Warband!
As part of the upcoming Depths of the Damned Free Update we have a balance update. Our focus has been on improving the base classes talent trees, overall class balance, weapon balance, and addressing Golden Toughness and its impact on both player builds and our overall design space for the future. Since we are making changes that will affect all players, regardless of class and loadout, it’s important for us to go through our thought process.
The original four Classes are receiving several changes to their talent trees, with a particular focus on reducing the number of stat nodes required to complete your build, and improving the paths through the trees with the intent of providing more interesting choices and improving buildcraft. We are also looking to reinforce what makes the Veteran and Zealot stand out from the other Classes, by taking a closer look at their themes and mechanics. The Skitarius has now had some time to settle, so we are also going over its talents and abilities and making some targeted adjustments. NOTE: Since the changes affect the layout of the trees, your loadouts may need slight rearrangements to amend broken connections or reapplying of points to make up for removed talents. Rest assured that these are only partial resets.
Several Melee Weapons are receiving changes, with the Thunder Hammer in particular getting some extra attention.
Finally, we are taking a closer look at Golden Toughness. In May, we outlined our intention to improve combat balance by addressing some of the outliers in player power, and took the first steps by adjusting Carapace Armoured enemies and the players tools to deal with them. You can read that balance dev blog here: View game page
Our commitment is still to preserve the intensity of the combat, while making it more stable, more readable, and more supportive of different builds and loadouts. Adjusting Golden Toughness is another step towards that long-term goal.
Golden Toughness
Golden Toughness is one of the more disruptive mechanics in Darktide. By changing the way damage and toughness interact, it can obscure some of the core rules of combat.
Many players are naturally guided towards abilities that provide Golden Toughness, and these abilities can be highly effective even before a player has developed a strong understanding of the mechanics they are intended to learn, e.g. positioning, and how to engage each type of enemy. This can allow difficult situations to be bypassed or diffused without engaging with the underlying threats, making it harder for players to build that understanding through the intended learning curve.
When Golden Toughness was first introduced to Abilities, Darktide was in a very different state. Since then, the overall difficulty and complexity of the game has increased, and the value of Golden Toughness has increased alongside it. As its value has grown, it has also become increasingly difficult to balance abilities against one another without making Golden Toughness a prerequisite for competing with its level of defensive power.
We want Toughness to have consistent and understandable rules regardless of how it is obtained. To that end, we are removing the Spillover Immunity effect from Golden Toughness. It will now follow the same damage calculation rules as regular Toughness.
This means that Golden Toughness will continue to provide additional protection, but it will no longer allow a single point of Toughness to fully absorb the damage of an otherwise lethal attack. The result should be a more consistent combat system, and greater room for us to balance defensive abilities against one another.
Spillover immunity - Removed
Voice of Command - Duty and Honour
Toughness Bonus 50 -> 75
Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude
See Zealot Changes
To accompany these changes we’re also making adjustments to the enemies where Golden Toughness gave players the largest benefit.
Poxbursters
Explosion Damage now falls off based on distance
20% of full damage at the edge (6m)
100% of full damage within 3m
Snipers
Damage Spillover reduced by 50%.
Dev Note: this is the damage that is applied to Health if a Sniper’s shot completely removes Toughness on the target.
Ogryn Crushers
Lowered chance to target players that are already overwhelmed
Scab Mauler
Slightly reduced the rate at which they utilize their overhead attack
We know that these will cause changes in the meta and balance of higher difficulty play, and will keep a close eye on how the affected classes perform.
Ogryn
We are making changes to the Ogryns Talent Tree with the intent of making it easier and more intuitive to create builds. We have made changes to the top part of the tree to make the choices feel more in tune with the build you’re going for. We have also made the higher pick rate talents a bit more available, so that you spend less points to get the nodes you need, and more on the nodes you want.
Stat Nodes Removed
Dev Note: Most stat nodes have been removed. We’ve added back some Toughness to the Ogryn’s Base Toughness. We have increased the value of Keep Shooting and Dominate to make up for the lost Rending and Reload Speed.
