Fatshark has releasedWarhammer 40,000: Darktide’s major “Battle for Tertium” update, introducing the new Arbites character class alongside a rework of the core player experience. This update also brings a wealth of weapon balance changes and tweaks, along with bug fixes across several different areas ofWarhammer 40,000: Darktide.
As part oftheWarhammer 40Kuniverse,Darktideoffers a co‑operative first‑person action game where players assume the role of “Rejects” and must fight waves of monsters in a chaotic environment.Darktidefaced negative criticism upon launch and has struggled a bit to fully satisfy fans on platforms like Steam, where it holds a “Mixed” rating. Nevertheless, while the game launched with instability and limited variety, it has evolved significantly over three years, as Fatshark has continued releasing updates to polish the game and add content drops, modes, and platform expansions. Fans have praised its PvE aspect, the soundtrack, and the game’s immersive atmosphere. Now, the developer is bringing new content to improve the game further.
FollowingWarhammer 40K: Darktide’s big March update, Fatshark is now releasing “Battle for Tertium,” another major patch that brings a lot of exciting additions for fans. The highlight of the update is the new Adeptus Arbites class, which is available on all platforms for $11.99. Moreover, as detailed by the developer, the update represents an overhaul of “the core player experience,” aiming for a clearer narrative focus with a new linear campaign, missions, and cinematics.
UnlikepreviousWarhammer 40K: Darktidemissions, the Battle for Tertium narrative brings some order to the experience. Players will now encounter maps, enemies, and characters in a more cohesive way, which, according to Fatshark, will help them progress through the levels at a “much better pace.” The developer has noted that while everyone can play with the new class, the actual arrival of the Arbites happens after the events of Battle for Tertium, meaning that some cinematics won’t match the player’s character.
Another important change is the mission board system rework, which now allows players to select any difficulty level for any mission. Players can also unlock new difficulties by completing missions, as the developer wants to motivate them to improve their skills “step by step.” It’s worth noting, though, that Maelstrom missions remain exclusive to the Heresy and Auric difficulties.
The update also introduces the new Inferno in-game event starting on June 23, a new Havoc campaign, a few quality-of-life improvements, and a wealth of balance changes toWarhammer 40K: Darktide’s weapons. Fatshark has also resolved a number of bugs affecting classes, missions, UI, cosmetics, and more, aiming to improve the game for players across all platforms.
Warhammer 40k: Darktide Battle for Tertium Update Patch Note
Upcoming New Class: Adeptus Arbites.
Darktide’s first Class DLC is soon available to all players! The release of the DLC is planned for later in the afternoon (June 23rd), around 16:00 CEST - 07:00 PDT. Get the Arbites Class on all platforms today at the price of $11.99 / €11.99.
The Battle for Tertium
The core player experience has been reworked to provide a new clearer narrative focus, following the conflict of the Battle for Tertium. Players will now experience a linear campaign with new mission debriefs and embedded cinematics. This new progression path is designed to ease in new players and gradually unlock features that were previously gated by character level.
Mission Board Rework
A new mission board system will be bringing several changes to how you engage with missions and difficulties. Missions are no longer tied to a specific difficulty, allowing you to select a mission and then choose the difficulty you want. This will effectively increase the amount of mission options available for players of all difficulty levels. While most circumstances remain consistent across difficulty levels, some are disabled on lower difficulties. Notably, Maelstrom missions are exclusive to the Heresy and Auric difficulties.
Mortis Trials
The Secrets of the Shipmistress
Sefoni’s indiscretions are getting worse! During Mortis Trials, keen-eared Rejects now have the opportunity to sift pieces of Shipmistress Brahms’ past from the psychic chatter. How did she inherit the Mourningstar? What is she hiding? Is she really on the same side as Grendyl, let alone his irksome busybodies? Delve deeper into all these and more across dozens of new memory echoes, unlockable by claiming victory in the Mortis Trials!
Dev Note:If you’ve ever wanted to relisten to the memory echoes you’ve unlocked in the Mortis Trials, you should take a look behind the pillars in the Meat Grinder.
New difficulty for Mortis Trials
Since the release of Mortis Trials we have noticed people requesting a higher challenge in Mortis Trials! So, we are adding a new difficulty, Auric, as well as some other small changes.
New In-Game Event: Inferno
The streets of Tertium are aflame. Whether by heretic plot or over-zealous Imperial enforcement makes no real difference. Missions must still run, so be careful down there. You’re literally dropping into a hot zone.
To make progress in the event, complete missions with the Inferno condition.
This event willstart on Monday, June 23.The rewards will beOrdo dockets, Plasteel and Diamantine.Those who complete the last tier of the event will receive a cosmetic portrait frame.
New Havoc Campaign
Havoc Maintenance:With the upcoming release of this update, Havoc will be unavailable from May 21, 2025 from 00:00 to approximately 12:00 UTC.
New Mission Pool
Mutators
The in-game event condition, Inferno, will temporarily be available during the first rotation in this campaign, as well.
Weapon Balance Changes & Tweaks
Catachan “Devil’s Claw” Swords
This batch of changes for the Devil’s Claw swords aims at further reinforcing the crowd control and reliability of the family.
We increased the offensive properties of the Light attack profiles, while also significantly increasing thearmour damage modifiers (“adm” from now on)of the Heavy Strikedown and Special Riposte profiles against specific armour types.
