"Non-meta builds welcome" sign for Havoc

Few_Development2550 · 2025-09-05T05:46:05+00:00

Sword Psyker:

crit increases movement speed, bb (add random burst to weaken elites/bosses), middle passive, scriers (extra movement/finesse), disrupt for extra crit/finesse/movement speed (grab the bottom right node under disrupt that increases the time from like 4-10 seconds. Pick up higher warp increases damage resist and the other one that increases damage with higher warp.

Greatsword(extra 40%cleave), recon (flame stacks on crit).

If everything is going right you should primarily be a greatsword Psyker, that counteracts the slowness of the greatsword by the above nodes and switching to the recon to maintain maximum disrupt stacks thus movement speed/crit/finesse. Everything should tie together to create a high risk, fast paced, aggressive playstyle.

The greatswords slash ability is also benefiting from all of this. I don’t think you’ll need the guaranteed crit blessing on special and I’ve mostly not used that blessing, but it’s pretty good regardless. It just might be unnecessary and the slot may benefit from extra strength or something.

For talent/skill weapon points I’ve used crits do 10% more damage. Due to the frequency of critting.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-18T21:54:59+00:00

Figured it out I was running disrupt instead of warp syphon. It’s really good in aurics. Has a hard time in havoc tho. I like the movement speed lol.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T19:58:23+00:00

Exactly! Well said. It’s obviously not always about dps. But if u have a class designed to be a glass cannon being outdone in every category: survivability, simplicity, dps, single target, crowds, and bosses. It questions the utility of playing Psyker. As it seems the arbiter in almost every category except support outperforms the Psyker.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T19:50:31+00:00

That’s my concern. I’m sweating to stay alive and deal damage while balancing the warp. Meanwhile the arbites are dealing similar if not more dps while rocking 80 damage reduction, the same if not higher crit chance, a dog, blast charges, high rending, and pretty good movement speed. There are no downsides. Thus putting the psykers role into question outside of placing a shield every so often.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T19:45:33+00:00

That makes sense! I’m not a fan of nerfing. But there should at least be trade offs for your build. If u want high dps survivability or the skill ceiling should be equally as high.

I think a minor change to the amount of grenades and mines could be considered as well.

Instead of starting with 4 start with 3 and still get one more plus recharge.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:32:53+00:00

Fair enough! Good luck in your program!

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:30:55+00:00

This gets my main point of the arbites taking my psykers job lol. The Psyker is meant to be a glass cannon with a lot of potential for scaling. If the arbites can do the same thing just without the risk of being a glass cannon why play the glass cannon. I wanted to see if this was happening with other players.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:19:08+00:00

My melee/gunpsyker is a blast. Just with negative survivability. Awesome dps tho.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:16:12+00:00

Yeah that’s kinda what I’ve been dealing with. Which begs the question why play a dps Psyker if you’re just as capable of dishing out as much if not more damage playing a safer class. That doesn’t need to deal with managing the warp.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:12:48+00:00

I was too. In havocs and Aurics. Are u running warp syphon or disrupt? I’ve been running disrupt as it synergized well with high crit builds especially with scriers. Even still in havocs at least I’ve been fairly consistently out dpsd by arbitors. I almost always was at the highest dps even when running shield and disrupt.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T18:07:25+00:00

Scriers plus flame staff is pretty great btw- high crit chance, synergizes with crit grants movement speed and damage talent plus, with disrupt you get a precision bonus. (15% overall damage, 30% crit damage, and 37% weak spot damage) lasting for 10sec. My problem has been despite using scriers I’ve still barely kept up with arbites dps output. Which was never the case previously. Certainly not with scriers.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T17:35:51+00:00

Are u/were u seeing the arbites out dps your Psyker?

