The Smoke Grenade is currently the least viable ‘Blitz’ for the Veteran Guardsman and I think I have a good solution.
In short, give the Veteran a Hand Cannon for their Blitz.
In long …
Putting aside the Pysker because Psyker, the Zealot and the Ogryn both have two blitz options that I will call an unorthodox (i.e. not a grenade), with the throwing knives and lovely rocks respectively. As we all know the Veteran Guardsman has three grenade options with Frag, Krak and Smoke, but the last of the three is pretty pointless at its task and I would say that this would be a good chance to get rid of it and replace it with a Blitz that will be just as ‘unorthodox’ as the knives or rocks, namely a Hand Cannon.
Hand Cannons in 40k are ridiculous large-calibre side arms and come in multiple formats. One of the oldest (of the few) depictions I can recall of them is this:
A very simple looking design. Why would this be a good idea? I will point to Vermintide 2, the Witch Hunter Victor Saltzpyre and the ‘Bounty Hunter’ subclass he had, which had a very potent and very high damage, armour piercing special ability based around a sidearm. When it was activated at a key press, the gun came up and if you held the button down you could aim it properly, release the button and KABOOM! HUGE bang and whatever you were shooting was at the least knocked down on the hardest difficulties. If you did not play VT2 it had very heavily armoured Chaos Warriors very much in the role of Maulers in Darktide. Should your timing and aim be good you could fell at least two with one shot.
It is a really amazing back-up or a super-strong offensive weapon in VT2 that gave such a dose of joy to use that it was hard to hold it back to wait for those big nasty enemies and blasting things apart was generally followed by gleeful laughter when I used it, much as the gleeful laughing I do with my Ogryn’s rocks.
So that’s all I’m suggesting; recreate a solid and brilliant thing from VT2 but in 40k flavour in DT, to replace an awkward and seemingly near pointless Blitz.
Not an alien idea.
Why not.
Well, besides the fact that the game is more ranged focussed and so it has to contend there, while not entirely fitting in the run-and-stealth tree section on the right. But I, for one, will not miss smoke grenades, and this is nicely creative.
Make it a plasma pistol that needs recharge time or something, and make it do as much damage/pen as a charged plasma shot with some crazy finesse modifier. It would be really cool.
Nah. Melta pistol. It keeps the weapon variety alive, explains the short range, and because most people’s 40k impressions of Melta are probably Jurgen…yeah.
I’m a BIG fan of this idea because I would love to run something shorter range for a more run-and-gun vibe, but I just cannot take another goblin fussing at me for not killing the 12 gunners they somehow didn’t see and somehow couldn’t find a way to avoid.
This would be like the vet’s brain burst in my mind. Would be cool.
As it stands, does anyone actually have uses for smoke grenades? Capitol G Gunners outside of the range will keep shooting in the same location they were before smoke popped, right?
I think it would be a bit odd for one pistol to occupy a blitz slot when the others are regular ranged weapons (really pistols should have been a third weapon slot from the start but that’s another matter), but it’s certainly a better idea than the smoke grenade in its current form.
I wouldn’t mind seeing it redone as a stimm grenade ie the smoke’s laced with frenzon, slaught or whatnot that buffs friendlies inside and for a short period after they leave. Higher attack speed, crit up, toughness damage reduction and/or regen, stamina etc. Would jive very well with the aggro weapon switching parts of the Commando tree but also still be a support option for helping pressured allies.
Just let me carry like ten smoke grenades or give the team some sort of buff when were inside of it. Like immunity from ranged attacks and suppression or slight dot on enemies.
There’s really a lot of options here.
Psyker Blitz’ have sub-nodes; Why not offer these here, too?
Smoke grenade, after getting a buff in that it will actually block line of sight (just make gunners stop firing through it for a second? Then we could at least see if the LoS block works), could have exclusive subnodes for debuffing enemies or buffing players, or being an actual wall against ranged.
Likewise, on the pistol idea, subnodes could turn it from a classic handcannon firing some sort of heavy bolter round to a silenced shot or a Melta gun.
Anything’s better than the current smoke grenade - granted, now that the tree’s been reworked (and I hope it will be, again), there’s no reason to ever pick it - and so I welcome new ideas. And why wouldn’t the veteran have the same as every class; one Blitz option that is direct fire, localized effect?
Honestly even something like a det charge would be cool.
If they did just improve smoke they really need to make it a proper enemy sight line blocker. I think that’s the least they could do for a grenade that does zero damage. I think if it also significantly slowed down melee enemies it would be cool but I also wouldn’t be against it just being removed.
This would be an excellent alternative. I suggested the Hand Cannon because I’m not exactly a great lateral thinker, so my brain went one-for-one between Saltzpyre’s big gun and the Hand Cannon. As Grendel is Ordo Hereticus a melta/inferno pistol would be a good alternative; short range, high power, and the potential for a nice loud CRACK as the air in the blast’s path is superheated and those in its path are torn asunder.
Another good alternative. I think I prefer Ragnarok’s melta suggestion but I’d happily have a plasma pistol as an option.
In VT2 the Bounty Hunter pistol was a single-shot followed by a cooldown, so if it were re-made in DT in the same way then you’d fire one shot off and have to wait for its cooldown or a trigger to reload it as per the Blades of Faith, Big Friendly Rock, and Assail. It wouldn’t be a pistol slot as such but something you can blast off every so often.
“Oh no, there are three more Crushers!” insert loud plasma/melta/hand cannon discharge
“Hurrah! Now there is only one!”
It would be good, something that would be akin to the Ogryn’s tactical nuclear bomb Frag Bomb, although I’m not sure if its similarity to that would be a good or bad thing as FS seem to like trying to make each Blitz distinct. Ish.
My testing shows that it does function correctly as a LoS block (when thrown at your feet…dunno if you throw it at the feet of far-off gunners). Melee enemies will rush in, little shooters will try to reposition to find you.
But the real problem to me is that big gunners seem to just keep hosing where they were until they want a break.
At any rate, I just realized I’ve NEVER seen a vet running these on Damnation. Literally not once.
