Preliminary Block Efficacy Data on Darktide Melee Weapons (against non-Monstrosities)

[TwiceBorn]

Since I’d been gathering in-game data about dodge limits and dodge distances, I started getting curious about how efficient melee weapons in the game were at blocking enemy melee attacks. So I went and collected that data, too–at least, data for blocking non-Monstrosity enemy melee attacks.

Preliminary Block Efficacy Data on Darktide Melee Weapons

The resulting spreadsheet does not contain that much useful information, mostly because Darktide players generally won’t be blocking enemy melee attacks very much, outside of fending off Chaos Spawns and Demonhosts, blocking Plague Ogryn charges, and while rezzing teammates. Still, it revealed some interesting things about the weapons and classes, so I thought I’d share them here.

I ended up making a lot of observations based on this data, so I will be posting them in the following posts for better readability.

Caveats:

All testing was done in the Psykanium, on Damnation difficulty. However, difficulty setting has no effect on how much stamina and/or perils it costs to block enemy melee attacks. A Crusher’s overhead is (almost) always gonna blow right through your blocks, whether you’re on Sedition or Damnation.

All testing was done on non-Monstrosity enemies, and only against their melee attacks.

All testing was done without using weapons, curios, or class feats that add stamina or blocking efficiency. All data collected was done with “baseline” stamina and blocking stats.

Some weapons have a “Defenses” stat, which affects how much stamina/perils is consumed when blocking enemy attacks. I tried to buy weapons with as low Defenses as I could find, but I couldn’t really get any weapons with Defenses stats much lower than 40% before I nearly bankrupted myself. (The one exception is the Veteran Shovel, because I used my 5th and last character slot to have a fresh Veteran with a crappy 20% Defenses stat Shovel.) So, if you’re reading the data entry for a weapon that has a Defenses stat, just keep in mind that the stamina costs for blocking with those weapons can get worse than what I listed here.

[TwiceBorn]

Enemy melee attacks:

It turns out that you can categorize ALL non-Monstrosity enemy melee attacks in the game into these categories:

Bulwark’s shield bash attacks

Crusher’s attacks

Mauler’s attacks

Rager’s attacks

Every other non-Monstrosity melee attack, which I’ve labeled as “Lesser Enemy” attacks. ←- All attacks in this category cost the same amount of stamina to block on a given weapon. Are you trying to block with a Knife? Then on that same Knife, you’ll use the same amount of stamina to block a Scab Bruiser melee attack as you would a Dreg Gunner’s bayonet stab. Same applies to Scab Shooter bayonet stabs, Scab Gunner kicks, Tox Flamer kicks, Scab Bomber kicks, Dreg Shooter melee attacks, Poxwalker and Groaner melee attacks, etc. Even Bulwark non-shield bash attacks and Reaper kicks are interchangeable with a Groaner melee attack for our purposes.

Mutant grabs and Pox Hound pounces were not tested, since they count as unblockable grabs rather than proper blockable melee attacks.

Bulwark shield bashes are unique in that almost every melee weapon in the game gets guard broken (aka 100% stamina loss upon block) if you block the shield bash. Bulwarks tend to use this attack if you get extremely close to them, so be wary of getting too close when engaging them in melee. If, however, your melee weapon is capable of blocking the shield bash without getting immediately guard broken (namely: Psykers using the Kinetic Deflection feat, or the Ogryn shield), the game treats it like a Lesser Enemy attack. This makes me think that the Bulwark shield bash checks to see if it’s one of those specific weapons being used to block, and if it isn’t, then it immediately causes guard break. If it is one of those specific weapons, it simply functions as a Lesser Enemy attack.

Crushers seem to have 3 different types of attacks: the infamous overhead; a side-to-side swipe; and a kick or punch. They seem to prefer doing the kick/punch if you’re extremely close to them, and this attack costs more stamina to block than their side-to-side swipe. If you’re farther away, they seem to do an even mix of overheads and side-to-sides.

