Arby's OP Melee Meta Havoc-40
 Arbites Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

DEAD OR ALIVE, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME! 🤖 ⚖️

A Brief Build Summary:

This is strictly a dogless melee loadout version from a meta perspective. What I think is probably the most no-brainer meta you can get for Havoc-40 or any difficulty for that matter. Lonewolf/Break the Line is the meta now with infinite shock mines (yes, even after the cooldown nerf to mines, just don't waste them as much is all & only use them in emergencies). There are great Dog meta's too, but that's for another build, this is just solo. Mostly light spam with maul, plus use your heavy + light/shock combos for armor/bosses (make sure you're always aiming for the heads to proc all the passive nodes with your combos). You know the drill. It's a very simplistic build, you just keep spamming lights most of the time, plus blocking/shoving for the cleave into hordes & constantly charging into packs of enemies to stagger-lock, then go ham with your beefy attack speed from your passives, that's it. Make sure that you're blocking & dodging getting that timing correct, it makes all the difference to stay protected at all times. It's just so that you're not taking a bunch of unnecessary chip damage that's not needed. Use mines on choke points or in the open, mostly for those pesky armies of crushers/maulers/ragers that come your way. Mines just totally negate/surpass them for the most part & your crew will love you for it too & help you delete whatever is in your team's pathway. You're the frontliner, you're the tank just like Ogryn. You basically fulfill the same role. You need to be constantly in heretics faces to upkeep Forceful stacks (it's easy to keep them up, so it's a non-issue when they drop). Basically, you're going to kick@ss & take no names, because you don't give a fk about the enemies. All you need to do is stun-lock everything & charge, that's your job altogether. Keep the heretics off your teammates & be ultra-aggressive. This build requires aggression. Arby in most cases isn't necessarily a DPS monster per se (build dependent of course)... You're more so the crowd control operative, he can put out very respectable DPS, but nothing too mind-blowingly crazy. You just contribute to the team differently, that's all & there's nothing wrong with that. The team could always use a good tank such as an Arby or an Ogryn. They both have their place in the frontlines of battle for their usefulness. You relieve pressure off the team. Mainly for breathing room & to essentially gather your thoughts to recuperate & to proceed as usual.

⚖️You are the Imperial Cop; the heretics are not above the Law!⚖️ 

IMPORTANT NOTES! (Further explanation & more options): 

