Shortly after I got back into Darktide, following the update that added the most recent new weapons, I’ve been logging simple statistics: Usage of each weapon, particularly on Heresy difficulty. The below feedback is based on each gun’s performance on Heresy.
The most favored weapons are, in no particular order:
- Plasma Gun
- MG XII Infantry Lasgun
- Both Power Swords have balanced usage
- Chainsword, favored more by Veterans than the others
- Antax Mk V Combat Axe
- Boltguns have balanced usage between Veteran & Zealot
- Agripinaa Mk VIII Braced Autogun
- Kantrael Mk IX Shotgun (flame shells) have balanced usage between Veteran & Zealot
- Crucis Thunder Hammer
- Bull Butcher Mk III Cleaver
- Mk II Ripper Gun
- Purgatus Staff
- Voidstrike Staff
- Deimos & Illisi Force Swords have balanced usage
- Turtolsky Mk IX Heavy Sword
- Gorgonum Mk IV Stubber
These weapons seem to be preferred because of their performance when compared to other weapons, and especially their variants. For example, I’ve logged 5 Obscuris Force Sword, compared to the Deimos @ 17, and the Illisi @ 15. For example, the MG XII Lasgun’s damage per shot and damage per second far exceed the capability of the other 2 Infantry Lasguns, and neither of the other 2 can properly compete. Considering ammo efficiency and actual # of shots needed to purge mob heretics VS actual # of shots needed to purge Specialist, Elites, and Monstrosities, the faster firing weapons are typically–TYPICALLY–better for taking out mobs, while the slower-firing and heavier hitting weapons are more efficient for taking down the tougher enemies. This does not seem to be the case most of the time.
The Infantry Lasguns
There seems to be no reason to choose anything other than the MG XII Lasgun, the slower, heavier-hitting Lasgun. The other two Infantry Lasguns are terrible weapons for taking down mobs AND tougher enemies. If a Veteran or Zealot wanted a gun for mob-clearing, they gravitate towards the Agripinaa Mk VIII Braced Autogun, which is also a slower, heavier-hitting gun. In fact, I haven’t seen anyone use the other two Braced Autoguns at all; it’s only the Mk VIII. I think the MG XII is fine how it is, even though I don’t use it myself, but the other two variants should be made more useful. The MG 4 could use a damage buff. The MG Ia should fire faster.
The Braced Autoguns
Literally haven’t seen anyone use anything but the Mk VIII. These weapons don’t have ADS, but the stability of the other two are absolutely awful. The Graia Mk IV is the faster, low-damage Braced Autogun, but its stability is garbage, and it takes forever to kill anything. What is it good for? Suppression? The Agripinaa can do that better; if it does not kill them first, it will suppress them. The Columnus Mk II is the balanced variant, having medium fire rate and medium damage, falling between the Graia Mk IV and the Agripinaa Mk VIII. But the Columnus Mk II also sucks, because it doesn’t really excel at what the Agripinaa wildly excels at (i.e. dmg, ammo efficiency, stability). The Graia Mk IV should have a much larger magazine, making it more viable for mob-clearing, if that’s what a player might choose to do. The Colmnus Mk II could have a larger magazine, and could use a buff to its fire rate and damage, and a slight buff to its stability. The Mk VIII is fine where it is.
The Headhunter Autoguns
The Vraks Mk III is the winner. Excellent stagger, great damage, can be used for literally any enemy; it is fine where it is, so please do not change it. However, the Vraks VII is garbage. It is semi-automatic, so it should do more damage per shot than its variants. When considering a gun that is great for taking down Elites & Specialists, the Vraks Mk III is the fan-favorite, because of its 3-round burst. The Agripinaa Mk IX is the 2-round burst variant, but I honestly can’t bring myself to use it in any capacity. I think the Mk IX should get a buff to its damage and stability to make it viable as the “middle child” of the other two.
The Infantry Autoguns
Literally all of these are underused. Based on my experience with them, I would assume it’s because of their awful recoil. They need more stability, because at this point, I would just prefer the Mk VIIa Recon Lasgun, which obsoletes all of the Infantry Autoguns.
