Are you new to Darktide and wondering what rending is? You’ve come to the right place! Rending is one of the most important mechanics in this game, as it allows players to quickly dispatch the toughest opponents. In this guide, we’ll look at how rending works and talk about some tips for mastering this mechanic. We’ll also discuss how powerful a weapon can become when it has the rending trait added. Get ready to learn all about Darktide’s signature skill: Rending!
So, What is Rending in Darktide?
Warhammer 40K: Darktide has loads of different weapon stats, traits, and ways to influence your fighting capabilities, similar to Fatshark’s previous horde-killing game, Vermintide 2. Once you become familiar with the basics of combat, you must learn the various stats that influence your weapons. However, some stat names can be confusing at first, but several weapon traits need more clarity.
Although Fatshark has allowed us to see stat percentages and what the majority of them influence on our weapons, some still require more information. Rending is one of these newer weapon traits that needs a little more clarity.
Rending is a special weapon trait that increases the damage of your attacks against tougher enemies. It roughly translates to Armor Penetration. Yet, rending is typically applied through weapon traits.
Difference Between Armor Penetration and Rending
The main difference between Armor Penetration and Rending is that Armor Penetration is a weapon stat that is found based on the weapon’s rarity. Rending is mainly acquired through weapon traits like Headtaker. For example, Headtaker requires you to hit enemy weak points, and in return, you gain a small stacking amount of Rendering for a few seconds.
So, in essence, Rending is a different way to gain extra Armor Penetration by performing the weapon trait’s requirements, such as hitting weak points. Rendering is an excellent bonus for both Armor Piercing and non-Armor Piercing weapons because most Scab enemies have flak armor, making them slightly harder to kill.
Armor Penetration or Rending becomes extremely helpful when dealing with fully armored enemies like Scab Gunners, or Carapace armored Elite enemies like the Mauler or Crusher. This stat is separate from Armor Penetration because Fatshark wanted a way to give certain weapons a slight boost in power when fighting armored enemies.
Related Article: Everything Known about Curios in Darktide
How many Rending Traits are there in Darktide?
Currently, there are eight known Rending traits that can be applied to various weapons. The weapon traits are:
- Uncanny Strike: +6-20% Rending on enemy weak spot hit for 2.5 seconds. Stacks up to 5 fives.
- Ruthless Backstab: +20-50% Rending on Backstab Hit.
- Decapitator: +10-25%% Rending for five seconds on enemy one-shot. Stacks 3-5 times.
- Can Opener: Adds one to four Rending on Special Attack on Armored enemies.
- Hand-Cannon: Adds 20-35% Rending on Critical Hit.
- Rending Shockwave: Adds 2-8 Rending, scaling with your charge time of Secondary Attack.
- Shattering Impact: Adds 1-4 Rending on Armored enemies.
- Supercharge: Adds 1-4 Rending on Energized Hit.
Of course, these traits aren’t available on every weapon, but Rending can still make a significant impact. For example, the Ruthless Backstab can be equipped on a combat blade, which is a small one-handed knife. Normally the knife isn’t particularly strong in most situations because it lacks sweeping attacks; however, with the Rending trait it becomes much more powerful.
However, the combat blade has the Assassin trait, which increases weak spot damage, and can have the First Target stat that grants you bonus damage for striking a target for the first time. Combine these stats with the Ruthless Backstab trait, and you can one-shot some Elites or Special enemies if you can backstab them.
Even if the combat blade might not be the strongest weapon in Darktide, stat combinations like this can turn a lackluster weapon into a niche but powerful tool of war.
Final Thoughts
This is our short guide to what Rending is in Darktide and how you can use it to your advantage. Darktide has made many design and gameplay changes compared to Vermintide 2. However, the ability to mix and match these various stats and weapon traits gives more opportunities for some interesting builds. Hopefully, Fatshark will improve on these features as they continue to develop Darktide since this can open the door to making more weapons viable.
If you are new to Darktide and want some extra tips about the game, check out our beginner’s guide. On the other hand, if you are already experienced with slaying heretics, take a look at our guide on how to build the Ogryn Skullbreaker class like a true tank.
Good hunting, Rejects!
Additional Frequently Asked Questions
The biggest benefit is that armored foes (especially Carapace armored foes) will be much easier to take down. Without armor penetration or rending, armored foes can easily overwhelm you while they soak up your bullets and melee attacks.
If you are concerned about the damage armored elites will do to your team, take some additional penetration with you, either in the form of rending or conventional armor penetration.
You do not need to do anything in order to rend your enemies in Darktide. You only need to use a weapon with this trait and strike your enemies with it. It’s that simple!
Although the conventional definition of rending has to do with tearing something in two, in Darktide, that is not what it means. Conventional melee weapons without the rending trait are completely capable of tearing your foes apart. You do not need the rending trait. Rending really has to do only with your weapon’s ability to penetrate armor in order to damage them.
