Cool and interesting weapons I'd like to see "warhammerized" in Darktide and it's DLCs

[Spazz]

Intro

Cheers all. I’ve been thinking about weapons that might be in Darktide at launch and some that might make it down the road as a DLC. I will try not to include variants of weapons or just a bunch of assault rifles. Instead I will focus on naming guns that are unique and guns that would add plenty of variety to the weapons we can expect to see in the game such as the combat shotgun or an autogun.

Primaries

Stub Lever Action Rifle - I think these are cool and fill a niche of a designated long range rifle that isn’t an assault rifle. Something between a semi automatic autogun and a snipe rifle. For those unaware “stub” weapons are just firearms that are heavily inspired by weapons of 20th century that we have IRL. Here they’re by some considered relics of history and by others the classics.

Autogun (Burst Fire Mode) - I love rifles that can fire in burst. I always loved the famas and also the hemlok burst AR from apex legends/titanfall series. These work great at long ranges and add a lot of rythm to first person shooters. Not that good at close range because every mistake you make costs you 3 rounds and some time between the bursts. In video games these have a delay between the bursts unlike in real life and also are very resistant to recoil for balance reasons.

Stub Handgun - Regardless if we see pistol&melee system in the game or not (I hope we do) I hope to see a regular stub handgun semi-auto handgun. We’ve seen a revolver and an autopistol so I believe there is also room for a handgun. To make it viable and competetive it would need to be okay at piercing armor and it’s damage higher than an autogun. Barracuda if you’re reading this please don’t look lol.

Revolving Cylinder Shotgun - A shotgun with a cylinder close to that of a revolver. Very classy and fun looking. Definitely more eye catching than a combat shotgun. Perfect in helping in fulfiling one’s witch-hunting fantasy. To make it act differently to the pump action shotgun I would make it fire very fast but reload slowly like the stub revolver. This would have longer range than a DB shotgun while still being able to nuke the target after what you will need to swap to melee or face a lenghty reload.

Bolt Action Sniper Rifle - Rumors are that we will be getting the long las and while I very much appreciate this gesture I’d like to see more anti-elite long range weapon options. Bolt-action sniper rifles are always welcome as such an option. It’s relatively easy to make them feel very powerful and satisfying to use. I’m sure Fatshark could cook up something really exciting with this one.

Pump Shotgun - Do I need to say more? We’ve all used the lawbringer combat shotgun in the beta and many of us asked ourselves this question. I wonder how much carnage could I spread with the good old pump-action shotgun. Personally I didn’t like the feeling I was getting with the combat shotgun but I have to admit that it went hard on the enemies. Naturaly for balance reasons this shotgun would need to have greater damage and range and better damage falloff stats than the lawbringer.

Double Barreled Shotgun - No really. How much carnage can you spread in a single second? Any Doom fans reading this? The double barreled shotgun is famous for appearance in many zombie apocalypse films and video games as well. It would fit seamlessly with the rest of the arenal in Darktide. The only question is how would you implement both special rounds and a fire mode to be able to fire two shots with a single press of a button. Perhaps switch it with “Q” like you can vent peril as psyker? Then you could still be able to use special rounds. This weapon would also have a lot of rythm especially if we have gotten rid of the dodge penalty when holding a ranged weapon. As it was universally agreed upon it’s bad for the game and unnecessary. With it gone we could do fight bosses duel bosses in a fun pattern of shoot → dodge → reload → dodge → repeat.

Stub Machine Gun (LMG) - It would be cool if there were light machine guns in the game. These are very common in any swarm shooter games for obvious reasons. These usually have high rate of fire (not always), high recoil, high magazine size and poor accuracy (usually precision isn’t all that necessary when you have so much ammo). I’m thinking M60 and Lewis for that “dated” look that heavy stubbers have. You would most likely be slowed down by it and won’t be able to aim with it but rather you could only brace it like the autopistol. It would be very hard to reload it when engaged in melee combat.

Extra

There is one more thing that might fit nicely into a horde shooter like Darktide and that’s a missile launcher. Im listing it here in the extras section because it would be a nightmare to balance with the other primary weapons. How I see it possibly being implemented is with career/iconic abilties. It’s hard to forget Saltzpyre crying out on top of his lungs “Sigmar bless this shot” before instakilling anything that got in the way except for bosses. I think that a missile launcher for lets say a “demolitionist/specialist” veteran class could work in the same manner.

Special Shotgun Shells

Explosive Shells - It doesn’t get more straight forward than this. If you really love explosions or maybe you want to further improve your specialization in horde clearing then these shotgun shells would work great for you. Fire a shell that explodes as it hits the target and deals a bunch of damage around it. Great horde opener.

Solid Slug - A special shell to help you eliminate that one heavily armored elite that in mixed in with the poxwalker horde. Sure you won’t be able to gun down a bunch of specials or elites with it but the metal slug will easily penetrate the horde and hit your target inside of it dealing heavy damage if not killing the target. Great opener against scab maulers and such.