Ragers (both Dreg and Scab) seem to have 2 different types of attacks: a 4 or 5 hit combo, and a pair of faster attacks that cost more stamina to block. They seem to like doing the latter when you’re right up inside their hitbox. Beware that some hits in their 4/5-hit combo can hit you twice, with each of those two hits taking away stamina separately. You generally don’t want to be blocking Rager attacks if you can.

Maulers seem to have only two different attacks: a side-to-side swipe, and their overhead. Unlike Crushers, they don’t seem to have a third attack that they use to push you away when you get too close.

Don’t bother blocking overhead attacks from Crushers and Maulers. There is exactly one melee weapon in the game that can block an overhead from these lads without taking health damage through the block: the Ogryn Shield. Blocking overheads with your melee weapon accomplishes nothing, as far as I can tell, except make you lose stamina on top of health.

[TwiceBorn]

Optimal blocking angles:

In Darktide’s predecessor game, Vermintide 2, each weapon had an optimal blocking angle. For example, the Sword & Dagger melee weapon in Vermintide 2 had a “blocking angle” of 90 degrees. All enemy attacks that originate from this 90 degree angle in front of you would cost less stamina to block. This means enemy attacks coming from outside that angle (say, from behind you) would cost more stamina to block.

Something similar applies in Darktide. I did NOT test each weapon to see what their optimal blocking angles are–I can, however, say with confidence that such angles do exist. For every single melee weapon, you pay less stamina to block enemy attacks that originate in front of you than ones behind you. Exactly where this optimal blocking angle starts or ends is something I didn’t test, but it’s there.

So if you can, you should try and block enemy attacks while facing those enemies…though given the way players tend to use blocks in Darktide, that might not always be practical or relevant.

[TwiceBorn]

General observations:

As some of you might know, each class has a different amount of built in stamina. Ogryns have the most, with a base stamina of 4 before additional stamina added by weapons and curios. Then Zealots, with a base stamina of 3. Then Veterans, with a base stamina of 2. Then Psykers, with a base stamina of 1.

This definitely has an effect on how much stamina it costs each class to block enemy attacks. Generally speaking, Psykers have to use a larger amount of their total stamina to block enemy attacks than the other classes, even when using the same melee weapons, because they have less stamina. Conversely, Ogryns typically spend the least amount of their total stamina to block enemy attacks. Psykers, of course, have a special ace up their sleeve to compensate for this, which I’ll get into later.

Generally, melee weapons in the same “class” tend to have no differences compared to one another when blocking enemy attacks. So all the different Tactical Axes perform the same when blocking enemy attacks, etc. The odd ones out are the Mk 5 Dueling Sword (which is the only Dueling Sword with a Defenses stat that affects how well it blocks things), and the Catachan Mk 1 Sword (which for some reason is slightly better than the other Catachan Swords at blocking). This also means that I was able to extrapolate certain data from some weapons onto other weapons in the same class; this is why, for example, all the Heavy Swords are listed as having the same range of stamina block costs, even though technically I only tested the range on Mk 9 Heavy Sword with differing Defenses stats. Since the Defenses stat on all the Heavy Swords seemed to work to the same degree, I felt comfortable copypasting the stamina-cost stats from the Mk 9 Heavy Sword onto the other Heavy Swords.

Generally speaking, Tactical Axes and Catachan Swords are rather good for blocking, with Catachan Swords typically being slightly more stamina-efficient than Tactical Axes for blocking enemy melee attacks. For some reason, the Mk 1 Catachan Sword is better than the other Catachan Swords at blocking enemy attacks coming from the optimal blocking angle, but performs the same as the other Catachan Swords when blocking outside the optimal angle.

A Chainaxe with a maxed out Defenses stat is one of the best weapons for Zealot and Veteran for blocking, though having a high Defenses stat for Chainaxe would probably require you to give up too much for the Chainaxe’s damage stats (Damage, Penetration, and Shredder). A Chainaxe with a middling Defenses stat is about as good at blocking as Catachan Swords.

