Havoc 40 | Vet | 4M Nade Weapon Specialist
 Veteran Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

HAVOC 40 | NADE + WEAPON SPECIALIST HYBRID

Here is my H40 build I use to slaughter everything in the game. This build allowed me to PUB my way to H40 in season 3 against the blight that was Rotten Armour and Stimms. 

This build has netted me multiple 2M+ damage plus another 2M+ in overkill hence the "4M" and as evidenced in the snippets you see with the 200/100/130/130 and 120/200/130/140 games. (As well as many other games putting up triple digit kills in all 4 buckets).

Granted I have over 2.5K hours in the game, and so your results may vary, but you can safely consider this "META!!!" : D

BUILD CONSIDERATIONS

KRAK VS SHREDDER

• Kraks for Rotten Armour with Stims or Encroaching Garden
• Shredders for Stims, Encroaching Garden, Rituals, and/or Cranial

See H40 Tips down below on how to maximize usefulness. 

MELEE

• DS4 is still S Tier. 
  • Carapace, (Unyielding or +5% Crit Chance), 
  • Thrust and Uncanny. 
    • This will give you an armor killing weapon to finish off any enemies in the game. 
      • The +5% Crit Chance I've found has little impact on maintaining uptime on Exploit Weakness. Take Unyielding instead. 
        • This is due to the fact that when you have to melee Stimms/Rotten Armour you will use your melee weapon enough to maintain uptime on Exploit Weakness and get another +25% damage. Whereas you might trigger it a second or two faster with more crit chance, but have the same uptime without the +25% damage. 
      • Dump stat either Mobility or Cleave Damage.
• Power Swords. The tedious nature of powering on will definitely turn most players off. I've gotten used to it. My main critique of these things are that they are STAMINA HOGS, especially the VI and it's push attack. It's why I prefer the III if I'm playing with randoms because the attack cadence is much faster and cleave is a moot point since you'll either have an AoE Psyker or a melee character with cleave.
  • For both III & VI 
    • Carapace, (Unyielding or Maniac), 
    • Power Cycler, Slaughterer
• Combat Blade. III or VI. 
  • Carapace, Unyielding, 
  • Uncanny, (Precognition, Riposte, or Mercy Killer)
    • IF Mercy Killer
      • Swap Superiority Complex for Serrated Blade. 

RANGE

• Plasma Gun. 
  • Flak, Unyielding, 
  • Gets Hot, Rising Heat. 
    • You can ignore Maniacs just because Ragers and Mutants in swarm engagements are more likely to separate from the pack as you kite backwards and so you'll have more help killing them since you'll cull the herd first by taking them out to make sure you can reposition and kite armor and bosses.
      • Plus, Ragers are dum-dums who run at you in a straight line and this weapon cleaves no problem.
    • Flak is for ensuring you 1 shot gunners, and Unyielding is for Reapers, NOT bosses. 
    • Dump Stat - Charge Rate.
• Zarona, Boltgun, and Recon Lasgun I don't use in this build because I like maximizing their effectiveness with other builds.

TALENT SWAPS

• Toughness Regen
  • If running Shredders, swap Grenade Tinkerer for either Exhilarating Takedown or Confirmed Kill. 
  • If running Kraks, swap Always Prepared for either Exhilarating Takedown or Confirmed Kill. 
• If CC & Toughness isn't a problem. For example, you have a Taunt Ogryn, Mine Arby, and Bubble Flame Psyker where you just wont ever be touched. 
  • Max damage, and ignore reloads by swapping Always Prepared, and On Your Toes for Rending Strikes, and Bring It Down!. 
• If using Combat Blade. 
  • As noted, swap Trench Fighter Drill or Superiority Complex for Serrated Blade.

CURIOS

• +17% Toughness - Combat Ability, Stamina Regen, Gunner Resist
• +17% Toughness - Combat Ability, Stamina Regen, Revive Speed
• +3 Stamina -OR- +17% Toughness - Combat Ability, Revive Speed, Gunner Resist

2 +17% Toughness, and a +3 Stamina is my default for Veteran. The DS4 can get by without a +3 Stamina. But if you run a Power Sword or Combat Blade then you'll want the setup I showcase. Regardless, it's what I run and it makes the Veteran feel so much smoother. 

Also, see "Revives" in H40 Tips. 

DONT

• DO. NOT. SLEEP... On Field Improvisation. Especially in Havoc 40. Taking Serrated Blade over this is incredibly selfish and shortsighted. You add maybe a couple hundred thousand in damage. I can now eclipse or stay neck and neck with a flame Bubble Flame Psyker in terms of damage without it.
  • Field Improvisation is the best and most clutch talent out there. The snippet the game is derived from had a moment where I had to drop the ammo crate to Krak spam. I killed probably 30-40 enemies in a about 20 seconds. That single handedly saved the mission. Serrated Blade would have caused me to tickle the Rotten Armour then watch my team get crushed to death.

H40 TIPS

A few tips when playing the character

• Positioning - Always be in proximity to your Psyker or front line character. This will allow you to hold your gun out since they'll be pulling aggro, or flames will be staggering them. This will allow you to fire at will, and swap to your gun while standing in a sea of enemies. 

   

• Target Prioritization - Don't get tunnel vision. Your ability to quickly eliminate threats to other characters can be the difference of cruising to a victory or fighting in gas or fire 24/7. 

• Boss Fights - In boss fights, you engage and help Zealots, Arbys, and Ogryns, but as soon as you hear an audio queue for a Special or Elite you immediately peel away from the boss and kill it. Then resume fighting the boss.

• Non-Boss Fights - The same logic as boss fights applies to most fights - target priority is Gunners, Reapers, Disablers, then keeping Psykers alive, then you help kill armor. 
  • Don't be the moron who pulls out your melee weapon in a swarm when your flame Psyker has to dodge gunners and snipers. It is far more efficient they flame people and you shoot people.

• Krak & Shredder Timings - Contingent on teammate archetype
  • Taunt Ogryn - Wait for them to taunt, kite, then stop to engage. This will cause the armor swarm to clip through one another. This will maximize Krak damage since it will also clip through the character model it attached to and kill others.
  • Mine Arby - Their cadence is similar to Taunt Ogryns. They will engage, kite, and then stop and drop the mine. This too will cause enemies to clip into one another maximizing Kraks hitting other enemies.
  • Chorus Zealot - If your nades are full throw a couple. Melee others while they are stunned. You will probably regenerate another nade. Then start spamming your Kraks. Otherwise you end up wasting the damage buff on Kraks that don't need another damage buff to kill enemies. Shredders in that case will then start exploding and cause more stagger and CC after Chorus finishes. 

• Clutch Revives - 
  • Even though I present this build as being the top damage dealer, I pride myself (as should you) on being a great teammate and actually making efforts to both revive and rescue people (see snippets again - I'm either tied, or leading the pack on helping res people)
  • Shout+Sprint+Slide to begin the reviving animation should work in most situation with the +20% revive speed. Just be aware if they are stun immune. 
  • This is also why I advocate for +3 Stamina and 2x Stamina Regen because this makes you a good revive class. 
    • Stamina is a component that goes into how many shots you can take from people while reviving.
    • These factors plus Gold Toughness means it's almost guaranteed to revive the person.