Thunderhammer post update

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Gameplay Feedback
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Played like 10 missions since the update. Not impressed with the TH changes. The monster killing power is in the toilet. Definitely worse than many options right now. My evis seems to do better damage vs monsters and still performs better as a casual click spam weapon.

On the bright side fighting random trash mobs feels better.

Going to reserve final judgement after another 10 games.

Getting ghost hits on charged attacks though. It’s like the special activation is turning off before thrust finishes stacking, even when I’m using it right away.

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Guess I’ll go with ‘but how much boss damage is acceptable’ because my goofy holyhammer loadout (which uses the chorus ult) can 2 hit Nurgle beast and 4 hit the other bosses just from 6 stack marty. Combat stim drops it to 3 on regular bosses. Meanwhile I kill ragers, maulers and crushers with ease whenever I see them appear like this smiting bashstick should have been doing since launch. There is a bug with the activation on the new attack though, can’t pin down what’s causing it maybe the activation isn’t actually resetting when you go for the 2nd power up.

I’m assuming using the backstab talent or even fury would produce similar results to before though.

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I haven’t tested extensively yet but it looks like Martyr/ Ult usage is still going to be necessary for reliable crusher breakpoints, especially on ironhelm, and I don’t think thrust is any less mandatory in practice. If I’m wrong about this and people have found setups that subvert this please let me know what you’re doing.

I’d really need a full list of how breakpoints have changed but my initial feeling from taking it into meat grinder with a basic FotF + IJ setup is that they didn’t increase the powered attack elite damage enough to meaningfully open up any kind of build variety.

TL;DR damage buffs feel too conservative, no meaningful adjustment to blessings so blessing diversity is still nonsense. I absolutely do need to spend a lot more time with it to get a proper feel but these are my initial reactions.

@dragomusic What setups have you found/would recommend for updated Hammer?

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Yeah right now there is a bug on special activation Hammer charge does not refresh upon reactivation

And there is another “bug” with special attack on “human” bosses that the attack just pass through them, they do get hit, but the special animation doesn’t show up and the post self stagger doesn’t appears.

Im getting a lot ghost hits too.

But other than that the weapon feels kinda the same, a little less boss damage, we can now oneshot crushers without that many buffs or ults. Other weapons are still ahead on damage, survivability and speed but i’ll say is a decent change if we don’t count the bugs (wich aren’t “acknowledge” at the moment).

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I for sure can tell that ult are no longer needed for oneshot crushers, but u do need +25 on carapace + a normal build/buffs for reliable oneshots specially on ironhelm, but 100% ult’s are no longer needed.

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I need you to quantify what you mean by “normal build” here. Like if you’re relying on having max IJ + slaughter stacks or something that’s not really consistent enough for me to count.

I’m sure you don’t need Ult for consistent one shot on Martyr build but on anything else it was looking very inconsistent to me.

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with “normal” build/buffs i meant that u can use any keystone really (cause i normally use martydom, but on the psykhanium i can’t get any stacks of it and i still was oneshoting crushers) with a minimum of buffs stacked (like 2 or 3 charges it’s pretty reasonable) from skills/buffs like slaughterer, headtaker, sustained assault, disdain, duellist, or with a lucky crit (yeah thrust is still a must, but with some combinations of other stacked buffs, the thrust stacks can variate and u might not need the 3 of them always for the oneshot.

Im still trying some loadouts, im really liking this one bonk - Build for Darktide - Darktide WH40k, cause with the IoD rework it’s working very well, i use this one too Massive Bonks - Build for Darktide - Darktide WH40k (u can use whatever hammer u like the most, i still prefer the ironhelm cause it cleans hordes faster and i like the heavy 3).

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I’ve been having the same problem with the crusher

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Thrust is definitely still mandatory imo. You could run Slaughterer and Headtaker and that would probably feel absolutely awesome in mixed hordes, but if a pack of Crushers show up probably not. Unfortunate as I was hoping it was going to be more a luxury pick and if you hit heads it wouldn’t be as necessary.

While I would agree with this, I would say that they are now usable and you are able to do well with them which is a far cry from before. I’ve really been enjoying Ironhelm, although it’s definitely peaks and valleys for how enjoyable it is.

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This is what I’ve ran for Ironhelm and enjoyed it, just the bog standard. When duelist is procced and you have 7+ stacks of Inexorable it feels really good, and is sufficient even without that. Headtaker, Thrust, Maniac and Carapace. I usually hate running Carapace as a perk, but Ironhelm already hits BPs on everything but Maulers, Crushers, Mutants, and Dreg Maniacs in general so putting those 2 on made it feel a lot more consistent. Boss damage is still very good and you still easily kill Bulwarks so no need for Unyielding imo.

Of course Martydom will be amazing for it, haven’t tried it yet. Will probably test it last as I’m not too interested in it.

I felt the Crucis was too slow for how much damage it put out, especially compared to other options (looking at you dueling sword lol) however I know several other people who disagree with me on that front, so it might be a personal issue.