The Combat Axes and the Chainsword are mediocre for blocking, despite the fact that they give more additional stamina than Tactical Axes. Compared to the Tactical Axes, they demand more stamina to block with, and they are more harshly punished for blocking enemy attacks from non-optimal angles. You get the impression that Combat Axes and Chainswords were designed to rely a bit more on their attack animations and pushes to manage enemies over blocking and dodging, compared to the Tactical Axes. (Though you should still block with the Combat Axes and Chainswords if you need to, of course.)

The Knife generally falls somewhere between Tac Axes/Catachan Swords and Combat Axes/Chainswords. Against attacks from optimal block angles, they’re as good as Tactical Axes, but suffer more harshly for blocking attacks from non-optimal angles.

[TwiceBorn]

Ogryn observations:

Not surprisingly, our tanky boi uses less of his stamina to block enemy attacks compared to all other classes. His innate bonus to stamina, the fact that most of his weapons also add a buttload of stamina, and the fact that most of his weapons have a Defenses stat, means the Ogryn can block non-overhead attacks from Crushers with stamina left to spare. The Ogryn Shield with a solid Defenses stat can also let you block overheads from Crushers and Maulers without taking health damage…though in higher difficulties where you might be having 3 or 4 overheads swinging your way at any given moment, blocking overheads is still not the best idea, even with the Shield.

Ogryn Cleavers are the only Ogryn weapons without a Defenses stat and are the worst at blocking. Since the Cleavers are no better than the other Ogryn weapons at dodging (except for the Shield), Cleavers seem more incentivized to use their faster attack sequences to keep the horde at bay.

Ogryn Shield with a high Defenses stat is the best Ogryn melee weapon for blocking…if enemy attacks are coming from an optimal block angle. The Shield suffers a relatively steep penalty for trying to block attacks from outside the optimal block angle.

Overall, I’d argue that the best Ogryn weapon for blocking melee attacks is actually one of the three Clubs or the Latrine Shovel with a high Defenses stat. It won’t block attacks from optimal block angles as well as the Shield can, but it’s more efficient than the Shield at blocking attacks from outside that optimal angle. Even with mediocre Defenses stats, the Clubs and Latrine Shovel are still pretty good at blocking. Though, of course, the Shield is unique in being able to block enemy ranged attacks. (Keep in mind, however, that the Defenses stat is still a dump stat for all Ogryn weapons–you typically want to maximize the damage-related stats on those weapons over Defenses.)

[TwiceBorn]

Zealot observations:

Although the Zealot is better at blocking with generic melee weapons vs the other Human classes (thanks to the Zealot’s superior innate stamina, and not counting a certain feat for Psyker), the Zealot’s unique weapons are, on the whole, not the best at blocking. Heavy Sword with high Defenses stat can be one of the better blockers in the game, but those with low Defenses stats can make the Zealot almost as bad as the Veteran at blocking.

Meanwhile, the Thunder Hammers and the Indignatus Crusher have abysmal blocking statistics if they have low Defenses stats–a Zealot armed with a Thunder Hammer with bad Defenses is worse than a Psyker at blocking things in many cases, even when the Psyker doesn’t use their special feat. If you combine this with the Thunder Hammers and Crusher’s poor dodge-related stats, on top of their slow movesets and somewhat anemic damage when not using their special attacks, you can really tell the devs were banking on those special attacks to carry these weapons.

The Thunder Hammers, in particular, are very noticeable in this regard: with weak and slow uncharged light attacks, uncharged heavy attacks that are VERY slow compared to the amount of damage they do (especially against hordes), and the Hammers’ bad dodge and block statistics, they only really have their special charged attacks and innate stagger going for them. Even with high Defenses stats, these three weapons still won’t be very good at blocking…and in the case of Thunder Hammers, you need every scrap of damage stats you can get (Damage, Penetration, First Target) to make sure the Hammer’s special charged attacks can kill things in as few bonks as possible. Defenses remains the dump stat for these weapons.

