Zealot Dueling Sword Post-Nerf (2026) (Mr.E)
 Zealot Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

Intro

This build is based on the Mr. E video below for the sword build and the talents (mostly), the rest is my personal recommendations.

Weapon Notes

Originally, for the sword blessings, I wanted to go with Riposte and Precognition to maximize the dodge spam, however I found that using Thrust and Uncanny Strike is better as it gives you the much-needed damage for the Crusher, Scab Mauler , and other such armored boys.

If you're thinking about going with Riposte, I would pass. it doesn't activate as often as you think. There are actually multiple types of dodges in the game, the and average dodge spam doesn't cut it. "Riposte only activates on successful dodges (timed parries); standard dodges to avoid damage do not trigger it." Meaning you dodge the attacks with the "woosh" sound. But this isn't good enough to waste a blessing on

Ranged: You can use whatever gun you like, however you should only be using it about 20% of the time to perhaps help out a teammate or pick off a gunner or sniper. I like the Godwyn-Branx Mk IV Bolt Pistol because it gives very high one-shot damage potential. Use the blessing Surgical to get a guaranteed crit, and Deadly Accurate to double the damage. Add Weak Spot Dmg and Crit Dmg Perks to increase it even more.

Curios: I like a healthy mix, you can go how you like, but i recommend to definitely have at least +1 wound cause otherwise you only get 2 total and unlike everyone else I'm not a darktide badass that never dies. Also definitely hove Gunner Damage Resistance because we will be running around with our sword out most of the time, and stam regen definitely doesn't hurt so we can be running around more often.

Talent Notes

Mr. E uses the Blades of Faith for his Blitz however because of the higher power revolver I'm using making it redundant, I find Stunstorm Grenade to be much better for team survivability. Plus you can stun and poke everything to death.

Talents are fairly self-explanatory. everything is built around dodging, crits, and killing elites. we use Fury of the Faithful as our ability because it allows to charge after those Crushers and Bosses and give them a massive damaging poke, especially when we remember to charge our sword fully and unleash three stacks from our Thrust blessing. We want to use both the ability modifiers as well so we can chain ability activations together over and over.

Blazing Piety as our keystone plus Righteous Warrior modifier so we will always be getting that +25% crit chance from basically just existing

Right above our Keystone we have Scourge and Blinded by Blood As this will make follow-up pokes after Fury of the Faithful pokes more reliable against crushers and bosses.

Closing Thoughts

Feel free to add me on Steam, if you have any ways to make this build better, and I'm always looking for friendly guys to play with on the weekend (no girlies plz): 332095079