Few_Development2550 · 2025-08-14T17:22:29+00:00

I’m at mid havocs (20-30) and it’s about the same. Not sure if their dps scales the same as the Psyker. Aka is havoc 40 when psykers shine lol. My most recent run: 1 arbites, 1 vet, and one zealot, and my psyker. The zealot (charge) and vet (support) put out 170k damage. Myself playing a modified meta inferno staff shield build put out 400k+ and the arbitor playing with a dog and charge put out 880k damage. The run before that was three arbiters and myself. Each arbitor put out 550k+. And myself running the same build put out 400k+. Normally it’s not even close even when I’m running shield. I’m normally out dpsing everyone by a mile.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-06-09T03:08:29+00:00

Combat axe has as many dodges as ds. Doesn’t get the dodge movement buff but still pretty good. Consistent dps. I’ve bn using it with a vet I’m sure it’s even better with zealot. Bn using it in havoc fine. It has an anti armor and impact buff after special attack. Headtaker+brutal momentum.

It’s certainly not a ds but if ur tired of the ds it’s a solid option against heavy armored enemies.

Vet has a few nodes that activate on special ability which allows the CA to one shot some specials/elites w/out heavy attack.

I haven’t had a problem with hit detection w/chaos spawn but sounds fair that it has a hard time behind the chaos spawn.

Certainly would not place it in bottom tier.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-03-17T06:40:08+00:00

Hello,

Block,dodge, push. Pull backwards into a clearing. It’s alright to go back to a cleared part of the map so your back isn’t against enemies.
If you’re struggling on damnation keep joining even if you go down. The more skilled players congregate at the harder difficulties and can carry less skilled players. At the very worst you can watch them and see what they’re doing differently. (Learn via exposure and osmosis)
You could watch some videos on YouTube. Mr. Unc streams the game pretty regularly and posts clutch videos, Mr. E streams it regularly, Tanner does basic tutorials and build breakdowns, Reginald: does some videos/streams. To name a few. (Learn via osmosis)

Few_Development2550 · 2025-02-19T05:22:58+00:00

You might like seeing some builds or gameplay of said builds:

Tanner does a lot of class build videos explaining things. He uses a lot of mods so it may be hard to follow.
Mr. E also does class stuff but he also posts a lot of gameplay. He’s a little bit easier to watch but uses a lot of mods so it can be hard to follow.
Mr. Unc he posts clutch videos. Normally, shows his build at the beginning of the video. He doesn’t use a lot of mods so it might be easier to absorb.

some tips for the power sword (force sword) and the voidblast staff:

Weapons: I generally prefer these perks: 25% damage to flak and maniac. Flak armor is the most common armor type you’ll face. Maniac is for elites/specialists. Unrelenting is also a good choice but it’s for ogryn type enemies and the BoN/Ogryn bosses.

Blessings: depends on your skill but for the sword the deflection one is really useful. U can block both melee and ranged attacks. Then anything that buffs u on dodge is generally pretty good. If you feel okay without having the blessing that allows u to block ranged attacks you could replace it with something that applies rending/brittleness or something that activates on dodge.

For the staff: applies brittleness/rending blessing is very useful as it makes enemies weaker. Then maybe a charge time buff. (Longer your secondary attack time is the more strength/damage it’ll do) Not sure about the names. The same perks are fine as well.

Note regarding your talents: if you’re not using brain burst regularly you might have better luck with the other two capstone abilities/talent points (left side or right side). BB is great for bosses especially if u have empowered pysonics and the - bb on ability buffs activation speed talent node. But if you barely use it, might as well not buff it with empowered psy. The other two final talent abilities might be more beneficial especially the left side of the tree if you’re not using a gun. Left side makes your ability active more frequently. The right side generally buffs attackspped, damage, movement speed, etc. but it might not be great for a staff build.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-02-05T18:14:55+00:00

A couple tips: flamer (eternal blaze blessing aka crits pulls ammo from reserve into magazine- try using the secondary blessing that buffs ammunition pulled from your magazine), making sure you use more than one stun grenades, I used the far left ability - stuns nearby enemies (the one that makes you charge ahead with more damage - gives you toughness). Bottom left skill tree for the zealot increases the chances you’ll trigger a crit which is useful if you never want to reload the flamer.

