I personally prefer going right all the way under frag grenade to get the +25% mele dmg on ranged kill and +25 ranged dmg on mele kill. It synergizes way better than extra maximum ammo.
Maybe not the most optimal way of using weapon specialist but since it buffs the crit chance so much and refills the magazine, I was using it with a double barrel that takes flechette and man stopper, first fire both barrels then swap to melee to build up weapons specialist, then shoot through a crowd to get the melee buff, rinse and repeat. It says it replenishs 3% of your ammo but it seems it rounds that number up as one stack gives you 1 shell each time
Flechette and manstopper is the way to play the double barrel over scattershot I feel - there's no real need to take scattershot if you're playing into weapon specialist as 3 stacks guarantees you a crit on your shot. Makes it really useful to take out snipers from a mile away with a single shot.
Was using pretty much this same exact build last night except I took improv instead of demo team and yeah this shit is good. And btw your videos have been consistently great recently. You improving on yourself and how you convey the info has been very noticeable. Keep it up ❤
@TannerLindberg you're on the forefront of it dude, people will follow. I've played with it after seeing it recently in ur vid and it's kinda cash in my builds ngl
Out for Blood has been good for a while now, whenever it was that they buffed it from 2.5% to 5%. But sadly One Motion is kind of a stinker and is barely relevant on a handful of weapons and not all relevant for most. Feels like a shit tax.
just tried a gloryhunter bolt pistol build last night using a build similar to this build in this vid, and it's basically like a mini shout everytime you kill an elite. 55% if you count on your toes. Is it optimal? Prob not. But man I like it
This is just my opinion but I think the bottom two nodes of weapon specialist, Conditioning and Fleeting Fire, aka the ones I never see anyone take...ever, should be replaced by nodes that add a grenade buff to weapon specialist. Something like "you get a free grenade after 10 (or some arbitrary number) activations of melee specialist" and/or "your next grenade throw two grenades after X activations of ranged specialist." It just seems slightly odd to me that the keystone named "weapon specialist" technically leaves out one of your weapon classes.
With the right weapons, this keystone feels like crack. Like, I feel like I should be using focus target, especially for the bosses, but there's just nothing quite like tearing the horde to ribbons.
Hey, Tanner! Loving the new videos! There's a good opportunity for a big "Darktide fundamentals" video accounting for the relase of the game on PS5. Things like stats, basic melee and a "Psyker: how not to die all the time", "Best classes to play on a controller" or smth like that might sava a lot of people a lot of trouble haha Keep it up!
I've been using WS with bolt pistol and it feels absolutely amazing. It's an instant switch with a very accurate first shot without ADS (the first shot being the one that matters the most with WS) and the explosion radius blessing not only gives an easy stagger around you but also improves frag grenade to abuse what you describe at the end. It is an absolute blast to play and I encourage everyone to give it a try
It truly does and the only reason I sometimes use the bolter instead is lacking damage vs bosses, especially when I know my team would struggle with that and/or I'm playing Monstrous Specialists maelstrom or the new Horrors modifier with multiple Beasts of Nurgle around every corner. Slightly weaker synergy with WS due to slow weapon swap though. I'm not a huge fan of plasma but maybe I should give it another try... However, the explosion blessing didn't seem to do much for me in the Psykhanium, never given it a chance in an actual game. Do you really think it's better than the alternatives?
