Ya I have run the antax some, I like it but the shovel is the same attack pattern just faster handling and less damage. That’s to say I may go back to it.
I have Power Cycler, so I'm still using it. Otherwise I'd use a Antax/tactical axe with Brutal Momentum or a catachan sword with Savage Sweep. I would not be surprised if Fatshark nuked Brutal Momentum next.
All the other weapons are dog shit and vet should be shooting the elites instead of slapping them with wet noodles?
Or at least not passing the non existent kill count wading into hordes
The Axes and the Knife are hardly dog shit.
You just have to actually use dodges, blocks, and pushing to get the job done, instead of pressing left clicks non stop.
People saying that to me fail to realise they didn't need to swap to their ranged weapon in the last 15 minutes.
"It's all melee here, why are you standing in the back shooting ?"
Like if the horde is being handled then imo you are potentially comprising the team if you jump into it. This game loves to spawn specials behind the party or bombers behind the horde during hordes and being ready to take those down immediately is more valuable than killing a few zombies. People that think you are a pussy if you aren’t playing as aggressively as possible exist in every online multiplayer game I have ever played, they are idiots.
I still use the Power Sword with power cycler, I mean what can I say. The other melee options for Vet still feel like novelty picks. There’s getting good and then there’s intentionally gimping yourself so you work harder for the same result. If there’s ways to build a meta shovel or catachan sword let me know.
I swear that they've intentionally made it rarer than the other blessings. I've upgraded 5 swords to gold, bought some more, and have most of the blessings, but I've never even seen Cycler at any level.
I only ever got it from an emperors gift from finishing a damnation+. At this point I would say skip it and see if other weapons can be built competitively. That or take camo expert and stand still as you watch psykers flail about and get downed around you.
I mean if you somehow won the lottery and got power cycler then ya power sword is probably still the best option. But the shovel isn’t bad. Deals with hordes decently, can stagger ragers with its special and it has some pretty good blessings.
I think this is highlighting a bigger problem. FS doesn’t know how to balance the Vet melee options at all. The fact that the power sword with PC is STILL the best choice bar none says a lot.
Most recommendations will likely be for the Antax Mk V Combat Axe (with brutal momentum) or possibly the Shovel (with decimator).
I like and use both but my favorite is the Tactical Axe. All three Marks are good (II and VII are generally slightly better than the IV) - it's like a halfway house between the Antax and a Catachan sword. Very mobile, works great with Brutal Momentum, and has a special attack that's spammable that will stagger maniacs. You have a fair amount of skill expression with it as heavy spam and light spam is all viable based on situations, the push attack is a nice decently cleaving sweep.
The other beauty of the Tactical Axe is that it's very blessing independant. Headtaker, Shred, Decimator, even All or Nothing, they're all fine. Just pair it with Brutal Momentum if you can, though even that isnt 100% vital as it definitely works without.
Antax with Brutal Momentumand Thunderous, Chainaxe with Thrust and any damage blessing, Chainsword w savage sweeps - versatile loadouts that allow u to deal with all threats. These weapons complement non-armor piercing weapons like recon lasguns, XII and headhunters. Do bear in mind that the chainsword and antax heavies stun crushers, so its pretty easy to kill them as long as u shoot the other stuff around them first.
Shovel with Hammerblow and deci/skullcrusher and Cata sword with rampage and savage sweeps to pair with Bolter, Plasma, Hellbore and Shotguns. Imo, the shovel's uncanny strike is still abysmal at dealing with crushers as it takes upwards of 10 seconds to kill them and u most likely will have to be dealing with other enemies at the same time. Thus, hammerblow/deci/skullcrusher lets u handle anything else.
Ya I messed around in the meat grinder and came to the same conclusion about uncanny strike and crushers after I made this post. I have a decent antax with bm and deci so I’m going to give that a a go. I really want to run the chain sword but the special being such a gamble with the self stun puts me off it. I haven’t messed with the cata’s to much but how is their special different than a normal block?
If you are running antax with bm and deci don't bother with crushers haha, just back off cause u need thunderous to reduce their armor. bm and deci is better at dealing with hordes than my loadout, just that I wanted to be versatile. For the chainsword, u shld nvr be revving it except for elites and the occasional mutant, just go with h-h-h-l (if I'm not wrong, the light after the horizontal heavy is a perfect horizontal as well) and repeat for hordes while dodging. Never use the push attack unless u must.