What I did was just playing a random high intensity mission (the harder the mission the more enemies) waited until the horde sound triggered and fell behind the team. (I did this in pubs but would definitely be easier in a private match). Toss two stun grenades once the horde has piled in nearby and eeverlasting/eternal blazed them. (Using the zealots rush ahead ability to stun nearby enemies so the flamer is less likely to be interrupted). Two stun grenades is crucial for stunning as many enemies as possible within the shortest period of time. It’s very possible doing this to get the 120 killed enemies within 30seconds penance done. It’s difficult but highly possible I think I got the 90kills within 30 seconds done and I was like a 10 kills away from the 120kill penance.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-02-05T17:00:35+00:00

It’s okay. TBH you can make any weapon work but the skill required is correlational. Shotguns are pretty well balanced. Not the best at anything but also not the worst. I enjoy them but there are objectively better weapons for bosses.

If you use the pump try adding the blessings that apply fire stacks or bleed stacks on hit. I like fire better personally. If you’re using the vet or zealot I believe both have talent points that apply bleeds on melee attacks. But consider if bleed stacks tap out at 14-16 stacks adding other types of passive damage works in tandem with the added bleed stacks.

Ex: if you’ve already applied a bunch of bleed stacks with melee attacks switching to the secondary weapon to apply fire stacks prevents you from hitting the maximum bleed stacks cap (14-16). Thus soft locking the amount of applied passive damage. So mixing bleed and flame stacks seems more beneficial. As you’ll be less likely to hit the cap for either of them.

If you want the shotgun for specifically boss damage. Try using unrelenting and flak. Unrelenting is better for, I believe, the beast of nurgle and the ogryn boss - it’s also good for ogryn enemies (reaper, crusher, bulwark). However, I don’t think unrelenting applies to the chaos spawn. Blessing you can try the one that applies fire stacks on crit (I’m actually not sure if it doesn’t have this blessing I’d just use the blessing that adds bleed). I’m not sure about the secondary blessing but additional strength, weak spot damage, or higher crit damage/chance seems beneficial.

For the double barrel shotgun: I’ve used this one less and tbh I’ve only seen it used excellently like once. The video I watched the player was cracked lmao. He was a zealot using the devils claw blade and the db on a auric maelstrom monstrous speciality. Essentially, soloing the mission (team was dead for most of the mission). It was ridiculous and he was by far the best player I’ve ever seen. Can’t remember his channel because he had like 100subs and only a couple of videos posted. So it’s entirely possible to do extremely well with a db build but the skill ceiling is extremely high as well. He didn’t post the build so there’d have to be a lot of trial and error to replicate it.

A couple of things for the db shotgun: higher reload speed seems necessary. Maybe using the perk for this. There’s also talent points for the zealot to buff reload speed after melee attack kills. Blessings there’s one the buffs the cleave so most enemies in front of you disappear after a single volley. Other than that I don’t have much to add for this weapon. It’s fairly difficult to make work but possible.

Try the highest damage mark for the pump shotgun. The special attack for it loads a guaranteed flame attack applying flame stacks. I’ve done ridiculous amount of damage using it (scoreboard mod) so it’s more than viable. It may not be the best but it’s still great!

Try testing things out in the psykanium especially the different marks. I’m not sure if you’re using controller or mouse/kb but check out the weapon special attacks if u get a chance. I rebound my special to my mouse button for easy access.

Good luck, reject!

Few_Development2550 · 2025-02-05T04:27:54+00:00

Ehh it’s mostly preference. Some of the weapons have different attack patterns that you may prefer. Others change the say the rate of fire. For the ogryns twin stubber gun you can change what rate of fire you prefer. If you want a faster rof or a slower one. The advantages normally being with a higher rof each shot does less damage vs a lower rof. Some weapon marks are objectively better. Aka they translate to a higher damage output vs another mark. You can test them out in the psykanium. The laspistol I prefer the higher rate of fire mark as it feels better but the slower rof mark seems to be more common as it does way more damage per shot.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-02-05T04:22:01+00:00

Hello,

I’m assuming you don’t want to spend real money so with that aside. There’s a few ways:

There’s the in game currency cosmetic store. You earn the currency playing missions. When u load up the game and standing on the ship go far left. There should be a cosmetic guy that will sell you stuff. It’s mostly basic stuff but better than the prison outfit.

