June Update: Early Balance Look

[Palumtra]

Nice to see that you guys listen to feedback regarding Hellbore and Plasma, but also to buff underperforming weapons as well.

[FreekiiD]

Picks up taxes
I am speed.

[bfbc1986]

@FatsharkKitefin

The Combat Shotguns have been in a spot where they are mostly used for their Special shells

Just turn special to baseline ammo. Its solves almost every problem with shotguns, except lawbringer.

[Palisloth]

Please make the special ammo the normal ammo and just nerf the special a little, then watch as people have fun with the shotguns.

[Mitradraug]

@FatsharkKitefin

Removed damage cap after 4th target

It can be removed from chainaxes as well, no reason to keep it

[Ragnarok101]

@FatsharkKitefin

Tigrus Heavy Eviscerators

Important question: will you also update the bleed blessing to match its contemporaries or was that an ‘intended’ change that went undocumented?

@FatsharkKitefin

Lucius Helbore Lasguns

The Helbore Lasguns suffered from a very long Wield action duration, making it hard to quickly swap to them to shoot at priority targets (especially accounting also for the shot charging).

While this behaviour was intended, it also became increasingly punishing as the enemy numbers grew in higher difficulties.

In this balancing pass we sped up the Wield action, walking the line of maintaining the cumbersome feeling while also allowing for the weapons to be easier to swap into.

Alongside this change, we improved some of the armour and Finesse modifiers for ranged shots, and extended the hitscan radius of the las projectiles*, to make it easier for the weapon to shine as a marksman tool.

• This will make the hitscan detection more generous and allow for shots that would have slightly missed the target to still be considered a hit.

HELL YEAH!

@FatsharkKitefin

Combat Shotguns

The Combat Shotguns have been in a spot where they are mostly used for their Special shells, while the normal shots felt underwhelming in most circumstances. They also suffered from long reload times relative to other weapons.

With this update we are trying to improve the overall usability without relying solely on the Special mechanic.

Along with increased base damage and reload speed, the Combat Shotgun family gets updated Sprint and Stamina templates, to enable a more mobile, close-range playstyle and not rely only on precision weak-spot shots.

We also significantly increased the ammo reserves for all marks.

Finally, we slightly increased the Cleave and Impact values to allow it to punch through lesser enemies.

Perfect!

Side note: love me some comms ahead of time about balance changes. Keep those up!

[Phracatti]

Can we please get rid of the earthquake levels of screenshake upon firing the double barrel?

[brosgw]

Nice. Was hoping for some balance changes. Gives me reason to experiment and try other things if I get bored of using the same stuff.

Like the devil claw changes. Always liked the unique parry mechanics on it.

Axes doing more damage to armor makes sense.

Eviscerator would be interesting to try again… but I am addicted to knife on zealot. I love feeling fast and speedy.

Helbore… fine. But it would be competing against recon lasgun and plasma gun for me.

Duelling sword for sure needs it. I think the weapon need a lot less anti-armor value and that should mostly bring it in line. It’s a defensive weapon used for mobility and for hitting unarmored weak points hard. Good stamina and blocking. But sucks at cleave and armor. A duel is Mano a mano not Mano a horde. I would be happy to try out different melee weapons on other classes.

Plasma gun for sure needs it. Other changes have already been suggested. I would say charged shots should be more ammo efficient vs less to justify the heat and charge time. Have very little cleave and armor pen on uncharged shots. Also maybe make it so you can blow yourself up on uncharged shots instead of auto venting.

It would be nice to see some talent tree balances too! And perks and blessings… and if there’s a curio rework coming still that would be nice I still don’t have a max value curio for health and toughness. Can’t be bothered to check all the stores for the 1%.

[Scipo0419]

@FatsharkKitefin

As part of this journey we want to include you, the community, by sharing our intended changes early on to gather feedback and ensure our intention matches your expectations.

The only expectation I have is that you add Solo Mode like was promised pre-launch over 2.5 years ago. How long are you going to make us wait?

