Summary
Developer Fatshark has revealed a majorWarhammer 40,000: Darktideupdate coming on September 26, introducing balance changes to weapons, blessings, and classes. The studio has also teased additional changes, with details to be shared once theWarhammer 40,000: Darktideupdate goes live.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktideis a co-op first-person actiongame set within the Warhammer 40K universe. Players take on the role of “Rejects” and fight chaos-corrupted enemies in the hive city of Tertium, using a combination of intense melee and ranged combat across four different classes. Although the game had some technical hiccups at launch, Fatshark has been hard at work addressing issues and making balance adjustments, demonstrating its commitment to improving and evolving the game.
One important change is coming to the Thunder Hammers. Fatshark wants to keep the weapon’s strong single-target focus but make it more versatile and fun to use in different combat scenarios. The patch tweaks its attack profiles, boosting headshot and critical damage, and increasing its power against multiple targets. For example, the damage against certain armor types is being rebalanced, and the self-stun effect after special attacks is being reduced, making the hammer smoother to use. These updates are aimed at making the hammer feel more satisfying while still keeping its signature power intact. Otherweapons inWarhammer 40,000: Darktide, like the Boltgun, Devil’s Claw Swords, and pickaxes, are also getting updates.
Additionally, Fatshark focuses on making the number of blessings consistent across all weapons, so players will have more choices when customizing their loadouts. Previously, some weapons had fewer blessing options, but the update will ensure that each weapon has at least eight unique blessings. These blessings, which give weapons powerful buffs, will also be fine-tuned to create more noticeable differences between tiers, giving players more strategic options when upgradingtheirWarhammer 40,000: Darktidegear.
In addition to weapon balancing, significant changes are comingtoWarhammer 40,000: Darktideclasses. The Psyker class will get a major talent overhaul, adding new abilities like Scrier’s Gaze, which makes the Psyker immune to suppression, and Malefic Momentum, which increases damage when switching attacks. Moreover, the Veteran, Zealot, and Ogryn classes will also see talent updates. Fatshark wants to make all talents more useful while keeping each class distinct, with changes like longer ability durations for the Veteran and stronger combat skills for the Zealot and Ogryn.
It’s worth mentioning that the developer has indicated it might adjust the changes based on player feedback before the update’s release.Darktideplayers can look forward to a refreshed gameplay experience with better-balanced combat and smoother class interactions on September 26.
Dev Note:
This will make it easier to open up Bulwark shields and reach stagger thresholds on other hard to stagger enemy types.
This is to avoid situations where the player could still be hit on a well timed parry if multiple attacks were incoming at the same time.
The Block properties of the shield were still maintained during a Push, but only against melee attacks. Now the Block properties of the Push action should also cover ranged attacks.
The Branx pickaxe Special attack is a Bash instead of the Pull used in the other two lighter marks, but its stagger output was often underwhelming against bigger targets. After the changes, this attack should now be more reliable in staggering any kind of non-Monstrosity enemy, even when in groups.
This will make it easier to quickly control single enemies with carefully aimed attacks, at the cost of some Stamina.
The Heavy attacks of the Combat Axes were unfairly penalized against Maniac type enemies, to the point where it was often preferable to use Light attacks instead.
The Heavy attacks of the Achlys Mk VIII Combat Axe are now all aligned to use the “spike” version of the attack profile, which also got some rebalancing with improved damage against Carapace and lowered damage against Unyielding. This will make the mark a bit more unique compared to the other two versions of the Combat Axe.
These changes will reward opting to use Heavy attacks when going further down into attack chains, instead of resetting the chain.
This will make the Heavy attacks of this mark more dynamic and easier to use in more situations.
This attack was meant to be a quick interrupt against enemy actions, but often failed at staggering key enemies like Ragers. The new values should allow to more reliably create space, still at the cost of Stamina due to the Push.
This will make it less likely for Light attack inputs to be lost if performed too early after attacks with long chain times.
Power Sword
Blessing Changes
To make all Blessings have a difference in strength between Tiers, we’ve changed the following Blessings.
Dumdum
Those effects will still be affected by the damage bonus of the blessing.
Psyker Talent Updates
Scrier’s Gaze
To further define this Ability as the go-to choice for those wielding non-Force Staff Ranged Weapons.
To incentivize weaving between Warp Attacks and Regular Attacks
Psyker Talent Tree Updates
With more nodes having to fit into the tree, we’ve restructured it a bit. All builds you have been playing up until now should still be available for you, but you might have to take a slightly different path to get there.
Warp Unbound (As a modifier to Scrier’s Gaze)
Charged Strike (As a modifier to Smite)
Penetration of the Soul
Vanguard
Vanguard wasn’t performing as we wanted, and it was mostly viewed as a blocker to the talents below it.
Relentless
Relentless was pretty much a must pick for the viability of the Ability.
Invocation of Death
We missed the mark on the last change to ‘Invocation of Death’, leading to frustration. We hope this brings it to a satisfying and balanced state.
Sainted Gunslinger
The purpose of these changes is to allow the talent to reach its full potential faster.
Restoring Faith
These changes were made because Restoring Faith made taking stray damage a bit too forgiving.
Swift Certainty
The Dodging effect of Swift Certainty is already a very strong effect. We’re lowering the movement speed slightly.
The Old ‘No Pushover’ was frankly not up to par. Maybe this spices things up a bit?
Reloaded and Ready
Thick of the Fray
Additional Miscellaneous Talent Changes
A stack of the talent will still be gained when completing the cast.
Extended Availability of Weapon Families for Human Classes
As part of this update, we will extend the availability of specific weapon families to all human classes (Veteran, Zealot, Psyker).
These weapons were previously locked to only one or two of the three classes, but will now be usable by all of them.
However, we made sure that the weapons that are key to the identity of each class will remain uniquely available to that class.
We hope that this will expand the gameplay experience and open up new interesting builds for players!
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
WHERE TO PLAY
Take back the city of Tertium from hordes of bloodthirsty foes in this intense and brutal action shooter.Warhammer 40,000: Darktideis the new co-op focused experience from the award-winning team behind the Vermintide series.In the depths of the hive, the seeds of corruption threaten to turn into an overwhelming tide of darkness. A mysterious and sinister new force is seeking to take control of the entire city. It is up to you and your allies in the Inquisition to root out the enemy before the city succumbs to Chaos.As Tertium falls, Rejects Will Rise.
