As a grizzled 1500+ hour Vermintide veteran turned passionate Darktide fanatic, I live and breath everything related to grinding the perfect build. After extensive testing and optimization, I‘m thrilled to present this comprehensive Psyker god build guide – your one stop shop to obliterating the forces of Chaos with extreme prejudice.
Let‘s dive right in!
Contents
- Overview of Core Psyker Abilities
- Optimal Weapons and Gear
- Leveling Priorities and Feat Selection
- Benchmark Stats and Attribute Distribution
- Combat Tips and Ability Usage
- Common New Player Mistakes
- Conclusion
Understanding Core Psyker Abilities
Mastering the intricacies of inbuilt Psyker abilities is critical before constructing a specialized build:
Psykinetic‘s Wrath
Creates a wave of psychic energy to damage enemies within 8 meters in front of you. Also reduces Peril accumulation by 50% and applies a brief stagger.
With only a 30 second cooldown, Psykinetic‘s Wrath should be your most frequently used spell. It offers high damage, crowd control through stagger and helps relieve Peril – an extremely versatile base ability.
Against hordes, use it off cooldown. Target elites/specials to interrupt dangerous attacks. Coordinate with teammates to stack damage on staggered elites.
Warp Siphon
Generates 1 Warp Charge for every enemy killed by your Brain Burst ability. Each charge increases all damage dealt by 3% up to a maximum of 4 (12% damage). Warp Charges persist for 15 seconds after your last kill.
This offers very high damage scaling. Utilize Brain Burst frequently on priority targets to build and maintain charges. If you ever reach max charges (4), avoid wasting the buff by delaying further Brain Burst casts.
Battle Meditation
10% chance to reduce Peril by 10% when defeating enemies. Strong synergy with high kill rate builds.
While the proc chance appears low, it activates frequently during horde clear and heavily mitigates peril buildup. Consider it a nice bonus.
Brain Burst
Charged single target attack that explodes enemies on cast. Deals very high damage based on charge duration. Can be used to one shot elites and specials.
The hardest hitting Psyker ability when fully charged. The lengthy charge time is balanced by insane damage and lethality.
Use judiciously as the cooldown is 45 seconds. Ideal against assassination targets like Packmasters that you need erased quickly. Avoid wasting on lone clan rats.
Now let‘s move on to best-in-slot gear and talents for pushing this build to its maximum potential.
Optimal Weapons and Equipment
The key pillars of a power Psyker build are unlimited Warp Charge generation and amplified ability damage. We achieve this through:
Primary Melee: Blaze Force Sword
This devastating fiery blade brings the perfect balance of crowd clear and single target lethality thanks to its unique mix of stats:
- High individual attack damage for destroying elites/specials
- Very fast 1.3 attack speed to stack damage rapidly
- Inbuilt [Warp Charged] special action that increases damage by 100% at max charge stacks
- Flurry specialization further increasing attack speed against hordes
- Can still block attacks unlike some other Psyker weapons
Ideally take the "Deflector" blessing to enable frequent blocks for survival against stormvermin and other hard hitting enemies.
The alternative "Blazing Spirit" blessing also works very with the fire synergies. Especially nice when combined with…
Secondary Ranged: Purgatus Force Staff
While raw damage options like the Surge Force Staff seem enticing, none compare to my personal favorite Purgatus for sheer utility and Warp Charge generation:
| Weapon | Base Damage | Utility |
|---|---|---|
| Surge Force Staff | Extremely high | Decent horde clear |
| Purgatus Force Staff | Medium | Insane crowd control and Warp Charge farming |
Purgatus applies the devastating [Soulblaze] damage over time effect in an area around your targets. What‘s special is that enemies afflicted by Soulblaze have a chance to grant you a Warp Charge on death.
So by burning multiple enemies simultaneously, you generate insane Warp Charge counts automatically from all the ancillary kills. This fuels our extremely hard hitting Warp abilities like Brain Burst.
