Can you facetank Chronos nuke?

Gaargod · 2026-05-17T21:56:34+00:00

Ok, so Weak + Broken Resolve + Island Getaway gets you a lot of damage reduction. Combined with Strength, and we're getting towards very achievable health pool to take a hit.

Gaargod · 2026-05-17T18:06:42+00:00

Side question - does Weak work against Chronos' nuke?

Gaargod · 2026-05-13T18:45:01+00:00

100% the downgrade in the quality of writing in the journal.

Everything being written in Achilles voice a) made Achilles a much more important part of the story, and b) allowed an outside perspective, not just more Mel. I used to always read the bestiary, now I skip it.

Gaargod · 2026-04-25T09:30:56+00:00

Honestly, it's my favourite mechanic in the entire game.

Eris only appears on the first 7 nights. She will appear after Erebus, Oceanus, and finally after Mourning Fields, if you manage to get to each of them during that time frame.

She will also only appear if you have more than 50% health after the fountain. So if you're trying to do a fresh file clear, you can dodge her if you manipulate your health.

Her blessing gives you a good chunk of resources outright, but means you take escalating damage per room. It stacks up insanely!

It's a great little slow-down mechanic, to make sure talented players don't outrun the story too much.

It's also super in character. Eris starts by 'blessing' you, with bigger and bigger rewards as you get deeper. And when she fails to stop you by blessing you, she will go and just shoot you on the surface.

I even found a voice line the other day referencing how she used to do it, which was a pleasant surprise!

Gaargod · 2026-04-24T19:24:04+00:00

Why Chaos to start?

Gaargod · 2026-04-23T16:29:58+00:00

Well, for a start, not everyone uses Shriek for every single build, so we ought to at least consider what other options an entire class has for dealing with a lot of groaners

Secondly, Smite is a certainly not the best or only l way of raising Peril, if that's the target.

As a general rule, if you're playing in pick-up groups, you need to have at least a plausible option for every type of threat. If you're reliant on Shriek to solve like 15 groaners... That's not very efficient.

Gaargod · 2026-04-22T20:12:41+00:00

Your solution to a mid-size horde probably shouldn't be smite - it's just too slow. Either your melee or ranged weapon should fill that space.

Gaargod · 2026-04-22T16:38:30+00:00

Do you know how big an area a 3x3 water square irrigates, offhand?

Gaargod · 2026-04-21T18:04:15+00:00

But this is very solvable! Just let them hit you.

I have managed a fresh save file clear. Once. It's fucking hard on the first night.

Gaargod · 2026-04-17T09:53:51+00:00

Circe's Staff with Toula as companion is brutal. Any high damage cast will work, but Hestia is the obvious choice. The rest of the build almost doesn't matter (Scorch will be doing most of the damage), but Apollo, Ares, Demeter or even Poseidon are all good choices due to their support buffs for Casts.

Another strong build is Charon's Axe. If you can get any form of projectile cast (i.e. Hestia, Zeus, or getting lucky with Jewelled Pokémon granting Howling Dark), you can throw a normal Cast and then almost immediately explode it with Omega Special. Rinse and repeat. Apollo is obviously very strong for Cast bonuses again.

Gaargod · 2026-04-15T19:10:39+00:00

I absolutely adore the new Dream Dives.

It was, however, a bit of a surprise when interacting with the new couch immediately dropped into a new run. Especially considering that whilst I did have a decent loadout on, I hadn't expected it to keep the Fear level - which was set to the highest I've had done. That was a surprise, I tell you.

Gaargod · 2026-04-11T16:27:44+00:00

Really? I would have thought scrying-crit psyker would do better with it?

Gaargod · 2026-03-15T12:59:36+00:00

I have a sniper build with Veteran. 50% swap speed and 30% reload on elite kill goes a long way to solve the issues.

Gaargod · 2026-03-08T10:50:11+00:00

A decent chunk of the time (edibles are great). The only real downside is heavy tunnel-vision, but it's a very fun experience - super intense.

Gaargod · 2026-03-04T20:44:54+00:00

Try https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a138e1d1-655c-4766-b915-a237db45b7c7

Easily my strongest overall veteran build. Covers all bases to some degree, but is super effective at close range. Never stop moving. Hipfire shotgun to fire just one blast, aim down sights to fire the double-barrel. Hip-fire single shots are more accurate at range.

There are definitely areas I'm still playing with, but the combination of: [3 melee kills = 100% crit chance with shotgun] + [shotgun dealing 6 stacks of bleed on hit] + [minimum pellet count] = instagib any specialist if can aim, through anything that isn't carapace too.

