10 Tips To Survive “Warhammer 40K: Darktide”

In the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium, yadda, yadda…you know this bit, or you should. But this is not a battle of Space Marines and Orks. You’re in the Inquisition now, maggot! You are an acolyte, the lowest form of life in the hierarchy, an otherwise unremarkable human (or Ogryn) who must wipe away the stain of your transgressions against the Golden Throne by taking on the forces of Chaos as they attempt to claim the hive city of Tertium for the Dark Gods. You are a resource to be used. Spend yourself wisely with the following tips.

1. Do Not Leave Your Comrades Behind

You are not a one-man army. You are not even a Space Marine. Neither, shockingly, are your comrades. There is no bonus for being first to the fight. There are no extra goodies which drop just because you’re the one who solo killed an elite enemy. Rushing ahead while leaving your comrades behind is (with a couple of exceptions) a good way to kill yourself and them. When you stick together, you gain bonuses for damage and durability due to your individual auras. And while jumping off high platforms sounds like an expeditious idea to regroup with your scattered comrades, don’t do it when your Health and/or Toughness is low. It may take a bit longer, but find some stairs.

2. Watch All The Bars

Your health bar is in the lower-left corner of the screen. So too are the health bars of your teammates, along with an indicator of their class and a rough estimate of their current ammo supply. If your teammates are low on ammo, indicated with a yellow or red ammo icon, let them grab random ammo drops. Don’t snake it if you’re only down a couple of dozen rounds. With regards to health, definitely keep close to teammates who’ve taken a lot of Corruption. It reduces their maximum health, making it far easier for enemies to kill them. Do not let that happen.

3. Protect The Auspex User

Certain missions have activities which require the use of an auspex (a handheld computer). Two common scenarios involve either scanning certain hotspots or entering in codes to resume a hacking operation. Either way, when using your auspex, you are vulnerable. Your focus is completely locked into the auspex. Unless, of course, you take damage. That will interrupt the auspex use and force you to restart the thing. So, if you are not the person working the auspex, protect the one who is at all costs. It will make the mission go faster.

4. Concentrate And Dig In

At certain points in a mission, you may be required to hold a certain position against all comers. This often happens when you’re waiting for an elevator to take you to a different level, or when a door leading to an extraction point needs to open up. When this happens, do not for the love of the Emperor pick a spot way the hell away from where you’re supposed to defend. “Forward defense” by a single person in what is perceived to be a choke point is an invitation to get overwhelmed. Stick together with your teammates, make use of what cover you can, and unleash righteous fury on the Chaos hordes close by to your intended egress point.

5. Mind Your Lines

Some things in a mission area do not react well to bullets. Or lasgun fire. Or grenades. Or psyker energy bolts. Face it, you really need to be aware of where you’re shooting and/or bombarding which involves minding where the combustibles are, not being near them before they cook off, and knowing where your team members are before starting a very large fire. Fire purges the heretic, the mutant, and the traitor in equal measure. It’s equally indiscriminate regarding your comrades. Don’t cut your teammates off by creating a massive pool of fire they can’t easily cross.

Additionally, take care when firing at large mobs. Each bullet you fire into the back of your comrades is one less abomination that could be neutralized in the Emperor’s name. A waste of ammo may be considered grounds for Inquisitorial sanctioned termination. Also, it is possible to start barrels cooking off from melee weapons as well. Just because it doesn’t reach out past your arm’s length and purges the heretic, doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.

6. Remember Your Place

The Mission Table provides a number of possible missions at any given time with a number of difficulty levels. Your Trust Level grants you access to missions of specific difficulty ranges. However, your wargear dictates your combat effectiveness. How quickly you can damage enemies, if there are enemies who are easier or harder to kill, so weaker wargear means a longer time-to-kill. Just because you can jump in on an Uprising threat level (difficulty 2) mission does not mean you should. Especially if you’re at trust level 1 and are only carrying what was recently issued to you. As there are 30 trust levels, the best rule of thumb is to operate on multiples of six. Once you clear a particular threshold, you can start working on higher threat levels. You might be able to get people with considerably higher levels to carry you, but you’re just as likely to be an impediment that will need to be rescued because you got wiped out early on.

7. Suffer Not The Mutant Nor The Heretic

Elite enemies are unquestionably the biggest threat you will face in the Underhive outside of boss creatures. It’s vitally important to tag such enemies, especially ones like Snipers and Trappers who can either hit from long range or disable an acolyte to the point of incapacitation and capture. Technically, you don’t have to be able to see them completely in order to tag them, and you can’t tag the common rabble, so if you see something towering over the unwashed masses, highlight it for immediate extermination. If you’re fast enough, you might even be able to tag charging Mutants and Chaos Hounds in time to let your comrades know you’re in trouble.

8. Know Thy Munitorum Manual

Understanding how weapons work with your particular operative’s abilities and your own play style will go a long way towards effective mission progression and personal enjoyment. As a general rule, the speed of a weapon’s attack and its’ damage per attack are inversely proportional. Faster weapons do less damage in a single hit, but you can chain more attacks together, leading to an overall higher damage output. Firearms with high damage per shot tend to have small magazines and a lower total ammo count. Be aware of your loadout and what works best for you. Try to stick with weapon types that you know work well as much as possible, but don’t be afraid to take a new weapon out for a test drive on at least one mission. You might just discover a new favorite.

9. Heresy Grows From Idleness

Each character class has a primary ability that you should be making use of regularly. But knowing when to make use of it is important. Zealots and Ogryn Skullbreakers both have rushing abilities which let them jump right into the fight, and Skullbreakers can basically “plow the road” with a large mob of mooks. Not enough to kill all of them, but certainly enough to soften them up. Sharpshooters have the Volley Fire ability, which designates all non-Ogryn Elite and Specialist enemies as Priority Targets, a serious boon to you (and later your team, with the right Feat) along with a 50% ranged damage buff.

Psykers who’ve built up Peril from using their Brain Burst ability can dump a good chunk of it and help disrupt mobs with their Psykinetic’s Wrath ability. And you can aid your comrades by deploying recovered ammo packs and medi-packs at appropriate times, usually when there’s a big flood of combatants about to occur. Your primary ability will have a cooldown, so learn to recognize the best times to activate them for the Emperor’s glory, then do so without hesitation.

10. The Emperor Protects (But You Still Need To Do Your Part)

More than anything else, a high degree of situational awareness is necessary. You need to be able to render aid to your comrades rapidly, whether it’s carving through a mob of Chaos-tainted mooks with a force sword or putting a hotshot lasgun round through the Pox Hound chewing on the Psyker’s face. You need to know where you’re going and how best to get there quickly. Learn to put off exploring a section until after you’ve cleared the bulk of mobs.

If you don’t have voice comms, learn to use icons to mark targets and designate rally points for your team to form up on to ensure maximum Coherency bonuses and righteous judgement on the enemy. At the very least, operate in two-man teams, rely on the “buddy” system. Work to recover captured teammates as soon as possible without unnecessary risk to yourself. Don’t be afraid to use grenades on your own position or that of your comrades (but be careful; your grenades won’t hurt a bit, but any combustibles cooking off sympathetically will). Conserve ammunition when possible; your melee weapon will likely be doing the bulk of the work. Be aware of Corruption in yourself and your comrades, and work to minimize exposure to damage when someone has high levels of Corruption until their condition can be corrected at a Medicae Station.

Either you will purge the heretic forces of Chaos from Atoma Prime and secure Tertium for the glory of the Imperium, or you will be an unpitied sacrifice to the Dark Gods. Serve the Emperor well through your devotion to the Inquisition, acolyte.

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