25 Toughness
25 Toughness
15 Toughness
5% Toughness Damage Reduction
5% Rending
5% Reload Speed
10% Melee Damage
10% Ranged Damage
Base Toughness increased from 75 -> 125.
Towering Presence
Dev Note: Towering Presence, while thematic, has never been that interesting of a pick. We’re reducing its effectiveness slightly, but are making it an Iconic passive.Now Baseline
Coherency Radius 75% -> 50%
Dev Note: To make up for the removed stat nodes, we are redistributing some of the values over other nodes.
Dominate
Rending 10% -> 15%
Keep Shooting
Reload Speed bonus increased from 15% -> 20%.
Soften Them Up
Enemy Damage Taken 10% -> 15%
Dev Note: Along with these layout changes, we are taking a pass on Ability Cooldown modifiers, to better balance the abilities according to the power they provide.
Go Again!
2% Cooldown -> 1.5%
Maximum Firepower
Duration 4s -> 2.5s
Bruiser
Cooldown Regen 100% -> 50%
Duration 3s -> 4s
Indomitable (Ability)
Dev Note: Indomitable has continued to struggle in terms of impact compared to its competitor abilities. Easing up on the restrictions of its modifiers will hopefully allow for a few more build angles. We are also lowering its cooldown to make up for a loss of cooldown reduction on Bruiser.
Cooldown 30s -> 25s
Subnodes now moved to be no longer be exclusive, and all branch directly from the Ability
Dev Note: Turns out the Ogryn’s pockets were deeper than he first thought. More rations for both him and his guns.
Found Some More - New
Replenish 1% Ammo every 15s.
Zealot
We are making changes to the Zealot’s Talent Tree with the intent of solidifying its strengths and expanding on one of the features that is unique to it. We have also made some smaller pathing changes to the layout in an effort to give you a couple extra points to spend on the new additions.
Stat Nodes Removed
Dev Note: We are pruning a few nodes to make space for larger changes. The toughness we are adding to your base toughness pool. The Movement Speed you will instead find in ‘Faithful Frenzy’.
5% Movement Speed
+25 Toughness
Base Toughness
100 -> 125
Faithful Frenzy
Now also grants 5% Movement Speed
Blood Redemption
Dev Note: We consider Melee Combat to be the bread and butter of the Zealot, and feel like Blood Redemption would be a well placed Iconic passive for the Zealot.
Now baseline
Toughness Bonus from Kills 100% -> 75%
Until Death reimagined as a ‘Core Keystone’
Dev Note: We want to double down on the faster, fighting on the edge, type of gameplay for the Zealot. To do this we are expanding on the thematic ‘Until Death’ talent.
During the effect you are Unkillable. (Same type of effect as previously)
Duration 6s -> 8s
Subnodes:
Holy Revenant
Triggering Until Death knocks back nearby enemies. While Unkillable, dealing damage heals you up to 25% Max Health. (Can not be selected together with Zealous Pilgrim)
Zealous Pilgrim
Using your Ability grants 5s of Unkillable.
Shroudfield: starts on leaving Stealth;
Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude: starts on unwielding the relic;
Chastise the Wicked / Fury of the Faithful: on ability use.
(Can not be selected together with Holy Revenant)
Fire and Fury
While Unkillable, weapon attacks apply Burn (up to 12 stacks). Melee attacks apply 3 stacks.
Risen
While Unkillable, each second, gain +5 Max Toughness, stacking 8 times, lasting 5 seconds.
Dev Note: We are removing some less sought after nodes, and adding in some hopefully more exciting ones.
Punishment - Removed
Impassible - Removed
Grievous Wounds - Removed
Got Your Back - New
Killing an enemy that is targeting an ally, with a melee attack, restores 7.5% Toughness to that ally and an additional 5% to yourself.
Holy Tools - New
+20% Damage on your next Melee Attack, within 5s after activating your Weapon Special.
Wait in Line - New
-20% damage taken from ranged attacks.
Purifying Hatred - New
+15% damage vs Burning or Electrocuted enemies.
