Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Fighting your way through hordes of traitors and cultists in Warhammer 40K: Darktide is a fairly simple ordeal. Most players can win matches without caring about much else other than purging heretics, but for those who want to min-max their gear, then there's a lot that they need to know. There are plenty of weapon stats in the game, and that includes Impact.

The Impact stat in Darktide is more important than one might think. It may not affect your damage as much as the Rending stat does, but it can definitely help you survive during those intense moments where enemies are pouring in from every direction. Here's a rundown on how it works and why you should pay attention to it.

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By Hodey Johns

How Does Impact Work in Darktide?

Darktide Arbitrator Shock Maul hitting enemy

The Impact stat affects how effective your attacks are at staggering enemies. Attacks with very high Impact stats can also knock enemies down. It won't make your hits deal more damage, but it will give you enough breathing room to maneuver away from incoming hits or control groups of priority targets, assuming they aren't heavily armored.

Generally speaking, Impact should be a preferred stat when you want to have an easier time dealing with Ragers and Chaos Ogryns. They are usually resistant to getting staggered or knocked back, but with a high-enough Impact stat, you'll be able to toss them around with relative ease. Some attacks or equipment can even stagger Monstrosities like Beasts of Nurgle and Plague Ogryns.

Some weapons are better at staggering enemies than others. Notable ones include:

Thunder Hammers
Shock Mauls
Most (if not all) Ogryn melee weapons
Boltguns

Push attacks,active skills, and some Special Actions (like the Ogryn Slap) are very good at knocking targets back.

While Impact doesn't increase the damage you deal, there are some class perks or Blessings that make you stronger against Staggered enemies. The Arbitrator class is especially strong with Impact-based builds thanks to their numerous damage-increasing passives and access to weapons with strong stagger/knockback capabilities.

Should You Build for Impact?

That depends entirely on you. Impact-based weapons usually deal less upfront damage/DPS compared to ones with low Impact — a Shock Maul won't kill enemies as quickly as a Dueling Sword, but the ability to control crowds of Poxwalkers mixed with Ragers and Maulers can be invaluable in higher difficulties.

Your choice of class also affects how effective you can be with Impact builds. As mentioned, Ogryns and Arbitrators are very good with Impact-based builds, and the Veteran can be too if players choose to do so. Meanwhile, Psykers and Zealots are often better of using their own flavors of crowd control, though the Impact stat from Blessings and other sources are never truly wasted on them.

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