We heard you wanted some trains… It’s time to unveil the newest mission coming to our Unlocked & Loaded update this month: Rolling Steel. For this dev blog, we interviewed a Level Designer and Level Artist from our team who were in charge of bringing the vision to life: Jacopo and Roberto.
Our goal of this blog is to tell you about the new mission and how it formed, etc. without spoiling all the fun of playing it the first time for yourselves. We’ll have to leave some things out, because we want players to still be surprised when they load into the mission for the first time.
Let’s get rolling. 🚂 (I’m a comical genius -Straw)
Where Did the Idea for This Mission Start?
The idea for “Rolling Steel” began about a year and a half ago, following the release of Ascension Riser 31. In that mission, we experimented with creating a more dynamic end event where players fight atop an ascending platform in a massive vertical shaft. After completing that challenge, we wanted to create something with even more movement. A mission to explore more visually dynamic and immersive events.
Our devs continued working on this with the latest mission, Clandestium Gloriana, where players are in the lateral elevator.
A key moment that influenced this concept was a scene from the “Rejects Will Rise” trailer, where a train crashes and explodes into a station. This powerful visual helped solidify the narrative and set the pace for the objectives in the mission.
It was intimidating to start. While we had worked on similar movements with Ascension Riser 31, we knew this would require a tech investment to create the movement we wanted players to feel. We didn’t want the background to be a constant loop of the same elements. At first, the endeavour was put on hold. However, we saw the community's interest in a mission involving a train. This reignited our enthusiasm for the idea and it led us to resume development.
What Will Players Be Doing in Rolling Steel?
In Rolling Steel, players are thrust into a high-stakes scenario where they must stop a moving train hijacked by cultists who have repurposed it with tox bombs onboard to spread the Nurgle plague. The mission immediately begins with high-octane adrenaline as players are dropped directly onto the speeding train. From the beginning, players are immersed in the action.
The primary objective is to prevent the train from crashing into its destination and releasing tox gas. To do this, the players must work their way through a series of train cars. Each car presents unique challenges and escalating threats. Cultists will relentlessly defend the train, and the players will need to stick together and push forward quickly.
What are the New Objective Types?
Yes, we said quickly. One of the most significant additions to this mission is the timer as an overarching objective. We wanted to introduce this mechanic to create a stronger sense of tension and urgency throughout the mission.
The timer in "Rolling Steel" is intended to force players to move very quickly, adding a layer of pressure that should elevate the intensity of the gameplay. Our goal was to offer a new harder challenge that requires players to work more closely together to succeed. It is not like the classic missions where there is a mid-event and an end-event. Rather, it’s one full event from beginning to end.
We wanted to see what happens when you break the rules, or at least suspend them.
Additionally, we're experimenting with a potential new auspex minigame that also plays a part in the importance of teamwork and communication in the mission. (We’ll leave this for you to learn more about through playing.)
Additionally, Rolling Steel is part of our effort to experiment with a different mission format, which we call Operations. It is a shorter mission than we’ve created historically. By introducing shorter, more cinematic experiences, we hope to offer a fresh alternative to the normal types of missions in Darktide. Something else to sink your teeth into when you have the urge to slay heretics, but you’re more limited on time.
As this mission is somewhat of a test, we’re eager to hear feedback from our community. Your input will be invaluable in determining how we evolve these new types of missions in the future. (Thank you ahead of time!)
Any Learnings From Past Missions?
Absolutely, we’ve learned a great deal from designing past levels, but with "Rolling Steel," we also wanted to challenge ourselves and try new things.
One of the most significant changes is the level topology. Unlike our previous missions, which often feature wider environments, "Rolling Steel" has a highly linear layout, which naturally funnels players into more close-quarters combat scenarios. This shift strongly affected how we design encounters and balance the overall experience, especially considering the added pressure of a time constraint and how all these elements impact our combat director.
In many ways, "Rolling Steel" is informed by our past experiences, but it also represents a step towards new possibilities and gauge how these innovations resonate with our players.
Inspiration for the Environments
As mentioned, the Rejects Will Rise trailer was one of the inspirations. This Nurgle train is based on an industrial cargo train which creates more room for slaying. Then a heavy coating of 40k grimdark, as always! (That’s the best part). The art team did a tremendous job providing a variety of assets for us to include throughout the mission, and we look forward to players trying it out.
New Music
When we told Jesper about the new type of mission and the timer, he was really excited. He said he immediately had some ideas in his head of what he could create for players to add to the rising tension. He delivered a certified banger, as always. It is a blend between a standard and a high intensity track, so when the heat ramps up, players will definitely feel it.
Future Missions
We are expecting players to ask if we’ll have more missions on a train. The answer is…we’ll see! 😉 Let us know what you’re feeling.
We can’t wait for players to start running this mission and trying out the new objective. Let us know how it feels and we’ll be reading the feedback!
Until next time. May the Emperor protect!
Hotfix #47 (1.4.13) Patch Notes
Heyo everyone,
Hotfix #47 (aka 1.4.13) is now live on Steam and it will shortly be live on our other platforms. You can find the notes below!
Bug fixes & changes
Fixed an issue where the UI notification for completed penances could be displayed in the Mourningstar even in cases where there was no completed penance reward to redeem at Hestia’s Shrine Penitentax.
Fixed a rare crash which could happen when failing to retrieve the information for the latest News.
Fixed several instances where undefined text would be displayed in Blessing descriptions.
Fixed an issue where the “Krourk Mk IIId Blast Goggles” Ogryn headgear cosmetic would hide the eyebrows of the character when equipped.
Fixed an issue where the “Krieg Greatcoat (Marked by Faith)” Zealot upperbody cosmetic would fail to be correctly rendered in the area around the fingers.
Hadron’s Shrine of the Omnissiah is Under Renovation
As you can see Hadron workshop is undergoing renovation, but our grumpy Tech-priestess still does weapon maintenance under the counter.
Updates to Weapon Blessing Descriptions
We performed a pass on the descriptions of several Blessings, making sure that the information displayed was correct and aligned to their actual gameplay effect. There will be no changes to the gameplay effects of the affected Blessings. There are visual changes only.
We also added some additional text to further detail the mechanics of some Blessings.
Additional Note:The values in the descriptions will be updated for all languages. However some additional explanatory text will be only present in English for this hotfix (1.4.13). This additional text will be added for all languages in the Unlocked and Loaded update this month.
Blessings applying Brittleness on enemies
The shown debuff value for each stack of Brittleness has been changed to 2.5%, instead of 5%. This is a presentation change only however, as the game was already using 2.5% for the actual gameplay effect.
Can Opener:
Added details about the max stacks.
Fixed the displayed Brittleness value.
Shattering Impact:
Added details about the max stacks.
Fixed the displayed Brittleness value.
Thunderous:
Added details about the max stacks.
Fixed the displayed Brittleness value.
Rending Shockwave:
Added details about the max stacks.
Fixed the displayed Brittleness value.
Falter:
Added details about the bonus Impact damage.
Gets Hot!:
Added details about the damage increase applied on Critical Hits.
Headhunter (for Recon Lasguns only):
Fixed the displayed Critical Hit chance bonus:
Tier 1: 3.5%, from 2%
Tier 2: 4%, from 3%
Tier 3: 4.5%, from 4%.
Punishing Salvo:
Corrected the text to specify that the Bonus from this Blessing is applied also on the second shot, in addition to the third and fourth.
Sustained Fire:
Corrected the text to specify that the Bonus from this Blessing is applied also on the second shot, in addition to the third and fourth.
Haymaker:
Updated the text to include that other “on kill” effects are not triggered on Instakill.
