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The threats against the Imperium inDarktideare many. There are untold millions of souls that have turned from the God Emperor’s light and have embraced Chaos. Whilst most of them are weak mortals that can be torn apart in a hail of Lasgun fire, there’s some tough lads that are hiding amongst their ranks.
These Elite and Specialist enemy types can hit like a truck and often use some absolutely heinous abilities to incapacitate you and your team, deal a ton of damage or worse, completely wipe the squad. They’re all unique and require different methods of taking them down, so to give you that winning edge against the never ending hordes of heretics, here’s the difference between Elite and Specialist enemy types in Darktide.
What Is An Elite?
First up we have Elite enemy types,there are ten in totaland they range from simple to handle Gunners, tobig burly Chaos-infused Ogrynsthat can take an unholy amount of damage to put down. They’repredominately melee-focusedlads but they can wield somenasty ranged weapons.
Elites are essentially better-equipped enemies that carry big weapons, have larger health bars, spawn in smaller numbers unlike the Horde types, andoften wear armor to deflect your shots. They’re not too bad to deal with on your own, but trying to hit them whilst a horde is gnawing on you can be pretty tricky.
On higher difficulties or certain Mission Modifiers multiple mobs of Elites will spawn.
Every Elite Enemy In Darktide
There’s some interesting variety in the types of Elites your crew will face off against in Darktide and it’s worth going through them all as it can help to learn what they look like and how you can best deal with them.
As previously mentioned, there are ten of them, and as our list goes on they get progressively more dangerous. Thankfully you cantake them down with some well-placed headshots and anything that can chunk through armor, thoughdon’t rely on Staggeras these lads just shrug it off.
Dreg Gunner
Dreg Gunners are a pretty annoying Elite to deal with. They’rezealots armed with fast-firing auto guns that enjoy pinning you under constant suppressive fire. If you’re caught in the open they can chew through your Toughness and health pretty quickly.
Thankfully they’reunarmored, so it doesn’t take much to blast them apart before they become too big of a problem. They’revulnerable to headshots, so hit them when they’re reloading or if you have a clear shot.
Dreg Shotgunner
The Dreg Shotgunner is ahigh damaging Heretic that likes to rush up close before emptying its shotgun at point-blank range. They’re relativelyunarmored and are vulnerable in primarily the head and the chest.
They can shatter your Toughness if they get too close, so make sure topick them off at range or melee them from behindas standing in front of them just opens you up to a painful buckshot blast. You can easily tell them apart from the others by therows of skulls on spikes on their back.
Dreg Rager
There’s always one berserker unit in these kinds of games and in this case, it’s the Dreg Rager in Darktide. This dual-wielding psychopath willrush straight toward your group and will relentlessly swing his makeshift weaponsat you until he’s staggered or killed outright.
They’re very aggressive and pretty dangerous if they get too close, but they’reunarmored so you can pop them from rangebefore they manage that. They also yell a lot as they approach, so you will see and hear them coming.
Scab Gunner
The Scab Gunner behaves the same way as the Dreg Gunner and willsaturate your position with a hail of machine gun fire, but they have one difference. The Scab is wearingabsorbent Flak Armor, so they can tank the hits a bit more before they finally fall over.
They can be pretty tricky if you’re not packing anything that’s good against armored foes. But, it’s recommended that youaim at their head where their gas mask is, or their upper legsas those are unarmored.
Scab Shotgunner
The Scab Shotgunner is another Elite that behaves similarly to its unarmored cousin the Dreg Shotgunner. They’ll clank right up towards you, absorbing hits the entire time and thenunload their shotgun right into your face, or back if you weren’t paying attention.
They wear Flak Armor and can tank quite a few hits before finally dying, but like the Scab Gunner, if you aim for the head or upper legs they’ll crumble much quicker. Their shotgun is also much beefier and fires off more rounds than the Dreg Shotgunner, so don’t treat them the same.
Scab Mauler
An Elite enemy type you’ll often see stomping around in pairs, the Scab Mauler is ahigh-priority human-sized targetthat you’ll want your heaviest-hitting teammate’s mulch through fast.