@@tuesss The explosion blessing damage is very weak, but the point is the stagger it gives when in a pinch. As a veteran, you don't have that many tools to get out of cornered by elites scenario: - Voice of Command/invisibility is the easy obvious one but it can be in cooldown - Grenade (krak or frag) will stagger/kill them to make space but they can also be in cooldown and take a few seconds to explode, smoke also has a cute stagger and is a great blitz too btw -And then you have this blessing, you just need to switch on your bolt pistol, instant shoot a poxwalker or headshot a rager (it will auto reload and one shot them thanks to guaranteed crit) and get a free, instant explosion that staggers things around it. But that's not all, what makes it insanely strong, borderline gamebreaking is that it increases the radius of ALL explosions so you will enjoy triple crusher kills with krak much more often, or create much more space with your frags ! So to answer your question I can't be 100% sure it's better than other alternatives but I am confident it's insanely strong and it does make the bolt pistol bring options & gameplay that no other weapon can. If you want dmg you can always go for Deadly accurate which has a great synergy with WS too! But I'd argue that there are better options than bolt pistol for that like the revolver. Personally I like puncture because it gives decent boss dmg when you're the last survivor (although honestly with duellling sword boss slaying has become quite easy without range weapons for vet now)
@@snowcordie9322 Oh, I didn't know it improved *all* explosions. That's a great tip, thanks! I have tested a few similar interactions, remembering how they worked in Vermintide 2, but most don't seem to work in Darktide. Do you need to have the bolt pistol equipped before swapping to 'nades? I guess so, because that's how it worked in Vermintide 2. As for the revolver, I feel like I simply perform better with the bolt pistol. It is probably a purely psychological effect, but well, I do play the game for entertainment anyway ;) Sadly I'm not good enough to handle two monstrosities + a horde + waves of specialists on my own, even using duelling sword, yet. That's why I prefer to delete monstrosities ASAP on those more intense levels.
@@tuesss You're right, DT descriptions are... confusing to say the least. SO MANY talents/blessings simply don't work like the description suggests (like Brutal Momentum)... For the explosion buff, it's active regardless of what weapon you're equipped with so you can throw you grenades equipped with your melee weapon and the explosion will still be bigger. My 2 favourite boss slaying weapons are boltgun (like you) and recon lasgun (with onslaught) which has slightly lower dmg but much more ammo and faster swap & reload :) I encourage you to try it too, it's pretty great !
@@snowcordie9322 Thank you. Yeah, I tried the recon lasgun on psyker soon after the rework, I was surprised how fast it was melting enemies, but it was a true glass cannon build, so I tried it on veteran, but somehow it didn't impress me. Powerful, yes, and great ammo efficiency with veteran's talents, but it didn't click with me. I'll give it another try, thanks! And about the decriptions... some are plain wrong, like ogryn's Heavy Hitter talent, which says "+ damage", but only applies to melee damage. You can never know until you test it yourself or find a thread recent enough about a particular blessing/talent.
I really like to watch how WS is getting some love from people. It's getting the roots from vt2's bounty hunter's almost same skill node, to which people, were generally opposed, despite it being very powerful. Glad it made out here in same insane way too.
i really like man stopper + both barrel when running weapon specialist db shotgun. can keep blowing up horde and reload really fast and if theres still horde left then fire off couple of more shots and afterwards switch to mele. i know its not optimal but its a blast to play for me.
You can also put toughness on elite kill blessing on plasma to get insane toughness sustain. Most likely overkill, but blessings on plasma are not necessity anyway. You get 50% toughness back on swap elite kill, which is kind of crazy.
The only problem with Weapon Specialist is if you want ro using anything else other than the Plasma Gun, so like the Recon Las Gun or the Vraks (Old Columnus), you need Onslaught for 40% Brittleness, and Onslaught is a 3 point Keystone investment, which means no spare points to invest beyond the Keystone itself, so it's really hard to grab everything else that makes Vet so great, and then invest heavily into Weapon Specialist. I used to only use Weapon Specialist but only the Keystone itself because i have no points spare to invest into it, you'll have to give up something else and just can't.
I also like the double barrel shotgun synergy with the always prepared node. That 33% of ammo reload is rounded up so it's a guaranteed 1 shell every time. If only the double barrel was as good as the plasma gun 😅
Dude thanks for this concise, well-informed banger of a video. I main specialist and knew there was more to it I just can't speak fatshark so thanks for this
4:10 Try getting 1 melee kill, swapping, then another melee kill, swapping again. 2 kills and you've reloaded it. It's how I do it and it's really good for fast reloads on revolvers, shotguns imho
I've been using a similar-ish build which includes Agile Engagement on the right of the tree - It seems to synergise perfectly with the keystone, so I wondered what your reasoning was for not going for it?