The Helbore Lasguns
Unfortunately, I’ve only seen the Mk I used twice, and the Mk II used once, so I skimmed Reddit for the community’s direct feedback. Despite not seeing the Mk III, the slower, heavier-hitting Helbore, it seems like some people prefer that for its power. It’s great for taking down Elites and Specialists. The Mk I, the “middle child”, is pretty decent at taking down Specialist and shooter-mobs. But the Mk II, fast-firing, lower-damage Helbore, is strangely both ridiculed and favored for its fire-rate and damage. Since these are all basically sniper rifle-equivalents, it’s difficult to justify using “this one” over “that one”. I prefer the Mk III, because it does the most damage, but I can’t aim for $#!7, so I never use them. But I’ve definitely seen the damage they can do. I think they should be adjusted to be specialized as follows:
Lucius Mk I = Adjust damage and max charge power to be able to one- or two-shot most Specialists and Elites.
Lucius Mk II = Adjust damage and max charge power to take down Ogryns and Mutants in 2-3 shots.
Lucius Mk III = Adjust damage and greatly increase max charge power to shred through Monstrosities.
Vaguely theoretically, this means that the Mk III would be able to one-shot Specialists and Elites, and maybe one- or two-shot Ogryns and Mutants; this is fine. Make it so that not only is its maximum charge greatly increased, and therefore its damage, but for a Veteran to achieve that, they have to charge it up for a while–long enough that they have to decide if they really want to take that shot, or if they should prioritize the horde that’s rushing at them. Finally, the Helbores could also do well with a greater natural crit chance and crit dmg multiplier.
The Recon Lasguns
The Recon Lasguns are known for their lowest recoil of the fully automatic weapons in the game. Their stability is God-Emperor mode, so please leave that as it is. The Mk VId is preferred over the others. This is the fast-firing, low-damage Recon Lasgun that’s better for taking out mobs. The Mk VIIa is the slowest-firing, heavy-hitter and better for taking down the lower-health Specialists and Elites. The Mk II is the “middle child”, and it’s an awful balance. It seems to have less DPS than the other two. The Mk II could use a buff in dmg and its magazine size. Since these are all fully-automatic weapons, they might be selected for their ability to take down mobs, especially shooters; and at the same time, the Mk VIIa is the best of these two at taking down lower-health Specialists and Elites.
The Ripper Guns
The Rippers are known for their mob-clearing, staggering, and suppression. The Mk II (slower, more powerful) is the most preferred, most likely due to its high damage per shot, and its stability, while the Mk V (fast-firing and also high damage) its great for shredding through Elites, but with worse stability. The Mk VI Ripper seems like it’s supposed to be more suited for longer ranged combat, but it needs a damage buff. Its damage per second is the absolute worst, so for it to even contend, it should do more damage. It could also use more stability, akin to the Mk II. I don’t see why the Mk VI, which only fires in two- or three-round bursts, can’t have the greatest stability of the Rippers.
The Combat Shotguns
These have great versatility and excel at stagger and suppression. When ADS’ing, their shot grouping narrows, making them decent at applying CC at long-range, such as to those dreaded Snipers. The Lawbringer Mk VI is the lowest performing and lowest preferred, and I would guess that it’s because the horizontal shell is absolute garbage. The horizontal shell could benefit greatly by allowing it to pierce through 3-4 layers of mobs. The Kantrael Mk IX’s flame shells excel at weakening hallways or just outright killing mobs before they even get to your teammates. Additionally, with No Respite, the Burning DoT eats away at Ogryns. The Lawbringer’s horizontal shell being able to pierce 3-4 layers of mobs would make it viable again, in my opinion, of course. Also, I used to imagine they were flechette rounds, so this is purely me as an individual recommending this: I think the horizontal shell should naturally apply anywhere between 1-6 Bleed stacks on hit. Again, that’s just me.
The One-of-a-Kind Guns
The Flamer is excellent at mob-clearing, but its Blessings really suck. The only one that’s useful across the board is the “faster reload when empty” Blessing. Please add more Blessings and redo the existing ones. For example, “primary fire ignores X% stagger resistance” or whatever it says? Why just the primary fire? Additionally, the “X% chance for Elite enemy to explode”, why does the explosion completely suck? It should do much greater damage and stagger.
