5-8 Bleed Stacks on Critical Hit.
12-24% Rending on Enemy Weak Spot Hit for 3.5s. Stacks 5 times.
1-4 Burn Stack(s) on Critical Hit to a maximum of 3-12 Stack(s).
4.5-6% Close Range damage on Repeated Hit. Stacks 5 times.
Inspired by this build: https://darktide.gameslantern.com/builds/9cce29e6-6deb-457f-bbfc-cc5fdaa8eece/3-dots
*Highly recommend the Debuff Indicator mod, as it allows you to see if you've applied full stacks of all the DoTs mentioned in this build!
Bleed, Burn, and Bewitch the heretic!The main idea of this build is to apply as many damage over time (DoT) effects at once. Mainly bleed stacks through the knife, burn stacks with the Recon Lasgun, and Soulblaze by killing elites / venting shriek.Did you know the Uncanny Strike blessing affects how much damage DoTs inflict for some reason? This is extremely important for this build, as it allows us to amplify our damage actively by aiming for heads constantly.Another lesser DoT that's a part of this build is the electrocuted status. Usually it gets applied during Smite / when using a Shock Maul, but in a recent update to the Psyker's talent tree it can now be applied using heavy attacks (Charged Strike). Alone it does pitiful amounts of damage, but pairing it the Enfeeble talent allows us to get a quick 10% damage boost for all sources on a single target. Interestingly Charged Strike not only gets activated when using normal heavies but it also gets applied when using push attacks (Hold block and then hold the attack button). This is especially useful on the Mk III Combat Blade, as it's push attack is fast and aims directly for enemy heads, allowing us to get Uncanny Strike stacks, bleed stacks, and Enfeeble applied simultaneously and quickly.With all of this in mind, my playbook for applying as many statuses on a single (large) target is as follows:1. Fire a quick burst of your Recon Lasgun. It gets crits so often that you'll apply full burn stacks in seconds. A nice bonus from all these crits is you'll also get full stacks of the Mettle talent, giving you a nice speed boost for the next step.
2. Charge a heavy attack and rush down your target. A nice feature of knives in Darktide is they make you run faster while you charge a heavy attack. Combine this with our heavy attacks applying electrocution/enfeeblement to the target, and you've got a solid opening.
3. Spam light attacks and push attacks against the head. At this point we're trying to get full bleed stacks on the target / keep them electrocuted for enfeeblement.For pox walker hoards your knife by itself should be good, but when mixed hoards / Elite hoards are approaching it's best to Smite and then Venting Shriek when at max peril to get rid of the chaff and give your team time to start whittling down the more dangerous targets in the hoard.
