Smite is not fine and everyone has said it already. No ability should exist within this game that allows someone who sucks at the game to stand in a game at the highest level essentially doing nothing and succeeding doing nothing without ever implementing a single core mechanic within the game. As I have already said there shouldnt be an ability that can turn off AI for the entirety of a mission, period, wether you are a noob or not. Also smite is not misunderstood its a cc tool most of the time. The problem arises when people use it as a main weapon. Also noone has said that if you smite 100% of a mission that you arent going to do some form of damage im saying the playstyle shouldnt exist and 98% of the time its a crutch for bad players which the rest of us just have to deal with because it exists. Also when I say you arent playing the game im talking about the fact that you actually arent engaging with the game if you are holding down smite for 40 minutes straight because youre essentially just cc”ing the entire game and obviously this varies if youre playing with venting shriek and often times the perma psykers who abuse it arent. Also rarely ever in this game are you ever going to come across a good player who is also perma smiting 100% of a game who refuses to actually engage with the game but they also know how to play the game and arent just crutching on it. You smiting 100% of a game is completely missing my point. Obviously you can smite 100% of a game but when you see people do that, they are almost always bad players crutching on smite and not the players who use it 2% of a game. Smite is not in the game to be used as a permanent weapon without ever using a staff or a melee weapon for 40 minutes straight and people shouldnt be perma smiting all game sorry but im gonna stand by that statement. You should not be able to turn off all of the AI in the game for an entire mission and thats not even me getting into what that does to screw certain skills and zealots etc etc like its actually not healthy for the game. Im not just making that up everyone knows it.
There are no competent players in hi shock missions smiting 100% of a mission. Theyre smiting as much as they do because they suck playing psyker and dont actually know how to engage with any of the enemies in the game and its very obvious when you play with them. Those are players who often die constantly who have horrible positioning who are hard carried by their teammates and they also dont play any other build on psyker nor do they play hi shock auric missions with any other character or build. Most of them more than likely farm resources perma smiting and then go jump on their main and spend said resources. They also almost always are wearing atleast 3 wounds if not 4 because theyre bad at the game and either just hit lvl 30 or go down so often they think they need them. Also im not gate keeping this game I cant stop anyone from doing whatever they want in this game but I can voice my opinion on what I observe in game and on the ability itself. Also the reason you dont constantly see smite in havoc is because most psykers good enough to play havoc understand that youre almost always better off playing with another build but those
People are completely different players than the awful malice players in my games getting hard careied by everyone around them abusing smite and using it as a crutch. Most people you see in auric and maelstrom using the ability are abusing it its not like its some kind of mystery. Also i dont really care if you dont see it as a problem because that doesnt make the problem magically go away. Smite by design is a flawed ability and you not minding perma smite psykers in your games doesnt change that. There are lots of people like telopots who have voiced this very same opinion who agree with what im saying its not like im pulling this outta nowhere. Lots of high level players would love for smite to be changed and tanner lindberg has also voiced this
Opinion. Also we arent talking about smite being op in terms of dps, we mean op as in its ability to allow someone who genuinely sucks at the game to beat hi shock missions while engaging with the game as little as possible. No we cant stop noobs from turning off AI in our games indefinitely abusing a cc ability while never popping up in the killfeed and refusing to use a ranged weapon or a melee weapon for 30 minutes straight but you can bet were going to continue to talk about it until
Hopefuly one day fatshark overhauls the ability so its no longer possible. Also if smite isnt a problem and you think smite is perfectly balanced and its mere existence isnt s problem, tell me another ability in the game that allows you to not engage with the game as aggregiously as you can while playing smite. Tell me the other abilities in the game that completely shut off ai for everyone involved unbeknownst to them and there isnt anything you can do about it. Where are all the builds that allow you to beat a mission at the highest levels without ever using a melee weapon or a ranged weapon?
