Psykers, I think Voidstrike Staff needs abit more damage

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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I feel like the VoidStrike and Trauma staff are great against hordes but are terrible against shooters, elites and specials. With the Voidstrike sometimes requiring multiple quarter 2ndary shots or a really long 2ndary charge (80-100% full) just to kill a single dreg shooter, worse on the scabs. Specials and Elites like Flamers, Shotgunners and Heavy Gunners are completely unkillable for me even at full charge requiring multiple shots and with a horde around that really is hard, forcing me to melee while getting rained on by multiple gunners and shotgunners, or flamers even. Donā€™t even talk to me about enemy Ogryns (:

The Surge staff and the Purgatus Staff are amazing, to the point where they really really overshadow the other staffs, even with my animation cancelling on the Voidstrike it still does not compare, I just hate the way both staffs limit my effective range, with the exception of the Surgeā€™s primary shots

Suggestions for the Voidstrike:
A Higher Crit Chance - Really helps with Surge IV blessing but helps damage overall paired with Warp Nexus

Remove the intermittent pause in-between 2ndary shots - Will really help with DPS output, make it exactly how the Purgatus works which charges immediately after the shot is fired

Secondary Action/Shots need a buff
Minimum Charge Damage - Voidstrike needs higher minimum damage on 2ndary shots, it will really help spamming shots because as of now the primary shot is almost 2.2x better damage wise, but does not have AOE, the 2ndary shot however does not penetrate elites and maniacs on either minimum charge or its survival, making its AOE and penetration advantage null, it wonā€™t affect overall max damage but having a higher minimum will definitely help, I was testing the charge against the heavy gunner, 210dmg primary vs 75dmg 2ndary, 2.8x better. The damage drop off is just too much since the AOE is tiny and what its advantage is over the primary shot is its penetration, which as we know, does not against Flak, Carapace, Maniac, etc unless they die from the shot or you charge at least halfway, and when you do, the primary shot still deals more damage (especially against Maniacs, test it on the flamer and trapper yourself)

Weakspot Damage - A higher weakspot multiplier against elites and specials will definitely help, I definitely aim for their heads but even then I barely do damage, requiring a full charge which doesnā€™t even kill them. With the low minimum charge damage, any follow up shots will barely do anything, requiring another super long charge time.

Anyone else think this or is it just me
I mean, I still can do Hi-Int Shocktroop gauntlets but Iā€™m limited to just staggering/BB the Specials/Elites while my team does all the heavy lifting for me :smiley: , TY for carry btw, youā€™ll probably see me around with my boomstick

I just want a higher impact on the team as a Psyker with a Voidstrike Staff, just like a Bolter Vet, ThunderHammer Zealot, ChainGunning Ogryn ya know? I get that we need to balance unlimited resources but our DPS is already controlled by Quelling and our Volatility

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I really want to like voidstrike more, but itā€™s low damage vs. single targets really is a problem. A Psyker that wants to use a staff basically has no option for dealing with ranged enemies other than playing peekaboo using BB, which is really slow and in tense situations isnā€™t a very safe way to go.

Iā€™ve taken to playing psyker pretty much exclusively as a gun psyker for this reason. Most games on damnation are lost when the team gets pinned down by ranged enemies and a few specials snag a person or two. I always bring a kit that can deal with these ranged threats in a quick/burst-y way, otherwise itā€™s asking for trouble.

Voidstrike staff should have the ball / hitbox size dramatically reduced and the damage dramatically increased. A quick partially charged bolt should be able to 1-shot stalkers/shooters on a body hit with the right breakpoints.

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These two staffs are directly analogous to VT2 Serena staffs (fireball and conflagration?) . I think they worked better there as there arenā€™t the same ranged units we have in dt.

I dislike both staffs, to the point where Iā€™m not qualified to objectively suggest valid improvements without a wholesale rework, which tbf, is never going to happen.

I think the basic observations Iā€™d have is:
Voidstrike - youā€™re firing out a black hole (!) It should drag everyone towards it within x radius of the orb apart from unyielding. And add stagger. Good for concentrating enemies in a area for aoe follow up by another class.

Agree though that making an impact feels harder than the surge/purge staffs.

Trauma: Iā€™ve seen some players knock out big damage numbers with this one. They obviously are better placed to make suggestions!

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Void especially suffers from laughably bad damage, and it also suffers from getting arm hits almost constantly. Other weapons that pass through things have gotten torso priority, voidstrike hasnā€™t. On a completely flat surface you can aim for heads, but completely flat surfaces are never the problem when it comes to shooters.

Trauma is in a better place, but is also lacking in damage, and it has truly laughable crit modifiers.

Edit: Trauma is in a better place if you roll a perfect one. Trauma without near max in 4/5 stat bars and good perks is not worth bringing.

