You are the definition of cool. An outsider rebel (and yet everybody wants to be like you! They just don't know yet!). Meditate over the following pictures. You also have a phallus complex. Make sure you understand and accept the very core of this build's mindset before continuing.

85% percent of this build's performance is it's looks. Your aim will passively improve alot when you look like this, I swear! Aquilas well spent. *cough*

I made a high quality drawing about everything you need to know:



Some notes about the build

- It is crit based, therefore we use Scrier's Gaze and passives, that have synergies / benefits with scoring crits
- Brain Rupture (Empowered or not) is our go to tool to counter hard to reach far away nasty specials that pose a threat to us and / or our party members (also good for opening Bulwarks / Reapers to your shots while they're staggered). Don't forget: While it's empowered it doesn't generate peril. So it's save to use under Scriers Gaze or /and at critical peril levels then. Also thanks to Overpowering Souls keystone modifier you can immediately cast it again after every elite oneshot with it. (Gunners count as elite too). You can easily chaincast it this way. If you use the Laspistol , its also useful to soften crushers. (Not so much when you're using Zarona Revolver, then you use your gun against crushers additionally a bit more often)
- True aim passive interestingly builds stacks with melee headhots AND Brain Rupture (Brain Rupture always aims for the heads). Basically after /during melee/ Brain Rupture encounters - as long as you occasionally hit some heads -you end up having a guaranteed ranged crit. Nice!
- Scrier's Gaze is very strong in melee encounters (additional 20% crit chance is no joke if you equip yourself around that). Basically against hordes we use our melee option. Ranged (including Brain Rupture) is here for single target elimination and quick dps bursts against elite packs and further away specials. Even though it's very fun to pew pew everything, if you want this build to work an be truly viable, you choose melee in every situation where it's the better option (with or without Scrier's Gaze active). You should and will melee a lot more often than you might think with this build in order to be truly viable.
- Understanding this, you also need to move smartly and aggressively when facing ranged enemies. What do I mean by that? Learn when its better and safe to situationally run down and shred gunners / shooters in melee than to waste your gun's ammo.
- Even though we don't have any cheap defensive tricks such as Venting Shriek stagger, Kinetic Shield or auto-aim Blitz abilities, this guy is surprisingly tough. Like literally. We have a high base toughness which we are able to replenish realiably and consistently, all thanks to such amazing perks as mettle. And we move fast.

What you must learn:

• How to handle hordes with your melee weapon of choice
  
• How to quickly and safely switch between your melee weapon and ranged weapon (as well as Brain Rupture) in the middle of dense fights to hipfire stuff down. If you are not constantly switching between your ranged option, your blitz and your melee weapon, you have not yet reached the full potential of being a gunslinger Psyker.
  
• How many shots it takes to take out an enemy (we don't want to waste ammo)
  
• Situational awarness about the usage of your combat ability. When is it necessary?
  
• Aiming for heads - not only ranged but especially in melee (unless you go for a funky meme lacerate combat knife build, but more on that later!)
  
• How to Brain Rupture (chain-) snipe elites / specials out of mixed hordes (tagging them beforehand helps, also they are all a little taller than trashmobs, so aim your Brain Rupture slightly above their heads)
  
• That buying a high quality stereo headset (I'm using my super old Shure SRH1540, which still works like a champ) and throwing your gAmInG hEadSet into the trashcan is the first step of actually gitting gud at any FPS game. (Because you then can pick up and interpret this game's many sound clues fast and correctly).
  
• Lots of people in the Steam community hate you for enjoying Gun Psyker but that's only jealousy because they miss an Ogryn at point blank distance because of their potato aim :P.

This build is very fast and has a somewhat high skill ceiling, comparatively. But to me, that's part of it's appeal!

We have several options. Unfortunately we cannot carry them all at once :(
Some wise words of wisdom in advance: Having a combination of two strong blessings is the first thing, you should strive for. Of course it would be great to have two good blessings with good synergies and perfectly viable perks as well. But we all know, how player unfriendly Darktide's loot and crafting "sYstEm" is. On top of that: Breakpoints are not as important in general. Because whenever you kill one elite standing in a pack, perilous combustion starts to chip damage health away from everything around that elite. Also... Scrier's Gaze and Warp Rider gradually enhance our damage over time - which we should make the most of it anyways.

Laspistols "Tiny Karlachs"

These are basically made for Gunslinger Psykers. They have a higher base crit chance (15%) than other guns, good finesse modifier, are mobile and both have a relatively good ammo sustainability.

