Delusional Perfect Blocker Zealot
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

I DO NOT RECOMMEND USING THIS BUILD IF YOU WANT TO WIN.

This build’s greatest achievement was one Havoc 34 clear and a whopping 5 minutes of continuous kiting of a Havoc 40 horde with Twins, a Beast of Nurgle, and a Chaos Ogryn.

The idea of the build: “What if I made my Zealot crit, have ~32% attack speed sometimes, spam fast light attacks on the Relic Blade, AND also be tanky? Hmmm...”

Perfect Blocking

The state of this mechanic in Darktide is dire and gloomy - unless you are an Arbitrator, in which case you can enjoy your life with cool talents and two shield weapons.

So, perfect block by itself does nothing; it's just a proccing condition for exactly one blessing and one talent in this build. But this is the point of the build: being delusional.

Tips to Proc Perfect Block:

• When facing a light horde, Ragers, or Sword Captains, you can just spam the block button and reliably get a perfect block proc. Just don't end up in a situation where they start damaging you. As soon as you proc a perfect block, dodge out, attack, or hold the block.
• Block While Dodging: Press block when you are dodging or immediately afterward. Not only could it proc Impassable's 50% block cost reduction, but it also often gets you a perfect block proc.
• When fighting bigger enemies, just watch what they do and perfect block on reaction. It's really easy once you get the hang of it.
• Pushing: When wanting to push or push-attack, you actually can perfect block. With practice, you will learn how to do it a bit more consistently.

Practice! It's an easy mechanic that is fun to use. Darktide just has little to no things that work with it YET (we are progressing slowly, but at least not backwards).

Note: If you play with a Flame Staff Psyker, a Rumbler-spamming Ogryn, or a Psyker with Smite - forget and forgive. Sadly, you ain't perfect blocking shit in such games.

Relic Blade

For perks, Carapace, Unyielding, and Flak are the best choices. You can also get Block Cost Reduction, but you already have 50% from Impassible , which is active basically every fight.

Blessing-wise, Heatsink is here because we crit enough to proc it reliably. Cranial Grounding is perfectly fine too, or honestly ANY other blessing.

Counterattack is needed here because the Relic Blade attack speed is pretty bad with this build otherwise. You can take Punish Impiety instead and change Counterattack to something else, but then I would recommend using the Munitorum Mk II Relic Blade , since it has a VANGUARD (horizontal) Push Attack which is much better for horde spam. I personally use Counterattack because I am insane and I LOVE perfect blocking.

The reason I do not take Energy Transfer is because if I fumble a perfect block and then start attacking, it would really suck to suddenly have no heat dissipation or buildup reduction. Losing attack speed already hurts, but losing heat management feels even worse.

Still, you can run both Counterattack and Energy Transfer and see for yourself if you can proc them reliably enough.

RELIC BLADE INTENDED COMBO (big brain moment)

Here is the important reason why I specifically use the Munitorum Mk X Relic Blade - its Push Attack starts a single-target combo, and its horde-clear combo can be block-cancelled very easily.

Hordes

Block/activation  -> proc Counterattack -> Light 1 -> Light 2 -> repeat. - Note: you need to specifically block cancel the chain of attacks after Light 2, and you might even catch a perfect block on that block cancel.

If there are heavier elites: Perfect Block -> Push -> Heavy 3 -> Heavy 4 -> repeat.

Single Target

Either the classic:
Block Cancel -> Running Poke

Or specifically for this mark:
Perfect Block -> Push Attack -> Heavy -> Light -> Heavy -> Heavy -> repeat.

Curios

Pretty simple. If running the Fatmangus health-tanking trifecta, use 2 Health + 1 Stamina. If running anything else, use 2 Toughness + 1 Stamina curios.

Curio perks are in the same vein: Toughness for regular builds and Health for Fatmangus health tanking.

Use Cooldown Reduction on at least two of them because we don't take Unrelenting Fury, but if you do, you might even consider dropping one or two CDR perks (although they are good anyways).

Everything else is up to you. I would recommend Stamina Regeneration, Assist Speed, and Gunner Resistance in any comfortable configuration.

Talents

Impassible  is really cool because it gives us a ton of frontlining potential through a WHOPPING 50% Block Cost Reduction and also restores all our dodges on a RELIC BLADE. Obviously, the actual effectiveness with perfect dodges can be a bit inconsistent because sometimes you proc the dodge-refresh part when you do not need it, but overall it still gives the class much better kiting potential.

Scourge barely procs in hordes because you one-shot most trash enemies anyway, but when heavier enemies show up it helps quite a bit with crit chance.

The  “health tanking trifecta” in the middle bottom is here to support health tanking. This build is meant for frontlining, and being able to survive more hits is useful. You can absolutely drop all of it in favor of better toughness sustain and other useful talents, but personally I usually die without them.

Optional talents:
Stalwart , Thy Wrath be Swift , Bleed for the Emperor , Faith's Fortitude , Restoring Faith , @Toughness Damage Reduction small node, Good Balance , Against the Odds , Prime Target .

Good alternative picks:
Retaliatory Defence , Enemies Within, Enemies Without , Abolish Blasphemers , Unrelenting Fury , Punish Impiety , Punishment , Shield of Contempt , Hubris , Blinded by Blood , Riposte .

Aura

Zealous is  here because we play around stamina a lot, so it is very effective for the build. However, you can swap it to Beacon of Purity if needed.

Keystone

To be honest, you can use any of them, but it changes the core combo of the build because all the other keystones give attack speed.

AKA they are better, because then you can completely DROP Counterattack and the perfect-block gimmick entirely :D

Abilities

Fury of the Faithful gives attack speed, which is HUGE because this build does not naturally get much of it. It also procs crit-related talents.

It can be changed to Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude , but that hurts the build pretty badly in terms of critting and attack speed.

I would also not recommend trying Shroudfield because this build is supposed to be a frontline tank, not an assassin.

Blitz

Use whatever you want, though knives are probably the best option if you are running Flamer or Bolter.

Ranged Weapon

ANYTHING, because everything feels good when critting.

Obvious choices:
Revolvers, Combat Shotguns, Flamer, Bolters, Autoguns, Laspistols, etc.

GAME PLAN

Frontline. Run directly into enemies. Try to proc perfect blocks, dodge -> enjoy.

Try not to overextend into large groups of gunners - you WILL die.

DO NOT TRY TO PERFECT BLOCK OVERHEADS OF ANY KIND. - The Zealot still does not have a shield weapon, so we must continue suffering and dodging overheads until that blessed day finally comes.