Warhammer 40,000: Darktide’s Upcoming Talent Trees Explained in New Dev Post

Developer Fatshark has posted a new deep dive into the upcoming talent trees that will be coming to co-op shooter Warhammer 40,000: Darktide. The new talent trees will be part of patch 13 on PC, as well as Xbox release of the game on October 4.

Diving into some of the new talents and abilities the playable classes in Darktide will have access to, the studio goes into detail about its intent for the play style for each class. For example, while the Veteran class is largely about using their gun to shoot down enemies, the studio also wanted to give the class some room to offer support, while also giving players the option to play a more aggressive rush-down style.

As a result, the Veteran talent tree now has three lanes, each offering a different role for the class. Players will also be encouraged to zig-zag into the different lanes to pick out the talents they want, with abilities ranging from pure damage output, immunity to suppression effects and resilience, and options for melee combat.

The Veteran will have three combat abilities—Executioner’s Stance, Voice of Command and Infiltrate—and three blitz abilities—Shredder Frag Grenade, Smoke Grenade and Krak Grenade—with each ability filling the role of a different style of play.

The Zealot is seeing the addition of a bolstering style of play that relies on the character’s faith in the Emperor, as well as a new stealth-styled talent tree that will focus more on throwing knives and backstabs. The Zealot talent tree will offer plenty of key talents, like Until Death and Holy Revenant that will help the character avoid death, as well as more stat-focused talent, offering up a boost to wounds or toughness.

Zealot players will have access to Fury of the Faithful, Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude and Shroudfield as their combat abilities, and Stunstorm Grenade, Immolation Grenade, and Blades of Faith as their blitz abilities.

The Psyker’s new talent tree has been described by the studio as being the most “tinker-friendly”, with several talents being split across weapons and blitz abilities. There are also talents that interact with Perils, offering up more build choices for players. Psyker players will also find a new Shield ability, that allows them to play a more defensive style.

Psyker players will get Venting Shriek, Telekine Shield and Scrier’s Gaze as their combat abilities, and Brain Rupture, Assail, and Smite as their blitz abilities.

The new talent tree for the final class, Ogryn, largely opts to double down on its role as the bodyguard and brawler of the crew. The class is getting new abilities like Taunt and Point-blank barrage to help players focus on either range or melee combat.

When it comes to abilities, the Ogryn will have Imdomitable, Loyal Protector and Point-Blank Barrage as their combat abilities, and Big Friendly Rock, Bombs Away! and Frag Bomb as their blitz abilities.