Some Idiots Havoc 40 Charge Zealot [Martyrdom]
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Welcome to this idiots guide to a decent Havoc 40 viable Charge Zealot setup with Relic Blade Mk2, below I'll explain the reasoning behind some decisions that aren't self explanatory as well as some information on how you're supposed to use the Mk2 relic blade since I understand some people find some issues with its moveset compared to the Mk10. Before we start, this build demands you remain at low HP for the duration of the run. Blowing yourself up, standing in fire, getting shot by a sniper etc... are all viable ways to take damage without accumulating corruption.

For starters we're dumping Good Balance, this should be pretty obvious why but functionally you don't actually have much reason to run it when you're getting 30 - 37.5% TDR (Toughness Damage Reduction) from Martyrdom, 10% TDR from the minor node above it and 15% generic DR (DR that applies to both Toughness AND HP damage) together. It just really isn't necessary and frees us up a point for later.

We're also dumping crit chance and nodes that act off of crits like Enduring faith, mostly cause the Relic Blade really doesn't function amazingly with it unless you're speccing into Piety to give you some good base crit rate. Scourge works great with weapons that are able to crit an enemy and have it remain alive for you to continue critting, which sort of struggles to happen unless you're hitting the tankiest of targets when you're stacking as much damage as we are on a Martyrdom build with a Relic Blade. If you crit something, that thing isn't going to be alive to be bleeding. Not only that but our main way of accessing crits in this build is via Fury of the Faithful (FoTF) which buffs the hit even further, ensuring that whatever it hits WILL likely be VERY dead unless it's a boss/crusher. By dumping these nodes it allows us to go to the right and take Hubris and Riposte, giving us extra durability and 15% more damage that's very easy to access. Flat damage is the name of the game on a Martyrdom build.

As a follow up, regarding CDR we're also taking Martyrdom's own special CDR node called "Martyr's Purpose". The reason we're taking this compared to PCT is it's active permanently rather than requiring constant melee combat, allowing for you to regen FoTF charges while kiting, moving between spots with your group, moving between gunner packs, approaching, fleeing, you name it. PCT will be generally better into Melee seeded runs, however if you lose the gamble and get a Gunner seed then you're frankly just going to have a worse time. Martyr's Purpose only gives you marginally less CDR in return for it having basically no conditions for access provided you're playing this build at low HP like you're meant to be. Considering we still have to access Martyrdom and Riposte anyway, choosing this allows us to save a point that'd otherwise have to be spent pathing through Punish Impiety to still get access to Martyrdom if we went for PCT as well.

You might have noted we've entirely skipped both Bleed for the Emperor and Restoring Faith. Why? Cause they're frankly unnecessary and actually counterproductive sometimes to our plan of skipping to low HP and remaining there. While they both make the build more forgiving, especially Restoring Faith, this is still 2 points that are mostly unnecessary provided you're playing correctly and could be better used grabbing more useful talents elsewhere. Restoring Faith can sometimes regen you above your final wounds, getting rid of Martyrdom stacks and making you have to find another red barrel to injure yourself again or just suck it up and deal with having less damage/tdr/attack speed. It also really doesn't regen enough to be worth it imo. Bleed for the Emperor is also just bad? It slows your ability to damage yourself down to that 25% hp threshold,  and you're only getting value out of it for maybe a hit and that's it. If Martyrdom gave you any buffs at high HP and you actually got value out of it protecting you for every one of your 6 wounds? Yeah it'd be pretty nice. But no when playing properly you're only effectively playing with 2 wounds at most so it's just a pointless talent tbh.

Providence is something nice that got added in as basically a freebie with the Zealot rework, allowing for easy team revives/helping people out of nets. We're also taking further advantage of this by running an extra revive speed buff on one of our curios but this can be replaced with another stamina regen if you want.

Our flex point for this build is currently slotted into Enemies Within, Enemies Without. This talent got buffed insanely hard in the Zealot rework. 7.5% per second for just existing near enemies or a single (1) boss (yes, boss, not just monstrosities. Captains/Twins count for this as well) allows for so much chip damage forgiveness it's frankly absurd. In fact this regen is impactful enough I have successfully stood in the middle of pox gas and not taken corruption because it cancels out the damage from the gas when stacked with DR/TDR in the build. Kiting a boss and some shooters clipped you? You really don't care, what little damage you took is already regenerated. In the middle of a gunner pack? Gives you a buffer of forgiveness to kill them before they start shredding you. The node imo is just a really nice comfy option that makes the build far nicer to play as it reduces the window for possible chip damage which is the thing that actually kills you on a Martyrdom build. You can swap this out for things like Backstabber, Anoint in Blood etc... for more damage if you want though, it's not actually necessary despite myself finding it feels nice to use.

