Officer Build Guide – Rogue Trader

Officers are natural leaders, mainly used for bolstering the fighting prowess of your party in Rogue Trader. I will give you the best officer-build guide I found to work under all circumstances.

Updated: March 6, 2024

This build is current to the 1.1.28 patch!

Best Officer Build in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

Here is a list of Rogue Trader features you will want to take for your Officer main character while leveling him from level one to 16. In game terms, this particular build will serve you until the end of the first act in the game. And remember, you can always respec if you feel like something's not right with your character or if you prefer a particular playing style.

Keep in mind, however, that certain character aspects, such as your name and your origin traits, won't be possible to respec, so choose wisely. The best Homeworld for Officer Build in Rogue Trader would be the Hive World due to its innate +5 Fellowship which is the Archetype's most important stat. While only +5, this helps you reach the next bonus stat threshold. Hive World also provides you with +5 Agility while reducing your Willpower by -5.

If you're planning on making your Officer a Psyker, I recommend picking Imperial World and investing the Fellowship or Willpower characteristics as the bonus. Psykers as Officers make ideal support units for your party.

Related: Rogue Trader romance guide - Which characters are dateable?

Best Officer Origin in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

The best Origin for your Officer in Rogue Trader would depend on your playstyle and the archetype sub-division you will eventually choose, but it can be narrowed down to the following choices:

• Psyker - This origin is unique in that it is effectively a secondary class to build around your Archetype. Provides many additional support options as well as some offensive "spells" to support Officer gameplay.
• Commissar: WS boost and At All Costs! synergizes well with this build, providing you with a leadership bonus as well as a close combat boost.
• Navy Officer: Fellowship boost will prove invaluable in this build, and Brace for Impact! can be a nice bonus as well.
• Noble: Coercion and Fellowship bonuses are also great to have on your Officer, especially since they will be the main character.

Best Officer Characteristics in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

To properly play Officer in Rogue Trader, here are the most important characteristics to pick when leveling him:

• Fellowship: Useful for your Officer because of his Officer archetype and a Master Tactician, as it provides a boost to his Abilities, and many of his Talents rely on this Characteristic.
• Willpower - Useful for your Psyker abilities as most scale off of this stat for improved effectiveness, whether it be support or offensive.
• Agility: Your Officer will primarily be a ranged fighter and a party booster, meaning he won't be able to take too much punishment. Boosting his Agility goes a long way toward keeping him alive.

Best Officer Skills in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

Your Officer should have high conversational skills, since he will be the one doing most of the talking. Here are some of the best Skills for your Officer character:

• Persuasion: It represents a character's Talent to manipulate other people through negotiation, occasionally opening up new dialogue options. It allows your Officer to reach your desired goals in dialogues by making good impressions and peacefully convincing others to see the Emperor's light and agree with their point. Peacefully.
• Coercion: Comes in when the individual doesn't work well with the Emperor's light, offering your officer an Ability to threaten with the power of the Emperor's stick, for His will must be done.
• Lore (Imperium): Grants your Officer understanding of the Imperium's tenets, history, and structure, as any good citizen of Imperium should.

Best Officer Talents in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

This is the list of best Talents for your Officer in Rogue Trader:

• Commanding Voice: Boosts the Voice of Command on your officer by giving it a +6 range while also boosting his abilities. It's a bread-and-butter of this officer build and a must-take Talent.
• Blood of Martyrs: Gives temporary wounds to allies whenever they use a heroic act. This Talent works like an aura, and the more ultimates they use, the stronger they become during the fight.
• Perfect Finish: an upgrade from Finish the Job, it boosts your Officer's chance to score a critical hit to 75%, which is very useful as it will allow him to crit more. This Talent will boost his Ability to mop up low-wound stragglers with ease, as you don't want too many of them taking potshots at you.
• Focus: Whenever your Officer uses an Ability on an ally, they gain a bonus to Ballistic Skill and Perception based on the Officer's Fellowship rating. It is great for buffing your shooters with additional accuracy. This benefits you, especially if you have more ranged companions.
• Inspire courage: Whenever your Officer uses an Ability on an ally, they gain a bonus to Willpower and a temporary boost in Wounds. This Talent is great for buffing tanks in your group.
• Personal oversight: The ally's Resolve is increased by +1 whenever the Officer uses an Ability on an ally or otherwise targets them with an Ability or an action. Enables your allies to use their ultimate sooner in combat.
• Physical Encouragement: Grants additional movement points to all allies starting their turn adjacent to the Officer.
• More than Possible: Combines very well with Bring it Down! Ability, causing you to receive additional AP and MP when you need to kill an enemy but don't have enough action resources left.
• Lasting Impression: Another Talent that combines well with the Voice of Command, making other Talents that use it stick around for longer, even after the Ability stops working.
• Exemplar of Heroism: If your Officer is a damage dealer, this Talent will be invaluable, enabling his attack to cost 0 AP whenever a heroic act gets used in combat.