Run 'n' Gun:
Added details about the Spread reduction.
Dev Note: For the Assault Shotgun, the description will show a reduction of weapon Spread of 10% that will be added in the Unlocked and Loaded update.
Ahead of our next update Unlocked and Loaded, we wanted to share these patch notes related to balancing for Weapons, Blessings and Classes within Darktide. The purpose is to give players a sneak peak at what to expect, as well as to receive feedback on what we’ve prepared.
Important Note: These are not the complete patch notes for the upcoming update, Unlocked and Loaded. We’ll have more to share on the release date, September 26. This is to simply give players a look ahead at the balancing!
Depending on player feedback, we’ll be able to tweak values for the changes below. If there are any larger reworks requested, we’ll likely be unable to make those changes before the update. However, we’ll be able to revert anything that feels out of place / doesn’t feel right for players and remove it from this patch. So, grab some tea or coffee and give this a read. Let us know what you think! We’ll be reading the comments.
There are 28 pages of notes here, so we’ll need to do a part one and part two. This is Pt.2! Please check out Pt. 1 here.
Important Note: These are not the complete patch notes for the upcoming update, Unlocked and Loaded. We’ll have more to share on the release date, September 26. This is to simply give players a look ahead at the balancing!
Depending on player feedback, we’ll be able to tweak values for the changes below. If there are any larger reworks requested, we’ll likely be unable to make those changes before the update. However, we’ll be able to revert anything that feels out of place / doesn’t feel right for players and remove it from this patch.
So, grab some tea or coffee and give this a read. Let us know what you think! We’ll be reading the comments.
Ogryn
Ogryn Talent Updates
No Pushover
Reworked. New Description:
Your Pushes have +250% Stagger. Can only trigger once every 8s.
Dev Note: The Old ‘No Pushover’ was frankly not up to par. Maybe this spices things up a bit? Big Boom
Explosion Radius: 22.5% to 27.5%.
Reloaded and Ready
Ranged Damage: 12% to 15%.
Duration: 6s to 8s.
Bruiser
Combat Ability Cooldown: 5% to 4%.
Massacre
Duration: 6s to 10s.
Steady Grip
Toughness: 3-5% toughness regeneration per second.
Delight in Destruction
Damage Resistance per Stack: 10% to 8%.
Too Stubborn to Die
Health Threshold: 25% to 33%.
Ogryn Talent Tree Updates
Swapped places of Toughness Damage Reduction Operative Modifier, and Suppression Boost Operative Modifier, on the Bottom Right part of the Tree.
Thick of the Fray
Removed. It is now included in Point-Blank Barrage per default.
Additional Miscellaneous Talent Changes
Fixed an issue where the Zealot class base Aura “The Emperor’s Will” remained active after selecting the “Loner” Aura talent.
Fixed an issue where an additional stack of the Psyker “True Aim” talent was gained when inflicting stagger to an enemy during the cast of “Brain Rupture”.
Dev Note:A stack of the talent will still be gained when completing the cast.
Changed the Psyker “Mettle” talent to only receive a maximum of 1 stack for each Critical attack, regardless of the amount of enemies hit by the attack.
Extended Availability of Weapon Families for Human Classes
As part of this update, we will extend the availability of specific weapon families to all human classes (Veteran, Zealot, Psyker). These weapons were previously locked to only one or two of the three classes, but will now be usable by all of them. However, we made sure that the weapons that are key to the identity of each class will remain uniquely available to that class. We hope that this will expand the gameplay experience and open up new interesting builds for players!
Ahead of our next update Unlocked and Loaded, we wanted to share these patch notes related to balancing for Weapons, Blessings and Classes within Darktide. The purpose is to give players a sneak peak at what to expect, as well as to receive feedback on what we’ve prepared.
Important Note: These are not the complete patch notes for the upcoming update, Unlocked and Loaded. We’ll have more to share on the release date, September 26. This is to simply give players a look ahead at the balancing!
Depending on player feedback, we’ll be able to tweak values for the changes below. If there are any larger reworks requested, we’ll likely be unable to make those changes before the update. However, we’ll be able to revert anything that feels out of place / doesn’t feel right for players and remove it from this patch. So, grab some tea or coffee and give this a read. Let us know what you think! We’ll be reading the comments.
There are 28 pages of notes here, so we’ll need to do a part one and part two.
Weapons
Weapon Changes
Thunder Hammers
The Thunder Hammer family of weapons suffered for being over-specialized into the Monstrosity-removal niche, while being very underwhelming against most other threats and in general failing at keeping up with the increased intensity of high difficulty missions.
With the following changes we aimed at rebalancing the weapon to preserve its single-target focus, but also to make it more well rounded and more exciting to use in all situations.
While the upper end of the damage on Special activated attacks against the Unyielding armor type has been lowered to prevent unhealthy 1-shots of Monstrosity enemies, the damage against Carapace Armour has also been significantly increased to conversely be able to more effectively handle Elite enemies like Maulers and Crushers (potentially dispatching them with a single well placed hit).
The Light activated attack damage profiles have been improved to reward weakspot hits and to more easily eliminate any human-sized enemy.
The self-stun after a Special activated attack has been significantly reduced on both marks, and differentiated between Light and Heavy attacks.
This will make it way easier to find a window of time to deliver its devastating activated blows without being overly punished by other enemies.
Also, most Light and Heavy attacks have been improved in their damage and reach, to make the weapon more reliable in dealing with lesser enemies when not activated.
Both marks of the Thunder Hammer weapon family have also received some additional targeted changes, explained just below!
Dev Note:It’s also a hammer.
Detailed Changes
All Marks
Tweaked the damage profile for Light Special activated attacks:
Armor damage modifier vs Unyielding from {2.0,3.0} to 2.0.
Tweaked the damage profile for Heavy Special activated attacks:
Armor damage modifier vs Unyielding from {3.0,5.0} to 3.0.
Armor damage modifier vs Carapace Armour from 1.0 to 1.5.
Improved the headshot/critical damage bonus multiplier on all Light attack profiles:
Finesse boost from 0.3 to 0.5.
Improved the damage of the Light Strikedown attacks:
Attack power distribution from {150,300} to {180,350}.
Improved the damage of the Heavy Relentless attacks:
1st target attack power distribution from {150,300} to {180,350}
2nd target attack power distribution from {80,160} to {100,200}
3rd target attack power distribution from {50,100} to {75,150}.
Fixed several windup and attack actions which could be canceled by sprinting.
Crucis Mk II Thunder Hammer
The Crucis Mk II mark always boasted the higher damage compared to its Ironhelm Mk IV brother, but delivering that damage to the intended target was often difficult due to the horizontal direction of its Heavy attacks and the effective lack of cleave on Special activated attacks.
This led to not uncommon scenarios where a Heavy activated attack could be completely absorbed by a single intercepting Poxwalker, leaving the target enemy unscathed.
To give players more control on the situation, we added a new overhead Heavy attack to the weapon, only chainable after the Special activation action for a short period of time.
Also, a small amount of cleave was added to the Heavy activated attacks, meaning that the swing will be able to go through at least one lesser enemy.
These changes combined will make the weapon more reliable in delivering its devastating damage to the intended target.
Additionally, the damage profile of the Light 3 attack has been improved to reward players completing the attack chain instead of resetting it.
Detailed Changes - Crucis Mk II Thunder Hammer
Reduced the Self-stun duration after connecting with a Special activated attack:
Light stun from 1.3 to 0.3
Heavy stun from 1.3 to 0.5.
Tweaked the hitboxes and damage windows for most attacks to be more aligned with their animations.
