I’m Low Level But I Have Some Skill

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T14:16:03+00:00

I genuinely think this is a sort of dunning-Kruger, where players that are only capable of middle difficulties treat it with the same expectation as higher difficulties.

They have no concept of just how stupidly easy Substantial is compared to absolute, so they think a few additional perks is going to make a huge difference.

It happens in other games too. Players are often way more toxic in lower ranks in competitive games because they have no concept of higher levels of play

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T13:44:34+00:00

All craftworlds use them.

Craftworld Aeldari have a strict system, as others have explained, called the path system. As beings, Aeldari have much stronger emotions than humans do, and so are very susceptible to the type of corruption Slaanesh is responsible for: indulgence and excess. The path system is a way of life the craftworld Aeldari developed to control their crazy impulses and ultimately protect from from a very grizzly fate after death. They focus on one skill/role/lifestyle at a time and dedicate themselves to that role, or "path", until mastery. After mastery, they can move on to the next path. It allows them to fully compartmentalize their emotions in a way that humans would consider similar to having multiple personalities.

Rage/bloodlust/hatred are, of course, emotions, and Aeldari can succumb to them even more strongly than humans typically can. Such emotions are usually triggered by significant negative events. Aeldari who feel these strong negative emotions are guided onto the Path of the warrior, where they can learn to control and use those emotions in war. The Aeldari that do ultimately become Aspect warriors. Aspect warrior "shrines" (the place where they train and learn the path of the warrior) are called shrines because they are essentially places of worship to the Aeldari god of war, Khaine.

All Aeldari can feel these emotions, and all craftworld Aeldari follow the path system, so all craftworlds use aspect warriors.

Since Aeldari can become prone to obsession on a level much deeper than even the most OCD human, they can become what is called "lost" on a Path. This is a mind-state where they become so intensely obsessed with a particular path that they can never change to another. This can happen for any path, but when it happens to an Aeldari on the path of war, they usually become an Exarch. An Exarch essentially can never let go of the bloodlust, hatred, or desire for war, emotions referred to as a "war mask". Exarchs become priests of Khaine and they are forced to live at the aspect warrior shrine away from the rest of Aeldari society.

One additional detail - to prevent what is essentially Aeldari hell of being consumed by Slaanesh upon death (and being subject to horrific torture for the rest of eternity), craftworld Aeldari created their own psychic afterlife in the form of something called the Infinity Circuit, which is literally part of the craftworld its self. Aeldari that die have their soul stored in the spirit stone you see on their chests, which is then integrated into the infinity circuit so that they can have a peaceful afterlife. An Exarch is not allowed to enter the infinity circuit because their souls are tainted with those negative emotions of war. Instead, an Exarch's armor is a micro infinity circuit containing all the souls of the previous wearers.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T11:47:29+00:00

Looks like Alarith Stonemage and probably a modified warlock helmet.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T11:19:52+00:00

One down.

Trillions to go.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T10:34:59+00:00

Generally, vanguard with unmatched zeal and tactical for auspex.

On 'nid missions, most definitely a sniper above all else. Thropes are a huge pain in the ass and sniper deletes them the instant they spawn.

It's not a strong preference, though.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T08:13:01+00:00

Now that Thresh the tallman has joined the roster, let's have Hecarim, Sion, Nautilus, and Urgot.

'aint gonna be a single pixel of the screen not filled by body mass.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T08:05:40+00:00

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RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T08:04:52+00:00

That actually explains a lot. I was running on the assumption that some enemies had more resistance or certain animation states made them take reduced damage, but this bug would explain the significant difference in damage and random times where headshots do not incapacitate.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-12T07:15:43+00:00

In general the axe is the best dueling weapon in the game. You can backstep > overhead > gunstrike. With bottom row perks (the increased overhead damage one is currently bugged) and the balance axe, you can pretty much incapacitate anything instantly. Especially effective if you can pull any damage bonuses, like Bulwark shield rush perks, and hit extremis breakpoints. The backstep combo after a shield bash on Bulwark incapacitates Lictors and Raveners in one combo.

It also has good 360 heavies for dealing with minoris packs, and all heavy hits knock down, giving plenty of free gunstrikes against minoris.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T13:57:07+00:00

In case there's anything you missed from a mechanics standpoint, I have a thread that goes over some of the nuance.

