Good morning, afternoon, and evening to all the Darktide players from the Western community.
I’m a Darktide player from the Chinese community with a little over 2,000 hours in the game. I spend most of my time running Havoc 40 with random players through the party finder, and I’ve cleared it countless times with complete strangers.
I’d like to share some perspectives from the Chinese community and compare them with those of Western players.
Below are my Steam profile and a few screenshots of my Havoc clears.
Sorry that all the screenshots are in Chinese. I did try using AI to translate them into English, but it turned everything into unreadable nonsense. They mainly serve as proof of playtime and Havoc clears, so hopefully they still get the point across.
Alright, that’s enough about me. Let’s get into the real topic.
Over the past few days, I came across a really interesting post in the Chinese community.
The story goes that a Chinese player met a Western Ogryn player on the HongKong servers, cleared Havoc 40 together, and ended up having a friendly conversation afterward. Through that exchange, many Chinese players got a glimpse into how Havoc 40 is approached and played in the Western community.
The reason the OP made that post was because they had no idea what the Ogryn meant when he said “Aries Boy” at the end of the game. Honestly, I have no idea what it means either, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about today.
The Ogryn basically told him that he couldn’t really break into the Discord Havoc scene. A lot of groups ask for Havoc 40 titles, clear counts, or even proof of recent runs. In his words, Discord feels like an exclusive club, and regular players don’t really have a place there. He mostly just PUGs Havoc by himself, and honestly I wonder how many Western players feel the same way.
More specifically, if you want to join Havoc 40 groups through Discord in the Chinese community, you’re generally expected to have already cleared Havoc 40 yourself. People will also look at how many H40 clears you have under your belt. On top of that, there are often role-specific expectations. For example, Psykers are usually expected to keep their damage taken relatively low, Veterans are often judged by their specialist kill count compared to the rest of the team, and Zealots are typically evaluated based on boss damage and horde clear performance.
Here are a few translated comments from other Chinese Darktide players：
Damn, getting into H40 over there sounds complicated. It’s almost a catch-22: you need H40 clears to get into H40 groups, but you can’t get H40 clears because nobody wants people without clears. No wonder some players head over to the HongKong servers first, grind out some runs, and then return to EU later. That’s rough.
I’ve genuinely seen the argument that public H40 lobbies are rare in EU because “people just don’t enjoy Havoc.” Or maybe—and hear me out—there are actually a lot of H40 players, but they’re already running with established groups and private circles, so they have no reason to open public lobbies. Anyone who’s played enough H40 probably has a pretty good idea of what kind of players are left in the LFG pool.
We had a fantastic party. Guess who wasn’t invited?
Man, that’s way more exclusive than I expected.
Meanwhile on the CN side, a lot of high-level players are surprisingly happy to take people along. There are tons of H40 streams every night where you can just jump in and get some experience.
Well, now I kind of understand where the “H40 should only be beatable by the top 1%” mentality comes from. When you’re locked out of groups long enough, eventually you stop asking “How do I improve?” and start asking “Why should anyone else get to clear it?”
One thing I’ve noticed is that the top end of the Western community seems much more knowledge-gated. There are definitely players with an incredible understanding of the game, and many H40 veterans clearly know what works and what doesn’t. But a lot of that knowledge stays within private circles, Discord groups, and established teams. Builds, strategies, optimization, and tech often feel more like insider information than community resources. As a result, it’s easy for less experienced players to be told “skill issue” without ever being shown how to improve. Personally, I don’t think H40 requires extraordinary mechanical skill, especially with strong compositions. I think most reasonably dedicated players could clear it if they had access to good information, proper builds, and opportunities to learn. The CN community feels very different in that regard. Whenever someone discovers a new build, a new interaction, or a better strategy, people tend to share it openly. Top players theorycraft. Mid-level players copy builds, learn why they work, and eventually clear H40 themselves. Newer players often get carried, mentored, or simply given opportunities to play alongside experienced people. It creates a healthier pipeline where knowledge naturally flows downward instead of remaining concentrated within small groups.
At this point, I genuinely believe the Adeptus Mechanicus is just realism disguised as science fiction.
