Mechanicus Class Thoughts

Here’s yet another topic, theorycrafting an AdMech class. Just thoughts that have been kicking around in my head that have coalesced into some general concepts for the AdMech class that I think is widely wanted and expected.

I don’t actually care that much if they are a Skitarii or a Tech Adept or a full-on Tech Priest. I don’t think the presence of a full Adeptus Mechanicus group would be that hard to introduce, since they could be taking an interest in the lost Moebian Steel factory that we helped activate. Some powerful Magos got wind of this and rolls up, introducing his forces to Tertium alongside some ramp-up in heretics, hoping to get control of, or at least study, the factory and its special steel.

As for gameplay, I can immediately think of three things that could make an AdMech class unique:

  1. Mechadendrites - mechanical arms/tentacles that could be equipped with various weapons or tools.

  2. Servo-Skull - Growing off the Arbites doggo, this could be a true companion, who could talk (to some extent), be armed with weapons (which could be altered with talents), and also interact with machinery! Perhaps he could be ordered to open doors, pick up items, or even do hacking puzzles for you (albiet slowly). Plus, if you look up pictures, some wear HATS! Who wouldn’t want to put hats on your floating skull buddy?

  3. Radiation. This could be a new status effect/DoT that can be put on enemies. This could be on some weapons but also the class itself, as sometimes they are irradiated so much that they’re dangerous to be around.
    In-game, I’d imagine this as a weak DoT, but it either spreads among enemies, or a highly irradiated enemy will actually damage others around it. I dunno - adding another DoT that can get bloated into crazy numbers by armor reduction could be a problem.

The Mechadendrite would figure into the core combat loop of the character. It would be the Blitz skill of the AdMech, with each option (Ranged, Melee, and Support) having multiple sub-nodes to specialize it. Uniquely among Blitzes, you can use it while doing anything else, since it is (literally) a third arm. So you could hava a ranged option in melee or a melee option with ranged if you like.

Mechadendrite Blitz Ideas:
Melee - Manipulator Arm, the default melee option. Activating it could do a heavy attack, on charges.
Arc Claw - deals damage, can electrocute enemies. Activating it again does a heavy attack.
Breacher - Heavy drill that can drill into an enemy, dealing massive damage. I imagine would lock you in place akin to a chain weapon, but could do huge damage even to Carapace enemies. This one probably wouldn’t attack on its own, only charges for the heavy attack.
Any of these melee options could even block attacks automatically when you have a ranged weapon out, but this uses up a charge.

Ranged - Lasgun is the default. By default I imagine it shoots at enemies you aim at, with infinite ammo, and activating it causes it to shoot in bursts or stronger shots.
Grenade Launcher - Want a grenade? Here’s your grenade. I imagine it would function similarly to Ogryn’s grenade launcher. No automatic firing, has limited ammo, must be manually activated.
Other options are almost unlimited; you could put a Plasma Caliver on here, an Irad Cleanser, a Flechette launcher.

Support - Default scanner that highlights ranged enemies and specials, akin to some nodes on Volley Fire. Perhaps it has charges again and you press your Blitz key to ping a scan, lasting a certain amount of time.
Smoke Emitter - When the player comes under fire from ranged attacks, will emit a smoke cloud to obscure their vision. Has a cooldown. Obviously this would not be as big as the Smoke Grenade vet has.
Omnispex - Analyzes enemy weakpoints, passively increasing Crit Chance and Weak Spot Damage.

Servo-Skull
Like the default Mechadendrite, the Servo-Skull comes by default with a Las pistol equivalent, just flying around and shooting enemies, willy-nilly. Like the Cyber-Mastiff, enemies don’t attack it and it can’t be hurt. Also like the Cyber-Mastiff, it could be ordered to interact with things, not just targeting enemies but also electronic devices, allowing it to do hacking minigames in place of the player (though I imagine taking quite awhile). Or it could scan targets. It obviously couldn’t do anything else while doing this.
I imagine it could also attack dogs/Mutants who grab you, but I can’t imagine it staggers them very effectively. It could even, theoretically, cut you free from a Trapper net, but I think that would be a bit too much.

Servo-Skull Keystones
Like the Arbites Doggo, the Servo-Skull could have optional keystones related to it specifically.

Gun-Skull - Giving the Servo-Skull more Lasguns, allowing it to shoot a lot more.

