Laspistol Desperado Veteran
 Veteran Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Overview

The build is centered around using the laspistol almost exclusively, relying on crits for both damage scaling and ammo efficiency via Shock Trooper. Even without the Infernus blessing it will kill anything smaller than an ogryn in 1-3 good shots. You don't even need to worry about landing headshots all the time, so long as you nail a few now and then to keep your buffs and toughness up. Make sure you dodge once every few seconds to keep your critical buffs up, and get in the habit of reloading whenever you have a second to breathe. Critical headshots are what's going to keep you alive and the heretics dead.

Vs. Hordes

Point at head level and spam-fire into the crowd. This thing is so agile you can dodge away from most melee threats while continuously blasting with ADS held down. Center of mass works just as well, though your toughness and stamina will suffer. If you get surrounded, toss 2 or frags at your feet and get out of whatever corner you backed yourself into. Just make sure to use these sparingly, for emergencies. Even with Demolition Team/Stockpile you will run out if you're chucking them all over. You can, of course, pull out the chainaxe and go to town, but that's not what it's there for. If you find yourself getting swarmed and swamped in melee a lot, then you need to stick with your team more, let them keep the poxwalkers off you so you can focus on blasting Specials.

Vs. Ranged Packs

This is where this build shines. Between Tunnel Vision, Deadshot, Exhilirating Takedown, Confirmed Kill, Catch a Breath, and Executioner's Stance, you're practically a god when it comes to shootouts. Regular and elite ranged enemies have a habit of standing nice and still while attacking you, so even someone with average aim can easily land headshots on them. Or just go for center of mass. It's not optimal but it gets the job done. Also, don't be fraid to soak some bullets on purpose. Taking hits gives you stamina that you can turn into crits through Deadshot. Though, if you do run out of stamina it may be worth it to ease off the ADS and keep firing until you get back up to 50% or so. Don't trust the default reticle - the pistol's VERY accurate even from the hip.

Vs. Elites

• Shotgunners - Will often come charging straight at you single file, letting you mow down a dozen of them without adjusting your aim in the slightest. Head is best, but you can hit them anywhere. 
• Ragers - Easy to land headshots while they're charging straight at you. But, once they start swinging, you're better off just going for the chest. Yes, even on the armored ones. Between all the Rending and the Infernus blessing they'll go down very fast. Or just toss 2-3 grenades at your feet and let the entire pack bleed out.
• Maulers - The laspistol OBLITERATES flak armor, so always go for the chest on these.
• Plasma Gunners - Same as above.
• Heavy Gunners - Very easy headshots while they're firing at your team. Don't bother dodging against these guys - it doesn't proc the crit talents - and focus on killing them ASAP.

Vs. Specials

From highest to lowest priority:

• Flamers - Yes, flamers are my #1 priority. These guys will RUIN you and your team if you let them. You can always dodge a net or push a hound, but you can't finesse around everything being on fire. Note that if you aim for the head you're likely to hit the tank and make them blow up, which is often less than ideal. Better to aim low instead. If you're insistent on going for the head, do it while they're starting up their flamethrowers. They'll lean a bit to your left and keep their head nice and still for you.
• Bombers - Same reasons as above. The tox ones are arguably worse because being the gas blocks your Executioner's Stance highlight. I assume this is a bug but it's been in the game since they introduced these assholes so I could be wrong.
• Trappers - Play it safe, go for the chest. You can usually stagger them out of their firing animations in two shots, if not outright kill them. If someone gets netted, a frag will buy you the time you need to save them.
• Hounds - You can shoot them mid-pounce, it's really not that hard, but the tiniest bit of lag and you'll get pinned. Up to you.
• Mutants - The laspistol kills them faster than the revved up chianaxe, believe it or not. Not sure why, but it's super effective.
• Snipers - Usually not too hard to just dodge or avoid until you've dealt with other threats. One shot to the dome cleans them up usually. Keep in mind the laspistol is limited in range to about 80 meters or so, but that's very rarely an issue.
• Poxbombers - You can kill them VERY quickly at range. However, it's always a gamble since their little heads bob around too much. Unless they're 30 meters away from your team, best go for a push or trust your teammates to handle them.

Vs. Ogryns

• Reapers - Fat heads that don't move. They die in about a second to the laspistol. Their chest is flak armor so it's just as quick to go for that instead.
• Bulwarks - This is where Infernus does some heavy lifting. You can aim for the club hand to set them on fire while they're charging, but usually it's easy to just dodge their swings and unload into their torso or head. It only takes a bit of high ground, like a crate or maybe stairs, to let you shoot their scalps over their shields. If they're not facing you, just unload into their massive backs to bring them down.
• Crushers - If you're at or near max Marksman's Focus stacks, you CAN burn these down with just the laspistol. If there's several of them bunched up, that's honestly your safest option, but also the slowest and most wasteful. These guys are why we brought that chainaxe with those blessings. The special bleed will stack up Brittleness even if you only tag them for a half-second, letting you finish them off with the laspistol. Or just heavy special attack them to the head to save on ammo. Just keep in mind that the chainaxe will NOT stagger them on its own.

Vs. Bosses

Quick note on frag grenades - they're terrible for boss damage. You can use them to clear up the hordes around the target, though.

• Plague Ogryn - Headshots while it's coming into melee. Once it gets close, tag it with a quick chainaxe special and keep shooting. Between the Brittleness, bleed, and burn, it should go down very fast.
• Chaos Spawn - Mostly the same. Pistol can easily dodge all of its attacks, just make sure you give it time to reset its dodges. A frag grenade can stagger these in a pinch, but not really worth it in terms of damage.
• Beast of Nurgle - Forget about the chainaxe. Not worth the risk. Laspistol to the back absolutely shreds it, though it will probably start chasing you once you start unloading into it, at which point you can shoot its mouth weakspot instead. If it vores someone, a frag grenade should make it spit them out.
• Captains - A very bad matchup for this build. The pistol is basically useless on these. The chainaxe heavy special does very good damage on the shield, but it's slow and can get you killed. Defintiely try to get the bleeds in once the shield's down.