# Auric High-Intensity Shock Troop Gauntlet **URL:** \ **Category:** Bugs\ **Tags:** not-a-bug\ **Created:** [September 24, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844 "2026-09-24T02:36:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fbolduc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e36b37/32.png) [@fbolduc](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/fbolduc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 2:36am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/1 "2026-09-24T02:36:27Z")
### Issue Type (Required): Enemy Mechanics ### Issue Description (Required): I no longer have fun playing Auric High-Intensity Shock Troop Gauntlet: the mission type where we are supposed to fight more Elites than in regular High-Intensity missions. The constant deluge non-stop avalanche infinite stream flood torrent of Specials has to stop. They just keep spawning and spawning and spawning and spawning and spawning. This wasn’t like that a couple of months ago. Kindly fix this regression. Thank you. ### Steps to Reproduce (Required): 1. Play Auric High-Intensity Shock Troop Gauntlet. 2. Measure time between each Special spawns. ### [PC] Do You Use Mods? (Optional): No, I don’t use mods ### Reproduction Rate (Required): Constant (100%) ### Platform (Required): PC - Steam ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy721](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dizzy721](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Dizzy721)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 3:55am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/2 "2026-09-24T03:55:27Z")
STG is a modifier which the primary effect is “more specialists”. STG only affects elites in a very minor and rng dependent way (tension modifier making the game spawn a bit more of anything at times and terror events having more points to work with). ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/uploads/fatshark/original/3X/7/5/7595440f709d81a9e55c232115302123a566368d.png) Just play HiInt if you don’t want to fight specials. ---
**Author:** ![fbolduc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e36b37/32.png) [@fbolduc](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/fbolduc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 10:15am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/3 "2026-09-24T10:15:35Z")
I always understood the fluff text to mean Elite when they mention “Specialists”. Specials like Dogs, Snipers, etc. are not “Shock Troops”, but Crushers and Ragers definitely are. The Auric board always had two difficulty levels (ignoring Maelstrom). Before the last board rework, the harder difficulty was called High-Intensity and the regular difficulty had no qualifier. In the last board rework, they simply renamed them so the harder difficulty is now called High-Intensity Shock Troop Gauntlet and the regular difficulty is called High-Intensity. But that change was cosmetic as far as I can tell. However changes were made in the past few months so that “Shock Troops” like Crushers and Ragers now spawn in fewer numbers. And I feel like they have been replaced by this new constant stream of Specials to compensate. This is the issue I’m raising. ---
**Author:** ![temp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f04885/32.png) [@temp](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/temp)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 10:32am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/4 "2026-09-24T10:32:11Z")
> [@fbolduc](#): > > In the last board rework, they simply renamed them so the harder difficulty is now called High-Intensity Shock Troop Gauntlet and the regular difficulty is called High-Intensity I guess that’s not the case. There is no “base Auric” on the mission board at all. Modifiers are always added on top of it: Lights Out, Hunting Grounds, Ventilation Purge, High Intensity (which isn’t just Auric, it’s Auric + extra elites), and HISTG (Auric + extra elites + extra specialists) ---
**Author:** ![fbolduc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e36b37/32.png) [@fbolduc](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/fbolduc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:04am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/5 "2026-09-24T11:04:59Z")
Then Fatshark confirms it’s not a bug and the new constant stream of Specials is actually how the mission was intended. Great… so yet another Auric mission type to add to the blacklist: - Tox Gas Everywhere - Lights Out - Ventilation Purge Snipers - Non-Monstrosities Maelstrom - Shock Troops So I’m left with: - High-Intensity - Monstrosities Maelstrom - Extra Dogs The more the game evolve, the fewer fun options remain. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CobaltNinja](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/cobaltninja/32/71678_2.png) [@CobaltNinja](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/CobaltNinja)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:17am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/6 "2026-09-24T11:17:05Z")
> [@fbolduc](#): > > I always understood the fluff text to mean Elite when they mention “Specialists”. Specials like Dogs, Snipers, etc. are not “Shock Troops”, but Crushers and Ragers definitely are. HISTG was always like this, and on top of this you’re deliberately misinterpreting the description based on what you think it should mean, and not what it actually means. A crash course: Darktide has two categories of stronger enemies, Elites and Specialists. Elites are bigger, tankier, and more dangerous, like Ragers and Crushers. Specialists are designed to disable players or screw with your ability to navigate combat, like Trappers and Bombers. So you see, when the description of the modifier says “Specialists”, it means the latter category of enemies designed to mess with you. This is what the description means. “Shock Troop” is just fancy flavor text. ---
**Author:** ![Dizzy721](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dizzy721](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/Dizzy721)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:20am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/7 "2026-09-24T11:20:54Z")
Additional context from when they introduced STG: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/arMARnXiRrg/maxresdefault.jpg "Content Drop: Tools of War - Warhammer 40,000: Darktide") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arMARnXiRrg&t=78s) The video shows pretty clearly the intent. There are penances to kill Specialists such as Adept Assassin on Veteran, which distinguishes between Elites and Specialists, Nightmare Patrol which uses Terror Specialist to refer to both Poxburster and Pox Hound, Prioritize Target on Psyker, Unseen Assassin on Zealot, etc. etc.. ---
**Author:** ![fbolduc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e36b37/32.png) [@fbolduc](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/fbolduc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:48am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/8 "2026-09-24T11:48:09Z")
My mistake. ---
**Author:** ![aroth68](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex013/user_avatar/forums.fatsharkgames.com/aroth68/32/33737_2.png) [@aroth68](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/aroth68)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 11:51am UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/9 "2026-09-24T11:51:01Z")
I don’t like this modifier either but I’m pretty certain it’s always been this way, and works as advertised ---
**Author:** ![fbolduc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e36b37/32.png) [@fbolduc](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/u/fbolduc)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2026, 12:24pm UTC](https://forums.fatsharkgames.com/t/auric-high-intensity-shock-troop-gauntlet/125844/10 "2026-09-24T12:24:37Z")
I realize I’ve been torturing myself for the past months by playing this almost exclusively. But worse, I’ve inadvertently increased it’s popularity by forcing others to play it. I am ashamed of myself. 😖