'Darktide': How To Play The Zealot Preacher Class

The Preacher subclass for the Zealot in "Darktide" is a melee specialist who thrives in the thick of combat. They willingly spill their blood for the Emperor in return for gaining bonus offensive stats the lower their health bars go down.

Unlike the CC-oriented Ogryn Skullbreakers, Preachers are all about dealing damage via their unique feats and weapons. They also have long-range capabilities thanks to their access to conventional firearms much like the Psyker and Veteran classes.

Still, charging into a mob can easily get a Zealot killed. Here are a few tips on how to keep that from happening.

Preacher Role and Playstyle

The Preacher's job is to tie enemies up in melee to protect ranged damage dealers and give them the space to take care of shooters and specialists.

Their class ability, Chastise the Wicked, lets them charge into important targets and smite them with a guaranteed critical hit and improved melee weapon damage. Use this to close gaps or rapidly approach priority targets like snipers, bombers and heavy gunners.

While Preachers do focus on melee, players should not ignore their ranged weapons. Hostile firing lines can easily chew through the Zealot's Toughness and lock them in place with stagger effects. Play intelligently.

Unique Weapons

Preachers have access to weapons with large areas of effect:

• Turtolsky Heavy Sword
• Tigrus Eviscerator
• Crucis Thunder Hammer
• Artemia Purgation Flamer

Eviscerators deal more damage than Thunder Hammers, but the latter offers stronger crowd control and CC capabilities. Meanwhile, the heavy swords are great for cleaving through Poxwalkers and Groaners, though it is horrible versus any kind of armor.

The Flamer is an excellent complement to single-target melee weapons like axes, but its amazing horde-clearing potential is offset by its tiny range. Mix and match loadouts accordingly.

General Zealot Preacher Tips

The Holy Revenant feat makes playing at dangerously-low health levels more manageable since it prevents death and grants a short period of lifesteal every 90 seconds. Pair this with a bolter and unload an entire mag on targets to regain a big chunk of health back.

Preachers need to pick engagements wisely as they are very vulnerable to ranged attacks, even with their ability to replenish their own Toughness. Getting caught by a Scab firing line will often spell death even for the most faithful of warriors.

When using an Eviscerator or Thunder Hammer, complement them with a long-range option like a Headhunter autogun or MG XII lasgun for better sniping power. Let the melee weapons deal with hordes while the guns clear out ranged targets.