Veteran Sharpshooter (Santos Gamerant)
 Veteran Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Build and writing by Marc Santos of GameRant edited by me

The Veteran is the perfect class for players who love both ranged and melee combat, which Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has plenty of. This build, however, caters to a sniper-like playstyle that's meant for taking down important targets before they can do any harm to the team.

Updated November 16, 2023, by Marc Santos: This build guide has been updated to reflect the changes introduced in the Traitor Curse Anniversary Patch, which added keystone skills for the Veteran class.

Darktide Veteran Sniper Build

Playing the role of a backline marksman was the original design for the Veteran class. With Patch 13's class overhaul and the addition of Veteran keystone skills in Patch 14, players can now take skills that further enforce this long-ranged playstyle, eliminating priority targets from relative safety to give their team some more breathing room.

The following skill build focuses on maximizing the Veteran's ranged damage potential while offering some nice quality-of-life improvements in melee combat.

 
Leveling Breakdown Guide
1-10 Skill Points
Skill

Effect

1. Longshot
   Deal more damage to far-away enemies
2. Volley Adept
   Gain faster reload speeds after killing an Elite/Specialist
3. Health Boost
4. Toughness Boost
5. Shredder Frag Grenade
   Explodes, deals damage, and inflicts Bleeding
6. Ranged Damage Boost
7. Get Back In The Fight!
   Gain Stun and Slow Immunity and for 6s & restore 50% Stamina when Toughness is broken
8. Survivalist
   Replenish 1% ammo when an Elite is killed by you or allies within Coherency
9. Reload Boost
10. Kill Zone
    +15% Base Ranged Damage when no enemies are within 8m
11. Executioner's Stance
    Active Skill
12. Counter-Fire
    Executioner's Stance highlights all ranged enemies
13. Relentless
    Killing enemies highlighted by Executioner's Stance increases the skill's duration
14. Ranged Damage Boost
15. Precision Strikes
    +30% Weakspot Damage
16. Toughness Damage Reduction
17. Determined
    Gain Suppression Immunity
18. Fully Loaded
    +25% more ammo
19. Superiority Complex
    +15% Base Damage vs. Elites
20. Toughness Damage Reduction
21. Marksman
    +20% Power on Weakspot hits after Ability use
22. Marksman's Focus (Keystone)
    Ranged Weakspot Kills grant 3 stacks of Focus. Each stack of Focus grants +7.5% Ranged Weapon Finesse Power and Reload Speed (up to 10 stacks). Stacks are gradually lost when walking, sprinting, or sliding. Ranged Weakspot Kills disable stack loss for three 3s, and Ranged Weakspot hits disable stack loss for 1s.
23. Camouflage
    Gain 1 stack of Focus every 0.75s when standing still or walking while crouched
24. Suppression Boost (Middle Tree)
25. Born Leader
    Allies in Coherency replenish 15% of any Toughness you replenish
26. Tactical Awareness (Middle Tree)
    Combat Ability Cooldown reduced by 6s upon killing a Specialist enemy
27. Toughness Damage Reduction (Middle Tree)
28. Demolition Stockpile (Middle Tree)
    Regenerates one grenade per minute
29. Twinned Blast (Middle Tree)
    20% chance to throw another grenade for free
30. Critical Chance Boost (Right Tree)

Executioner's Stance is the preferred Combat Ability for this build since it increases ranged damage while also highlighting important targets. Players can opt to use Infiltrate instead for the ability to escape dicey situations, but this will force them to move their skill points around just to make it to that Combat Ability.

Marksman's Focus greatly increases the damage players deal against enemy weakspots. At full stacks, this can push certain weapons past the one-hit-kill breakpoint with headshots against the majority of Elites and Specialists (with Maniacs like Mutants, Ragers and Flamers being the usual exceptions). Players can maintain full stacks even while moving as long as they are constantly scoring weakspot kills.

For the best single-target damage potential, use the Lucius Mk III Helbore Lasgun. This gun can take down Crushers in one hit if it has the right combination of stats and Blessings. Ideally, players should be using a Helbore rifle with the following:

• +25% Damage against Carapace
• +25% Damage against Unyielding
• Surgical
• Infernus OR Onslaught

The Surgical Blessing gradually increases the critical hit chance of the player's next shot as long as they are aiming down sights (bonus resets after a critical hit). This naturally synergizes with Infernus, which lights enemies on fire after a critical hit. Onslaught is also a good choice since it reduces the charge time between full-power Helbore shots. Shredder Grenades are preferred over Krak Grenades since Helbore Lasguns are already great at punching through armor.

A Vraaks Mk VII Headhunter autogun with the Headhunter and Deadly Accurate Blessings can also rip into all enemies at Damnation difficulty, especially when players forego the Camoflauge skill with Chink in their Armor, which grants +10% Rending when at full Marksman stacks.

Players can take any melee weapon they prefer, though one with good horde-clear strength is preferred. Power Swords, Chainswords, and Catachan Devil Swords with good Cleave perks are recommended but not required. As for recommended Curios, focus on stacking Health, Combat Ability Regeneration, and Stamina Regeneration.