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A Plasma Gun can be a Veteran Sharpshooter‘s best friend, especially in Hi-Intensity missions on higher difficulties. As the lore says, it does great damage by essentially melting any who oppose you. Nevertheless, to maximize its damage potential, you will need to properly build your Plasma Gun stats and Class’s Talents in Darktide. Once you have a proper setup, trust us, it will be hard to get back to using another gun again.
What Blessings, Perks, and Stats Are the Best for Plasma Gun Build in Darktide?
Blessings Recommendation
The most recommended Blessings for the Magnacore Plasma Gun to maximize your damage are:
- Gets Hot!: Up to +27.5-50% Critical Chance (scales on Heat Level).
- Shattering Impact: Target receives 1-4 Stacks of 5% Brittleness on direct projectile hit. Lasts 5s
- Blaze Away: +8% Power for every shot fired during continuous fire. Stacks 5 times.
You can use Gloryhunter for the second Blessing for the Toughness regen if you want a comfier build. Otherwise, Volatile also works to help Charge management but isn’t considered as effective. Try keeping your Plasma Gun Charge Rate at around 73% for optimal damage; at worst, keep it at 64% or 80%. When firing at enemies, never use Charged Shots since they deal less damage and take too much ammo.
Perks Recommendation
For Perks, you would want to consider:
- +10-25% Damage (Maniacs)
- +10-25% Damage (Flak Armoured Enemies)
- +4-10% Ranged Damage (Elites)
Stats Recommendation
In terms of the randomized weapon stats, you will want to focus on Stopping Power, Thermal Resistance, and Ammo. Stopping Power helps stagger enemies, Thermal Resistance makes your gun build up less Heat, and obviously, you want to carry as much Ammo as possible. Especially considering its very slow reload speed. Having high Damage is pretty good, but it mostly affects Unarmored enemies. Charge Speed is decent too since it dictates the weapon’s firing rate as well.
Recommended Talents and Melee Weapons for Darktide Veteran Plasma Gun Build
Talent
For Abilities, most Veterans will prefer Voice of Command with the Focus Target! Keystone. This way, you can easily knock down surrounding enemies when surrounded or helping teammates. Tag priority targets when they’re down to deal extra damage. Executioner’s Stance can work but aiming at longer distances can be a bit iffy with Plasma Gun. Use it and pick Relentless and Counter-Fire if you’re confident in your aiming.
You can either choose Krak Grenade or Shredder Frag. The former has a higher damage output and can stick, while the Plasma or your preferred melee weapon can be used to clear out mobs. Meanwhile, the latter is more suited for trash mobs although the damage and Bleed effect are somewhat lackluster. Survivalist Aura is your best choice to help with ammo management. Regarding Passives and Modifiers, take anything that increases damage and ammo/reload speed. User seventhcodex has a great Darktide Talent build for a Support Plasma Gun that performs well for public matches.
Accompanying Melee Weapon for A Plasma Gun Build in Darktide
Your Plasma Gun build should melt any Darktide Elites and Bosses. For that reason, picking melee weapons that are suited more for crowd control is recommended:
- Achlys Mk VIII Combat Axe
- Antax Mk V Combat Axe
- Catachan Mk I “Devil’s Claw” Sword
- Catachan Mk IV “Devil’s Claw” Sword
- Catachan Mk VII “Devil’s Claw” Sword
- Munitorum Mk III Power Sword
- Munitorum Mk VI Power Sword
- Munitorum Mk III Sapper Shovel
- Munitorum Mk VII Sapper Shovel
- Standard-issue Munitorum Sapper Shovel
Warhammer 40K: Darktide is now available for Xbox Series X|S and PC via Steam and Game Pass.