Classes teambased (H40)

Psyker, Ogryn,Scum and Veteran share the same OVERALL powerlevel. Once you are able to look past damage output alone you will realize Ogryn, Scum and  Verteran match psykers powerlevel, as they have HIGH ENOUGH damage output, while exceeding psyker in terms of survivability, battlefield control or utility.

While damage output isnt everything, the high end of it Psykers can reach makes it impossible not to put them in S tier. Being able to progress that much faster through the missions, simply because your clearspeed is that much higher if you have a Psyker on your team, is golden. While Psyker requieres alot of playtime to consistantly apply that high end of damage output, without being a liability (needing babysitting) to your team, once you invested that time having a Psyker like that on your team makes any mission THAT much easier/more relaxed.

Hive Scum is the class I play if I either know my teammates are all mediocore, or I just wanna have fun and do some Scum exclusive stuff. No other class can get away with what Scum can do, being able to dive any amount of gunners/specials on any map once you get the hang of it. The never ending DoT pipe (Needle pistol with pickpocket talent) provides endless specialclear, boss and elite damage from a safe distance. Since the grenade charge nerfs for the rocket launcher and chem grenade I have found myself loving Blackout grenades more and more. Allthough it can be devastating at times needed kills to gain a charge, while any other of these grenades (arbi Dog explosion, Arbi Nades/shocknades (both with lonewolf ofc), Vet nades, Ogryn rocks,etc...) regen time OR teams kills based. Scum has a high enough overall damage output, exceeded inferno shriek psyker when it comes to crusher/boss clearspeed). Scum can delete any boss in the game with several melee weapon choices, alltough my favourite still remains Shivs. On top of all that CrateScum nullifies the "Blight spreads" modifier whenever its in the rotation (if your team is decent, knows to step on your crate), while remaining a capable off frontliner who can easily take out elites from mixed hordes and take care of a huge amount of specials.

Ogryn has been my go to class whenever I had a break from Darktide and needed to climb my way back to H40, giving me by far the best results (yes its my lack of skill on psyker matter here, otherwise I would probably choose psyker for an initial climb). Ogryns ability to "play the game for your teammates" is still unmatched, as Taunt just opens up so many opportunities for you and your team. You see your psyker struggle with elites? Just taunt/stagger them for him, enabling his absurd damage output. Your team is full of little pussies, who wanna hide around corners once they see gunners in position? You engage these gunners and Taunt ususally catches the most of them. Playing the Power Maul + GG or Rumbler combo just adds really high levels of Damage outputs to the already existing strengths. Before the update I could easily run 3x 21% hp curios and reached 100 toughness (with 5% toughness on one of the curios). This sadly tanked after the update, which led to me changing one of my curios to 17% toughness. Sad but it definitely feels better. Rock is just auto regenerating special snipe/stagger vs bosses/eiltites tool, which always outweighs frag bombs usefulness unless you are playing a rituals map.

Veteran offers the most utility in the game, via gold toughness, a crazy damage amplifier (gold tag), really solid cc (shredders) or a gamebreaking mechanic (smokes, the poor mans smite for ranged enemies/twins). The only weakness in comparissn to Ogryn or Scum is the damage reduction/tankyness. However the absurd amount of utility definitely justifies putting it in S tier for me.

All other classes are more or less on the same powerlevel (below the 4 S tier classes), with different strengths they bring to the table. 

Skiitari might just be the best all rounder, while not excelling in any category. Claw has high level boss damage, but Scum outmatches that with consistancy/not needing ability charges for it, while Hammer Zealot simply oneshots any boss. Claws strength moreso lies within being able to clear the battlefield of crushers/bullwarks in an instant, but again, other classes get close to matching that. Voltaic Emitter is a great CC tool, but so is taunt/charge, (or arbi) which furthermore drags pressure away from your team. What makes Skiitari so unique, awesome to have on your team is, and im sorry but its true, Skull. Hackskull turns many events with awkward hack spots into a walk in the park. Medskulls impact is just insane, and flamekull, well.... exists.

Now Zealot got into an interesting spot after the update. Before the update, zealots idendity, to me, sadly was Chorus. The reason for that wasnt that Zealot couldnt be an effective off frontliner (horde dps/elite picking while an ogryn/arbi holds/ccs the frontline),but Rampage Scum made him look like a schoolboy in comparison. Hammer Zealot was probably just as strong as now if you paired it with great mixed hordeclear (inferno psyker), but admittedly I did not play it enough/see enough Zealots having the impact with it it has now, after the patch, which makes it hard to judge for me. IF it was just a skill issue of the average Zealot H40 player, the hammer build deserved and now does more than ever a STANDALONE S tier.

Arbites was, and is now more than ever a very interesting class. I will not talk about the abomination that was release Arbi and noone else should. To me Arbis unique selling point is battlefield control, matching or maybe even exceeding Ogryn levels. After countless nerfs even the broader arbi playerbase recognized the strength of the arbi nades/lone wolf combo. Combine that with the Bistols +25% explosion radius and you have a god tier battlefield control tool with self regenerating charges, that can stagger any enemy in the game out of any animation. After the patch lone wolf got another 10% more damage, which you can REALLY feel against mixed hordes. At the same time Nuncio Aquilla became one of the strongest abilities in the game, easily outshing the other two options arbi has for me. melee enemies basically dont move anymore, deal 25% less take 15% more damage while standing in it, while you buff your teammates standing in it to bonkers levels. Nuncio Aquilla easily is THE winner of the patch for me, which I realized after basically spamming Spillway H40 every day since its release. But Aquilla shines on any map, its usefulness is just on another level on Spillway in particular.

Zealot and Arbites are for different reasons on the same level of power to me, just slightly behind Skiitari.