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There’s a lot to Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, in and out of the safety of your prison block. Sure, exploring the big hub is fun, but ultimately, you’ll want to go on a suicide mission to do the Emperor’s justice with some homies (or hikes). Combat is central to the game after all, and it happens to be a lot of fun.
It’s also quite complex for a game that, at first glance, is mostly about moving through levels and killing literally hundreds, if not thousands, of enemies in short 15-20 minute play sessions. It’s fast, chaotic, brutal and a total blast once you get the hang of it – and that’s where we come in.
More Warhammer 40,000: Darktide content:
Beginner’s Guide | New trailer | oil spill joke | Release date
cycle of combat
fight in The oil spill is very similar to previous Fat Shark works – namely Vermintide. By this we mean that there is a mix of melee and ranged combat. However, where The oil spill really differs, is in the balance of the two. The oil spill set in the distant future of the forty-first millennium involves a lot more guns.
That means you’re going to have to get familiar with shooting if you want to make it out alive. But that’s not to say shooting is all you’ll do, as melee is still a huge aspect of the game, especially considering the number of enemies charging at you and the limited nature of the ammo stocks of the game. most classes. Generally you want to blast as much as you can, then when the hordes reach you, pull out a big old shovel and smash their heretical skulls.
Know your strengths
Each class in The oil spill is unique, and understanding how each class works is pretty important if you want to survive. For example, the sniper, as the name suggests, is excellent at staying behind and unleashing devastating ranged firepower. The Zealot, on the other hand, loves to get stuck in with his mighty chainsword and fast-firing automatic pistol.
Outside of those polar opposites, you have the massive Ogryn who serves as a literal meat shield and crowd controller, and the mysterious Psyker who uses incredibly powerful magic to take out key targets from a distance. Know your strengths, avoid your weaknesses and have a good time.
Deletion
An interesting mechanic in The oil spill is Repression. Unlike your typical co-op shooter, you’re not just fighting zombies here (although there are hundreds of zombies here too). Nope, there are also heretical guards with all sorts of ranged weapons who are more than happy to riddle you with lasgun blasts.
What makes them particularly dangerous is that they don’t need to hit you, touch you. Suppression occurs when you are under fire for too long. Everything changes when this happens. You move slower, your aim is abyssal, and you’re very vulnerable to rushing. The other side of the coin? Your enemies can also be deleted. Even if you can’t hit an enemy, spraying in their general direction is enough to bring them into cover. It is worth considering in a heated battle.
Recognize enemies
There are many enemies in The oil spill, and they all have their own unique quirks. Your basic Poxwalker (zombies basically) run aimlessly at you, while guards move in squads and take up defensive positions. Some heretics carry shitty melee weapons and wear crude armor. Still others are covered head to toe in thick metal and carry giant hammers.
Then you have special and elite enemies, like the monstrous Plague Ogryn, a sneaky sniper, a vicious dog, and more. Each enemy has a unique sound cue as well as a unique visual design allowing you to pick them out of a crowd – and you want to get good at it. These enemies are way more dangerous than your standard mooks and they should be killed as soon as possible.
Health, tenacity and consistency
In The oil spill, characters have two resources that govern their health. First, you have a non-healing HP bar. If it empties to zero, you’re down. If you take too much damage, it is reduced semi-permanently. Above that you have your stamina, and that acts as a regenerating shield. Provided you have tenacity, you should be fine.
Of course, not all characters are equal, and different classes have different levels of health, and their stamina drops at different rates. However, there are many ways to improve your stamina, the main one being consistency. The closer you are to your allies, the faster your stamina regenerates, and this depends on how many allies you are next to.
This incentivizes sticking together as you are harder to kill when working as a team. Not to mention all the unique consistency buffs each class passively provides.
Focus lenses
Assignments in The oil spill are rather sprawling. You’ll fight through all sorts of grungy locations in an attempt to achieve your overarching goal. However, each mission will also have smaller objectives that you must complete along the way. For example, defending a location while you hack security doors etc.
As a general rule, you want to focus on these goals at all costs. Just killing enemies isn’t enough, especially when you have to work as a team to escort vital items to drop zones. You have to work together to protect your transporters, and your transporters have to play smart if you want to get there in one piece. Still. To concentrate. The. Goal.
Friendly fire!
Shooting guns is fun, but that fun is snuffed out when an Ogryn unloads a shotgun into the back of your head by accident. It’s true, The oil spill has a friendly fire, and it’s not fun. Health is a vital resource in The oil spilland if you nibble your allies by accident, you’re a real obstacle.
This makes shooting much more stressful as several classes like to be stuck in melee, meaning you’ll need to have expert aim to avoid cutting them with a Plasma Bolt or Revolver. Luckily, this doesn’t apply to melee attacks, so feel free to swing wildly with whatever weapon you have at hand.
That’s combat in a nutshell! Keep an eye out for other Warhammer 40,000: Darktide guides. For the Emperor!
