I expected Arbites to be stronger then Vet as a paid class, and they clearly are. I’m not asking for Veterans to be brought up to their level, but I rather think Vets can get some minor improvements.
Firstly, Krak and Smoke Grenades.
Its no surprise shredders are the top pick. They’re useful in all situations and have great synergy with Uncanny blessing for top weapon picks.
Minor buffs to Krak and Smoke Grenades.
Allow a vet to carry up to 3 Krak Grenades base or have the grenade regen affect Krak grenades differently, restore one every 45 instead of 60 seconds, and keep the others at 60 seconds. Improved krak grenades inflict brittle on survivors.
Smoke grenades should highlight enemies within it by default. Improved Smoke Grenades can last longer as they do now, and I suggest slow enemy movement (not slow melee attacks like Arbites) within it.
Node Tax. Veteran has heavy node tax on his builds, but we can start by moving the base grenade regen somewhere early as it is a core part of his/her identity.
Anyway on the topic alone, vet has some issues, and could use a tree work. I never really warmed up to the class itself, and it is my least played class for sure. There is something wrong about the only trained soldier in the roster having the worst unconditional toughness damage resistance and stamina regen stats.
Apparently Cadia stands only if you take your asthma meds first.
You’re absolutely right, Arbites has further drawn attention to Vet’s shortcomings.
They should honestly explode instantly with Tinkerer. Brittleness would also be nice for anti boss reasons and Ogryn groupies but the lack of instant detonation means many Kraks are often wasted unless teammates are really paying attention and deliberately avoiding targets that have a Krak already.
Good idea, this has also been mentioned several times and it’s always good to see more people pushing for a buff to Smoke nades. Another idea is to give allies who pass through it camo briefly. Throw it down, use it to reposition ninja style.
Aside from the ideas you’ve mentioned, Weapon Specialist timer needs to start on weapon attack instead of weapon swap.
Survivalist needs to be Vet’s intrinsic class ability, applicable only to Vet. Replace Survivalist Aura with something different, preferably an Aura that encourages Veterans to engage in melee more often.
Executioner’s Stance needs some serious tweaks to make it more usable and VoC needs a nerf, discussed here:
Yeah, good Vet stamima regen requires a lot of Talent dedication for many melee weapons to be as viable as they are with Zealot and Psyker. Would be nice if an Aura replacing Survivalist focused on Stamina to improve Vet melee effectiveness.
I think veteran suffers from having a weak baseline
he stays somewhat relevant thanks to a very few strong gimmicks (gold toughness, grenade regen, ammo economy)
I agree that he could use some love, but buffing krak just because he needs something is like doubling down in this cursed direction
I would let fatshark fix the whole tree like they did with ogryn and see how things develop
Kraks is the best Havoc 40 grenade, it doesn’t need buffs.
Garden and Final Toll enemies counter bleed grenades hard, while Kraks is a guaranteed remove of up to 3 elite enemies even with buffed orange/red/purple (more if you have the talent that gives them back with 5% chance). Garden enemies will outheal damage from Frags, and frag grenading a pack of Ragers in Final Toil can lead to a disaster. Krak grenade is also the best counter to Bulwark squads. Also you can stunlock bosses with 3 krak grenades, as long as you don’t stick them at once.
I’m not saying frag is bad, it’s definitely good. But it’s not best.
Agree with Smoke Grenade though. It’s complete trash compared to the other two grenades. A weaker Psyker bubble which is inconsistent and reduces visibility.
In the quote you grabbed, they are saying to make it so that only the Vet player gets the ammo from Survivalist and to make it a base passive the class.
Since the game launched, the other classes have been way better at abusing ammo aura than the guy who brought it. Even today we have that same Rumbler and Kickback abuse that was present before the nerf.
Darktide is predominantly a melee game. Vet’s ranged theme comes from ammo regen - which I already said should be intrinsic to Vet, exclusive ranged options - Helbore/Plasma, and Talents including keystones that offer strong ranged attack boons. Vet is not an exclusively ranged class. No class in Darktide should be an exclusively ranged class.
Yes, Vet should have 1 Aura that encourages more melee combat.
Exactly. With Lucky Bullet buffs and the addition of Back Off guaranteeing an ammo free shot every 10 melee kills, Survivalist is overkill for Rumbler or Kickback.
I bought Arbites, but I actually disagree on your first point. Vet SHOULD be as good as arbites.
I think that now that we have Arbites in the game, vet will have a bit more room to specialise into a sniper / MLG gamer playstyle. I’d love to see tweaks that promote DMR and LMG playstyles.
Smoke grenades should highlight enemies within it by default.
YES! I’ve made several posts saying the same thing. Smokes could be so good if they weren’t a detriment to the team. Cost-benefit mechanics can be fun, but when my teammate takes smokes, I have no say in whether or not I want to incur the visibility loss.
My alternative suggestion would be to make Executioner’s stance highlight enemies for teammates by default, so veterans don’t have to make a judgement call between QOL for their team, and personal effectiveness.