Fatshark is overhauling the difficulties and making it so that you have to showcase skill in said difficulties partly because every difficulty is filled with perma smite psykers. The regular board in general is filled with players in heresy and damnation who are really malice players. If you think fatshark hasnt read the complaints all over both forums about smite users and also taken playtesters echoing those same sentiments into account in order to change the game in this way I think youd be sadly mistaken. I mean you can disagree with me all you want but I guarantee you perma smite psykers infiltrating every difficulty is a big reason as to why these changes are coming. Tons of high level players went to fatshark and said man for the love of god please do something about horrible noobs abusing smite in every difficulty and fatshark said okay well try to do something about that. Never mind the fact that they very clearly dont want lvl 30 ill prepared players running to damnation as fast as they can due to the resource bottleneck and thats been a problem forever at this point. Trust me I hope and pray these difficulty changes make it so people arent 5-6 difficulties ahead of where they should be simply because of things like smite or beating a maelstrom starting you at havoc 16 which is also a problem. Also as a final thought many people think stealth shouldnt exist because of how it breaks the game and ai and people feel exactly the same about smite. How in the world are you going to act like im crazy for mentioning skill in reference to difficulty levels when even fatshark is sick of people who suck at the game existing within difficulties they shouldnt be in? Please dont act like im nuts for mentioning something that even fatshark agrees with and of course smite is a big reason as to why players are able to do that and succeed because as soon as a perma smite psyker beats a mission they stay in said difficulty but let them get on a different character and theyre dead all game watching everyone else play the game because they no longer have their crutch in smite.
You have said it, and a couple of others have. That’s hardly “everyone”.
While I agree that “no one ability should be a one (I win the game)-button”, I don’t think that accurately describes Smite. There is a big difference between a good Smiter and a bad one.
Also agree.
I interpret that specifically as that’s what you meant.
I don’t know how I did that by stating my opinion.
All in all, it seems more like venting than actual constructive critisism. That’s fine, but not for me. I think Smite is fine, period. It was discussed a lot more when it first launched, especially because of how it interacted with Empowered Psionics (infinite Smiting). I rarely see anyone going on a Smite fest nowadays.
In Havoc, they’ve countered it by having modifiers which makes enemies immune to CC. So, for me, it all worked out in the end.
tbh I am one of the players who leaves the mission when I see a smiter joins. According to the replies of most smiters they swear that they only use smite when absolutel necessary and do not permanent smite, yada yada… It seems then that I am an unlucky one because most of the time I have such smiters in the missions I participate in and its tiring.
I don’t want anything like that anymore: Examples of useless smiting that I come across quite often.
I already explained to you why smite isnt fine and you have yet to refute my point. Also them creating havoc modifiers to make it so smite isnt viable does nothing for 95% of the playerbase. Also smite in its current form breaks the game so no smite is not okay it is broken and flawed by design as is stealth. Who cares if smite isnt viable in havoc when my hi shock games are filled with horrible players who can completely change the flow of a famew and be hard carried by an ability and there isnt anything anyone can do about it. How on earth can you come to the conclusion smite is fine when malice noobs can come up to hi shock auric and maelstrom missions, press one button all game, and succeed at darktide while basically doing nothing outside of cc. There should not be a single ability in the game that allows you to do that and I dont see how you can refute that. In its current form this will always be a problem and I think the entire ability needs reworked. Also the fact that you cant even explode using smite adds to the hilarity of people being carried by the ability because they dont even have to manage peril which is a core feature of the psyker class. Also idk why you keep mentioning people who use smite correctly because smite is a noob trap and a crutch for 95% of people who use it and that in itself is a problem. The cc from smite is so abusable that you can suck at the game and still win auric and maelstrom missions while contributing the least amount of dps to your team and there isnt anything else in the game that allows you to do that. How on earth can you say someone at the highest levels of play in auric and maelstrom killing nothing but stray poxwalkers for 30 minutes straight should be acceptable because its not to many of us who actually enjoy engaging with the game. If youre going to spend 30 minutes at a time holding enemies in place you might as well not even play the game because youre basically just spectating your teammates the entire game. Noone should be okay with someone on their team whose name never pops up in the killfeed because that means that they arent doing anything. Let a perma smite psykers team die around them and the mission completely falls apart because all they have is cc and they most definitely arent clutching because they arent even using a ranged or melee weapon.
I disagree, and I think the issue you’re having, is on you.
Anything that doesn’t ask you to aim precisely should have some special mechanics that restrict it from spamming, if you still want it to have decent damage/stagger. There is areason why in many fps games your starting pistol has infinite ammo, and rpg doesn’t.
What do you suppose for a change to make smite good then? I see just complaints about people using it. And it sucks to have something in a skilltree that just sucks. So what you think would be a useful change to make the ability useful?
I would give it a crit chance personally and make it so that assists count as kills, just like the soulblaze dot does, that way it would do more damage and kill hordes faster. As I see smite mainly as horde clear (which it is bad at atm, it does mainly cc and kill very slowly compared to other horde clear abilities) not elite/specialist killer
I am soon breaking 2000 hours in game. Haven’t had any fun-breaking smite moments as far as I can recall. And no, psyker is my least played class in Darktide, so if anything, I would mostly be found on the receiving end.
