You can do all this stuff to them, you can break the shield by smacking it, or you can aim above the shield and just hit the head outright like bulwarks. It feels like Ogryn and Skitarii have to try to not hit the head. These guys aren’t bad at all.
I didn’t get skitarii (or HS), maybe that’s why no one else shared my POV of these guys yet, since folks are still leveling up.
When the clankers reach full skill and weapon power, maybe more will see it my way.
Or not, whatevs.
I feel like we should have gotten shielded shotgunners instead, like those figurines people kept posting. Implementation would have probably been flucked anyway, tho.
I like them, but you should be able to tag them.
The idea of being tough while actively guarding makes sense.
But being that durable while staggered, shrugging off weakspot hits like a mountain, makes no sense at all.
Have you thought that the reason the new enemies are so tanky is that they are the new versions of Dregs and Scabs? Like, FatShark is planning to reduce the enemy spam, and the stats on the new enemies might actually signify their plans for the bruisers from both factions and the buffs that might be done to them in the distant or not-so-distant future.
These enemies could be just a glimpse into what every enemy will be in the future, so I say let’s not try to call for nerfs because they are noticeably different from other trash enemies. We need to give FatShark time to evolve Darktide into a healthier game without crazy enemy spam, and one of the ways to do this is not to try to halt the progress because right now it feels wrong. It will feel right once other changes are implemented; we just need to give them time.
Yeah I’d rather have more meaningful fights that last longer and engage the player more than sheer entity spam at all times. If this is a move towards that I’m all for it. I’d love for Ragers to go back to being a threat without spawning 30 of them with Final Toll next to you…
If this is true it makes me happier. For better or for worse they seem to take a few hits to put down even on low difficulties.
Again, reserving real judgement until levelled again.
Really? Your complaint for this enemy is that they can survive and does damage? Which “forces” you to block, dodge, attack at the right time and position yourself? Which also leads to reduced spawn of the most frustratingly uninteractable enemy the bulwarks? Like do you even want to play a game? With mechanics? That forms playstyle around such mechanics?
Vanguards are honestly the best part of this update because it makes the dynamic of the hordeclear part of the horde shooter so much more interesting. They are a consistent threat to you, while not being too dangerous to the level of elites or specials, so hordes actually serves its purpose of pressuring and limiting your space. Their existence in a horde makes them a mini-priority target that encourages you to reposition to or around them to take them out quickly or temporarily evade, which makes melee fight much less one-note, and slightly counter aoe-spam because now something actually can live long enough to walk in front of you. They are also much easier to deal with with a team compared to one person, which both helps deter speedrunner (theoretically, they still exist, but I also have seen one or two of them die in a ditch with 3 shielders around them because for the first time their actions has some level of consequences) and it also helps with skill expression because a more skilled player can dispatch them relatively easily, but a less experienced players can simply survive long enough for their team to arrive and it still wouldn’t be much of a time waste.
I can talk even more, and maybe I am wrong about some or even most of what I talked about, but the point is if every time a new stuff slightly inconvenience you you immediately want it nerfed, then this game is never gonna get any meaningful content that is not “same stuff but looks different” or “stuff that does not matter at all”.
Agree. So far, while leveling skitarii (heresy-damnation), my own opinion on the shielded guys is that they fill a very needed niche: they are not that dangerous to the player by themselves (unlike maulers or ragers), but they are tanky and force you to mix up the cleaving attacks in your combo with some strike-downs and pushes. It makes the flow of dealing with hordes a bit more interesting.
And honestly, so far with the arc maul and Mars power sword I haven’t had any problems with them at all.
I am also curious to see how backstab damage functions with them. They have 50% headshot resistance, but I assume they don’t have backstab resistance. Maybe it can make backstab modifiers a little more viable. Though, probably not.
Maybe they could get increased damage when they have been staggered or something, or open their shields for longer (do they even open their shields if staggered? I haven’t really noticed).
But let’s just wait until enough time has passed so we don’t rush into complaints immediately after our level 90 grey, unupgraded tranSonic blade cannot kill a vanguard in one hit on malice with level 3 skitarii, and we die to 3 chaff enemies. We can make a better judgement when everyone starts playing aurics and havocs with max-level characters, and people spread out to other classes to see how they perform against vanguards.
As an ogryn I can attest they are rather irritating. They don’t bring anything new to the table, doesn’t really make you change tactics because they are so much different and need a special approach in a fun way - they are simply a bother, yet another “brick pillar” that stop your wide swings when you try to clear the trash; at least bulwarks are clearly visible and you can be prepared, those guys, in contrary, blend into the greyish crowd and you can’t see them until you start noticing that your swings don’t go full distance from left to right or something. Then you have to focus them with single-target attacks - and those buggers just don’t die, they are tanky af even if you’ve broken their defense stance by staggering them, they still die too slow. That’s not behavior of a trash mob, at all, more like an elite.
This would make sense imo:
- The dreg shieldmen must become trash mobs they are supposed to be. After their shield is broken or you stagger them and “open” their stance, they need to die really quick, like a regular trash mobs. Their AI scripts need to be changed for them to stick to other trash mobs, first of all, to support them.
- Scab shieldmen can be left as they are, properties-wise, but need to be labeled as a full-fledged elite in the code. Their AI scripts need to be changed, making them to stick to other elites, like gunners or ragers, so that they could support them in fight.
And please make them more visible somehow. Give them some bright scarf or a bright cloak, to stand out in the crowd. Or place some glowing heretical inscriptions on their shields.
You people are so weak, the new shielded enemies are fine and perfectly okay…
Finally, the game has a basic enemy that doesn’t die in one hit. Is it annoying? Yes! Does it add more tactical combat, does it make a force to be reckoned with? Also yes. If the whiners win for a nerf, this game is definitely doomed.
But they fundamentally add nothing new to change how you play.
Consequently, I love thisguy’s ideas for scripting them to stick to mob support, esp for the scab shield protecting gunners, which everyone complains are too easy to kill all the time:
Darktide players have this consistent habit of coming across a bug (shield enemies shields having bigger hit boxes then needed making it harder to hit the guy behind it for example) and instead of advocating a fix they want an entire rework for no reason
Maybe if FS checked their work we could get honest community appraisals instead of knee-jerk reactions?
they die in 2 (two) heavy attacks with the karsolas pickaxe and heavy hitter stacked up
2 hits to break shield, 2 hits to kill them, they really are not that tanky
and thats not using single target attacks, the karl heavies are diagonal horde clear sweeps
No disagreements here
I don’t use pickaxe, and you should stop assuming everybody plays the same meta-build you perceive as the only option for an ogryn. Not to mention that FOUR pickaxe hits is too much even for freaking elites, not for literal trash mobs, you contradict yourself and can’t even understand that.
what are you talking about? karl pick and heavy hitter is the meta now?
Your obsession with pickaxe to such extent you didn’t even think other ogryn players can use something else. Cleaver takes much longer to kill them, for example, it’s not 4 hits with cleaver