Dev Note: We are making improvements to the few Ranged Talents available, as well as giving small bumps to often overlooked ones.
The Voice of Terra
Replenish toughness from On Kill -> While Shooting (10%/s)
Out of Pocket
Replenish Ammo from On Kill/wield -> Replenish 10% of missing magazine on melee kill
Unseen Blade
Damage 15% -> 20%.
Retributor’s Stance
Toughness per stack 0.4% -> 0.5% (max 8% -> 10%)
Dev Note: The Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude has been high above the power of its competitors for a long time; we are making changes with the intent of making it more fair, without straying from its purpose.
Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude (Ability)
Adds bonus toughness when the player is at Full Toughness -> Always adds
Pulses 7 -> 5
Dev Note: Fewer pulses should make it feel snappier to use, and with the change to always add the extra toughness, you should feel like you’re still getting the full value of it.
After the first tick, only enemies within 8m are staggered/suppressed
Invulnerable -> Unkillable
Dev Note: Previously it would stagger and suppress enemies throughout the whole duration, effectively stunning everything. Now it will give your team some breathing use as you activate it, but you will still need to be on your guard and consider its timing as ranged enemies can start firing again before you lower the Relic.
Holy Cause (subnode)
40% Toughness Damage Reduction after 5 pulses -> Each pulse grants 8% Toughness Damage Reduction, stacking 5 times.
Ecclesiarch’s Call (subnode)
+30% Damage after 5 pulses -> Each pulse grants +6% Damage, stacking 5 times.
Psyker
We are making changes to the Talent Tree Layout, by merging the two clusters there previously were above and below the Auras. We are also changing the bottom of the tree to make it easier to pick nodes that previously were on far apart branches.
Stat Nodes Removed
10% Ranged Damage
10% Melee Damage
1 Stamina
5% Movement Speed
5% Toughness Damage Reduction
-10% Peril Generation
5% Critical Chance
Dev Note: A small bump in Critical Chance to lessen the blow of losing the 5% Stat Node. The Movement Speed we have included in ‘Mind in Motion’.
Base Critical Chance
Increased from 7.5% -> 10%.
Mind in Motion
Now also provides 5% Movement Speed.
Dev Note: We are replacing some less interesting nodes with new ones and adjusting a couple existing ones.
Tranquility Through Slaughter - Removed
Focused Warp - New
+15% Warp damage.
Peril Equilibrium - New
Non-Warp melee/ranged hits generate Peril up to 75% by 2% per hit.
Psykinetic Grip - New
+20% damage for Brain Rupture, Smite, and Assail.
Psykinetic's Aura
Specialist/Elite Kills from you or allies in coherency -> from you only
Duration 5s -> 3s.
Perilous Combustion
Stacks 3 -> 2
Surety of Arms
Peril threshold 75% -> 80%.
Veteran
We are updating the Veteran Layout with a goal to reduce the amount of points you need to spend to get to the nodes you actually want.
Stat Nodes Removed
Dev Note: You will find the Movement Speed added into the ‘Duck and Dive’ Talent
10% Ranged Damage
10% Reload Speed
5% Movement Speed
1 Stamina
−0.25s Stamina Regeneration Delay
15 Toughness
25 Toughness
Duck and Dive
Now also grants 5% Movement Speed.
Dev Note: The Veteran should be considered ‘the’ Ranged Class.
Guardsman - New Iconic Passive
+25% Ranged Damage
Dev Note: The Survivalist Aura of the Veteran has long sustained its ammo economy. We think the effect is an excellent addition to the Veteran, but that it holds too much power in comparison to its competing auras. We are making the Survivalist effect an Iconic passive for the Veteran, and lowering the values of the Aura itself.
Sharpshooter - New Iconic Passive
Elite and Specialist kills restore 1% Ammo. 5s cooldown.
Survivalist (Aura)
Ammo Restore Base 0.75% -> 0.25%
Ammo Restore Improved 1% -> 0.5%
Close and Kill (Aura)
Movement Speed 5% -> 7.5%
Voice of Command (Ability)
Duty and Honour
Dev Note: We are reducing the efficiency of Golden Toughness, and to make up for some of the lost power, we’re increasing the Toughness provided by Duty and Honour.
