PREVIEW - Upcoming Balance Changes

Warband!

As part of the upcoming Depths of the Damned Free Update we have a balance update. Our focus has been on improving the base classes talent trees, overall class balance, weapon balance, and addressing Golden Toughness and its impact on both player builds and our overall design space for the future. Since we are making changes that will affect all players, regardless of class and loadout, it’s important for us to go through our thought process.

The original four Classes are receiving several changes to their talent trees, with a particular focus on reducing the number of stat nodes required to complete your build, and improving the paths through the trees with the intent of providing more interesting choices and improving buildcraft. We are also looking to reinforce what makes the Veteran and Zealot stand out from the other Classes, by taking a closer look at their themes and mechanics. The Skitarius has now had some time to settle, so we are also going over its talents and abilities and making some targeted adjustments. NOTE: Since the changes affect the layout of the trees, your loadouts may need slight rearrangements to amend broken connections or reapplying of points to make up for removed talents. Rest assured that these are only partial resets.

Several Melee Weapons are receiving changes, with the Thunder Hammer in particular getting some extra attention.

Finally, we are taking a closer look at Golden Toughness. In May, we outlined our intention to improve combat balance by addressing some of the outliers in player power, and took the first steps by adjusting Carapace Armoured enemies and the players tools to deal with them. You can read that balance dev blog here: store.steampowered.com/news/app/1361210/view/6…

Our commitment is still to preserve the intensity of the combat, while making it more stable, more readable, and more supportive of different builds and loadouts. Adjusting Golden Toughness is another step towards that long-term goal.

Golden Toughness

Golden Toughness is one of the more disruptive mechanics in Darktide. By changing the way damage and toughness interact, it can obscure some of the core rules of combat.

Many players are naturally guided towards abilities that provide Golden Toughness, and these abilities can be highly effective even before a player has developed a strong understanding of the mechanics they are intended to learn, e.g. positioning, and how to engage each type of enemy. This can allow difficult situations to be bypassed or diffused without engaging with the underlying threats, making it harder for players to build that understanding through the intended learning curve.

When Golden Toughness was first introduced to Abilities, Darktide was in a very different state. Since then, the overall difficulty and complexity of the game has increased, and the value of Golden Toughness has increased alongside it. As its value has grown, it has also become increasingly difficult to balance abilities against one another without making Golden Toughness a prerequisite for competing with its level of defensive power.

We want Toughness to have consistent and understandable rules regardless of how it is obtained. To that end, we are removing the Spillover Immunity effect from Golden Toughness. It will now follow the same damage calculation rules as regular Toughness.

This means that Golden Toughness will continue to provide additional protection, but it will no longer allow a single point of Toughness to fully absorb the damage of an otherwise lethal attack. The result should be a more consistent combat system, and greater room for us to balance defensive abilities against one another.

• Spillover immunity - Removed
• Voice of Command - Duty and Honour

• Toughness Bonus 50 -> 75

Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude

• See Zealot Changes

To accompany these changes we’re also making adjustments to the enemies where Golden Toughness gave players the largest benefit.

• Poxbursters

• Explosion Damage now falls off based on distance

• 20% of full damage at the edge (6m)
• 100% of full damage within 3m

Snipers

• Damage Spillover reduced by 50%.

• Dev Note: this is the damage that is applied to Health if a Sniper’s shot completely removes Toughness on the target.

Ogryn Crushers

• Lowered chance to target players that are already overwhelmed

Scab Mauler

• Slightly reduced the rate at which they utilize their overhead attack

We know that these will cause changes in the meta and balance of higher difficulty play, and will keep a close eye on how the affected classes perform.

Ogryn

We are making changes to the Ogryns Talent Tree with the intent of making it easier and more intuitive to create builds. We have made changes to the top part of the tree to make the choices feel more in tune with the build you’re going for. We have also made the higher pick rate talents a bit more available, so that you spend less points to get the nodes you need, and more on the nodes you want.

• Stat Nodes RemovedDev Note: Most stat nodes have been removed. We’ve added back some Toughness to the Ogryn’s Base Toughness. We have increased the value of Keep Shooting and Dominate to make up for the lost Rending and Reload Speed.

• 25 Toughness
• 25 Toughness
• 15 Toughness
• 5% Toughness Damage Reduction
• 5% Rending
• 5% Reload Speed
• 10% Melee Damage
• 10% Ranged Damage
• Base Toughness increased from 75 -> 125.

Towering Presence

Dev Note: Towering Presence, while thematic, has never been that interesting of a pick. We’re reducing its effectiveness slightly, but are making it an Iconic passive.

• Now Baseline
• Coherency Radius 75% -> 50%

Dev Note: To make up for the removed stat nodes, we are redistributing some of the values over other nodes.

• Dominate

• Rending 10% -> 15%

Keep Shooting

• Reload Speed bonus increased from 15% -> 20%.

Soften Them Up

• Enemy Damage Taken 10% -> 15%

Dev Note: Along with these layout changes, we are taking a pass on Ability Cooldown modifiers, to better balance the abilities according to the power they provide.

• Go Again!

• 2% Cooldown -> 1.5%

Maximum Firepower

• Duration 4s -> 2.5s

Bruiser

• Cooldown Regen 100% -> 50%
• Duration 3s -> 4s

Indomitable (Ability)

Dev Note: Indomitable has continued to struggle in terms of impact compared to its competitor abilities. Easing up on the restrictions of its modifiers will hopefully allow for a few more build angles. We are also lowering its cooldown to make up for a loss of cooldown reduction on Bruiser.