Would it be possible to have you touch on your opinion of weapon specialist using the Bolt pistol proximity blessing? Or failing that a Tier list showing your opinions on which weapons work best for each keystone? Thanks. p.s. Nice Video.
I am confused about how the blessing “Hammerblow” works is the impact it’s referring to increase stagger, damage or both. Btw have been loving the information videos I’ve learned a lot!
Not saying you cant change your mind, but i remember something from you about how this keystone was ass? (or atleast not great) Am i just trippin or did something change?
I won't lie my shotgun set ups are not optimized at all it's why I don't make videos about them I just pay lip service to it since I know it's a thing people like
@ i think that setup is better for zealot from what ive seen. The other setup is good for vet cuz weapon swap and 100% crit. Ive honestly never played with the weapon its just what ive observed.
@@arcem84 The way Darktide opperates doesn't really support PvP unless it was like 4v12 or if it was radically diffrent form PvE, so it would be just a bunch of work wasted on a mode that people likely end up not enjoying. That's what happened in Killing Floor 2. I'd rathey they keep refining and adding content to PvE.
Not entirely related, but every vet and zealot who brought a knife or ds to the train level so far has sucked absolute ass. WS is fun though yeah. Also you shouldn't discount the PS so eaily, sure it's not as good against crushers but it can clear hordes of mooks very easily when powered. You just need to keep timings in mind and you will cleave like 20 people in half with every heavy swing.
Never understood not always taking skirmisher. +25% damage about 70% of the time when you need it. 8s uptime and it reprocs on very short sprint distance.
@@EcchiRevenge immoral? yes. illegal? nah you agreed to let them do it when you started playing. nobody ever reads the terms theres some wild shit in there
sorry for the lack luster video haha. i just kinda wanted to taslk about a keystone ive been loving lately :D
I personally prefer going right all the way under frag grenade to get the +25% mele dmg on ranged kill and +25 ranged dmg on mele kill. It synergizes way better than extra maximum ammo.
that wastes like 3 points and KILLS these builds i think agile engagement is a huge noob trap.
Maybe not the most optimal way of using weapon specialist but since it buffs the crit chance so much and refills the magazine, I was using it with a double barrel that takes flechette and man stopper, first fire both barrels then swap to melee to build up weapons specialist, then shoot through a crowd to get the melee buff, rinse and repeat.
It says it replenishs 3% of your ammo but it seems it rounds that number up as one stack gives you 1 shell each time
Yeah, just swap, reload 1 shot, then get another melee kill, swap, and reload another shot. Your weapon is full after 2 kills
Flechette and manstopper is the way to play the double barrel over scattershot I feel - there's no real need to take scattershot if you're playing into weapon specialist as 3 stacks guarantees you a crit on your shot. Makes it really useful to take out snipers from a mile away with a single shot.
Was using pretty much this same exact build last night except I took improv instead of demo team and yeah this shit is good. And btw your videos have been consistently great recently. You improving on yourself and how you convey the info has been very noticeable. Keep it up ❤
I'd say allowing vets to use dueling sword indirectly buffed this keystone also.
It did massively
The melee keystone gets good when vet gets the most insanely broken op melee weapon
Hmmmm
it was good before, but knife was so cracked you didnt need it.
