Full Tank (No Keystone, Max DR)
Build for Darktide

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Overview

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Zealot at its core really isn't complex. No matter how you allocate your talent points, you are still essentially always doing the same thing; running around like a madman assaulting enemies left and right while your teammates live in their own version of reality that you occasionally pay a visit to whenever you see them lose large chunks of their health bars.

Even if you have no idea how the class works, Zealot has so many great talents that it is basically impossible to make a truly bad build. If you really understand the inner workings of the class and the playstyle it facilitates, you know that there is essentially no wrong way to play Zealot.

These build variants are extremely powerful alternatives to the usual Crit Spam/Speed Demon keystone builds.

We ignore keystones (don't need em) and hoard all the amazing talents at the top of the tree instead to become the tankiest character in the game, even the Ogryns will be jealous of the zealous.

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Playstyle and Key Features

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The difference between these builds and Martyrdom is that we are good players, and we don't get hit. Martyrdom is for players that get hit, that's not us. And by ignoring keystones, we can take many more supporting talents that normally could not be afforded with a Martyrdom build.

These builds are universally compatible with basically any loadout and playstyle.

We get the maximum amount of Damage Reduction available to Zealot, and an incredible amount of Health to supplement it. As previously stated, we aren't expecting to get hit often, but in those desperate moments when all hell breaks lose and damage is unavoidable, it will hardly leave a scratch.

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Build Variants

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Variant A:   Babysitter

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1.    Stunstorm Grenade  or  Blades of Faith
2.    Beacon of Purity Aura  and  Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude + Banishing Light

3.    DESELECT   Restoring Faith

   -------- Optional --------

4.    DESELECT   Toughness Boost
5.      SELECT      Blood Redemption   or   Vicious Offering  <-- (if you have Dueling Sword/Combat Blade)

This variant is focused on team support and maximizing defense. We must drop one talent we had prior to fit this budget. Since we now have a Max Toughness buff, the best choice is likely Restoring Faith, which proccs only on Health damage. You can keep the 15 Toughness minor node above it or remove it and select another talent.

Note: It is important to have the Toughness talents in the top right of the tree any time you have Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude, or you will find yourself struggling to maintain your Toughness when your ability is on cooldown.

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Variant B:   Murder Hobo

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1.    Blades of Faith   or   Stunstorm Grenade
2.    Beacon of Purity Aura   and   Master-Crafted Shroudfield + Invigorating Revelation
3.    DESELECT   Toughness Boost   -->   Restoring Faith
4.    DESELECT   Holy Revenant

Can you believe it? Shroudfield with no Loner Aura?!?!?! Once again, we are capitalizing on our surplus of talent points gained by ignoring keystones. The usual strategies for Stealth Zealot are in full effect here, including not relying on Holy Revenant (Until Death means stop fighting and GTFO). This can be seen as a more forgiving and team-friendly version of my Zealot Meta (Stealth) setup, although if you pick Knife+Zarona you are still cheating.

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Variant C:   True Tank

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1.    Stunstorm Grenade   or   Blades of Faith
2.    Beacon of Purity Aura   and  Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude + Banishing Light
3.    DESELECT   Anoint in Blood   -->   Restoring Faith
4.    DESELECT   Duellist    or   Good Balance or Holy Revenant
5.      SELECT      Faith's Fortitude

OR

1.    Stunstorm Grenade   or   Blades of Faith
2.    Benediction Aura   and   Fury of the Faithful x2
3.    DESELECT   Anoint in Blood   -->   Restoring Faith
4.    DESELECT   Duellist    or   Good Balance
5.      SELECT      Faith's Fortitude

Note:   Second Wind and Enduring Faith should be enough to keep your Toughness up. Take x3 Max Health for your curios.

With this variant we maximize the synergy between our ludicrous amounts of Health and Damage Reduction by increasing our Health by an additional 10% and adding two wounds that interact with the Bleed for the Emperor talent, significantly reducing the overall damage we receive over the course of a match. 

If you are someone who still gets hit a lot, this is probably the best way to play this build. This is the true tank setup. Trust me this is WAY better than going full Martyrdom with Wound curios. Max Health and DR is the path to enlightenment. 

We are unfortunately missing a single talent point needed to complete the full build. It is up to you to decide what you value most, the damage from Duellist, or the extra DR from Good Balance. If you are using the Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude, you could also remove Holy Revenant instead. (That's what I would do) I do not recommend removing Second Wind or Thy Wrath Be Swift under any circumstances, but feel free to try it if you're bold.

