Electro Staff Primary Spam
 Psyker Build - Warhammer 40k: Darktide 

This is a high-DPS Psyker build built around rapid primary fire from the Nomanus Mk VI Electrokinetic Force Staff. I spend most of the match firing the primary attack, keeping Peril high, and making small quells so I can continue shooting. High Peril feeds Warp Nexus's critical chance and Warp Rider's damage. Critical primary hits trigger Surge for extra shots, so more crits mean more damage and more pressure across the field.

1. Keep Peril high without overloading. Rapid-fire the staff's primary attack and use short, frequent quells to stay near the top of the Peril bar. This is where the build gets much of its crit chance and damage. I use Auto Shoot and Peril Protection in my Auto Swing Auto Shoot and More — Input Mod; my experience with the build assumes that setup. Equivalent mods can work, but without those functions you must manage firing and Peril yourself.
2. Use Venting Shriek into a dense group, then throw Assail immediately. Shriek staggers enemies, lowers Peril, and, with Creeping Flames, applies Soulblaze. Assail quickly builds Peril back up after the vent so the staff returns to its high-Peril sweet spot. Throw the barrage quickly, switch back to the staff, and resume primary spam.
3. Watch your Warp Siphon charges. Warp Battery raises the cap to six, and each charge adds 4% base damage, for 24% at full stacks. Venting Shriek spends the charges, so use it where there are enough elites or specialists to refill them through kills. In Fire Reborn can also restore charges when Soulblaze targets die to your damage. If teammates finish those burning enemies first, you may be left with few charges and noticeably less damage.
4. Prioritize softer elites. The staff's primary fire can also keep hordes under pressure, but this setup is less effective into heavy armor. Focus elites you can kill quickly, then work across the crowd. When things get messy nearby, fire at enemies' feet to use the staff's suppression and stagger without reaching farther into the room for new targets.
5. Reserve secondary fire for emergencies. I mainly use the charged secondary attack when a Crusher or another large enemy gets on top of me. Its stagger buys time for teammates to help, rather than replacing the primary-fire damage loop.

Frequent critical hits keep Empathic Evasion active, making you count as dodging against ranged attacks for one second; Anticipation extends the dodge window. That lets you challenge gunners while you have valid targets to crit. It is not unconditional protection. Shots into a Bulwark's shield, for example, may not give you the crits needed to refresh Empathic Evasion, so switch targets or reposition rather than standing still behind a blocked shot.

The pictured Catachan Mk VI Combat Blade is a bossing option with 60/80 Mobility, 80/80 Penetration, damage perks against Maniacs and Unyielding enemies, Flesh Tearer, and Uncanny Strike. Against a human-sized boss, I can switch to light attacks to break a bubble and use heavies for damage. A mobility knife is also fine: make Penetration the dump stat and take 80/80 Mobility if you would rather have more room to reposition.

I run two Toughness curios and one Health curio. My pictured curio perks are Combat Ability Regeneration, ally Revive Speed, and extra Toughness on each one. The main Toughness/Health mix is flexible. Ability regeneration helps me use Venting Shriek often in dense fights, although the staff's primary-fire loop is the main source of damage.

This is a fast, high-pressure build that is especially fun when there are many elites to kill and enough targets to keep the crit and Warp Siphon loops going.

Enemies Outlined and More! - Field Awareness (nexusmods.com/warhammer40kdarktide/mods/1359) · Improved HUD and More (nexusmods.com/warhammer40kdarktide/mods/1361) · Auto Swing, Auto Shoot and More ! Input Mod (nexusmods.com/warhammer40kdarktide/mods/1362)