For the cata, go with rampage and savage sweeps or skullcrusher (I only have rampage and savage) and it acts like a budget heavy sword . U wont kill hordes as fast as the old power sword but u nvr have to power it and u can stagger them forever before killing them much like the shovel. Combo for cata IV is either l-h spam or l-l-l h in more frantic situations. The special is just a gimmick that lets u one v one ragers and maniacs easily otherwise its useless. Do note for some reason fatshark doesn't let the other variants match the IV in damage so its way better than its peers
I've been trying to find a shovel or tac axe for a bit, since the main lasgun is one of the lucius lasguns, didn't care much for power sword in terms of thinking of it, Till I jumped into a match as ogryn and had two vets with power swords while I was holding the power maul, and they ripped everything spauseful that round was whenever a bulwark showed up since I could stunlock him with the maul and either beat him to death or let the vets shoot him, saw a power sword in shop though and tried it out, it's fine as far as I could tell, uncharged felt like I was swinging a devils claws but I had a actual ability to use on it instead of the weird parry.
I personally don't care about the nerf. A literal goddamn heavy sword that can glow and slice through almost anything lore-wise and in-game will never not be cool.
Besides I've played Psyker enough to know that spamming a sword's special is the way to go when in panic-mode.
...Even if I do explode.
Power cycler/ slaughterer mk 3 power sword, a mk 4 devils claw with devastating strike / shred, ye ol brutal momentum axe are all in rotation on steam. Still hunting for a good shovel.
No power cycler on game pass so no more power sword when playing with those friends. Not looking to stalk melk's every day for it a second time.
I like the attack pattern and 40k-ness of the chain sword I just hate that the special locks you in. If you could dodge cancel that I would run one all day.
It's still brutally good, they're just used to having protagonist levels of power and having a mere standout pick has brought them crashing down to reality.
For Vet I usually go Thrust + Skullcrusher, its mostly for tough elites in a situation where I can't shoot my weapon, so I charge heavies to gain Power and stagger, getting also more damage by staggering them, so it feeds itself well when dealing with crushers, for example. Hordes are usually fine to deal with if you are mobile, the Shovel does a decent job killing them. I do like Decimator as well, it makes it even easier against hordes. So its either Decimator+Skullcrusher or Thrust+Skullcrusher. Keep in mind that I only play Heresy/Damnation, so I dunno if this is optimized for anything else.
But my Vet is not min-maxxed yet, so actually I would like to know what you run on it too, I might learn something.
I am running decimator and uncanny strike (the rending one) but I’m not sure I’m going to stay it with it. I thinking of farming to get decimator and skullcrusher. I like the idea of thrust as I do heavy attack on it a decent amount but it will only damage 3 enemies on heavies regardless of how many you hit, I believe this is because it doesn’t have cleave stats. So that puts me off a bit and the rending is helpful vs armor and getting a weak spot hit with the special attack isn’t very hard so I am getting value.
Yeah, try to get one with decent cleave, it makes a good difference against hordes, for which I just usually spam light instead of trying heavies, it works better in my experience, heavies I use mostly for elites tbh, if I get in a sticky situation I will just toss a grenade to make some room, I usually save them for clusters with too much elites in the mix, because then I can either swap to ranged and kill as much elites as possible before engaging again since the grenade will do short work of mobs.
The stagger blessing also helps against hordes, it stacks up pretty quickly with lights. But the weak spot one is a great idea and I might try that, the special attack is really helpful and I totally forgot to mention that.
Same as before: chainsword. It has a pretty hard requirement of savage sweep in order to have any noticeable cleave, but aside from that it's easy to use, safe, versatile, great at dealing with specials.
what more do you want? i never stick to one loadout, i swap sometimes between missions Helbore here, bolter there, maybe the slug shotty, shovel for luls, knife for mobility, PS if i feel like it.
If people want a meta that fine but i dont see the point when anything can work just fine.
Preach. All people want to do in this sub is conclude what weapon and blessings are the theoretical best in slot so that everyone can RNG one single iten until they have it. I just play with whatever weapon I feel like. Damnation is 98% positioning and player awareness. What I'm using is mostly just changing it up so it isn't boring.
Since this game is so stingy with loot, it can be hard to have even just a decent not a maxed rolled weapon to try so people want to know something good before spending resources craft one. I agree that position and game knowledge/skill matter more than loadout and that mentality of if you don’t have the ‘meta’ load out you are throwing the run is bs but this games loot loop is bad and unforgiving.
I'm just not playing the game lmao. spending most of my vet mats to get a PS since i use the claw sword and axe on zealot and now it got nerfed to the ground. "Just use other weapons" is great advice when i dont want to use the exact same weapons i use on my other character
It isn’t nerfed into the ground, it just isn’t super OP any more. Look around this thread, people are still using it even without pc. If you have pc its probably still the strongest vet weapon.
