Which Warhammer 40K: Darktide class should I use?

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide eliminates the scripted heroes of Warhammer: Vermin 2 and replaces them with player-created characters, allowing the player to choose their own origins, personality, and class. It makes for fantastic barking and witty banter, but also gives players a welcome option to double down on useful roles rather than forcing each party member to be unique.

While it’s nice to spend time with most of these characters, it’s difficult to get a feel for how they actually play without taking them into some higher-tier matches and unlocking their signature arsenals. Based on the work done by developer Fatshark so far, it can be assumed that further balance changes as well as new classes and archetypes will follow as possible DLCs. But for now, here’s how the class roster stacks up dark tideStart period from .

Veteran: Sniper

The Veteran is a member of the Imperial Guard, granted prisoner status and only freed by the luck of being in the right place at the right time. Don’t feel bad for the veterans, they’re at the top of the reject pile right now. Your core fantasy is very simple to explain and understand: you are real good at gun. At the moment they are good at everything else too.

The chainsword is a powerful melee tool for slicing through hordes of baddies like a knife through butter, and of course the veteran also has access to an arsenal of ranged weapons. Their combat stance highlights special enemies, making them adept at taking down priority targets like Poxbursters or Scab Snipers. Unlike the damage-dealing psykers, while they require a lot of ammo, they’re also a lot less glass cannons than their comrade. At the moment, the Veteran is good at everything and a reliable pick at all levels of play.

Image: Fatshark

Sword: Brute

The Ogryn is an interesting contrast to the Veteran. While the latter is a jack of all trades, the ogryn is particularly adept at being a big, fat tank. His shield gives him a powerful tool to deal with the game’s toughest enemies (like the Daemonhost) by absorbing damage and blocking staggers. There are hardly any better feelings dark tide Than blocking a chokepoint with the Ogryn, letting your snipers crowd around you to find clear shots, and holding the line while your comrades shred the nearby Heretics.

The great strengths of the ogryn are paired with major, obvious weaknesses. He’s an unwieldy guy, and without a Veteran or Psionicist by his side, he’ll fight Snipers, Poxbursters, and Gunners. Its explosive power doesn’t translate to long-distance solutions, making the Ogryn the ultimate team player.

Psyker: Psykinetic

The Psyker triumphs at lower levels of play and is one of the most fun classes right now. Instead of a grenade, the psyker uses a brain blast to explode a heretic’s head in a shower of blood and green smoke. After a few levels, they trade their weapon for a power staff that fires Palpatine lighting or manifestations of psychic power.

The Psyker requires more work than the Veteran, mostly thanks to the danger system. As the psyker casts, its danger builds. At 100% they have an unpleasant tendency to explode. They also gain a stacking buff each time they kill an enemy with a Brain Blast. This buff slowly wears off over time unless they keep popping. The Psyker is high-maintenance, squishy, ​​and falls off at higher levels – but they’re also the most satisfying class in my book.

Image: Fatshark

Zealot: Preacher

Here we are with the weakest reject in the current crew: the Zealot. The Zealot falls behind the Veteran in sustained damage, the Ogryn in frontline utility, and the Psyker in priority target elimination. There are changes that will make the Zealot more appealing – maybe giving her signature a lock-on, à la Vanguard Mass Effect 3‘s Co-op or buffing their signature melee warhammers to outrun the Veteran.

While the zealot is my favorite class for pure flavor—I cackle every time my zealot praises the God-Emperor with the fervor of a Twitch streamer—the class is just…OK. The flamethrower is fun and the warhammer has a meaty swing, but if you were to force me at gunpoint to eliminate either class, it would be the Zealot.