There are definitely a lot of highly knowledgeable H40 players in the Western community as well. My impression is that the difference isn’t a lack of understanding, but rather how that knowledge gets distributed. Many experienced players seem to prefer sticking with their own circles, premades, or Discord communities instead of sharing builds and strategies publicly. I’ve even seen community-made Havoc leaderboards where players can upload match statistics and rank themselves based on damage, performance metrics, and other categories.
Thank you for reading this post all the way through.
Some of the comments shown in the screenshots above may come across as overly harsh or provocative, and I fully understand that. However, I hope you can also appreciate that internet culture can be drastically different depending on the language and cultural environment people grow up in. I’ve tried to use AI-assisted translation and some manual adjustments to convey the underlying ideas people were attempting to express, rather than presenting them in the most literal way possible. My goal isn’t to make Chinese players look like a bunch of racists obsessed with meta builds, but rather to share a different perspective on how another part of the Darktide community approaches the game, endgame progression, and knowledge sharing.
We’re all just trying to survive Havoc 40 under the Emperor’s light, after all.
**With that out of the way, I’d like to talk about my own views on Havoc 40 and some of the broader issues connected to it.
**
I’ve never believed that players from different game modes or difficulty levels are somehow worth more or less than others. In my opinion, anyone willing to think critically about the game and put in some effort can eventually become what people like to call an “elite” Havoc player. To put it another way, if a gameplay mode is officially developed and presented to players by the developers, then its design should at least consider the experience of the broader playerbase, rather than catering exclusively to a very small percentage of highly invested players. As some of the comments above may have suggested, the Chinese community has a fairly open approach to sharing game knowledge.
To give a few examples:
1. Players can easily find build guides, Havoc 40 clears, and educational content on Chinese video platforms, much like YouTube.
2. I’m not sure how many people here are familiar with QQ, but it’s essentially a messaging platform similar to LINE or Discord. By simply searching keywords like Darktide, players can find communities dedicated to the game, discuss builds, exchange strategies, and look for groups to play with. Because of this, information tends to spread very quickly. New discoveries, optimized builds, and effective tactics are often shared openly, making it much easier for players to learn and gradually work their way into endgame content.
Personally, I believe that access to information plays a much larger role than raw talent when it comes to H40. Given enough information, guidance, and opportunities to practice, most dedicated players are capable of reaching that level
***Warning: Everything below is just my own opinion as an H40 player. Feel free to disagree.
I’ve seen some players argue that difficulties like N3 or N4 are already supposed to be challenging, but from my perspective, and from the perspective of many H40-focused players I’ve interacted with, everything outside of Havoc is basically normal difficulty.
To put it bluntly, they’re player slaughterhouses.
If you’re running what Western players would consider a strong build, I’d honestly say that around 80% of successful runs simply come down to accumulating experience and improving your fundamentals. The remaining 20% is just Darktide being Darktide: aggroing a Daemonhost, getting netted, getting pounced by a Hound, getting grabbed by a Mutant, or getting comboed by a Flamer, a boss, and ten elites all at once.
CN players usually test Havoc builds in Auric Maelstrom. In fact, most experienced CN players spend almost all their time either in Auric Maelstrom or Havoc. If you queue lower difficulties on Asia servers, you’ll often find very few veteran players there. For many people, N1–N4 are considered transitional difficulties for newer players.
Ironically, I also think these transitional difficulties can sometimes be too punishing for actual newcomers. N3 already starts introducing bosses, elite density ramps up considerably, Ragers begin spawning in significant numbers, and Quickplay can even throw inexperienced players into Twins missions if they don’t know how matchmaking settings work.
As a result, I think many players end up uninstalling the game before they ever experience what I personally consider to be the most enjoyable parts of Darktide: Auric Maelstrom’s pure carnage and Havoc 40’s emphasis on teamwork and coordination.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that builds considered extremely powerful in Auric Maelstrom are often merely viable in Havoc. I think this also explains why some DLC archetypes haven’t been particularly well received among H40-focused CN players. A lot of people evaluate everything through a Havoc 40 lens.
Veteran Smoke Grenades prevent your team’s toughness and health from getting vaporized by shooters and elites. As for Krak Grenades, personally I’ve never found them particularly impressive. Most of the problems Krak solves can already be solved by Power Sword. In Havoc, going in without Smoke often feels like volunteering to get turned into Swiss cheese by gunner packs.
