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Fighting your way through hordes of traitors and cultists inWarhammer 40K: Darktideis 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 inDarktideis 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.
How Does Impact Work in Darktide?
The Impact stat affectshow effective your attacks are at staggering enemies. Attacks with very high Impact statscan 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, assumingthey aren’t heavily armored.
Generally speaking, Impact should be a preferred stat when you want to have aneasier 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:
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 youstronger 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 theability to control crowdsof Poxwalkers mixed with Ragers and Maulers can beinvaluable 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, andthe Veteran can be tooif 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.
