Warhammer 40,000: Darktide has just had a brand new face let loose on its dismal, lawless world and who better to bring that law back into the light than the Emperor’s lawbringers: The Adeptus Arbites.
Arbites, for those unfamiliar, are effectively the Judge Dredd of the Imperium, being able to dish out justice in the form of swift retaliation as and when needed. Whether this be to an unsuspecting criminal in Tertium’s streets or to a Chaos fanatic battling it out against your chosen party, the Arbites render justice swiftly.
From the perspective of Darktide, the Arbites class is a welcome addition to what is already a pretty well fleshed out roster of characters, however, this is the first character that canonically arrives after the main story or the Battle of Tertium has been completed, which was just added as a free update alongside the Arbites DLC. The other four characters are penal units that were conscripted to fight, making this character a fresh face aboard The Morningstar.
So how does the Arbites class fit in fight-wise compared to the others? Well, pretty well actually with it being capable of doing a vast array of different roles to support your team, deal high amounts of damage or just be an insanely strong tank it is very versatile and comes with a canine companion — the first of its kind for Darktide.
Personally, I’ve upgraded my Arbites to focus on its poochy pal’s overall damage, as well as triggering an AOE shock that regenerates every sixty seconds making it a good companion and a key piece in getting through some of Darktide’s more engaging fights.
It does seem to blend the roles of all of the other classes into one, a little bit, with some of the electric capabilities of the Psyker, the tankiness of the Ogryn (Especially if you choose to ditch the dog and go all in on your own stats) the AOE buff abilities of the Fanatic and the highlighted targeting of the Veteran all being available to the Arbites leading it to be one of the strongest characters available.
I can completely understand how this could lead players without the Arbites DLC to have a bit of a bad taste about the character, but, where this is an entirely co-operative experience, having a stronger character on your roster even if you do not use it is never going to be a bad thing — with it only increasing your odds of victory.
One key downside that I have found with the Arbites class is its dodge seems to be shorter and has more time between each dodge movement than others, leaving me open to getting hit on quite a few occasions. This, on the harder difficulties, can be the difference between life and death with just a few seconds of damage taking you from full to 0.
Your Arbites dog companion also has a bit of a mind of its own, with it mainly focusing on specific targets, or — at times — running quite far away leaving you on your own against some of the larger swarms of enemies. But, against singular, more elite enemies it can get you out of pinned attacks (such as from pox hounds) and can pin other enemies to the ground and maul them. So, it’s a bit of up, and a bit of down.
Overall, the Arbites is a great addition for the defence of Tertium and I genuinely hope they keep expanding the roster with new allies. With so many units available to the Imperium it’s nice to see some new faces appear in Darktide’s bleak world.
You can find the Arbites DLC for the PC version of Darktide.
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