Toughness 50 -> 75
Arbites
Dev Note: A long awaited quality of life feature for the Nuncio-Aquila. May it help you dispense justice further and wider than before.
Nuncio-Aquila (Ability)
Tap/Fast Deploy will now slowly follow the Arbitrator.
Dev Note: The Cyber-Mastiff doesn’t just provide excellent utility, but also deals a decent amount of damage. The Lone Wolf playstyle could use some more offensive power to better compare.
Lone Wolf (No Cyber-Mastiff Keystone)
Damage bonus 10% -> 20%
Hive Scum
Dev Note: The Melee playstyle has proven much stronger than we initially intended, so we are tuning down Rampage just a bit to give room for the other abilities to compete.
Rampage (Ability)
Strength 50% -> 35%
Dev Note: We want Sample Collector to incentivize using lower viscosity Stimms, which had an opposite effect when it was percentage base.
Sample Collector
1%/2% -> 0.5s/1s
Skitarius
We are overall very happy with where the Skitarius has landed after the recent update to its Blitz Abilities, but there are still a lot of nodes that could use some tuning, either up or down.
Dev Note: Advanced Combat Doctrines has had a chance to prove itself now, and we think it’s lacking a bit. We’re removing the Readiness Doctrines subnode and adding it to the Base Ability.
Advanced Combat Doctrines
Ability now includes 25% Reload Speed for 5s after use (same effect as Readiness Doctrines, baked in)
Readiness Doctrines - Removed
Dev Note: The Axial Slash Chordclaw subnode proved to be a little too efficient in clearing Elites when it had no Cleave fall off, so we are scaling the Damage and Impact down as you slice through multiple targets. You should still have no problem clearing the lesser enemies.
Chordclaw Strike
Axial Slash
Damage: 500 -> Scaling from 500 to 300 over 6 targets
Impact: 100 -> Scaling from 100 to 50 over 6 targets
Dev Note: Voltaic Emitter inherently scales based on the Capacitance Charges used, but its subnodes didn’t, which could make using them a bit awkward. We’re adding Charge scaling to Voltaic Motivator and Voltaic Overcharge.
Voltaic Emitter (ability)
Voltaic Motivator
Attack Speed now scales with Charges used: 5% + 5% per Charge spent
Voltaic Overcharge
Toughness on use 25% -> 25% per Charge used
Higher Purpose
Capacitance 5% -> 2.5%
Noospheric Command
Capacitance Cost 25% -> 30%
Voltaic Burst
Cooldown 15s -> 12s
Ammunition Deposit
Ammo Bonus 10% -> 15%
System Shock
Stacks 4 -> 3
Galvanized Coating
Cost on hit 5% -> 7.5%
Target-Neutralization
Duration 4s -> 5s
Salvation Doctrine
Revive Speed 20% -> 25%
Damage Reduction 20% -> 25%
Superior Tracking Litanies
Spread reduction 30% -> 45%
Force Distributors Actuators
Stamina threshold 75% -> 50%
Weapon Balance Changes
Ogryn Slab Shield & Battle Maul
Dev Note: the Ogryn Slab Shield relied a lot on its strong Heavy Shield attacks, while most of the Light attacks were neglected. We are updating the properties and adding a new combo path for all Light attacks, to allow the whole moveset to be used in interesting ways.
Increased Light Relentless profile damage on 2nd and 3rd targets
Updated the Pushfollow attack profile to be aligned to other Light Strikedown attacks
Added Melee Block properties during Heavy 2 windups
Slightly lowered the chain time from Push to Pushfollow attack
Added chain to Special Shield plant from Pushfollow attack
Changed chain out of Light 4 from Light 1 / Heavy 1 to Light 3 / Heavy 1
Light 3 and Light 4 will now loop between themselves, gaining +10% attack speed
Tweaked hitboxes and ranges for some attacks
Relic Blade Sprint Heavy Stab
Dev Note: The Relic Blade Heavy Stab from Sprint is one of the most powerful single target attacks of the family, but was also too easily accessible when already in close melee combat with enemies.