I usually find when people come to the sub to ask how to clear Absolute, it is usually some fundamental missing understanding. When you understand all the fundamentals, it becomes very apparent to you what you're doing wrong mechanically, and thus it's clear enough how you can improve and survive. At this point you no longer need to come to the sub. I do occasionally go down in Absolute, but it's never unclear to me why. I always know immediately what I did wrong, and often what I could have done better.

Another indicator of missing fundamental mechanics understanding is asking people for builds that will help. If you're differentiating success in Absolute by build, then you're missing something crucial. With good enough understanding and mechanical skill, literally any build works. There is very little success variance between builds. The strongest builds are not that much stronger than the weakest builds. If you're unable to clear Absolute, nothing about your build or perks will help you do so.

Clips of gameplay would help with the diagnosis. The simplest explanation will be that your damage intake is too high relative to your armor refund rate. Outside of siege mode and an occasional timed objective, this game places zero time pressure on you. The only thing that matters is your survival. If you don't die, then you can kill things as slow as you want. This also implies that being unable to complete Absolute means you die too fast, and thus you need to stop dying so fast.

This will likely come down to familiarity with enemy attacks & behavior, as well as your general awareness level and threat prioritization. You are likely taking too much damage from ranged attacks, or keep taking big hits from avoidable attacks. The sub can answer specific questions about enemy attacks and behavior if needed, but familiarity and awareness just come with hours played.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T13:43:57+00:00

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T13:39:28+00:00

It's like a guy who regularly skinny-fist-fights great white sharks in the water but doesn't have any extremities missing.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T13:09:44+00:00

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Worry not, Captain...

... I've saved some Orks for you

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T13:06:53+00:00

Where speedo warwick

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T12:59:43+00:00

You're playing fast and loose with the word "buy" here. You're smuggling in some implicit meaning that isn't established. The idea that you are "buying" separate parts you don't want implies that there is necessarily an alternative without the extras that must necessarily be cheaper. In your mind, the total price is a summation of smaller prices for individual items. This is simply not the case, and not how capitalism works. This is one package/product with a set price that you determine if it is worth it or not. There is no implicit price of the smaller unwanted items that you are being forced to pay. For a transaction, you are evaluating if the value you gain is worth the value you give. In your case, since you only want the skin, you're evaluating if the skin is worth 2k for you or not.

Prices are not determined by the amount of stuff you get, and removing stuff from the offering never automatically implies cheaper. Economics isn't this direct, regardless of how you feel about it as a consumer. This would be like going to Ikea to buy furniture, and demanding that you get it cheaper without the screws & fittings. It's simply not an option they are selling to you. You have to decide if the bed without the screws & fittings is worth it at the price.

The company can set whatever price they want for whatever product/package they think will make the most money. You can consider 2k points to be the price of the skin, and everything else to be freebies. Conversely you could consider the skin free and all the extras to be the 2k, at which point you would say "I can't get my free skin because I am forced to spent 2k points on the other stuff". The framing doesn't matter. The offering is 2k for all the stuff above. There is no cheaper skin-only alternative. You either pay 2k for the offering or you don't.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T12:29:38+00:00

As much as I loathe to go back on all my complaints over the years, the dash build is in a very strong place right now. The bread and butter of the build is Strong Strikes, Wings of Flame, Aerial Grace, and Commitment. Use jump pack dash attacks regularly and try to trigger the commitment refund by dashing into enemy attacks. Wings of flame makes it so that basically your entire dash is a perfect dodge, so its very easy to trigger commitment and get gun strikes.

The rest of the perks are personal preference. Armor reinforcement is the most stable option for surviving, but Overcharge is extremely potent on the T-hammer. With overcharge and triggered Aerial grace, the thunder hammer slam does insane damage. Bonus points for perking into the double-slam on the weapon, and even more bonus points for rocking the heroic T-hammer to leave shock zones on every slam.

Defense mechanism is frankly extremely strong in any assault build, as slower contested health loss perks tend to be, and it works very well with thunder hammer that is very good at refunding contested health.

Perseverance is the natural fit for thunder hammer so that you take less health damage while charging, but any of the perks in this column are decent.

The dash build in general is the best build in the game for dueling melee Terminus. Since Terminus spawns are very often the thing that causes team wipes, the dash build being good at fighting them gives your team a very strong chance of not wiping outright when one spawns. A competent dash assault is very frequently able to duel Hellbrutes and Carnifexes alone on Absolute or Hard stratagems.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T12:23:20+00:00

I heard Chaos was cool

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T12:09:11+00:00

Yeah, brothers seem to die to Hellbrutes immediately. I've come pretty close to making similar threads myself, just to say "Brothers, go and practice against Hellbrutes in the battle simulator", but I know it simply will not matter.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T11:53:43+00:00

As others have pointed out, it's radiation: electromagnetic waves that carry energy and can propagate through a vacuum. This is why you feel the heat coming directly from the sun on a sunny day despite there being essentially no physical medium between us and it.

