Darkside survival guide: Tips and tricks for fighting the hordes

Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a true test of skill, resilience, and killing efficiency. But more than all of those, it is a test of teamwork. In Darktide, players are tasked with taking back the Hive City of Tertium, unlocking new weapons and abilities as they take on new enemies and challenges.

The different classes and weapons give players a unique choice of playstyle, enhanced by the mixed style of melee and ranged combat. With the inclusion of Conditions, sometimes players will have to overcome unpredictable factors and environments to find success.

Having trouble against the hordes? Here are a handful of solid tips and tricks to use in any playthrough of Darktide.

Be conservative with ammo, especially against hordes

Don’t think of Darktide as primarily a first-person shooter like other titles in this co-op action game genre. It can be easy to get caught up in shooting first, especially as you level up and unlock new weapons. But ammo is a finite resource in Darktide and you don’t want to be caught with too little or none because you were spending it freely earlier.

It can be very tempting to just unload shots into grouped-up hordes when they charge you, but you should definitely consider using your melee weapon in this situation. The melee combat system is very deep with light and heavy attacks, blocks and parries, special attacks, chains and combos, and more. And even with a low-level melee weapon, you can still deal a lot of damage. Plus, melee kills will replenish your toughness (armor), which could be vital in more challenging encounters later on.

Play together

At the end of the day, your squad is a team and you need to play like a team as you take on higher-difficulty missions and tougher enemies. Staying together is mutually beneficial to everyone. Players get a Coherency bonus that positively affects each class in a unique way and, of course, being closer to a downed ally means you can pick them up sooner. Healing kits are also only effective to those around them.

That being said, there is such a thing as being too close. If you’re all stacked on top of each other, then multiple hordes will swarm the group, and explosives or even exploding enemies become that much more dangerous.

There’s also a ping system in the game, allowing you to tag weapons, ammo, points of interest, and which enemies the group should be focusing on.

Play to each class’ strengths

A nice mix of classes is paramount to success.

The Ogryn Skullbreaker is your damage-absorbing tank, great for clearing out big hordes all on his own with superior melee damage dealing skills. The Zealot Purchases is your melee damage specialist, great for getting in close, stunning opponents, and negating serious ranged threats. The Veteran Sharpshooter is, well, a sharpshooter that pinpoints weak spots with elite accuracy. The Psyker Psykinetic is the magic-wielder, capable of big magic attacks if they can manage their Peril meter properly.

More classes within the main archetypes will be added to the game post-launch, but a good mix of classes now should reduce the challenges of Darktide.