Darktide has several new status effects, debuffs, and buffs for the series. One among the new plethora of mechanics is Soulblaze, a unique effect that is limited only to Psykers in Darktide. However, the in-game tooltip doesn’t give a lot of details about what Soulblaze does to your enemies. In this short guide, we will explain what Soulblaze is and what it does, and showcase the best possible Soulblaze build to use on your Psyker.
So, What is Soulblaze in Darktide?
Soulblaze is a damage-over-time effect that only Psykers can conjure. Soulblaze works exactly like your typical burning effect from a Flamer or a barrel, but it’s from the Warp, essentially making it Warp fire. Each stack of Soulblaze does a small amount of damage over a few seconds. However, this damage can stack if you have a weapon or the ability to apply Soulblaze.
With its flaming maelstrom, the Psyker’s Soulblaze surpasses many weapons in mob clearing and deals a large amount of damage over time. This weapon is even more potent as it ignores armor on Elites and bosses! To make full use of this incredible ability, though, you must dedicate your build to spreading the Warp flames.
How to Apply the Soulblaze Debuff
There are four main ways of applying the Soulblaze effect in Darktide: using the Wrack and Ruin feat, a Purgatus Force Staff, the Kinetic Overload feat, or the Ascendant Blaze feat.
The first time your Psyker can access Soulblaze is with the Wrack and Ruin feat. Killing an Elite or Specialist with Brain Burst applies two stacks of Soulblaze to all enemies within three meters of the target.
Later you will acquire the Purgatus Force staff, which allows you to spray a quick burst of Soulblaze with your primary fire or charge a long stream of blue fire if you charge its secondary attack. Next, there is the Kinetic Overload trait. While you have maximum Warp Charges, gaining a Warp Charge instead applies four stacks of Soulblaze to nearby enemies, prioritizing Elite enemies.
Lastly, there’s Ascendant Blaze. When you use Psykinetic’s Wrath, you expend all Warp Charges and apply stacks of Soulblaze to enemies hit by the knockback based on the number of Warp Charges expended. Also, enemies killed by your Soulblaze effects (from ANY source) have a 10% chance to grant you a Warp charge.
Related Guide: Warhammer 40K Darktide Zealot: Preacher Build and Class Guide
The Best Darktide Soulblaze Psyker Build
A great way to empower and utilize Soulblaze is to utilize all of the traits that we previously mentioned. However, using Ascendant Blaze is a requirement for this build since the passive of gaining a Warp Charge whenever any enemy dies while burning from your Soulblaze is exceptionally strong. This allows you to constantly build Warp Charges which fuels your damage.
If you don’t want to use Wrack and Ruin, you can take Inner Tranquility instead for the Peril Resistance. If luck is on your side, you are gaining a massive abundance of Warp Charges from Ascendant Blaze’s passive. Kinetic Overload will ensure your extra Warp Charge stacks aren’t wasted by applying a ton of stacks to nearby targets. Alternatively, if you don’t want to use this trait either, you can use Warp Battery instead, so your Warp Charges stack up to six instead of four.
Lastly, you need to use the Purgatus Force Staff since applying Soulblaze in Darktide requires much more effort, and the build wouldn’t be complete without the weapon. The Force Staff isn’t the strongest for crowd control or damaging Elites or Specialists, but you still have Brain Burst, so you can make quick work of them. The only other major downside of using the Purgatus Force Staff is that your primary attack is short-ranged, making gunners or squads of Traitor Guardsmen difficult to deal with by yourself.
Still, aside from the few downsides, this Psyker build is wonderful for burning down hordes of enemies with the fires of the Warp and lets the Psyker experience the thrill of being a pyromancer without needing to play a Zealot and use their Flamer.
Summary
Darktide Psykers have access to the Soulblaze ability, which works like a damage-over-time effect from the Warp. This makes it very powerful against enemy forces. There are four main ways to apply Soulblaze: using the Wrack and Ruin feat, a Purgatus Force Staff, the Kinetic Overload feat, or the Ascendant Blaze feat. We hope you find this build helpful in your own games of Darktide. Let us know what you think of our Darktide Psyker Soulblaze build below.
There are a lot of different status effects in Darktide, and with that, we hope to see more character builds like this one in the future. If you are looking for another status effect build, check out our Ogryn Skullbreaker build guide, or if you want to know more about Darktide’s weapon stats, check out our rundown for explaining every state and trait currently in the game.
Good hunting, Rejects!