Plasma remains king because it’s one of the few tools capable of rapidly and consistently deleting endless streams of specialists and elites, especially when you’re playing with randoms and can’t predict the quality of your teammates. Other ranged weapons usually suffer from one problem or another: poor sustain, insufficient damage, lack of cleave, or simply body blocking. The frustration of lining up the perfect shot on a Trapper only to have ten Poxwalkers absorb it with their bodies is difficult to describe.
Voice of Command provides breathing room. It buys time. It stabilizes situations. It creates opportunities for teammates to recover and reposition. Honestly, I think stagger is one of the most valuable resources in Havoc, if not the most valuable resource.
That’s probably why Chorus Zealot and Taunt Ogryn remain some of the most popular picks at H40. A lot of other abilities simply don’t provide the same level of consistency, utility, or uptime, and more importantly, they don’t contribute nearly as much to overall team synergy.
Havoc rewards stability, space creation, and damage mitigation far more than raw DPS, and stagger is one of the few mechanics that directly provides all three. Being able to interrupt enemies, control hordes, pin bosses in place, and create breathing room for your team is invaluable in a mode where a single mistake can quickly spiral into a wipe.
Psyker Bubble can temporarily substitute for Smoke when a Veteran makes a mistake, continuously regenerate toughness, and trivialize Beast of Nurgle encounters. Taunt Ogryn barely needs an introduction. The class is tanky, reliable, attracts enemy attention, and creates space for the rest of the team to operate. It’s essentially the safety net role within the squad.
By comparison, some DLC archetypes feel much more self-contained. They deal impressive damage, but damage alone isn’t enough in Havoc. They don’t necessarily clear hordes faster, kill specialists faster, protect teammates from shooters, or provide meaningful utility. In practice, they often end up competing for Zealot’s boss-killer slot.
Even then, Zealot still brings Chorus, reliable boss control, Bolter burst, and Chainsword sustain. Chorus allows teams to lock bosses in place, create guaranteed damage windows, and stabilize otherwise dangerous situations. Because of that, many public groups simply feel safer bringing a Zealot.
The same applies to Psyker Bubble. The ability to compensate for mistakes, mitigate the instability that comes with public groups, and maintain momentum is something that pure damage-oriented abilities simply can’t replicate.
As for Arbites, I honestly don’t think the class offers much team synergy at all. Bringing the Cyber-Mastiff into Havoc often means watching your teammates die helplessly when the Twins show up. And Hive Scums? Yes, the right side offers some decent team buffs, but if you invest into the stim crate, the rest of the build feels rather underwhelming. The class lacks reliable stagger tools for boss control and often shifts too much pressure onto the Veteran.
The melee middle path definitely has power, but it still doesn’t feel as comfortable as Zealot when dealing with bosses, and it doesn’t provide toughness regeneration or meaningful team support during regular gameplay. Before the nerfs, much of its strength came from Opportunistic reload interactions, allowing it to play ahead of the team, clear shooters, relieve pressure, and still maintain respectable boss damage. After the nerfs, that identity seems to have largely disappeared.
I don’t want to say too much about Skitarii yet because the class is still being developed, but I do have a feeling it may end up in a similar position. Once Arc Rifle inevitably receives balance adjustments, I wouldn’t be surprised if Skitarii largely disappears from Havoc.To be honest, Skitarii melee skill, that claw build, is basically dead on arrival for H40. Havoc bosses have so much damage reduction that it simply can’t compete. It might look decent in Auric, but once you step into H40, the lack of boss damage becomes painfully obvious. In a mode where bosses are one of the primary win conditions, a build that can’t meaningfully contribute during boss fights is going to struggle to justify its slot. From an H40 perspective, its design philosophy feels extremely one-dimensional: more damage, more vulnerability application, more damage amplification. If those numbers are tuned down, there doesn’t seem to be much left supporting its viability.
And I think that’s ultimately the biggest difference between Auric Maelstrom and Havoc. In Auric, damage solves problems. In Havoc, stability solves problems.
Damage is useful.
Reliability wins games.
By the way, what Aries Boy means?