MELEE with WALLS or SCRIER'S (Havoc 40 focus, IN-DEPTH)
 Psyker Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

WHY USE MY BUILDS?

- Build revolves around using the "Uptime" mod across 150+ Havoc 40 games* with these builds, in addition to 300+ Havoc 40 games just going by feel of talents and playstyle

• *Most games are with Party Finder and inviting 1-2 low ranks, so much of the output is the build and less from the team

- Utilizes walls to their maximum potential

- Most unholy clutch potential, can deal with every situation that presents in Havoc 40

- Huge, palpable impact on the team and is very fun

- Bonus Scrier's Gaze variant - there are many out there, but this one was crafted using the same data collection methodology as above

Gear Philosophy

Blaze Force Greatsword Covenant Mk VI (will be abbreviated as FGS)

• Huge single target damage vs. the other mark (~ +33%)
• INSANE range, you outrange almost every incoming melee attack in the game
• Can swap Unstable Power for Shred but I haven't thoroughly tested this enough
• Can swap Riposte for Precognition if you are solo / duo
• Can swap Carapace for Flak but I hate maulers too much to do that

Electrokinetic Force Staff Nomanus Mk VI (will be abbreviated to EK staff)

• Innate +21% crit chance and +31.5% crit damage, other staves do not have the 'Critical Bonus' stat
  • Primary attack crits do 2x to nearly 3x damage at base, plus the 'Surge' blessing is a global 2x multiplier to that damage
  • Crits also trigger several important talents
• Is used like a warp revolver to take out ranged elites (can suppress reapers easily,) specials, and dreg ragers
• Can swap Maniac for Flak, or run Maniac + Flak depending on preference / playstyle

Curios

• Can swap Toughness for Revive Speed
• Scrier's varient: can swap Combat Ability Regen for Revive Speed or Health* 
  • *I usually run Health

Talent Philosophy - from top to bottom

Perilous Combustion

• For non-soulblaze builds, this is rarely noticeable aside from shotgunner waves, which are already easy to kill

Blitz

• Walls: Assail is easy to maintain high peril + Malefic Momentum
• Scrier's Gaze: doesn't matter, I personally never use my blitz
  • I used to use Kinetic Flayer a lot, but a lot of the procs were redundant for me

Malefic Momentum

• NO MICROMANAGEMENT: 70%-80% uptime on warp damage buff; 45-55% on the non-warp damage buff
  • No micromanagement means using the staff / warp slice naturally and not thinking about this talent
• MICROMANAGEMENT: 70-80% for both, done by treating the staff like a revolver and quickly 1 shotting something every few sec

Empathic Evasion*

• *If you are comfortable without this talent, you can pick up whatever you want
  • Suggestion: either Kinetic Flayer, Assail + True Aim, or Immaterial Focus
• Very nice for clutching when you have no dodges + fighting elites/bosses + getting shot at. Allows time for dodge counter to reset

Anticipation

• The +1 dodge makes the FGS feel a lot more forgiving when kiting large packs of carapace or dreg ragers

Just a Dream

• Big global damage resist, often times when you need it most 

Abilities

• Scrier's Gaze plays differently and is super fun to play (mini-guide below)
  • Warp Splitting changes to By Crack of Bone now that we are trying to keep peril down
  • Empathic Evasion (which I always run) can be swapped for either:
    • Kinetic Flayer
    • Assail, True Aim, and change Warp Speed to Warp Unbound
      • I never do this but if you like Assail then this is pretty decent with it
    • Battle Meditation: adds a lot of average Scrier's Gaze stacks
    • Immaterial Focus: free global damage resistance with some rarely useful stun immunity
  • Precognition: big damage
  • Warp Speed: most players don't take, but it helps when things get really bad, I never take it off
  • Warp Unbound? IMO is useless unless you can spam a useful peril-generating action (like hybrid Assail stated above)
  • Peril management: don't worry, play naturally in almost all cases. That mental energy should be spent on anything else.
  • FGS reroll: swap <60 warp resist to =60 warp resist
• Bubble: low uptime, goes down fast
• Shriek: I have not yet experimented with Venting Shriek and Perilous Combustion

Warp Ghost

• Makes upkeeping Unstable Power, Warp Rider, and Warp Splitting easy
• +2 stamina has helped to compensate for an inactive Kinetic Deflection (maxed out peril) during revives
• Toughness Replenishment is a 1.25x multiplier to all toughness sources that actually matter in Havoc

Disrupt Destiny - 3 different builds, depending if you are:

1. Confidently aggressive with max damage possible, but potentially inconsistent: Perfectionism + Cruel Fortune
   1. Stacks: ranges from 1-25; averages 18-21 
   2. I always run this
      1. **Rotted armor? TBD at this point because Rotted got reworked and is not yet in rotation
          
2. Confidently aggressive with a free talent point, but potentially inconsistent: Lingering Influence ONLY
   1. Stacks: ranges from 8-13; averages 10-11
   2. Free talent point for whatever you want
      1. Suggestion: either Kinetic Flayer, or run Assail + True Aim
          
3. Lazy, but consistent: Lingering Influence + Cruel Fortune
   1. Stacks: ranges 11-15; averages 12-14

• Difficult to kill enemy highlighted? Look away for 5 seconds, the next markable enemy you see will be instead highlighted