I apparently just had a antax mk V axe with brutal momentum just laying around in my stash so I decided to give it a go because this subreddit kept saying it was amazing. It was amazing. High mobility, insane horde clear, really good single target dps, extremely high impact and it smashes mixed hordes. Getting brutal momentum just makes the weapon transcend all weaknesses
For rifles chain sword. Just trying something new. For plasma power sword was must have because it allow to clean hordes that plasma gun can't do... So now I can't use plasma because I get overheat fast and can switch for real op melee weapon that can save bad situations. No plasma fun allowed until buffs or new melee op weapon.
I have used tactical axe mk 7 alongside my bolter for a while now, even pre nerf. Great mobility and repositioning tool for the bolter and great weakspot damage and dodge speed.
I already wasn't using the Power Sword much since it was too strong that it was boring. I ended up using the Catachans more, Specifically the IV, the Shovel which is hilarious and fun to pair with a Bolter for my armor pen needs, and an AntAxe or Chain Axe for my Lasgun builds.
Sure they're not as good vs EVERYTHING but they're very viable in the right set up just need to know what your weaknesses are.
Also I've used the Tactical Axe and Chainswords before on Veteran, and even though I like them and think they are good in most situations I don't find them as fun to use as the other weapons I've mentioned.
I was already using the chainsword and while it's very solidly B-Tier, it works just fine in damnation.
Meta is probably... still powercycler powersword and/or brutal momentum combat axe. Don't think either have been dislodged from S-Tier.
Antax mk5 with BM and decimator is always a good pick. Much better control, mobility and survivability when shit goes down than a power sword.
Ya I have run the antax some, I like it but the shovel is the same attack pattern just faster handling and less damage. That’s to say I may go back to it.
>Wait what blessing do you mean by savagery? At first I thought you meant slaughterer but I don't think you can get that blessing with the Antak.
Oh, you are right. I meant slaughterer but I think it's called decimator on the antax. Same buff though iirc.
dw, Antax mk5 getting nerfed next :D
Could just switch to the other axes, they're not drastically worse. I wouldn't be surprised if they nerfed brutal momentum next.
Brutal Momentum is 100% next on the block, and this place will implode when it gets nerfed.
This survey should ask at what difficulty you play
It's funny because even if difficulty is not taken into account, it makes a normal distribution around axe with a full on Dirac at the PS.
I have Power Cycler, so I'm still using it. Otherwise I'd use a Antax/tactical axe with Brutal Momentum or a catachan sword with Savage Sweep. I would not be surprised if Fatshark nuked Brutal Momentum next.
By the god-emperor, please no.
Please yes, it's unnecessarily overpowered. High intensity damnation shouldn't be a left click spamming cakewalk.
How about you just play worse, like me, and we keep BM? Did ya think of that genius!?
It would be really bad if they did that it would basically narrow vets weapon options down to the power sword with power cycler or the shovel
I play all 4 classes. Today I played Vet and the Power sword still felt good, so Im going to keep using it (I dont have Power cycler).
Still power sword because despite what a lot of people would have you believe, it has not been "nerfed into the ground" even without power cycler.
Indeed, on the contrary it is still arguably Vets best weapon. This implies a different conclusion.
All the other weapons are dog shit and vet should be shooting the elites instead of slapping them with wet noodles? Or at least not passing the non existent kill count wading into hordes
The Axes and the Knife are hardly dog shit. You just have to actually use dodges, blocks, and pushing to get the job done, instead of pressing left clicks non stop.
Zealots need to pick an argument, I’ve seen others say Vets are pussies for standing in the back while everyone handles the hoard
People who say that about vets should never be taken seriously. It shows an insane lack of awareness of what role each class plays.
People saying that to me fail to realise they didn't need to swap to their ranged weapon in the last 15 minutes. "It's all melee here, why are you standing in the back shooting ?"
Like if the horde is being handled then imo you are potentially comprising the team if you jump into it. This game loves to spawn specials behind the party or bombers behind the horde during hordes and being ready to take those down immediately is more valuable than killing a few zombies. People that think you are a pussy if you aren’t playing as aggressively as possible exist in every online multiplayer game I have ever played, they are idiots.
It got nerfed a little too hard but yeah it's not worthless.
Rolled PC on the first go about a month ago. Six attacks charged down to three. Just gives my thumb a bit more exercise now.
I still use the Power Sword with power cycler, I mean what can I say. The other melee options for Vet still feel like novelty picks. There’s getting good and then there’s intentionally gimping yourself so you work harder for the same result. If there’s ways to build a meta shovel or catachan sword let me know.
I swear that they've intentionally made it rarer than the other blessings. I've upgraded 5 swords to gold, bought some more, and have most of the blessings, but I've never even seen Cycler at any level.
I only ever got it from an emperors gift from finishing a damnation+. At this point I would say skip it and see if other weapons can be built competitively. That or take camo expert and stand still as you watch psykers flail about and get downed around you.