The Accatran variant excels at dishing out burst damage over close/mid distance against basically everything. It is fast firing and therefore scores alot of crits in rapid fashion (as well as maxing out DumDum stacks and applying a good amount of infernus burn over time quickly). I do recommend DumDum / Infernus as well as crit chance perk.

The Kantrael Laspistol has weaker burst damage potential in close quarte combat situations. However, it is better for sniping gunners / shooters and specialist enemies in general over somewhat longer distances. That's why I personally recommend +unarmored + flak armored damage on it to make it even better at performing the anti shooter / gunner role (also nice against maulers / scab ragers). I also do enjoy raking fire blessing alot on this variant. It really packs in some additional punch on this gun.

Assault Shotgun"Maximum Madlad"

The Secrets Of The Machine God content drop truly blessed us Gun Psykers with a hilariously stylish and fun new toy: the double barreled shotgun. You got serious close quarter burst damage potential against basically every target. It however excels at getting rid of mauler/scab rager packs quickly (stuff your empowered Brain Rupture cannot oneshot). Thanks to your guaranteed crit (true aim) it reliably cleaves through many enemies while applying bleed stacks to them. Be aware though: this Gun Psyker variant is way weaker against gunners and shooters. You cannot efficiently counter them like if you would bring along a Laspistol. I recommend to channel your inner zealot (even) more when playing with this boomstick. Try to close the gap to ranged enemies as quickly as you can by running / dodge sliding towards them in order to melee them down.

Revolvers "Little Friends"

All in all the revolvers are inferior to the pistols on a Scrier's Gaze build. But they are so much fun to use and synergise well with Gunslinger crit builds regardless.

The Zarona variant packs in some serious punch. It can deal with basically everything quickly. It's biggest drawback is it's ammo economy. You'll have to make your shots really count and use this gun smartly.

The Agripinaa one is more forgiving in terms of ammo usage. However, it lacks the long distance sniping capabilities of its elder cousin and it is also not super useful against crushers anymore. Better at dishing out close distance burst damage because of it's alternative firing mode though.... and probably the most stylish and flairful gun to use if your really want that space cowboy vibes.

Surgical and Hand Cannon are the go to blessings on both guns. Other crit blessings such as point blank / crucian roulette are still valid but to situational for my taste.

Ah yeah... both weapons benefit ALOT from a Veteran with survivalist aura.

HOWEVER:


To make the most of the revolvers, I recommend taking the Assail / Kinetic Presence approach to things. Revolvers are slow yet very powerful. They kinda fulfill the role of Brain Rupture on a Laspistol build. Against lesser armored "trash" enemies, they fall short. So by using Assail you can effectively counter their weaknesses while Kinetic Presence let's them hit even harder. Thanks to True Aim and Surgical blessing you still score crits consistently.

Be aware though: You'll be using your gun far less on this build because everything that can be dealt with Assail should be done so. Also your melee defense is somewhat lesser too: You won't score crits as often as you would with Scriers Gaze. This basically means less thoughness generation and auto dodging ranged attacks.

Despite running around with a pistol is the best and most fun way to play the game there is and everybody should only run and gun all the time... it has its drawbacks. Namely hordes and trashmobs... actually mainly lack of ammo or does it? That's where these toys come in:


It is very good at dealing with hordes (light attack heavy attack chains) while still somewhat useful against elites (heavy attacks or push attack heavy follow ups). It's parry special let's you counter attack ragers , bulwarks and with some practice even monstrosities... and you'll look like a bad*** whenever you use it. That's a plus in my book. I go skullcrusher blessing for maximum single target damage potential. You may use a cleave blessing to make it easier to deal with hordes. Shred is a must though.

This one is also a fun to use melee option with alot of edgelord cool factor to it. iIllisi is Psyker's best horde clear force sword. When you combine +% crit chance perk with shred blessing as well as +crit chance talents and Scrier's Gaze... with Blazing Spirit ... you got yourself a pocket melee flame thrower. Basically more or less every second hit sets your enemy(ies) aflame.

You might ditch the kinetic flayer meme talent in favor of the meme wildfire talent when using this sword. Some people just want to see the world burn. You might as well be one of them! YEE-HAAA!

Honestly though, you might use a more ordinary blessings such as Slaughterer or Uncanny Strike instead of Blazing Spirit. Equally efficient at killing hordes (maybe a bit better), but less fun. Also Blazing Spirit stacks are really cool against boss monsters.



