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Warhammer 40k: Darktide has taken the gaming world by storm, and with the introduction of Patch 13, the dynamics have shifted, making the game even more intricate. If you’re reading this, you’re probably aware of how challenging it can be to navigate the new class overhauls, especially when it comes to the Ogryn. But fear not! This guide is here to simplify the complexities and provide you with a blueprint for the best Ogryn build.
Why is the Ogryn Skullbreaker Build So Crucial in Darktide?
The Ogryn, with its massive stature and brute strength, is the game’s quintessential tank. After the recent buffs, this class has become a force to be reckoned with, especially in the game’s most challenging modes. But how do you maximize the Ogryn’s potential? Let’s dive in.
The primary focus of this build is to enhance melee damage. By selecting the appropriate perks on the left side of the skill tree, particularly the Skullbreaker line, you can optimize Ogryn’s melee prowess without compromising on defense.
1-10 Points: Laying the Foundation for Melee Dominance
Furious:
This skill is the cornerstone of the Ogryn’s melee prowess. Every time you land a heavy melee attack on an enemy, you’re not just dealing damage but also priming yourself for the next strike. The damage amplification ensures that consecutive hits become increasingly devastating, allowing you to chain attacks and mow down enemies with escalating force.
The Best Defence:
In the heat of battle, sustaining your Toughness is crucial. This skill rewards aggressive play. By landing a heavy attack on multiple enemies simultaneously, you regain a quarter of your Toughness. This not only boosts your survivability but encourages you to dive into groups, making you a true frontline warrior.
Big Friendly Rock:
The Ogryn’s ability to hurl massive objects is not just for show. With this skill, you can launch a rock or piece of debris, dealing significant damage to whatever it strikes. It’s an excellent tool for crowd control, breaking enemy formations, or taking out a particularly troublesome foe from a distance.
Slam:
A skill that further amplifies the Ogryn’s melee capabilities. With Slam, every melee attack you execute receives an added Impact bonus. This means your strikes have a higher chance of staggering or knocking back enemies, giving you more control over the battlefield and ensuring foes think twice before approaching.
Indomitable:
This skill transforms the Ogryn’s Bull Rush into a force of nature. The augmented charge distance allows you to cover ground quickly, surprising enemies and getting into the thick of combat in an instant. Post-charge, the increased attack and movement speeds make you a whirlwind of destruction, allowing for rapid follow-up attacks or a swift retreat if needed.
Stomping Boots:
Every enemy you trample underfoot while using the Indomitable skill replenishes your Toughness. It’s a perfect synergy, rewarding you for aggressive charges into enemy ranks and ensuring you remain a formidable presence on the battlefield.
Trample:
With Trample, the more enemies you hit during your Indomitable charge, the more base damage you deal. It encourages you to seek out dense groups of enemies, turning the Ogryn into a battering ram that grows more potent with each foe it collides with.
Rending Boost:
This passive skill enhances the Ogryn’s natural ability to tear through armor and flesh. With this boost, your attacks have a higher chance of causing rending damage, bypassing enemy defenses, and ensuring even the toughest foes feel the brunt of your assault.
11-20 Points in Warhammer 40k: Darktide: Advancing Your Melee Mastery
Crunch!:
A skill that rewards patience and timing. When you fully charge your melee attacks, Crunch! ensures that the wait is worth it. Your strikes will deal bonus damage and have an increased Impact, making it easier to break enemy defenses and stagger even the most resilient foes.
Batter:
This skill turns every heavy blow into a potential death sentence for your enemies. Each heavy attack inflicts an additional +6 stacks of Bleed, causing continuous damage over time. This is especially useful against tougher enemies, ensuring that even if they survive the initial hit, they’re still in peril.
Bonebreaker’s Aura:
An aura that benefits not just the Ogryn but the entire team. Whenever allies are in Coherency, their heavy attack damage is enhanced. This promotes team play and ensures that when the squad sticks together, they hit harder and more effectively.
Too Stubborn to Die:
In dire situations, when health drops below 25%, this skill becomes a lifesaver. It significantly boosts Toughness Replenishment, allowing the Ogryn to bounce back from the brink of death and continue the fight.
No Stopping Me!:
A testament to the Ogryn’s sheer determination. With this skill, charging melee attacks become unstoppable. Enemies can’t interrupt you, ensuring that once you commit to a strike, it will land.
Delight in Destruction:
The more chaos the Ogryn causes, the harder they become to kill. For each nearby bleeding enemy, gain damage resistance up to a staggering 60% DR. This skill rewards aggressive play and ensures that the more enemies you engage, the tougher you become.
