Killing off enemies with the Warp powers of a Psyker is indeed a tough job compared to other classes. However, if players learn the mechanics of Psyker Class and the Best Psyker Build in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, they can burst open enemies’ brains with more ease and fun. A well-thought-out Loadout, Feats, and Playstyle are needed to develop a perfect Build. So, let’s dive right into it and play Psyker like a pro.
The Rundown
- Players must be aware of some built-in Psyker abilities before creating a build.
- A Build in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide depends on the Loadout (weapons) and Feats (Talents/Perks).
- Loadout is further categorized into Primary Weapons, Secondary Weapons, and Curios.
- There are many amazing weapons to choose from, but Purgatus Force Staff and Blaze Force Sword can be the strongest if played with the correct perks and strategies.
- The Build here will provide more defence to the squishy Psyker and the best talents to keep the Warp Charges and Damage up.
- The combination of Purgatus Force Sword and Blaze Force Sword is the most fun out of all other combinations.
Psyker Abilities Overview
Players should know of the built-in abilities of Psyker before they Burst some Brains with a Psyker Build in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide.
Ability
Psykinetic’s Wrath: Quell 50% Peril and Stagger enemies in front of you. (cooldown 30s)
Iconic
Warp Siphon: Killing an enemy with Brain Burst earns Warp Charge. Each Charge grants 3% damage. Warp charges are retained for 25 seconds. You can store up to 4 Warp Charges.
Battle Meditation: +10% Chance to Quell 10% Peril on Kill.
Blitz
Brain Burst: Target an Enemy and charge the ability to deal high Damage.
Aura
Kinetic Presence: Allies in Coherency gain 10% Damage (Elite Enemies).
Best Psyker Loadout
A “Build” in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide consists of two main components, a loadout and a set of feats. Before we move to Feats, let’s look at primary and secondary weapons along with extra traits we suggest players equip.
Primary Weapon
A primary weapon is based on melee weapons Psykers use in a close-range encounter with enemies, especially the Elites and Specials. Don’t forget that these Psychic Mutants or “Psykers” support teammates by killing off Elites with huge damage aimed at a single target. Therefore, equipping a good melee weapon is necessary.
Obscurus Mk II Blaze Force Sword
To no surprise, we suggest a Blaze Force Sword as our recommended primary weapon. To unlock Blaze Force Sword in the shop, players need to reach Trust Level 2 for Psyker Psykinetic. You can increase your Trust Level by simply playing the matches.
Blaze Force Sword is used as a Primary Weapon because of its insane damage against a single target. Players can cut Elite enemies up with just a few swings. An increase in Attack Speed is also noticed during close combat due to its specialization, Flurry. With its Special Action “Warp Charged”, the Blaze Force Sword charges up the Warp and deals extra damage after your next hit. Use your charged Blaze Force Sword, not basic hits for a Warp attack.
Another thing to note is that Blaze Force Sword is a perfect melee to melt down Rangers, Maulers, and Mutant enemies due to its massive single-target damage.
Players can Dodge non-stop with Blaze Force Sword, giving them an advantage when surrounded by hordes. Using Push Attack while stuck in hordes can stagger some of them, allowing you to escape (never stay in the frontline, that is not a Psyker’s role).
- Blessing: Deflector
Amazing pair with Blaze Force Sword would be a “Deflector” blessing. Try to get your hands on the weapon with a Deflector, as it will hugely assist you in blocking both Melee and Ranged attacks from the enemies. That way, players can convert their Psykers into a Tank class (well, almost). Another thing to note is that Block Cost also goes down by 3-12%.
- Blessing: Blazing Spirit
Another great Blessing to have is “Blazing Spirit”. Players can deal continuous damage to enemies with a Critical Hit. However, we suggest pairing Blazing Spirit with Riposte and gaining 2.5% extra Crit Chance for 5 seconds upon a successful Dodge. But only stick with Deflector (and pair it with whatever suits you) if you find a Deflector Blessing Force Sword.
Secondary Weapon
Players need to pick Secondary Weapons depending on the character’s Class. For Psyker: Psykinetic, the ranged weapon required is Staves, not guns. The main purpose of these Secondary Weapons is to support teammates. Stay behind and use the abilities your Staff possesses.