Sensor Skull - Another way to provide increased intelligence on enemies, similar to the default support Mechadendrite arm. This wouldn’t highlight enemies, but instead put a mini-map on the character’s screen that shows all enemies around the player.
It would be a fun nod to classic FPS games, and subsequent nodes could add different colored markets for certain types of enemies, like elites or specials, or highlight pickups.
A subnode could allow it to bring you small ammo packs - not from the map, but ones it generates, with the idea that it found them.

Medi-Skull - Could automatically give the player random Stims occasionally, when in combat (not green, obviously). These could be somewhat tailored to the situation; if your ability has a long cooldown it gives a yellow stim, if you are immersed in melee combat it gives you a red stim, if you are far from the team it gives you a blue stim.

Active Abilities
A lot of possibilities here, many people have suggested some, these are the ones I like or have thought of.

Overclocking - A self-buff, giving increased Movement Speed, Attack Speed, and Toughness regen, perhaps even buffing dodge to some degree. Especially good in melee or when kiting.

Sensory Assault - as per the Sicarian Infiltrators, could be a shout-type ability, staggering enemies and debuffing them to take more damage, and suppressing shooters similar to Chorus, but not giving any gold Toughness.
Subnodes on this could also trigger your Servo-Skull to get bonus damage or go into an overdrive.

Shield Projector - Your Servo-Skull projects a shield that moves with the character and follows where he’s looking; sort of like the big shield Reinhardt has in Overwatch. This would allow a new option for approaching enemy gunner positions, though one that only faces a single direction. Perhaps a sub-node causes it to apply shock to enemies who touch it. I would definitely give it a health bar, so you can get an idea of when it will go down.

Player Keystones
Neutronic Activation - A damage-oriented Keystyone that causes the player to emit radiation when certain criteria are met; perhaps based on melee, as that is where this would be most useful.

Mechadendrite Loader - Allows the mechanical arm to reload your ranged weapons when you don’t have them out.

My only other thought is some kind of Toughness buff, allowing him to build up a very big toughness bar without going into gold Toughness.

Talent Trees and Nodes
The talent tree would have the usual three archetypes; one lending more towards a combat playstyle, in the same path as Overclocking, Melee Mechadendrite and Gun-Skull.
A more tech/pet-oriented one that focuses a lot on buffing the Servo-Skull and Mechadenendrite.
And a more ranged-focused build. Perhaps there could be stability, fire rate, and magazine-size buffs in his tree, to give him something of a more unique focus.

Melee Weapons:
Arc Lance + Shield - Shock spear and shield. Since we have shield weapons now, it seems pretty reasonable. And Shield+Spear are a combo seen in the Vermintide series.

Electroleech Stave - A two-handed weapon with a cog-axe head at either end. They supposedly “drink the electrical energy” of the target, whatever that means. I’d put that flavor into some blessings and mostly just make it like a dual-ended spear that you can spin and attack with. Like maybe it restores Ward on hit innately.

Omnisian Axe - A two-handed axe! Considered to be some of the finest power weapons, I imagine it would be a slower but harder hitting equivalent to the Relic Blade.
These are weapons of great honor, even holy, perhaps above the station of a playable character - but they are also iconic to the faction, so I’d expect to see them.

Transonic Blades - Always used in pairs. These blades match their sonic fields to things they hit, making them better against armor. They come in sword, dagger, and claw varieties. Any or all of those are options, I think. Claws would be pretty unique to the series, but Vermintide already has Dual Swords and Dual Daggers, so those variants seem very reasonable.

Ranged Weapons:
Most Likely: The core ranged weapons of the AdMech.
Radium Weapons (Pistols/Serpentas/Carbines/Jezzails)- Guns that shoot bullets - but those bullets are extremely radioactive. Enough fire is said to be enough to start a “rad storm”, so I’d take that as an AoE effect.
So, on hit give an AoE burst that spreads a unique ‘Irradiated’ DoT to all targets it touches. Its fire rate and direct damage output could be lower to account for the DoTs it is giving out.

Arc weapons (Pistol/Rifle) - Lightning gun, shocks enemies on hit. Since shock seems to give a bunch of good debuffs to enemies. This would probably function similarly to a Las Gun, but with higher damage, lower rate of fire and debuffs attached to it. Peraps each shot would have a wind-up, similar to the Plasma Gun.

Galvanic Rifle - Single shot, slow-firing, but high damage per shot. I’d think of it like a DMR.