[MarxistDictator]

Yeah, this was a definite miss. And the cleave is basically nothing on the conventional shotguns (you can cleave some trash and hit a special ADS, which is the same as now). You still won’t be able to cleave a Scab Bruiser without Man Stopper.

Tactical axes are nice and I’m glad your idea of a Lucius buff is to just make it also involve not aiming at your target but the general vicinity /s. Honestly this ‘feature’ should get pulled from all weapons that have it. Nothing for chain sword or axe is also puzzling to me. In general I find the evis better than those weapons already.

[Pocket_Mammoth]

I really appreciate the team posting an explanation of the upcoming balance changes. Im really looking forward to trying everything!

Some initial thoughts:

• Im disappointed the team is not leaning into the uniqueness of the special attacks the combat shot guns offer. While it would be a challenge to balance the flavor they offer is something that should be flexed and promoted. I would suggest adding a secondary ammo pool in the tube such that the special action is just a switch between the two different ammo types.

• Im really looking forward to trying the helbores. I have grown to really love them over the last couple months. They offer a really unique playstyle in darktide. Im unsure that these changes will impact the more critical issues the weapon has that i detailed here specifically the lack of cleave, poor strength blessing options and cumbersome charge times which is ultimately what slows down the weapon the most. The buff to the melee is perfect, buffing that means you dont need to swap out of it to keep the power fantasy of using the weapon alive.

• Ultimately I would way rather see the updates to most of these weapons be to change the special attack mechanic from a switch on for a single attack to more of a charge/ meter mechanic like the relic sword and force greatsword. Where ever the team can add a meter they should, be it an ammo pool, a duration of the chain going off or some amount of attacks before activating it again. The flavor the special attacks add have been so fun to learn and play around with, they really ought to be where each weapons uniqueness comes from if appropriate.

[Sidd]

Helbore changes sound great, but please consider giving it a scope, or ironsights.

The weapon closest to being a sniper, and self-described as a “marksman tool”, still aims with rails. The weapon can be incredibly powerful and rewarding, but the issue is that it will still feel bad to use without proper sights.

[Ragnarok101]

I would also like a sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight buff to the infantry lasgun. Like a tiny amount more base damage so that it can 1-tap gunners consistently on Damnation with headshots.

[Freaktacular]

would like red weapons instead

[Fingeris]

@FatsharkKitefin

Future Balancing Pass

All Chain weapons require a buff, not just Heavy Eviscerators…

[WolfLordGrim]

This is all we really need to make the helbore feel better to aim. It’s a sight like the other lasgun.

[dwOd_v4nd4hl]

This is some serious good news.
Shock Maul is my favorite melee weapon in terms of moveset and fun factor. Im stoked.

Combat Shotgun buffs me gusta too…

DROP UPDATE NOW FATSHARK

[figda]

I was hoping for both powermauls (zealot’s crusher and ogryn’s pmaul) rebalance as well since they are rather lackluster compared to other weapon options at this point.

Overall, intended changes seem alright, hope there will be more in the future.

Maybe change plasma gun’s charged shot to have explosive effects like plasma cannon might incentivize the use? I’m not even sure what to expect off plasma gun at this stage, because I feel like that it’s not borderline broken; just charged shot being lackluster compared to the quickfire.

[imagio]

Would be awesome to see a slight buff to infantry lasguns. They feel underwhelming every time I try them and I rarely see anybody use them on damnation/auric difficulty. Recon lasgun is always a better pick. As for double shotgun I’m not sure if that’s enough of a buff to make it feel good, it’s a weapon that never feels right to me, I want a big blasting double boomstick but it generally can’t even kill the weakest mobs beyond point blank range. IMO the double shotgun should feel more like the kickback feels on Ogryn.

[IGN_Vera]

@Vror

Knife aren’t forgotten to be also put on the “rework” block

Outside of mobility, what exactly is wrong with knife?