Tips for a Newbie Zealot?

[Silhouette]

Hello!

Like the tittle says, I'm a total Zealot Newbie! Any tips for playing the class?

What's a good melee weapon?
Ranged weapon? Are flamers still any good, or were they nerfed too severely?

Any blessing or perks I should keep an eye out for?

What about feats?
lol any help would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks :)

[Breakdown]

yea, since yesterday reroll to another class.

[luZk]

Try the Indignatus mk Ive crusher, Ius mk III shredder autopistol combo, I am enjoying it a lot.

[Ghoul Hunter]

Crusher is good for tanking and support. Tactical axes are good for dodgey/crit playstyle.

Kantrael 12 is the head popper. Ius 3 is a lazy boy. Column 5 is a good well-rounder.

That's all I have experience with on T5.

[varicose 'vascular' vinny]

Zealot is the kid in the candy store as far as melee weapons go, can't even think of a bad one. Ranged is your preference, there's lots of choices to double down on Zealot's close range damage and also the arsenal of guns for killing shooters. Basically you can't go wrong. Columnus and Graia autoguns are not good with him though (or in general Vet doesn't take them very far either).

Try to use Thy Wrath be Swift, the healing on death resist proc can activate at bad times very easily and do nothing, like if you're pinned by a special. Or even just getting stagger locked because you don't have this resistance, like if you were getting killed by gunfire. Not getting slowed by enemy hits will clutch way more than a 90s cooldown get out of jail heal.

[Silhouette]

Thank you so much for all the tips everyone!

Keep ‘em coming! I super appreciate it! :D

[9Harkonnen6]

Originally posted by Breakdown:

yea, since yesterday reroll to another class.

you are not even worth copy-pasteing ur comment into crying wojak meme, kek

[Kopejka]

Nothing beats the two-handed chainsword on a zealot. The hammer is also super satisfying to use.
Oh and bolter of course.

Also I keep forgetting that the charge restores some of the shields, so you can use it for survivability and not just charging in.

[Nongoloide]

Combat axeV with brutal momentum/headtaker + Agripinaa braced/shredder/bolter/mkXII and you can beat damnation EZ

[cith]

General
1. Dodge is your friend. Get used to circling mobs while whacking away.
2. Slide is your other friend. Helps you avoid gunfire to some extent while being up front.
3. Make good use of Psykanium to test out your gear. Get a feel for cleave vs bleed weapons, how much stagger you're doing, and where your weapons are weak.
4. Keep your hp. Playing with low HP to maintain martyrdom stacks won't work out well as you might first expect.

Feats
1. My favorite lvl 5 feat is Enemies Within Enemies Without. It's only one one that passively grants toughness (when near enemies), which I have found helps me more in Damnation than the other two options.
2. Use psykanium to tinker with weapon feats

Weapons
1. Cleave is great. It lets you be a good all-rounder and interrupt enemy attacks. For this reason I personally recommend a combat axe paired with Brutal Momentum to cleave through multiple enemies per swing.
2. The current shredder pistol is OP, but if you don't have material to go for the right blessings (pinnning fire being one of them), the boltgun is the best all-rounder for zealot. And it's the only one that can knock back the bulwark shield, so you dont have to rely on other less swift methods for doing that. Boltgun can also one shot snipers from pretty far away when you get used to the sights.


Other
1. Recommend toughness regen perk and gunner resistance perk on health curios. Why health curio and not toughness? Having the extra HP helps against the accumulation of chip damage which you will inevitably take. Plus flamers counter +toughness by instantly removing all toughness if you touch a flame.
2. Learn to time your self heal on the trash mobs. You can fairly easily regain full HP. Keep this in mind when med stations are low as well. Leave charges for your teammates who can't self heal.
3. Your rush special can interrupt hound pounces and other enemy attacks. Good in a pinch vs a hound if you're the last one alive.
4. Save your grenades to heal your allies. Offensive stun grenades on occasion are fine, but they shine brightest when you are reviving an ally while surrounded by enemies.

[Ishan451]

Originally posted by Silhouette:

Like the tittle says, I'm a total Zealot Newbie! Any tips for playing the class?

Holy Revenant is life and unbind the Dodge Key from jump if you haven't done so already. Get used to Dodging in Melee... a lot. And when you are done getting used to dodging a lot, get used to using your Melee's Special and Push attacks on top of Dodging.... and then learn when to use what.