Gameplay Guide - Havoc 40 focus

FGS

• Special Wave
  • Wave mechanics
    • 2-part attack consisting of the wave projectile and the physical swing. The physical swing itself (without the projectile) can be a light or heavy attack. 
      • The physical swing can generate special meter, meaning sometimes you can swing into a horde and instantly have another half or full charge ready. 
      • Special light: useful on trash mobs, the physical swing will kill them all the same and generate special
      • Special heavy: useful on elites, it has huge damage and with enough buffs, can 1 hit most elites. 
    • Reaches to approx. 25 meters with large damage drop-off after ~10 meters (estimated based on feel, never really tested)
  • Zero charge: will free teammates from pox hounds through walls
    • If through a wall, aim slightly above teammate's silhouette when they are pounced. The wave is wide, not tall.
  • Half charge: kills trash mobs at close-med range
  • Full charge: kills trash mobs at long range; kills / weakens elites and specials at close-med range
• Combos
  • Aggressive trash clear: [L L L > H] repeating*
    • Sliding / Sprinting: [L L > H]
  • Safe trash / mixed clear: [Push > L] repeating   OR   [Push > L > H] repeating
    • The first light after a push is unique and is perfectly horizontal
    • This will be your primary way of avoiding body blocking trash or hugging a wall to escape high density hordes
    • The heavy is a unique sweeping heavy if you feel you have time for a bit more damage, but I mostly just do [Push --> L]
  • Single-target: [H H]   OR   [L > H > block cancel] repeat   OR   L > H > [L L > H] repeating
    • Try all of them, you'll notice over several games that each one provides different value. Random examples below:
      • H H repeat will let you chain guaranteed elite gunner kills quickly
      • L > H block cancel repeat can abuse stab mechanics / 1-tap mutants fast (see below on stab attacks)
      • L > H > [L L > H] has barely higher DPS than H H and also has one extra attack.
        • +1 attack = +50% attacks = +50% empathic evasion proc chance
  • Sprinting Heavy: very fast, great opener / gap closer, I use this ALL the time when fighting gunners or needing to run away
  • Push "attack"
    • Open bulwarks
    • Knocks captains down and off maps (hilarious)
      • Melee twin gets pushed back, not knocked down
    • Interrupt overheads
    • Proc kinetic flayer
    • Extra insurance vs. bursters
• Stab attacks: will always hit weakspots if your crosshair is on it 
  • Example: Beast of Nurgle's weakspot can be stabbed when in front of them 
  • Example: Bulwark's head can be stabbed through their shield if they are staggered

EK Staff

• Primary attack: for range elites, specials, and occasionally dreg ragers (absolutely melts them)
  • Will proc Empathic Evasion, Mettle, and Perfect Timing very easily to make you immortal
    • Sprint sliding + Empathic Evasion is near 100% immunity from shooters
    • Sprint sliding + Mettle is high movement speed to avoid all melee enemies
  • When to quell:
    • Short quells during any downtime (changing targets, during slides)
    • Can shoot and immediately quell to negate peril cost entirely
  • Careful when only aiming for the head, many enemies will crouch / hide and make you miss entirely after the first hit. It is okay to just aim at the body unless you can guaranteed headshots
  • Weapon swap is so fast that you can swap --> shoot --> swap and not even see the staff on your screen
• Secondary attack is for fast moving specials

Peril

• Warp Rider and Unstable Power do a lot of heavy lifting for damage. Keep your peril above 80%. It is OK to not sit at 97%+ so you have a Just a Dream buffer
• Try not to waste the FGS special progress just to maintain high peril, instead use your staff or blitz, whichever is faster / makes sense
• Do not worry about peril management for Scrier's Gaze, you are better off spending that mental energy on literally anything else

Toughness

• Mettle, Warp Expenditure, and Disrupt Destiny are your only toughness generators.
• It is easier to think about the toughness generation in the following way:
  • Mettle - you can't control your crits, but you'll be critting when you are hitting things. Bottom line: hit things
  • Warp Expenditure - you should always aim for the head anyways. Bottom line: hit things
  • Disrupt Destiny - even if at max stacks, it is nice to hit the highlighted guys anyways for +movespeed. Bottom line: hit blue things

Walls

• Main intent is for anti-special use
  • As long as a pixel of the enemy touches the wall, they get stunned. You can pretend the wall is actually lengthier than it looks
  • Bursters may walk through
  • Trapper nets may pass
  • Bombers easily throw over the wall
  • The wall has width
    • Mutants may run through the full thickness --> stunned + recoil --> no follow-up stun 
    • Mutants may run through partial thickness --> stunned + recoil --> follow-up stun 
    • Dogs will likely run through the full thickness --> stunned --> no follow-up stun
• Spam them, they have high uptime thanks to Psykinetic's Aura
• Most of Darktide consists of paths more narrow than the wall's length meaning it is good to rotate the wall and make use of the entire length down the hallway.
• In a narrow hallway, rotate the wall diagonally or straight to move up on gunners. I will draw below an aerial view of a narrow hallway

  • |     > > )         X      |
    |    ^     )        X        |
    |    ^    )          X       |
    |    ^   )         X         |
    |    ^  )                      |

     

    • |                         | is the hallway
    • ) is the diagonal wall
    • X are gunners
    • ^ > is your path of movement
  • Notice how you can rotate the wall to walk the entire length of a gunner line and get behind them

@bruh moment on the darktide discord if you want examples of anything above, I have clips of everything. The linked video is a clutch that encompasses many lessons taught here.