There are a bunch of things I would like to mention, because you do truly have some options for sure. You can always go for 'Execution Order' & path that way for slightly more damage, but 'Forceful' is cushier for Havoc-40's & better for stagger-locking everything & I strongly feel that stagger-locking/being more tanky is of more value in Havoc-40's, because it makes it so that nothing can really fight you back to apply damage to you & as a reminder; Arby is a stagger monster. So, we're using this to our advantage. Plus, 'Execution Order' isn't that much more DPS-wise on the Scoreboard at the end of that day testing between the two, personally... it's just really marginal & also if you path the Execution way you lose your attack speed buff from your passive node, which in my mind is crucial because Arby is notoriously really slow at swinging his weapons, sadly. Most of the good Arbiters will use the boltpistol/boltgun, which is a part of the meta because it just one shot's most enemies to the head, technically, but of course I love the shotty (not that the shotty is not meta because it is, it's just that the other options allow for better ranged play is all, it's just personal preference. Ranged to me is a very personal thing). Choose whatever range you desire on this one, whatever makes you feel more comfortable. Another thing is that you can drop 'Will of The Lex' & 'Arbites Vigilant' for 'True Grit' & 'Rebreather' to be very safe while playing Havoc's & also switch to shield/crusher/whatever you want, but personally, I wouldn't do this because you're leaving too much DPS strength synergy off of the table without 'Relentless Strikes' & 'Arbites Vigilant' if you switch off of those nodes or Shock Maul for this to work & stack for DPS. It's up to you though. I just find it rare that I'm in tox gas or that I get over-headed or even pox-bursted. You can totally change it to those nodes & it would make total sense for sure, feel free. If you're a fellow sweat-lord like me, then you don't need either of those safety crutch nodes, of course, just the damage. You could put on one 21% Health Curios to your other two, 17% Toughness Curios & also add 5% Health on each Curio perk to spec into 'True Grit' if you're going for the safe route, you might as well optimize for its value if you want to play it safe or even all Health Curios, but I feel you at least need 1-2 Toughness Curios because you still at least need a good amount of Toughness because of 'hit bleed through chip damage.' Plus, with a few extra procs of 'True Grit' wouldn't hurt either if you want to play it mega-safe. While we're on the topic of Curios... You can also put 'Gunner Resistance' or 'Stamina Regeneration' on Curios too instead of 'Toughness.' I feel the extra Toughness suits me more, but feel free if you struggle against gunners (CDR & Revive Speed in my eyes are non-negotiable picks at least as Havoc games are concerned, it's actually a matter of life & death from winning a run, to losing it). Also, a couple last thoughts... feel free to take the Arbites Grenades to be a bit more tactical. I just like mines more so because it just holds everything in place for quite a while for free kills, plus it's a bit more team-oriented. Another big detail that I see with these kinds of builds is that a lot of players don't take 'Targeted Brutality' & this is a crucial mistake in my eyes, because it massively shaves off your CDR time for you to then charge again with your ULT much sooner = more DPS. This is probably my strongest opinion with this build by far; I think it's utterly INSANE not taking it, like it's so insane that you should be locked up in a mental institution & evaluated... (I'm sorry! it's just how I feel about it! lol). I know people try to save the point for this node because it's already a short cooldown, but having it come back even faster is the entire point, right? It might actually save you in certain situations, plus more uptime on that large DPS boost as I've mentioned. This node is actually one of the most important in the entire tree actually, lowkey... besides a few outliers of course. I cannot stress that enough, at least within the top 3 most useful nodes. It literally fuels most of your DPS, Toughness/Stamina regen, Strength (Stagger, Cleave, Damage) etc... So that's why it's insane not taking it, that CDR Node sustains literally all of that every time you get your ULT back & charge. We're taking no shortcuts with this build at all! On your Shock Maul you could do Flak as a perk choice instead of Unyielding, this is just as valid in just a different kind of a way is all, that's up to you. Also, as a reminder; Maulers have Carapace heads too, so you don't really need Flak because the synergy of DPS with Unyielding/Carapace, plus your 'Monstrosity Hunter' node stacks a sht ton & this is more of value than putting on Flak, plus the maul is so damn strong that you don't need it because you're killing within the same amount of hits regardless. But still, that's up to you again, feel free. Just making a small argument in favor of this. I feel the maul is strong enough to deal with other enemies without the need for Flak, but go crazy if you want! One last thing, promise... 'High Voltage' & 'Thunderous' are great alternative blessings & are totally valid as well on the Shock Maul as the second BiS (best in slot) I've tested, honorable mentions... It's VERY CLOSE in terms of killing power, it's like neck & neck really. The reason for those is it's a bit easier to proc these blessings as opposed to the ones I have listed above. Depending on the Havoc modifiers, these alternative options might be better in certain situations just so you're aware, but as always, YMMV to what missions you're partaking in, etc. 