Improved reach for all Light attacks and the Push follow-up attack.
Tweaked the speed and chain time for the Light 1 and Light 2 attacks:
Light 1
Slightly reduced the attack speed
Improved chain time to Light 2 / Heavy 2 attack start from 0.65 to 0.55.
Light 2
Significantly improved the attack speed.
Added a bespoke improved Light Strikedown damage profile to the Light 3 attack
Attack power distribution {200,380}
Finesse boost vs Unarmoured 0.75
Finesse boost vs Flak Armour 0.6.
Slightly improved reach for all Heavy attacks
Changed so that the Heavy 2 attack chains into Light 3 / Heavy 1 instead of Light 1 / Heavy 1 to give an alternate access to the improved Light 3 attack.
Special activated attack changes:
Added a small amount of cleave to Heavy activated attacks:
Cleave distribution {1.0,3.0}.
Attack power distribution {400,800} when cleaving.
Cannot cleave through Elites, Specialists, Monstrosities and Captains.
Added an attack start chain from the Special activate action, chaining into Light 1 and a unique Strikedown Heavy attack with a vertical animation.
Improved the duration of the Special activate buff from 4s to 5s.
Significantly improved the Light activated attack properties:
Attack power distribution from {300,600} to {400,750}
Finesse boost vs Unarmoured from 0.3 to 1.0
Finesse boost vs Flak Armour from 0.3 to 1.0
Finesse boost vs Maniac from 0.3 to 0.5
Overall Finesse multiplier curve from {0.25, 0.75} to {0.65, 1.15}.
Ironhelm Mk IV Thunder Hammer
The Ironhelm Mk IV received few additional specific tweaks, but will still benefit greatly from the overall changes to the Thunder Hammer weapon family.
The improved reduction in self-stun duration after a Heavy activated attack will help in further distinguishing it as the more nimble and well rounded Thunder Hammer mark.
Detailed Changes - Ironhelm Mk IV Thunder Hammer
Reduced the Self-stun duration after connecting with a Special activated attack:
Light stun from 0.7 to 0.25
Heavy stun from 0.7 to 0.4.
Tweaked the hitboxes and damage windows for most attacks to be more aligned with their animations.
Improved reach for all Light attacks and the Push follow-up attack.
Slightly improved reach for the Heavy 1 and Heavy 3 attacks.
Improved the Light activated attack properties:
Attack power distribution from {250,500} to {300,600}
Finesse boost vs Unarmoured from 0.75 to 1.0
Finesse boost vs Flak Armour from 0.75 to 1.0
Overall Finesse multiplier curve from 0.25 to 0.65.
Boltgun / Bolt Pistol
In this release we added a set of targeted buffs aimed to increase the overall reliability of the iconic Boltgun and Bolt Pistol weapons, but also to significantly improve their performance against specific enemy types and in various situations.
Dev Note:We are aware of some issues regarding the aim of the bolt weapons, particularly in the recoil and sway when shooting continuously.
Unfortunately the issues are rooted quite deeply in the interaction between multiple different systems, so a complete fix was not possible for this release. We are going to continue investigating a solution and provide an update on our progress at a later date.
In the meantime, we have added some tweaks on the Sway and hitscan behaviors which should at least alleviate part of the issue.
Detailed Changes
Both Families
Reduced the intensity of the Sway from 1.0 to 0.3.
Dev Note:This will make the weapon to be overall slightly less unwieldy when aiming, and also make it less likely for the aim position to be significantly displaced when transitioning from hipfire to ADS.
Extended the radius of the hitscan for the bolt projectiles.
Dev Note: This will make the hitscan detection to be more generous and allow for shots that would have slightly missed the target to still be considered a hit.
Changed the bolt properties to ignore limbs on non-Monstrosity enemies when the projectile trajectory would have also hit their torso or head.
Dev Note: This will avoid situations where a bolt could be intercepted by the limbs of the enemies even when aiming at their center of mass, resulting in heavily reduced damage.
Armor damage modifier vs Carapace Armour from 0.4 to 0.5 (both near and far range).
Armor damage modifier vs Infested from 0.5 to 0.9 (near) / 1.0 (far).
Dev Note:Bolt-type weapons were penalized when shooting against Infested enemies. This tweak will normalize the damage in order to make them more reliable against this armor type.
Locke Mk IIb Spearhead Boltgun
Significantly improved the wield speed, from around 1.9s to 1.6s.
Improved the stagger properties of subsequent hits on the same target.
Dev Note: This will make it easier to open up Bulwark shields and reach stagger thresholds on other hard to stagger enemy types.
Godwyn-Branx Pattern Bolt Pistol
Added cleave properties to the bolt projectiles
From no_cleave to {1.0,3.0}.
Dev Note:This will make it possible for the shot to hit the intended target instead of being fully absorbed by even a single minor enemy.
Reduced some chain timings after the Special Push action:
Chain to hipfire Shoot from 0.56 to 0.4
Chain to Unwield from 0.54 to 0.4
Chain to Special from 0.9 to 0.75.
Additional Weapon Changes
“Devil’s Claw” Swords
Extended the block property of the Special parry to remain active for a short period of time at the start of the riposte attack.
Stamina is still drained as normal when blocking attacks during the additional block duration.
0.2s additional block duration.
Dev Note:This is to avoid situations where the player could still be hit on a well timed parry if multiple attacks were incoming at the same time.
Slab Shield
Added ranged block properties during the Push action, in addition to the already existing melee block properties.
Dev Note: The Block properties of the shield were still maintained during a Push, but only against melee attacks. Now the Block properties of the Push action should also cover ranged attacks.
Branx Pickaxe
Improved the stagger properties of the Special bash attack:
Stagger_category from “melee” to “uppercut”.
Impact power distribution increased on the first 3 targets:
[1] from {16,33} to {30,70}
[2] from {8,20} to {10,60}
[3] from {6,18} to {10,35}.
Dev Note: The Branx pickaxe Special attack is a Bash instead of the Pull used in the other two lighter marks, but its stagger output was often underwhelming against bigger targets. After the changes, this attack should now be more reliable in staggering any kind of non-Monstrosity enemy, even when in groups.
Reduced the chain timings after specific attacks:
Heavy 2 into Light 3 / Heavy 1 start from 0.87 to 0.8
Heavy 2 into Special from 1.05 to 0.8
Heavy 2 into Block from 0.69 to 0.62
Push follow-up attack into Block from 1.1 to 0.9.
Borovian Pickaxe
Reduced the chain timings after specific attacks:
Heavy 2 into Light 3 / Heavy 1 start from 0.63 to 0.6
Heavy 2 into Special from 0.9 to 0.7
Heavy 2 into Block from 0.63 to 0.6.
Reduced the windup time for the Heavy 1 attack when chained from Light 2 / Heavy 2 from 0.8 to 0.72.
Karsolas Pickaxe
Reduced the chain timings after specific attacks:
Heavy 2 into Light 3 / Heavy 1 start from 0.56 to 0.55
Heavy 2 into Special from 0.75 to 0.6.
Reduced the windup time for the Heavy 1 attack when chained from Light 2 / Heavy 2 from 0.71 to 0.6.
Improved the stagger properties of the Push follow-up bash attack when hitting a Weakspot.
Dev Note:This will make it easier to quickly control single enemies with carefully aimed attacks, at the cost of some Stamina.
Agripinaa Mk XIV Quickdraw Stub Revolver
Improved the Cleave properties of the shots.
Cleave distribution from {1.0,2.0} to {2.0,4.0}.
