Inquisitorial Preacher
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

 ── AT A GLANCE ──

Horde Clear: [3/5]
Crowd Control: [4/5]
Elite Killing: [3/5]
Special Killing: [3/5] 
Monster Damage: [4/5] 
Survivability: [4/5] 
Team Utility: [5/5] 
Ammo Economy: [Moderate]
Skill Floor: [Easy]

Inquisitorial Preacher

The Inquisitorial Preacher is a support build, aimed at maximising uptime of Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude  to suppress enemies and buff teammates. It's one of a couple Chorus builds I like to run, and the one I opt for when the team already has a soulblaze psyker on the team. It's a versatile build able to a little bit of everything, and can fit into most team compositions quite comfortably. I would also say it is pretty beginner friendly, able to perform well with even just basic knowledge or the game, whilst retaining some tricks and techniques for more advanced players.

Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude  has quite a lengthy cooldown. There was a time in the past where, due to each individual crit giving flat cooldown reduction, high cleave weapons could proc multiple instances of Invocation of Death , leading to Chorus being up semi-permanently. Whilst this has been nerfed (thankfully for game balance, less thankfully for zealots), it still remains one of the most powerful abilities in the game, and can turn the tide of a bad situation. See it as a 'reset' button when the situation gets overwhelming. Your goal is to enable your team, meaning that yes, you're likely to score less damage because you're setting up your allies for success. Whilst it contains plenty of damage in it's kit, you should be dealing the lowest overall damage in a team. If you are not, then it either means someone is not pulling their weight, or your not supporting as you should be.

Due to the lengthy cooldown, do not spam Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude. Save it either for when your team has taken damage and gotten overwhelmed, or proactively to stun priority enemies, such as Monstrosities and large groups of elites (think Crusher , Dreg Rager Scab Mauler ). Whilst channelling, your goal is to make sure that all pulses go off, to maximise suppression time, maximise team overshield, and to make sure everyone benefits from the extra damage Ecclesiarch's Call provides. You can still move around and dodge, but are unable to sprint. Whilst most enemies will be affected, keep an eye out for any Mutant that can charge in and interrupt you, or Scab Trapper  that can snare you from a distance. Focus on dodging these threats and making sure the full duration goes off. 

Outside of our ability, we cleanse corruption, which is one of the single most impactful auras in Havoc. Several modifiers spread blight to your team. I've found that often the point at which a team fails an otherwise successful Havoc run, is either during or immediately after fighting the Karnak twins (or their Temu equivalent). Rodin Karnak leaves blight grenades on the map, and all it takes is being forced onto one in a bad situation for corruption to decimate a player's health. Beacon of Purity  can be a lifesaver in preserving team health, especially when facing blight spreads or pox gas modifiers. Any teammate that makes use of critical hits will also be thankful for the extra 10% critical chance provided by Infectious Zeal .

Playstyle

You should be seen at the Vanguard of most engagements. You are a tanky support. Your kit contains multiple sources of damage reduction, allowing you to get into the thick of things. Hordes of lesser enemies are where you cut your teeth

Curios

I find 2x Toughness and 1x Health curios to give a good mix of defensive stats. Since both the toughness and health perk give +5%, it is far more efficient to pick up one Health curio than to put health on your perks. Toughness is king, so 3 lots of toughness on the perks will help give us a total of +49% toughness in total. I don't like picking up the extra revive speed here, as 9 /10 times, you will be making use of Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude  to suppress enemies so that your teammate can do it instead. The only time it comes in handy is when your whole team has gone down, and you need to clutch, and the goal is to work to prevent that from happening in the first place. Ability cooldown is absolutely mandatory. These scale additively, and reduce the ability's cooldown from 60 seconds down to 53.6. As Gale Boetticher once said, that last little bit, 'It may not sound like a lot, but it is'.

Gunner Resistance is the most useful resistance node as it applies to Dreg Gunner Dreg Shotgunner Scab Gunner Scab Plasma Gunner Scab Shotgunner and Reaper. This is the largest collection of enemies out of any of the resistance perks. These enemies can absolutely shred you in seconds, and it's not uncommon to see teammates seemingly insta-die when faced with a firing squad of them, especially with toughness grace period being removed.  The ability is multiplicative, so it does have some diminishing returns. 0.80×0.80×0.80=0.512 

3x Gunner resistance = 48.8% damage reduction

2x Gunner resistance = 36% Gunner resistance.

It's your call if you feel you need to opt for 3 or 2 or these. In recent times, I have favoured skipping the last one for extra stamina regeneration, to help with blocking and pushing. That last stamina regen curio does a lot of quiet work. It's the difference between having stamina to block that one extra hit and eating it straight to your toughness instead. In practice, it keeps your defensive rotation going when you're getting swarmed. If you find yourself dry on stamina mid-fight more often than not, this single perk is well worth the trade-off over that third Gunner Resistance stack.

Strengths

• Easy to learn, with a high skill ceiling
• Good horde clear
• Great Team utility with buffs and Heals
• Able to suppress anything except Scab Captain  & Beast of Nurgle 
• Very tanky with excellent survivability
• Good Instant stagger with ranged weapon
• Decent Elite and Special Killing potential
• Well-Rounded

Weaknesses

• Subpar mobility
• Requires Rev-time and space and deal high boss damage
• Team Reliant
• Mediocre carry-potential
• Moderate ammo economy