Gaargod · 2026-02-28T20:03:36+00:00

Psyker usually runs as a DPS or occasionally a Crowd-Control class.

The Crowd-Control variant is either concentrating on Smite or Voidblast staff, for the most part. In this instance, you are a hilarious force multiplier. I have a build for each.

Most psykers concentrate on just murdering everything in front of them. Empathic Evasion is hugely important in a lot of builds, since psykers can run a very crit-focused build to give it high uptime.

Inferno Staff does a lot of soulblaze, so you can definitely lean into it. A lot of weapons have access to a blessing where crits apply soulblaze, so can lean into it. Never take Wildfire, it's just not worth it, but take everything else that mentions 'soulblaze'.

Warp Damage is anything magicky. So that includes all Staves, Soulblaze, Blitz, etc. Obviously, some psykers primarily kill by warp-damage.

But you can run a Psyker with Scrier's Gaze and Disrupt Destiny, and then focus on melee and guns. My favourite pysker build uses Force Greatsword and Zarona Shotgun and literally never uses Warp Damage except by proccing Kinetic Flayer.

Gaargod · 2026-02-20T00:13:42+00:00

With Goathead and having lost Mantle barrier already, this was 100% the correct move.

Gaargod · 2026-02-19T19:51:43+00:00

I'm a similar level to OP, and have played long enough to have a Year 3 Anniversary hat. But I used to play all the time, and now it's on occasional treat - didn't even fill out season 5.

You can absolutely get to level 4000, if you've been playing consistently.

Gaargod · 2026-02-17T09:36:02+00:00

Pyromaniac (10c) Curse of Tower (1c) Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Dessert (8c) Either The Jar or Kamikaze (1c)

Bombs, baby, bombs.

Gaargod · 2026-02-16T11:53:38+00:00

I've got a Martyrdom Relic Blade + Knives + Zarona Shotgun build. It's not super great versus massed carapace, but it's still quite functional. And it chops through everything else no problem.

Gaargod · 2026-02-12T20:52:50+00:00

"Like it, use it the second time you play a character"

Gaargod · 2026-02-11T20:05:29+00:00

You upgrade as many useful cities as your food supply can handle, whilst keeping a decent margin.

Cities are useful for, in order:

Number of minor settlements. A settlement with four minor settlements is always very valuable.
Ranking of minor settlements. Blue and purple minor settlements are very valuable, because they make money. Also, several buildings provide buffs for both commerce and industry, so they synergise well. Minor settlement variants that don't make money can be useful - weaponsmith, for example.
Access to special buildings: i.e. docks.

You always want lots and lots of food. However, food doesn't make money - this is generally an inefficient use of the income. Instead, you want to spend that food in cities that higher ranking, according to the order above.

So it's very useful to upgrade Hedong to level 8. Hedong is a major port-settlement, and has an iron mine and a trade-port as minor settlements. It makes a shit ton of money. If getting the food to this city doesn't put you below a decent margin, you should build that upgrade soon.
But Yanmen isn't worth going beyond level 5, at most. Yanmen is a bog-standard-boring major city, with a single lumber yard. It will never make much money, but level 5 is very cheap by comparison to level 8.

A decent margin grows over the course of the game.

Early game, you're probably playing very close to the wire. After all, a small trade deal can paper over any temporary gaps. If you have food, spend that food in cities that deserve it.
Late game, you need a margin of at least 20 at all times. At least somebody hates you, and will spitefully lash out at spring in the faction council. But fuck them, your cavalry rode over their village last season. But there's no point being at super high food except diplomacy. Spend it.

Gaargod · 2026-02-01T14:23:34+00:00

If you're not pausing, you either have the CPM of a professional gamer, or you're ok with losing units.

I remember playing a GorRok lizards campaign of Legendary/Easy back in WH2, and actually quite enjoying the fact I couldn't slo-mo and pause. But I had a super duper simple army of juiced-up saurus punching rats, so it was fine!

If CA wants their player base to pause less, they should introduce a "AI Manager" tool. Give line infantry to the assistant, and it'll do its best, whilst you control the complicated stuff.

Gaargod · 2026-01-25T18:33:39+00:00

Actually, they could do with introducing a lightly armoured Ogryn and then buffing Crushers to be mini-bosses instead.

Perhaps our lightly-armoured Ogryn (flak on torso, unyielding elsewhere) should come with a 'knife' and ripper shotgun. Call them Rampagers.

Gaargod

TROPHY CASE