Their attacks may be slow, but if their Chain Axe connects it’ll chew through your health bar as those hits do a lot of damage.Especially their overhead swing asthe hitbox on the Axeis wider than you expectand their heavy armor allows them to take a ton of punishment as they get closer.
Unlike the other Elites,Scab Maulers are weak to body shots instead of headshots, but not by much.
Scab Rager
The Scab Rager is essentially the bigger, badder, and more deadly big brother of the Dreg Rager.They wear heavy armor and will sprint right into your groupbefore swinging their makeshift Axe and club-like sword mercilessly.
Their weapons do a lot of damage and they recover quickly from Stagger-based attacks. Their weak points are thehead and the back, but deal with them from range.Avoid melee if you canas one or two good smacks from their weapons is enough to put you on the ground for good.
Bulwark
The Bulwark is a high-damage, high-health targetthat is a nightmare to deal with on your own. They’re alarge, brutalized-looking Ogryn that’s carrying a massive metallic shieldthat renders them invulnerable to gunfire from the front as they wobble up to bonk you with their big club or car-door-sized shield.
Thankfully these large lads are pretty slow and lumbering so you can outpace them easily. They’re alsovery vulnerable to gunfire when their shield is downwhen they’re staggered or if they’reshot in the back as they’re unarmored everywhere else.
Crusher
The Crusher is a high-threat targetyou’ll really want to deal with as quickly as your team can. They’re arguably thelargest Ogryn-type enemy and their heavy Carapace Armor makes them extremely tanky, plus they have that large Ogryn health bar on top, and a large maul, usually made of masonry.
Crushers are easy to spot and need to get close to become a problem, but theirheavy swings and ground slam attacks deal a lot of damage. Their onlyweak point is their head, but that’s not by much.Concentrating fire on their brainpan before they do too much damage with their big mallet is your best option, otherwise, just use a retreating fire method to wear them down as they may be very big, but they’re also very slow.
Reaper
The Reaper is the Ogryn equivalent of the Scab and Dreg Gunners. This big lad carries atwin-barrelled Heavy Stubber that can deluge an area in .50 Cal rounds in no time at all. They’re big and lumbering like the other Ogryns, but they’re more of a problem to deal with than the others because of their ability to hit you from range.
Reapers are slow, so you can loop them around cover,but they will occasionally walk right up to you whilst constantly firing, giving you no chance to retaliate. They have a high health bar but don’t wear a lot of armor, especially around the head, so focus fire on their face asthey’re a high-priority target.
Elites are very vulnerable to the Psykers Brain Blast move.
What Is A Specialist?
Specialists are the slightly scarier lads to watch out for. These fools who have fallen to chaos are called specialists because theyspecialize in a particular type of attack.These can range fromtrapping someone in electrified paralyzing netting, area denial with AOE attacks, or physically pinning a squad member down, requiring them to be rescued.
Most of them have tell-tale noisesthat signify their arrival to the firefight and the second you hear it, you’ll need to keep your head on a swivel. Certain classes are weak to them, but others are perfect for sniping them before they get too close. Their spawn sizes are small, with usuallyone or two of each type popping up at once, but like the Elites, on higher difficulties and with certain mutators more can appear.
Classes that can counter Specialists and Elites arethe Psyker and Veteran Sharpshooter.
Every Specialist Enemy In Darktide
There’s asignificantly smaller number of Specialists in Darktide, but in all honestly that’s enough as the abominations that are in the game already are more than enough. There areeight of them in totaland they’re pretty varied in the types of attacks they use and how they can be a complete bane to your group.
Like the Elites, we’ll be running through them all so you can get a good grasp of what sort of mutated heretics you’ll be stumbling into whilst completing missions in the Hive for the good of the Imperium.
Dreg Tox Flamer
First up we have the Dreg Tox Flamer. This badly burned chap canchunk through your Toughness with his toxic flamesand will liberallycover your team and the ground in highly damaging green fire.
He’ll usuallypause for a second or two before firing, so take that moment to justsidestep him and then blast him in the back or sideas he commits to his attack. They’re easy to handle on their own, but if a horde pins you down you’ll melt quickly in his toxic fumes.
