The unending hordes of heretics can easily overwhelm players in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, but even the thickest of enemy waves can be thinned down with some help from a strong yet subtle mechanic that many players tend to gloss over: Coherency. It's not as apparent as a volley of lasgun shots or a grenade chucked into the middle of a crowd, but it's important all the same.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide - What The Psyker Psykinetic Is Good At
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide's battle mage, the Psyker Psykinetic, is a versatile class made for filling a team's weak spots and beating Elites.
Maintaining Coherency should be the top priority of all players in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, especially when playing in the higher difficulties. There's nothing complicated involved with this mechanic, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Here's a clearer explanation on what Coherency is and how it benefits the entire team.
Darktide: Coherency Explained
In the game, Coherency refers to a passive aura that detects how many allies are near a player. Stepping inside a Coherency aura passively regenerates the Toughness of all squad members within the aura's radius. This effect grows stronger with the number of nearby players.
Toughness regeneration isn't the only benefit that Coherency provides. Other buffs like increased ranged damage, increased Toughness damage reduction, and increased Suppression resistance can be gained depending on what skills players have. These don't seem to stack on top of each other, encouraging premade teams to coordinate which bonuses they have to avoid conflicting skills.
All classes have dedicated Aura skills that can be unlocked as early as level 6. These play into each class' core fantasies, so expect extra ranged effectiveness from Veterans, melee effectiveness from Zealots, and so on.
Additionally, classes have a few extra skills that further enhance the effects of Coherency auras. Such skills include:
- Close Order Drill (Veteran) - Up to 33% reduced Toughness damage taken
- Shield of Contempt (Zealot) - Players in Coherency gain +75% damage reduction when struck
- Bruiser (Ogryn) - Reduces Combat Ability cooldown when players in Coherency kill Elites
- Unlucky For Some (Psyker) - When an ally in Coherency is knocked down, all other allies replenish +50% Toughness
Small effects like these are hard to notice in the thick of combat, but they ultimately make every player in the squad outright better in terms of objective power. The Zealot's Shield of Contempt aura, for example, can help the squad wade through a pool of fire without taking too much damage, while the Ogryn's Bruiser can minimize the downtime for Combat Abilities for everybody, greatly increasing their odds of survival against mini-bosses and special enemy spawn waves.
Darktide is available now on PC and Xbox Series X/S.