Skitarii - Blitzes / Tree

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
1

In retrospect Skitarii is very well balanced. Mathematically in tree, average baseline class stats, very solid weapons but just in a weird spot of blitzes.

Servo Skull being super powerful and constant over other’s traditional charge based blitz

Suggested Changes

Suggestions for quality of life and toned up the competing/weaker blitzes. All suggestions would not be compatible at once

1a. Default Servo Skull

Servo Skull is always available despite blitz choice. Fast press will trigger Servo Skull Blitz, hold press will trigger blitz grenades.

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Reasoning: the overlooked activated bonuses, self saving and interrogation effects of the servo skull are all too useful to abandon for the alternatives.

  • Yes
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0 voters

2a. Integrated Refractal Remitter - Operative Modifier

Default with added Operative Modifier 10% Damage Reduction

Reasoning: Similar to Aura toughness boost, added a boost to blitz will make the talent investment more desirable to outright skipping. Operative Modifer may differ DR as placeholder since in melee section.

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

2b. Integrated Refractal Remitter - Cooldown

Absorb enemy ranged damage for 5s, 60s CD

Reasoning: Drop the electrical flare and grenade cost make it a pure utility anti-range defense cooldown. Can still add talents to further enhance.

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

2c. Integrated Refractal Remitter - Rework

Absorb enemy ranged damage for 10s, 4 charges, every shot aborbed transfers into 1% capacitance. If Skitarii restores a charge remitter releases an electrical wave disabling all nearby gunners, once per usage.

Reasoning: Alt. idea for Remitter synergizing with capacitance and team effect.

  • Yes
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0 voters

3a. Arc Grenade - Operative Modifier

Default with added Operative Modifier 10% Electric & Arc Strength, hold blitz key to use Arc Grenades

Reasoning: Similar to Aura toughness boost, added a boost to blitz will make the talent investment more desirable to outright skipping. Operative Modifer may differ Electric/Arc as placeholder since in electric section inspired by Hive Scum toxin strength.

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

4a. Purgator Servo Skull

Now with 3 unique charges, hold blitz key to use

Reasoning: Replacing power creep idea with pure quality of life separate charges from Medicae Skull.

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

4b. Medicae Servo-Skull

Now with 3 unique charges, quick blitz press to use, saves closest downed/trapped ally. If unsuccessful refunds charge.

Reasoning: Replacing power creep idea with pure quality of life separate charges from Purgator Skull and no aim functionality.

  • Yes
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0 voters

4c. Noospheric Command

Now with 3 unique charges, double tag to use. Ordering your servo skull to attack an enemy will greatly increase its firing rate for 12s consuming a charge. Re-ordering will not consume additional charge during 12s.

Reasoning: The Noospheric Command is too powerful able to complete maps only using this ability should be grenade charge as well for increased duration and tapping into capacitance functionality.

  • Yes
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0 voters

5a. Blitz Replenishments (Arc Grenade / Integrated Refractal Remitter)

Internal Servos: You are no longer accompanied by your Servo Skull. Attacks gain damage & effects equivalent to Servo Skull’s attack

Data Interrogation require less time and cannot be interrupted unless downed

Blitz no longer has charges but costs 50% capacitance, 90s cooldown

Reasoning: this will expand unlimited grenade usage at trade-off of servo skull or with prior adjustments at least keep default skull with grenade charges. Similar/weaker compared to Arbites dog loss.

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This would attach to Arc Grenade & Integrated Refractal Remitter Blitzes or be a stand alone talent similar to “Lone Wolf”

  • Yes
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0 voters

5b. Blitz Capacitance

Internal Manufacturing: All Blitz now run on Capacitance consuming 25-50% capacitance with 30s-60s cool downs

Reasoning: this removes the grenade consuming issues altogether and will stress the Skitarii capacitance management to prioritize energy usage per circumstance. It also provides other blitz with limitless usage similar to Servo Skull

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

6a. Talent Tree Pathing

Adjust 4 corners to have at least 2 choices as per all other core abilities, break excessive links around middle core abilities to balance out tree change.

