Hello!

I've been playing Darktide since it's initial (beta) release for hundreds of hours. I've always loved playing Gun Psyker in all his variants. It was and still is simply the most fun way to play the game to me personally.

I like coming up with "non meta" builds and approaches, whatever that means ;). Patch 1.5.0 makes this particular build possible. Yes, I do play it on Auric Damnation without problems if this is important to you.

This guide is not super duper detailed or meant to be the end of all means by any means (that's alot of means) - but I do sincerely hope you give it a shot an maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised!

I hope you enjoy reading it!

The idea behind this build is combining a weapon with cleaving heavy strikes to apply the effect of charged strikes and more important enfeeble debuff to as many enemies as possible while frontlining under the effect of Scrier's Gaze.

A good cleaving weapon can cut through many enemies at once - even through armored ones. Which in our case means, charged strike / enfeeble are applied to as many enemies as possible in one swing.

This is not meant to be ranked from best to worst.

Variant 1: The Turtolsky Heavy Sword


Thanks to patch 1.5.0 Psykers now have access to the heavy sword. The MK IX has horizontal heavies, which you can either chain with horizontal light attacks or just follow up chain heavies.

You start your combo by a light attack into a heavy attack. Then you are free to add heavy attacks or light attacks depending on the situation.

The blessing combination of "Perfect Strike" together with "Chained Deathblow" lets you cleave through any armor as long as you somewhat consistently hit some heads.
Lot's of electrocuted debuffed enemies.

Headtaker is a valid alternative to perfect strike if you prefer more consistency over raw potential cleave.

Against single crushers you do use heavy attack / block cancel / repeat preferably.
(But nothing wrong with trying to cleave through crusher packs with your bread and butter combo, no risk no fun xD)

Variant 2: The Catachan Sword


Less offense more defense as well as mobility. Still good cleaving heavies but not as crazy as with the heavy sword. However, the parry weapon special truly increases your survivability under stressful situations. Fun fact: Parry special attack counts as heavy attack, so it electrocutes enemies. Shred also let's you crit more consistently without the need of scoring headshots frequently. (But you should still aim for the head whenever you can)

A reliable and trusty tool which truly shines on this build. I've not yet decided whether savage sweep or wrath is superior. It's situational in the end I guess.

There is also nothing wrong with exchanging wrath with rampage blessing - if you favor pure raw damage output on hit targets over potential cleave.

I personally prefer the MK IV variant because of its' versatile moveset and overhead first heavy. But the other marks are valid to. Try them out and use what you like best.

Variant 3:Illisi Force Sword


Needless to say, our anti horde force sword with horizontal and good cleaving heavies is also worth picking for this build. The +strength from Slaughterer does increase cleave. Shred of course remains awesome as both a defensive (mettle, empathic evasion) as well as an offensive tool.

All in all I just find this sword's moveset a tadbit boring in comparison. You basically just spam heavies and that's it. But that's just me. Your mileage may well vary alot and that's fine!

Also, you could go bonkers and drop Slaughterer blessing and take Exorcist instead which really helps to keep up your Scrier's Gaze longer.

Honorable mentions

Cadia MK IV Chainsword: Has good cleaving heavies albeit the swings aren't as horizontal as I would like them to be. Thanks to it's weapons special you got a (more or less effective) tool against crushers at your disposal though. And, it's a chainsword! Vroom Vroom!

Shock Maul: The Shock Mauls default electrocution effects seem to have a complicated relationship with enfeeble / charged strikes:

https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/charged-strike-smite-psyker/99664/10

If you want to fully embrace the melee shock trooper fantasy, you might give it a try regardless! They may lack mobility and shred blessing but especially the Munitorum MKIII has that sweet sweet horizontal heavy sweeps we crave for.

Here's the complete build I like to use:




Smite as a blitz is only used directly in the most dire situations in which you need a quick crowd control tool asap, e.g. packs of Crushers / Bulwarks which overwhelm the team.

Other than that, you are a melee frontliner first and foremost (with a gun as a situational backup tool against specials/gunners).

I do use a gun on this build to hunt down dangerous specials/gunners and - depending on the gun - also to deal with crushers more easily.

There are several valid options which can fulfill this role and each have their pros and cons. Use whatever you like the most.