Inferno Shells - Incendiary shells filled with very reactive and flammable gel that sticks to the target and ignites it instantly. Great as an opener against a monstrocity such as a Plague Ogryn and also great for setting your target on fire so that you can better read the attacks when you fight it in melee in a dark room or when the power is out.

Shock Shells - Shells with a special charge that explodes unpon impact with a huge bang and staggers targets with ease. Would work great against specials such as pox hounds and the mutant chargers. Shooting a chaos ogryn would only result in a minor flinch.

Last Thoughts

I think that the more variety the better it is for the game’s longevity. I appreciate the variants for each weapon especially for melee since there your attack pattens is different and it really mixes up the gameplay but as with anything there is still room for improvement. Darktide isn’t even out yet and it’s built from ground up to be a live service game with a long shelf life and that’s why I listed up for you a bunch of weapon archetypes that I’d like to see in the game personally since they would diversify the arsenal a lot. I’d love to know what kind of weapons would you like to see in Darktide other than meltaguns and such that we can totally expect without a doubt. Melee weapon suggestions are welcome too, don’t be shy about it lol.

[doom_hamster]

@Spazz

Stub Handgun - Regardless if we see pistol&melee system in the game or not (I hope we do) I hope to see a regular stub handgun semi-auto handgun. We’ve seen a revolver and an autopistol so I believe there is also room for a handgun. To make it viable and competetive it would need to be okay at piercing armor and it’s damage higher than an autogun. Barracuda if you’re reading this please don’t look lol.

I’d like pistol+sword or pistol+axe combo for the melee slot.
But i really want them not repeating the rapier+pistol design from VT2, because the pistol was too slow and awkward to use (as a weapon special).

I have in mind this design of pistol+sword:

• LMB - is the sword light or heavy combos, just as on normal sword.
• RMB - fire the pistol, without any delay; good hipfire accuracy on the move.
• Weapon Special button - push with a sword (same stamina usage and push arc).

so no blocking but good dodge range, would be an unique weapon with aggressive playstyle

[Heretical_Cactus]

I’d wait to see how the Grenadier Gauntlet work for the Ogryn before imagining how the Melee + Side arm could work

[doom_hamster]

@Heretical_Cactus

I’d wait to see how the Grenadier Gauntlet work for the Ogryn before imagining how the Melee + Side arm could work.

Judging by the snippets of the ogryn trailer, it has light & heavy chain on LMB, also Aim Down Sight mode on RMB like a normal gun, and seems that Weapon Special that punches and fires the shot in one motion (or its a heavy attack, though unlikely). I doubt it has block.

[Spazz]

I remember writing up a very similar melee & pistol concept. Here it is:

At first I consider people who dreamed of melee and pistol combat lunatics. Surely this would be really fun and really exciting but almost impossible to fit into the gameplay. Well, after some thinking I figured out a way this might be more or less possible. It’s actually easier than expected. With season 2 of the game or a big dlc Darktide could feature new weapon type at I’m talking single handed pistols. Laspistols, hellpistols, plasma pistols, melta-pistols, autopistols and imperial handguns that are semi-automatic. These pistols would all share one special action that would be to bright out a single handed melee weapon to the other hand by clicking the mouse button on the side. This would decrease your accuracy, reload speed and increase recoil of the gun but allow to stagger the enemy as you’re running towards him with hitstun. In special mode with your pistol you would not be able to block attacks. Utilize pistol hitstun and dogdes to your advantage. This would be a mechanic that everyone would love to see. Something to spice up the future gameplay of Darktide. You’re welcome. Here’s a food of brains. An autopistol paired to a catachan devil’s claw.

The difference is that in my concept you would have to equip the pistol as your ranged/primary weapon and not melee. This way you sacrifice some to get some, otherwise we would end up with everyone carrying 3 weapons and always choosing to bring a pistol and a melee weapon rather than not taking also the pistol.

[doom_hamster]

@Spazz

The difference is that in my concept you would have to equip the pistol as your ranged/primary weapon and not melee. This way you sacrifice some to get some, otherwise we would end up with everyone carrying 3 weapons and always choosing to bring a pistol and a melee weapon rather than not taking also the pistol.

Yes, good point about better putting it into the ranged slot. If its in melee slot, the pistol+melee combo would have to be weak/slowed down, or with very limited ammo.
When put into ranged slot, pistols can be more powerful (and satisfying), or even autopistol comboed with a melee weapon. 2nd melee weapon would be just a nice versatility bonus, nothing more.

Normal autopistol (and revolver) are plain as a brick already. Adding a stub pistol that just as those only have an ADS mode and flashlight/bash - would be boring, better mix it with a melee weapon!

And i hope that axe is also an option to wield with pistol, not only sword. So that you can choose different weapons in melee slot to compliment the ranged slot.

About your concept of melee+pistol, making Weapon special that brings out melee, setting up 2 states in the weapon - is a bit overcomplicated imo. And Fatshark likes to keep things simple.