We are rebalancing the profile by lowering the baseline damage and the Armour Damage Modifier against Unyielding enemies by around 20%, and conversely adding a stacking Melee Strength bonus that is gained by charging the Heavy Stab while Sprinting for a small amount of time.
The current full power of the attack can still be obtained, but only after Sprinting for a little while and not from super short Sprints performed just to enter the Heavy Stab attack windup.
Lowered the baseline performance of the Heavy stab attack on Sprint, and added a Melee Power bonus stacking up over time while Sprinting
Up to 3 Stacks of +8% Melee Strength (max +24%)
Lowered the Unyielding ADM for the attack profile
Normal from 1.2 to 1.1
Special Activated from 1.5 to 1.33
Thunder Hammers
Dev Note: Other more well rounded weapons offered enough power to make the Thunder Hammers slowly redundant, even in their single-target deleting niche.
We are adding a large amount of buffs to the weapon family, with also specific tweaks for each mark, to make them both more reliable against larger groups of enemies and more decisive against single targets.
The “Thrust” Blessing, which was often a key part of the Thunder Hammers gameplan, centralized too much power into itself. We are rebalancing the Blessing by adding part of its bonus as an inherent property of the weapon, to also promote experimenting with other Blessings and build styles.
We had an overall pass on all attack profiles, with a generous increase to their 1st target offensive properties, in particular regarding the Finesse multiplier and their armour modifiers against Maniac enemies.
The Ironhelm mark received in particular several tweaks to smooth out and polish its moveset.
Rebalanced the “Thrust” Blessing:
Lowered the Thrust blessing values from +5/10/15/20% (max +15/30/45/60%) to +5/7.5/10/12.5% (max +15/22.5/30/37.5%)
Added an inherent Melee Strength bonus stacking when charging any Heavy windup
Up to 3 stacks of +12.5% Melee Strength (max +37.5%)
“Shock and Awe” Blessing:
Increased duration from 2s to 3s
Heavy Relentless
1st target ADM vs Maniac from 0.75 to 0.9
1st target Damage from {180,350} to {215,430}
1st target Finesse multiplier from {0.25, 0.75} to {0.5, 1.0}
2nd target Damage from {100,200} to {120,240}
Maniac Impact ADM on both 1st and secondary targets from 0.5 to 0.8
Heavy Strikedown
Cleave from double to medium
1st target ADM vs Maniac from 0.75 to 0.9
1st target Finesse multiplier from {0.25, 0.95} to {0.7, 1.4}
Heavy Relentless / Strikedown, Special active (Crucis)
1st target Finesse multiplier from 0.5 to {0.5, 1.0}
Heavy Relentless, Special active (Ironhelm)
1st target Finesse multiplier from 0.5 to {0.5, 0.75}
Heavy Strikedown, Special active (Ironhelm)
1st target Finesse multiplier from 0.5 to {0.5, 1.0}
Light Strikedowns 1st target
ADM vs Maniac from 0.75 to 0.9
ADM vs Carapace Armour from 0.5 to 0.6
ADM vs Infested from 0.75 to 0.9
Light Strikedown
1st target Finesse multiplier from {0.5, 1.5} to {0.9, 1.8}
Light Strikedown Plus
Cleave from single to double
Increased Impact on 1st and 2nd targets
Light Vanguard 1st target
ADM vs Maniac from 0.75 to 0.9
ADM vs Infested from 0.75 to 0.9
Damage from {100,200} to {125,250}
Light Vanguard
added 3rd target scaling
Crucis mark
Increased speed for Light 1 by around 15%
Tweaked hitboxes for Light 1 and Heavy Strikedown after Special activation
Ironhelm mark
Added Allowed during Sprint for all attacks
Tweaked hitboxes for Light 1 and Heavy 3
Changed chain after Push > Special Activate; it will now chain into Light 1 / Heavy 3 instead of Light 1 / Heavy 1 (same Heavy as non-activated)
Increased speed for Special Activate actions by around 20% (now faster)
Added alternative Light after push with Light Strikedown plus profile
Added alternative Light Vanguard after Pushfollow, chaining into Light 1 / Heavy 3
Increased hitbox for Light 1
Increased range and hitbox for Pushfollow attack
“On Perfect Block” Blessings
Dev Note: The “Counterattack”, “Energy Transfer” and “Lightning Reflexes” weapon Blessings required a very hard to perform Perfect Block to be triggered.