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Reasoning: This would add choice and maintain underlying distances of 2 passives between core abilities and distance from center start is not changed.

  • Yes
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0 voters
2

I like the idea of default servoskull available for all blitzes

I don’t like the idea of arcs regenerating, I’d personally add +1 max to them

For the shield, I think it should just use capacitance instead but its duration heavy reduced to 5s (or 8s with the extension subnode) and an integral 10s cooldown after it ends to prevent spam

Medicae servoskull should never heal sounds, as well as always be tied to use grenade charges

The issue with the flamer servoskull is that it uses grenades, make it use capacitance + 90s cooldown between uses and it should be good

3

Honestly I think Skitarii should revolve almost entirely around the capacitance which currently it only barely does.

There should be more nodes for benefits when at high capacitance but to spike power you expend them and become weaker for a while.

Like the Powersword and Arc Maul…

So agree with you, though the limited things like medicae should remain grenades.

4

Arcs and skull are fine, although arc nade is generic and boring. The fuse is a bit too long in my opinion, maybe people like it, but it feels weird that it explodes after something like 2.5 seconds.

Flamethrower skull is great for revives even without the medicae talent and additional layer of damage while you fight many enemies. I think flame skull is a stronger version of Zealot’s fire grenade. I’d rather buff Zealot’s nade, giving them +1, so both the skull and nades have equal number of charges.

Shield is just crap. I agree with the suggestion to buff it. Buff the talent that limits melee damage to 40 or even 35, it makes sense, because this effect only works when the blitz is active, meanwhile Arbites always has his passive that limits attack damage. And buff the duration. Maybe not 12 seconds at base, but 10. Slightly buff the talent that previously increased the duration by introducing a new effect other than blitz extension.

Also give the revive skull a better visual indication for when it revives you. It’s really, really hard to know you’re about to be revived without the other player telling you. You should get some kind of notification right in the middle of the screen.

5

Arc grenades are kind of niche usage have to have enough targets for them to arc off each other and maximize damage too many and everyone takes a lil damage too little and no arcing its a strange mechanic though they feel like traditional grenades.

I suppose though with less spamming could fast press blitz to activate servo skull and hold press blitz to throw grenades.

In general I’m finding it hard for some blitz to use capacitance and others not to seems like it should be all or nothing and balanced around similar to Psyker Peril then… Having to chose between reviving a teammate or chord clawing a crusher could be a challenge.

6

Arc nade is good in Havoc, because enemies are more durable there and it applies mass brittle to armor clumps. Skitarii without claw ultimate doesn’t have the greatest anti-Crusher measures in Havoc, so this nade makes sure you and your teammates can kill them in reasonable time. Two arc nades also clear rituals.

Although the talent that switches ranged enemies off is kinda underpowered in my opinion. It should PERMANENTLY disable enemies guns, considering you spend a blitz that doesn’t regen.

7

The Interrogator skull needs removed from the game.

8

You say that the servo slull is too useful to abandon SO it is very powerful and so you would add it to all skits loadout ? That would be a massive powercreep
hell All the servo skull changes you say is making an already really powerful blitz even more powerful while giving it more charges?
The inferno single damage stun why not but a bit strange still

9

I admit it is a bit strange but so is the blitz investment more talents for Skitarii blitz than for Psykers unlimited spam.

Only need artificer skull and noospheric command so basically it is in every skits loadout… its a strange situation more ideas the better though…

Would think another option would be for one of the artificer servo skull talents to lock out the rest and make Noospheric command a grenade cost as its awfully powerful with just capacitance cost… but hard to take away the triple skull now…

…and that still leaves the other two blitz severely lacking, the baseline skull is so good just in utilities, debuff for entire mission

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10

  1. Might be reasonable, pending additional changes to the non-skull blitzes. It’s certainly a largely reasonable option right now, but will not necessarily be reasonable later. There’s also the small issue of how to utilize the empower function of the default servo-skull when you have arc nades/bubble on the same key.

  2. I’m broadly in favor of merging several of the skitariis “default effect, but better” modifier talents into the base blitz; namely Overcharged Refraction Emitter & Overcharged Arc Grenades. I don’t feel like it’s a good design. In fact almost none of the blitz modifier talents we have in the game are well designed imo. But that is a rant for another time.