[TwiceBorn]

Veteran observations:

As expected, the Veteran is average to mediocre at blocking. This, combined with the Veteran’s poor stamina regeneration, long stamina regeneration delay, plus certain Veteran feats draining the Veteran’s stamina, means blocking can be risky with the Veteran in a way that isn’t with other classes. In fact, thanks to a certain Psyker feat, you can argue that the Veteran is the worst class in the game for blocking, despite the stats that I’ve listed in the spreadsheet.

The Veteran’s unique Power Swords are basically as good at blocking as the Combat Axes–meaning they’re fairly mediocre in that regard. Like with the Combat Axes, you get the impression that the Power Sword relies on its attacks over pure dodging and blocking to keep the enemies at bay.

The Veteran Shovel, meanwhile, is actually pretty good at blocking if you get one with a high Defenses stat…though like with the Chainaxe, the Defenses stat remains a dump stat for the Shovel. And even then, it’s probably better to have a higher Mobility stat on a Shovel, since the Shovel has excellent dodge characteristics. That said, a Shovel that you get at max level is probably going to have a middling Defenses stat anyway, which will result in a Shovel that’s about as good at blocking as a Catachan Sword.

[TwiceBorn]

Pskyer observations:

At first glance, the Psyker is the worst class at blocking enemy attacks, because it has the least amount of innate stamina. However, as every Psyker main knows, the Psyker has a couple tricks up their sleeve to make up for this.

First is the fact that Psykers have the shortest stamina regen delay. This means it takes less time for Psykers to start regenerating their stamina compared to other classes. While their raw stamina regen rate isn’t that impressive, this still means they will effectively have more of their stamina up and ready to block again compared to some of the other classes (especially the Veteran).

Second is the Level 20 feat, Kinetic Deflection. This feat allows Psykers to use their Perils of the Warp instead of their stamina to block, so long as they’re not at critical Perils levels, while still having access to their stamina for blocking if they get to said critical Perils. As a result, Psykers are shockingly good at blocking enemy melee attacks. (And honestly, the two other Level 20 feats are just not great, so a Level 20+ Psyker has almost no reason to not run Kinetic Deflection.)

I’ve included stamina costs for blocking with the Psyker, as well as Perils costs. Take note that optimal blocking angles affects Perils costs as well–enemy attacks from optimal blocking angles will cost less Perils to block than ones from outside optimal angles.

Generally speaking, a Mk 5 Dueling Sword with a high Defenses stat is the best Psyker weapon for blocking enemy melee attacks, though you will still take health damage if you try to block Crusher and Mauler overheads with it. However, the Defenses stat is still the dump stat for Mk5 Dueling Swords. Meanwhile, all Dueling Swords are a bit better than the Tactical Axes at blocking, especially since Dueling Swords take less of a penalty for blocking from non-optimal angles. Between this and the Dueling Swords’ innate bonus to sprint speed and dodges, the Dueling Swords are great at keeping Psykers away from enemy attacks (though their middling offensive ability counterbalances their survivability).

All three Force Swords are the worst Psyker weapon for blocking melee attacks. I suppose they needed something to balance out the fact that they have infinite dodges and can block ranged attacks if they have certain Blessings. Additionally: although each Force Sword has a Warp Resistance stat, this stat has NO EFFECT on how much Perils it costs to block enemy melee attacks with that Force Sword.

If your Psyker is using the Kinetic Deflection feat, they will not get guard broken by Bulwark shield bashes, so long as your Psyker has the Perils to block it. Your Perils will treat Bulwark shield bashes like any other Lesser Enemy attack.

[Mayson]

Holy scriptures, what a great report.

Off to the barracks with you now, soldier. You’re off-duty!