Warhammer 40,000 Darktide has been one of my favourite games over the last few years, with both fun gameplay and gritty combat it keeps bringing me back and now, with the new Skitarii class added, the fun continues with all new abilities, weapons and character creation options and personalities.
The first thing you’ll be doing, as with all classes, is creating your new character although with the Skitarii being more machine than human this is much more literal than previous iterations. Tweak your vox module, replace parts and choose what faction to represent with your uniform as you create the ultimate warrior in the image the Omnissiah deems necessary.
The new Skitarii class also features a brand new skill tree allowing you to focus around a whole new host of abilities like the new servo-skulls that can let you bypass some of the more frustrating minigames as well as place a rotating flamer down to cover you and your allies. One servo skull can even be used to revive or save your comrades with a total of three being available to use at once.
Some of the new weapons are interesting with the iconic galvanic blaster rifle, allowing for precision long range combat and a small stun effect as well. There’s also a new electric mace, similar to the one that the Ogryn uses (although much smaller in size) as well as the transonic blades, a set of swords used to cut through heretics like butter allowing for easy dispatching of some of the less armoured enemies.
With a lot of my characters being at max level already it is always a little slow at first getting back into things but one thing that I have noticed with the Skitarii character is that they are slower than usual compared to other characters. Slower movements, slower running and slower melee weapon hits but this is heavily balanced out with the overall usability as the ultimate support character.
Most of the lobbies that I have joined since the DLC release have been absolutely brimming with Skitarii characters which is great for completing objectives but has left the games feeling a little low in the variety of matched teams available.
Overall the new Skitarii DLC is a great addition to the roster for Darktide, it’s versatile, extremely helpful for the team and adds an interesting faction that isn’t always focused on in 40k too much in a lot of other games.
If you would like to serve the Omnissiah and do your part for the defence of Tertium, you can find the Darktide Skitarii DLC available on PC, Xbox and Playstation.
