Everything You Need to Know about Critical Hits in Darktide (2024)

Warhammer 40K: Darktide is Fatshark’s second brutal hack-and-slash horde killer game, but with a hybrid focus on melee and ranged combat. There are several different elements to combat that every player must master if they wish to survive against the hordes of heretics and Chaos worshipers in the hive city of Tertium.

Darktide shares many combat basics with Vermintide 2, which includes blocking, dodging, shoving, stamina, and critical strikes. In both games, critical strikes can shift a fight against a formidable opponent, and there’s a handful of reasons to care about your crits. In this short guide, we will go over everything you need to know about critical hits and critical strike chance in Darktide.

What are Critical Hits in Warhammer 40K: Darktide?

Critical hits are a random chance to deal roughly 25% more damage on any melee or most ranged attacks. In the early stages of Darktide, we are uncertain if every ranged weapon has the ability to critically strike since it’s hard to notice on weapons such as the Flamer or some Force Staffs.

We are assuming this because a part of the Darktide community is confused if all weapons can crit since there is no visual feedback for certain weapons. However, for the sake of the topic, we will continue as if every weapon can critically strike since most weapons can gain traits that boost critical chance.

So, naturally, a critical hit is influenced mainly by random chance and the player’s total critical chance. Crits are more likely to occur on high attack speed weapons such as the Catachan Combat Blade. So the slower your weapon is, you might be less favorable with rolling consistent crits. Critical hits typically have a visual distinction whenever they occur. Whenever you crit, there is an orange glow or particle on your melee weapon for a crit swing.

This small particle effect also affects ranged shots, but it’s hard to notice on some weapons like the Lasgun. Both of these small visual effects are complimented by a small audio cue. It’s not as notable as the crit sounds in Vermintide 2, but there is a subtle noise. We recommend practicing in the Meat Grinder to learn the visual and sound cues.

In Darktide, Critical Hits are Different from Headshots.

Headshots and critical hits are different. Your crosshair will shift to a different color depending on what you hit.

Your crosshair will be:

  • White for normal hits
  • Yellow for a critical hit.
  • Orange for hitting a weak spot/headshot
  • Blue for hitting armor
  • Red if you landed the killing blow

This is extremely important to note, especially for those who are using a weapon with high Finesse. The Finesse weapon stat only increases headshot and weak point damage, not crit damage or chance. Crit damage will only be increased if you have any weapon traits that boost critical damage.

Some moves and passives are exclusive to some classes, like the Zealot’s Chastise the Wicked ability, which makes their next melee attack a guaranteed critical hit, or the Veteran Sharpshooter’s Deadshot talent, which gives 25% critical chance. There are many options to increase your critical chance, but you will find that the best way to gain a lot of crit chance in Darktide is through weapon traits and perks.

Weapon Perks and Blessings Improve your Crits

Aside from the talents you take in Darktide, which can add up to a decent amount of critical hit chance (depending on your class), your weapons will mainly influence your odds of dealing additional damage. The higher your weapon rarity, the better your perks and blessings will be. Take the following image as an example:

Everything You Need to Know about Critical Hits in Darktide (1)

This Boltgun has a perk that increases its ranged critical damage in Darktide by an extra 8%, making each critical hit strike even harder. Additionally, both of their blessings increase their crit chance by doing separate actions such as continuously firing or aiming. There are plenty of other weapon blessings in Darktide you can acquire. So, there are more ways to increase your critical chance, but not all blessings work on every weapon.

It’s also important to note that when the crafting system is implemented, you can swap your modifiers, perks, and blessings for better weapons. So if you see any great stats on a lackluster weapon, keep it for the future to boost a better weapons power.

Wrap Up on Critical Hits in Darktide

That’s our short breakdown of critical hits and how they can be improved in Darktide. The more you sink your time into Darktide, you will notice the damage scaling of crits is far more drastic than you’d initially think. The frequency goes up, and the damage becomes more severe and game-changing.

It’s definitely worth investing some time into determining what your favorite weapon’s stats are and how much it can crit. Knowing how strong your weapons are is what makes the difference between a Varlet and an honest Servant of the Imperial Throne.