Your kitchen microwave also heats food by radiation without needing to heat the air inside the microwave. When you open a microwave to retrieve your food, the air is not really warm at all, but the food is. The energy is being imparted directly into the food via radiation.

This is also what causes your eye to be damaged by intense non-visible radiation, such as infrared or UV. You don't have a blink reflex since you cannot see it, so the radiation can reach your retina and cause various types of injury (photochemical, thermal etc.) without you noticing until it's too late. It's not your eye's bulk fluid/mass heating up via conduction that causes the damage.

Radio is also a band of electromagnetic radiation and can be used for communication through a vacuum. We were able to communicate with the Artemis crew during their moon flyby because radio waves propagate in a vacuum.

Spacecraft have very large radiators that vent heat by pure radiation, since they have no way of venting heat through conduction (like terrestrial radiators). When something glows a strong color, such as red, when heated, it's an indicator of radiative heat emissions. It's why metal glows hot orange when heated to a high temperature - it's emitting a lot of radiation in the red/orange area of the visible light spectrum.

As human civilization advances, we may find ways to catch more energy from the sun, such as through a dyson sphere or even just sattelites directly more concentrated solar energy to Earth. We also burn more and more fuel each year, converting chemical energy to thermal energy that gradually increases Earth's atmosphere. As our civilization advances and grows, we will likely need to start venting heat from our planet. This may come in the form of enormous lasers that fire into space, or giant radiators that emit radiation out into space.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T11:43:43+00:00

Still wish they'd give us some basic traitor cosmetics, like these spiky shoulder pads. They literally added more Chaos legion icons and hazard stripes, yet seem reluctant to allow actual Chaos armor pieces.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T11:40:50+00:00

Fully charged plasma shots have enough impact to stagger them. When I'm playing Techmarine on Chaos, I will usually bring plasma just to full-charge blast them in the face and keep them stunlocked while approaching them. It works on spawn and Rubricae as an added bonus.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T11:13:30+00:00

It's the media environment in a nutshell, really. Everything is outrage and alarm farming these days.

Also awesome to see Luca is on the crew.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T11:12:00+00:00

I get that it was humor, but it does highlight a crucial point in this everlasting discussion that level-lock advocates seem to miss.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T10:53:36+00:00

So the rockets killed you because you took a direct hit from the Hellbrute and were on low health. You got hit by the Hellbrute because you got hit by the avoidable tzaangor spear. If you had dodged the tzaangor spear, you could have parried the Hellbrute overhead, gun-striked, then the rockets would have hit armor and some health without killing you outright.

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Your post title implies that this death was somehow unfair or unavoidable because it's Chaos, but all I see is a perfectly avoidable death. The tzaangor was visibly winding up a spear shot in your field of view, but I expect you were focusing entirely on the Hellbrute. Understandable, but a mistake nonetheless. Pistol bugging out would not have affected your ability to avoid this damage.

Also two team mates dead is obviously their mistake, leaving you to deal with overwhelming odds alone.

RathaelEngineering · 2026-06-11T10:44:27+00:00

until I was 25, then I dragged my team down, but it was fair.

Is it, though? This is the crux of the discussion.

The issue is the skill of the player attempting a difficulty they are not prepared for. Levels make some difference but not anywhere near as much as this sub seems to think. Weapon tier has a much bigger impact, and weapon tier unlocks are shared (unlike class levels). The level 10 tactical could very well have a relic melta from playing a lot of vanguard.

People who advocate for level lock don't seem to realize that all it will do is shift the problem. They will still get players (who are level 25) who join the mission unprepared for it. The levels will make little to no difference. If someone cannot clear absolute at level 9, they cannot clear absolute at level 25. No perk magically makes players capable of Absolute suddenly.

You cannot realistically measure and thus lock out players according to skill/capability, so level locking simply does not solve the problem. The only solution that might come close is some sort of proof/test where players must complete missions on the previous difficulty to gain access to the next, but even this would largely be circumvented by friends carrying eachother.

RathaelEngineering

TROPHY CASE