavy Melta or Melta Bomb. That works too.
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Terminus Enemies
Terminus-tier enemies are boss units with a visible health bar. Bosses you fight at the end of PvE Operations—the Hive Tyrant
, the Hierophant Bio-Titan, and Heldrake
—fall under this category. Additionally, there’s a rare chance that a boss unit will spawn in your Operation as a random encounter. If this happens, you can expect to fight a Carnifex
or Neurothrope
if you’re fighting Tyranids. Chaos make use of Helbrutes
instead, mutated Dreadnoughts with powerful melee attacks.
These enemies deserve your full attention and should be eliminated as soon as possible. Grenades, class abilities, and virtually all spare ammo should go into taking these enemies out. Fortunately, eliminating such a large opponent does come with benefits. If you kill a Terminus-class enemy in a random encounter, you’ll earn a piece of Armoury Data. Finish the mission to extract the material.
Armoury Data does not drop from end-of-mission Operation bosses like the Hive Tyrant and Helldrake. The boss must be a random encounter.
Tyranid Enemies
Tyranids are a hive mind of carnivorous bugs with the sole intent of consuming all biomass in the galaxy. They appeared from the dark reaches of space, yearning to satisfy a hunger that can only be quenched by subsuming all carbon-based lifeforms. Tyranids aren’t just deadly space bugs: they’re the galaxy’s apex predator.
In Space Marine 2, the Tyranids serve as the game’s primary swarm faction, consisting mostly of melee units. Kadaku was hit by a small scouting fleet during the campaign, so only the most basic Tyranid horrors are present. Hormagaunts and Hive Warriors are the backbone of this small fleet, softening the Imperium’s forces for larger units like the Zoanthrope and Raveners.
Chaos Enemies
Not all Astartes are stalwart defenders of the Emperor’s will. Some of the enemies you’ll face in Space Marine 2 are members of the Thousands Sons, a group of Heretic Astartes who worship the Chaos god Tzeentch. Their very soul is inscribed inside their power armor, making them little more than animated suits of armor.
In-game, the Thousands Sons behave identically to Astartes but with psychic abilities. They can teleport short distances, surround themselves in flame, or even call in reinforcements through a Lesser Sorcerer’s incantation. The Rubric Marines make up the bulk of their Legion, although they are supported by Tzaangor daemons and traitorous Imperial Guardsmen who now worship the forces of Chaos.
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