It also staggers enemies on every tick of its channelled damage. Allowing unparalleled crowd control against mixed hordes.
Plus the Terrifying Barrage blessing propagates Soulblaze on kills spreading your damage exponentially. While Warp Flurry decreases charge time between blasts for near constant uptime.
In summary, Purgatus enables a highly mobile playstyle with unlimited Warp Charge generation through mass AOE burns.
Recommended Curios
As the flimsy backline damage dealer, the Psyker desperately needs additional defense to not get one shot by every sneeze in Legend difficulty:
| Blessing of Sorcery Tome | +10-20% Toughness and Corruption Resistance |
| Blessing of the Diminution Orb | +1 Wound and Damage Resistance |
| Blessing of the dowser‘s Charm | +Stamina Regeneration and Block Efficiency |
These provide well rounded defenses covering damage resistance, increased health pool, bigger stamina bar and faster blocks.
Let‘s move onto Feat selections next.
Optimized Feats for God Mode
The below Feats have incredible synergy with our weapons and playstyle. Here‘s a quick summary:
| Level 5 | Essence Harvest – Healing and sustain |
| Level 10 | Psykinetic‘s Wrath – Amplified Force damage |
| Level 15 | Psychic Communion – Automatic Warp Charge generation |
| Level 20 | Mind in Motion – Mobility while quelling Peril |
| Level 25 | Kinetic Flayer – Free Brain Burst procs |
| Level 30 | Ascendant Blaze – Soublaze synergy on Psykinetic‘s Wrath |
Let‘s examine why each selection takes the build to the next level.
Level 5: Essence Harvest
Replenish 30% of Maximum Health over 5 seconds on gaining Warp Charge
Sustain is crucial not to end up as a glass cannon. Essence Harvest heals for a whopping 30% max HP whenever you gain Warp Charges – which will be happening near constantly.
It ensures you can survive stray assassin leaps and pelagic guardian mortar shots while continuing to unleash devastation.
Level 10: Psykinetic‘s Wrath
Gain between 5% and 15% Force Weapon damage based on current Peril
Significantly amplifies our Blaze Force Sword and Purgatus Force Staff damage the higher we push Peril. Starts at a 5% boost which can scale all the way to 15% with high Peril.
Since these are our most used abilities, the damage hike is extremely impactful.
Level 15: Psychic Communion
4% chance on kill to gain 1 Warp Charge
Yet another source of automated Warp Charge generation through a simple 4% proc chance on kills. Extremely reliable given the hordes of enemies you‘ll be obliterating.
Enables maxing our Warp Charge stacks without any effort. Resulting in over 50% multiplicative damage increases when combined with existing Warp Charge generation abilities!
Level 20: Mind in Motion
No slow penalty while Quelling Peril
Normally you move at an absolute snail‘s pace when trying to vent your accrued Peril. Mind in Motion negates this crippling downside so you can reposition freely even when desperately trying to avoid hitting max Peril.
Staying mobile is incredibly advantageous when getting swarmed. You can continue retreating and dodging instead of becoming a stationary punching bag.
Level 25: Kinetic Flayer
10% chance for attack hits to trigger a free Brain Burst explosion
One of the most powerful dps boosting talents. A standard 10% chance per hit to instantly trigger a zero charge Brain Burst on whatever you are attacking.
Couple this with the extreme attack speeds of Blaze Force Sword, and you‘ll be effortlessly one shotting elites/specials with insane frequency. I‘ve had Kinetic Flayer detonate Pack Masters and Plague Monks before they could even initiate an attack!
Level 30: Ascendant Blaze
Psykinetic‘s Wrath explosion applies Soulblaze; 10% chance for Soulblaze deaths to generate Warp Charge
Remember Purgatus Force Staff‘s innate [Soulblaze] damage over time effect? This talent adds it to our spammable Psykinetic‘s Wrath ability too!
