My Jack of all trades Psyker build (GS/Dome/BB; with guide)
 Psyker Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

I. Background

Forewarning (for those who used it before): the build has been substantially changed from the original version, partly due to Psyker's talent tree being rebalanced at the end of the year 2025, partly after additional testing it in higher difficulty content (Auric mostly)

Overall, it's just a build I've slowly developed while learning to play Psyker as my first character in the game. To an extent it defined its design - as I didn't want to be limited to a certain playstyle, and wanted to be able to perform well in random groups. The other important consideration was to make it relatively easy to pick up and play even for a new DT player. It certainly lacks both utility and damage output, comparing to more "meta", specialized builds - but I still like to play it a lot, and was feeling myself well in pugs up to Auric Maelstrom and up to 20 lv Havoc with it (if you bring Telekine Dome with you and use it properly, you're already half-redeemed lol).

II. General design principles

1. Has access to Brain Burst supported by Empowered Psionics and (now improved) Kinetic Flayer - so you can dispatch Specialists  and squishier elites (like Gunners) in a blink of an eye from a safe distance as long as you have Charges left (and those are rather easy to stack up). Kinetic Flayer now also synergizes nicely with the sword's alt attack (more on this later). With no Kinetic Resonance talent you won't be able to achieve a decent sustained damage in a boss fight though, and will have to rely on the Bolt Pistol if you wish to stay at a safe distance from it
2. Brings tons of utility with full Telekine Dome branch - both protection from ranged attacks and toughness regen to the whole squad inside it. Build fully relies on it for protection from range attacks, neither using Deflector bless on the sword, nor Empathic Evasion talent
3. Additional toughness regen comes from crits (Mettle), melee attacks and weakspots' kills (Warp Expenditure) and kills with warp attacks (Soulstealer) - the later includes the sword's range attack; it's further improved by Warp Ghost talent
4. Warp Ghost keeps your Peril at high values, allowing you to fully focus on melee fights without losing efficiency over time due to it dropping; it also increases your psyker's natively shallow Stamina pool
5. Anticipation is chosen over Immaterial Focus and Empathic Evasion for the sake of an extra dodge what is useful when wielding Force Greatswords, and BB while being attacked; both those options are still perfectly valid, with IF granting you further damage resistance and EV - additional protection from range attacks if you need it
6. Battle Meditation talent isn't taken to prevent Peril from decreasing too fast when a lot of chaff gets killed - as this build relies on its high level during melee fights to make most of One with the Warp, Warp Rider and Warp Splitting talents (and from Perfect Timing, which is triggered more often with more targets hit due to higher cleave) - as well as from Unstable Power bless on the sword
7. Kinetic Deflection increases your versatility greatly, making your blocks much more durable and allowing to pick up fallen comrades in a midst of a hoard (as you are considered blocking when reviving or rescuing allies) - further improved by Revive Ally perks on Curios

III. Choice of gear

With this build, I use Greatsword for most of the time during a mission, as it's pretty good at cleaving low-armored hoards. The crit blessing on it allows for extra damage and extra toughness regen (due to Mettle), while boosted cleave both from the Unstable Power blessing and Warp Splitting talent ensures you'll be able to deal with high density crowds at higher difficulties. Over time I moved from Mk.VIII I preferred before towards Mk.VI - as it's way easier to dispatch heavy armor and elites with it (due to harder hitting heavy attacks and easier to execute and aim heavy attack chain), while your hoard clearing abilities don't suffer that much. Its "3 light attacks + heavy attack" looped combo is easy to learn and ensures you'll be swinging wide enough all the time, if you wish. Its block follow-up attack staggers and (on subsequent hits) drops to the ground even Crushers - and is a poor-man substitution for the lack of CC abilities on this build.

As the sword is your main weapon here, its perks are set for extra damage to Flak and Carapace armor, to help with killing the most threatening elites; its damage is more than enough for everything else already.

For ranged weapon I personally prefer Mk.IV Bolt Pistol with bleeding-inflicting blessing - it's surprisingly versatile and powerful pistol-sized gun. Its main appeal is in quick access and ease of use - while it also allows to dish out more than enough sustained damage to solo Auric bosses in about 20 seconds (with a stim and assuming you'll be hitting its weakspots consistently). It's pretty effective against carapace armor, so can be a backup option to deal with it from a safe distance. It also can stagger human-sized elites and cleaves through multiple chaffers easily, allowing to quickly clear narrow corridors and hit priority targets hidden inside crowds easier. 

Another great option is Heavy Laspistol Mk.II which became highly popular since the last rebalance, due to its high sustained damage (at least as high as Bolt Pistol's), high accuracy and generous clip size and ammo reserve. The downside is almost complete lack of stagger and cleave, as well as inability to penetrate carapace armor. It's usually built with +5% Range Crit perk and Infernus/Dumdum blesses, with Mobility as dump stat. 

I wouldn't recommend to use any staves in this build for a new player - due to Warp Ghost you'll stay at high Peril most of the time and it's really easy to blow yourself up with no mitigation talents or vent out abilities available (though there is a good option; see below).

