Momentum Bar, Desperate Measures and Heroic Acts Explained

Understand the Momentum Bar, Heroic Acts, and Desperate Measures in warhammer 40k rogue trader. Learn how Resolve impacts Momentum gain and loss.

The Momentum Bar is a crucial mechanic in warhammer 40k rogue trader that influences your combat effectiveness. It's a blue bar located above your abilities on the right side of your screen. Performing well in combat, such as attacking or defeating enemies, increases this bar, while taking damage or losing a party member decreases it. The core strategy involves defeating weaker enemies to build Momentum before unleashing powerful ultimate abilities known as Heroic Acts, or using Desperate Measures on tougher foes.

Resolve:

• Resolve's base value is equal to your Fellowship attribute and can be increased through abilities, talents, and armor that boosts Fellowship.
• Resolve influences how much Momentum you gain or lose each turn or after defeating an enemy.
• If a party member has not used a Heroic Act or Desperate Measure at the start of their turn, Momentum increases by that party member's Resolve Stat.
• Upon defeating an enemy, you gain Momentum based on the killing character's Resolve stat multiplied by the enemy's difficulty (rated from I to VII).
• If a party member's wounds reach zero, you lose Momentum based on the fallen member's Resolve stat multiplied by 10. For example, if Abelard has 6 Resolve and loses all his wounds, you would lose 60 Momentum.

Heroic Acts:

• Heroic Acts are powerful ultimate abilities tied to your Archetype that can turn the tide of battle.
• They can only be used once per battle.
• Examples include the Warrior's "Daring Breach" (restores all AP and MP, grants bonus MP based on Agility, allows unlimited melee attacks for the turn) and the Operative's "Dismantling Attack" (inflicts one exploit on all enemies, grants a free guaranteed attack, and applies -30% dodge and armor penalties to a target for the rest of the battle).
• You can find all available Heroic Acts and Desperate Measures in the Archetype section of your character sheet.

Desperate Measures:

• Desperate Measures can be used when Momentum reaches 25 points, or if a character is at less than 50% wounds (costing 75 Momentum), or less than 20% wounds (costing 100 Momentum).
• Using a Desperate Measure reduces the user's Resolve to 0 for the rest of combat, impacting overall Momentum long-term.
• Unlike Heroic Acts, Desperate Measures can be used once per round.
• Examples include the Warrior's "Daring Breach" (prevents Charge for the rest of the battle and costs 3 MP) and the Operative's "Dismantling Attack" (makes all abilities cost an extra AP for the rest of the battle).
• These are less powerful versions of Heroic Acts with negative consequences, intended for use only in dire situations.