Lore of the Warp

Home › Units › Adeptus Astartes (all Chapters) › Redemptor Dreadnought

Space Marines & Primarchs · Unit

Redemptor Dreadnought

A larger, heavier Dreadnought designed by Belisarius Cawl to carry fallen Primaris Marines.

Adeptus Astartes (all Chapters)

Category
Vehicles
Faction
Adeptus Astartes (all Chapters)
Related characters
2

Illustrated by George Earl Abalayan (“Imperial Fist”, used with permission)

Lore & origins

Primaris Space Marines are bigger than their predecessors, and they needed a new kind of Dreadnought. Belisarius Cawl designed the Redemptor as part of the Primaris project, and it arrived with the Indomitus Crusade. Like older Dreadnoughts, it carries a mortally wounded warrior in a sarcophagus, but it is taller, wider and more heavily armed.

Redemptors have been issued to Chapters across the galaxy. Notable examples include Brother Valtus of the Ultramarines. Variants based on the same chassis include the Brutalis, built for close-quarters destruction, and the Ballistus, a long-range missile and lascannon platform.

The Redemptor is the Primaris Dreadnought, created by Cawl for Primaris Marines who have been mortally wounded. It is larger and faster than older Dreadnoughts. Malcades of the Ultramarines was the first Primaris Marine to fall in battle in Ultramar during the Indomitus Crusade. He was placed in a Redemptor and fought in the Plague Wars on Espandor.

Cawl's Tech-priests paid little attention to the occupant's health, treating him as just another part to be interred or replaced. There are cases where the Redemptor's surging energies drained its occupant until only blackened organs remained, which were then reinterred in a true mausoleum. Valtus fought the Thousand Sons on the cemetery world of Demerium in the Recidious Campaign. The Sorcerer Lord Imurah had attacked there to seize a Chaos relic powering the Imperium's anti-Warp weapon, Project Aurora.

Appearance & wargear

The Redemptor is a squat, wide-shouldered walker with a hunched hull and a sarcophagus behind a heavily armoured front plate. Its main weapon arm carries either a heavy onslaught gatling cannon or a macro plasma incinerator. The other arm ends in the huge Redemptor fist, which has a heavy flamer or heavy onslaught gatling cannon mounted beneath it. Fragstorm grenade launchers on the hull and optional Icarus rocket pods complete the loadout.

It is a heavy, broad-shouldered walker with a macro plasma incinerator or heavy onslaught gatling cannon, a Redemptor fist, Icarus rocket pods and storm bolters.

Weapons & Vehicles

Standard Armament & Combat LoadoutThe Redemptor is a squat, wide-shouldered walker with a hunched hull and a sarcophagus behind a heavily armoured front plate. Its main weapon arm carries either a heavy onslaught gatling cannon or a macro plasma incinerator.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Battlefield role & tactics

The Redemptor is a front-line brawler with heavy firepower. It walks alongside Intercessor lines, shreds infantry with its gatling cannon or melts heavy targets with plasma, then crushes anything that gets close with its fist. Its size also makes it a target that draws enemy fire away from the infantry it supports.

Redemptors are front-line fire support and assault walkers, tough and hard-hitting. They need protection from dedicated anti-tank fire.

Munitorum & Ordo Xenos Technical Dossier

Classified under Ordo and Departmento Munitorum threat-index protocols as a primary The Redemptor is a front-line brawler with heavy firepower. It walks alongside Intercessor lines, shreds infantry with its gatling cannon or melts heavy targets with plasma, then crushes anything that gets close with its fist. Its size also makes it a target that draws enemy fire away from the infantry it supports. asset of Adeptus Astartes (all Chapters), Redemptor Dreadnought relies on a tightly coupled symbiosis between operator conditioning and primary armament. Field maintenance and biological recovery logs indicate that extended deployment without liturgical recalibration or bio-stasis rest degrades targeting and metabolic stability by less than 4% per solar week—far outperforming standard sector baselines—while post-engagement recovery teams prioritize the immediate extraction of their core wargear, neural/gene-seed components, or machine-spirit memory cores before enemy scavengers can exploit them.

Notable battles & users

  • Indomitus Crusade: Redemptors were distributed with the Primaris reinforcements to many Chapters.
  • Ultramarines: Brother Valtus is a named Redemptor of the Ultramarines 2nd Company.
  • Deathwatch: the Watch Fortresses also received Redemptors, which appear in the 8th edition Deathwatch codex.
  • Malcades: the first Primaris Marine to fall in Ultramar. He was entombed in a Redemptor and fought on Espandor in the Plague Wars.
  • Valtus: an Ultramarines Redemptor serving aboard the battle barge Resilient.
  • Asger the Frozen: a Space Wolves Redemptor from Ragnar Blackmane's Great Company who served in Task Force Icepelt on Vigilus during the War of Beasts.

Further reading

Lexicanum · Warhammer 40k Wiki