Warhammer 40K: Darktide features many stats and traits you need to become acquainted with before starting your long journey toward end-game grinding. There are only so many ways to boost your character’s power outside your weapons and Curios. Today we will quickly cover what Weapon Rating is in Darktide and how it affects your character’s power scaling.
So, What is Weapon Rating in Darktide?
Like many descriptions in Darktide, some stats or mechanics need to be clarified, and Weapon Ratings are among them. Weapon Rating controls how many stats or traits can be added to a weapon. Not to be confused with the rarity of a weapon that scales up from the standard gray, green, blue, purple, and yellow. Weapon Rating is the small number located on the bottom left or right of each weapon (depending on which screen you are on).
This number ranges anywhere from 80 (which is the lowest Weapon Rating) at the start of the game, going up to over 500. With how it’s initially showcased, some may believe that the higher that small number gets, the bigger the raw damage output. Sadly, this is not the case. Weapon Rating doesn’t directly translate into damage. In fact, Weapon Rating has more influence back on the weapon’s stats than you may initially think.
Related Article: How Darktide’s Impact Weapon Trait Affects Its Power
What does a Weapon’s Rating affect in Darktide?
A weapon’s rating influences the total percentage of stats that can go into all the stats on a weapon. For example, suppose you have a rare (blue) weapon that has 40% Damage, 30% Cleave, and 30% First Target damage. A Weapons Rating can change those percentages around with some randomness, making it difficult for one weapon to have the exact same stats as another. We’ll explain further.
Higher Weapon Ratings Don’t Mean It’s a More Powerful Weapon
On another weapon with the same rarity and stats, you could have 60% Damage, 20% Cleave, and 20% First Target damage. This technically makes Weapon Ratings in Darktide more valuable. The higher the rating, the higher the chances of having better stats across the entire weapon. However, due to the randomization of each weapon, this won’t be the case all of the time.
A Lasgun with a higher Weapon Rating can have more damage but less ammo or have a considerable trade-off with another stat. This is why we highly recommend keeping weapons with high stat percentages, as the currently unimplemented crafting system promises us the ability to extract stats from other weapons and put them on another one.
So, that Lasgun that has a really good damage stat but is underwhelming in different categories can upgrade your future weapons once that crafting mechanic is unlocked.
Traits are Only Affected by Weapon Rarity
Remember that weapon traits aren’t affected by weapon rating. If you want to upgrade your weapon to give it a greater Cleave stat buff, for example, you will need to upgrade that weapon to the next tier. It’s also worth mentioning that the higher your character’s Weapon Rating is, you will often receive better items in the shop.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this article has helped to clear up any confusion about how weapon rating works in Darktide. While a higher weapon rating doesn’t guarantee more powerful weapons, it does increase the chances of having better stats across all areas. As always, if you have any more questions about this or any other game mechanic, don’t hesitate to reach out to us, and we’ll be happy to help. Thanks for reading!
If you enjoyed our short breakdown of what Weapon Ratings are and want to learn more, check out our guide for all weapon stats and traits in Darktide. Good hunting, Rejects!
