LIGHTNING ROD SKITARII BIBLE
 Skitarii Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

1.) Intro to the build:

Hello Reject, I am dinosaur.ani, welcome to a low-skill ceiling, high satisfaction, Skitarii build. Also to preface, this build has been tested only up until HAVOC 25. War dogs came out and I like driving supply trucks so.

This is worth reading. You will get a very clear understanding of the playstyle, which is an INTENTIONAL one. This is not Joe Mama's brainless build we are ACTIVE and we are rewarded for our ability to know how to best control and dismantle the fight presented to us. IF PLAYED CORRECTLY, you are a walking tempest of electrocution, crit, brittleness, mixed horde mulch, and most importantly, aura. You get to walk a very badass and scary line of sprinting into and killing entire rooms full of gunners, drawing all ranged fire from your team. When the gunners are taken care of, we move to the back of our party and wait to mulch the melee elite packs and repeat.  You're kind of like a frontline backline droideka with electricity splitting off it.

I originally made this build for two reasons: 

1.1) Giving Integrated Refraction Emitter a shot because it should be our job to experiment. It is okay to try you own build or what you like, and lose! But what you're NOT going to do, is be a LITTLE SHEEP and say skit blitz's outside the skull are bad when you haven't truly tried to push them to their limits. This build was made in that spirit, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it AND improve upon it. I hope someone makes a much better version of this build on our way to solving this class.

1.2) That arc rifle reload is bruuuuutal its like 2 or 3 seconds of more or less self stun. The Integrated Refraction Emitter solves that problem on top of adding great synergy with your arcs. You have a LOT of get out of jail free in this build. This build is for surviving, WINNING, you still have decent but not top dps numbers but this is a comfortable, safe build with a nice flow and team support. More on this later.

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2.) MELEE WEAPON + PLAYSTYLE: 

2.1) First things first: Preference is king. Second things second: BRANX MKIII ARC MAUL

    2.1.2) This weapon is ONLY used for raking heretic SCUM over the coals...but in this case, lightning. YOU WILL wait until you have a trash mosquito swarm and YOU WILL be the bug zapper, OO-RAH. Use your SPECIAL PUSH ATTACK (use weapon special, hold block, M1, REPEAT) on large mobs of trash and make some NOTICEABLE space for yourself and your team. I use this weapon for almost no other reason than making space. Its a 7m~ range push attack that does damage with great stagger, that is insane utility to have. ARE YOU BEING SWARMED BY BUGS??????? TAKE OUT YOUR BUG ZAPPER, AND START SPECIAL PUSH ATTACK WINDSHIELD WIPING THEM TO BITS. WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT MELEE DAMAGE, DAMAGE IS WITH THE GUN, YOU TAKE THE AMMO ALWAYS. I AM TELLING YOU...YOU WILL USE THIS BUILD AND PEOPLE WILL, WITHOUT COMMUNICATION, START PINGING AMMO FOR YOU. This is because they are IN AWE OF YOUR POWER, LIGHTNING ROD; YOU PROBABLY MELTED THEIR FUCKING GPU. So as to say, I really dont give a fuck about blessings other than Enhanced Voltaic Arcs , but i take Voltagheist Overload because I'm literally playing an instakill slot machine BECAUSE YOU ARE ALSO A SLOT MACHINE BABY, TAKE YOUR MAUL AND START CRANKING IT TO WIN A JACKPOT IN THE FORM OF A 12.5% INSTAKILL PROC ONTO A HUMAN-SIZED HORDE. 

2.2) A more sober note from dino: "I bet this is so hard to read, i should make a boring version of this guide thats readable.  I hope you get what im gettin at here. Melee only for space using maul special push, maybe get instakill proc in process but we are mainly using it for space, escaping, and repositioning. (there were some acronym jokes i wanted to make here but you and i are not friends like that yet)"

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3.) RANGED WEAPON + PLAYSTYLE:

        3.1) Second things first: BRANX MKIV ARC RIFLE

              3.1.1) This build was made with the arc rifle as a cornerstone,. I consider it necessary, i love the zapper,  but you do you. 

              3.1.2) Probably the simplest aspect of the build. Don't aim for the head, there isnt weakspot multi. I believe the chaos mutant for     whatever reason does take more damage in the head from the arc rifle as per...reginald's or Mr.E's skit vids. (They're the same person anyway)

              3.1.3) Because we don't care about weakspots, we are able to take some interesting talents leading into Integrated Refraction Emitter as well as Flensing Protocols . More on this later.

        3.2) Blessing wise we do get a little funky cool though. Here's my stance: Enhanced Voltaic Arcs is locked in and your BiS secondary blessing is Charmed Reload. Charmed let's you get through multiple loops of Voltaic and Shield before having to reload. I find without it, there's too much downtime, you don't get to use your abilities nearly as often on a single clip with a dmg talent vs. charmed.