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Weapons

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For your weapons you really just need to be sure you can stop disablers before they get to you, and quickly kill Monstrosities and Crushers. Hordes and elite spam should not concern you; your teammates will usually take care of that. Trappers are #1 kill priority at all times, they are pretty much the only thing that can instantly stop you.

The Dueling Sword, Combat Blade, or Chainsword combined with the Agripinaa Braced/Infantry Autogun are good choices for this build, as they enable high burst damage against all enemy types. It is a very good idea to bring a melee weapon with both high killing potential and good mobility. Feel free to try all sorts of combinations, just remember that it is essential that you be able to quickly take down armored enemies and bosses.

Note: Braced Autoguns now have access to Inspiring Barrage, meaning the Agripinaa Braced is quite possibly tied with the Zarona now for the best ranged weapon you can take on Zealot. If generating Toughness is of no concern to you, the Agripinaa Infantry Autogun with the power blessings will perform even better if your aim is good.

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Here are some general setups for weapons, and my overall rankings for each:

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MELEE

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S+ :

• Maccabian Duelling Swords | Uncanny Strike and Riposte | +Flak, +Unyielding

A++:

• Catachan Mk III Combat Blade | Mercy Killer and Flesh Tearer /or/ Uncanny Strike and Riposte/Mercy Killer | +Crit Chance, +Unyielding

A+ :

• Catachan Mk VI Combat Blade | Mercy Killer and Flesh Tearer /or/ Uncanny Strike and Riposte/Mercy Killer | +Crit Chance, +Unyielding

A :

• Cadia Assault Chainswords | Shred and Bloodletter | +Crit Chance, +Flak

B+ :

• Catachan "Devil's Claw" Swords (w/ Parry) | Shred and Rampage/Wrath | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Crit Chance
• Turtolsky Heavy Swords | Headtaker and Rampage/Deathblow | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Agni/Munitorum Shock Mauls | High Voltage and Opportunist/Skullcrusher | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Crit Chance
• Rashad Mk III Combat Axe | Brutal Momentum and Headtaker/Shred | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding

B :

• Orestes Mk XII Chainaxe | Thunderous and Bloodletter | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Crit Chance
• Atrox Tactical Axes | Shred and Headtaker/Decimator/Brutal Momentum | +Flak, +Crit Chance
• Antax Mk V Combat Axe | Brutal Momentum and Headtaker/Shred | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding

C+ :

• Orestes Mk IV Chainaxe | Thunderous and Bloodletter | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Crit Chance
• Tigrus Heavy Eviscerators | Shred and Wrath/Rampage | +Flak, +Crit Chance or +Maniacs or +Unyielding
• Achlys Mk VIII Combat Axe | Brutal Momentum and Headtaker/Shred | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding

C :

• Indignatus Mk IVe Crusher | Slaughterer/Thrust and Thunderous/Opportunist | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Crit Chance
• Crucis Mk II Thunder Hammer | Thrust and Headtaker/Slaughterer | +Unyielding, +Weak Spot or +Crit Damage
• Ironhelm Mk IV Thunder Hammer | Thrust and Headtaker/Slaughterer | +Unyielding, +Weak Spot or +Crit Damage

With the addition of Dueling Swords to Zealot's arsenal, the class now has two insanely broken melee options available. If you thought the Chainswords were good, the Dueling Swords make them look like a cheap toy. With access to Uncanny Strike and Riposte, armor is basically turned off on enemies any time you use this weapon. In terms of DPS, the Dueling Sword and Combat Blade are very similar, but the Dueling Sword far outclasses the knife in terms of general performance thanks to its incredibly safe attack profile, as it can essentially stunlock any enemy you are currently fighting, while also keeping you away from everything else thanks to its ridiculous reach and mobility. It even has a slight speed boost on heavy wind up just like the Combat Blade, allowing you to zip around the map with ease, though not nearly as fast as the knife. Using this weapon honestly feels like cheating, it will almost certainly be nerfed.

Though they have lost their runner up status, the Chainswords remain great general purpose weapons that are able to handle any situation, they have no true flaws and are still a very strong choice. Heavy Swords destroy hordes and elites but struggle against armor and Monstrosities, which can really hurt you in a clutch scenario if your ranged weapon can't pick up the slack. The Devil's Claw Swords are also quite good if you use the parry to its full potential, but completely mediocre otherwise.