@@ShupperDupper knife is trash
@@joooks2254 not even an L take, it’s just stupid lmao
Man, love how i went from seeing out for blood being trash talked to beginning to be praised.
ill give it up playing with it changed my mind on it
@TannerLindberg you're on the forefront of it dude, people will follow. I've played with it after seeing it recently in ur vid and it's kinda cash in my builds ngl
Out for Blood has been good for a while now, whenever it was that they buffed it from 2.5% to 5%. But sadly One Motion is kind of a stinker and is barely relevant on a handful of weapons and not all relevant for most. Feels like a shit tax.
just tried a gloryhunter bolt pistol build last night using a build similar to this build in this vid, and it's basically like a mini shout everytime you kill an elite. 55% if you count on your toes. Is it optimal? Prob not. But man I like it
This is just my opinion but I think the bottom two nodes of weapon specialist, Conditioning and Fleeting Fire, aka the ones I never see anyone take...ever, should be replaced by nodes that add a grenade buff to weapon specialist. Something like "you get a free grenade after 10 (or some arbitrary number) activations of melee specialist" and/or "your next grenade throw two grenades after X activations of ranged specialist."
It just seems slightly odd to me that the keystone named "weapon specialist" technically leaves out one of your weapon classes.
With the right weapons, this keystone feels like crack. Like, I feel like I should be using focus target, especially for the bosses, but there's just nothing quite like tearing the horde to ribbons.
Hey, Tanner! Loving the new videos!
There's a good opportunity for a big "Darktide fundamentals" video accounting for the relase of the game on PS5.
Things like stats, basic melee and a "Psyker: how not to die all the time", "Best classes to play on a controller" or smth like that might sava a lot of people a lot of trouble haha
Keep it up!
I've been using WS with bolt pistol and it feels absolutely amazing.
It's an instant switch with a very accurate first shot without ADS (the first shot being the one that matters the most with WS) and the explosion radius blessing not only gives an easy stagger around you but also improves frag grenade to abuse what you describe at the end. It is an absolute blast to play and I encourage everyone to give it a try
It truly does and the only reason I sometimes use the bolter instead is lacking damage vs bosses, especially when I know my team would struggle with that and/or I'm playing Monstrous Specialists maelstrom or the new Horrors modifier with multiple Beasts of Nurgle around every corner. Slightly weaker synergy with WS due to slow weapon swap though. I'm not a huge fan of plasma but maybe I should give it another try...
However, the explosion blessing didn't seem to do much for me in the Psykhanium, never given it a chance in an actual game. Do you really think it's better than the alternatives?
@@tuesss The explosion blessing damage is very weak, but the point is the stagger it gives when in a pinch.
As a veteran, you don't have that many tools to get out of cornered by elites scenario:
- Voice of Command/invisibility is the easy obvious one but it can be in cooldown
- Grenade (krak or frag) will stagger/kill them to make space but they can also be in cooldown and take a few seconds to explode, smoke also has a cute stagger and is a great blitz too btw
-And then you have this blessing, you just need to switch on your bolt pistol, instant shoot a poxwalker or headshot a rager (it will auto reload and one shot them thanks to guaranteed crit) and get a free, instant explosion that staggers things around it.
But that's not all, what makes it insanely strong, borderline gamebreaking is that it increases the radius of ALL explosions so you will enjoy triple crusher kills with krak much more often, or create much more space with your frags !
So to answer your question I can't be 100% sure it's better than other alternatives but I am confident it's insanely strong and it does make the bolt pistol bring options & gameplay that no other weapon can. If you want dmg you can always go for Deadly accurate which has a great synergy with WS too! But I'd argue that there are better options than bolt pistol for that like the revolver. Personally I like puncture because it gives decent boss dmg when you're the last survivor (although honestly with duellling sword boss slaying has become quite easy without range weapons for vet now)
@@snowcordie9322 Oh, I didn't know it improved *all* explosions. That's a great tip, thanks! I have tested a few similar interactions, remembering how they worked in Vermintide 2, but most don't seem to work in Darktide. Do you need to have the bolt pistol equipped before swapping to 'nades? I guess so, because that's how it worked in Vermintide 2.
As for the revolver, I feel like I simply perform better with the bolt pistol. It is probably a purely psychological effect, but well, I do play the game for entertainment anyway ;)
Sadly I'm not good enough to handle two monstrosities + a horde + waves of specialists on my own, even using duelling sword, yet. That's why I prefer to delete monstrosities ASAP on those more intense levels.