Transuranic Arquebus - Another precision weapon, but with this one I would expect some kind of homing quality to its shots - the bullets are said to have a Machine Spirit that can adjust its path in flight.

Less Likely: While undoubtedly weapons used by the AdMech, they aren’t as prominent as others.
Electrostatic Gauntlet - Shoot bolts of lightning from your hands, kind of like psyker. I would hope it’s not you-know-what 2.0, but instead more of a damage-dealing weapon.

Flechette Blaster - Super high rate of fire smg that fires tiny darts. These are said to have a homing ability once a target has been hit; in gameplay terms this could be the special attack, shooting a shot that then will cause the next shots to home in - perhaps not perfectly, but decently.
This thing is supposed to shoot hundreds of tiny darts, so its rate of fire would be immense; I’m guessing it would spit out multiple darts per each shot in a somewhat narrow cone.

Plasma Caliver - A burst-firing Plasma Gun. Each shot is less powerful, obviously, but it fires in bursts.

Mitralock - las shotgun, basically. Not much to say here, hopefully it would be good if they make it.

Unlikely: These weapons are rare, obscure, or potentially lost.
Phosphor Pistol - Shoots glowing balls of energy that stick to enemies and continue to deal damage and give burn stacks. Perhaps it fires in bursts?

Gamma Pistol - Heavy damage, very few shots. Perhaps it overheats? Its shots are good even against Carapace. I’m not thinking one-shotting a Crusher, but dealing decent damage to them on a headshot.

Rotor Cannon - Like a minigun. Everyone loves a minigun. Very heavy, slow to bring out, but churns out a lot of lead. No windup, that’s a silly trope and certainly these things are electrically-run. I would think it doesn’t need to reload but instead can overheat. This, notably, is something normal humans use, there’s a model of a void marine with one, so I’d imagine that if this was added it would be available on Veteran.

Conversion Beamer - Shoots out a beam that deals more damage the further away the target is. Holding the beam on the target until it dies will make the target explode, dealing damage to enemies around them.
In lore, moving while firing this somehow ruins the effect, but that would translate terribly into Darktide, so . . . perhaps it just slows you down a lot?

Irad Cleanser - This is a 30k weapon, don’t know if any are still around, but I think it has interesting potential.
It unleashes blasts of radiation; my thought is that it fires a wide cone shot that damages everything it hits and gives Irradiated stacks, and overheats after a single shot so you have to take a moment before firing again.
It would be something you’d whip out to soften up a lot of enemies in front of you. It won’t kill them, but it will damage them, making them easier to take out, lending it to a quick-swap playstyle.

Personalities
For the three options, I would suggest
Omnissiah Believer - Very religious, often talking about machine spirits and how he so dutifully performs the rituals to bless his weapon and whatnot.
Scientist - Only pays lip-service to the religious dogma of the Mechanicus. He’s here to learn and understand. Always toeing the line of acceptability in this regard.
Pre-Servitor - Basically lobotmized at this point. Very little personality, frequently misreads things people say that aren’t very direct. He enjoys collecting spores.

Stats
I would imagine that the AdMech depends largely on its Toughness, with relatively low health. While they do often wear armor, it just seems to be a niche that could be expanded more.
I wouldn’t say this necessarily means he’s weak; with talents he could probably spec to have a lot of Toughness and Toughness DR, so he could be rather tanky.
His other stats would be pretty standard; 2 wounds, normal dodges. Some of his movement could also be upgraded with nodes, with better leg servos or such. Lots of options here.

Melee:
Combat Axe
Tactical Axe
Chainsword
Power Sword
Chainaxe

Ranged:
Laspistol
Flamer
Autopistol
Infantry Lasgun
Boltgun
Plasma Gun
Shock Maul

That’s just my thoughts. Any feedback is appreciated.

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We need Cybernitica as an option since we have a Dog and just for reasons anyway
I didnt choose normal Servitors for War, cause they are boring, we need the Good stuff Guys

We need Kataphron and Kastelan as Ads like the Dog.
either 2 Kataphron with Customizeable Weapons or Kastelan
All are Customizeable like in Inquisitor Martyr. You can make them Ranged or Melee or have mixed setup on the Kataphron





“Kastelan”
So Melee and Ranged is an option 2


“Kataphron Vanguard”
Greataxe which is Electrocuted. kataphtron also has a Electrocution AoE and can charge Enemies. Charge would be on Ping like the Dog and just done by itself.
Since he has only one Weapon Aoe and all would make sense



“Kataphron Destroyer”
Phosphor/ Phosphex basically the same. One is forbidden (i thought Phosphor was in the Lore, for whatever reason) its basically the same
SO Gravcannon or Heavy Plasma and Flamer or Phosphor on the other Arm

Gravcannon will come to Game anyways and Phosphor needs to be done from scratch

This would be a Dream if we get this!