'High Voltage/Thunderous' are basically tied with 'HV/RS' because this enables light spam against armored enemies, which is hilarious & a bit cheesy, but ohh well... You should be doing your combos, but if you're lazy go for it! But... I will say the TTK (time to kill) is faster with 'High Voltage' & 'Relentless Strikes' in my humble opinion if you actually put in the work & effort to do the shock/light/heavy combos to single targets like armor or bosses depending on the modifiers, again... Pick the other blessings if you're too lazy to actually use your ULT on the Shock Maul if you just want to hit without procing your weapon special much to induce light spam instead with the 'Thunderous' alternatives. I can totally understand this prospective as well & that's up to you, but I still feel the ones I've listed are BiS if you put your little sweat-lord cap on & work for it. It's just a slightly more complicated technique is all, but worth it if you get the technique down pat of shocking them with the weapon ULT & then right into your heavy/light combos after. It just takes a lot of practice is all, but it is genuinely faster at killing, I promise you that. Also, as a bonus, sometimes I'll do 'Hammer Blow' paired with 'HV, Execution, Thunderous or Confident Strike' as well. It's really insane... with so much damn stagger & toughness regen, nothing will touch you if you really want to play it extremely safe! It's the ultimate Arby's roast beef sandwich if you really want cheese on that, sir. With this, it's literally a brain-dead light spam stagger build if that's what you want. Literally no combos with this version, it's all-light spam, it's hilarious, lol. With these bonus blessings just to be aware that your DPS will fall off a bit compared to the other options, but it's worth it if you want to be a pure stagger monster for the team & to play it safe to almost never take melee damage yourself. I still strongly feel that 'High Voltage' paired with either 'Relentless Strikes'/'Thunderous' should always be picked first, but it doesn't hurt to try the others, right? Also, 'High Voltage' in my view is wholeheartedly, non-negotiable... because it's his highest flat 25% DPS boost to staggered enemies on your weapon for your electric to apply (even on basic light hits staggered). The question I get: Why not pair 'Execution' with 'HV' like everybody else does? The reasoning is because the other options kill faster because of the inflated health pools/density/modifiers in Havoc-40's & the vast majority of players don't play this mode anyway & wouldn't need the extra killing power, that's the answer. It's not a bad blessing; it's just that these two others outshine 'Execution' from my testing enabling more DPS/faster killing & you really need that with the crazy health pools, unlike the other difficulty modes below. We have to keep in mind 'Thunderous' strips away the armor effect they have as a debuff, meaning it's easier to cut through them & also on bosses as well. Think of it this way... What is Arby's biggest roadblock? Bosses & Armor, right... So, if we're cutting down their defences first then it's easier to end them faster with subsequent hits, plus with your shock ULT you use this on bosses because you cannot stagger them with regular hits to apply electric, so use your ULT instead then go ham. Plus, 'Thunderous' is just the cherry on top too. The Shock Maul is objectively his best weapon DPS-wise; I mean this is a meta build after all, not that his other weapon options are poor, no, no... It's just that for the purposes of this build, we're going with the best available tools, that's all. This is in theory what his best potential dogless-wise looks like. This is more of a rough template of what I perceive the meta to be solo-wise. It's pretty down-right blatantly obvious what the meta is, like duh... Arby is a very simplistic class, just like Ogryn, so this was pretty super easy-peasy to figure all of this out. The Arbitrator always struck me as basically the mini version of Oggy pretty much for the most part, the baby version. I'm sorry that I type/talk so much. I just think that some of this information is important for maybe people who don't know or understand it at a fundamental level. For people that are maybe new to this class in general. This may help some people out, but for the OG's, this is all kind of obvious to them because of the experience. Is this build for beginners & does any weapon work with this set-up? The answer to both is yes of course. One being that it's a super unga-bunga build, so I don't see why not because it's not too complicated at all how to learn this build.  Number two... of course any weapon will work with this particular build for sure. I just feel it's a bit more fine-tuned for the maul in mind, but hey... if you don't like it of course switch off to something you like better, no pressure. I just want to say closing this massive paragraph... I don't think the other 'ULT Abilities' are bad by any means & I know they have their fans, for sure... But... The reasoning for BTL is sort of obvious, right... You just keep getting that massive DPS increase constantly every what? 10 seconds or less? If that? How can you possibly beat that CDR compared to the others? The other Abilities are a bit too long from my prospective to be considered 'meta' in my mind. I still use them & such, it's just if we're talking about pure DPS, BTL is the way to go. They nerfed the cooldown on both the other ULT's, so this plays into my decision making a bit. If they didn't do that then it's possible this would sway my opinion, no doubt & this build would look different. I mean, you could possibly use this build with the other ULT's if BTL isn't your thing, it would obviously work... I just think you're losing out on DPS is all, but the choice remains yours. I don't like telling people what to play or build, it's not my thing... I can only give you my personal prospective on what I think is the best possible route, that's all. I love the freedom of choice on whatever you what to build.

