Staffs main attack

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
1

three of the four force staves have the same primary attack

and for the flamethrower I’m still trying to figure out what the main attack is supposed to be good for, but thats another topic

I like the staffs, they have a fun variety
but all fire the same generic missle that is imprecise and limited effective as their primary fire

at the same time in vermintide we had a unique attack for every staff
a shotgun staff, a machine gun staff, simple fireballs and other stuff

so my suggestion:

-Trauma force staff keeps the current primary - a missle as alternative to the big boom seems fitting enough

-voidstrike staff gets a ‘shotgun blast’ basically releasing the explosive force of the voidstrike as shortranged forward directed explosion, which should help if enemies get too much up in ones face

-surge force staff get a lightning strike - a single strong shot, probably a bit slower firing , that is a high damage hitscan, which would solve the problems of not being able to attack at range or the enemy you want, while giving a possibility to leverage your own stun

3 Likes
2

Void and Trauma should keep the current primary (Both are Force/Telekinesis), Surge should change

That isn’t fully correct, Fireball Staff and Conflagration both have the same primary attack.

Now I’m in the thinking that the staves should not all be Force Staves, but rather be divided in the different Disciplines (Though cross available for any Psyker classes), here we would start with 3 discipline available:

  • Force: Keep Trauma and the Void (Names stay as is)
  • Biomancy: Get Surge staff (Name become: Nomanus Mk VI Surge Biomantic Staff)
  • Pyromancy: Get the Purgatus staff (Name become Rifthaven Mk II Promethium Staff or Rifthaven Mk II Purgatus Pyrae Staff)

This would make them share the blessing from the Void/Trauma (Just need 1 blessing more for the Void, as otherwise they have the same blessing), and explain why the Surge and the Pyro don’t share.

Then they would introduce new staves (And melee weapons) for each disciplines (At first, mostly the 3 present, but maybe in the future even for the other 2/4, or more for rarer discipline or things that don’t fit in any, like the Astropath Ice psychic techniques). Some with all new mechanic, but with variants mixing stuff when it can be cool to do so.

Eg:

Bolt Staff: Become a Biomantic staff (Leaning on the Imperial Psychic power: Stormlance from the White Scar, and Lightning Arc from the IG), exchanging the Fire effect for Electricity/Shock (Name: Thanadus MK.V Lance Biomantic Staff; Thanadus being in the home system of the White Scar, and 5 because the WS are the 5th Legion)

Beam staff: Stay a Pyrae staff (Leaning on Molten Beam from Pyromancy)

Coruscation Staff: Become a Biomantic staff (Leaning on the Primaris Technique Lightning Storm or Lightning Field and having the same primary as the Bolt Staff, maybe a bit slower but having better damage) Charged letting you set up a field of lightning/electricity that damage the enemy entering it.

I like your changed Surge.

Same way the Flamer work, it’s practical to stagger enemies before you charge the big strike (Same way Bardin’s and Sienna’s Flamers were used).

The one thing though that Id like to see change are the special attack on the staves

1 Like
3

Disagree - they are very precise - even while moving

4

It is useful to quickly stun an enemy outside of melee range, or to refresh the duration of the dot stacks on a boss.

1 Like
5

Good suggestion. The primary attack so far is just there to disrupt a single enemy with something. Highly ineffective in most cases.