'Darktide' Guide: How To Unlock Cosmetics

Character customization plays a more prominent role in "Darktide" than in previous Fatshark games. Apart from having the ability to make their characters, players can dress them up with various pieces of armor and clothing as well.

Slaying heretics in ordinary prison garb has a certain charm, but diving deep into Tertium's must, metal halls decked out in purity seals and the Inquisition's snazziest armor with the squad makes the purging feel a lot better.

Here's how to unlock the various cosmetics in "Warhammer 40K: Darktide."

The Armoury Exchange

The 1.0.8 patch for the "Darktide" Pre-Order Beta added several cosmetics to the Armoury aboard the voidship Mourningstar. So far, they're just recolored versions of the existing armor pieces, but more variations will come since the game runs on a seasonal framework.

The store has multiple chest pieces, helmets and legwear for sale, though they are on the pricey side—the cheapest options go for up to 20,000 Ordo Dockets, while helmets can reach upwards of 100K Dockets each.

Ideally, these should be reserved for players already at max level and have enough money to spare. Due to how gear progression works in the game, buying cosmetics early on is generally wasteful, especially once weapons start costing over 20K Dockets each.

The release version of the game will also have a premium shop for cosmetics and other DLC.

Penance System

Like "Vermintide 2," in-game achievements (called Penances) can be unlocked to earn unique cosmetic skins for each of the classes. The full list of these challenges can be seen by opening the menu screen while on the Mourningstar.

Unfortunately, the majority of these challenges are extremely tough. For example, the "Malleo Monstronum" Penance for Psykers requires players to solo-kill a Monstrosity on Heresy difficulty using nothing but Brain Burst.

This has caused the majority of "Darktide" players to resort to using cheese tactics whenever possible. For instance, one Penance requires Veterans to complete a Malice mission without taking a single melee hit. This can be earned by disconnecting and reconnecting at the end of a run.

Players can unlock these Penances by either grouping up with friends or joining other Penance hunters on the many public Discord channels, including the official one for "Darktide."