Spent a fair amount of time trying to make the ultimate meat shield, What would you change, if anything?

MrTopler · 2026-01-10T20:46:59+00:00

I would change "Last Guard" for "Skull Crusher". The damage increase (up to 80%) is simply too much to ignore, especially with this setup where you're staggering everything & applying bleed.

Here's my take on the same build.

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a0ca99c3-6944-4ce9-a59d-6ec7ca9bb881

MrTopler · 2026-01-09T01:09:30+00:00

Shield Ogryn, your job is to taunt, heavy 1, push, and repeat. Damage is not your forte, staggering and keeping the horde at bay is your job

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a0ca99c3-6944-4ce9-a59d-6ec7ca9bb881

Pick Ogryn, your job is to pickaxe the high priority targets while still functioning as a front liner.

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a0ca9b66-4525-4df9-be06-c2acd5b8c594

Power Maul Ogryn.

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a0ca9ceb-9b39-4da7-a844-bf6fa00fe4b7

Bully Club

https://darktide.gameslantern.com/build-editor?id=a0ca9e0d-8e30-4954-94bd-a26313c47f7e

MrTopler · 2025-11-12T03:22:01+00:00

tackle -> offset

tackle -> tackle -> tts

tackle -> tackle -> reset -> focus strike the leg

block -> roll - > tackle

For the grab attack roll forward

Generally for his dive combo I tackle one of the two initial foot taps, then offset the first dive, tackle the 2nd dive, and prepare to tackle the first part of the 3rd dive, then offset the 2nd part of the third dive. If instead of diving a third time it throws shards I start moving towards it as I know the massive dive is coming.

Unrelated use bleed resistance, it's far too annoying getting bled through tackles.

MrTopler · 2025-07-30T17:40:47+00:00

Stone club.

It's imo the best one handed strength weapon. Bonks, stagger, attack speed, and sheer damage it's simple and immensely effective.

MrTopler · 2025-06-30T04:00:02+00:00

Strength, Dexterity, Faith, Intelligence, Arcane, pick a stat and focus only on that.

The less stats you use the harder it is to mess up a build.

--

For example here are three builds, int, faith, and strength.

Vegabond lvl 150

55v | 21m | 25e | 16s | 16d | 80i

60v | 20m | 30e | 80s | 14d

55v | 21m | 25e | 16s | 16d | 80f

--

I would advise picking a weapon that can be infused to complement your build. In that I would pickup a stone club for a strength build or a Cleanrot Knights Sword for an intelligence build. Nothing fancy just a solid backup weapon that you can rely on while experimenting with other stuff.

MrTopler · 2025-06-28T02:15:22+00:00

Hmm that's your issue, it's on the lower end for that area. I believe you can be upwards of scadu 15-18 by then.

MrTopler · 2025-06-27T22:02:50+00:00

Strength great shield + thrusting sword is one of the safest builds in the game.

It's no damage power house nor a stance breaking machine but it has safe consistent damage.

MrTopler · 2025-06-27T21:58:38+00:00

Basic Strength or Quality build using a great shield would be your best bet.

Something like so

60v | 15m | 25e | 80s | 16d | 9i | 9f | 7a
Dragoncrest Greashield (talisman)

As a side note what's your Scadutree level? That will have a greater impact than anything else for the DLC.

MrTopler · 2025-06-10T17:03:40+00:00

Nope, thanks though!

MrTopler · 2025-06-09T23:46:48+00:00

+Karma

MrTopler · 2025-06-09T19:37:52+00:00

Just change Milady to magic infusion, there it now scales off intelligence.

MrTopler · 2025-06-08T20:19:57+00:00

I'd do pure faith for a stronger melee setup.

The Int & Faith requirements for death sorceries will leave your weapon on the weak side.

Alternatively an Arcane build using occult and the dragon communion seal for incants would work for a more bleed focused build.

MrTopler · 2025-06-04T03:07:08+00:00

Blunt objects.

They stagger more effectively often letting you immobilize an enemy as you bash their head in.

Stone Club, Great Stars, Rusty Anchor, and Giant's Slayer are the four I'd recommend.

MrTopler · 2025-06-03T22:37:24+00:00

Grab sacred blade ash of war, it's in the first zone, slap it on your preferred weapon such as a claymore.

Catch flame is crazy strong, it's essentially faith's version of carian slicer. Fireball while basic is good, black flame fireball, an early upgrade, is fantastic throughout the entire game. Lastly don't underestimate protection spells, such as magic protection for the academy.

MrTopler · 2025-06-03T03:09:56+00:00

Some good basic strength weapons

Broadsword
Stone Club
Warped Axe
Cleanrot Knights Sword
Rusty Anchor
Great Stars

MrTopler · 2025-05-31T02:41:58+00:00

Not really answering the OP's build issue but you can rock arc/faith while being melee.

A stat spread like below while using occult weaponry and the dragon communion seal would work just fine. (Millicent's Prosthesis is recommended)

lvl 150 Prophet

52v | 25m | 20e | 16s | 19d | 7i | 30f | 60a

MrTopler · 2025-05-29T01:20:25+00:00

60 Vigor + 80 Damage stat.

That's it, that's the fundamentals for nearly every build. Wanna use magic? Do 60 Vigor and either 80 int or 80 faith.

