Are you looking to up your game in Darktide? Get ready to learn the ins and outs of one of its most important combat mechanics: toughness. Without mastering this essential component, you’ll struggle to come out on top during intense firefights. In this article, we explain everything you need to know about how toughness works in Darktide — from its purpose to how it’s measured — so you can understand what it takes for your character build to reach peak performance.
So get comfortable, take notes if necessary, and prepare yourself for an education on the power of toughness!
So what is Toughness in Darktide?
In Darktide, toughness is your first line of defense against damage and enemy gunfire. It is comparable to having a shield, like in Halo Infinite. After all, toughness damage is taken first before permanent damage is inflicted on your health bar. However, Darktide’s toughness mechanic provides more benefits than you might initially believe.
Toughness is a vital resource that you must manage properly in order to survive the hordes of monsters and heretics. It is one of the new systems that has made Darktide a more interesting and in-depth hack-and-slash game compared to its predecessor Vermintide 2.
The blue bar that sits atop your health bar is your Toughness. It absorbs damage and gunfire rather than allowing you to take permanent damage. If you have no Toughness, your health will diminish instead. Unlike your HP, your Toughness can be replenished without needing a medi pack or Medicae Station.
So, when you are attacked, as long as you have Toughness, you will lose it instead of losing any HP. Toughness is much better than a typical shield because it can be replenished through a variety of means that benefit the playstyles of the four current Revenant classes.
How to Recharge Your Toughness in Darktide
Avoiding damage is practically impossible in Darktide, so restoring your Toughness is a vital component of survival. There are 4 main ways to replenish toughness:
- Melee Kills: Each successful melee kill restores a small amount of Toughness.
- Coherency: Staying in the Coherency aura of your allies will gradually restore your Toughness. The more allies in your Coherency, the faster your Toughness will recover.
- Feats: Every class has a Feat they unlock at level 5, which gives them additional options for Toughness replenishment.
- Class Skills: Some class skills can replenish your Toughness, like the Zealot’s Chastise the Wicked ability.
Toughness Provides Other Useful Benefits Too
Toughness is initially pulled from the popular Warhammer 40K tabletop game, where Toughness is associated with a unit’s ability to resist damage. This small detail has also been transferred over to Darktide.
Toughness also allows you to avoid being staggered or slowed by enemy gunshots. Whenever your Reject has Toughness, if you sprint headlong at a squad of tractor guardsmen, the first few shots won’t cause your character to flinch.
After your Toughness is broken, every shot that hits you will cause you to jolt and slow you down from the impact of the bullet or laser.
It’s a small detail, but it makes you feel like you’re not taking damage at times, especially if you’re playing a Zealot or Ogryn build. Strangely enough, the Veteran class starts with the most base Toughness when compared to the other classes in Darktide.
Curios can increase your Toughness.
We previously mentioned that the Veteran has the highest Toughness compared to other classes. The Psyker, Ogryn, and Zealot can rise above the standard 100 Toughness by equipping Curios that boost your total maximum Toughness. Curios in Darktide can also increase the total amount of Toughness your Reject has.
It’s worth looking out for in the long run, especially when you unlock all three Curio slots. Having more Toughness is also extremely important if you want to survive greater difficulties like Malice or Heresy. That is why we recommend toughness bonuses highly in our list of the best curio perks in Darktide.
Toughness doesn’t stop Corruption.
Toughness does absorb the damage your character would feel towards their HP, but not Corruption. There are several special enemies in Darktide, like the Pox Burster, or the Tox Flamer, who inflict Corruption as a part of their attack.
Even if a Tox Flamer barely chips your Toughness, you will still take some Corruption damage, so be aware of your environment and your enemy’s attacks.
Warp Up on Toughness in Darktide
That’s our quick guide for Toughness in Darktide. It’s nice to see Fatshark bring some familiar elements from the Warhammer 40K tabletop game and find ways to implement them into the game.
If you enjoyed our small breakdown and want to learn more about the game, check out our guides for Suppression and how Wounds work in Darktide.
Good hunting, Rejects!
