Feels pretty good. I would say 7,5/10. Might need some further polish, but for this, the RNG needs to align and give me the right equipment.
Basically I fire flaming Kantrael shot into a horde (scattershot extra crit chance effect stays forever till you fire again), kill some random enemy, switch to melee and spam attack. The extra attack speed on shovels makes blocking almost optional with proper movement After reaching 10 stacks/identifying a special, I swap to shotgun, fire few potshots (mostly at specials) and swap again to shovel.
I also used catachan sword instead of shovel, worked really nicely too.
I use krak grenades to deal with bulwarks and crushers.
Ult usage is very situational; I use it mostly either to help a teammate (I usually keep one charge “on stock”) or to close the distance to ranged elites / reposition.
The build is surprisingly good medic / clutch since the double infiltrate makes life pretty easy.
You know… just as I said all that, I finally managed to put together an Exec stance build that actually works really well!
Idk if anybody cares but I’m so excited I’m linking the build anyway (note that not all gear perks & blessings are optimal, but this is the best I got rn):
I made a few (failed) attempts until arriving at this. The key points here are that:
Extra stamina doubles for both the parrying and the gun via Deadshot
The Agripinaa IA gets +120% dmg boost from crits, and has a lower RoF than the more popular Columnus (so better for Deadshot’s stamina cost), but it’s also quite accurate to mid ranges without ADS. So you can alternate between hipfire and ADS as needed, with the ADS mode doing absolutely ungodly amounts of damage laning down everything. It also doubles as a great sniper fired 1-2 shots at a time.
The 2 points to Agile Engagement (and melee dmg boost passive) is reminiscent of Weapons Specialist and fantastic for buffing the dmg of both weapons
Originally I wanted more melee and dmg talents. but the survivability was atrociously bad. Here I can comfortably trade with ranged provided a few dodges here and there. But what is lovely is that the main issue of Exec Stance’s bad survivability is perfectly addressed by that Devil’s Claw VII and its parry.
I’d rather have taken Shred over Rampage on the DClaw and better perks on the curios but this already works really nicely!
The right side is great at providing components for hybrid and generalist builds, but is pretty meh overall for pure commando set ups IMO. Pure Commando builds give up way too much survivability across the board relative to what it gives you in utility and DMG. The director’s already pretty coked up when it comes to targeting Psykers and Vets with disablers and elite flanks already. These builds make you even more vulnerable to these threats. In my experience they only really shine in teams willing and able to play aggressively and follow up on dynamic breaching of rooms while keeping coherency or at least line of sight with eachother. Otherwise you’re just going to be getting scraped off the floor or revive points alot (unless you’re a John Wick type with Swedish fiber).
Though it’s worth noting that people really overemphasize the swapping weapons bit. Unless you’re playing in lower diffs, in anything above vanilla T5 you will be swapping around enough to get reasonably consistent proc time on Agile Engagement and WS. Heck, if you’re running a low mag capacity weapon or play aggressively you’ll still get a similar effect even in lower diffs. So don’t focus too much on the proc condition, and play naturally.
Don’t misunderstand, melee vet is pretty good, but at that point you might as well just set up an Ogryn or a Zealot to get the same effect plus the survivability against melee threats you’ll be missing though. Although with the right investments you can get a melee vet that is pretty tanky against ranged threats (Get Back in the Fight + Determined). Either way you’ll still be bullied by massed elites unless your melee game is flawless, and run krak/plasma/bolter (and you’re free from technical issues).
Personally I’ve recently been having fun running a Executioner’s + WS hybrid build, works pretty well. It let’s you enjoy the best of both worlds without losing too many BPs in either direction. The only thing you really give up here is grenade regen. WS Marksman (Autogun) - Build for Darktide - Darktide WH40k - Games Lantern
Seeing some IAG mentions here so I need to get this one off my chest:
People really need to stop running short range, and x on kill blessings on IAGs, you’re nerfing the crap out your builds. Sustained Fire and Punishing Salvo are the only sources of consistent DMG at all ranges on IAGs. They’re OK-ish if you combo one of them with Sustained Fire, but only on god rolls. Hit and Run is ok-ish on pure Marksman or Commnado builds, but on hybrid set ups it will force you to lean more on minmaxing your talent picks (plus it’ll need to be on a god roll). If you’re running it on an burst Infil + Low Profile build, Fire Frenzy + Raking Fire is still pretty good if you like to meme around though. FF + Deathspitter’s only really useful for mixed horde clear on Executioner’s builds. It’s ok when sh*t hits the fan, but otherwise they’ll be catching dust throughout most runs on average unless you’re being constantly forced to carry runs or like to frontline against mixed hordes a lot in soloQs or whatever.