It‘s a double whammy since enemies dying from ALL Soulblaze effects (including staff and melee procs) have a chance to drop Warp Charges. Thus massively increasing charge generation.
Combine with Purgatus to have multiple sources of cascading Soulblaze feeds enabling truly unlimited Warp Charges and psy-fueled destruction!
Leveling Priorities
While selecting weapons and talents is essential, you should also pay attention to attribute distribution.
Psykers primary scale off Willpower. This dictates psychic damage, Peril thresholds and other important mechanics. Funnel almost all advances points into Willpower with just enough Toughness/Wounds investment so you aren‘t instantly downed.
Here are benchmark stats to target:
Willpower: 80+
Toughness: 20
Wounds: Downed threshold increased 1-2 times
Adjust based on whether you prefer boosting offense or sustainability. But the above spreads provide a solid balance.
Secondary attributes like critical chance and stagger power can further min-max but aren‘t necessary immediately. Consider them luxury investments after securing core Willpower/Toughness.
Playing The Build
While this Psyker configuration wrecks havoc solo, it truly shines with coordinating teammates capitalizing on your debilitating debuffs:
General Gameplay Tips
- Use Psykinetic‘s Wrath on cooldown for damage + crowd control
- Spam charged Purgatus blasts to spread mass Soulblaze burns
- Explode priority threats like Packmasters/Blightstormers with fully charged Brain Bursts
- Vent Peril between horde waves with pyskinetic and quelling talents
- Stay behind frontliners so enemies funnel into your AOE spells
Example Ability Priority Against Mixed Hordes
- Burn the maximum number of enemies possible with Purgatus Force Staff blast
- Immediately follow up with Psykinetic‘s Wrath to damage and stagger survivors
- Allow teammates to mop injured/staggered units
- Repeat Purgatus -> Psykinetic‘s combo off cooldown
- Use single target Brain Burst on isolated threats like Gas rats
- Quell excess Peril between horde waves
Through coordinated ability chains, your party seamlessly eliminates even the densest tangled hordes with no friendly fire!
Common New Psyker Mistakes
Having mentored countless novice Psykers, I‘ve noticed some easily avoidable missteps:
Charging Brain Burst Excessively
While fully charging Brain Burst is tempting, the long 45 second cooldown means you lose out on multiple quicker casts.
Find the minimum effective charge time to eliminate your target and don‘t overcommit. Uncharged casts still inflict massive damage!
Ignoring Hordes for Big Targets
The instinct to solely hunt elites and monsters is strong. However, the Psyker‘s strength lies in obliterating hordes with his AOE abilities. Eliminate chaff enemies first while your team focuses specials.
Wasting Warp Charges Out of Combat
Entering battle with 0 Warp Charges is disastrous. But don‘t panic and drain them recklessly when not fighting! Delay using the last charge so some duration rolls over between fights. Those 3-4 seconds could make the difference!
Overindulging Peril
While tempting for the damage boost, peril rapidly cascades out of control. Exercise restraint, frequently Quell and utilize talents that reduce accrual like Battle Meditation. It‘s simply not worth the frustration of repeated downs.
Conclusion
And there you have it – my ultimate Psyker god build for Warhammer 40k: Darktide. An unstoppable virtuoso of warp-borne devastation.
I‘m confident these talent and gear selections will help unlock the Psyker‘s immense potential for massive crowd destruction paired with lethal single target removal.
You‘ll have an absolute blast chaining obliterative combos as enemies disintegrate left and right in an asymmetric display of psyker prowess! Especially when coordinating with teammates to capitalize on target softening.
For the keen eyed, you may have noticed I skipped details on some weapons and traits. That‘s because an entire second article is needed covering alternate builds (which I‘m working on)!
So consider this your prelude…Stay tuned for even more unhinged Psyker greatness as we dive deeper!
Let me know if you have any other questions in the comments section below. And please smash those share buttons if you found this guide helpful!