Rashad Mk II Combat Axe / Antax Mk V Combat Axe
Significantly improved the damage and stagger against Maniac enemies for all Heavy attacks.
Armor damage modifier vs Maniac from 0.5 to 1
Armor impact modifier vs Maniac from 0.5 to 0.75.
Dev Note:The Heavy attacks of the Combat Axes were unfairly penalized against Maniac type enemies, to the point where it was often preferable to use Light attacks instead.
Achlys Mk VIII Combat Axe
Aligned the Heavy 2 and Heavy 3 attacks to the Heavy 1 attack profile.
Tweaked the damage and impact modified against specific armor types for all Heavy attacks:
Armor damage modifier vs Carapace Armour from 0.6 to 0.8
Armor damage modifier vs Unyielding from 2 to 1.75
Armor impact modifier vs Maniac from 0.5 to 0.75.
Dev Note: The Heavy attacks of the Achlys Mk VIII Combat Axe are now all aligned to use the “spike” version of the attack profile, which also got some rebalancing with improved damage against Carapace and lowered damage against Unyielding. This will make the mark a bit more unique compared to the other two versions of the Combat Axe.
Lucius Helbore Lasguns
Reduced the buffer time for the hipfire shoot input to avoid unintended inputs to be registered when exiting the ADS stance immediately after shooting.
Aligned the minimum ammo usage for minimally charged shots between marks:
Mk I from 3 to 2
Mk II unchanged at 2
Mk III from 4 to 2.
Lucius Mk II Helbore Lasgun
Aligned the Sway values to the other marks.
Tigrus Mk XV Heavy Eviscerator
Reduced the windup timings for the Heavy 1 and Heavy 2 attacks, depending on the attack chain:
Heavy 1 chained from base start / Light 4: 0.4 (unchanged)
Heavy 1 chained from Light 2 / Heavy 2 from 0.76 to 0.65
Heavy 2 chained from Light 1 / Heavy 1 from 0.85 to 0.65
Heavy 2 chained from Light 3 / Push follow-up from 0.6 to 0.4.
Dev Note:These changes will reward opting to use Heavy attacks when going further down into attack chains, instead of resetting the chain.
Orestes Assault Chainaxes
Slightly improved the Dodge Distance range on the Mobility stat, from {0.8-0.9} to {0.9-1.0}.
Slightly improved the Block cost.
Slightly improved the Sprint cost at lower Defences stat values.
Orestes Mk XII Assault Chainaxe
Significantly improved the movement speed curve for the Heavy 1 and Heavy 2 attack windups.
Dev Note:This will make the Heavy attacks of this mark more dynamic and easier to use in more situations.
Improved the stagger properties of the Push follow-up attack.
Dev Note:This attack was meant to be a quick interrupt against enemy actions, but often failed at staggering key enemies like Ragers. The new values should allow to more reliably create space, still at the cost of Stamina due to the Push.
Tweaked the hitbox of the Heavy 2 attack to be more aligned to the animation.
Shock Mauls
Tweaked the buffer time windows for attack inputs to be more lenient.
Dev Note:This will make it less likely for Light attack inputs to be lost if performed too early after attacks with long chain times. Weapon Bug Fixes
Ironhelm “Hacker” Mk IV Assault Shotgun
Fixed an issue where the aim direction could be incorrectly moved if switching to another weapon immediately after firing.
Lawbringer Mk VI Combat Shotgun
Fixed an issue where the Special shell shots failed to be correctly scaled through the Damage stat.
Force Staves
Fixed an issue where the Celerity Stimm would fail to raise the charge speed of the secondary charged attacks.
Blessings
Updated Tiered Blessings
Blessings that were previously only available in 1 or 2 Tiers, have now been expanded upon to be available for all 4 tiers, with relevant values.
Blessing Pool Additions per Weapon
The number of Blessings available for the different Patterns has not been consistent, with some Weapons like the Blaze Force Sword having 12 different Blessings, while others like the Ogryns Power Maul only having 4. With the introduction of the new Itemization System we’re trying to make this more even between the Weapons. Going forward, all Weapons should have at least 8 different Blessings to choose from.
Braced Autogun
Ceaseless Barrage
Roaring Advance
Inspiring Barrage
Spearhead Boltgun
Puncture
Terrifying barrage
Fire Frenzy
Assault Chainaxe
Opportunist
Heavy Eviscerator
Opportunist
Tactical Axe
New: Slaughter Spree
Guaranteed Critical Hit (Next Attack) on Weak Spot Critical Hit Kill.
New: Relentless Strikes
+4-10% Power for 2s on Hit (Same Enemy). Stacks 5 times.
Gain a stack for each stamina spent blocking. Your next attack gains +4-10% melee power per stack and consumes one stack. Last 3.5s. Stacks 5 times.
Opportunist
Perfect Strike
Rumbler
New: Explosion Zone
+3-6% Explosion Radius for every shot fired during continuous fire. Stacks 5 times.
New: Shrapnel
+1-4 Bleed Stacks from close range explosions.
New: Clonk
15-30% Reload Speed for 3s on Projectile Weakspot Hit.
Plasma Gun
New: Power Blast
Gain between 2-5% and 10-25% Crit Chance based on charge level when firing.
New: Energy Leakage
Increases power up to 7.5-20%, scaled on overheat.
New: Focused Cooling
-30-60% Heat generation on Critical Hit.
New: Optimised Cooling
Increased Charge Speed scaling inversely with Heat Level. 4-10% to 20-50%.
Crusher
Opportunist
Thrust
Slaughterer
Thunderous
Power Sword
Thrust
Blessing Changes
To make all Blessings have a difference in strength between Tiers, we’ve changed the following Blessings. Unstoppable Force
Now also provides 2.5-10% Heavy Melee Damage based on Tier.
Power Cycler
Now also grants 2.5-10% Melee Stagger based on Tier.
Blessing Bug Fixes and Additional Changes
Punishing Salvo Specifically on the Infantry Autogun.
Fixed bug where the description was displaying the wrong values. “…14-20%…” to “…35-50%…”.
Trauma
Fixed issue where the Stagger values were too low. Was 7.5-15%. Is now 14-20%.
Headhunter Specifically on the Recon Lasgun.
Fixed bug where the description was displaying the wrong values. “…2-5%…” to “…3.5-5%…”
Dumdum
Fixed an issue where the stacks and duration could be refreshed by Damage over Time effects (e.g. Burn).
Dev Note:Those effects will still be affected by the damage bonus of the blessing. Terrifying Barrage
Fixed an issue where the blessing failed to trigger for secondary charged attacks of the Equinox Mk III Trauma Force Staff and the Nomanus Mk VI Surge Force Staff.
Adhesive Charge
Fixed an issue where the bonus damage of the blessing failed to be applied.
Deflector
Changed the block cost reduction bonus to also be active when blocking melee attacks
Overpressure
Now also affects Damage over Time effects (particularly, Burn).
Classes
Psyker
When we started overhauling the Classes for Patch #13, we did it one Class at a time. The first one we tackled was Psyker. As a result, the Psyker ended up with a lot less Passive Nodes available compared to the others, resulting in less room to Customize your preferred build. In this Patch, we hope to remedy that.
Psyker Talent Updates
Scrier’s Gaze To further define this Ability as the go-to choice for those wielding non-Force Staff Ranged Weapons.
Now also grants Suppression Immunity for its initial Duration.
Malefic Momentum To incentivize weaving between Warp Attacks and Regular Attacks
Now also grants +4% Damage to non-Warp Attacks for 8s after a Warp based Kill. Stacks 5 Times.
