Devil Zealot
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

This build is capable of dealing with most enemy types and excels at horde clear. It's designed to cast Fury of the Faithful (charge) frequently for the attack speed buff, reducing our charge cooldown through melee crits. 

Weapons and Offense

Melee

Our primary weapon is the devil's claw sword, a fast attacking weapon with great horde clear. I prefer the Mk IV's swing sequence, but the other Mk's are also viable. Focus on light attacks, weaving in heavy attacks when appropriate. Attacking quickly ensures we stack buffs quickly and reduce the cooldown on charge, which you should be using frequently. Never try to block with this build, but the weapon's parry special has some niche utility against ragers.

This weapon can struggle against big and/or armored enemies, so we take flak and unyielding perks to help us out. Shred is a no-brainer for a crit build and Rampage really makes this weapon shine in hordes.

Ranged

Our sword can't deal with carapace armor, which is where the bolter comes in. We'll use this primarily on maulers, crushers and beasts of nurgle, but it's also handy against big packs of reapers or bulwarks. Choose your perks and blessings accordingly.

The bolter is very slow to pull out, but throwing a knife (Blades of Faith) will skip the remainder of the weapon swap animation. This allows you to dodge back from a horde, swap to the bolter to deal with a carapace enemy, then return to fighting the horde. Without this trick the weapon would probably be too impractical to use.

Blades of Faith

The last piece of our offensive kit, knives are amazing for dealing with most specials. Disablers, bombers, and flamers will all die to single headshot, while snipers die to a body shot. Knives also prioritize specials, meaning you can often toss one mid horde and still pick off that special.

Curios and Defense

Our defense is primarily based around toughness and dodging. From talents we get:

• 15% toughness whenever we dodge.
• 50% toughness when we charge.
• 25% toughness damage reduction always (including aura).
• 50% toughness damage reduction on crit.

Since our toughness gains are percent based, more toughness on curios means more toughness gained. In combat you should be weaving in dodges and using charge to maintain toughness. Our goal is to stay at 100% toughness when fighting in melee, allowing us to take the odd hit without losing HP.

For the remainder of the curio perks I take:

• Combat ability regen so we can charge more often. Important when we don't have a ton of mobs to melee.
• Toughness regen speed.
• Your choice of specific damage reductions. I prefer:
  • Gunners, the mortal enemy of zealots.
  • Snipers, for the odd shot you fail to dodge.