My next melee candidate I sometimes pick is this gem. Mostly because I like the "vroom vroom" sound of it and the weapon's special animation. Hehe. With savage sweep blessing its actually decent enough at killing hordes. Albeit not as fast / save as the other options. Hooooooowever ... what makes chainsword stand out the crowd is the fact, that you actually now have a dedicated tool against armoired targets at your melee disposal.


Still not convinced, that there are lot's of fun and quirky Scriers Gaze melee options that go along very well with pistol space cowboy vibes?... Ok.... wait!...

3...

2...





1...





This are the ultimate meme (yet surprisingly efficient) pistol whipping maniac's tools of destruction. Build yourself one of these and feel (even) more awesome than ever before! Bleed everything to death with you memeknife or become the ultimate single target can opener with your axe! Carpal tunnel syndrome is a bonus Gun Psyker veterans show off proudly anyway!


Melee TL:DR: Pick a weapon with which you personally are able to comfortably deal with (mixed) hordes and use some crit chance perks / blessings to be save. Alot of people swear by the duel swords, many Psykers enjoy the Deimos sword varaint. I don't like them, neither their style nor how they "feel". I find the weapons I presented above more fun to use. But you do you! Scriers Gaze And your INCOMPARABLE MIND of course! can make every melee weapon work! Just don't forget to Hawk-Thua a Shred blessing on that thing, you know what I mean.

Personally I like to stack 3 curious of this type on my beloved Gunslinger. Once you get the hang out of it, you realize that our toughness regeneration is surprisingly strong in every aspect. So it makes sense to me to equip curios in a way they play to our strength.

Stacking combat ability regeneration I do like alot. While +12% doesn't seem like alot at first... having Scrier's Gaze avaible more often in the very exact moment you and your team needs you to get into berserk mode is priceless.

Analyse and imitate those videos thoroughly to become a getter Gunslinger Psyker yourself.

Whenever you get some hate for not using the "sTaFf mEtA", explain them what you've learnt in this video! They might still not understand due to their limited mindsets as former Kerillian mains, but try to spread Gun Psyker love whenever you can anyway!


This is how we treat veteran mains (that don't use suvivalist aura). It is also a very accurate depiction of how you should always be able to situationally switch between ranged and melee combat - in the fastest way possible. Practise that!! Alot.


This is an accurate description of a man, who generated too much peril and severly wasted his ammo while being under the influence of Scrier's Gaze. So be careful sibling, don't get yourself carried away!


Here you see what happens when a trapper (which turns out to be a traitor assail aimbot psyker!) captures a Gun Psyker's Survivalist Aura using Veteran friend, which forces him to clutch a hi intensity damnation game. It's not pretty. He should've used melee more often and was too greedy at the end, which almost cost his party the run. But overall, he did quite well. (Pay extra attention towards the anti sniper sniping and the 200iq barrel usage).

Alot of your efficiency and usefulness depends on your situational awarness which has always been very dependant on your ability to pick up and interpret sound clues. So a good way of training is to listen to this song on repeat loop while playing T5 Auric levels. If you manage to still oneshot trappers and stuff by simply hearing them in advance of their appearance you truly have mastered the art of being the gunman.

A Gun Psyker's love letter to (some) Veteran mains

I don't care about the meta
(Maybe I'm secretly a beta)
That's why I use a gun.

It's just way more fun!

And - my friends - a laspistol's crits
Are almost as attractive and devastating as Hadron's ....

But there is a major drawback!
In terms of of ammo, my gosh, a severe lack!

That's where you come in my veteran friend.
A very helping hand you lend.
Granting me ammo on elite kills...
... this givin me the chills!

I know I know Pykers and Veterans had a difficult past
But... at last...

How about dying next to a friend?

(Instead of a filthy elf main that stupidly chooses a mesely +5% damage
over solving the party's ammo problems :O))

So dear Veteran players, if you see a Psyker looking like this staring at you from a distant corner, he doens't mean to scare you - on the contrary. Run towards him and give him a hug (and some ammo!).

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2917274959
Well people who follow this guide's guidelines might have (ever so slightly) more kills after a mission.... but you'll still be the one who get's all the slaneeshy ladies at the afterparty anyways!


https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2892198053
Basically treat this guide like you treated high school (which you almost finished!). Skip the boring pieces and read all the good parts about pistols and revolvers.

If tryharding a Gun Psyker is too much of a hassle :

https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3099783613

; )

Love you all.