Some Idiots Hi-Havoc Viable Zealot [Inexorable Judgement]
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Welcome to some idiots guide to an alternate new-Zealot build focused on making use of the new trees propensity to benefit weapons with high base damage that can get crit chance in some form. This build can work with any of the meta Zealot weapons, I've used the Mk15 Eviscerator for this for reasons I've mentioned below, and can confirm after running several havocs after the reset in the 30-40 range with it that it's viable (Orange/Moebians can cause issues however due to density/mass). I've listed the weapons that I recommend at the bottom as well as their recommended blessings/marks.

[Note: I've made other builds for different Zealot playstyles since this, I encourage checking out my profile for others especially since I currently regard Martyrdom as a better option than Inexorable Judgement. This build is staying up since I still regard it as something fun to run if you feel like using this keystone]

To put it simply, Zealot is more focused around getting base damage bonuses compared to before where Zealot was getting most of its damage from frequent weakspot criticals in combination with Duelist double-dipping. Now that Duelist has been nerfed considerably due to no longer double-dipping and Zealot being given base damage bonuses at different points in the tree, we can forgive taking less crit chance overall to instead focus on making our crits more effective by having more base damage to multiply off of. A lot of builds seem to assume that Duelist is the same as before or weren't aware of how it worked prior at all, so that's why you're seeing so many skip any damage nodes that you need to actually reach the old values you used to.

TL;DR: Instead of 2 x 3 we're now doing 5 x 2 basically. Far higher base but lower multipliers. Zealot still wants to spam crits since it's one of the classes best strengths, but you're not as hard-locked into it as you were before outside of Marty builds.

For this build we're using Inexorable Judgement now that it's been buffed back to its original state again, giving full 20% bonuses to each of its stats in addition to the hidden bonuses to your dodges it just doesn't tell you about (Fatshark moment, go check out Kuli's guide [
[1.9.x] Zealot Talents & Mechanics] on Steam that explains this). Eternal allows for more time for slower weapons to get up Momentum stacks before you consume them again, so it's mostly a QoL pickup, but the default 6s is still workable and is what I've gone with in the build to grab more damage in other parts of the tree.

The new Riposte talent, not to be confused with the blessing, is a must-take as far as I'm concerned. 20% extra damage for playing normally on top of Sustained Assault giving another 20%, another 20% from minor nodes, 20% from Inexorable Judgement, 10% from Against the Odds, 15% against elites from Abolish Blasphemers, 5-25% from Disdain (which finally got fixed to work on every swing rather than alternating swings)... Zealot stacks a lot of damage bonuses now. As mentioned later you can sacrifice other parts of the build to grab even more damage.

We're also grabbing Scourge + Blinded by Blood for maintaining decent crit chance and getting a free 15% damage for yourself and your team on anything you start bleeding. Just good utility overall, plus it allows you to still make frequent use of the nerfed Enduring Faith.

Speaking of Enduring Faith, yeah it got nerfed but you're significantly tankier overall now. Good Balance is in a much more favourable spot to grab now, and the new Hubris talent combine to give you frankly ludicrous amounts of generic DR rather than the purely toughness DR that Enduring Faith gives. You're not as durable as an Arbites, but you're up there with these 3 combined. I've taken it off for this build but you can switch things around as needed to take it if wanted.

As far as Cooldown Reduction, we're taking Pious Cut-Throat as it's generally the best of the 3 in my opinion as long as you're able to consistently hit heads/weakspots. Invocation of Death is another good choice but if your weapon isn't getting criticals every hit or two then you're going to have higher uptime on Pious Cut-Throat, provided you can aim slightly higher to hit their heads of course. We're using the new modifier node Unrelenting Fury for Fury of the Faithful to make up for the CDR nerf zealot got which means you're still allowed to spam your ability often if just slightly less than before assuming you're killing elites/specials in the process.

In case anyone's wondering why the build has the Mk15 Eviscerator, it's cause it's a fun example to showcase how the 50% cleave you're getting from Against the Odds works and how it can actually make weapons viable without taking Cleave blessings which used to be mandatory past a certain level in Havoc for example. It also has good base damage and works well with Shred which showcases my point regarding high base damage crit weapons. and it doesn't 1-shot everything it touches on a crit either so you can actually scale Scourge properly (Can't hit a bleeding target that you've crit if the initial crit 1-shots them). As a side, if you don't know this you can cast Fury of the Faithful during the "sawing" part of the special attack just before you do the final "rip" and it amplifies that rip damage specifically rather than the sawing part. Useful for dealing large damage to bosses, crushers etc... which need the extra damage and makes the Eviscerator good for anti-boss roles provided the game actually allows you to get off a full special attack.

As for ranged weapons, I've showcased the Flamer with Penetrating Flame/Blazeaway since that's probably the most universal setup for it across Havocs at the moment thanks to Rotten Armour, however you can change that to Blazeaway/Overpressure Flame with Unyielding instead of Carapace if you find that Rotten Armour has been rotated out or you're doing Aurics. You can also run a Bolter with Pinning Fire/Puncture and Flak/Unyielding for a more general use weapon that's good for most roles except screen-wiping.

Tweaks you can make are as follows:
As mentioned earlier if you want more base damage and don't mind being less tanky, feel free to ditch Enduring Faith for any available damage node of your choice. Purge the Unclean is an obvious choice, but Desperation can be good as well as Annoint in Blood if you want to make more frequent use of the Flamer. Enduring Faith for this build was mostly a choice made for making it more approachable and new player friendly with higher dr uptime that's not reliant on dodging or weakspot kills.

If you want to use a weapon like the Dueling Sword, I recommend switching over to Blazing Piety from Momentum instead. Keep every other node the same, but pick up Piety/Righteous Warrior/Stalwart instead. 

Impassible is a good node to take if you find you're often having to dodge out of situations with your back to the wall. It allows for slower weapons with less dodges to still remain mobile in bad situations which can be valuable.

Out of Pocket makes for great flamer ammo regen without having to go through the lengthy reload animation. 

Alternate Weapons (Switch between Momentum and Piety as needed for DS/Knife. Crusher can also use Piety as it likes crit a lot due to scaling well with finesse, but it works with IE too):
Relic Blade (Mk2) [Rampage, Wrath] (Works with Piety as well. Good for forcing some crit chance for more consistent bleed procs/enduring faith)

Dueling Sword (Any) [Uncanny, Precog / Precog, Riposte]

Knife (Either) [Same as DS]

Tac Axe (Mk 7/4) [Bromentum , Headtaker]

Chain Axe (Either) [Bloodletter, Headtaker]

Crusher [Slaughterer, Skullcrusher]

Image credit goes to @SpiritDraws