The Shock Mauls are a great alternative weapon choice for a more methodological approach to melee combat. While their killing power isn't as high as the swords, the general utility and more than respectable damage of the electrocution special makes them a solid choice if you want a lighter weapon that can take out armor. The Tactical Axes have great mobility and attack speed, but their purpose is questionable as they don't really do anything better than the other light weapons Zealot has, as they still don't perform well against Carapace and Unyielding. Combat Axes are better in that regard but the low mobility and attack speed leaves you very vulnerable to counterattack, it's hard to recommend them for I-II-V-E-G Maelstroms. The Chainaxe is just as slow but absolutely obliterates armor with the Thunderous blessing and rev attack combo, giving it a unique identity worthy of your consideration.

I want to recommend the Eviscerator, I really do, but it's just too cumbersome and doesn't offer anything truly unique as a tradeoff. While it does give you the coveted Carapace and Unyielding killing power, its low mobility will end up getting you killed too. It is very, very hard to defend yourself with the Eviscerator when you are under heavy pressure. The Crusher and Thunder Hammer have their own niche, but they perform poorly in clutch scenarios as well simply due to low damage output. That being said, most of Zealot's melee weapons are all decent enough that you if you know what you're doing, your class abilities should be able to pick up the slack.

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RANGED

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S :

• Zarona Mk IIa Quickdraw Stub Revolver | Hand-Cannon and Surgical | +Unyielding, +Crit Chance

A+

• Agripinaa Mk VIII Braced Autogun | Inspiring Barrage*/Fire Frenzy and Speedload*/Deathspitter  | +Maniacs, +Unyielding or +Flak
• Agripinaa Mk I Infantry Autogun | Dumdum and Fire Frenzy/Deathspitter/Speedload/Hit and Run | +Flak, +Maniacs

A :

• Vraks Mk V Infantry Autogun | Dumdum and Fire Frenzy/Deathspitter/Hit and Run | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Vraks Mk II Braced Autogun | Inspiring Barrage*/Fire Frenzy and Speedload*/Deathspitter  | +Maniacs, +Unyielding or +Flak
• Artemia Mk III Purgation Flamer (w/ Blades of Faith) | Blaze Away and Everlasting Flames | +Unyielding, +Maniacs

B+ :

• Agripinaa Mk XIV Quickdraw Stub Revolver | Hand-Cannon and Surgical/Crucian Roulette | +Unyielding, +Crit Chance
• Accatran Mk IX Combat Shotgun | No Respite and Full Bore | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding
• Kantrael Mk IIb Infantry Lasgun | Headhunter and Infernus | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Accatran MG Mk II Heavy Laspistol | Dumdum and Infernus/Ghost | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Ius Mk IV Shredder Autopistol | Inspiring Barrage and Blaze Away/Pinning Fire | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding
• Locke Mk IIb Spearhead Boltgun | Pinning Fire and Shattering Impact | +Carapace, +Unyielding

B :

• Graia Mk IV Braced Autogun | Inspiring Barrage*/Fire Frenzy and Speedload*/Deathspitter | +Maniacs, +Unyielding or +Flak
• Kantrael Mk IX Heavy Laspistol | Dumdum and Infernus/Ghost | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Godwyn-Branx Mk IV Bolt Pistol | Surgical and Deadly Accurate | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Artemia Mk III Purgation Flamer | Blaze Away and Everlasting Flames/Penetrating Flames/Inspiring Barrage | +Unyielding, +Maniacs

C+ :

• Zarona Mk VI Combat Shotgun | No Respite and Full Bore | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding
• Columnus Mk VIII Infantry Autogun | Dumdum and Fire Frenzy/Deathspitter/Hit and Run | +Flak, +Maniacs
• Kantrael Mk VII Infantry Lasgun | Headhunter and Deadly Accurate | +Flak, +Maniacs

C :

• Agripinaa Mk VII Combat Shotgun | No Respite and Full Bore | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding
• Kantrael Mk IX Infantry Lasgun | Headhunter and Deadly Accurate | +Maniacs, +Crit Chance

D+ :

• Crucis Mk XI Double-Barrel Shotgun |  Scattershot and Man-Stopper/Both Barrels | +Maniacs, +Flak or +Unyielding
• Agripinaa Mk IX Vigilant Autogun | Headhunter and Deadly Accurate /or/ No Respite and Opening Salvo | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Unyielding

D :

• Columnus Mk III Vigilant Autogun | No Respite and Opening Salvo /or/ Headhunter and Deadly Accurate | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Unyielding

F :

• Graia Mk VII Vigilant Autogun | No Respite and Opening Salvo /or/ Headhunter and Deadly Accurate | +Flak, +Maniacs or +Unyielding

Zealot's best ranged weapons are those that compliment the class' highly mobile hyperactive playstyle and enable twitchy reflexive snap shooting shenanigans. Guns that fire in quick succession yet with enough force to stagger enemies are always going to outperform other weapons that facilitate a slower, methodological style of cautious play. Your job is to maniacally run around and genocide all that you see, and that means everything is going to be coming at you from every angle and will often be right in your face. That means you need a weapon that you can pull out on a whim, fire off fast, and interrupt an enemy's attack at a moment's notice. Vigilants and the slower firing Lasguns are unsuitable for this task, and have low killing power on Zealot due to reliance on ADS precision and/or inverse damage falloff, so they are best avoided.