Zealot is where you should learn to melee... melee is your bread and butter.. and if you properly learn to play Zealot in melee only, you will get so much better as Veteran and Psyker... to a degree even Ogryn.

Zealot is where you learn the melee... Psyker in melee is where you'll refine it and iron out your mistakes. At which point you will rely less and less on the fact that the Zealot can die every once in a while.

Oh and keep an eye on your Conditions to tell if you can die or not.

Originally posted by Silhouette:

What's a good melee weapon?

All of them have their ups and downs. Tactical Axes and Knives are good for Crit builds. Combat Axes are good for Elite Dispatch. Heavy Sword and Eviscerator is Horde clear and the Devil Claw falls somewhere in the middle.

Thunderhammer is mainly CC with some Big Game hunting capability or Elite dispatch and should be paired with a ranged that can clear Hordes.

Originally posted by Silhouette:

Ranged weapon? Are flamers still any good, or were they nerfed too severely?

All Pistols are a good choice, for different reasons. As they have quick draw animations and allow you to pull them out quickly do the thing you need them to do (Laspistol Crit Build, Revolver Elite Dispatch with anti Carapace, Autogun Elite and Special stagger).

Braced and Infantry Autoguns are solid secondary choices, aimed mainly at close Range Firepower.

Bolter is nice if you can aim it, but its not something you pull out in a horde to dispatch a Bomber nobody takes care of (that is what you'd have a Revolver for). The Bolter's equip time takes long, until its ready to shoot so you have to be at good distances to do so.

Flamer is Horde Clear and now you need to have your Special Ready to deal with anything larger than Poxwalkers.

Headhunter and Infantry Lasgun gives long range options to deal with Gunners when your Veteran does not (or you have no Vet on the team).

Originally posted by Silhouette:

Any blessing or perks I should keep an eye out for?

Headtaker, Slaughterer, Brutal Momentum for Blessings... anything that gives you more "power" is preferable to just more damage.

If you go for a Crit Build you obviously want things that increase Crit.

Originally posted by Silhouette:

What about feats?

Any advice here is a disservice to you. I know i mentioned Holy Revenant, but you need to find your own build and what works for you, aids your playstyle. Don't just copy others. You need build for the way you want to use your Zealot.

I know from my own fixed player group that we all built our Zealots pretty different and we are all doing really well with them, so i don't think there is one right answer...

Then again.. all of us have Holy Revenant... which i hear there are builds without it.

[reevestone]

Ooh boy... alright, for the sake of my beloved little psychotic eye-stabber, I'm going to take the time to get in-depth here. Though I've long since leveled all archetypes to 30 and divide my playtime each week between them, Zealot has a special place in my heart for the frenetic high-energy pace of its playstyle, nobody else comes close to the sheer volume of slipping, sliding, dodging, and psychotic dashing and just general high-octane pace of play as the Zealot does. I'll start with general advice and tips from my own hours playing Zealot, then cover relevant Melee weapons, then Ranged weapons.

One of the first things concerning Zealot I'd like to go over is how important mobility is to them, and how much getting shot sucks. It really sucks to get shot as the Zealot because it kills your momentum dead. You'll want to always be assessing what your current target is and the best way to get there, running around shotblockers or taking slightly indirect paths to give you extra cover, but always keep your momentum up. But the single biggest aspect to being able to get to where you need to be as a Zealot is learning how to slide. Sliding works like dodging but for ranged weapons, it will break locks that enemies are drawing on you. Zealot has the best slide in the game, it both goes further and gives you complete immunity to Toughness damage from ranged attacks while you're in the sliding animation. So... get used to sliding like a madman, it makes an absolutely insane world of difference between the Zealots who are always able to get to where they want to be and Zealots that get frustrated because they keep getting shot to pieces on the approach.

Stun grenades are the best grenades in the game at this point, don't waste them. They completely lock down all enemies in a very wide area, and it doesn't matter what type of enemies (except for Monstrosities). I try to reserve them for true Oh ♥♥♥♥ situations where the party is completely surrounded and overwhelmed, or to make rescues. Which connects to...

Zealot is the best rescuer in the game. Between the natural high speed he'll have with most of his weapons, his 21-meter dash that at Level 30 he can spam twice, and his stun grenades, he can save party members in situations that no other archetype could manage. Be very aware of your teammates and their situation. If they're isolated or in trouble, you're probably the teammate best suited to zoom over to them and help them out. If they go down, zoom over to them while throwing a stun grenade on them, and pick them up while all the enemies around them are stunned.