[Heretical_Cactus]

I think both can work.

Like we are on an upgraded system compared to VT2, at the moment we can’t really say if the system would let use have ammo on both weapons.

For example, I had at first though that the Grenadier Gauntlet of the Ogryn would be a melee weapon, where instead of having an ammo pouch, you’d instead be able to consume a Grenade pack (As the Ogryn throw the whole box at once) to create 4/8 individual grenade for the GG.

With the weapon working as a main Melee weapon with ranged attack:

Left click to attack, right to block, but to shoot you would have to hold special attack, putting you in a Aiming stance, the melee/grenade combo would happen if you are charging a heavy attack and while charging it hit/hold special attack.

For other weapon kit I think it depend on the pairing, if possible, they could also have the ammo pickup be tied to the weapon you have, and if you don’t need ammo in the weapon you’re holding it default to the ranged one, but if not:

Pistol and Power Fist: Ranged, with the special attack being the Power fist

Laspistol and Sword: Melee, but with a twist, it could be tied to the weapon variant/pattern. Having one of the Catachan Sword with Laspistol (Weakish ranged and high ammo count). Special attack would then be held to aim, and then shooting would be used by simple attacks.

Redemptionist Eviscerator: (zealot only) Melee weapon, but can consume a grenade to fill the fire cartridge and be able to use it to create flame blasts (Though the melee attack has a Fire DoT every time) (Bottom one)

Condemnor Bolter: Work as a regular bolter, but you have a special crossbow on top of it, crossbow bolts are reloaded on special attack (While not aiming), and you can shoot the bolt by aiming and hitting special attack. Reloading the Crossbow bolt would consume more ammo but take from the same pool as the bolter

[SlenderBarracuda]

I’m pretty sure revolvers count as ‘stubbers’ in w40k. I also think the autoguns count as stubbers, anyone have more detail there?

Now, a lot of this stuff is obsolete, if still fairly effective. But we all know w40k is weird like that. Eisenhorn used a flintlock at one point…

The revolver shotguns are weird items, but in a good way. I don’t know much about those because not many people want them today. A thing with revolvers is there is a lot of muzzle flash that comes from the cylinder gap, where it meets the barrel. There are revolvers that do something about that, the Russians had one that would clamp shut by action of the trigger pushing the cylinder forward to clamp the gap shut.

The issue is that the blast from the cylinder/barrel gap is powerful enough to cut your hand open, so you really want to be careful where you put skin when shooting one. The one you posted (shotgun) seems like it has a plate by the cylinder to protect you. That said, historically revolver action long arms were unpopular for this reason. But they are interesting designs to be sure.

LMGs would be welcome to me, but they shouldn’t be too inaccurate. They aren’t in real life at the ranges we have in the game. Main issue with these is they are heavy. IRL the machine gunner usually has help carrying his ammunition load. Also, be advised the m-60 is a medium machine gun, not a light. It has been pushed into service as a light or a ‘squad automatic weapon,’ but it’s considered too heavy for that really. Light machine guns are about mobility over volume.

Lever actions might be a little too cowboy for w40k, though the designs are solid and easy to make. Seems like it would overlap too much with the lasgun though… assuming we can get Fat Shark to dump the reverse falloff.

[deusvult6]

@SlenderBarracuda

I’m pretty sure revolvers count as ‘stubbers’ in w40k. I also think the autoguns count as stubbers, anyone have more detail there?

Ask and thou shallt receive:

From the Only War rulebook.
So they’re pretty close but not quite. For a similar-sized weapon, stubbers do a bit more damage.

In the fluff section, it mentions the auto- varieties tend to have smaller calibers than the stub- varieties but tend to be more accurate and allow for more ammo capacity. The accuracy bit doesn’t seem to actually make it to the crunch though. It also mentions that autoguns are cheap and easily-made above all else. For forces that can’t afford las-weaponry, they are the staple.

[deusvult6]

As for the topic at hand, many of those guns are pretty nifty looking. Some are probably even good in a fight and would do well on a battlefield but, honestly, I would rather not have my weapon choice selection bogged down by a parade of various autoguns. I suppose it could show how abundant autoguns are relative to virtually anything else, even las weapons, but I think most folks will be into using more sci-fi types of weapons for their sci-fi shooter.

On the other hand, I spent the entire CBT falling in love with the shotgun so I can appreciate a love of the classics and I would love some of the extra special shell variety. I found the horizontal spread one a little underwhelming.

[Tiralstrom]

@SlenderBarracuda

I’m pretty sure revolvers count as ‘stubbers’ in w40k. I also think the autoguns count as stubbers, anyone have more detail there?

Anything that fires ‘classic solid’ bullets (just like the one we got IRL), meaning autogun / autopistol / revolver / stub gun / heavy stubber / shotgun etc… is usually considered ‘stubber’. It’s just a fancy word to say ‘regular bullet’.

As opposed to bolt rifle / gun / stormbolter etc… that fires rocket propelled shells that explodes on impact.