Rifthaven Mk II Purgatus Force Staff
All Staves except Trauma Staff are good picks. Trauma Staff launches/scatters enemies everywhere (including next to teammates) instead of killing or staggering them.
Players have different opinions over which other Staff holds the reward of Best Staff in the game. Here is what we think, Voidstrike and Surge staff are indeed amazing, but the horde control ability Purgatus Force Staff has is unmatchable. To unlock Purgastus Force Staff, players need to reach at least 20 or 21 levels.
Players can spray the fire around on big hordes, staggering them for a moment with low Peril generation. The stagger might last a few seconds but gives teammates enough time to finish the staggered enemies.
Besides horde clearing, the Purgatus Force Staff comes with built-in Soulblaze, which benefits dealing with constant damage by burning. The innate nature of constant damage this staff comes with will help you keep your Warp Stacks high. Each increase in Warp Charge will increase the 3% damage. So, Bursting Brains is not the only way to charge the Warps.
In a fast-paced game environment, Voidstrike takes time to aim and shoot each enemy down. However, Purgatus Force Staff throws flame and provides CC with little thought into it. High difficulties bring more hordes, and Voidstrike Staff might not adjust immediately.
If you are sure your teammates are good and will support you, go for Voidstrike, but in most cases, players are unaware of what to expect in their team. The best bet is to stay back, use Dodge to get out of a tight spot and weaken the enemies while others finish the job.
- Blessing: Terrifying Barrage
The in-game description of Terrifying Barrage is “Suppress Enemies within 3-9m Radius on Close Range Kill”.
Due to range issues with Purgatus Force Staff, we recommend making the Psyker tanky, and the Terrifying Barrage does exactly that. Terrifying Barrage can assist players in easily coming out of intimidating situations and also helps kill enemies off quicker.
- Blessing: Warp Flurry
The in-game description of Warp Flurry is “+-4-10% Charge Rate on chained Secondary Attack. Stacks 5 Times”.
Warp Flurry is a great pick to reduce charge time for your Secondary Weapon, which is your staff here. It can stack up to 5 times by spam attacking and helps players use abilities quicker.
Curios
Once equipped, Curios act like items that boost stats and provide certain traits and buffs to your loadout. There are 3 slots for Curios in the “Loadout” menu that can be filled. While it mostly depends on what Curios you require, some are still better than others.
Psykers happen to be squishy in comparison to other Classes. Therefore, Curios are a great way to increase the much-needed defence. We recommend having the following three Curios equipped:
- Blessing: +10-20% Toughness, Perk: +10-20% Corruption Resistance (Grimoires), +2-5% Toughness
- Blessing: +1 Wound(s), Perk: +5-20% Damage Resistance (Gunners), +5-20% Damage Resistance (Snipers)
- Blessing: +1-3% Max Stamina, Perk: +6-12% Stamina Regeneration, +6-12% Sprint Efficiency, +8-10% Block Efficiency
With the mentioned Curios set, players can modify their Psyker into more Tanky with better Stamina (helps in block) and more block efficiency. Since Blaze Force Sword negatively impacts Mobility, Sprint Efficiency can improve it to an extent.
Best Psyker Feats
Now comes the second part of a Build, the Feats. Think of Feats as Passive Talents/Perks you will unlock upon levelling up. After 5 levels up, one out of three Feats can be chosen. The process goes up to Level 30, giving a total of Six Feats to unlock. Each Feat makes a massive impact on your gameplay. Therefore we have selected the best of all here:
Level 5 (Essence Harvest)
In-game Description: Replenish 30% Toughness over 5 seconds on gaining Warp Charges.
Whether you gain Warp Charges by abilities or other passive talents, Essence Harvest will activate and provide you 30% Toughness over 5 seconds. A perfect pick for Purgatus Staff as it constantly regenerates Warp Charges. Amazing Feat to unlock at Level 5 as it gives good defence (especially paired with the Curios we selected). Dealing with Hordes should not be as dangerous once you unlock this Feat.