Now onto weapon discussion:

We're using the Mk2 Relic Blade. Why? Zealots role atm is pure DPS, no ifs ands or buts. If you're not dealing damage equalling or exceeding your Psyker your team would rather just take someone else like a second VoC Veteran with a Power Sword. Especially on a build like this with FoTF your role is effectively to be a second Psyker but in Melee. 9/10 games you should be coming out with special kills similar to your Veteran, highest/second highest boss damage, sky high elite kills, tied highest horde clear etc... cause your entire identity is DAMAGE. Out of all the classes Zealot has the least utility to give their team, so dealing lower damage than everyone else just to be a more infrequent VoC veteran is pointless. Mk2 Relic is arguably one of the 2 best options in Zealots kit for this role, with great horde clear, cleave, single target, boss damage etc... with the only downside being sub par mobility that can still be mitigated somewhat.

As for its blessings/perks we're taking Cranial/Rampage and Unyielding/Carapace. Unyielding/Carapace should be self-explanatory but its basically just cause you need the extra damage to kill bosses, crushers, ogryns etc... and ramp your damage further. As for why we're taking Cranial compared to something like Wrath for the extra cleave? With the Zealot rework we're taking Against the Odds that gives us 50% cleave into any horde scenario which mitigates the need for cleave on our weapons compared to before. Even into Havoc 40 enemy hit mass this is still a viable decision to make as I've tested, as you're still likely to kill hordes at a similar rate especially with the higher Energized uptime from Cranial. In return for dumping horde clear slightly you're getting a lot of single target DPS which is especially useful against modifiers like Rotten Armour where Wrath was practically a dead perk as well as making you delete bosses even harder than before. Until modifiers like Moebian 21st and Rampaging Enemies (due to their higher hit mass) come back into Havoc rotation this is a viable setup, and once those return you set another relic blade with Rampage/Wrath instead and switch as needed.

As for how to use the Mk2 Relic Blade it has a few main combos:

Horde Clear Fast: Heavy > Heavy > Light > Heavy > Light > Heavy etc... (Access it from the 2nd heavy then loop that 2nd heavy into lights.

Horde Clear w/ Stagger and better energized economy: Heavy > Heavy > Light > Push Attack > Repeat (Can also start from push attack)

Single Target for Basic Elites (stacked Shotgunners, gunners etc... that die quick): Light > Light > Block Cancel > Repeat

Single Target Main: Light > Heavy > Heavy > Loop Heavies (Uppercut does marginally more damage for some reason. Needs to be aimed slightly for consistent headshots)

Switch between these as necessary. Your highest single damage attack is your sprinting stab which you don't actually have to be fully sprinting to activate. If you briefly hold sprint and forwards while looking slightly down to an angle while holding heavy attack you'll immediately enter a stab attack without having to commit to sprinting forwards, allowing you to prepare it immediately for hitting something durable in a weakpoint. You can block cancel after it to immediately be able to do it again. You can also use this attack to hit a BoN's weak point from the front if you align the attack right, giving you high damage without having to flank behind the boss that'd put you out of position and in the range of its AoE attacks.

As for moving around with the Relic Blade you can move-tech by holding the Sprinting Stab attack, letting go for the thrust, switching quickly to ranged then back to the sword, then going into another Sprinting stab, repeat. The move gives you some additional speed compared to just sprinting with it out normally so it's usually always worth doing when you remember to.

On your Flamer you can run either Flak/Carapace or Flak/Unyielding. Flak/Carapace will do better into Rotten Armour, Flak/Unyielding is mostly suited to when this isn't in rotation and you're running a Overpressure/Blazeaway setup. The former is better into general havoc gameplay dealing with things like Crushers easier while the latter will get the highest damage to both hordes and bosses.

Use the Flamer for situations where melee with the Relic Blade is too risky, multiple stacked up bosses, being a replacement for your Psyker if they go down or can't keep their Purgatus staff going etc... can also be used as effective suppression against gunners/reapers.