Autoguns are a much better option, but there is a reason weapons like the Agripinaa Braced and Autopistol are placed so high on the tier list. In addition to high killing potential, they also immediately interrupt enemy actions, which is absolutely critical for survival while under heavy pressure. Often you will not be able to kill a disabler or distant threat due to other enemies, but you may have just enough time to fire a bullet or two at them to cancel their attack. This can be the difference between a successful recovery or you on the floor in a net. It is the difference between a Bulwark dying 3 seconds after landing a single bullet or it harassing you for half a minute. The Infantry Autoguns and the Vraks Mk II Braced Autogun pump out nearly the same DPS as the Agripinaa Braced Autogun, but they do not stagger consistently, and that fact alone puts them in entirely different tiers.

The Flamer is a particularly strong pick if you have Fury of the Faithful with CDR for fast repositioning and Toughness generation, Blades of Faith to deal with enemies at range, and the Everlasting Flames blessing to negate reloads. Utilizing all three allows the weapon to truly shine as a DPS monster, and negates most of the risk that normally comes attached to the weapon. Shotguns and Las weapons are a comfortable middle ground, balancing killing potential, stagger potential, and mobility in different ways that give you a lot of options to choose from. Infantry Autoguns offer even higher DPS potential than the Braced Autoguns with proper blessings and stats, but ammo management with them can be a bit of a chore.

Note: If you have the Weapon Customization mod, putting the laser targeter and holo sight on the Infantry Autoguns turns them into top tier weapons. Unfortunately the same can not be said for the Vigilants, as it does nothing to solve their poor DPS and fundamental incompatibility with Zealot's playstyle.

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Curios

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BLESSINGS

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Health, Health, and Health.

Maxing health is probably the best move for any Zealot build, including true Martyrdom keystone. Taking a single Toughness curio is perfectly fine, but with this build, the higher your Health, the more value you get out of your Damage Reduction talents. If you aren't having trouble with Toughness (and you shouldn't be if you have the 4 talents on the top right leading to Second Wind), stick with x3 Max Health.

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PERKS

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Perks stack multiplicatively, meaning they offer diminishing returns as you take more of them.

Three 20% perks is not 60%, it is 0.800³ which equals 0.512 and when subtracted from 1.000 ends up as 0.488.

So three 20% Something Resistance perks are actually only providing you with a total of 48.8% resistance. Two provides 36% resistance.

Taking this into consideration, you get much more value out of your perks by not taking a 3rd resistance perk, and instead allocating the slot to something else entirely. The following perks are the ones I consider to be the most valuable and impactful of the lot:

Best in Slot:

x2 - 20% Gunner Resistance (basically mandatory)  [ +16% resistance from the 2nd; a 3rd only adds +12.2% resistance - not worth the slot]

x2 - 20% Sniper Resistance (no matter how much you think you won't get sniped, you will still get sniped)   [prevents being chunked]

x2 - 15% Corruption Resistance (significantly reduces damage from Poxbursters, tox gas, and all corruption)   [3 adds very little, only take 2]

x1 - 12% Stamina Regeneration (having just one of these on Zealot is a noticeable improvement)   [2 is noticable but unnecessary]

Good Secondary Choices:

x1 - 5% Health   (does what it says on the box, ideal for this build)

x1 - 5% Toughness   (alternative to Health)

x1 - 20% Tox Flamer Resistance   (both Flamers, applies to melee, fire, ground flame, and tank explosion - but not tank explosion ground flame)

x1 - 20% Bomber Resistance   (both Bombers, applies to melee, grenade explosions, ground flame, and damage from Tox Bomber gas)

Questionable:

x? - 10% Revive Speed    (can save missions but its hard to justify reserving the slot for something that only helps under rare circumstances)

x1 - 15% Sprint Efficiency   (some people love this, but I think its a waste of a slot, Zealot doesn't need it at all)

x1 - 12% Block Efficiency   (see above)

Completely Useless Wastes of a Slot:
Experience

Ordo Dockets

Chance of Curio as Mission Reward

Pox Hound Resistance

Mutant Resistance

Grimoire Corruption Resistance

Toughness Regeneration Speed

Combat Ability Regeneration