Level 10 (Psykinetic’s Wrath)
In-game Description: Gain between 5% and 15% damage with force weapon attacks, based on your current Peril.
Depending on the current state of your Peril, you will deal from 5% to 15% additional damage upon using your Blaze Force Sword or Purgatus Force Staff. Psykinetic’s Wrath just makes sense due to the picked weapons in our build.
Level 15 (Psychic Communion)
In-game Description: Whenever you or an ally in Coherency kills an enemy, you have a 4% chance to gain a Warp Charge.
With Psychic Communion Feat, players gain a Passive ability to obtain Warp Charges. Unlocking this Feat helps players focus more on the gameplay than on maintaining the Warp Charges (which can sometimes become overwhelming). Therefore, we suggest equipping Psychic Communion so you can enjoy the game and gain Warp Charges without extra effort.
Level 20 (Mind in Motion)
In-game Description: Your movement speed is not reduced while quelling Peril.
As a punishment for exceeding Peril limits, your Movement speed is immensely reduced. Instead of depending on your teammates for support each time you quell Peril, equip Mind in Motion at Level 20. You will easily overcome the reduced movement speed and face enemies, especially when you quell Peril.
Level 25 (Kinetic Flayer)
In-game Description: All attacks have a 10% chance on hit to Brain Burst the target. This cannot occur while at critical peril and has a cooldown of 15 seconds.
A must-have Feat that gives off a 10% chance to randomly get a free kill by Brain Burst. While you deal constant damage with your staff and abilities, any of these hits can grant an effortless kill. Kinetic Flayer also pairs amazingly with Essence Harvest, giving an insane amount of Warp Charges for abilities. It is an important Feat. Therefore, we highly recommend prioritizing it more than the other two.
Level 30 (Ascendant Blaze)
In-game Description: Psykinetic’s Wrath expends all Warp Charges and applies stacks of Soulblaze to enemies hit based on the number of Warp Charges expended. Enemies killed by your Soulblaze effects (from any source) have a 10% chance to grant you a Warp Charge.
Ascendant Blaze is pretty much made for Purgatus Force Staff due to the Soulblaze effect Purgatus Force Staff comes with. When enemies are sprayed with Soulblaze (the main function of Purgatus Staff), they give off Warp Charges with a 10% chance. Also, the Damage the staff provides increases, melting the hordes before they grab you.
The Feats selection is diverse, giving Damage, Warp Charges, Random Kills, and Mobility. You can modify a few things to your preference, but we strongly believe the mentioned Feats selection is also very effective.
Best Psyker Playstyle
First off, know your base abilities and take full advantage of them. Stagger enemies from Psykinetic’s Wrath and earn Warp Charges from abilities such as Brain Burst. Know how to Quell your Peril and avoid overusing the Peril in general.
Now off to the build. The weapons and Feats we chose can provide some brawniness/tanky-ness to your Psyker, so make sure not to panic in horde situations. Instead, use your Block and Dodge ability to its fullest.
Do not constantly worry about the Warp Charges. It can become exhausting and takes the main element, fun, out of the game. That is exactly what we want to prevent from happening with our Build. You have multiple sources other than the passive abilities to collect Warp Charges.
A big disadvantage Purgatus Force Staff comes with is its range. However, your Curios perks and Essence Harvest can prevent you from taking a lot of damage from afar. Leave the ranged enemies to others. Instead, focus on clearing hordes, staggering enemies, and supporting teammates. Take down the Specials only if you can, but make sure to switch to your Primary Weapon (Blaze Force Sword) when facing Specials or Elites. The Sword is strong enough to take down Elites or Specials with a few hits.
Final Remarks
Believe it or not, melting off the enemy hordes with a flamethrower is pretty satisfying with the mentioned Psyker Build in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. Purgatus Force Staff and Force Sword are fun to play with and create a deadly pair. To strengthen the pair further, we have developed the best Feats and side Perks for our weapon choice.
We hope you experience the same enjoyment while trying this build as much as we did. Good luck bursting and burning those brains!
Check out Warhammer 40k: Darktide All Staff Types and choose your favorite.
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