Meta Auric TAxe+Exterminator Build
 Arbites Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

[[[NOT INTENDED FOR HAVOC]]]

This build assumes you have a basic knowledge of terminology and game mechanics, although I will do my best to explain everything thoroughly.

All good builds have three components:
- The ability to deal with ranged enemies [gunners, snipers, bombers, etc]

- The ability to deal with armoured enemies [crushers, maulers, scab ragers, etc]

- The ability to deal with dense hordes [waves of generic chaff enemies such as poxwalkers and bruisers]

Bonus: The ability to survive "Darktide" moments where you're suddenly in an extremely dangerous situation, or trapped against a wall

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This builds accomplishes this very elegantly:
- Ranged enemies: Shotgun & Ability

• The shotgun provides wide-area suppression and massive horde clear capabilities. It has a surprisingly long effective range, allowing you to kill enemies at a great distance - or at least suppress them with the help of its blessings and wide AOE, allowing you to get closer.
• In the event that a pack of Reapers and/or Gunners surprises you, your ability Castigators stance makes you basically invulnerable to damage. Walk up to them and kill them. Reminder: Castigator stance is to be used defensively, primarily against large groups of ranged enemies in the open.

- Armoured enemies: Grenades -> Melee

• The grenades knock over all non-boss enemies, and stagger bosses. This allows to quickly dispatch them with the tactical axe. Despite the TAxe not having great killing speed against these enemies compared to some other weapons, it's still only a couple seconds per enemy. Plenty of time.
• They are also an excellent solver for the classic "Rager behind a bulwark shield" problem.
• Their AOE is gigantic and will clear you plenty of space even in dense hordes to deal with the armoured enemies.
• Due to us taking Lone Wolf, these grenades regenerate, and we get an extra one!

- The ability to deal with dense hordes [waves of generic chaff enemies such as poxwalkers and bruisers]

• TAxe Mk 7's light loop has INSANELY good horde clear - comparable to Zealot's clear with the weapon. It can consistently kill 3-4 enemies per swing, every other swing if bruisers are mixed in the horde.
  • Push Attack -> Light -> Light -> Light [Restart loop]
    • This will proc Walk It Off for constant toughness regeneration, as well as allow you to skip the annoying input delay after the third light.
  • For armoured enemies after you grenade them or in general, light attacks will also suffice.
• The duckbill-spread shotgun has INCREDIBLE horde clear as well, allowing you to clear out entire hallways and rooms (killing over a dozen enemies) with a single shot. This makes it incredibly ammo efficient and powerful when you combine it with Terminus Warrant.

- Surviving "Darktide Moments"
 

• Castigator stance is very strong as a defensive tool. Be it a pack of ragers, a bomber, a poxburster, a pack of elites, a boss grabbing you, or even to help protect you while you're on the ground if you know you're about to get trapped. As long as you SAVE IT and do not use it aggressively, and you effectively leverage the high mobility of the TAxe to keep yourself safe, you should always have it up when you need it.
  • (This is notably comparable to Zealot, which is the only other class that can survive "Darktide Moments" through Until Death / Holy Revenant immortality.)
• The shotguns special is also good at opening up bulwarks, crushers, or disabling rager packs if you need to.

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This build provides top-tier horde clear and survivability potential available for the class without sacrificing your ability to deal with ranged enemies or armoured enemies. It has no immediate weaknesses that cannot be overcome with the answers provided above.

Hordes? Melee/Shotgun.

Armor? Grenade and beat them to death.

Ranged enemies? Stance up and kill them, or just shoot them to suppress them.

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Thus, your playstyle is quite simple. Have you ever played 'weapon swap' double barrel veteran before? This is that, but 10x better.

Run around like a maniac hot swapping between your tactical axe and shotgun. Due to its ammo economy, as long as you only use it into dense hordes, you can typically finish an entire level with 0-1 ammo pickups comfortably.

This has similar kill potential to Scrier Psyker's Assail builds while being as tanky as a Zealot.

A note on build choices:

- I chose two stamina curios since this build leverages taxe and shotgun mobility/horde clear to stay alive, rather than a large amount of toughness regen over time. Since we're spamming push attacks and moving around alot, more stamina is important - but it's also perfectl yfine to take 1 stam 2 toughness.

- Since this is a popular point of contention: Yes, you need to take 3 gunner resistances. It's the most common type of instant-damage to take in the game. The other resistances are massives skill issues and can be avoided much more easily. The only one I would consider is swapping out one for a single sniper resistance.. Just in case. 

- I take deathspitter on shotgun for bonus cleave into super thick hordes.

- Don't mess with the TAxe blessings/perks unless you know what you're doing. This was the combo I found most consistent for getting the most BM value.

- Combat ability regeneration can be replaced with bonus toughness. However, with good enough movement, you won't really *need* a ton of toughness, so I opted to better ensure castigator is up when you need it.

- "But taxe doesn't have the best horde clear, why not take rashad or crusher?"

-  - You can. I prefer the taxe because it has pretty comparable horde clear but much better mobility. Moving faster means dodging more, as well as moving from enemy to enemy faster. I really don't like slow weapons, but that's personal preference on my part and can be subjective. Using this build with a slower weapon may be a little harder, but do whatever floats your boat. I find that I can kill as fast as I can move with the TAxe/shotgun, which is.. very fast. A slower weapon would hinder you IMO.