Warhammer 40,000: Darktide – Psyker Class Guide

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  • Psyker Psykinetic Abilities
  • Psyker Psykinetic Feats
  • Psyker Psykinetic Strategies And Tips

Psykers are an iconic part of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, so it's no surprise that they're playable in Darktide. Playing as a Psyker Psykinetic gives you access to the sorcerous powers of the Warp, with all the power and peril that such gifts entail. While you'll never lack for ammunition, overusing your power can lead to an untimely end.

Like the Marksman, Psykers excel at range. Their ability to deal heavy damage to single targets make them perfect for quickly finishing off Elites, but their long charge times and need for cooldowns means that they require protection.

Psyker Psykinetic Abilities

Psykers don't use normal weapons, instead focusing their energies through arcane items like staves. Their class abilities are centered around managing this frightening power.

Name Type Effect(s)
Perils Of The Warp Passive
  • Whenever you make a non-melee attack, your Peril meter (at the center of the screen) rises.
  • If you attack with your psychic powers while Peril is full, you explode, dealing damage to nearby targets and automatically becoming downed.
    • This can result in your immediate capture if your Corruption is high.
  • Peril automatically reduces over time, but you can speed the process by holding the reload button. Your movement speed is reduced while doing this!
Psykinetic Wrath Active
  • When activated, enemies directly in front of you are knocked back.
  • When activated, your Peril meter is reduced by up to fifty percent.
Brain Burst Grenade
  • Targets a single enemy. Deals massive damage to that enemy after two seconds.
Kinetic Presence Aura
  • Allies in Coherency with you deal ten percent more damage to Elites.
Warp Siphon Passive
  • If you kill an enemy with Brain Burst, you gain a stack of Warp Charge.
  • You can have up to four stacks of Warp Charge simultaneously, and each stack increases the damage you deal by three percent.
Battle Meditation Passive
  • Whenever you kill any enemy by any means, you have a ten percent chance of reducing your Peril meter by ten percent.

Psyker Psykinetic Feats

Every five levels, you'll unlock a new tier of Feats for your character. You can only have one of the three Feats on each tier active at a time, but you can switch between them at no cost between missions.

Level 5 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Essence Harvest
  • Whenever you gain a Warp Charge, you regain thirty percent of your Toughness over the next five seconds.
Quietude
  • Whenever your Peril meter drops by a total of ten percent (by any means), you immediately regain five percent of your Toughness.
Warp Absorption
  • Whenever you kill an enemy with your psychic powers, you immediately regain ten percent of your Toughness.

Level 10 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Inner Tranquility
  • Your Peril meter fills six percent slower for each Warp Charge you have.
Psykinetic's Wrath
  • Your melee weapons get a scaling damage bonus the higher your Peril meter rises.
  • This bonus caps at fifteen percent.
Wrack And Ruin
  • Whenever you kill a Specialist or Elite with Brain Burst, all enemies within three meters of the target are afflicted with Soulblaze, dealing damage over time.

Level 15 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Cerebral Lacerations
  • Whenever you damage an enemy with Brain Burst, that enemy takes fifteen percent more damage from non-psychic attacks for the next five seconds.
Psychic Communion
  • You have a four percent chance of gaining a Warp Charge every time you or an ally in Coherency kills an enemy.
Psykinetic's Aura
  • Whenever you kill an Elite enemy, you and any allies in Coherency speed up their next Active Ability cooldown by fifteen percent.

Level 20 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Kinetic Deflection
  • As long as your Peril meter isn't red, blocking attacks increases your Peril instead of reducing your Stamina.
Kinetic Shield
  • You take less Toughness damage from ranged attacks. The reduction scales with your current number of Warp Charges, and caps at thirty-three percent.
Mind In Motion
  • You can still move at full speed while holding the reload button to reduce your Peril.

Level 25 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Kinetic Flayer
  • Whenever you hit an enemy, they have a ten percent chance of automatically suffering a Brain Burst.
  • This effect can only trigger once every fifteen seconds.
  • Kinetic Flayer cannot trigger if your Peril meter is red.
Kinetic Overload
  • If you would gain a Warp Charge when you already have maximum stacks, instead inflict Soulblaze on a nearby enemy.
  • The targeted enemy is random, but Elites are more likely to be affected.
Warp Battery
  • Your maximum number of Warp Charges increases to six.

Level 30 Feats

Feat Effect(s)
Ascendant Blaze
  • When you use Psykinetic's Wrath, all of your Warp Charges are removed.
  • All enemies hit by Psykinetic's Wrath are afflicted with a number of Soulblaze stacks equal to the number of Warp Charges removed.
  • Whenever an enemy is killed by your Soulblaze damage (regardless of how it was applied), you have a ten percent chance of gaining a Warp Charge.
Kinetic Barrage
  • After you use Psykinetic Wrath, for the next ten seconds your Brain Bursts generate only half as much Peril.
  • Additionally, your Brain Bursts charge twenty-five percent faster during this time.
Quicken
  • When you use Psykinetic's Wrath, all of your Warp Charges are removed.
  • The cooldown of Psykinetic's Wrath is reduced by 12.5 percent for each Warp Charge removed.

Psyker Psykinetic Strategies And Tips

The Psyker's role on the team is to provide supporting fire to melee characters and deal heavy damage to Elite enemies. If there's no Marksman on the team, you'll also be calling plays since you'll have the best visibility over the battlefield.

You don't have as much Toughness recovery as the other classes, so it's important that you stay out of danger as much as possible. Psykinetic's Wrath can help with this, as it is more effective than a standard push at getting nearby enemies off of you.

As long as your team is protecting you effectively, your biggest threat is your own Peril meter. Conserve your power during horde battles, since the rest of the team is better-suited for handling groups than you are. When a larger enemy does appear, you'll be at full power and ready to smite them! Doing so will probably fill your Peril quickly, though, so if multiple Specialists or Elites show up at once, pick your target and let your team know.

Since reducing Peril takes a lot more time than reloading a weapon, it's very important that you tell your team when you're recharging.

Since the Psyker has longer cooldowns and a specialized role, you should take on the responsibility of resetting Data-Interrogators and using Auspex radar when the mission calls for it. Elites are rare during these sequences, so as long as you're protected by your teammates you should be able to quickly complete the objectives and get back to fighting with less Peril.

If you're surrounded and help isn't coming, feel free to unleash your full power and let your Peril meter max out – you'll go down, but you'll take your enemies with you!

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