How to do your Combos:

Hordes: 

• 1. Push > Heavy > Heavy > Repeat
• 2. Push > Heavy > Light or Special Light > Repeat
• 3. Push > Light Spam > Repeat (Or just light spam while throwing your block/pushes in between the odd time for the cleave bonus (This is only if you're lazy & have an auto-clicker or a macro)
• (Make sure you're dodging as well when needed while doing all this)

Single Targets (Bosses, Armor, Elites, etc.):

• 1. Heavy 1 > Special ALT > Repeat (The most effective)
• 2. Heavy 1 > Light 1 > Repeat (This is only if you're doing the Arby Maul exploit, which I've explained just below as you don't need your ALT special with this. Still effective as option 1, but minus the Special ALT)
• 3. Light 1 Spam > Repeat (The lazy man's method & better with the HV/Thunderous option for light spamming anything big. HV/Relentless Strikes is better with options 1 or 2, but either combination of blessings is just fine of course)

NOTE For Your Combos: There's a bunch of different options on how to combo above, but ultimately the decision is yours on what you feel the most comfortable engaging with the enemies. There's not necessarily a right or wrong answer here. Go with whatever you feel is right in your mind. The first two options in each category is what I feel comfier with, but you may not, so please go into games & test this out for yourself. You never know until you keep practicing on what you may or may not like. There are probably even more combo options than this that I'm not thinking of or just forgetting too, but it's all I could think of at this moment... I may have to edit this later on.

Bonus Tips: So, just to be crystal clear here... I'm not one for exploits/cheating. I would condemn this usually, but this might be borderline okay. It depends on your personal judgment because this is technically an advantage, so you can do this or not, it's your personal choice, so don't shoot the messenger. There's a small glitch with the Arby's Shock Maul & I feel it's worth mentioning. I'll explain how it functions... When you have your maul out & do your shock ULT special then switch super-fast back to your ranged then again back to your maul all in rapid succession (do it a few times just to be sure). What happens with this is you're setting the shock maul's ULT permanently in the shock state, so you don't have to hit your weapon ULT special while doing your combos. It just sets it automatically. If I were to do this, I'd do it at the start of missions because you only have to do this once per-mission for it to set (it refreshes every new mission of course, so you have to re-do it again). This can most likely save you extra time & fatigue on your fingers/hands. Now, I'm not 100% sure if they fixed this glitch yet or anything like that. If they did & you know about it, then ignore this entire message. If they didn't, you could use this... I personally don't but feel free if you must. You obviously won't get banned by doing this because this is Fatsharks fault in the first place for not correcting it. Hell, even sometimes I'll do it if I'm feeling lazy, but yeah, it's worth noting if they didn't fix it yet. Knowing Fatshark, this isn't fixed most likely, lmao. It's a little cheesy, but whatever, life goes on... 

Update (Rotten Armor Re-work): Roll brand new of your favorite weapons or just change perks & put '25% Infested Damage' instead of the '25% Carapace Damage.' As a side perk either the '25% Unyielding Damage' or '25% Flak Damage' will do. Your choice... Rotten armor is now 'Infested.' Do this for all the weapons you use on whatever class, I wouldn't for ranged options because it's not as great only on the certain AoE DoT's as I've mentioned just below. Blessings pretty much remain the same for the most part (although Uncanny Strike does nothing to them, so you could switch that out for something else as well). So, for example: The Arby Maul: 25% Damage (Infested Enemies) + 25% Damage (Unyielding or Flak). For AoE DoT's this applies as well... Bleed, Burn, Soulblaze, Electrocution & all that jazz. Yes, this is 100% worth doing, but only for Rotten Armor, anything else use your normal set-ups. I know some won't want to make new weapons just for this & I totally get it because it's extra steps... But it's all up to you. The limbs & heads are Infested & bodies are normal, thus Infested & Flak. Best of both worlds for maximum DPS against them. Again, always aim for the head because it's Infested, but Flak will take care of the body as well. I feel this is the best combo for perks, IMO. Now, you don't have to do this, but if you're a Havoc player & want optimal DPS against them, then yes, it's worth it to re-roll new weapons if you're a perfectionist. 

Closing Statement:

There are similar builds like this out there, but deep within the very core of my mind, this is the best variation amongst them & the most effective. The others just miss the mark in my personal judgment, so of course, I had to step in to set it right. This build has been meticulously & methodically crafted to utter perfection in order for you to be at your peak. I tested this to the bone; all the nodes/blessings/perks synergize & coincide with one another for you to be an efficient killing machine. I would consider this to be the definitive meta solo-wise. I just want to thank the fellas in my pre-made group who've also had a helping hand to theorycraft this monster of a build with me. 4 different sweat-lord minds contributed to this & had input. No need to thank them or myself... We just want you to get out there a serve the Emperor & dominate. Now go & lay down the law! This is probably the only non-troll build on this site besides a few outliers, lmao.💪 

Thank-you for the likes, everybody, I really appreciate it!👍