We are moving most of the bonuses to be triggered by just any Block, to raise their uptime and to make them more competitive against the rest of the Blessings pool.
“Counterattack”
Trigger from On Perfect Block to just On Block
Duration from 5s to 6s
Allow for the bonuses to be refreshed during their duration
“Energy Transfer”
Trigger from On Perfect Block to just On Block
Allow for the bonuses to be refreshed during their duration
“Lightning Reflexes”
Trigger for the Melee Strength bonus from On Perfect Block to just On Block
The Stun part of the Blessing will still be triggered On Perfect Block
The Blessings are available on the following weapon families:
Relic Blade
Power Falchion
Shock Maul
Arbites Shock Maul
Arbites Shock Maul & Shield
Arc Maul
Ogryn Pickaxe
Heavy Vanguard
Cleave from {5,25} to {5,18}
Added Shield Breaker tag
Heavy Strikedown
Added Shield Breaker tag
Crowbar
Heavy Strikedown (beak mode)
Added Ignore Stagger Reduction also to initial attack
Added Shield Breaker to both initial and second sticky attacks
Combat Axes
Added Allowed during Sprint to all attacks and attack starts
Achlys Mk VIII mark
Dev Note: The Achlys mark of the Combat Axes was a bit lacking compared to its other siblings. We have increased the offensive properties of its Heavy Strikedown and Special Uppercut attacks, particularly adding the Shield Breaker tag, which means that they will be very useful when fighting against the Vanguard enemies.
Slightly increased range on all attacks
Tweaked hitboxes, damage windows and chain times for several attacks
Heavy Strikedown (Spike profile)
Added Shield Breaker tag
Cleave from no cleave to single cleave
1st target damage from {150,300} to {155,310}
2nd target damage from {125,200} to {100,200}
Special Uppercut
Added bespoke profile with high 1st target damage and Unyielding ADM, counts as Heavy, and Shield Breaker tag
Chain time to Block from 1.2 to 1
Added chain time to itself at 1.2
Heavy 2
Time scale from 0.9 to 1 (sped up by around 10%)
Chain time to Special from 0.5 to 0.4
Heavy 3
Time scale from 1 to 1.1 (sped up by around 10%)
Release chain from windup from 0.6 to 0.45
Chain time to Special from 0.73 to 0.6
Pushfollow attack
Changed from Relentless side swipe to Vanguard diagonal
Added a new Light 2 attack
Similar Strikedown profile as other Light attacks
Added power level 550 to Heavy 3 and Light 4
Dual Shivs, Duelling Swords
Slightly increased the minimum time for the Block action
Fix for swap/sprint cancel exploits
Dev Note: The starting Light attack immediately after Wield on several melee weapons and the Primary Hipfire shot of Force Staves could be repeated at a higher speed than intended (i.e. way faster than normally canceling into another attack by swapping to another weapon/wieldable slot and then back immediately to the primary slot, or by sprinting). This change will not affect normal gameplay.
Added a minimum enforced time before some attack actions can be repeated. Affecting the following weapon families:
Force Staves
Shivs
Bone Saw
Relic Blade
Shock Maul
Arbites Shock Maul
Arbites Shock Maul and Shield
Force Sword
Force Greatsword
Duelling Sword
Combat Axe
Tactical Axe
Eviscerator
That’s all we have for today! We hope you enjoyed this preview of the balance changes coming with the Depths of the Damned update on September 29! Let us know what you think in the comments!
Our friends at Games Lantern have updated their website with all of the balance changes, give them a look!
We’ll see you on the Mourningstar.
– The Darktide Team