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I donā€™t agree. Its main advantage is cleaving which applies to more than just hordes, in general I use it more for destroying shooter groups which like to corral in chokepoints. Single target damage on top of the range it has and the crowd control would be too much, it also has AP damage at the minute. It also had the headshot tracking thing fixed ages ago, so Iā€™m not sure where that complaint is coming from, or how trauma needs a loadout to be good when you donā€™t even need a melee weapon with it in the current form its so goofy. Or any perk or blessing, even if it only has like 2 worth using.

The staff bound bolt is underrated, and having a moveset of that and a move with higher cleave and stagger is a pretty decent loadout for me. Whenever I see a special they take an orb and a Deimos L1 and usually die, the horde gets cleared around them. Bulwark gets put into semi-stagger with his shield out of the way instead of falling on the ground partially protected by it. Burster falls over, trapper responds, the shooters that can be tagged die in 2 charged headshots and the ogryn ones can be hitstun by a single M1 for your teammates or you to close for melee or a brainburst. Bizarrely for a horde clear infinite range weapon it also deals with carapace armor fine. Run the scaling warp power and 6 charges, none of the shooters survive a charged shot. The one good loadout (peril transfer and warp flurry) also gives a lot of passive toughness restoration from quietude, which is pretty uncommon for someone who isnā€™t veteran.

I donā€™t know how anyone could use purgustus over a voidstrike.

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Trauma staff can kill all shooters in 1 headshot with the primary attack as well as 1 shot with the secondary attack.
Secondary attacks can 1 shot poxbursters and stagger every single elite out of any animation (it even opens bulwarks that have their shield up).
Secondary attacks also 2 shot all non ogryn elites except maulers.
Dps against ogryn elites is not incredible, but you stagger them massively (just BB them for dps).
You can also use the brittleness blessing, which does not help your secondary attack damage, but makes carapace armor much easier to deal with for your other weapons and your teammates.

Voidstrike can kill all shooters in 1 headshot with primary attacks as well as 1 headshot with slightly (less than 1/3) charged secondary attacks from any range. The secondary attack cleaves through enemies and can even hit them behind cover if you aim just above or next to it, so it is great against shooters.
The staff can 1 shot headshot both shotgunners and 2 shot both elite gunners (1 head + 1 body) with secondary attacks.
Headshotting with voidstrike secondary is fairly easy (even when enemies come from stairs/ramps above or below, you can usually headshot them with right positioning). Just aim above enemy heads. You can even jump or crouch when firing, to make it even easier.
The voidstrike staff is pretty bad against ogryn elites and maniacs, but you can still kill all maniacs (except mutants) in either 1 brainburst, or 1 staff hit + 1 brainburst. Ogryn elites, you just brainburst.

These two suggestions sound reasonable, but imo the other two suggestions (more dmg on secondary attack and stronger weakspot multiplier) seem unnecessary.

That said, i also would not mind if the Voidstrike staff got body prio over limbs, and if it got head prio over body.
It would only make sense for the projectile to deal damage based on the weakest spot that it collides with, when the projectile penetrates the entire dude.

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Gotta say youā€™ve had pretty much wall to wall banger takes and I appreciate your service here
:saluting_face:

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Well, this just isnā€™t true. Trauma can when the stars align stagger an elite out an animation. Sometimes. When it feels like it. Similarly it might open a bulwark shield. When it feels like it.

Another completely false statement. Itā€™s not even remotely close to two-shotting reapers edit: ragers.

Ahahahahahahahahahaha good one!

False. You get arm hits very often. You also donā€™t mention that all your toughness will be gone before you can fully charge your first hit. Any weapon that requires dodge and dodge-slide cheating cheeze is not working the way it should.

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Please explain to me, how reapers are non ogryn elites.

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Big time trauma user here, imo trauma is one of if not the best staff in the game, i run a soul blaze crit build.

Main issue why its so underrated is c you will need a really good roll to make it work smoothly.

It also takes a lot of time to learn how to propperly use it, a good trauma user can enable the whole team.
A bad one can ruin a team.

I manged to get a god rolled void and maybe iā€™m not to used with it but i just could not make it work as much of my trauma staff.

Iā€™m not sure what the void needs but it should get some kind of buff i feel like.

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Apologies, I meant ragers.
Coincidentally, ragers are also one of the more dangerous enemies where a trauma tosses a coin when it comes to staggering them out of animations.

Extra edit: Telling people to run peril damage and not peril resist on Trauma is also pretty cracked advice in the first place. It might feel better to run damage (because god knows the staff needs it), but you will have much higher uptime and better total damage with peril resist.

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Looks like 2 shots to me.

Dreg Rager has 1350 hp on damnation. I hit with trauma for 705 dmg (645 hp remaining).
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Scab Rager has 1350 hp on damnation. I hit with trauma for 739 dmg (611 hp remaining).

