Crusher (weapon) is so bad on Zealot

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide General Discussion
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I’m sure I’m not the only one who wants to use weapons other than the Knife and the Relic Blade. The Assault Chain-axe is probably my next favorite - but anyway I’ve been trying to use the Crusher recently, and it’s just so, so bad. It’s literally that meme where the idea of doing something is fun, and then you actually do it and regret your life.

I made a “support” build with the crusher for crowd control and a bolter for monstrosities and burst DPS. Nonetheless, first attempt, I get a really good team, and they just ended up destroying pretty much everything before I could get to it. When I did actually get to an enemy, I could barely do any damage, and it felt awful. You have to hit elites with your one heavy strike-down or knock them around like 2-3 times, tracking their body as it flies around so you can actually finish them off. It’s hilarious to watch, but annoying and unfun to experience. My presence wasn’t needed at all; if anything, I made things harder by knocking enemies around. If we’re being real, I needed them to actually do damage because I am so weak except for my bolter and throwing knives.

The problem with the crusher is that it has such bad mobility, barely does any damage on enemies that need to be killed quickly and feels horrible to use - you have to aim way high up over enemies’ heads and do all these gymnastics just to do like less than half the damage of the relic blade. Actually, name any melee weapon, I guarantee it has a faster time to kill on a big group of elites and armored enemies than the crusher.

I did play more than one game with it of course; second time my team was actually so bad I thought I was going insane or something - but when I checked the forbidden scoreboard, it all made sense. I somehow ended up dealing over twice the damage as the rest of my team combined - when two hive scum were on my team. It was such a painful and agonizing experience. At best, the hive scum threw their chem grenade in the wrong spot and it might’ve damaged the enemies a little. The truth is that the crusher is borderline unusable when there’s actually chaos happening and my team isn’t doing damage. Situations that feel like they should be easy, turn out to be insurmountable obstacles when you are forced to use the crusher.

The entire mission felt Sisyphean. Three crushers (Ogryns) or whatever would show up, I’d try to hit them, I’d like stagger one or something and then try to beat another one of them to death - only for like 3 more to show up with bulwarks. The crusher is not doing anything against that. The special attack is basically worthless and does nothing if there are more than 2-3 Ogryns. By the time you slowly activate your weapon and swing it at the other enemies, the ones that you just knocked over will have recovered and now have like super hyper armor and are impossible to stagger.

I don’t understand why this weapon that’s basically only good for crowd control, doesn’t have the ability to ignore this stagger immunity mechanic at least. I understand other weapons, but if the crusher could at least have that one thing, it might have some use.

It’s just dumb for a melee weapon like the crusher to be ineffectual in many situations you would expect it to shine in. It’d be like if you took the flamer out and it had 0 cleave. It makes no sense and breaks the immersion; these weapons are just models with attack values. Apparently, my combat knife cleaves through an ogryn with carapace armor very easily - but my colossal mace that’s like 4 feet long and LITERALLY EXPLODES with some sort of electroshock field, it tickles them instead of delivering crushing and decisive blows.

This weapon is pretty much useless right now unless you just want to challenge yourself. Taking it into quickplay gives you so many weaknesses that your team will have to cover for, it just isn’t worth it. I’m sure it can be very good if you’re playing with a premade team, but let’s be real, you can make anything work if you’re with a dedicated group of people.

Taking martyrdom could make this weapon useful in theory, but like I said, we’re doing quickplay - not going with a competent group who is aware of your build (or their surroundings). Using martyrdom in quickplay, that is a hilarious idea. I take more damage from my teammates than from enemies. I have tried other martyrdom builds and my team literally will down me several times if play a few matches. It isn’t worth it.

I believe this weapon needs a huge buff; I would actually rather use the thunder hammer which I cannot believe I am saying.

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Yeah, actually I don’t see why its mobility should be so bad. Crusher’s strongest attack is its push attack so draining all stamina in 2 seconds from sprinting to the frontline is counter intuitive.

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The crusher is awful.

The fact of the matter is that attack speed is essential in this game for disrupting enemies and interrupting their attacks so that you can deal damage somewhat safely. The crusher is painfully slow, making it inherently more risky to use, and then as the OP says it’s mostly just knocking enemies around without a meaningful amount of damage being dealt. Any time you’re needing to solo a pack of enemies and you have the crusher it is just a grim prospect.

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You know, that kind of weapon desing may have been intentional if you think about it. But it’s the weapon desing made for Darktide before the talent trees and before enemy/armor spam started to plague this game.

Sad to think that many weapons are now very bad because FatShark has shifted the game’s direction and most weapons were left behind without any meaningful changes.

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I don’t like crusher weapon, I swing to kill not to stagger =/ should probably get the power maul treatment or at least a mark variant.

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If you think it’s your pug team that holds you back from using martyrdom I think you’re just inexperienced. Crusher has a high finesse multiplier so making sure you hit weakspots is important, and making proper use of Slaughterer stacks and Skullcrusher stagger stacks on the proper enemies and/or with FOTF burst windows is a bit of a mechanical skill check that will make the weapon feel and play a lot better.

Also in higher difficulties the more valuable the stagger potential of it is for ragers and elite armor packs, and debuffing bosses with Skullcrusher. I think Arbitrators kit synergizes better with the Crusher, but Zealot still does more damage.