        3.3) This build gives us the opportunity to use No Respite to great effect, not many other builds can, so they take Dumdum instead. Call me crazy, I don't like Dumdum, because im hosing targets at medium and long range as well. You have the responsibility with this build to face tank all gunners as the tip of the spear BECAUSE YOU ARE THE ONLY CLASS THAT CAN DO THAT AND KILL THEM. Ogryns have their hidey shield, you have your...killey shield. You're like a ranged engage off-tank when you pop your cooldowns. This isn't your overall role, but just part of this great, All-Rounder playstyle. AND BEST OF ALL, ITS FUN TO PLAY. You are ranged damage immune, drawing all fire, pressing your voltaic wide area disable, paired with the arcs from your shield, the arcs from voltaic, the arcs from your arc rifle. More on the combat loops later.

              3.2.1) Other secondary blessing options would be....Dumdum....along with things like Blaze Away and potentially things like Cavalcade. I encourage you to experiment with different variations. ***FOR INSTANCE****: You could take Charmed Reload with all our crit talents, you could pair it with Ammunition-Restoration Pod and rarely have to reload the Arc Rifle in the first place, NULLIFYING one of the main reasons to run the shield in the first place!, freeing up points and potentially changing the build entirely. This is why we do it baby for da love of the gameeeee. Can't have one without the other, this is the other. Take  Integrated Refraction Emitter , take Charmed Reload or No Respite or another damage talent, and eat bullets for breakfast. You are a Lightn1ng-R0d. Honestly I love the utility this build provides it feels VERY similar to ARBITES in how you lock down an area. The difference being you can then proceed to wipe the room.

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4.) A personal note from dino:"*Remember*, we can't deal massive theoretical damage if we're dead! These havoc runs can get up to an hour~ long (not that this must be played in havoc, this build can walk through auric maelstroms like a Sunday stroll), these missions are wars of attrition, we have a lot of survival packed into our build to cover our fuck-ups as well as the firepower to overcome and disable swarms of elites and specialists. We do lack Chordclaw levels of boss damage, that is a clear con between the two. My personal opinion is: I made this build because I felt my skills deteriorating crutching on Noosphoric command, and a few hundred thousand damage is an easy trade for an active, SAFE, CONSISTENT, fun, low-medium skill ceiling playstyle that provides great utility while still coming first or second in dps. Be real with yourself, does LOSING a run, wasting your precious time in the pursuit of pumping numbers instead of WINNING sound like the move gang? No. Don't lie to yourself, team play is a blast. Play your role whatever it may be in each unique pug and have fun.

      4.1) If you think this build is straight jank, you could be absolutely correct. My goal isn't perfection, it's progress. If we can improve these builds/rule out certain combinations, we are inching closer to the ultimate goal of the solve, every jank build crafters secret wet dream.

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5.) CORE FUNCTIONALITY OF THIS BUILD: 

Alright for those of you with me still, thank you for finding this intriguing enough, probably in a, what is this crack head fucking talking about kinda way, but thank you nonetheless.

This section is where we cash in on all those, "more on this later's."

      5.1) ****HOW TO PILOT THE BUILD/WHAT TOOLS YOU HAVE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS******: 

           5.1.1) *READ THIS* Your BIGGEST WEAKNESSES usually are mobility, slow reload, and mediocre boss damage.  The first two we have mitigated fairly well through the amount of on demand CC and synergy in our kit, the boss damage however wont be comparable to your Chordclaw Strike  builds. I have a good feeling a claw build will come out on top for meta plug and play skitarii as it provides very easy boss and elite clear as well as quickly flattening packs of elites. 5 stacks of bleed swipeclaw with redline capacitors, noos, etc will solve MOST problems the game can throw at you all at once. I just wanted a viable build for Integrated Refraction Emitter to exist out there.

           5.1.2) GUNNERS, LITTLE AND ELITE ARE YOUR JOB, YOU ARE THE BEST IN THE GAME AT THIS BECAUSE YOU DISABLE AND KILL unlike barrier abilities, shields, or smoke.  Run into a room, tank ranged damage for free, disable the gunners with Voltaic Emitter while simultaneously spreading brittleness via System Shock; followed by any of your many arc sources connecting and CRITTING brittle targets in a chain of  instakill. Stunlock engage a room, shut down an ambush, or reset your tempo/footing when you make a mistake or miss. The value in having both Voltaic and your REGENERATING BLITZ, Integrated Refraction Emitter, should not be easily discounted. 

             -These two abilities can be used in tandem or not, very flexibly, allowing skill expression in efficient resource usage, ideally resulting in a build that feels like a never ending revolving door when everything's online.

            5.1.4) Because your Integrated Refraction Emitter regenerates every 75 seconds with 3 charges, and the build has enough capacitance generation, the build feels CONSISTENT. This is what you want in high difficulty. You will only exhaust your options if you very intentionally blow your whole schload which if you ever do, results in everything but bosses vaporizing anyway. it just takes longer to get back into your usual loop. 