Ah, right, his dash. Zealot's dash does a lot of things that aren't necessarily intuitive or explicitly told in-game. He can lock onto enemies by looking at them while holding down the dash button, they'll glow slightly to indicate the lock-on. When it's released, Zealot will dash forward 7 meters in a straight line if he's not locked on to anything, but up to 21 meters to try to reach a locked-on target, and he'll maneuver slightly around obstacles or change his trajectory slightly to keep pursuing his locked target. The dash also restores 50% of his toughness. It also degrades all enemy armor by one level for a few seconds or until the Zealot makes a melee attack, which is guaranteed to be a crit. But while this goes away after his first melee attack, it doesn't go away on ranged attacks, so after a dash a Zealot has several seconds of all his ranged attacks being far more armor-penetrating. Good Zealots keep all of these aspects in mind and will remember to use this tool for any of them as needed... ideally it'll achieve multiple things, but sometimes you just need to rapidly get from Point A to Point B, sometimes you need an emergency top-up on Toughness that is unaffected by Coherency, and sometimes you need your gun to suddenly become magic and tear through armored enemies.

Before I get into weapons, I should be clear that I'm talking with at minimum at Damnation mindset. What I mean by that is that I genuinely believe that weapon choice just... does not matter in any relevant way on Malice or below. Density is so low, enemy health is so low, enemy damage is so low, that any weapon you use will be more than adequate for the task, and the true test of these difficulties is entirely determined by your skill in playing. Honestly I believe this is true of Heresy as well, but this has a much higher "skill ceiling" before weapon choice becomes functionally immaterial... if you put enough hours in, you'll eventually reach a point you can take literally anything to a Heresy run without it really mattering, but as you learn it will probably be helpful to make sure you're being efficient with your weapon choices.

Most Notable Melee Weapons ATM:
* Antax V Combat Axe w/ Brutal Momentum & Headtaker - This thing... well, really, Brutal Momentum as it is absolutely critical for getting this to work at its full potential, is honestly downright absurd. This weapon is *intended* to be a high-mobility, fast-attacking, high-damage armor-penetrating weapon that suffers against hordes due to being single-target, but Brutal Momentum makes it *also* incredibly efficient at munching hordes by taking it from having zero Cleave to having infinite Cleave. This will probably get changed at some point and it will need to get re-evaluated based on whatever they choose to do with Brutal Momentum, but at the moment this weapon is amazing in all situations and trivially easy to use.
* Turtolsky IX Heavy Sword w/ Headtaker & Deathblow or Wrath - An extremely powerful weapon combination, is insanely efficient at dealing with hordes and mixed hordes, but does lose out on efficiency against heavily armored enemies (use the Special Attack against those). The Mark IX is the variant I strongly recommend because of its infinite horizontal-sweep heavy attack chain.
* Thunder Hammer w/ Slaughterer - Notable for being iconic and fun, but a lot trickier to use than the above weapons... you'll run slower than you'd like, hitting the target you want with the special can be tricky (Ironhelm variant makes this easier), and you'll need good timing and use of spacing to effectively use its big sweeps. Its primary purpose is doing downright hilarious amounts of burst damage to single targets, making it incredibly good at blowing up bosses, Crushers, Bulwarks, etc. Slaughterer, ideally, III or IV, is a really critical Blessing to have to make it a more well-rounded weapon, because it will dramatically improve it's ability to efficiently handle hordes as well.
These are my personal Top 3 picks for Zealot weapons in its current iteration... I can go more specifically into the pros and cons and overall viability of other high-profile weapons like the Indignatus Crusher, Eviscerator, or Combat Blade if desired.

