Shrouded Crusher
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

A different take on the Shroudfield/Loner build. With this build we want to be team players, using shroudfield to improve our horde clearing capabilities and give us the ability to resurrect team mates even in very awkward situations. 

This combination of talents and curios also seeks to make use of Thy Wrath Be Swift ranged/melee stun and slow immunity, Loner's guaranteed coherency bonus, in junction with EWEW and the toughness regen bonuses, to guarantee a good deal of protection against gunners. This allows us to essentially charge into and shutdown gunner squads without worrying about our safety. This is not an excuse to overextend yourself: if the choice is between safely magdumping your columnus into the gunners or abandoning your team, you better choose the former. It's not that you can't survive the consequences, but you'll likely put your team in an awkward position of feeling like they have to rush through a mixed horde to come and join you... which often has very bad outcomes.

The weapon choices:

The Crusher benefits immensely from critical hit chance due to its enormous intrinsic critical damage bonus, and will reset Shroudfield's CDR constantly due to its frankly insane cleave while you massacre mixed hordes. It's lmb chain is pretty good, especially due to the crusher's cleave, crit bonus and stagger values: Bbut what makes it shine is its push attack + heavy -> repeat combo: its speed, stagger values and damage offer an incredible package of safety for you, and death for everything around you that isn't covered in carapace armor.

The Columnus, with the stacking bonuses to ranged backstab and unyielding damage, will demolish bosses, bulwarks and mutants in times that can only be matched by a a hipster quickfire revolver vet, a very aggressive Thunder Hammer or a Ranged Ogryn. In a pinch it's also a good special and rager killer up to 15 meters. Between 15 and 25 you can manage with some controlled fire. Beyond 25 you give up and let your team mates have a go at it.

This build has a low skill floor and high skill ceiling, providing a good deal of fun for everyone. I started by LMB spamming and occasionally mixing up with some special activations, taking out the columnus to spray into mixed hordes and bosses. I'm now cleaving through hordes with timed shroudfield activations and murdering bulwarks and bosses in record time with fancy combos and strategic shroudfield activation.

So how does it work?

Against hordes/mixed hordes without crushers: LMB spam works just fine, though Push attack + heavy attack -> repeat will deal the highest DPS and stagger. By comparison, a dagger will take 2 to 3 times longer than you to kill a mixed horde, and they will be much less safe while doing so. Try to always approach hordes with the special activated and at least 1% stamina to ensure you can engage with a push attack. When shroudfield is ready, push attack -> start charging a heavy attack -> activate shroudfield -> release heavy attack for a massive strike. This will also replenish 40% toughness and give you an extra 20% damage reduction bonus. Get into the habit of occasionally dodging backwards, activating special and re-engaging with a Heavy 1 to cause a massive AOE stagger and give yourself and others some breathing room.

Against crushers and rager doom squads: activate special -> heavy attack -> push attack -> heavy attack -> dash back -> repeat. This will allow you to crowd control and deal respectable dps. If you're feeling under pressure, use special activation -> heavy attack -> dash back -> repeat. You can deal with rager doom squads as if they were a normal horde, but sometimes you can get caught into a block break loop that will end in an early demise if you don't have shroudfield ready to take off half a second of pressure.

Against bulwarks: activate special -> any attack -> take out columnus and shoot. Bulwarks will go do in under 0.5 seconds if done correctly.

Against gunner squads: frankly, you can basically just sprint and dodge crabwalk into them. Your passive toughness regen combined with the toughess on dodge will basically allow you to facetank shotgunner death squads. Remember: toughness regen from coherency is interrupted by melee attacks, but not by ranged attacks. Repears are also big enough targets that you can zero in on them with your columnus from 15+ meters: point, aim, shoot and they'll die real quick. Personal experience tells me the only thing faster at killing reapers than a columnus is a revolver.

Against bosses: just go behind them and shoot. If they start looking at you funny, shroudfield, circle back around them and shoot again. I originally made this build because of how frustrated I was with Beasts of Nurgle forcing me to fight from range: turns out, it melts everything else too.

Summarizing:

Strengths: 

++Bosses

++Mixed Hordes

++Gunner squads

+Rager death squads

Weaknesses

---You have throwing knifes instead of grenades. :Feelsbadman:

--Snipers (you'll waste a lot of ammo trying to catch the buggers)

-Specials hiding behind hordes (you can walk into them with shroudfield, but it's slower than pulling out a revolver and just killing them in 0.2 seconds. The Columnus has NO penetration whatsoever, so it has to basically kill everything between you and a special before it can kill it)

-Crushers squads (This is where you kind of just revert to a support role by staggering them and killing stuff around them).