@@tuesss You're right, DT descriptions are... confusing to say the least. SO MANY talents/blessings simply don't work like the description suggests (like Brutal Momentum)...
For the explosion buff, it's active regardless of what weapon you're equipped with so you can throw you grenades equipped with your melee weapon and the explosion will still be bigger.
My 2 favourite boss slaying weapons are boltgun (like you) and recon lasgun (with onslaught) which has slightly lower dmg but much more ammo and faster swap & reload :) I encourage you to try it too, it's pretty great !
@@snowcordie9322 Thank you.
Yeah, I tried the recon lasgun on psyker soon after the rework, I was surprised how fast it was melting enemies, but it was a true glass cannon build, so I tried it on veteran, but somehow it didn't impress me. Powerful, yes, and great ammo efficiency with veteran's talents, but it didn't click with me. I'll give it another try, thanks!
And about the decriptions... some are plain wrong, like ogryn's Heavy Hitter talent, which says "+ damage", but only applies to melee damage. You can never know until you test it yourself or find a thread recent enough about a particular blessing/talent.
I really like to watch how WS is getting some love from people. It's getting the roots from vt2's bounty hunter's almost same skill node, to which people, were generally opposed, despite it being very powerful. Glad it made out here in same insane way too.
i really like man stopper + both barrel when running weapon specialist db shotgun. can keep blowing up horde and reload really fast and if theres still horde left then fire off couple of more shots and afterwards switch to mele. i know its not optimal but its a blast to play for me.
omg that is awesome, that you can keep the plasma reloaded I sometimes take just the top keystone but I need to give this a shot.
You can also put toughness on elite kill blessing on plasma to get insane toughness sustain. Most likely overkill, but blessings on plasma are not necessity anyway. You get 50% toughness back on swap elite kill, which is kind of crazy.
Been using this setup for a year, kinda surprising its not been talked about as much.
The only problem with Weapon Specialist is if you want ro using anything else other than the Plasma Gun, so like the Recon Las Gun or the Vraks (Old Columnus), you need Onslaught for 40% Brittleness, and Onslaught is a 3 point Keystone investment, which means no spare points to invest beyond the Keystone itself, so it's really hard to grab everything else that makes Vet so great, and then invest heavily into Weapon Specialist. I used to only use Weapon Specialist but only the Keystone itself because i have no points spare to invest into it, you'll have to give up something else and just can't.
I also like the double barrel shotgun synergy with the always prepared node. That 33% of ammo reload is rounded up so it's a guaranteed 1 shell every time. If only the double barrel was as good as the plasma gun 😅
Dude thanks for this concise, well-informed banger of a video. I main specialist and knew there was more to it I just can't speak fatshark so thanks for this
4:10 Try getting 1 melee kill, swapping, then another melee kill, swapping again. 2 kills and you've reloaded it. It's how I do it and it's really good for fast reloads on revolvers, shotguns imho
Arise, Velsix
You're still fighting that start of video problem? Either cut or empty lol
i have no idea what to do about it it either randomly doesnt record the first 3 seconds or it just does
I like this TannerLindberg. I hope you’re doing good man.
I've been using a similar-ish build which includes Agile Engagement on the right of the tree - It seems to synergise perfectly with the keystone, so I wondered what your reasoning was for not going for it?
Yeah, it's perma +25% damage
Hes said his reasoning before, shredders are too good to pass up and investing 3 point for agile isn't worth it in his opinion
reminds me of most victor mains as bounty hunters in vermintide.
I don't mind waffling on because waffles taste good.
Would it be possible to have you touch on your opinion of weapon specialist using the Bolt pistol proximity blessing? Or failing that a Tier list showing your opinions on which weapons work best for each keystone? Thanks.
p.s. Nice Video.
Looked at it and hated it. Tried it and loved it. It's my current go to build.