Domniate:
This is a skill for those who relish taking on the toughest foes. After killing an Elite, gain a +30% Rending boost for 10 seconds, allowing you to tear through enemy defenses with ease.
Toughness Damage Reduction:
A passive boost to the Ogryn’s natural resilience. This skill ensures that every blow you take is softened, allowing you to stay in the fight longer and shrug off attacks that would fell lesser beings.
21-30 Points: Achieving Melee Supremacy
Implacable:
Your determination becomes a shield. Gain damage reduction while charging up your heavy attacks, ensuring that even as you prepare to unleash devastation, you’re protected from harm.
Heavy Hitter:
Every heavy attack you land boosts your damage by +5%, stacking up to five times. This skill rewards consistent aggression, ensuring that sustained combat makes you increasingly deadly.
Just Getting Started:
When Heavy Hitter reaches its maximum stacks, your attack speed gets a +10% boost. This synergy ensures that the longer you fight, the faster and more ferocious you become.
Brutish Momentum:
Your light attacks aren’t just quick jabs; they’re essential for maintaining your combat rhythm. Every light attack refreshes the duration of the Heavy Hitter’s boost, ensuring you can maintain your damage advantage.
Hard Knocks (middle tree):
Every time you stagger an enemy, your heavy attack damage gets a boost, stacking up to 25 times. Larger enemies grant more stacks, rewarding you for taking on the biggest threats on the battlefield.
Attention Seeker (middle tree):
Your defensive maneuvers become taunts. Every time you push or block an enemy, you draw their attention, ensuring they focus on you and not your allies.
Payback Time (middle tree):
Every hit you take fuels your rage. After receiving a melee blow, your damage output increases for five seconds, turning pain into power.
Best Weapons for the Ogryn Skullbreaker Build
Specializing in close-range combat, the Skullbreaker decimates foes with its heavy weapons. However, it’s essential to equip this class with the right gear to maximize its potential, especially when dealing with distant enemies. In this section, we’ll delve into the best levelling and endgame builds for the Ogryn, ensuring you’re well-prepared for any battle.
Core and Iconic Abilities:
- Bull Rush: The Ogryn’s foundational ability, Bull Rush, pushes back enemies and enhances your attack and movement speed by 25% for 5 seconds.
- Thick Skin: This ability fortifies the Ogryn’s defences, reducing both toughness and health damage by 20%.
- Excessive Force: Increase your chances of staggering enemies by 25%, ensuring they’re off-balance and vulnerable.
- Loyal Protector: A crucial ability for team play, Loyal Protector prevents interruptions while you’re assisting or healing teammates.
- Intimidating Presence: This aura ability amplifies the heavy melee damage dealt by both you and your allies, making the entire team more formidable.
Leveling Build:
- Primary Weapon: Endymion Mk II Battle Maul and Slab Shield – This combination provides superior crowd control, allowing the Ogryn to manage melee encounters effectively. The shield also offers a defensive stance, absorbing significant damage, while the Battle Maul’s combo abilities can push enemies away.
- Secondary Weapon: Foe-Rend Mk II Ripper Gun – Chosen for its additional ammunition, this gun’s secondary fire is fully automatic, enabling continuous hits on distant targets.
Recommended Feats:
- Smash’ Em Good (Level 5): Restores 20% toughness during close encounters.
- Heavyweight (Level 10): Reduces melee and regular damage by 50%.
- Bull Fighter (Level 15): Enhances the cooldown of Bull Rush.
- Bloodthirst (Level 20) & Raging Bull (Level 25): These boost damage resistance and melee damage.
- Bull Gore (Level 30): Enables fully charged attacks to have unlimited cleave.
Endgame Build:
While the primary and secondary weapons remain the same as the levelling build, the feats for the endgame build are tailored for maximum efficiency in high-level encounters:
- Lynchpin (Level 5): Restores 100% toughness for both you and your allies.
- Blood & Thunder (Level 10): Stacks bleed for additional damage.
- Towering Presence (Level 15): Increases the coherence radius by 50%.
- Bloodthirst (Level 20): Boosts damage resistance from bleeding enemies in close range by 10%.
- Raging Bull (Level 25): Enhances melee damage by 5%.
- Bull Gore (Level 30): Increases the bleed stack on enemies, complementing the Blood & Thunder feat for higher damage output.
With the right weapons and abilities, the Ogryn Skullbreaker becomes an unstoppable force on the battlefield. Warhammer 40k: Darktide can currently be played on both PC and Xbox Series X/S platforms. Happy gaming!
