Cursed but Viable Axe Build
 Psyker Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Build Summary

Staff psyker with a weapon-swap heavy gameplay style. The Rashad Mk III Combat Axe 's strength varies WILDLY depending on how many buffs are active, necessitating a lot of buff and resource management. 

Difficulty

Key

1. Very Easy
2. Easy
3. Average
4. Difficult
5. Very Hard

Overall Build Difficulty: 4/5

This build is not easy to learn nor master. It won't stupid-simple like a dueling sword build. Just realize you're not taking the path of least resistance in the name of having more fun!

Build Difficulty Details

• Aim: 3.5/5
• Movement: 3.5/5
• Weapon Swapping: 4.5/5
• Resource + Ability + Peril Management: 4.5/5
• Game Knowledge: 5/5
• Actions per minute (APM): 4.5/5

Gameplay Strategy

Electrokinetic Staff

1. Spam the primary attack. It has huge suppression, damage, stagger, etc.
2. Secondary charge attack is for crowd control--basically only Ogryn enemies
3. You're invulnerable to ranged damage as long as you hit your shots. Just be sure to hesitate--get that first orange hit marker, THEN facetank the gunner.

Combat Axe

The whole motivation of this build was to enable the Combat Axe on Psyker by amplifying the Combat Axe's Finesse stat. We accomplish this by stacking benefits. Rarely will all buffs will be online at the same time; the point is that we always have enough buffs running. The following is a summary of buffs you should be looking to keep stacked while playing, along with tips for how to stack each buff efficiently:

1. [Blessing] Decapitator 
   1. The Axe oneshots chaff enemies EXCEPT flak melee when at 0 stacks. Kill the first 2-3 flak melee chaff with heavy attacks to obtain Decapitator stacks, then transition to light attacks.
   2. Do not waste time worrying about preserving Decapitator stacks
   3. Decapitator stacks increase attack speed. When paired with [Blessing] Ruthless Momentum you can chop through chaff surprisingly fast.
2. [Node] Malefic Momentum 
   1. Quick swap to Assail, through a dagger, and swap back to Axe.
   2. Any time you use your staff lol
3. [Node] Warp Rider 
   1. You'll naturally float high Peril when you're not using the Axe. 
   2. If you make a mistake managing Peril, save yourself from exploding by using Scrier's Gaze
4. [Keystone] Disrupt Destiny 
   1. Use staff to snipe the funny blue outlined man
5. [Ability] Scrier's Gaze 
   1. Go Axe some shit. Go Axe Murderer Mode (tm).
   2. [Node] Crack of Bone reduces peril, and is obtained phenomenally well with the Combat Axe, which excels at instakilling chaff by hitting weakpoints.
   3. Cooldown is pretty short. Spam it!
   4. You can and should abuse your 10s of Perils of the Warp overload immunity to dump Assail stacks. You could also use the Damage and Finesse to deal extra melee damage.