A Jump Pack is a back-mounted thruster system that allows Space Marines to make short powered jumps across the battlefield. It grants immense tactical mobility, enabling rapid assault deployments and hit-and-run attacks.
The Jump Pack is one of the most recognisable pieces of wargear in Warhammer 40,000. Strapped to the back of a warrior’s armour, its thrusters let a heavily armoured warrior make powered leaps across the battlefield. That turns a ground-bound infantryman into a mobile assault trooper who can bypass terrain, leap over enemy lines and strike targets that would otherwise be out of reach.
Jump Packs have been part of Space Marine warfare since the Great Crusade. Being able to launch warriors over walls, across chasms and onto high ground gives a commander flexibility that ground-based forces can’t match, letting assault troops arrive at the critical point of a battle with speed and violence.
How Does a Jump Pack Work?
A Space Marine Jump Pack is a pair of thrusters mounted on a frame that connects to the backpack of a warrior’s power armour. Sources rarely give precise figures, but the thrust is enough to lift a fully armoured Space Marine and carry him a considerable distance in a single bound.
The jump is not true flight. A Jump Pack provides powered leaps: the Marine launches upward and forward, reaches an apex and descends toward the target, with some control over where he lands. Sustained hovering or long-range flight is beyond a standard Jump Pack. For that, the Imperium uses aircraft or heavier systems such as the Gravis-pattern packs worn by Inceptors.
The power armour’s systems help manage each jump, with the Marine’s autosenses helping him judge distance and landing zones. An experienced assault Marine makes this look instinctive, launching and landing with a precision that seems almost supernatural to unaugmented observers.
Landing is the hardest part. The Marine must absorb a heavy descent without losing combat effectiveness, so power armour servos take much of the impact and Marines train to land ready to fight. A well-executed landing turns straight into a charge, with the Marine’s momentum carrying him into the enemy.
Jump Pack Assault Doctrine
Jump Pack warfare revolves around two core principles: rapid engagement and hit-and-run attacks. Both use the Jump Pack’s mobility so the wearer fights on his own terms, choosing when and where to engage and pulling out of unfavourable fights before the enemy can respond.
Rapid engagement means closing the distance faster than the enemy can react. A Jump Pack squad can cross the gap between two battle lines in seconds, bypassing terrain and screening units to strike high-value targets behind the front line.
Hit-and-run attacks use the Jump Pack’s ability to disengage and redeploy. A squad that charges, deals heavy damage and then pulls back before the enemy can retaliate is using the system exactly as intended, and the target never knows where the next blow will fall.
Together these principles let Jump Pack squads bypass fortified positions and strike vulnerable rear areas. That makes them the ideal tool for decapitation strikes against enemy commanders, destroying key support assets and seizing objectives behind enemy lines.
Which Units Use Jump Packs?
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: The core Jump Pack unit of the current Space Marine range. These Primaris Marines carry heavy bolt pistols and chainswords, and their role is simple: close with the enemy fast and win the fight in melee. They have largely taken over from the classic Assault Squad, which filled the same role for decades.
Vanguard Veterans: Veteran assault troopers who have traditionally had access to a wider range of melee weapons than a standard assault squad, such as thunder hammers, lightning claws, power weapons and storm shields. Check the current codex for which options are still available.
Sanguinary Guard (Blood Angels): The Blood Angels’ golden-armoured elite, equipped with Jump Packs and ornate master-crafted weapons. They’re among the most iconic Jump Pack units in the game.
Inceptors: Primaris Marines in Gravis armour with heavy Jump Packs, built to drop onto the battlefield from high altitude. Unlike traditional assault Marines, Inceptors are mainly ranged fighters, armed with assault bolters or plasma exterminators that they fire as they land.
Suppressors: Primaris Marines who use grav-chutes rather than full Jump Packs, letting them descend into position and reach high firing points. They carry accelerator autocannons and provide fire support for the assault units around them.
Characters: Several Space Marine characters, such as a Captain or Chaplain, are available with Jump Packs so they can keep pace with an assault force. In 11th Edition, a Leader joins a bodyguard unit as part of your army roster, and the attached unit can only Deep Strike if every model in it has Deep Strike, so pair Jump Pack characters with Jump Pack squads.
Jump Packs on the Tabletop
On the tabletop, Jump Pack units are much faster than foot-slogging infantry, typically moving around twice as far as a standard Space Marine. They can also move over models and terrain, letting them ignore the screens and blockers that slow ground-based assault units. Check each unit’s current datasheet for its exact Move characteristic and abilities.
