What are your views on the Psyker class?
I feel that Darktide is fairly balanced with a decent variety of classes and skills, but after playing this game for about 2 years my opinion is that the Psyker is, by far, the hardest class to play on higher tiers.
It’s way too weak compared to the other classes and its dmg output doesn’t really compensate for it, in my opinion.
Would love to see some reworked talent tree, maybe with some kind of a personal shield ability that causes peril instead of damage …
The best DPS class in the game, and moderately survivable thanks to passives that activate with peril level and kills, but obviously not comparable (tough) to Ogryn, Arbites, or Zealot.
You don’t need to imagine, as there are plenty of videos out there, go look.
But the scenario is this: there are long time players who are able to dodge, parry, and generally position themselves to an extent they very rarely get hit. They also play with their mates who’re equally as good.
They then have an archetype class that can do insane amounts of AOE damage, team shielding, and general cc: ( ). Literally carbon copy. Think glass cannon without the glass.
These players will rightfully tell you that the Psyker is utterly amazing. It is.
Run around on your own, or with a crap team, and you’ll likely find the Psyker is more glass than cannon.
That’s probably the scenario here. An elite player is going to map clear. A good one is going to be hit or miss depending on their team. A mediocre one is likely going to be watching other players a lot.
Depends on the kind of build you’re using. If you’re constantly using Smite then yeah it’s bad and doesn’t deal any damage. Psyker builds usually want a bit more forethought put into your weapons and tree to be the most effective.
I regularly top damage with Scrier’s Gaze and one shot Crushers and Maulers with headshots while tearing through hordes, so in all likelihood you’re just bad.
Psyker needs to be able to build Peril in melee without requiring Scrier’s Gaze. Psyker needs more melee talents, and less tax nodes in the bottom half of the Talent Tree.
Other than that, Psyker is fine and I don’t want to see Psyker become any more tanky with more TDR and DR options because strong DPS through Blitzes/Staves/CAs should be balanced by more risk.
You’re probably right! I’m bad! Which is my point. I’m not saying Psyker is useless. I’m saying it’s the hardest class to play with little or no room for errors on higher tiers.
A “mediocre” player like my self can manage with all classes on Auric. But not as Psyker.
On Havoc 20+ you pretty much need to be able to play Psyker flawlessly, avoiding any damage entirely.
That’s not the case with the other four classes.
A true melee build that focused on the Force Greatsword with electrified AoE sweeps, similar to Arbites, would have been so cool.
When they were discussing the Psyker reworks back-when, I pictured a gun-focused Psyker augmenting the bullets with warp abilities or being able to fully use both Laspistols and Warp powers as dual wield, however that obviously did not happen.
What we got instead was not that appealing to me, personally.
There was a lot they could have done, and Arbites and Ogryn’s revamp proves that Fatshark can work magic when they put their minds to it.
This pretty much sums up Psyker perfectly. There are a few outliers. For example max Soulblaze stacks need to be toned down and Blessings such as Uncanny that shouldn’t be able to modify Soulblaze DoTs can create absolutely absurd scenarios; but for the most part a Psyker’s mastery of Darktide’s melee mechanics, build crafting and positioning will determine whether the Psyker is Elite, Good or Mediocre with less room for error than the other classes.
@Disco1
Here’s a decent build if you’re interested in trying Psyker more: Axe Maniac
I’ve found the right side, Scrier’s path to be the most reliable in higher difficulties as it offers ways to boost Critical damage as well as survivability through movement speed buffs and passive interactions with the Mettle Talent. The left side of the tree with Warp Siphon and Shriek is strong too, but it demands a lot more Blitz/Staff use to get the most out of that side.
That could still happen in the future with Blitz modifiers or standalone talents that apply Warp effects to bullets. As for melee, not just Greatsword but a Peril gen talent that could be used for all melee weapons would be great.
Great suggestion, Illisi is a fantastic sword for the left side of the tree. Unfortunately, I find hordes of poxwalkers easier to compensate for with Blitzes/Shriek than armored Elites or Bosses that are so often spammed in higher difficulties, so Illisi kind of becomes redundant IMO. Illisi is still good if paired with Voidstrike or Voidblast that can deal strong damage against those armored and Boss threats though.
If Obscurus could pump peril like Illisi and had a special attack that didn’t latch onto enemies, I would be estatic.
Yes and in return for that you get access to a lot of incredibly powerful AoE tools and absolutely bonkers damage output. Then you also get access to some of the best utility in the game with team flat cooldown regen on a trivial condition, bubble, and the haha I’m invisible to gunners for hitting things talent. Oh also the best movement speed bonuses and stamina recovery stats making it by far the easiest class to avoid damage with (really takes the edge off the whole “glass” part).
I just think Psyker is genuinely insane and the skill requirement is an incredibly generous trade for what you get in return.
I appreciate you being honest, but this is part the game meta for that class. You have to play with some anticipation. You’re a backline class. So, play behind your teammates, or on the edges of the fight. If you have to pause fighting for a couple of seconds to reposition, then that is always the better choice than taking a fight that will lead to being downed or killed. Pick weapons and talents that give you the best chance to kill fast and survive.
Is it always fun to be playing like you’re going for the True Survivor penance? No, but at higher tiers you survive by playing with that mind set.
It’s muscle memory, brother. The more you play, the better you get and easier it becomes to control that class.
Competent melee combat as Psyker isn’t intuitive for new players, so there’s the skill curve aspect to make full use of the high Stamina regen. Easiest class to avoid damage with though? No. Zealot TDR, Ogryn DR/Stagger and Arbites stagger/Toughness regen/DR take the cake.
Psy Aura needs to be nerfed.
No more broken than the “haha I can eat overheads and things that should kill me every two minutes Talent” or the “haha I have a mastiff that makes two out of three disablers in the game a complete joke”. It does require Crits to trigger Empathic Evasion, so yeah it’s broken with the right setup but the tradeoff is the Psyker making max use of Empathic Evasion is usually in melee, so no bonkers stave damages - except for bpnkers Purgatus Crit consistency, may as well be all Crits with Warp Nexus.
So, my point is the generous return for skill requirement isn’t that insane when compared against the other classes - Ogryn and Arbites mainly. The outliers Psyker has - Soulblaze and Psy Aura - will and should be nerfed.
One can absolutely say that I’m a whining mediocre player, but I have played Psyker as my main for almost 2 years and I love it. I can manage about Havoc 25 with a decent team.
It was just recently when I started playing Ogre more actively and also the new Arbitrator class that I realized how easy and almost effortless it was compared to the Psyker. That’s where my post comes from.
Psyker might be extremely powerful when you’re a really skilled player. But when you’re not, it’s the weakest class imho.
I do find it a bit strange that Psyker seems to be the only class that has this wide span of useless to great.
). Literally carbon copy. Think glass cannon without the glass.