• Cooldown 30s -> 25s
• Subnodes now moved to be no longer be exclusive, and all branch directly from the Ability

Dev Note: Turns out the Ogryn’s pockets were deeper than he first thought. More rations for both him and his guns.

• Found Some More - New

• Replenish 1% Ammo every 15s.

Zealot

We are making changes to the Zealot’s Talent Tree with the intent of solidifying its strengths and expanding on one of the features that is unique to it. We have also made some smaller pathing changes to the layout in an effort to give you a couple extra points to spend on the new additions.

• Stat Nodes RemovedDev Note: We are pruning a few nodes to make space for larger changes. The toughness we are adding to your base toughness pool. The Movement Speed you will instead find in ‘Faithful Frenzy’.

• 5% Movement Speed
• +25 Toughness

Base Toughness

• 100 -> 125

Faithful Frenzy

• Now also grants 5% Movement Speed

Blood Redemption

Dev Note: We consider Melee Combat to be the bread and butter of the Zealot, and feel like Blood Redemption would be a well placed Iconic passive for the Zealot.

• Now baseline
• Toughness Bonus from Kills 100% -> 75%

• Until Death reimagined as a ‘Core Keystone’Dev Note: We want to double down on the faster, fighting on the edge, type of gameplay for the Zealot. To do this we are expanding on the thematic ‘Until Death’ talent.

• During the effect you are Unkillable. (Same type of effect as previously)
• Duration 6s -> 8s
• Subnodes:

• Holy Revenant

• Triggering Until Death knocks back nearby enemies. While Unkillable, dealing damage heals you up to 25% Max Health. (Can not be selected together with Zealous Pilgrim)

Zealous Pilgrim

• Using your Ability grants 5s of Unkillable.

• Shroudfield: starts on leaving Stealth;
• Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude: starts on unwielding the relic;
• Chastise the Wicked / Fury of the Faithful: on ability use.

(Can not be selected together with Holy Revenant)

Fire and Fury

• While Unkillable, weapon attacks apply Burn (up to 12 stacks). Melee attacks apply 3 stacks.

Risen

• While Unkillable, each second, gain +5 Max Toughness, stacking 8 times, lasting 5 seconds.

Dev Note: We are removing some less sought after nodes, and adding in some hopefully more exciting ones.

• Punishment - Removed
• Impassible - Removed
• Grievous Wounds - Removed
• Got Your Back - New

• Killing an enemy that is targeting an ally, with a melee attack, restores 7.5% Toughness to that ally and an additional 5% to yourself.

Holy Tools - New

• +20% Damage on your next Melee Attack, within 5s after activating your Weapon Special.

Wait in Line - New

• -20% damage taken from ranged attacks.

Purifying Hatred - New

• +15% damage vs Burning or Electrocuted enemies.

Dev Note: We are making improvements to the few Ranged Talents available, as well as giving small bumps to often overlooked ones.

• The Voice of Terra

• Replenish toughness from On Kill -> While Shooting (10%/s)

Out of Pocket

• Replenish Ammo from On Kill/wield -> Replenish 10% of missing magazine on melee kill

Unseen Blade

• Damage 15% -> 20%.

Retributor’s Stance

• Toughness per stack 0.4% -> 0.5% (max 8% -> 10%)

Dev Note: The Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude has been high above the power of its competitors for a long time; we are making changes with the intent of making it more fair, without straying from its purpose.

• Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude (Ability)

• Adds bonus toughness when the player is at Full Toughness -> Always adds
• Pulses 7 -> 5

Dev Note: Fewer pulses should make it feel snappier to use, and with the change to always add the extra toughness, you should feel like you’re still getting the full value of it.

• After the first tick, only enemies within 8m are staggered/suppressed
• Invulnerable -> Unkillable

Dev Note: Previously it would stagger and suppress enemies throughout the whole duration, effectively stunning everything. Now it will give your team some breathing use as you activate it, but you will still need to be on your guard and consider its timing as ranged enemies can start firing again before you lower the Relic.

• Holy Cause (subnode)

• 40% Toughness Damage Reduction after 5 pulses -> Each pulse grants 8% Toughness Damage Reduction, stacking 5 times.

Ecclesiarch’s Call (subnode)

• +30% Damage after 5 pulses -> Each pulse grants +6% Damage, stacking 5 times.

Psyker

We are making changes to the Talent Tree Layout, by merging the two clusters there previously were above and below the Auras. We are also changing the bottom of the tree to make it easier to pick nodes that previously were on far apart branches.

• Stat Nodes Removed

• 10% Ranged Damage
• 10% Melee Damage
• 1 Stamina
• 5% Movement Speed
• 5% Toughness Damage Reduction
• -10% Peril Generation
• 5% Critical Chance

Dev Note: A small bump in Critical Chance to lessen the blow of losing the 5% Stat Node. The Movement Speed we have included in ‘Mind in Motion’.

• Base Critical Chance

• Increased from 7.5% -> 10%.

Mind in Motion

• Now also provides 5% Movement Speed.

Dev Note: We are replacing some less interesting nodes with new ones and adjusting a couple existing ones.

• Tranquility Through Slaughter - Removed
• Focused Warp - New

• +15% Warp damage.