Tox Flamers tend to attack from behind, so watch your back.
Scab Flamer
A slightly morearmored variant of the Flamethrower Specialists. The Scab Flamer works the same as the Tox Flamer, but he’s a bit tankier. Anything that canchew through his armor or shots to his head and Flamer Tankswill take him down pretty quickly.
Just like the Tox Flamer, this lad willstop and commit to his attack in one particular direction. So you may just side-step again and blast him, oruse his fire to melt his friends as the Heretics can deal friendly fire damageto each other.
Both Flamer variants make anelectric stove sparker clicking sound when they appearas they attempt to ignite their Flamers.
Poxburster
There’s always an enemy type that lovessprinting up to you and exploding, this is basically the Poxburster. This Nurgle’s Rot-ridden soul willdash right towards your team before detonating its toxic payloadthat’s strapped to its back, which in turn deals ahigh amount of AOE damage.
They can be a massive pain when mixed in with Horde enemies but thankfully awell-timed push can negate their damaging burstif they get too close.
The Poxbursters bomb pack will tick and beep as he runs towards you. If you hear one, take it out fast.
Scab Bomber
The Scab Bomber is agrenade-chucking maniac who likes to lob his projectiles from a safe distance. They deal damage when they hit and drop awide layer of fire on the ground that will quickly chew through your Toughness and Health bar.
They’re not too hard to handle in wide-open maps, but tight tunnels and confined spaces turn into murder holes if they’re nearby. They’re incredibly weak to headshots, so pick them off from afar or get close quickly and slice them up with melee attacks.
Scab Sniper
Scab Snipers are very dangerous Specialists to encounter, especially in big open areas. They’ll target you from afar, usually behind enemy lines, and willsnipe you with highly damaging hits. Thankfully thetell-tale laserthat they use to aim their shots gives them away right before they fire.
To take them down, eithercounter-snipe as quickly as you can or get close and deal with them using melee combat. However, make sure you kill them fast as they’ll reposition once you start getting close to them.
Normally one or two shots from a Scab Sniper is enough to down or kill a player. So dodge and seek cover if you see their laser lining up.
Scab Trapper
The Scab Trapper is a high-threat target on the battlefield. They don’t take a lot of damage to kill, but it’s their weapon that’s the big problem. The Scab Trapper likes to spawn behind your team and issignaled by the clanking sound of its gear clattering together as it gets closer.
Once they get in range theyfire their net gun either point-black or from a few yards away. Once it hits itpermanently incapacitates a teammate in electric netting. The downed team member will need to be rescued whilst the Trapper moves on to another target. If you’re unlucky,one Trapper can take down an entire Squad. So kill this Specialist as soon as it pops up.
The Trappers net also works on Ogryns, so nobody is safe.
Mutant
The Mutant is basically likethe Charger from Left4Dead 2. He’s a roided-up lad thatcharges right into the midst of your squad to cause all sorts of chaos. For example, he’ll likes to dodamaging melee swings, knock Teammates off ledges, or grab and repeatedly slam someone into the ground until they’re incapacitated or throw them very farafter a good beating, usually off into an abyss.
They roar when they charge in and you can’t take them down pretty quickly withconcentrated fire to their head or their frontas they’re not armored.Their grab can also be dodged if you side-step when they put their arm out, though this can take a bit of practice to master as the timing is finicky.
Pox Hound
The Pox Hound is the highest priority targetfor any team braving the hazards of the Hive. These twisted canines of Chaos arrive into the fight with theirsignature howlbefore zipping towards a particular target on your team. They’re incredibly fast, hard to hit, and can be an instant roadblock to progression, especially if a pack of them spawns.
When a Pox Hound gets close it willdive onto its target, much like the Hunter from Left4Dead,and will start savaging them.Those attacked by a Pox Hound are incapacitated until the beast finishes and kills them, or someone kills it. You can delay them by using rooftops and high spots to hide, but they’re pretty squishy so just shoot them or bat them away like an angry bitting baseball with a well-timed melee swing.
The Weak Point in the majority of Specialists is the head. So have a Sharpshooter focus on them whenever they appear.