            5.1.5) You are a 360 area of CC. When you run into a gunner pack with IRE up and hear a trapper behind you as you're hosing the front, simply cover your own back with Voltaic and take out the now stunned trapper. This can be done interchangeably with either ability as both provide immediate area stagger, giving you the time to reposition etc.

            5.1.6) Use your Arc Maul's Special Push Attack to move trash out of the way, I only use it for elite targets if i absolutely have to, captains, et al. You'll whip it out, crank it on em, and dip. .... ... yikes

            5.1.7) We are pretty vibes dependent on how to approach each encounter. It's your call, it's your brain. What do you think is the best way to control the fight with the tools available and the situation presented. You'll get better at appropriate proactive or reactive responses the more you play the build and get comfortable on an already very easy build to find value with.

            5.1.8) You float in the party's marching order, typically either on the front, disabling ranged elites and tanking ranged damage, or a playable tesla cannon way in the back when faced with crusher and rager packs.  RANGED ELITES YOU RUN UP ON WITH Voltaic Emitter AND Integrated Refraction Emitter . MELEE ELITES, YOU FALL BACK IN FORMATION, STUN, AND MULCH.  ARE WE UNDERSTOOD? ITS SIMPLE JUST DONT SLOUCH TOO MUCH. *********An active build will perform MUCH worse if you're feeling too lazy to play it. The build was not designed for passive play for a high difficulty setting. SKILL ISSUE? MAYBE, but better safe than sorry when trying to educate others**********

            5.1.9) LASTLY, you are allowed to use your Voltaic at one charge in an emergency aka Mauler rush. Living always takes prio with some exceptions, but use your noggin, get comfortable, you'll do fine.

      5.2) That's all I'll write for now on playstyle unless somehow someone wants me to write more. This isn't a hard build to conceptualize the synergy and mechanics of. And again, I built this with what i thought made sense talent pathing wise, someone else may have a way better idea with more math than vibes (please).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  6.) SPEAKING OF TALENTS!

**COOL TECH ALERT I REPEAT, COOL TECH ALERT**

      6.1) Arcs CAN crit, making the Flensing Protocols  + Integrated Refraction Emitter  combination/pathing seem a lot more intentional than simply their close proximity on the chart...haha....i definitely knew the arc crit before i made this build...ha..ha :,)

              6.1.1) Typically you might see people take power overload as an alternative keystone, it's good for sure and if you can manage to rework the build for it be my guest, tell me  your logic, I'm interested truly.

              6.1.2 ) ^This philosophy applies to any changes you think make more sense. For instance, I swung around the left side of the tree to pick up crit then bolster it with Flensing Protocols , Servo-Sinew Surge and power our engine with Higher Purpose . All of this being in proximity of the build's staple, Integrated Refraction Emitter felt natural to pair together. ALSO we don't benefit from the weakspot talents with our Arc Rifle so it gave me a good excuse to go around for crit and flensing.

               6.1.3) Feel Free to change any talents, I think for MY playstyle, it's optimal as presented. 

      6.2) A Note On Auras: 

               6.2.1) This build gives the flexibility of being able to reach all 3 auras depending on your preference, MINE is Ammunition Deposit because you need as much ammo as possible while not robbing your team. With this aura you usually are able to never run out. 

               6.2.2) Foe-Render Creed will definitely help your team but your Arc Rifle doesn't benefit from cleave so feels wasted imo.

               6.2.3) Resurgence is the second most viable aura, in combination with a toughness speed curio setup, it's pretty safe, but we literally have a ranged shield and stuns for days so I'd rather take more ammo reserve.

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7.) Curios!

      7.1) As a general rule: Use what cushions your personal weakness as a player. 

      7.2) SO what I've done is select 2 toughness curios, this will most likely be mandatory. I left the third blank as a flex but 3 toughness is fine, stamina or max health being your other viable options.

             7.2.1) I have opted for Combat Regen (this helps with capacitance generation), ALLY REVIVE SPEED because you are missing your commonly taken servo-skull blitz! and then a toughness node for more burst survivability. Gunner packs starting in mid havoc will just one shot you if you're caught out or being lazy/ego.

             7.2.2) We don't need gunner resist! That's the cool part about making these funny builds, it gives us a chance to squeeze every last bit of juice using small changes like these to add up to a new fresh way to approach the game.

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8.) Closing Thoughts: YOU DID IT HELL YEAH (there's no way anyone read this whole thing lmao)

I am super ready to be done writing this build at this point so I'm stopping it here. I hope someone finds this useful, I love this game, I'll flush out this section with lofty words in the future but for now, all the information I care to go over is above, GOOD LUCK HAVE FUN.

Discord = dinosaur.ani if you have any immediate questions or death threats. Thank you for reading.