Most Notable Ranged Weapons ATM:
* Shredder Autopistol w/ Pinning Fire & Blaze Away - This weapon combo is absolutely stupid and probably won't remain as-is forever, but at the moment this gun with these Blessings is incredibly efficient at melting everything that isn't a Crusher. It can be swapped to instantly, you can run extremely fast with it, it knocks almost all enemies off their feet and then rapidly deletes them from existence. It's main issues are that it's only really accurate at relatively-close range and can be used a bit more inefficiently at medium range, and it doesn't natively pierce Carapace armor.
* Agrippina VIII Braced Autogun w/ Deathspitter & Fire Frenzy (can slot in Terrifying Barrage for less damage but more safety) - Very similar to the Autopistol but trades out its more extreme qualities for more range and stability. You can run very quickly with it but not as fast as the Autopistol, you can pull it out very quickly but not instantly, it melts anything that isn't a Crusher extremely quickly but not quite as quickly as the Autopistol, etc. Its main upside is that it's accurate (especially in bursts) to a surprisingly long range, despite the size of the reticule its first several shots will tend to be quite tightly grouped around the center of the reticule, allowing you to more casually melt enemies at up to medium range and even snipe enemies at fairly long range.
* Locke II Boltgun w/ Pinning Fire & Shattering Impact - This weapon is slow, cumbersome, has a ton of problems, and is also awesome. You don't run very fast with it, it takes ages to unsling, it takes ages to reload, the sights suck and it's highly vulnerable to suppression. But it does a ton of damage that actually goes up the longer range you fire it at, making it pretty solid at sniping critical enemies at any range with its very high damage output. The full-auto hipfire loses accuracy quickly but will melt anything at close-medium range at a rate nothing else can match, including Crushers which just get pulped with a few bolts. It's also extremely efficient at popping Bulwarks... a single bolt round into the shield is enough to cause it to stagger and open up, so a good strat is to ADS and shoot a Bulwark once in the shield, and then hipfire to blow it apart once he opens up.
* Flamer w/ Blaze Away - Ah, the Flamer... what a strange and singular weapon. It's the only ranged weapon exclusive to the Zealot. It's slow to run with, it takes an eternity to unsling and another eternity to reload (unless you have Quickflame). The range is very short for a Darktide ranged weapon but a lot longer than you might expect from a flamethrower. It's never been a weapon that was used in the vast majority of engagements, but it is unparalleled in its capacity as an "Oh ♥♥♥♥!" weapon to salvage a bad situation where everything has gone to hell and things are getting really bad. There's a couple of reasons for this... because it simply does not care about number of enemies since it passes freely through everything except Bulwark shields, and because it staggers everything that isn't a Monstrosity (since the recent change, it will now only stagger Crushers if you have CtW active). Wave it around in a massive mixed horde, and not only will the party be safe as everything gets staggered, but after the continuous burning everything will ultimately be dead (except for Crushers after the recent change... they'll be somewhat hurt on Damnation if you CtW, but a single flamer tank won't kill them anymore). It does some of the craziest boss DPS in the game, especially since CtW's armor-penetration also applies to burn stacks, so a good strategy is to start lighting a boss up, and then pop your ulti after a few seconds of unloading onto it so that the burn stacks already on it (and which you keep adding to) will just melt through its health. The recent change has absolutely, categorically not killed the Flamer as many have said, but instead has pushed the Flamer even harder into its niche of being an Oh ♥♥♥♥ weapon that leans even heavier on exploiting the combo with the Zealot ulti.
Regarding some other notable ranged weapons, I've heard very good things about the Kantrael Combat Shotgun for Zealots, but I haven't tested it out enough myself yet to be willing to talk about it with personal confidence. Another common, and admittedly, solid ranged weapon for Zealots is the Kantrael XII Lasgun, which is extremely effective at sniping basic shooters, gunners, and specials, but personally... though objectively there's nothing wrong with this (especially if that's an aspect of a team you otherwise know/fear won't be covered), every time I spend time as Zealot doing that I just find myself wondering how much time I'm spending being less-effective Veteran.

Anyway, hope that helps you in some way better enjoy this really fun class.

[H4NS]

1. Heal.
2. Dont rush blindly.
3. Heal.
4. You are not immortal.
5. Heal.
6. Use something ranged if you're going solo.
7. Heal.
8. Try to get +15% resistance from gunners on every curio.
9. Heal.
10. +1 wounds curio will help on heresy+.
11. Heal.
12. Holy revenant is the best level 20 feat. Learn to abuse it (till FS nerf it to the ground).
13. Heal.
14. DONT IGNORE HEALING STATIONS.

[BÆRD]

Originally posted by Silhouette:

Hello!

Like the tittle says, I'm a total Zealot Newbie! Any tips for playing the class?

What's a good melee weapon?
Ranged weapon? Are flamers still any good, or were they nerfed too severely?

Any blessing or perks I should keep an eye out for?

What about feats?
lol any help would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks :)

It's probably the best class to start in Darktide. Darktide is basically Vermintide LITE experience: less punishing in melee, but with more ranged threats.