The Kickback’s stagger is amazing, but it could use a buff. It’s a blunderbuss, so having to reload after each shot is what balances its damage. Not only that, but if an Ogryn wielding the Kickback is in the middle of a horde, he can’t exactly just reload it any faster and make his life easier in that moment. I think the Kickback could use a slight damage buff, and be able to pierce through more layers of mobs than it already does. It’s great at taking down lower-health Specialists & Elites, but it’s terrible at Ogryns, Mutants, and Monstrosities. By then, most Ogryn-players would have swapped to their melee weapon to beat them down.
The Rumbler’s CC is great, but the falloff damage is God-Emperor-awful. Please consider increasing the range of falloff damage. We’re basically shooting artillery shells, not grenades. I personally don’t like the delayed detonation, and I don’t understand why developers like to use that as… maybe some kind of balancing feature? The delayed detonation does nothing more than allowing more mobs to come at me than I’d like. I would also not favor a gameplay style where shooting an artillery shell with delayed detonation at my feet to clear a horde is how I live my Ogryn life. Please remove the delayed detonation entirely. The weapon would not become overpowered anyway, because it’s also a blunderbuss that needs to be reloaded after every shot.
I’ve barely seen the Revolver. Please buff its damage immensely, and allow it to pierce through armor. I’m not familiar enough with Warhammer 40K lore to know the caliber of the revolver, but it I think it could be stronger. A damage buff will not break this weapon, because we have to reload each bullet sequentially. Another recommendation: Add a Blessing that enables the player to reload via a speed-loader (i.e. reload all bullets at once). That just sounds like a cool Blessing that I think the community might enjoy.
Overall, the gunplay is fun, but I’m getting bored of using the same weapons. There are plenty of other weapons I’d love to play around with, but they’re awful. Of the weapons that are unpopular, my general feedback is for the development team to re-balance those guns to make them viable for the situations/enemies that they probably should be good for. I’ve played games that something like, 2 Veterans with Braced Autoguns, 1 Zealot with a Flamer, and then me as an Ogryn with a Ripper. Essentially, mobs could never touch us, but shooters, Snipers, Gunners, and Shotgunners were our worst nightmare. Or were they? Kind of. I remember we were simply able to apply suppression/stagger, and eventually our non-ADS guns were able to kill them, or we were able to close the gap and bash them with our melee weapons.
I request the development team, and/or other appropriate departments, to fixate on actual gameplay. New cosmetics are nice, but nobody looks nice if the heretics succeeded in killing our teams, because we didn’t have gun-diversity. I’ve been on the opposite side of my above example where I had two teammates using the MG XII Infantry Lasgun, I had a flame shotgun, and a Psyker that was using a Mk VIIa Recon Lasgun. We could take down Specialists and Elites, but mobs took us down, because we were stuck with whatever melee weapons we had. In those situations, sure, get good with melee combat, but all it takes is for a Mutant, Trapper, or Hound to incapacitate us, and then we become free food for the heretics. I was the only person with the only gun that could take down mobs effectively, but that’s a lot of pressure on me. I’d really like to see less of the MG XII Infantry Lasgun–not saying it’s an awful weapon, because it’s not, but the other weapons need to see the light of day.
I will continue to log weapon usage as I continue to enjoy the game. I have also not provided feedback for every single gun, because I’m trying to go to sleep right now, but I also really wanted to provide this feedback. I’ve been collecting data, doing research, analyzing each weapon’s general and/or niche capabilities, and as a new fan of the Warhammer 40K franchise and a fan of Darktide, I’d like to see the game live on for the God-Emperor. The community will still gravitate towards a meta, even if we have to relocate it. But at the very least, every gun and melee weapon should be enjoyable in some way, and I believe that by giving each of them the opportunity to be good at certain generic things, and at very specific things, then each weapon could–at the most absolutely and very least–be considered when we choose our loadouts, and used more often than they have been currently.
I might consider an absolutely complete review of every gun at some point in time, and I will likely consider doing this same type of thing for melee weapons. The more feedback that Fatshark has, the better.