We improved the base Stamina statistic, reduced the minimum Block time (the amount of time that the Block stance must be maintained after performing the input) and allowed for most attacks and attack starts to be performed while sprinting. This will make the weapon snappier and more responsive in different situations.
Finally, we took a pass on all attacks to tweak active windows, ranges and hitboxes to be better aligned with their animations.
For theMk I, we added a new Heavy Strikedown attack, only reached from Light 3. In turn, the Light 3 attack is now reachable also from the Push action, and has an increased baseline power multiplier.
These additions will grant additional options to a mark which was lacking in single target attacks.
For theMk IV, we raised the power level multiplier of the Light 4 attack as it was very far into the attack chain and not particularly enticing.
For theMk VII, we increased the power level multiplier of the Pushfollow and Light 3 attacks while also changing the possible combos after a Riposte attack.
Now after a successful Special Parry, the combo will chain into the Pushfollow attack instead of Light 3; as the Pushfollow attack still chains into Light 3, this will give the mark a new unique chain.
Damage profiles
Dev Note:The change will also affect the Turtolsky Heavy Swords Special followup Light attacks.
Dev Note:The changes will also affect the Turtolsky Heavy Swords Pushfollow attacks and the Maccabian Mk V Duelling Sword Light 3 attack.
All marks
Mk VII
Atrox Tactical Axes
While sporting overall good mobility, the Tactical Axes had only average Sprint values.
We significantly improved their Sprint profile, while also allowing for most attacks and attack starts to be performed while sprinting.
We also significantly raised the damage of the Special attacks and added a new profile for the Heavy Strikedowns with a vertical or uppercut direction, with increased damage and Carapace armour modifier.
For theMk II, we added a power level boost to the Light 3 attack, as it is further into the attack chain, and to both Special attacks, as they are slower compared to the other two marks.
For theMk IV, we upgraded the damage profile for both Heavy attacks and slightly lowered their chain timings, as they are both performed in a vertical or uppercut direction.
For theMk VII, we added a power level boost to all Light attacks, as they inflict a higher movement speed penalty compared to the Lights of the other marks, and changed the Heavy 2 profile to the new Heavy Strikedown.
Shock Mauls
The Shock Mauls, while being dependable in inflicting stagger, were also below average in damage output and overall not very exciting.
We increased the damage against the 1st target on most profiles, with a particularly large bonus to the Heavy Strikedown and Special attacks.
We also enhanced the base Stamina and Dodge templates, and tweaked hitboxes and active windows of some attacks to better align with their animations.
For the attacks with an uppercut direction (Light 3 on theMk Ia/ Light 4 on theMk III) we slightly delayed the start of the attack active window to make it easier to connect with weakspots.
Finally, for theMk Ia, we added power level multipliers to the Light 3 and Light 4 attacks, to make them a more enticing combo alternative to just returning to Heavy 1.
Mk III
Tigrus Heavy Eviscerators
The Eviscerator’s thunder was in part stolen by the Relic Blades, which have overall better cleave properties while also being no slouch in the single target department.
To give these iconic Zealot weapons a deserved bump, we tweaked most of the attack profiles: we removed the damage caps on secondary targets for the sweeping Vanguard/Relentless attacks, but also increased several armour modifier values, significantly improved the damage on the Heavy profiles and normalised most of the Special active profiles.
For theMk III, we changed the chain times to key actions after the Heavy 1 attack to make it more responsive but less spammable with swap cancelling, slightly increased the speed of the Light 2 attack and added a power level multiplier to the Light 3 and Heavy 2 attacks.
Mk XV
Lucius Helbore Lasguns
The Helbore Lasguns suffered from a very long Wield action duration, making it hard to quickly swap to priority targets (especially accounting also for the charging shots).
While this behaviour was intended, it also became increasingly punishing as the enemy numbers grew in higher difficulties.
In this balancing pass we sped up the Wield action, walking the line of maintaining the cumbersome feeling while also allowing for the weapons to be easier to swap into.
Alongside this change, we improved some of the armour and Finesse modifiers for ranged shots, and extended the hitscan radius of the las projectiles*, to make it easier for the weapon to shine as a marksman tool.
*This will make the hitscan detection more generous and allow for shots that would have slightly missed the target to still be considered a hit.
For theMk V, we slightly increased the camera zoom in ADS mode.
For theMk IV, we increased the camera zoom in ADS mode to be equivalent as theMk IIIa.
We also improved the speed and offensive properties of the Special Slash attack, to be more in line with the Special Stab used in the other marks.
Mk IV
Combat Shotguns
The Combat Shotguns have been in a spot where they are mostly used for their Special shells, while the normal shots felt underwhelming in most circumstances. They also suffered from long reload times relative to other weapons.
With this update we are trying to improve the overall usability without relying solely on the Special mechanic.
Along with increased base damage and reload speed, the Combat Shotgun family gets updated Sprint and Stamina templates, to enable a more mobile, close-range playstyle and not rely only on precision weak-spot shots.
We also significantly increased the ammo reserves for all marks.
Finally, we slightly increased the Cleave and Impact values to allow it to punch through lesser enemies.
For theMk VII, we aligned the Finesse boost curve between hipfire and ADS modes.
For theMk IX, we slightly extended the Near and Far effective ranges.
Double-barreled Shotgun
To increase the reliability of the weapon against bigger targets, we increased the armour damage modifier against the Unyielding type at both Near and Far ranges.
Additionally, we slightly raised the ammo reserves to allow for more aggressive approaches.