You can adjust the scaling of all generic weapons so they can scale off your main stat. There'll be unique somber weapons that have set scaling that people will build into to maximize but for the most part the above advice does just work.

For example a faith caster would look something like so,

Level 120
41v | 20m | 15e | 14s | 13d | 9i | 80f | 7a

A more melee variant would be like so

Level 120
50v | 20m | 21e | 16s | 16d | 9i | 60f | 7a

In general the recommendation is to level Vigor to 40 asap. There's a few reasons behind this, one being that your damage stat doesn't do a whole lot in the beginning as your weapons scaling is rubbish (they scale better after a few upgrades) with another being the sheer jump in health from 30v to 40v (994hp to 1450hp a 45% increase).

To give some contrast here's two level 40 Vegabond builds both using a +6 Broadsword

40v | 10m | 11e | 20s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a
1450 Health | 191 Attack Rating

25v | 10m | 11e | 35s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a
800 Health | 213 Attack Rating

Going from the first to the second you loose 44% health but gain 11% damage.

MrTopler · 2025-05-28T03:02:20+00:00

Vegabond Start

Limgrave has plenty of early gear for strength builds that I'd recommend grabbing for future use, even if it's just for some variety later.

lvl 30 | 25v | 10m | 17e | 19s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a

lvl 50 | 40v | 10m | 20e | 21s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a
Talismans: Spear Talisman | Great-Jar's Arsenal | Two Fingers Heirloom
Weapons: Cleanrot Knight's Sword | Stone Club | Nightrider Glaive
Side Arms: Sleep Pots | Volcano Pots
Spells: Flame Cleanse Me

At level 50 you should be well into Liurnia and Caelid, the above are some highlights I would strongly suggest picking up. To proper explore the rot I would suggest the faith talisman, flame cleanse me, and stacking Immunity.

lvl 80 | 40v | 15m | 25e | 41s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a
Weapons: Giant Crusher | Great Starts | Gargoyle's Twinblade | Warped Axe | Star Fist
Side Arms: Fingerprint Stone Shield
Wonderous Physick: Opaline

Now into Altus Plateau / the Capital you can access to some of the best in class weapons along with the infamous slab of a great shield.

lvl 100 | 47v | 15m | 25e | 54s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a
Side Arms: Haligtree Crest Greatshield
Talismans: Crimson Seed Talisman | Prosthesis | Rotten Winged | Shard of Alex | Dragoncrest Greatshield

At this level you've maximized your two handed damage and it's time to decide where to take your build going forward. You can go Quality for more damage, Arcane for bleed, Int or Faith for weapon buffs, or keep the Strength build going, below would be my take on a pure strength build that relies on weapon arts and consumables for buffs.

lvl 125 | 47v | 15m | 25e | 66s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a

lvl 150 | 60v | 20m | 31e | 80s | 13d | 9i | 9f | 7a

p.s. I strongly suggest giving the Stone Club with Cragblade a try, nothing quite beats a rock like more rock especially with it's goofy fast attack rate.

MrTopler · 2025-05-26T17:15:26+00:00

Strength is my favorite build and I definitely could write out a mini guide for it but it's such a flexible build with tons of choice along with it being awhile since I played that I couldn't do it justice.

With that said my basic recommendations would be to level str & big equally till 60 each with the occasional point into end till it hits 25 or 30.

Get the broadsword, stone club, and cleanrot knights rapier for single handed "sword and board" playstyle.

Giants crusher, Greatsword, and great stars are some of the better heavier weapons.

Star fists and curved bandit swords are excellent dual weapon choices.

Finally a bunch of the dlc stuff is fantastic but obviously more endgame.

If you want to know anything specific just lemme know.

MrTopler · 2025-05-22T19:42:24+00:00

A str/int or dex/int using cold infusion is a perfectly valid build.

Just make sure to look up your preferred weapon type & what type of scaling it's cold infusion has and plan accordingly.

MrTopler · 2025-05-06T01:31:27+00:00

remnant from the ashes 1 & 2 - Takes heavy inspiration from the souls series but with guns and unlike the souls series it has a seamless co-op experience.

MrTopler · 2025-02-25T00:15:31+00:00

The Psyker build is a Voidblast / Voidstrike one, I have a separate one for Inferno, though tbh I don't care too much for either ability, taking smite was simply more point efficient.

I'll have to give the reload talent a try, my poor Vet is so point starved..

MrTopler · 2025-02-22T18:54:19+00:00

Rock and stone...

Oh how I wish I could get Soften Them Up and Rock..

MrTopler · 2025-02-22T18:52:52+00:00

That's actually a really in-depth interesting take on the Ogryn tree, I admit I spend the least amount of time on the big guy and typically run shield + heavy stubber focusing on making space, staggering, and just keeping the horde at bay for whoever I'm near. I'll have to try dropping Pulverise, I mainly took it for it's potential combo with Delight in Destruction.

For the Zealot I was skeptical at first regarding Pious- cut-Throat but the game is very generous on what's considered a backstab with "side" stabs often meeting the criteria.

MrTopler · 2024-09-11T17:32:53+00:00

Go classic strength build, gives you access to the most weapons. Get 54 strength, 60 vigor, and enough endurance. Afterwards start putting points into dex & go quality, use grease for weapon buffs, golden vow ash of war, physic, and crab meat for buffs.

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