If you want to learn more, check our breakdown of Darktide’s curios. Or if you are looking for a good crit build, check out our Veteran: Sharpshooter loadout guide. Good hunting, Rejects!

Everything You Need to Know about Critical Hits in Darktide (2024)

FAQs

Everything You Need to Know about Critical Hits in Darktide? ›

Crit chance is 5% unless you're ogryn who has 3% (big deal, his crit damage sucks). Some weapons have extra crit chance, like lasguns during ADS, the las pistol, revolver, knife and tactical axe. Most of those are like 10%-20% instead. Veteran has a node for 5% crit chance, and Psyker has several as well.

What is critical bonus in Darktide? ›

Critical Bonus. Chance of landing a Critical Hit and how much damage it will do. Crowd Control. Increases a weapon's Stagger, Impact and Cleave.

What is the hardest difficulty in Darktide? ›

Difficulties
DifficultyCharacter levelGear rating
Uprising10-15150-250
Malice15-20250-350
Heresy20-25350-450
Damnation25+450+
1 more row

What is the yellow hit in Darktide? ›

But, in Darktide, the hit markers actually have a lot to say, as the color of the hit marker (for both melee and ranged) informs the player of many things. White: Standard hit. Yellow: Headshot or Weakpoint Hit. Orange: Critical Hit.

What is the crit chance in Darktide? ›

Crit chance is 5% unless you're ogryn who has 3% (big deal, his crit damage sucks).

Is there FF in Darktide? ›

FS played with the idea of having FriendlyFire which is why they have the qoutes when you shoot a teammate but there is no actual FF in the game no matter which difficulty you play on.

What is the best beginner weapon in Darktide? ›

The best and easiest weapon to start with is Kantrael Mk XII because it doesn't need any blessings and +20% flak is functionally enough as Veteran so you can grab a 340 white and with a single upgrade make it 90% as good as a perfect one.

Is Darktide solo friendly? ›

“Can I play Darktide solo?”, “Can I play a private game with one or two of my friends?”. The answers will be Yes, and Yes.

What does ignore enemy hit mass do in Darktide? ›

Ignore Enemy Hit Mass effects means that every enemy you hit counts as a 0... so in the example above all 7 poxwalkers would be hit regardless of your weapon's cleave value.

What does the skull symbol mean in Darktide? ›

It means you've killed an enemy.

What is the max power in Darktide? ›

380 is max "base" stats on a Grey Item. 540 is the absolute max a weapon can be. 380 base weapon stats.

Does your homeworld matter in Warhammer Darktide? ›

The first option is choosing a home-world, all except Cadia are worlds of the Moebian Domain. The home-world chosen only dictates the backstory options for the player-character's childhood. All of the following backstory options are dictated by the player-character's chosen class.

What is the highest gear score in Darktide? ›

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide

whats the max gear score in this game? 540 for Weapons. 155 for Curios. Overall is 1545, give or take.

How long does a round of Darktide take? ›

Lower difficulty can be about 15 minutes. Low intensity Damnation about 25 minutes, with Hi intensity Damnation taking 45-60 minutes.

What is the coherency bonus in Darktide? ›

Darktide: Coherency Explained

In the game, Coherency refers to a passive aura that detects how many allies are near a player. Stepping inside a Coherency aura passively regenerates the Toughness of all squad members within the aura's radius. This effect grows stronger with the number of nearby players.

What is the max weapon stat in Darktide? ›

All weapons have 5 modifiers that can have a value up to 80%, each percent counting as 1 rating point. The lowest rating is 85 (that of a character's starter weapons) and the best is currently 380 (with all modifiers but one at 80%).

What is Max level in Warhammer Darktide? ›

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - All Maps, Ranked

When you reach the venerable level 30 cap and have no more skill points or new weaponry to unlock? Don't fret; it's not time to delete Darktide and move on. Thankfully, plenty of adventures still await you in the underhive of Tertium, and they're all as deadly as the last.

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