  3. Absolutely not. The last thing any class needs is more passive damage. Separate charges for the auxiliary skulls is also a step too far. And also runs into the aforementioned control issue, as controllers don’t exactly have room for any additional binds.

  4. Absolutely not. Self rezes and on demand self healing are both 1000% terrible ideas. The medicae skull needs better targeting options and that is quite literally all it deserves.

  5. At the very, very least arc grenades should not recharge under any circumstances. I’m also not a fan of making any the blitzes cost capacitance in addition to a cooldown. Nor do I believe the bubble should have to pay an extra talent point for recharge functionality. If it’s going to get that effect it should be part of the base blitz.

  6. I like the concept of having additional routes into the corner clusters, but I’m not a fan of severing the links you specify. Plus I would like some more connectivity between the branches and the auras to be slightly more accessible. If I were to put forward an off the cuff concept for some mild tree surgery for skitarii it would look more like this:

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11

The reason they need to be severed is the pathing distance would then be shorter for example from Servo Blitz to chordclaw & Redline making Left now the imbalanced part of the tree compared to Up & Down sections.

This also puts the Auras in a balanced state to each other with exception to the Left tree lacking… the tree design is a weird balance but works. This tree has many lacks in balance now…

12

Hmm. It would make it 1 talent point cheaper to get all 3 of those things. Which I wouldn’t care too much about were it not for claw/skull/redline kinda being the meta. Maybe swap redline capacitors & power overload as well.

The current tree placement treats the auras as if they are of equivalent value with the blitzes. Which is obviously utter nonsense. Plus the left side still has the skull, which will likely always be the best blitz hands down. Unless Fatshark goes utterly ham on buffing the other two.

13

Crutch. Imo the chord claw should just be a weapon not an ability. But not getting there.

That choice would be more interesting; but as I said the Medicae servo skull shouldn’t be capacitance, it should be grenades still.

14

The way Skitarii Aura’s work they also have a baked in 25 Toughness so its like a double node so makes them more worth it and kind of mandatory as well for survive ability.

15

I’m well aware that they felt compelled to attach a base toughness buff to the auras to make sure everyone wouldn’t just skip them entirely. It’s still silly to value them equally with the blitzes.

16

100%, unless you want to nerf it to death. Even if the servo skull is baseline and you get capacitance based refraction emitter, I would still have to think three times if i want to give up noospheric command and mediskull.

17

If Fatshark buff the class, like they usually do, in 6 weeks we will read everywhere that this class is too strong…
And, as always, it will be because players asked for that…

Please do not put a servo-skull all the time… I do not want it. And I don’t really need grenades.

18

Noosphere is just broken, like the mechanics of it right now are dumb with the flensing keystone if you had higher purpose and it kills 2 elites/specials on eachother it pays for itself and then some a little bit, so you can literally just spam it even if they fixed the current bugs with it. Not that it isn’t built for redline spamming since noosphere’s tiny capacitance cost coming back into the bar gives you a charge. Such interactive gameplay…

But yeah all artificer skull being on every blitz not-having access to the +15% damage or free burn at a miserable rate it can’t stack would be fine. The +15% damage is the main perk of empowering the skull anyway…and it feels terrible taking the gimmick of this class away, already had it with Arbites, don’t do it here. Especially because the other gimmick of tech priests in general (mechanical limbs) clearly never made it off the cutting room floor with how some are dangling on backpacks…

19

The problem is that they are not equal in power scale at all. So unless you want to nerf servo skull to death, you need to buff the others heavily.

Also, its not really a buff, because the servo skull is already available. You just don’t have serious alternatives.

20

My general comment is, other than the Arc Grenade, Skitarii shouldn’t be dependent on the availability of grenades to use their skills. I think it’s a cheap technique by FS to avoid coming up with a proper technique. Some missions don’t have many grenade drops (while others have tons). Why add to the fight over grenade availability. Why are we using grenades to res ppl? We have servitor skulls.