Best Officer Abilities in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

Here are the best Abilities to take on your Officer while leveling him in Rogue Trader:

• Finish the Job: Grants your Officer a free shot at every enemy under 50% of Wounds.
• Voice of Command: By using this Ability, you are buffing your allies but also setting a key point to boost your allies even further, sharing your Officer's Abilities.
• Bring it Down: Your Officer grants allies the ability to play an extra turn depending on his FEL bonus but without any movement. Ideal for launching repeated attacks.
• Finest Hour: One of the better ultimates in the game, in my opinion. It works by granting an ally a full extra turn with full AP and MP without the attack limit, which enables the Officer to have his party attack more frequently during combat.
• Take Aim: Buffs the target's Ballistic Skill, enabling them to shoot more accurately, ignoring cover for the duration. If you have any snipers in your team and want to make sure you down a certain target, use this Ability. If you put Voice of Command on them as well, they'll ignore an enemy dodge, plus their damage won't fall below 30 + 3FEL bonus, making this attack a certain kill in specific circumstances.
• Get Back in the Fight: Great for removing negative buffs from your companions, also stacks nicely with the Voice of Command.

Related: Heinrix Build Guide – Rogue Trader

Best Officer Items in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

The best items to choose for your Officer in Rogue Trader are those that boost his Ballistic Skill and Fellowship. Moreover, any items that are laser or solid are also welcome. Here is the list of the best items you can obtain in the early game of Rogue Trader that will be perfect for this Officer build:

• Foehammer: This is more of a single-handed shotgun than a pistol, used for knocking enemies back if they approach a bit too close to your Officer.
• Sworn Protector: If you really want to hang back and pick enemies off from a distance, use this sniper rifle. Additional armor penetration will go a long way toward taking down tougher targets.
• Modified Splinter Pistol: Applies damage over time, which is useful for taking out multiple weaker targets.
• Elite Blast Pistol: Utilizes high penetration power for tankier enemies.

How to play Officer in Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader

Playing the Officer archetype in Rogue Trader is based on boosting the rest of your party by giving them powerful buffs while providing an excess of additional turns. An Officer either makes or breaks the game of Rogue Trader, based on my experience of the archetype, so you really want to stay on top of carefully analyzing what each Ability does in detail before you pick it.

• Everything revolves around the Voice of Command in an officer's build. Always put Voice of Command at the beginning of your turn on a target, and then you can stack the rest of the Abilities on them, multiplying the Ability's effects. With Voice of Command active on a unit, you can utilize your supportive Officer abilities on that specific unit from any range.
• Combine Take Aim with Voice of Command to maximize the shooting output of a single unit. I love boosting Argenta, as she is incredible at shooting targets from afar.
• If you need additional AP and MP to summon, Bring it Down! and Voice of Command, More than Possible becomes very useful to hammer through even the toughest opponents.

Positioning your Officer in combat needs to be carefully planned, as he isn't meant to change positions too much. The main idea is to shoot/invoke Psyker abilities, boost allies, and avoid damage as much as possible. Keeping him in the back is the name of the game, but never too far away from the action, so it's important to find a solid equilibrium.

Looking for more interesting Rogue Trader articles to survive the perils of the Warp? Look no further, Pro Game Guides is your Rosarius! Have a look at All Rogue Trader difficulty levels, explained.