Veteran is really familiar for new players as its a class focused on shooting, but it it punishes new players unfamiliar with melee mechanics as none of your talents really benefit it much.

A decent intro to melee mechanics:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSglTyG_lXw

One thing to consider - balance your loadout so you have something to horde clear and something to punch through armour. Careful when making yourself vulnerable with unbalanced weapon choices, You will be dependant on squad mates, which is risky. Check weapon detail stats for specific attacks and in general. You will learn fairly quickly what weapon is good vs what target and if any specific attacks are better vs them. Check if specific weapons have "optimal" attack combos: mixing light and heavy attacks and vice versa, This can help with horde clear or dealing with armour.

I cannot remember which class specific weapons unlock at what level so here it is.

Melee:
* Catachan Mk IV "Devil's Claw" Sword - great for horde clear. Light 1, heavy 1 attack combo is optimal for horde clear.
* Heavy Swords are basically better Devil's Claw swords, but you need Headtaker and Rampage to truly shine. My fav weapon for hi-intensity missions
* Antax Mk V Combat Axe - a good all-rounder - with right perks and talents it one shots most trash mobs and does good dmg vs armour, good mobility/dodge count
* Tactical Axes are good, especially on lower difficulty levels, and provide good attack speed, mobility and can deal with most targets. Good for crit builds
* Other iconic Preacher weapons: Crusher, Evi and Thunder Hammer are an acquired taste, Crusher's special allows you to suppress ALL enemies around you at rather large distance. Probably its main value as you can stop a horde mixed with elites/specials by yourself easily, assuming someone is actually killing them for you...

Evi has a special place in my heart, but as a weapon its rather underwhelming, there are simply better options if that is important for you. Light attack chain is actually pretty nice. Heavy 1, followed by light 1 attack is optimal for horde clear.

Thunder Hammers are elite, boss killers, but a bit underwhelming vs trash mobs, even with good Blessings like Slaughterer. I don't like them for the same reason I stopped enjoying the Crusher, poor mobility and dodge count.

Ranged:
* Agripinaa Mk VIII Braced Autogun - good if your other weapon or you struggle vs ragers and mutants. High DPS, just don't go unloading into the horde or shooters at range, not really ammo efficient. You can tap fire with it fairly accurately to pick off shooters, just don't brace it whilst doing that
* Shotguns: the new variants are stronger, one offers slug special ammo and the second dragon breath and is fairly busted atm (in the OP way). Quick to pull out to deal with high threat enemies: elites and specials. Don't use for horde clear, unless you are standing on open ammo crate, or spamming fire ammo at mixed with elites, specials horde
* Zarona Mk IIa Quickdraw Stub Revolver is interesting for a quick snapshot at specials, but due to low ammo count, reload speed and only 5 chambers it isn't great vs a lot of other targets. I play with it quite a bit, its satisfying, but needs some love from Fatshark

Despite all the whining Flamer is still really strong (despite nerfs) and...boring to use,which is exactly why I don't use it. Too little player interaction, you just stand there, it requires ZERO effort to kill almost anything in its range. Exactly why some people love it.

Bolter is really strong, but I tend to stay close to the frontline (where Preacher belongs unless you run into a massive cluster of shooters/gunners) and Bolter takes too long to ready up before you can shoot. Reload also takes ages without Veteran reload talents.

Other rifles aren't for me either, for similar reason as bolter, I rather have something which I can switch to / from quickly, unload and switch back to melee.

Unless you run flamer all day, Preacher calls for aggressive melee plays and taking on hordes. Take advantage of the terrain, objects for cover and to pull enemies into chokepoints you can control.

In terms of talents a lot of are weapon/playstyle specific. Some options are really strong: Holy Revenant is really strong for free heals, Rising Conviction is no brainer as a melee class. Purge The Wicked gives you extra mobility, remember that if you press and HOLD F, you can highlight mobs further away, and Chastise The Wicked for longer distance. Punishment talent pairs well with Eviscerator, which is fitting as its a fairly average weapon, despite being class specific.

[Silhouette]

Again, thank you so much for all the info guys! I’ve definitely learned a bunch of mechanics I wasn’t aware of! :D

I’m looking forward to testing this knowledge out when I hop online tonight. :)

[HallonBåt]

really versitile just try the wepons and see what you like
knife autogun combo is fun because you becom sonic the preach-hog
atrox with BM is a winner
big or small chainsword for her pleasure
memebuilds are fun and zealot is versitile for most playstyles