Something I want to try is Blazing Piety. If you can get to 50ish percent crit chance with the Iron Helm in mixed hordes you might be able to do some nutty damage, but ofc be a bit inconsistent.

At the very least, I’m enjoying Ironhelm again which feels amazing. Will also need to do more testing and get better with it to give final judgement (have been playing too much Heavy Sword Vet recently). I just want Thrust to die lol.

It still has really good monster killing power, idk where you got that impression from.

Mk 15 Eviscerator is definitely overtuned in the horde clear department, and probably Unyielding damage, Getting a Fotf weakspot hit will nuke bosses which it probably shouldn’t be doing.

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Tbh, I used it before this patch. I tried it after, I don’t see really the difference.
But I don’t use Crucis.
Ironhelm, in crowd control, is really great.

But the bug with power activation is ruining everything actually

It is. I have not tested inexorable judgment. However, I tested that:

I am not convinced by the flamer… I tested it here, and with a critic build. Seems not really great. I think about changing this part.
However, this build is great to play. The idea behind it is to get the attack speed increase from martyrdom and from fury the faithful.
I use the hammer as a horde killer. You use the heavy hits to make your way in the crowd.
And against specials/elite, the powered attack (when bug will be removed) is enough to deal with them. Same with monsters and, here, flamer is great.

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yes, i agree that thrust is still needed to reach certain breakpoints.

for example oneshotting mutants without the need of maniacs 25%
and to be able to oneshot crushers with 3 full stacks of thrust with 25% carapace.

i thought the buff, could be enough to make carapace perk optional, but it doesn’t seem the case :sweat_smile:

not bad though, now it is greatly possible to oneshot maulers and crushers, sometimes crushers may not get oneshot depending where you hit, but with a martydom build with buffs, should be still always enough.

i like also how it is more smoother than before, after a special attack, now it can chain smoothly to a light or heavy which is cool.

while for the unyielding damage for bosses, it is sure still viable with an invis build or dash, however i wish they weren’t that hard with the nerf.
because hammer it can be used also with the relic, which doesn’t give much damage output, even though with the extra immunity it is good as combo for certain things.

the overhead special attack its good it seems but i gotta get used to it :sweat_smile:
still possible to use a horizontal sweep special attack, so its nice

also a nice combo with heavy 2 + light and heavy then light again and repeating

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Regarding Crucis:
Basically you need 3 staks of Thrust Lv4, plus 39% vs crushers to oneshot on head.
Realistically you can get the +25% Carapace perk and another 10% melee damage you can easly get from nodes. At this point just one stack of Sustained Assault is enough to reach the beakpoint (as well as slaughterer or headtaker) or you can put on the hammer an extra +10% vs Elites and forget about stacks.
I guess 5 stacks of Martiyrdom would also work by without needing any perk, (as well as 4+ 10% from nodes) but i haven’t tested.

I love that Im finally able to test all this stuff.

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Changes feel pretty solid TBH. Can’t comment too much on ironhelm, but the crusis runs like a charm. One-shots on crushers are pretty reliable with a carapace perk, though you do still need thrust. The OP’s comparison with the eviscerator mostly says to me that the eviscerator (Mk 15) is slightly overtuned, but we knew that already. And in any case, I’m fine with an eviscerator being better at killing hordes than a thunder hammer. It should be.

As for monstrosity killing power, it’s perfectly fine. You now swing a handful of times instead of twice. It’s honestly still quite strong, and the fact that other classes have options that take down monstrosities a lot faster says more about those options than the thunderhammer.

If I were to criticise anything, it’s that blessing diversity still suffers because thrust is mandatory. But other than that, I’m liking the current power level for the crusis. Feels fine without being overtuned, which is what you want. Fix the ghost hits and we’re pretty much in business.

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Meanwhile zealot and vet can two tap crushers reliable with two ds4 head pokes in the same time it takes to activate the hammer. With barely any perk setup

Fatshark really needs to work on the overall weapon balance

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On psyker too.

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yeah, dunno why thunder hammer needs the carapace perk to work… :sweat_smile:

my hope was that crucis could oneshot crushers without carapace perk,
due to the fact thunder hammer is very slow still when landing a special attack,
meanwhile duelling sword special attack does even some good damage to crushers without carapace perk lol.

so that we could use other perks and unyielding, since it has been nerfed but it can still be useful to run it again for bosses.

it’s just that running carapace perk it’s pointless on crucis, because the times you hit a crusher is by using the special attack…

so it’s a wasted perk imo, (but it’s not cause currently useful for the oneshot breakpoint)

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That’s not the special attack. It’s the regular heavy attack on duelling sword mk4. The special attack simply allows you to stagger any rager out of its attack animation. Which is OP in itself.
The powercreep on some weapons has been too real

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I’m running carapace on my ironhelm, and I definitely need to stack buffs to take down crushers. I was hoping I’d be able to more reliably hit crusher breakpoints, but I’m in the same boat as before. At least mauler breakpoints have been a comfy gain.
Whats really crazy is with the ghost hits its actually worse than before.

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