Psyker Talent Tree Updates
With more nodes having to fit into the tree, we’ve restructured it a bit. All builds you have been playing up until now should still be available for you, but you might have to take a slightly different path to get there. Inspiring Presence
Removed.
New Psyker Talents
Warp Unbound (As a modifier to Scrier’s Gaze)
Scrier’s Gaze prevents you from overloading from Perils of the Warp during its lingering effect.
Charged Strike (As a modifier to Smite)
Your Heavy Melee Attacks electrocute enemies, damaging them, without stunning them.
On the Left Side of the Tree:
Perilous Assault
Up to 50% Weapon Wield Speed (based on Peril).
Channeled Force
+30% Damage to Force Staff’s Primary Attacks after Fully Charged Force Staff Secondary Attacks. Lasts 5s.
Empyric Shock
6% Warp-Damage Taken by victims of your Force Staff’s Primary Attack. Max Stacks 5. Lasts 10s.
On the Right Side of the Tree:
Lightning Speed
+10% Melee Attack Speed.
Warp Splitting
Up to 100% Cleave, based on Peril.
By Crack of Bone
Melee Weakspot Kills Quell 5% Peril and Reduce further Peril Generation by 20% for 4s.
Souldrinker
Killing an Enemy with Soulblaze restores 5% Toughness and grants 5% critical Hit Chance for 5s.
On your way to the Warp Siphon Keystone:
Penetration of the Soul
+10% Rending on Warp-Attacks when above 75% Peril.
+25% Reload Speed while below 75% Peril. On Reload, generate up to 25% Peril based on the Percentage of the Clip Restored.
Above Empowered Psionics:
Crystalline Will
Overloading through Perils of the Warp no longer knocks you down, but you still take the appropriate Corruption Damage.
Veteran
Veteran Talent Updates
Skirmisher
Duration 5s to 8s.
Opening Salvo
First Percentage of Ammo: 10% to 20%.
Kill Zone
Ranged Damage: 15% to 20%.
Veteran Talent Tree Updates
Vanguard
Removed. Replaced by ‘One Motion’.
Dev Note: Vanguard wasn’t performing as we wanted, and it was mostly viewed as a blocker to the talents below it. One Motion
+25% Weapon Swap Speed.
Relentless
Removed. It is now included in Executioner’s Stance per default.
Dev Note:Relentless was pretty much a must pick for the viability of the Ability.
Zealot
Zealot Talent Updates
Invocation of Death
Changed from 1.5s Cooldown reduction on Melee Critical Strike to: +175% Cooldown Regeneration for 4s on Melee Critical Strike.
Dev Note: We missed the mark on the last change to ‘Invocation of Death’, leading to frustration. We hope this brings it to a satisfying and balanced state. Sainted Gunslinger
Reload Speed per Stack: 3% to 6%.
Max Stacks: 10 to 5.
Dev Note:The purpose of these changes is to allow the talent to reach its full potential faster. Vicious Offering
Toughness: 7.5% to 10%.
The Voice of Terra
Toughness: 2.5% to 4%.
Fortitude in Fellowship
Toughness Coherency Modifier: 25% to 50%.
Ambuscade
Damage: 20% to 30%.
Stalwart
Now also provides 25% Toughness Damage Reduction while ‘Fury’ is Active.
Perfectionist
Ability Cooldown Increase: 50% to 25%.
Master-Crafted Shroudfield
Duration: 6s to 5s.
I Shall Not Fall
Toughness Damage Reduction per Stack: 5% to 6.5%
Restoring Faith
Heal 25% to 20%.
Time for Full Heal: 5s to 4s.
Dev Note: These changes were made because Restoring Faith made taking stray damage a bit too forgiving. Swift Certainty
Sprint Speed: 10% to 5%.
Dev Note:The Dodging effect of Swift Certainty is already a very strong effect. We’re lowering the movement speed slightly.
Darktide 101: Enemy Design and Prototyping - Dev Blog
Hello Rejects!
My name is Daniel, and I’m a Programmer and Designer at Fatshark. This blog covers parts of our journey in creating enemies for Darktide. Over the years, I’ve gathered many clips and screenshots and wanted to share some of the early development stages and explain our thought processes. Keep in mind that many of these clips and screenshots feature temporary assets (sorry artists!) since they were created early in the project to test gameplay mechanics.
For Darktide, the Combat team used a very iterative approach. We identified the most important features to include, made functional prototypes, tested them in co-op, found problems, and made adjustments to improve the feel. We repeated this process many times. Our core goals for Darktide combat were replayability and co-op. We believe these are best achieved with highly polished moment-to-moment combat and unique (and sometimes funny) scenarios to experience with friends or random players.
Roamer Enemies (Normal and Elite Enemies)
To help decide what types of enemies we wanted in Darktide, we first created a combat prototype in Vermintide 2. We did this because we wanted Darktide to have similar combat to Vermintide, and it was easier to test concepts since Darktide had very few assets (models, animations, sounds, effects, etc.) at that point.
Our main objectives for the combat prototype were to evaluate:
Melee/Ranged Combat Hybrid: How does Vermintide’s usually melee-focused combat work with a greater focus on ranged combat? How do we ensure melee stays important?
Ranged Enemy Positioning: With ranged combat, our enemies need ways to position themselves. What kind of positioning systems should we implement?
Ranged Enemy Types: What ranged enemy types should exist? For example, Vermintide 2 has horde enemies, roamer enemies, high damage elites, fast-attacking berserker elites, and shielded elites. What types should we have for ranged combat?
First, we gave a Chaos Marauder enemy in Vermintide 2 a gun and made it shoot at players. We chose these enemies because we planned to make humanoid enemies in Darktide. Their similar skeletons meant we could reuse many of the assets, making it easier for us to use them in the final game.
Then, we wanted to position enemies in the world in a way that made sense for tactical units using ranged weapons. In Vermintide, most enemies use a “Slot System,” which moves enemies to slots around players to space them out, simulate collision, and help with performance.
Here are 2 clips of slot system functionality OFF and ON in Vermintide 2:
https://youtu.be/L3v4jsX32TU
This system wouldn’t work for enemies that don’t aim to engage in melee combat. So, we created two new systems that work together:
Cover System: Like in many shooter games, enemies use cover to position themselves. This system guides enemy movement, causes enemies to interact with the environment, and helps level designers create interesting scenarios.
Combat Vector System: This system calculates positions between players and groups of enemies to simulate a "direction of combat”. It prevents enemies from firing at players from all angles. This is the fallback system when no cover is available.
Here’s a later version of these systems in action:
https://youtu.be/9IlEK6V_vlw
For the cover system, we first made simple boxes and walls of different sizes, added nodes, and calculated cover positions. Enemies then picked the closest unoccupied cover with a position opposite the player.
https://youtu.be/q-SyoPZRDAk
Next, we added animations and logic for enemies to peek, aim, and shoot from cover.
https://youtu.be/tgP8UE4ByLk
As you can see, the animations are static, don’t line up well, and the enemies look confused. However, it was a good early test to see what behaviors and animations we needed.
We noticed early on that ranged enemies needed different behavior when players got close because it wasn’t fun to be shot at from close range. So, we developed the concept of “Combat Ranges,” where enemies change behavior based on their distance from the player and the player’s weapon. We gave marauders melee weapons to switch to if players got too close. When switching to melee, they behaved like regular melee enemies.
This created a fun hybrid combat loop, where players could shoot enemies at range or charge into cover to force them into melee combat, using mechanics like environmental line-of-sight blocking, dodging, and sprinting to minimize damage. This led us to implement mechanics like sprinting and sliding.