My new favourite build, been running since your last vet vid. Gonna try Out for blood. Really fluid and fun so far. (and powerfull)
Saltzpyre is that you?
Time to relive blessed combat bounty hunter in 40k
What are your thoughts on recon lasgun on veteran right now?
@tannerlindberg what’s your best vet shotgun build? I love the double barrel and want to know the truth lol
Do you stream? i saw a few runs on your channel but i would really like to watch it live too, get to ask questions and chat about the game.
Oh my god, Tanner actually increased the volume of his video?!
I am confused about how the blessing “Hammerblow” works is the impact it’s referring to increase stagger, damage or both. Btw have been loving the information videos I’ve learned a lot!
This keystone with DB shotgun is nuts. My fav vet build so far . Sadly only vet make DB feels good for me .
DB with flechette combined with shredder frags is absolute insanity. One of my fav builds rn
@@doggupops8448 truuuue
Could you tell me the mod for your weapon info on your screen
Nice Video!
Could you provide the entire mod List you have? I really like the hud layout and Information displayed!
Not saying you cant change your mind, but i remember something from you about how this keystone was ass? (or atleast not great) Am i just trippin or did something change?
Problem with the shotgun is that you have to use the bloody shotgun.
How does Weapons Specialist make Power Sword viable exactly?
it work great for bolt pistol with deadly accurate
Yea im gonna save this vid for when im able to Play on ps5 😂👍
Why are you using Scattershot on the shotgun, when you just need 3 melee kills to be on 100% critchance?
Im case i have to double shoot for what ever reason.
I won't lie my shotgun set ups are not optimized at all it's why I don't make videos about them I just pay lip service to it since I know it's a thing people like
Pretty sure manstopper scattershot has been the meta since the shotgun released
@@infrared6973 what about deathspitter/both barrels?
@ i think that setup is better for zealot from what ive seen. The other setup is good for vet cuz weapon swap and 100% crit. Ive honestly never played with the weapon its just what ive observed.
Show the build before presenting please
This isn't a build video it is a how this thing works video
@ I’d still like to play the build tho, that’s why I like your videos
@Paincakes88 you can see the skill tree build multiple times throughout the vid.
unrelated, but with Vermintide releasing its Versus mode, do you think Fatshark will be able to do the same with Darktide?
i hope to god they dont
@@TannerLindberg why not? its gonna be hilarious seeing enemy specialists spawning and instantly dying to vets using wallhacks and plasma
@@arcem84 The way Darktide opperates doesn't really support PvP unless it was like 4v12 or if it was radically diffrent form PvE, so it would be just a bunch of work wasted on a mode that people likely end up not enjoying. That's what happened in Killing Floor 2. I'd rathey they keep refining and adding content to PvE.
🎉🎉🎉
Pull out game strong. 💪
Is vet the best class rn?
No zealot is
@TannerLindberg vet is your favorite tho?
@@kinggrimmjow8980 then keep playing them. just because they're not the best objectively doesn't mean you can't run them
@michaelpressley8040 I play all classes. I play psyker the most.
Not entirely related, but every vet and zealot who brought a knife or ds to the train level so far has sucked absolute ass. WS is fun though yeah.
Also you shouldn't discount the PS so eaily, sure it's not as good against crushers but it can clear hordes of mooks very easily when powered. You just need to keep timings in mind and you will cleave like 20 people in half with every heavy swing.
Never understood not always taking skirmisher. +25% damage about 70% of the time when you need it. 8s uptime and it reprocs on very short sprint distance.
That node is giga garbo
Check the previous video for the full opinion piece
im still sad i got banned. i didnt even do say anything or do anything mean 😥
No one cares
@@EcchiRevenge nono i just like tanner, and tanners moderators banned me on his discord, they didn't like me but it's okay
@@EcchiRevenge immoral? yes. illegal? nah you agreed to let them do it when you started playing. nobody ever reads the terms theres some wild shit in there