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@Harridas if memory serves you at least were a crusher fan in the past.

Was crusher ruined by elite HP changes, is this thread just cope, or is there something else going on here?

I distinctly remember good things being said about it not all that long ago.

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Hi, Thanks for remembering me :slight_smile:

I was just about to go to sleep but I can tell you that this is mostly just cope. I can further chat about it later/tomorrow.

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Crusher is only somewhat good on the Arbitrator. It’s pure trash on Zealot and if you want a finese weapon, there are several better alternatives. I’d even take Heavy Sword over it.

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Aside from a reply to OP, I agree with your reply

talent tree nodes on builds in synergy with weapon blessings and perks (imo) do make weapons that are deemed “underperforming” become effective

Much like Thunderhammer, I feel like Crusher is quite effective in builds that incorporate FOTF and Martyrdom

Skill issue is usually a major problem with some players, and no offense to the OP… ts a playstyle and skill issue that occurs, alongside how some weapons are in need of small updates to be relevant to the direction Darktide is in now, and how the gameplay has developed into its own unique style that we are always learning more to face the challenges

In my experience, I have enjoyed using Crusher effectively for crowd control, the special with its AOE has helped against swathes of poxwalkers, ragers and specials (both in staggers and kills)

I do feel like an update on the Crusher can be a good thing as well to bring it up to the current state of Darktide, especially to reflect stats and function in its unique weapon family

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I used the crusher a lot, t’s just that it didn’t keep pace with the recent HP increases.

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Crusher is my go-to on arbi. The only problem it has is that it eats away your stamina. Both the crowd combo (push attack → heavy) and the single target rota (push attack → light → heavy) use the push attack. On the flip side does it make the crusher quite the safe option if you invest into stamina replenishment.

Edit: on zealot it feels like a budget crucis thammer so why bother?

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I always really liked Crusher, and used it in Havoc before the recent Rotten Armour changes. It always struggled vs carapace armour which is weird for a 2 handed blunt weapon in 40k universe. Push attack extra finesse helps out, but that costs stamina.

I don’t really agree with Crusher being a bad weapon…but then due to recent push to spam Carapace in Havoc that holds somewhat true in that game mode.

Specific Arbi talents like Concussive synergise better with Crusher, but it feels really good on martyrdom zealot. Extra damage and attack speed turn it into a blender…unless you are hitting carapace. Skullcrusher + Hammberblow is a classic, and still gives you more crowd control…only Fatshark has decided to break their own game’s core rules and made certain enemies stagger immune (mostly) in Havoc. Skullcrusher + Slaughter is “meta”, but I also like it with Thrust.

You can always take Thunderous as a blessing if you struggle vs carapace…but that costs you a noticeable drop in overall dps . From what I remember using the special powered attack applies Brittleness twice on “one” hit.

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You thought a heavy weapon would outperform the Toothpick of Obliteration (Dueling Sword) and the the Potato Peeler of Doom (Knife)?

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So one of the best weapon is the game is bad now?

I wonder if we’ll see ‘Duelling sword is so bad‘ at some point if FS keeps up this pace.

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Yes! You see, the crusher has an actual downside or two. DT has moved beyond that.

My fav was always the Zealot’s mace, which has nice stagger and better speed, but is balanced by being outclassed.

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Crusher got hurt by health buffs to enemies, it was never great at killing crushers, but it was tolerable, on arbites i did 1 mil+ damage in scab only, as zealot i also got decent results, but it was pre rework and with lower hp lvl.

After buffs to enemies, even before i got inflammation in index finger, it hurt playing crusher in aurics, not even havoc. It’s best attacks against armor, be it push to light or heavy -light strike downs combos, don’t do enough damage anymore.

It’s still got great attack patterns and special, which i wouldn’t want to rework. Special is uber control tool, it’s nearly impossible for melee enemies to overwhelm crusher user, especially arbiter, but on zealots it’s also great. I’d say they can overwhelm only under specific buffs or due to gaps between special attack and immunity against perma stagger after they already been staggered.

It’s got mobility i personally expected from such weapon, but considering how fast can both classes swing it and they can do it fast, maybe some mobility buff are also in order for consistency alone.

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We can tell that @MinecrafShep :

  • Used a ““support” build with the crusher for crowd control and a bolter for monstrosities and burst DPS"
  • Played two games
  • Did not offset the lack of sprint mobility
  • Compares Crusher to Relic Blade
  • Does not use the impact blessings or has unrealistic stagger expectations
  • Did not use Martyrdom
  • Believes the weapon barely deals any damage and needs a buff (extremely cringe)

I think listing these things should highlight that this post is indeed pretty bad cope.
Yes, the buff to elite HP and carapace has made Crusher less powerful than it used to be (like every other weapon before those updates). But Crusher still holds up just fine, especially with Zealot’s talent tree rework giving easier access to talents to compliment Crusher or offset some of its weaknesses.

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Crusher feels good on arbitrator. Not on zealot.

But among the weapons you listed eviscerator is another really good solid choice if you want to try something new. And duelling sword, obviously.

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Crusher is not slow on zealot, needing instant attack speed so that enemies can’t touch you is the biggest sign of a skill issue, I run the crusher in h40, post armor hp buff and it’s fine, quite good even, when running skullcrusher on it.

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