Shunned and persecuted by large swaths of the Imperium, Psykers are remarkable individuals capable of blasting their enemies with devastating psychic attacks. In Warhammer 40K: Darktide, Psykers play a lot like your typical glass cannon. Their powers can make a big difference on the battlefield, but they are more fragile than other classes.
The Psykinetic is the starter Psyker subclass and comes with a couple of interesting powers along with an assortment of exclusive melee and ranged weapons. While you might be tempted to use your powers indiscriminately, there are drawbacks to doing so, which is why you’ll need to choose your targets carefully when playing as a Psyker.
#9 Fear Not The Psyker
Psykers are one of the most fun classes in Warhammer 40K: Darktide, but they can feel a bit underwhelming at first. Although you get a couple of powerful abilities right off the bat, you won’t be able to use them as often as you might like. Meanwhile, Psykers are very squishy, so you generally don’t want to be in melee for prolonged periods of time, which makes firearms your primary way of dealing damage.
When you signed up to become a space wizard, you probably didn’t expect to be spending most of your time shooting a gun. The good news is that the Psyker becomes increasingly more interesting the more you play it. Once you get access to Force Staves and skills that allow you to use your powers more often, you’ll find that the Psyker is everything it was advertised to be — and more. It just takes a bit of time to get there.
#8 Heads Up
The Psyker’s main ability is called Brain Burst, and it does exactly what it says on the tin. You can use this ability to lock onto targets and instantly kill them — but be aware that Brain Burst takes a few seconds to charge, so don’t try to use it when you’re already surrounded. Instead, you’ll generally want to take advantage of Brain Burst’s considerable range and use it before enemies are even aware of you.
Brain Burst is exceptionally powerful against Elite enemies since it kills a lot of them instantly and deals massive damage to the rest. Bosses are another prime target for the ability, although when fighting those, you’ll need to use a combination of Brain Burst and conventional weapons. Using Brain Burst on a target stuns it once the charge meter reaches the halfway point, though this only works on weaker enemies. Strong enemies will take damage but won’t be stunned beforehand.
#7 Professional Brain Burster
There are a couple of tricks you can use to become more proficient at bursting brains. First off, it’s worth noting that the ability doesn’t get interrupted when your target exists your line of sight. You just need to see your target long enough to lock onto it, and then you can continue to charge the ability even from behind cover.
This really comes in handy when you’re trying to kill snipers, including those pesky ones that like to hide in the dark. Brain Burst has soft auto-targeting, so as long as you hold your cursor roughly around the area where the sniper is shooting from, you should be able to lock on even if the target is completely obscured.
#6 Preemptive Charging
Another tip to keep in mind is that you don’t actually need a target to start charging. If you’re new to Warhammer 40K: Darktide, you’ll probably find this a bit useless. After all, you move slower while charging, and you can’t use your weapons either, so what’s the point? Well, put simply, charging Brain Burst beforehand allows you to quickly deal with threats that come out of nowhere.
Preemptive charging is particularly useful against enemies such as Mutants, Pox Hounds, and Pox Bursters. Instead of trying to dodge their charge, which is usually pretty difficult, you can simply hit them with a pre-charged Brain Burst. You don’t want to keep your ability charged at all times because of the aforementioned drawbacks, so this is one of those situational tips that will only come in handy once in a while.
#5 Warp Power
By now, you’re probably sick of hearing about Brain Burst tips and tricks, but truth is, much of the Psyker’s playstyle revolves around this one ability. It definitely doesn’t hurt to know all there is to know about it, including the fact that each Brain Burst gives you a passive damage buff known as a Warp Charge. The buff temporarily increases your damage by 3% and can stack up to 4 times for a total of 12% extra damage. Not too shabby.
Warp Charges tie in with Psykinetic’s Wrath, an AoE ability that knocks enemies off their feet and staggers them. Whenever you use Psykinetic’s Wrath, you lose all your stored charges, but you also get to quell some of your Peril in the process. Psykinetic’s Wrath is a fantastic ability that gives you some breathing room when you’re surrounded by hordes of enemies. While it doesn’t actually do any damage, it can still be used offensively to some extent. For instance, you can use it to stagger a strong enemy and start charging your Brain Burst while your foe is still incapacitated. With good timing, you can also use it to throw smaller enemies off ledges or into fires.
#4 Constant Peril
Peril is a mechanic designed to offset Brain Burst and prevent Psykers from becoming too overpowered. Whenever your use Brain Burst, your Peril level increases and will eventually cause you to blow up if the gauge reaches 100%. You won’t die by maxing out your Peril, but you will be downed, and you’ll have to rely on your allies to get you back up on your feet. Basically, Psykers work just like Bright Wizards from Vermintide 2 in that regard.
There are a couple of things you can do to prevent Peril from reaching dangerous levels. As mentioned earlier, you can quell it using Psykinetic’s Wrath, which will reduce the current Peril level by 50%. You can also manually quell it by holding down the ‘R’ key (by default), and this will eventually decrease Peril to 0, but the process takes a few seconds. Then, you have the Battle Meditation Passive ability that gives you a 10% chance to quell a bit of Peril with each kill. You may find it hard to keep your Peril low early on even with all these tools at your disposal, but as with everything else, things will get progressively easier as you gain more levels.
#3 Force Staves Are Key
You won’t feel like a proper Psyker until you get your hands on your first Force Staff, which happens at around level 13. Unless you’re going for some sort of exotic build, Force Staves will likely become your go-to option when it comes to ranged damage. Force Staves are pretty unique as they don’t require any ammunition, however, they do increase your Peril every time you use their basic ranged attack. Luckily, they also have a special attack that does AoE damage and quells Peril, so it all balances out.
It’s worth noting that there are a handful of different Force Staves to choose from. They all function the same, but each of them has a different special attack. Some of them will cause explosions, some will engulf enemies in fire, and some will shoot lightning bolts that stun and damage enemies. Some effects are better than others depending on the situation, so feel free to experiment and see which of them you like best.
#2 Wield Your Magic Sword
In addition to Force Staves, Psykers also get exclusive access to another type of weapon known as a Force Sword. At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss these weapons as just another sword variant with a fancier-looking skin. However, there’s a lot more to them than that. Force Swords have the ability to channel the Warp and act as a conduit for the Psyker’s powers. They’re a bit like Force Staves in that regard, but their abilities work differently.
To make good use of a Force Sword, you’ll first need to charge it using the same button you would use to perform other special actions. Doing so will imbue the sword with Warp power and cause it to deal extra damage on your next attack. This attack is especially powerful against armored enemies. Force Swords can also be used to push and stagger enemies just like Psykinetic’s Wrath. This special move is a lot weaker since it only affects one target, but you can use it more often.
#1 Living On The Edge
Having to constantly manage your Peril level is a bit annoying, especially near the beginning, but you can get away with abusing your powers without blowing up. The trick is to try to hover constantly at just under 100% and save your class ability for when you inevitably go over the limit.
Reaching 100% Peril doesn’t instantly make you go boom. Instead, there’s an animation that takes a few seconds to complete and forces you to watch as you’re losing control of your powers. You can’t do much while the animation plays out, but luckily you’re not entirely helpless — you can still use your class ability to quell some of that excess Peril, allowing you to keep going like nothing happened.
