'Darktide' Zealot Guide: Combat Blade Bleed Build

The Preacher subclass for the Zealot in "Darktide" thrives in melee combat, and as such, they have access to a particularly effective loadout involving bleed procs and their innate feats.

Diving straight into the fray often leaves players very vulnerable to ranged attacks, and Preachers are exceptions. Their small Toughness bar can only absorb so many shots before they break, but with the right weapons and feats equipped, their survivability against shooters can spike upward drastically. Here's the setup.

Feats

The core feats for this build are Faith Restored, Bloodletting and Invocation of Death. These three synergize with bleeding and critical hits to turn Zealots into melee powerhouses. Chastise the Wicked's cooldown can be reduced to a fraction of its length just by hitting enemies repeatedly with critical strikes.

Players are free to choose any of the perks in the remaining columns. Consider using Rising Conviction, Holy Revenant and Benediction to keep everything in line with the rest of the setup.

Arsenal

The star of this build is the humble Catachan Mk III Combat Blade. Despite its size, this weapon is much more lethal than it seems.

The Combat Blade hits fast, and the damage it deals is surprisingly good. However, its main draw is its Blessings pool. It can roll with the Lacerate Blessing, which causes non-Weak Spot hits to inflict stacks of Bleed on a target.

To keep the critical hits rolling, try to find a knife with the Shred Blessing to further increase its crit chance. Alternatively, Uncanny Strike can make the Combat Blade effective against Crushers and other armored targets.

Tips

Due to the Combat Blade's weak blocking ability, players will need to rely on dodging as their main defensive tool. It will be best to stack bonus Stamina or Stamina Regeneration effects on Curios or weapons to improve survivability even more.

Even with Faith Restored, incoming melee hits will still bleed through Toughness if it is below 100%. However, the damage reduction from the feat will make regaining lost Toughness easier, potentially making players immune to health damage as long as they can keep it topped off.

Any ranged weapon will do for this build. The knife is versatile enough for all scenarios, so players are free to choose whichever firearm they prefer.