We also designed enemies that are extremes of this concept, like the Gunner, who has a powerful ranged attack and doesn’t switch to melee, making it a prime target for high-damage ranged weapons. We also have Shotgunner/Assaulter enemies that try to get close to players without engaging in melee to force them out of cover. The first prototype of Assaulter enemies was a Chaos Warrior with a plasma gun. He slowly walks up, shoots a plasma shot, and switches to a two-handed melee weapon when close.
https://youtu.be/mSG9V4wFlxQ
With many enemies taking cover and hybrid combat being a core feature, we wanted to test mechanics allowing ranged weapons to interact with cover. One idea was Suppression, where high fire rate and sustained fire weapons could flush out enemies from cover even if the shots missed. We tested a mechanic where shooting close to the target would make them stop shooting and take cover for a moment.
https://youtu.be/aXnFRSGtTZI
Here is a clip showing the above features in the Vermintide 2 prototype. We also got help from level designers to create whitebox levels with covers and layouts suited for ranged combat. It also includes a prototype of the Sniper specialist (later added).
https://youtu.be/9IlEK6V_vlw
In the end, the core roamer population was divided into three categories:
Melee/Fighters:
Rush into melee, forcing players to kill them quickly or switch to melee combat.
Close/Assaulters:
Prefer to stay close to players (8-12 meters) and use fast-firing or hard-hitting weapons.
Far/Riflemen:
Stay at a distance, use cover, and take potshots at players. They are generally more defensive and force players to engage with them.
After finishing the prototype in Vermintide 2, we implemented it in the new Darktide project. The assets look more temporary here since we’re not reusing as many Vermintide 2 assets, and many mechanics are missing. Here’s a clip of the first implementation of cover users in Darktide: https://youtu.be/XXHafbMOMcU
Horde Enemies
An important element in all -tide games is the Horde enemies. They are designed to be numerous, varied, and fun to kill in masses. For Darktide, our main Horde enemies are humanoids, with two variants: Poxwalkers and the Newly Infected. Here’s a clip of the first implementation of Poxwalkers (with non-functional ragdoll physics):
https://youtu.be/3HZL4rwNOVY
We wanted our horde enemies to vault over cover since levels would be filled with covers, and we wanted hordes to feel like a wave rather than individual enemies. Here’s a clip of one of the first implementations of cover vaulting:
https://youtu.be/Xw3bBsf7uCg
Another aspect we wanted to improve with the hordes in Darktide is their navigation avoidance at longer distances. Avoidance means enemies try to avoid walking the same path as others. This is more noticeable in our games at longer distances due to the slot system spreading out enemies when they get close. Here’s a before/after clip of improved avoidance for Poxwalkers:
https://youtu.be/oHmswSJzw2A
Specialist Enemies
Specialist enemies in Darktide (and Vermintide) can be categorized into two groups:
Disablers:
These enemies try to disable one player, forcing others to respond. Examples include Pox Hound and Scab Trapper.
Scramblers:
These enemies use mechanics to force players to split up or create chaos to disorient them. Examples include Bombers, Poxburster, Flamers, Snipers, and Mutants.
It’s crucial that specialist enemies have clear audio and visual cues. Their behavior should be simple so they are easily understood in chaotic situations. An important skill in our games is target prioritization, where players must quickly decide which targets to focus on while up to 200 entities are on screen and three other players are doing the same. Specialists play a key role because their impactful attacks can end a match if left unchecked.
We also allow players to “clutch” against all specials, meaning a single player can handle these threats alone if they take the right actions. Examples of handling a specialist individually would be pushing a Pox Hound/Poxburster, or dodging a Trapper net/Sniper shot/Charging Mutant. While this might seem against the idea of co-op, we found through playtests that the ability to clutch is crucial for individual skill expression, and skill expression is important in a multiplayer game. Not allowing a single player to survive alone would also result in a more toxic gameplay loop where players would give up as soon as other players were downed. It also simply feels rewarding to save the day and revive fallen team members.
Following are some examples of the specialists we created and how they looked at different times during the project.
Pox Hound:
The first special we added was the Pox hound. We chose the Pox hound because we knew that we needed a fast moving disabler enemy, and it was similar in frame/pose to the Gutter Runner from Vermintide, meaning we could build similar gameplay and be sure that it would work.
First step was to make it pounce on the players. Then, it needed animations and logic to handle its faster speed. We added turning animations (blended animations to simulate momentum etc.), running staggers (staggers that continue forward instead of stop) to help with this. Finally, we polished some of the landing and turning animations. The hound has had some issues with becoming a rocket dog, which was related to how we calculated the trajectories for the pounce, but that has mostly been fixed as of now!
Mutant:
One of the new Specialists in the -tide series is the Mutant, inspired by the Left 4 Dead charger. We designed it to be more of a scrambler than a disabler. Its role is to charge a player, grab them, deal damage, and then throw them unpredictably to create chaos. We found it needed more health to fulfill its role, making it tankier than usual specialists and a target for high-damage weapons.
Here’s a clip of the first prototypes, using a Chaos Ogryn model and temporary animations to test the mechanics. Once we had the Mutant model, we experimented with its animations. We realized that getting charged constantly got too tiring, so we added pauses after he threw a player, and an extra long opening when players succeeded with dodging.
https://youtu.be/ZMyj86_ZWW8
The animations, sounds, and visual effects were polished later to create the final version of the Mutant we have today.
Poxburster:
Another specialist that got added was the Poxburster. We wanted the Poxburster to be a simple Scrambler that explodes when close or on death. Initially, it was supposed to be solely a high priority ranged target that didn’t have any counterplay when it entered melee range.
Starting off, we put a barrel on a Poxwalker and made it explode when close. Later, we added model/animations/vfx/sfx. We realized that players got annoyed by it in close quarters however, so we experimented with ways to deal with it in melee. In the end, we added the “fuse” followed by a window to stagger it in order for a well timed push/dodge backwards to avoid all damage. This turned out to be a fun alternative to kill it.
https://youtu.be/tJkZqOSIQyQ
Conclusion
In conclusion, creating enemies for Darktide has been a detailed and iterative process aimed at making the gameplay exciting and varied. From early tests in Vermintide 2 to the final versions in Darktide, we continuously tested and improved on features. Our focus was on making both melee and ranged combat fun and challenging. We developed different types of enemies, from hordes that swarm and overwhelm to roamers that add variety and strategy. Specialist enemies further add strategy, requiring players to quickly decide which threats to focus on first. Our goal was to build a co-op experience that players will want to return to again and again. Thanks for reading!
Itemization Rework Q&A Part 2 - Dev Blog
Heyo Everyone,
As promised, here is the next batch of questions and answers regarding the Itemization Rework coming after summer. Again, we collected over 11 pages of feedback, questions and general concerns after the release of the last Q&A dev post.
As a refresher, the two new systems are the Mastery system and the Empower system (formerly Expertise). (There is still a chance that these names change.)
Note: All of the questions we’re answering in this are pulled directly from the comments on the Forums, Reddit and Discord. We kept the players’ wording instead of writing our own questions.
Question If one has a complete blessing library for a specific weapon type, could one expect to have their Mastery fully completed, or will you add mandatory grind?
Answer If you have a complete blessing library for a specific weapon, you will have all your Mastery for that specific weapon completed. There will be no additional grind added.
Question How does the every Tier of one Blessing gets calculated into the ““head start in Mastery””? Do players get more points in Mastery from one single blessing if they have unlocked all Tiers of that blessing or does only the highest Tier count?"
Answer All tiers are taken into consideration for the specific weapon family. With higher tiers being more important in the calculation. To reach max Mastery, you will only need 70-80% of all the blessings available.