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The staff (+ 6 warp charges + warp unleashed):

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Max rolled staff with max/nearly max perks, six charges and on the fourth level of peril damageā€¦

Thatā€™s repeatable all the time during a mission, is it? Youā€™re not perhaps missing unarmoured damage on the staff, so you can actually kill shooters? No?

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So the staff can do it.
I was completely right in what i said.

Not necessarily, but even when you do not 2 shot them, they will only have a tiny amount of health left.

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No itā€™s the same as claiming X weapon can 2 shot Y enemy, but leaving out that itā€™s only on crits. Or only during Veteran volley.

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What i showed has no necessary downtime.
If you keep your ressources managed, you can pretty much do it all the time.
This is what a reasonable person would do, if they want to be able to 2 shot berserkers.

When something requires a crit or an ult, that is something different entirely.

Now please feel free to end the discussion and just admit that you were wrong.

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Youā€™re relying on max roll max perk, and operating the staff in a peril window where it really likes to blow you up.

ā€œResource management.ā€ Sure thing.

Next youā€™ll be telling me that when you discuss zealot weapon balance, you assume 1 HP.

Let me ask you something. Are those perks and those talents the way you normally run Trauma?

Are those perks what any reasonable person would use on Trauma?

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Find me another ranged attack in the game that is 100% suppression immune, pin point accurate and staggers almost every enemy in the game (the higher stagger state ones that this attack canā€™t stagger the charged attack on void, trauma or surge will). Iā€™ll wait. Also it canā€™t use ammo.

Then aim up? Literally this is a skill issue, the Voidstrike did not get headshots when the game came out but that has been fixed for literally eons now. The only enemies you should have difficulty headshotting are ones that fell on the ground for any reason (like your own void orb). Those enemies are not threatening anyone, and if youā€™re using an appropriate Void loadout youā€™ll have an axe or deimos ready to absolutely murder anything on the ground anyway. Non issue.

And if every weapon that deals with shooters does it by ā€˜avoiding their gunfireā€™ and thatā€™s cheese I donā€™t really know where the discussion is going. No, the staves donā€™t get Between the Eyes? It is still 100% more effective psyker play to use a staff than a gun, lol. And the staves are ridiculously overtuned with no peril damage, no friendly fire and the insane AoEs they have. Trauma staff literally breaks the game, here you are calling for more damage on itā€¦kinda like how it being able to 2 shot ragers is somehow not enough, because it would require a setup to do. Heaven forbid someone just combat knife light attack them instead and you run infestedā€¦

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You would have to squint, look at it sideways and spin around four times to claim a delayed attack that travels at walking speed, and in no way follows your reticle/aimpoint under movement is pinpoint accurate. The absurd delay before the projectile actually fires causes all kinds of incredibly strange behaviour under movement, and in combo with the slow projectile speed, even if youā€™re standing still, odds are the enemy has moved by the time it gets there.

And miss. Because at range and with elevation changes, enemies do crouch, you know. Or theyā€™re running perpendicular to your position, and aiming a slow-ass projectile at the head instead of center mass greatly increases the odds of a miss. Yeah, you can aim at heads in a lot of situations, but not nearly always. Funnily enough, even if you DO aim at heads, it will often not hit the head anyway, and just toss the enemy on the ground. In the current live build.

People keep saying that, yet itā€™s not exactly the most used weapon on a Psyker, is it?

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OK at some point you stopped playing and just like to argue? Go into the psyk. Strafe side to side and make sure your crosshair is on whatever you wanted to point it at when you press M1. You will not ever miss. Iā€™m not engaging in this staff bound bolt argument anymore, at some point you need to actually be averse in the subject material. You still donā€™t refute any of the massive advantages it does have so I guess it isnā€™t nearly as bad as you thought? Skill issue to make it work better.

Same with headshots, the Void projectile is impossibly big, you just need to make sure that the center of the projectile is intersecting the upper portion of a hitbox, and then you get a headshot. Compare this to launch when no, you could not headshot anything except the Plague Ogryn. It is extremely reliable and you are very under practiced here.

And people use the Gorgonum Stubber the most, when you have the Ripper 5 which demolishes shooters harder, kills specials faster and can also demolish ogryns while not pressuring the teamā€™s reserves at all, even if a Veteran isnā€™t in the group. You also donā€™t see Boltgun veterans every game despite them making even HISTG a boring ride along dumping every name tag enemy the instant an engagement opens. Most Zealots use the thunderhammer, lol. Iā€™m sure that the meta of this game could be important if a) they get rid of the stupid locks that gate people from even seeing the lofty ceilings theyā€™ve created and b) they make content that actually warrants it. Most Psykers use the 2 staves most users on this forum are at consensus are the weakest, so Iā€™m not sure how that strengthens the argument that Trauma Staff is not capable of easily soloā€™ing content (and is actually encouraging some toxic high skill psykers who do just that and are very lame to play with).

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