Speedrunning zealots are a blight, so a lot of folks tend to get PTSD flashbacks whenever a zealot running knives pops into a lobby these days. Especially if you queued up on carnival or dreyko in T5 or Auric. I just reflexively start the kick vote ingame once they make it obvious that they’re in there to play 40k Cart instead of Darktide. Otherwise, I just ignore knife zealots and play normally, most are harmless. Others are not so patient though and either start harassing in lobby or drop out.
One of my best build do use something like Serrated Blade, Agile Engagement and Weapon Specialist with Combat Blade and Agrip Revolver for weapon.
but I don’t prefer using Infiltrator since it cost to many skill points to make it good(while VoC only cost 1 on top of having must pick demolition stockpile in its branch), let alone Smoke grenade.
I use Close and Kill aura as well but it’s certainly worthless compared to Survivalist.
Weapon Specialist is really good with certain weapon imo, if you pair it with something like Combat Axe and Revolver for fast draw time you can turn you axe into blender real quick with just a single gun shot, especially with Agile Engagement active.
I prefer Rashad more than Achlys tho, doing quick swap hurt my fingie real fast(also probably should use guard cancel instead since quick swap remove WS buff)
Most of my builds are heavily center-tree, dipping into the Right tree only to augment the Autogun or do more Grenade stuff on my Plasma build, neither of which bother with Keystones at all.
As a long-time Guard player from tabletop, I’m fairly certain the concept of Close Combat with guardsmen is ingrained anathema, guardsmen in close combat are dead guardsmen.
More fundamentally, If I’m playing my Vet, it’s because I want to shoot stuff. If I want to make it choppy, I’ll play my Zealot or Ogryn. Hamfisting a Veteran into that role at the cost of most their greater party utility doesn’t feel great to me. Yeah, you can make the Vet really choppy, but you’re doing less in terms of assisting with logistical burdens or providing abilities the team can directly benefit from (e.g. VoC, ES highlighting), while investing a lot into something other classes are probably going to handle as well or better and also leaving the many of the things they can’t replicate on the table.
Agreed. Vet has some decent melee build options available, but compared to those other classes they’re kind of half baked. I really don’t like how hard they push you to use headshot weapons and only headshot weapons if you want to play ranged on the vet.
With you on this. Melee vet feels like a waste. I’ve tried making it work (and it does), but compared to my zealot it’s so distant even if there were only two classes I’d struggle even calling it second.
The lack of stun immunity alone is already a deal breaker for me.
When I saw your post, I thought I’ve got to give that a try.
Tweaked it very slightly - taking out the top left 2 nodes, adding “Low Profile” and “Desperado” down that right hand side instead (I find Columnus is crap after 15-20m, so I stick to close range).
Have to say I’m having a great time with it. I’ve done a stealth/flanking build before with raking fire, but DumDum and Hit and Run with this build is very much front line; popping the special for pickups (recently picked up all 3 team mates; but that was just the situation rather than skill) and for cap point hacking. And it suits my conservative nature: melee for hordes, guns for anything bigger.
I’d say that you shouldn’t be afraid to pop the special if you’re about to get whacked. I do that, then shoot them as they turn around. I soon build that aggro back up. And it’s also useful when you’re pinned down by 6+ gunners; you can get out and turn them around with some gun/axe play.
This isn’t “meta’d”. It’s what I have. And some of my blessings/perks are T3. I can carry a T5 with it, and I got through a t5 Auric HiSTG with it, albeit I was playing with 2 better players than me at the time so YMMV!
I’d REALLY like to see more build discussions happening here on the forums. There’s a great buidler tool and, despite collective gripes about crafting, there is a lot of build territory to explore in the game.