Question With the itemization rework can we expect a rework toward Melk with or after the update since most of us use it to gain higher tier blessings faster than anything else?
Answer Yes, Melk will give higher-tier equipment than before (higher-tier referring to blessings and power of the weapon).
Question In the new crafting system, you mentioned we can unlock the blessing that we want using the Mastery experience. If I want to unlock a Tier 4 blessing of a Lasgun, let’s say Ghost, do I have to unlock ALL Tier 1 to Tier 3 blessing of Lasgun to access the Tier 4 blessing page? Or I can simply unlock Tier 1 to 3 of Ghost and access Tier 4 Ghost without unlocking other blessings?
Answer No, you will not need to unlock all Tier 1 to Tier 3 blessings of a Lasgun to access the Tier 4 blessing page. There will be a minimum requirement of lower tiers blessing to be unlocked before reaching the next tier level, but it will not be all of the previous tier.
Question How much my 1084/1214 blessing will contribute to weapon Mastery?
Answer All 1084 of your blessings will be taken into account, then. All unlocked blessings will be taken into consideration when transferring a weapon to the new system.
Question What happens to my weapons in the inventory that have blessings on them i dont have unlocked? Will they just stay the same and i only cant use the blessing on another weapon?
Answer Items will remain the same, therefore the unlocked blessings will not be taken into account when it comes to the translation of the blessings library into Mastery. Any unlocked blessings will exist on the weapon itself, and they cannot be transferred to another weapon.
Question When StrawHat said that players will begin with a headstart in the new system, does that mean that we won’t have access to blessings we did previously and therefore forcing us to grind for the tiers all over again? (This is from the last Q&A post.) You did not answer my question regarding the transfer. I currently have collected all level 4 blessings for my favorite weapon. But I did not collect any level 3, nor any level 2, nor any level 1 blessing. After the transfer, will I still have access to all level 4 blessings?
Answer Yes and no. It will depend on how you are building your new Mastery track. In the worst-case scenario, playing 1 or 2 games would be necessary to have it all. We saw that having T1/T2 blessings were less common for those at max level. It would feel too punishing if we put too much weight on asking players to have these lower tiers in order to reach max Mastery. Therefore, we will be weighing T4 blessings in such a way that you won’t encounter that grind.
Question (More of a Comment) That weapons are still locked at 380, and that you’ll still be hunting for the ‘perfect’ stat distribution base weapon is kind of insane, to be honest.
Answer With the new system, players will be able to freely change between marks of a weapon family as they progress in the Mastery track. This means the player will only be searching for the base weapon with the stats distribution they want, rather than searching for the preferred stats distribution on each individual mark.
That said, a player will be able to play with the best weapon they’ve found, and then with minor investment be able to change to a better weapon once it’s been found. And any progress within that weapon family will be transferred to the new weapon.
Question (More of a Comment) Worse still, the ‘broken locks’ are time gated. Want to freely swap around T4 blessings? Gotta have maxed Mastery on that weapon family first.
Answer This is incorrect. Players will get access to the best blessings before reaching the actual end of the Mastery curve.
Question Well it’s a pretty huge difference that you can’t change perks or blessings, nor can you cash in a blessing into a library. It’s all about the grind first. And depending on if Strawhat was careful with wording or not, you have to unlock all T1 blessings to unlock a single T2 blessing.
Answer You will not need to unlock all the T1 blessings to unlock a T2 blessing. Furthermore, you can change around the perks and blessings on a weapon as much as you want.
Question (More of a Comment) Also, allowing Hadron to still consecrate items to let people brute force it with enough currency is a good choice, but if you still need to unlock the blessings when an entirely new family of weapons comes out, that will still hamper people who like to experiment, even if the Mastery grind isn’t that long.
Answer As players are free to unlock the blessings they want (in whatever order they want), players will be able to fairly quickly unlock the blessing choices they want to experiment with after just unlocking a few tiers of Mastery of a weapon. Since we are adding more tiers to each blessing and making them all available at tier 1, players will quickly be able to unlock the gameplay potential of a blessing. This allows players to be able to create the build they want sooner. Though it will take a bit longer to unlock the most powerful version of that build.
We are also introducing a “sacrificing” system to allow players to sacrifice weapons to get Mastery experience for a weapon family. This gives players even more avenues to gain Mastery within a weapon family outside of only playing with the weapon. For example, when a new weapon comes out, players will be able to sacrifice ANY other unwanted weapon, even those from completely different weapon families, to get a headstart on Mastery. Note: If it’s the same weapon, more Mastery XP will be given versus if it’s a different weapon.
TL;DR: Weapons a player no longer wants can be sacrificed to get a headstart.
Question When you say: This system will merge all weapon types/families, meaning players will be able to freely switch between different marks of the same weapon type. For example, once you own an Infantry Lasgun, you have the potential to unlock all the possible marks for this weapon and switch from one mark to another. What does this mean for weapons:
That are on their own: Staves and Kickback/Rumbler (Don’t share blessing, but do models)
That may not be on their own: Plasma; Bolter; Ogryn Power Maul; Crusher; Hack Shotgun…
Weapons that do share but still might get a variant: Stub Revolver; Chainsword; Chain Axe; Evicerator…
Answer
Weapons that share models/skins, but not blessings: These will be classified as different weapon families, therefore getting each their own Mastery track with separate blessings trees.
Weapons that currently have only one mark: These will still be classified as separate weapon families and get their own Mastery track, just without marks to unlock.
Weapons that have multiple variants: Variants of the same weapons are called “marks”, and will be included in the same weapon family. Each family will receive its own Mastery track. Different weapon families that are similar, like Chainswords and Eviscerators, will still have separate Mastery tracks. Some blessings will appear in multiple Mastery tracks, but each blessing needs to be separately unlocked in each blessing tree.
One nice aspect of the new system is that if/when we do add more marks to a weapon family, they will be unlocked in the Mastery system instead of diluting the loot pool and making it harder for you to obtain the weapon you want from the loot system. Previously, every time we released a new mark for a weapon, we made it harder to get any specific weapon from the loot pool. This new system removes that problem and will make the addition of new marks purely positive.
Stats
Question "Every weapon is created with a pool of stat points that have been distributed in the different stat buckets, and every weapon has the same potential maximum number of stats that can be distributed.”
Is there a way to remove points from one “bucket” to be added to another? while still keeping the “investment” cap from expertise in mind?
Answer No, it will not be possible. Each weapon will be generated with varied maximum caps on each stat.
Question Is the overall power of weapons remaining the same, or will a newly-maxed-out weapon with this new system give more damage/power/stats?
Answer The overall power of the weapons will remain the same as before.
Question What makes a weapon go to 380? Let’s say I roll the dice at Brunt’s and get a 340 Force Sword. That sword can now go from 340 to 380? If so, how? By consecrating it?
Answer Every weapon will now have the potential to reach 380. The Power system (formerly referred to as Expertise) is where you can make it happen by empowering your weapon through the use of crafting materials.
Question When viewing any weapon, it will show the weapon’s maximum potential stats. These stats will be randomly determined. It’s up to the players to decide if the weapon profile is interesting enough for them to commit and increase the stats until reaching this potential (which are then applied to the weapon through the Expertise system). Does this mean that we CAN choose to fill things from 0 to cap for each different stats?
Answer You cannot select where the points are going exactly, it will be an automatic increase for each stat.
Empower (formerly Expertise) / Mastery
Question I think the gist is that the blessings we’ve unlocked get converted to ‘Mastery XP’ that we can then spend to put whatever we like on new weapons?
