r/DarkTide

It's really damn annoying that there isn't anything in-game that actually tells you what the difference is between weapon marks aside from one really broad description and a few number changes.

Dealing with Carapace has been the meta for the longest while. Knife isn't great against hordes compared to other options, nor is Duelling Blade and yet they are both considered meta definingly strong weapons. In comparison, the DLC classes tend to be able to not be choked out in their build choices:

Hive Scum gets to bring Chem Toxins into every build to deal with Carapace, giving them significantly more breathing room than other classes when it comes to buildcrafting.

Skitarii gets to have Claw for when they want to go all in on dealing with Caracape, while they still have other options if they choose

If you look at the base classes, for example Zealot, they aren't given the same breathing space at all. Fury of the Faithful allows for one instance of rending that goes on a pretty decent cooldown. They also get to use Shroudfield for, again, a single instance of an attack with rending. Otherwise they must stick to guns like Bolters or Snub to shred which again, relies on ammo. The inaccesibility of both of these choices for times where they matter the most leads players to go for melee weapons that can deal with carapace, as melee weapons are always available. I wont act as if I know how things are for Ogryns or Psykers as they are more unique compared to Veterans and Zealots. All I'm asking for is any way for us deal with Carapace being added into our skill trees in a similar way to Hive Scum and Skitarii.

TLDR I just wish I could use my funny shitty weapons without feeling like I'm a burden to my team as soon as I need to clutch up, as the other options make that significantly easier

The addition of Skitarii really highlighted how bad the grenade economy and balance is on most classes. Any class with an option that regenerates is basically the default choice outside of scum who’s limited use blitzes are actually busted because it would be selfish to take a box to recharge your shitty fire grenades/purgator skull/selfish bubble shield when scum has a pocket nuke and pocket virus bombs that wipes elite waves in h40 and overkills anything below.

IMO, the blitz economy needs either a rebalance, many that have limited uses shouldn’t and many are super underwhelming like zealots.

Played through the campaign, learned a little of how the skill tree and weapon system works using psyker. Moved into playing damnation mode which seems to make your builds work better. Sometimes I get into some pretty good teams but the biggest lesson I'm learning so far is that when the group starts splitting up the game is basically over. You get one guy sprinting as far ahead as possible triggering all the spawns, the next guy exploring for crafting materials, the third sprinting ahead to not be left behind and then the slowest runner gets swarmed on all sides who dies, then the next guy gets swarmed and dies, the third gets mauled by a dog then blown up by a martyr unit and the first sprinter exits the game. The skills and the character banter all but explicitly tells you to play together. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Stick together as a unit and complete the match. Speed running just leads to spending more loading screens and less resources.

First the Arbites, then Hive Scum, and now actual warriors of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The warband has gotten a lot of support where it would be hard to argue that they'd be struggling as much as they were before, especially with the Skitarii at their disposal.

Thing is though, Vermintide 2 had three factions: the Rotbloods (Nurgle worshippers, Skaven (fuckass rats), and Beastmen (polytheistic chaos lovers). In Darktide we only have the Moebian 6th and the Admonition. Considering the Vermintide precedent, even if its not feasibly possible, what faction could possibly reinforce the traitors and cultists (adding new units) in a lore friendly way if possible?

I’ve always been a thunder hammer main, and while I admit it has its issues and could use some help, it is FAR from the worst weapon there is.

The thunder hammer is popular, so it gets talked about and has received some buffs in the past. Weapons that are not popular feel like they’re just left to rot.

Seriously though, try using the braced or vigilant autoguns and then tell me the thunder hammer is bad. I also want to like the sapper shovels so bad but the flip mode is twice as clunky and not even half as effective as a charged hammer swing.

Even things like the chainaxe (and chain weapons in general) just feel like they’re from a completely different era. I think fatshark needs to go back to every single weapon and decide if it needs a rework or not.

Half the fun of darktide is using different weapons to spice things up. While I still use the underpowered weapons, it feels painfully ineffective at times and somewhat ruins the experience.

That is all, thanks for coming to my TED talk

Relatively new to the game, but I got all 7 classes to level 30, so I thought I'd post my impressions of each, in case anyone cares. I didn't play Vermintide, so this game was a bit new to me. I didn't really look up any "how to build class x" resources.

Veteran - This class was (is) a huge disappointment from level 1 Uprising missions all the way to level 30 trying to do Heresy missions. Dying constantly, terrible damage, the shout is occasionally useful. Absolute chore to play because it feels like you're the weakest link in the team all the time. This is the only class where I went to the internet to try to figure out a build, because nothing I was doing was working.

Psyker - I did a melee crit build with this instead of the regular psyker stuff, and it's kind of bonkers--especially compared to the disappointment of the Veteran class. It absolutely rips through everything even on Heresy difficulty. It dies a lot (glass cannon), but I can tolerate it since it's actually being useful in-between getting downed. It was kind of slow to start, but once the crit tree opened up, it leveled up really fast. I can't really play more than 1 or 2 missions with it, because the mental energy it takes to slide/block/dodge/move/hit/block/dodge/hit wears me out.

Arbitrator - This class was like EZ mode from 1-30. Even jumping from Malice to Heresy, there was basically no difference in play. Damage output is kind of low, but I went for a knockback build with it, so it works really well as a team player, since I can knock things back and everyone else kills them. Very durable, rarely gets downed, always feels like you're being useful. The k9 companion is extremely useful for not getting caught by bullshit like trappers and pox hounds, which is honestly my favorite thing about the class. The aura ability feels useless in Heresy, because a) everyone is dropping everything so fast the aura is pointless and b) as soon as you drop it, a tox or flame bomber drops a grenade right on top of it, so nobody can stand in the aura.

Zealot - Went for a melee berserker build with this, and it works well. Damage isn't as great as the crit psyker, but it's much tankier and has better team support. Was easy to level up and feels useful even into Heresy. Again, very mentally draining to play due to constantly being engulfed in a blur of targets.

Ogryn - The best thing about Ogryn is that your teammates just kind of slow down around you and don't leave you hanging or sprint ahead as much. Team buffs are good. Knockback is good. Very tanky. Felt useful from level 1-30. Almost relaxing to play because it's so much slower than the psyker crit or the zealot barbarian.

Skitarius - This felt extremely OP at level 1 compared to the other classes because of its starting kit. The panic button ability is extremely useful. Damage holds up in melee and ranged. Just all-around good which is I guess why most games are like 3 Skitari and a special guest.

Hive Scum - Played really well in Uprising and Malice, but kind of dropped off in Heresy. Rocket launcher is fun at lower difficulties, but at higher difficulties other players are dropping the big targets faster than I can pull the launcher out. Higher speed and better dodging is good, so it survives better than the previous two melee builds, but melee damage seems really weak comparatively. Seems like I'm spending most of my time dodging around while not killing anything.

In general...not really a huge fan of all the melee grinding once you get into Heresy. Cutting through endless waves of mooks is tedious and a bit boring. Most of the time when I die, it's because of some bullshit like I get juggled by a trapper, a pox bomber, and tox flamer. Extremely frustrating to play with people who sprint ahead and leave you alone while you're surrounded by a mook wave, when the game repeatedly reminds you to stick together.

Anyway, that's a 140 hour impression.