My personal take is that build conversations default to emphasizing the “meta” too much, when in reality there is are lot of good or even great builds that can be a lot of fun to play and that keep the gameplay varied and interesting. It’s frustrating when one posts a build and people say “that build is trash because it’s not the meta.” There’s a lot to discuss!
On that note!
You’re build shift is totally fine too of course. Long shot isn’t the best with the Columnus Mk V I agree, but I mostly took it to more reliable be able to tap down snipers at range. I honestly have no idea if that talent makes the breakpoints any easier though Maybe it doesn’t even matter?
Exhilarating takedown I really like though (now that it is fixed). Helps the survivability of the class a little bit. I used to run low profile, but didn’t feel like I really needed. When you leave stealth it automatically suppresses enemies around you, and I found that was usually enough.
Stealth with 2 charges is great. I’ll use the first charge pretty frequently as my general ability to reposition, close range, sneak a krak grenade on a crusher, do an objective, etc. The second charge I try to hold for the real panic button moments where I get trapped and need an escape or where I need to clutch a revive.
Stealth knife zealot is all the rage right now, but I like playing double-stealth veteran even more.
I don’t look at other people’s builds too much (I’ve only taken a look at 2 or 3 builds total, most of 'em were Psyker because my familiarity with the class is dismal at best).
I don’t partake of DT content outside of the forums or the game itself, either so I tend to be mostly oblivious…
I think the Weapon Specialist sounds really good on paper but practically it doesn’t work that great. It’s natural to swap weapons in a combat according to the situation but the keystone incentivize you to swap weapons even when not needed or to wait with the weapon swap before you engage with enemies. That might be a problem when you for example run setup with dagger for mobility, etc.
I kind of wanted to incorporate the keystone into melee focused build but then I realized that when I play naturally the Melee Specialist wasn’t active when I needed it the most. The biggest benefit in my opinion isn’t the keystone itself but rather the Always Prepared keystone modifier that automatically refills the magazine.
The main reason why Always Prepared works so well is because it’s not bound to the timer. You swap to the ranged weapon and you get the benefit. I believe other bonuses should behave similar way. For example why guaranteed crit for first shot has to have a timer? Why increased fire rate has to have a timer? Lets make it last before you reload or so.
Also improved dodge is interesting but it doesn’t seem very reliable due to its inconsistency.
For these reasons I always end up using my points elsewhere. I really wish for the Weapon Specialist to be a bit less restrictive.
There are various keystones that ask you to play a mini-game in order to leverage it. On one hand, this is a little contrived feeling (i.e. incentivizing you to swap weapons you otherwise might not want to) But on the other it sort of pushes you into a slightly different mode of play, getting you out of a particular habitat you might normally settle into, and thus diversifying the play experience and keeping your interest going.
I just lean into the weapon swapping. Weapon Specialist with Agile Engagement means when you swap to ranged after melee you get +25% damage from Agile Engagement and up to +40% range attack speed and a huge crit bonus. It’s got more damage potential in that window than Executioner’s stance and it isn’t even your combat ability!
To be fair I haven’t been playing with automatic guns too much since I rather prefer precise shooting playstyle. But I can see the keystone being more potent for machine guns because the fire rate actually does something for you and you probably already going down the tree to take the Onslaught.
If you’re using semi-auto guns you couldn’t care less about fire rate or first shot crit. Most valuable part is the Always Prepared.
When it comes to Melee Specialist it works I guess. I’ve been using it with the Power Sword and to my surprise it wasn’t that great either because you’re charging the sword quite often and the attack speed doesn’t have any impact on the charge speed. Once again melee weapons with no charging mechanic would probably benefit more. And while improved dodge sounds great on the paper especially to compensate for the power sword weaknesses, practically you can’t offer to switch to gun to kill something in situations when you need to pay attention to dodging or blocking.
I’m glad to hear that there is someone who actually likes the keystone. Saying that I still believe it should be improved to be more versatile. Also I can’t imagine anyone ever taking the Fleeting Fire.
After reaching 10 stacks/identifying a special, I swap to shotgun, fire few potshots (mostly at specials) and swap again to shovel.
Maybe it doesn’t even matter?