Answer Correct, the blessings on a specific weapon are converted into Mastery XP for that weapon family. However, the Mastery XP is bespoke to the weapon family and it is not universal (to be applied to any weapon you like).
Question So if I understood correctly, we long-time players skip “Mastery”, go straight into “expertise” and can attribute perks and blessings freely at material costs?
Answer The idea is weapons will be converted over to the new system. The Mastery XP is determined by the blessings that are unlocked on the weapon itself. The more blessings unlocked or the higher tier of the blessings unlocked, the more XP that is gained for that weapon family. Then, using crafting materials, players can Empower their weapons and apply the perks and blessings as they wish.
Also, we have mentioned above the ability to sacrifice unwanted weapons in order to increase Mastery XP at a player’s discretion.
Question I was wondering to get the maximum amount of Mastery XP for a weapon group, do I need to unlock every single tier of every blessing for getting the maximum XP for that? I have all tier 4 blessings but never bothered with lower tier blessings.
Answer Players will not need every blessing of a weapon family to achieve max Mastery upon introduction of the new system. We are looking at something like having all T4/T3 blessings will be enough to max Mastery.
Question Would it be possible to add a new item filter in the shops and crafting menu which sorts items from their max potential to lowest? That would help a lot when min maxing gear!
Answer Well, every weapon will have the max potential of 380. However, we will be adding a filter so players can sort by the current Power rating.
Question Is this update going to come with balancing changes? A lot of us feel the game is too easy, even on the hardest difficulties right now. Weapons like the plasma gun, revolver and knife makes the experience way too easy, for instance. I understand you guys try your best not to nerf players, but sometimes the players really do need it. Some enemy buffs would be welcomed also.
Answer We are aware of this problem and try to balance the game accordingly. Still, as different players will see balance changes differently, we want to be careful and try to respect all player’s investments in the game. Hopefully, the Mastery system will allow us to be a bit more forthright with balance changes, since it will make it easier for players to adapt to any new meta in the game without having to rely on RNG systems to do so.
We are also working on other features that will address this problem, but more news about them in the future when they’re in a more solid state to share.
Question Looks good! Genuinely hope there are cosmetic rewards for fully mastering a weapon. Come on FatShark! Just one free skin, just a scrap.
Answer There will be a cosmetic reward per weapon family.
Question Are curios also implemented in this system somehow? Currently you can’t even buy them from the Brunt’s store.
Answer Curios are not a part of this overhaul. We are however thinking of ways to make curios more fun and engaging. We felt that we would tackle the bigger problem of weapons first and give curios the time and attention that they need to become a more interesting part of a player’s loadout at a later time. However, we will note that the locks will be removed from Curios, as well. This means players will be able to change anything at any time, aside from the base property of the item itself.
Alright, that answers the second batch of questions. If anything in this post is unclear, please let us know below. This will help us collect more feedback and ensure we answer them in our future posts.
Thank you!
Hotfix #46 (1.4.12) - Patch Notes
Heyo Everyone,
Our latest hotfix (1.4.12) is out now on Steam and the rest of our platforms will follow. You’ll find the patch notes below!
Fixed an issue where ammo crates would still spawn in Maelstrom Mission C-I-VI.
The tooltip for the Stopping Power stat has been updated to reflect that it affects damage as well.
Fixed an issue that caused the canteen on Psyker “Shroudwrap Carapace” cosmetic upperbody to be warped.
Announcing Unlocked and Loaded - Update (September 26, 2024)
Heyo Devoted Rejects,
We’re excited to announce the next free update coming to Darktide - Unlocked and Loaded - will be releasing on September 26, 2024.
https://youtu.be/69zI8J5nnZU
Unlocked and Loaded will include the overhaul to itemization, a new mission with a new objective, and improvements to social features.
Itemization Overhaul:
Unlock Your Potential: With the itemization overhaul, players will master their weapons over time, unlock blessings, weapon marks, and perks, and tinker with their gear to increase its Power. This overhaul will help players carve a clear path to get the weapons and gameplay they want. (More dev blogs on this soon and the next Q&A blog will be released this week!)
New Mission:
Time’s running out! Players will race against time and repel heretics in this shorter high-octane mission in which players’ strike teams are the only thing standing between a barreling freight train and Tertium. (Did you see the end of the teaser trailer?) (We’re also working on a dev blog for this mission, too!)
New Social Feature:
Team-up against Chaos: As Darktide is made to be enjoyed with others, our new Group Finder features will make teaming up with like-minded players easier. Before embarking on a mission, players will be able to form groups and band together to wreak havoc among the ranks of the heretics. You can form groups based on language, difficulty, mission focus, and more.
Those words have lodged firmly in my mind. There have been endless words and fanatical ramblings – enough to last several lifetimes – and most are just background noise. That statement, though… it carries weight. Enforced inactivity leads to a degradation of body and mind and so I must keep both active. The first comes with physical recovery. The other will hopefully come from committing some of my myriad thoughts to this journal.
How long have I been here? Days, certainly. Weeks, perhaps. Months? Possibly. I no longer know. There has been much pain, but I know that pain must be endured so that the body may be reshaped and that is what is happening. There is pain, at times excruciating, but I endure. I must endure. Because if I don’t, who will there be left to dole out retribution for my loss? Rodin’s death at the hands of the warband will not go unpunished and must be addressed. I swear it.
I have so many questions that have no answers. Who brought me here? Why was I spared when he was not? What happens next? All I seem to have are questions and time to think about them. What is time, really? When you get down to it, I mean. Is it even a real thing? Is it just a construct of a social system that has an obsession with its own mortality? What other species counts down the seconds to its own oblivion in the way that the Imperium of Mankind does? Such limited scope. Such narrow vision. Entropy is an inevitability: why bother wasting an existence waiting for it when you could be living?
It seems I have a second chance, including the opportunity to think and come out with the same foolish rhetoric of my new companions.
It’s ridiculous. I’m a fighter. A soldier. I’m no orator or scribe given to flights of fancy. But things change. People change. I should be dead, but I am not. They talk to me earnestly of the Grandfather’s gift, of what I will become to them, but I fail to see the appeal. These people brought me here and I will play their game. For now, at least, we are travelling the same way, flotsam and jetsam borne ever-onward by the unrelenting tide of time.
There are choices ahead but I will not be distracted from my core objectives. I will avenge my brother and I will pay my debt to these people. Once those duties are discharged, what happens next remains to be seen. Thoughts of the way forward don’t burden me, neither am I afraid of them. He always said to me that there was no fear that cannot be overcome, no belief that cannot be challenged, no hope that cannot be dissolved in the acidic bile of truth. No, there is no fear.
There is something, though. Trepidation, anticipation, excitement… the breath you draw before you dive, not knowing if you’re going to surface after you hit the water. The step off the cliff-edge, trusting that the fall is not going to smash your body to smithereens. The thrill of continued existence against all the odds. It’s invigorating and gives me strength and purpose to do what must be done.
I have already survived against all likelihood. I will endure and I shall not falter. My brother, you will not be forgotten.
Falter not, wither not.
Take a breath and jump.
Herald of Admonition
Rolling blackouts are plaguing sectors of the hive. Worse, we’ve heard reports of someone, or something lurking in the darkness. We need devoted rejects to get down there and sort this mess out.
Play and complete missions with a new Special Condition, “Terror in the Dark” to earn rewards. This condition will only be available during the event!
This event will start on Thursday, August 15 and run until Thursday, August 29. The rewards will be Ordo Dockets, Plasteel and Diamantine.
Note: This event is only available on the normal board on 3/4/5 difficulties (regular malice, heresy and damnation).