I know this smite hate has been on the menu for a long time, but seems like I’ve just been fortunate enough to not meet a Smyker yet who’s ruining a round because of excessive smite usage. I have used smite myself of course, but I feel I prioritise maybe 80% combat etc. and maybe smite for the remaining 20% of a round - that is, if I even use a smite build. 
Nevertheless, as some has said here, there are no rules in Darktide. Anyone can do anything they want playstyle-wise and there isn’t really anything we as players can do to police that. I suppose if it truly is such a big issue for some people here, one could stick to premade strike teams? One could establish strike teams in the Darktide discord for example. Yes, not as easy and convenient as just jumping into a mission on the mission board, but again, if the no-smite-policy is so important for someone, I’m sure going that extra mile to find a compatible strike team is worth it instead of rolling a die with randoms and rage quit. 
Great way to not refute anything I said. You must not play this game if you think otherwise. While leveling my arbites I was in freaking sedition with lvl 20+ psykers smiting everything and yall actually will say with a straight face there isnt anything wrong with smite. Not only does it create absolutely horrible habits in players but that player is going to smite all game every game all the way up to maelstrom and get hard carried every single game and the entire time theyre going to think theyre contributing and playing support. News flash if your name isnt popping up in the killfeed you arent supporting anything in your games, outside of your inability to actually engage with a single mechanic in the game of course. Also smite is most definitely game breaking because a smite psyker can join a game at any difficulty level and make everyone play the game on their terms and not only do you have to make up for their inability to kill anything meaningful at all whatsoever but the omly thing you can do to get away from it is just leave the game. How is that not toxic for the game? Its horrible for the game and it plagues every difficulty. No other ability in the game can carry a malice player all the way to maelstrom like smite. Also this is not about wether someone can smite or not because they do and they will. Im specifically talking about the crutch that smite is for 90% of people who use the ability and the way that they force everyone else in their lobbies to play. There should not be an ability in this game that can completely turn off AI for the entire team for the entire game and absolutely noone can do anything about it. Smite should be gutted and completely reworked and I genuinely dont see how you could ever argue otherwise. You cant even pop while playing smite and you dont see the problem with that? Perma smite psykers dont even have to learn to manage peril they dont even have to
Learn how to play the class they just equip ite and thats it now they can play psyker at any difficulty level they so choose irregardless of wether they have actually are good enough to be there. Also if you dont think thats a problem please do tell me about all the abilites in the game that are carrying malice players in auric hi shocks and maelstroms to the degree that smite is because they dont exist. The people in auric and maelstrom who dont belong who arent using smite die constantly and leave but theyre mad they cant contribute and they stop playing the difficulty. Perma smite psykers are emboldened by getting carried and in turn stay in the difficulty and think theyre contributing to games while basically standing around doing nothing all game.
Thats not for me to figure out thats for fatshark to hopefully figure out but as it stands the ability is totally toxic for the game. Im not even talking about smite being “good” but it shouldnt be spammable for 30 minutes straight that would be a good start. Smite should not be constant cc indefinitely the entire game. Because as ive already said smite forces everyone youre playing with to play the game how you specifically want to play allowing you to just hijack every lobby your in and thats a major problem in my eyes.
Who cares? Why would anyone get mad youre applying CC to enemies? Imagine your biggest problem in life is someone else playing a way you find sub-optimal in a video game
Necroing a thread just to say “just let people have fun” is not only rude, it’s also unproductive. Besides, the smyker problem is a lot less pronounced these days - I barely see anyone on the Auric difficulty (and even when leveling my ganger) using Smite as their primary tool nowadays. Folk are getting better and starting to lean off the crutch, and it’s good to see.
As for “sub-optimal”, there’s a difference between not being optimal and actively sabotaging yourself. I think Smite is a comparatively low-value tool to spam all the time to your other options - Trauma (Voidblast) staff deals large AoE damage, can apply brittle with a blessing, does a bunch of knockdown, and can use its primary fire to suppress ranged enemies, for example. There’s a reason it’s a blitz - you’re supposed to use it as an augment to your kit, not as your primary weapon!
Psyker Blitz need a rework think it should be a regenerative CD throw out and keep fighting like a shorter shock mine
There’s a strong “overwhelming powaaaah” fantasy which would break if it wasn’t channeled. I think the compromise is to give it more use as an AOE damage tool but limit its uptime (charges, CD, whatever).
Edit: could even make the charges regen from kills like the blind grenade does. Would force the smyker to take part in the mission.