For Curios I go with full +Toughness line, as Warp Ghost already provides you +2 Toughness and you get +1 more from a tax node there. Another good options is one +HP and two +Toughness, what helps any heavily-melee build. The two Revive Speed perks can be swapped for +Toughness ones if extra survivability is more important, but original variant synergize very well with Kinetic Deflection. I don't use much of damage resists in there, as Maniacs and Hounds are usually easy to avoid, or your teammates can kill them if you're disabled - and ranged threats are mitigated by the Dome. For that reason I felt it's worth to squeeze into a full stack of Ability CD reduction perk in here, which, after stacking with Seer's Presence, reduces Dome's CD by about 10s, further improved by Psykinetic's Aura.

IV. How it's played

This isn't a heavy-hitting, damage-focused psyker build, so don't expect it to be on par with such. It hits hard enough to shred through a typical mixed hoar of higher difficulty levels, and will only have to back down when facing heavy armor trains or big squads of melee elites - which will require some kiting or switching to the Bolt Pistol.

If you face a wave with Peril too low, open the fight with 2-3 sword's range attacks. It won't do much damage except for the chaffers in the closest proximity - but it grows Peril rather quick, increasing your damage, cleave and toughness damage resistance via talents' synergy. Then proceed to spamming light attack chains to cleave the chaffers, while staying alive through dodging and blocking attacks. Try to aim higher to hit heads more often while at it, to make the most of Warp Expenditure talent. Use the block's follow up attack to push around dangerous foes like Ragers, Poxbursters or Hounds, and use the heavy attacks chain to finish armored elites quickly.

Keep using the sword's range attack from time to time to maintain your Peril in the red zone, until the hoard is thinned. The block's follow up (if it hits a foe) also help with keeping Peril high, to some extent. Warp Ghost ensures you stay high on Peril without need to use it too often, losing its charge for no gain - as Its damage is crap until at least one of two scales is filled, and the bar is fully reset on firing it. The charged attack cleaves weaker hoarders really well, while replenishing your toughness via Soulstealer talent. Malefic Momentum allows both the sword's normal and range attacks to enhance each other in a loop. Switch to the Bolt Pistol or Brain Burst as needed, to dispatch priority or armored/beefy targets from a distance. As Crystalline Will talent isn't included, you have to be very careful with your Peril management in the heat of the fight.

The sword's range attack is now interacts with Kinetic Flayer nicely, as it only procs when Elites, Specialists and Monstrosities are hit - thus, for example, firing it a couple times into a dense crowd of chaff where you know for sure there is a Trapper hiding when KF is off CD almost ensures the pest will be removed, as the attack has rather high cleave even if not charged at all.

Telekine Dome is useful even when not under ranged fire as it helps with toughness regen to the whole squad (and for you personally it's the only way of fully-passive toughness regen in battle) - so set it at spots where your group has to face a long fight with a wave right away and renew on CD until fight ends; another good move is to secure a spot when advancing into a new room full of ranged enemies. Keep in mind it has a limited durability, so, if possible, set it in more discreet places preventing focused enemy fire from all over the room. The Dome blocks ALL enemy range attacks (including Trapper's net projectile and Flamers' streams; Bombers' grenades will bounce from it, but then will explode nearby, with their AoE fields applied normally) either originating from inside it, or entering it. Allowing one to both use it as a barricade placed between allies and enemy shooters (even if those allies are not inside the Dome) - or as a trap for enemy shooters by dropping it onto them, then charging them in melee (it effectively cancels range attacks of enemies trapped inside it).

A word on Kinetic Deflection talent. Though it allows for (probably) one of the strongest blocks in the entire game, the problem is that blocking as strategy leads nowhere in DT, being a way too passive answer to a rapidly worsening situation around you. It's still good to stop a sudden pack of Ragers insta-downing you (assuming you had your Peril low enough to tank their compound hit) or buy you some time when making your way out of chaff crowd that blocks your movements, making dodging harder; and you can block while dodging (while pushing foes to make a way) to benefit from both at the same time. Another case when it shines is when you're assisting to or rescuing  your teammates - as you're auto-blocking while at it. Combined with +24% revive speed from curios perks this allows you to save your allies against overwhelming odds, even if you need to first sprint to them, burning your stamina - as long as you have some room for your Peril to grow. Don't forget that the moment you've done assisting somebody your auto-blocking ends, so dodge or block manually immediately - or risk getting downed yourself.

V. A few final notes

I think this build is pretty balanced as it is. There are certain adjustments one could consider though:

1. As mentioned,  Immaterial Focus and Empathic Evasion talents are good additions enhancing your general survivability you could consider if you're still struggling. Quietude is another one. If I had to drop something to get one of those, it would be Kinetic Deflection 
2. The build has one clear weakness - it lacks proper AoE CC option. A solution to this is in using Voidblast Staff (Rending Shockwave/Warp Flurry blesses, Damage as dump stat) instead of Bolt Pistol - but that comes at a price:

• It's extremely prone to causing Peril overload, and no safeguard options are present in the build; it's better to make it a habit to always quell as much as possible right after switching to it and before using it to apply CC - and not overstay on it more than absolutely required
• With Bolt Pistol gone, you don't have a reliable range option with good sustained damage any longer, what makes boss fights and range threats removal trickier (the staff is harder to aim at a distance and has low single-target dps). This can be mitigated by trading Kinetic Deflection for Kinetic Resonance - what will allow you to use BB to deal with bosses from a far without relying on finding a suitable stim (burn 3 EP charges, then drop the Dome and cast BB for 10 more seconds), and will make killing ranged foes easier as well

That's it, have fun!