“From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh it disgusted me.” This line from the trailer for the game Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is something I probably quote way too often. But it really captures the merciless brutality of the 40k universe as much as the famous “in the grim darkness of space, there is only war.”
Despite how captivating the Warhammer 40,000 setting is, I admit most of the lore I know about any iteration of Warhammer is through video games – but I’ve played a lot of Warhammer games over the years. That’s why I feel qualified to say that not only is Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (Darktide) one of the best Warhammer games I’ve ever played, it’s also one of the best 4 player co-op Left 4 Dead style games I’ve ever played. And its new Skitarii class is a great addition to Darktide’s roster.
Skitarii, as I hinted at above, are the military forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Functionally, that means you’re a cyborg death dealer in service of the God Emperor of Mankind.
As with other Darktide classes the Skitarii has, functionally, three different builds. However, the Skitarrii has a uniquely circular talent tree that helps facilitate builds that don’t necessarily go down only a single branch of the skill tree. That opens up some fun possible synergies with teammates, or some serious solo damage potential. It also means any “class” of Skitarii can branch into any grenade or keystone without sacrificing too much
The Skitarii enables some tricks that other classes don’t possess, like the ability to automate those pesky data interrogator sections. You can also have your servo skull help get up fallen comrades, or use it like a fire grenade to burn away the heretics. Then there’s my personal favorite grenade: the arc grenade. It not only clears away groups of enemies, it can also potentially disarm ranged enemies–all while making an effect that reminds me of a haunted house electric chair prop. It’s fantastic.
With the new class comes class specific weapons, which are, predictably, also pretty powerful feeling (and are sure to get a tweak towards normal in an upcoming patch.) The Arc Rifle is not only deadly, but arcs its electricity to spread the “love” to nearby enemies. The Galvanic Rifle sounds like it’s more of the same, but it’s actually a powerful single shot rifle that reminds me of a spicier version of the M1 Garand. But my favorite of the Skitarii weapons is the Phosphor Pistol. Not only does it spread a fire damage over time effect, it penetrates and has great range. It’s also just satisfying as hell to shoot chunks of flaming bullets at enemies.
Now if you read this entire article shouting “this isn’t right!” your experience may indeed differ, because I mostly used Skitarii on mid tier difficulty, as my group is getting its Darktide skills back in order. But that being said, Skitarii was enough to get my Darktide group back together, and with the Steam summer sale still on for another day it’s a great time to jump into Darktide