Many Jump Pack units also have Deep Strike. In 11th Edition, Deep Strike units go into strategic reserves (which can’t exceed half your points) and arrive with an ingress move from the second battle round onwards. A unit where every model has Deep Strike can be set up anywhere on the battlefield more than 8″ horizontally from all enemy units, including in your opponent’s deployment zone. It can’t make another move until the next Charge phase, but it can still shoot and charge, needing a 7 or more on 2D6 to reach the 2″ engagement range. Any reserves unit that hasn’t arrived by the end of battle round 3 is destroyed.
That combination of speed, freedom of movement and Deep Strike makes Jump Pack units one of the most reliable ways for a Space Marine army to deliver melee attacks where they’re needed. Other units may hit harder in melee or be tougher, but few get into combat as reliably and quickly.
Jump Packs in the Lore
Jump Pack warfare has been a feature of Space Marine combat since the Great Crusade, when the assault elements of the Legions used them in planetary assaults. The principles of Jump Pack warfare have changed little since, which says something about both their effectiveness and the Imperium’s resistance to new ideas.
The Blood Angels and their Primarch Sanguinius are the faction most closely associated with Jump Pack warfare. Sanguinius had great feathered wings that allowed true flight, and the Blood Angels’ identity is bound up in the image of the angelic warrior descending from above. Blood Angels assault troops are often held up as the finest Jump Pack warriors in the Imperium.
The Raven Guard also have a strong Jump Pack tradition, though they use it differently. Raven Guard favour covert insertion, rapid extraction and guerrilla strikes, using their mobility to hit the enemy’s weakest point and vanish before a response can be mounted, in keeping with the philosophy of their Primarch Corvus Corax.
Jump Pack troops also feature throughout the Horus Heresy, on both the loyalist and traitor sides. The Horus Heresy novels and the Warhammer: The Horus Heresy tabletop game are the best places to find specific battles and the Legions’ assault units.
Painting Jump Pack Models
Jump Pack models offer dynamic painting opportunities. Paint the thrusters with heat discolouration, dark metal shifting through blues and purples toward the exhaust ports, to suggest the temperatures involved. Adding a glow at the exhausts, using bright orange and yellow, gives the impression of active thrust.
Pose matters too. Many Jump Pack kits allow leaping poses, with models angled forward in mid-flight or descending with weapons raised. Clear flying stands or scenic bases with raised features add a sense of movement and make Jump Pack units stand out from ground troops.
Weather the areas that take the most wear: scorch marks around the thruster exhausts, scratches on forward-facing surfaces from hard landings and dust on the lower legs. This tells the story of a unit that has made many combat jumps.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Jump Pack Marines fly?
No, not in the conventional sense. Jump Packs provide powered leaps: short bursts of thrust that launch the Marine upward and forward. They can’t hover or sustain prolonged flight like true aircraft. Inceptors’ heavier packs allow a controlled descent from high altitude, but still not sustained flight.
Do all Space Marine Chapters use Jump Packs?
Codex-compliant Chapters field Jump Pack assault troops, but some Chapters emphasise them far more than others. The Blood Angels and their successors are the most famous Jump Pack specialists, and the Raven Guard are known for using them in stealthy strikes.
Can Chaos Space Marines use Jump Packs?
Yes. Chaos Raptors are the traitor equivalent of loyalist assault Marines. Warp Talons are a more exotic variant, Jump Pack-equipped Chaos Marines who have become partly daemonic, fighting with lightning claws and descending on their prey from the Warp.
What is the difference between a Jump Pack and a Gravis Jump Pack?
Standard Jump Packs are designed for standard power armour, such as the Mark X Tacticus armour worn by Assault Intercessors. The heavier packs worn by Inceptors are designed for the bulkier Gravis-pattern armour and provide more thrust to compensate, but they work on similar principles.
Are Jump Pack units competitive in the current meta?
Jump Pack units have been relevant across many editions thanks to their mobility, Deep Strike and melee punch, which make them good for contesting objectives and removing key enemy units. How strong each one is right now depends on the current codex, detachments and points, so check the latest Munitorum Field Manual and recent results before building around them.
Which other factions use jump packs?
Many factions have their own version. Sisters of Battle Seraphim and Zephyrim wear jump packs, Ork Stormboyz use crude rokkit packs, Chaos Raptors and Warp Talons are the traitor equivalent, and T’au Crisis Battlesuits use jetpacks. Aeldari Swooping Hawks fly on wings, Warp Spiders teleport with jump generators, and Drukhari Scourges have surgically grafted wings.
What’s the difference between Assault Marines and Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs?
Assault Marines are the classic jump-pack squad, made up of older-pattern Space Marines. Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs are the newer Primaris version, bigger models in Mark X Tacticus armour carrying heavy bolt pistols and chainswords. The Primaris kit has largely replaced the old Assault Squad in the current Space Marine range, but both fill the same fast melee role.