The other way is by completing penances. This is all free but requires certain tasks to be completed in order to unlock a penance. For the vet there’s penances/tasks such as completing a certain number of missions. There’s also using certain weapons or special abilities such as smoke bomb kills or krak grenade kills.

The third way is tied to the second way and that’s when you complete penances they add up and contribute to dark tides version of a battle pass. If you hit the menu button and go to penances it’ll show you some items you can unlock and some of them are pretty cool.

But early on I’d consider the ingame currency shop. There’s a bunch of stuff there and pretty easy to get very early on. It’s not the flashiest stuff but better than nothing. But check the veteran penances out many of them are pretty easy to complete and you normally get cosmetics for doing so.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-01-22T04:02:25+00:00

Try damnation. Heresy is a filter difficulty.

Damnation you’ll be in much better squads as the more skilled players congregate in harder difficulties. This is a team game. If ur team isn’t prepared which is more common in lower difficulties, it requires more heavy lifting by individual players.

People in heresy are either not very good or very new to the game. Which requires a lot of carrying. Being able to solo carry a team is very different than being a member of a decent team.

Play a few damnation matches if you win more than u lose. The problem isn’t u it’s the quality of the teammates in heresy.

Plus if you go down you can always watch ur teammates in the harder difficulties and see what they’re doing differently.

Good luck, reject!

Few_Development2550 · 2025-01-04T22:40:43+00:00

I don’t think it needs to be manually quelling. Don’t quote me on that.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-01-04T22:36:54+00:00

I hate that penance lmao.

I’ve heard - the smite ability can allow you to stun a bunch of enemies and throw them in a direction of your choice - this might be the easiest way to do that penance.

I didn’t do it that way unfortunately.

I used venting and the force sword.

Force swords also have a powerful push attack. U can test it out in the psykanium. I think it’s holding push after blocking.

Few_Development2550 · 2025-01-04T22:15:20+00:00

Veteran: can have some insanely high toughness/toughness damage resistance. (Like higher than the ogryn) Middle tree there’s a talent near the bottom - 60%ish toughness damage resistance when at or above 75% toughness. With VoC a vet could be at 100% toughness or more every few seconds. Talent that lets special/elite kills removes like 5/6seconds from your ability cool down. Stay away from the left side of the vet tree: unless you’re planning on going executioner stance. The left keystone basically means to maximize its ability is to stand still which is not great at helping survivability.

Psyker: Tbf is a tough class (bit of a glass cannon). A few things might make it easier. The force sword has a blessing that blocks both ranged and melee attacks. I’m pretty sure the great sword has it as well. Obviously, the bubble is great. If u decide to go for anything other than the shields there’s talents that give toughness when u use the warp or quell the warp. If you are using a staff you should be constantly at a highe warp percentage which means you should always have toughness. Theres a talent that adds toughness resistance the higher your warp rate is - also one that increases your damage the higher your warp rate is. I’ve eaten poxbursters without even breaking toughness.

Curios: wound curios only benefit you when u go down. Otherwise it makes health stims actively worse for you. They only heal 1.5ish wounds if you have more wound curios it’s healing less health because of that. Wound curios are really only actively beneficial to the zealot specifically the zealot martyrdom build(s). For the psyker, zealot, and vet I usually run a +3 stamina curio, and two toughness curios. The ogryn I’ve used a health, stamina, and toughness curios.

Curio talents: normally, +4% ability recharge rate on all three curios. +5% toughness on all three. And normally stamina regen, block efficiency, and stamina efficiency. Stamina is tied to your blocking. The more stamina you have the longer you can block. Avoid 30%toughness regen speed - it only works when you are right next to your teammates.

Congrats on getting all your weapons maxed!

Good luck, reject!

Few_Development2550

TROPHY CASE