I agree on Mechandrites i had a similar idea as the Rumpl
My idea was choosing Mechandrites either Ranged or Melee. You as a Player can either Melee or Ranged Weapon or both.
The idea is that Mechandrites attack automatically and or with Blitz Ultimate ability. Depending what build you choose.

Mechandrites shoud always be there.
However you can forgo your Bots and pump them up even further as a Solo like on the Arbites without a Dog and make it stronger.

Mechandrites should be customizeable aswell Weapon wise.
“Mechanicum Game” is a Great start for ideas. There are awesome options for it and it would be neat to see new stuff aswell.

Mechandrites can be 2 light weapons or one Heavy. Heavy would filll 2 slots and vice versa.
No Ammo Consumption just overheat after a while maybe

PLAYSTYLE
*Legio Cybernetica “Sheperd” with Mechs (only uses light Mechandrites)
Of course the Kataphron are 2 and the Kastelan you can only have one?
maybe 2 but they have HP? They shut down after taking too much dmg and you need to repair them. Otherwise you get one no HP

*Techpriest Dominus style focusing Mechandrites as Ranged/ Melee (Heavy Mechandrites)
*can use 2 Heavy Mechandrites
Ultimate whatever, Override your Weapons and Mechandrites shoot them manually and faster.

*Enginseer which would be kind of Middle option someone who can Heal with Nanobots AoE, passive Special/ Elite Scanning for more dmg, lowering attacks or whatever through their Tech (Noosphere) (uses Heavy and light mechandrites))
And use the swarm of Nanobots to attack Enemies.
Hes also kind of Melee Option if you wish. But i rather go with a Hybrid on all, since they are, literally.

Now we have 3 very distinct Classes in these Career.

Also the Grind would be nice since you you have Weapons on some Classes that are locked out for the others
Mechandrites Weapons f.ex. Mecha
Heavy Mechandrites:
*Eradicator Ray
*Heavy Gravcannon
*Solar Atomiser
*Torsion Cannon
*Heavy Plasma since Kataphron
*Heavy Grav since Kataphron
*Phosphor Gun since Kastelan
*Heavy Arc cannon

Light Mechandrites
*Stubber
*Plasma Caliver
*Grav
*Arc Cannon
*Volkite

Some of these options you can put on the mechs aswell, as the Heavy arm or shoulder mounted for either Mech
*Heavy Arc Cannon

  • Heavy Gravcannon
    *Torsion Cannon
    *Solar Atomiser

You Grind them Weapons once and just be able to equip them multiple times on your Career and Mech. No need to Grind 2 Eradicators for your Mech and yourself. Just be able to equip it multiple times (sry my English)

Melee options are plenty from Rumpl already so i leave it there
As later Weapons you could introduce Heretek Weapons!

Yeah one can Dream! :joy:
This would be my take on Mechanicum sry Adeptus Mechanicus…

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Start of with a few mechanical enhancements… and leads to total narcissistic superiority… Mechanicus will fit right in!

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I think I saw this guy at Walmart last week.

@Roibr
The Kastelans and Kataphrons are awesome. They seem hard to balance, though, but it’s in Fatshark’s hands. It would be kinda funny if we could play AS the robots, like another Ogryn-sized unit with unique, big weapons. But I think lore would prevent that, as they don’t have any personalities or thinking ability, right?

Just add “testicular” in there and it’d be the most devastating weapon ever.

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I would prefer the Vivisector Spiders.

Wouldn’t it be more representative of the Mechanicus to have turrets?

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Imo, Mechadendrite would work better as a separate melee weapon than being a blitz.


Raduim, Mitralock, Gamma Pistol, Rotor Cannon, Coversion beamer, and Irad cleanser really shouldn’t appear tbh, they’re not the most common weapon, and even without any shared weapon (which ought to be the case here), there are enough weapons to avoid thoses, do think that Radium would happen (Good Old Plasma)

That I dislike tbh, personalities in Vt1-2 and DT are something that are great;, and losing one to such a personality would be somewhat sad.