Here's what I use (Perks and Blessings are just recommendations or what works for me):

Bolt Pistol

Perk: 25% Carapace Armored / 25% Unyielding
Blessings: Puncture, Surgical or Run'N'Gun or Lethal Proximity

Versatile, good at sniping specials as well as capable of damaging crushers. Puncture is a fun and unique blessing to use. After some time you know how many shots it actually takes to kill an enemy with bleed stacks rather than firing another shot. Bleed also provides decent damage against monsters.

Quickdraw Stub Revolver Zarona

Perk: 5% Crit Chance, 25% Carapace Armored
Blessings: Surgical, Hand Cannon

Very good at dealing with crushers, even when you dont consistently score headshots or are in "panic mode". Also accurate and reliable over long distance. Ammo is scarce though, so make your shots count.

Kantrael MG 1a Lasgun

Perk: 25% Unarmored, 25% Flak Armored
Blessings: Headhunter, Infernus (or Efficiency)

Very good ammo economy on its own. Not useful when dealing with crushers. But usually other team mates in your party can do that instead of you if necessary. (At least in my experience in 9 out of 10 auric damnation quickplay games, crushers aren't that much of a problem) Excels at dealing with packs of specials/gunners over a prolonged amount of time without the need of holding back using your gun because of ammo conservation and stuff. Also very rewarding if you are good at shooting heads. So take this gun if you want to shoot more often in comparison.

Vigilant Autogun Graia MK VII

Perk: 5% Crit Chance, 10% Crit Damage
Blessings: Surgical, Crucian Roulette

This gun is an underrated and underused hidden gem in my opinion. Very good finesse damage both over long distance sniping as well as in situations where you use it as a "panic button" (meaning you spray and pray at packs of armored elites which threaten to overwhelm you or your team). Personally I also do like the look and feel of this baby. But that's subjective. Maybe you like it. Give it a try.

Accatran / Kantrael Heavy Laspistol


Accatran variant:
Perk: 5% Crit Chance, 10% Crit Damage
Blessings: Dumdum, Infernus

Kantrael variant:
Perk: 25% Unarmored, 25% Flak Armored
Blessings: Dumdum, Desperado

More mobile variant of Kantrael Lasguns with a high finesse damage modifier. Still capable of dealing with far away specials of any kind. Not as much ammo though and like its heavier brother struggles a bit with armored targets. A valid pick on any Gun Psyker build and basically tailor made for our class archetype. Accatran excels at crit based burst damage (especially when Scrier's Gaze is up and running) and applying burn dots on targets such as monsters, Kantrael variant is surprisingly good for sniping ranged targets such as shooters / gunners / snipers in a pinch.

Agripinaa MK VII Combat Shotgun

Perk: 25% Maniacs, 25% Flak Armored
Blessings: Full Bore, No Respite

Surprisingly fun and valid pick on this build. Special ammo slug shot is capable of sniping far away specials and primary fire mode can dispatch close distance single targets with ease if necessary (once again Crushers being the unfortunate exception).

Personally, I like stacking 3 of these:



I prefer learning how to avoid damage and not go down in general. But... i'm not perfect ... so I will take chip damage! Thoughness helps us to negate that chip damage (and other fkups XD). As long as our actual health isn't affected too much, we're fine.

+12% combat ability regen does not seem like much at first. But remember, having Scrier's Gaze ready or not in that exact moment you need it .... can and will make the difference between a glorious clutch and a sad wipe : )

This alternative does not use Scrier's Gaze:

You do lose a bit of raw melee power and durability. However you gain two very strong aoe spells this way. Whenever appropriate or needed you cast your Empowered Smite into packs of enemies which quickly builds up high peril... which you then use to make the most of Venting Shriek and it's soulblaze stacks. Thanks to Souldrinker passive and Prescience Aura you still have a respectable crit chance - even without Scrier's Gaze.

Charged Strike of course remains as your go to tool for debuffing and damaging enemies in melee encounters.

Hope to see you on the battlefield, soldier!

Have a good day slaying these filthy heretics in style! (Joining the infamous Maelstrom gang like my Psyker did is not necessary)


If you are interested in other similar approaches of playing the Psyker a bit differently:


Double Barelled Shotgun Psyker
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3343909056

Gun Slinger Psyker
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3056303939

Spellsword Psyker
https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3377913153