Warhammer 40,000: Darktide eliminates the scripted heroes of Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and replaces them with player-created characters, permitting the participant to decide on their very own origin, character, and sophistication. It makes for some incredible barks and witty banter, however it additionally offers gamers the welcome choice to double up on helpful roles as an alternative of forcing every social gathering member to be distinctive.
Whereas it’s pleasant to spend time with most of those characters, it’s powerful to get a way of how they really play with out taking them into some higher-level matches and unlocking their signature arsenals. Based mostly on developer Fatshark’s earlier work, it’s secure to anticipate additional stability adjustments to return down the road, in addition to new lessons and archetypes as eventual DLC. However for now, right here’s how the category roster stacks up in Darktide’s launch interval.
Veteran: Sharpshooter
The Veteran is a member of the Imperial Guard, forged all the way down to prisoner standing and freed solely because of the luck of being in the proper place on the proper time. Don’t really feel too unhealthy for the Veteran, as a result of they at present stand on the high of the pile of Rejects. Their core fantasy may be very easy to clarify and comprehend: They’re actual good at gun. Proper now, they’re good at the whole lot else too.
The chainsword is a robust melee instrument for going via hordes of baddies like a knife via butter, and naturally, the Veteran additionally has entry to an arsenal of ranged weaponry. Their fight stance highlights particular enemies, which makes them adept at taking out precedence targets like Poxbursters or Scab Snipers. Whereas, in contrast to the damage-dealing Psyker, they require a number of ammunition, they’re additionally a lot much less of a glass cannon than their comrade. Proper now, the Veteran is simply good at the whole lot, and a dependable decide in any respect ranges of play.
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Picture: Fatshark
Ogryn: Brute
The Ogryn is an attention-grabbing distinction to the Veteran. Whereas the latter is a jack of all trades, the Ogryn is particularly a grasp of being an enormous, thicc tank. His defend offers him a robust instrument to cope with the sport’s hardest enemies (just like the Daemonhost), by absorbing injury and blocking staggers. There are few higher emotions in Darktide than blocking a chokepoint with the Ogryn, having your sharpshooters crowd round you to search out clear photographs, and holding the road whereas your comrades shred the heretics at hand.
The Ogryn’s huge strengths are paired with huge, apparent weaknesses. He’s an unwieldy man, and with out a Veteran or Psyker at his facet, he’s going to battle in opposition to Snipers, Poxbursters, and Gunners. His explosive power doesn’t carry over to long-range options, making the Ogryn the final word workforce participant.
Psyker: Psykinetic
The Psyker triumphs at decrease ranges of play, and is without doubt one of the most enjoyable lessons to make use of proper now. As an alternative of a grenade, the Psyker makes use of a mind burst to blow up a heretic’s head in a bathe of gore and inexperienced smoke. After a couple of ranges, they commerce of their gun for a drive employees that shoots Palpatine lighting or manifestations of psychic drive.
The Psyker takes extra work to play than the Veteran, largely due to the Peril system. Because the Psyker casts, their Peril builds. At 100%, they’ve the nasty tendency to explode. Additionally they get a stacking buff each time they kill an enemy with a mind blast. That buff slowly decreases over time until they carry on poppin’. The Psyker is excessive upkeep, squishy, and falls off at greater ranges — however they’re additionally probably the most satisfying class in my ebook.
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Picture: Fatshark
Zealot: Preacher
Right here we’re with the weakest Reject within the present crew: the Zealot. The Zealot falls behind the Veteran at sustained injury, the Ogryn at frontline utility, and the Psyker at eliminating precedence targets. There are adjustments that I can see making the Zealot extra partaking — maybe giving their particular means a lock-on, à la the Vanguard in Mass Impact 3’s co-op, or buffing their signature melee warhammers to outpace the Veteran.
Whereas the Zealot is my favourite class when it comes to sheer taste — I cackle each time my Zealot howls reward to the God-Emperor with the fervor of a Twitch streamer — the category is simply… OK. The flamer’s enjoyable, and the warhammer has a meaty swing, however when you compelled me at lasgunpoint to remove one of many lessons, it’d be the Zealot.