Rather see them set around major FW.

  • Metallica: rough, consider every organic to be worst than any augmented being
  • Mars: Regalian, but quite devout
  • Ryza: Xenarite, borderline hereteck

As for the summons:

  • Psiloi Constructs: Not really a thing in lore, and isn’t the only thing that Martyr does without any precedent → most likely not
  • Kataphron: No verticality → most likely not
  • Kastelan: way to valuable → most likely not
  • Servitors: Best choice, as quite varied weapon load outs possible
  • Guardian Skull: Good choice, maybe for the Blitz
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They could make it a class passive that gives you a third weapon slot for ranged weapons only. Have the little hand hold another pistol or something.

I think if we get anything mechanicus it should be servitor based. Keep the brains of the operation safe with Hadron.

As the player PoV, not really, Servitors would be unable to do quite a few things that would be necessary here.

And not be able to introduce tons of weapons that people would want.

I would love to see a Sicarian Rustwalker.

As standard, Sicarian Ruststalkers are armed with:

  • Sicarian Battle Armour - As agility is of paramount importance to the long-limbed killers of the Sicarian brotherhood, Sicarian Ruststalkers go to war clad in Sicarian Battle Armour. This is made up of a multi-layered alloy that, though thin and flexible, provides admirable physical protection. This alloy, informally known as aegium, acts as a capacitor that harnesses the energy of incoming attacks and disperses it harmlessly across the wearers bionic frame.

  • Transonic Razor - A Transonic Razor emits a low, insistent buzz that makes stomachs turn and eyes vibrate in their sockets. When they strike armour, these weapons will adjust their hostile sonic field to match the armour’s resonant frequency, quickly slicing right through it

  • Chordclaw - A Transonic Weapon in the form of a needle-fingered gauntlet capable of turning a man’s muscle, bone and fat to jelly.

  • Mindscrambler Grenades - Mindscrambler Grenades harbour the egg-sac of a Cthellan electrogenesis squid. When detonated, the resultant surge of bio-electricity causes heavy neural trauma in living creatures and artificial sentiences alike.

Sicarian Ruststalker can choose to replace their Transonic Razor, Chordclaw, and Mindscrambler Grenades with:

  • Twin Transonic Blades - Stiletto-swift weapons wielded in pairs, Transonic Blades are a form of Transonic Weapon that augments the user’s own strength to devastating effect.

Optional wargear that a Ruststalker Princeps can take include:

  • Chordclaw - A Chordclaw can be taken if the Ruststalker Princeps chooses to wield twin Transonic Blades.

  • Prehensile Dataspike - Usually mounted on a tail-like Mechadendrite, the dataspikes favoured by the agents of the Adeptus Mechanicus can stab into the cortex of enemy machines and steal their secrets within a couple of heartbeats.

  • Relics of Mars - Relics of Mars are items of terrifying power that are sometimes bestowed upon a Skitarii Alpha or Sicarian Princeps by a senior tech-priest for them to field test.

  • Special Issue Wargear - Elite Skitarii warriors have the right to bear special issue wargear into battle, which can include either a Conversion Field or Refractor Field, and Digital Weapons.

Downside of this class would be that it cannot use any ranged weapons.

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I would love that too, just curious how the range portion to their arsenal would work, since darktide wants to have the 1 -2 combo of melee and range for each class.

Rock and St-t-t-t-one


The imperial agents have an Ogryn Servitor as part of the group.

Melta/Stubber/Plasmagun

I could see a slow heavy support, long range basooka type class introduced. A class with no run?!?

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I would put it on tracks like the OP listed, like with the Kataphron, just it would not be lore accurate.

Kataphron is interesting, the design is vomit inducing, IMO, with the tracks. I feel like Darktide maps need characters with legs.

I actually forgot about that to be honest. :frowning:

Very true as tracks and stairs don’t mix.

They could make it work, give them Jetpack boosters on the tracks, or maybe the track portion is more flexible than seen in 3d models.

I just dont think the casual 40k fan, that knows 0 about admech, would look at kataphron and say heres my money!

Arbitrator was the easy with the dredd puns.

I pray they do not introduce a summoner class into darktide.

Not sure FS can as the only summoner type would be from the Cult Mechanicus as all others would be Chaos bound.