Hello all,
Loving Darktide in mission gameplay a ton, but I have seen a ton of conversation about ranged enemies stunlocking characters into oblivion and all around the sheer number of ranged enemies being deadly. I have seen these problems, but I think fixing gunners/reapers is the true issue here. I have many times myself been fighting a group of enemies and all the sudden a gunner or reaper is blasting me before I can have a chance to react and get to cover.
THE PROBLEM: In my opinion, people really don’t see understand the threat of gunners and reapers on higher difficulties and you shouldn’t need a slab shield, force sword with deflection, or your ult to deal with these situations. Every class/playstyle should be able to solo clutch, but add a gunner and reaper or two to the mix and the odds of survival pretty much go to zero.
MY SOLUTION: Change them from ELITE enemies to SPECIAL enemies. Giving them distinct spawn sound cues, more distinct visualts and possibly reduce the amount of them that show up at one time. I have multiple reasons for this change:
- They are essentially rattling gunners, but now they are more abundant and have no sound cue so we can’t deal with them right away. Characters will sometimes call them out, but that is already after they have engaged with the group and more than likely started shooting.
- They are treated as NORMAL elites like Chaos Warriors in Vermintide 2, but they have the gunpower of a rattling gunner who can shoot you from REALLY FAR AWAY with great accuracy!
That pretty much sums it up. GIVE THEM A SOUND CUE when they spawn or notice you, really make them stand out (these are dark areas and in a group of ranged they can really blend in), and consider reducing the amount of them (but not necessary if the other two things are done well). There is no reason you shouldn’t know a gunner/reapers is in the area and heading towards you before they have already engaged you.
More clarification/ranting LOL
-
I think somewhere in conversion from Vermintide 2, the developer forgot that rattling gunners were SPECIAL enemies and one of them could stunlock/shred a characters health, but you would hear their spawn cue, hear them clanking around, AND see a rat with a giant gattling gun and backpack that stood out distinctly from the rest of the pack. Also, their accuracy seemed to trail off at further distances making it so less of the bullets would hit their target. Gunners just absolutely slap like using a high accuracy recon lasgun.
-
Gunners/Reapers are drastically different from other elites since in vermintide 2 those threats had to engage you in melee range which allowed for kiting, dodging, and other ways to deal with the threat. Gunners and reapers DO NOT have this problem and can gun you down with the same amount of damage as a chaos warriors attack, but from range with pinpoint accuracy.
1 Like
Completely disagree. If your setup is made to be able to deal with basically anything and you play well, then yes.
However, if you pick only short ranged options and then get locked in place by a lot of ranged units shooting you from behind cover, that is your fault (maybe try to relocate while not getting in line of sight with them, or falling back into a more suitable place to fight, so that they come after you).
Also, there are some playstyles that simply belong straight in the garbage.
Regarding the other stuff:
Specials often spawn behind the party but these ranged elite units are standing somewhere or pop out of a door sometimes and are far more predictable.
You should always play near cover in order to be able to go and hide just in case ranged units start blasting you.
Never had a problem with these enemies on any difficulty, so although it might not be a nice thing to hear, this might be more of a “you problem” than a general problem with these specific enemy types themselves.
2 Likes
DT Gunners don’t have nearly the same amount of push as Ratling Gunners. Reapers may be a bit closer to that level of pushback, but a Gunner will just slow you from advancing on them and mess up your accuracy while they’re suppressing you.
Every class has options to kill, suppress or knock down Reapers and Gunners, they’re not really broken. The tools to deal with them exist and work reliably well.
1 Like
Haha the classic GIT GUD come back. 
Of course I consider that I’m not a god player and I could be better, but I still think there is still merit to adding at least a sound cue to these enemies. I have played hundreds of hours of Vermintide 2 on Legend/cata and over a hundred of darktide on multiple classes on Damnation difficulty and not to gloat but I’m no push over. lol
This video is a perfect example of how gunners can melt your health within seconds and/or stunlock you into oblivion. Stunlocking Is a Problem in Darktide - YouTube
Depending on your class and playstyle you will not be playing in or near cover ALL the time (like you say you should be) and like in the video example they both were within running distance of cover or literally in cover shooting, but they were either obliterated or stunlocked before they could get back to full cover. If you have played L4D like games then you know sound cues are super important, but an enemy who can trail you even after you dodge the initial shot or keep shooting even when you are within melee range shooting, needs to be relooked at in my opinion.
This is not always the case of course, but when it happens to you, you will see what I mean. In vermintide 2 and left4dead you felt like there was always something you could do, but here its less like that. I don’t think “ALWAYS play near cover” is the answer.
BUT like you said I need to GIT GUD I guess. 
I do agree that being stunned to that extend is pretty bad and that there was not much if anything that he could have done (not sure if he tried dodging).
I can not remember having gotten stunlocked that hard any time recently though, so this extreme case could be an issue that was already fixed (the video is quite old).
You can see in the video that he dodged and was going for cover which was not far at all.
It has happened to me in the last few weeks. Could be a bug though like you said or a mechanic we don’t fully understand. From my understanding, when your toughness shield breaks you get staggers. Maybe since he didn’t have any toughness he can’t resist staggers.
Anyways, thanks for the response and I do hope you don’t ever experience this. I am a pretty calm person, but this irked even me lol It felt like being grabbed by a disabler special (once I was trapped the game was over for me unless someone else helped). However, they aren’t a disabler, they are an elite enemy who is just supposed to be a damage dealer not a CCing enemy. That is why I suggested them be considered a special if this is how they want them to function.
One of the worst examples was where I dashed at the gunner was beating the crud out of him within melee range with a dagger and he still unloaded on me point blank. I got a couple hits in, but once my toughness broke, I was stun locked and couldn’t even dodge around to his backside.
You can still get briefly staggered from ranged while you have toughness, it makes it harder to move in a straight line at your target in particular, but if you’re out of toughness in the open and you weren’t already sprinting or sliding in a way that would avoid incoming fire, you’re probably going to get locked down and unable to move hardly at all.
Best thing to do if your team can’t help is to try and suppress or stagger whoever is shooting you, assuming you’re armed with a weapon capable of doing so. It’s a tight window, but it doesn’t take much to make a Reaper stop shooting and cover their face. The main defense against it though is situational awareness and avoiding being in the open when a Gunner or Reaper has you as its target in the first place.