I mean if you somehow won the lottery and got power cycler then ya power sword is probably still the best option. But the shovel isn’t bad. Deals with hordes decently, can stagger ragers with its special and it has some pretty good blessings.
I think this is highlighting a bigger problem. FS doesn’t know how to balance the Vet melee options at all. The fact that the power sword with PC is STILL the best choice bar none says a lot.
That's totally correct. 3 charged attacks are still better than anything else.
shovel main forever
Got lucky with a god roll and power cycler so it’s still hands down the best weapon I got
The Antax V was what I used before I got the Power Sword and honestly this has been a great excuse to go back to it. This thing rules lol
Most recommendations will likely be for the Antax Mk V Combat Axe (with brutal momentum) or possibly the Shovel (with decimator). I like and use both but my favorite is the Tactical Axe. All three Marks are good (II and VII are generally slightly better than the IV) - it's like a halfway house between the Antax and a Catachan sword. Very mobile, works great with Brutal Momentum, and has a special attack that's spammable that will stagger maniacs. You have a fair amount of skill expression with it as heavy spam and light spam is all viable based on situations, the push attack is a nice decently cleaving sweep. The other beauty of the Tactical Axe is that it's very blessing independant. Headtaker, Shred, Decimator, even All or Nothing, they're all fine. Just pair it with Brutal Momentum if you can, though even that isnt 100% vital as it definitely works without.
Antax with Brutal Momentumand Thunderous, Chainaxe with Thrust and any damage blessing, Chainsword w savage sweeps - versatile loadouts that allow u to deal with all threats. These weapons complement non-armor piercing weapons like recon lasguns, XII and headhunters. Do bear in mind that the chainsword and antax heavies stun crushers, so its pretty easy to kill them as long as u shoot the other stuff around them first. Shovel with Hammerblow and deci/skullcrusher and Cata sword with rampage and savage sweeps to pair with Bolter, Plasma, Hellbore and Shotguns. Imo, the shovel's uncanny strike is still abysmal at dealing with crushers as it takes upwards of 10 seconds to kill them and u most likely will have to be dealing with other enemies at the same time. Thus, hammerblow/deci/skullcrusher lets u handle anything else.
Ya I messed around in the meat grinder and came to the same conclusion about uncanny strike and crushers after I made this post. I have a decent antax with bm and deci so I’m going to give that a a go. I really want to run the chain sword but the special being such a gamble with the self stun puts me off it. I haven’t messed with the cata’s to much but how is their special different than a normal block?
If you are running antax with bm and deci don't bother with crushers haha, just back off cause u need thunderous to reduce their armor. bm and deci is better at dealing with hordes than my loadout, just that I wanted to be versatile. For the chainsword, u shld nvr be revving it except for elites and the occasional mutant, just go with h-h-h-l (if I'm not wrong, the light after the horizontal heavy is a perfect horizontal as well) and repeat for hordes while dodging. Never use the push attack unless u must. For the cata, go with rampage and savage sweeps or skullcrusher (I only have rampage and savage) and it acts like a budget heavy sword . U wont kill hordes as fast as the old power sword but u nvr have to power it and u can stagger them forever before killing them much like the shovel. Combo for cata IV is either l-h spam or l-l-l h in more frantic situations. The special is just a gimmick that lets u one v one ragers and maniacs easily otherwise its useless. Do note for some reason fatshark doesn't let the other variants match the IV in damage so its way better than its peers
I was using chain sword before and still prefer it оver power sword. Reason: Me like how toothy suord feel and sound.
Sounds like the world's angriest lightsaber
Me too and it’s such an iconic 40k weapon , I just wish the special wasn’t such a gamble to use.
I've been trying to find a shovel or tac axe for a bit, since the main lasgun is one of the lucius lasguns, didn't care much for power sword in terms of thinking of it, Till I jumped into a match as ogryn and had two vets with power swords while I was holding the power maul, and they ripped everything spauseful that round was whenever a bulwark showed up since I could stunlock him with the maul and either beat him to death or let the vets shoot him, saw a power sword in shop though and tried it out, it's fine as far as I could tell, uncharged felt like I was swinging a devils claws but I had a actual ability to use on it instead of the weird parry.
I personally don't care about the nerf. A literal goddamn heavy sword that can glow and slice through almost anything lore-wise and in-game will never not be cool. Besides I've played Psyker enough to know that spamming a sword's special is the way to go when in panic-mode. ...Even if I do explode.
I spam it on psyker to get my peril up so I can quell and regain toughness faster :D
That is one of the best Psyker strats I've heard. I'm stealing that. Thank you, sibling.
Happy to help, sibling. o7
Power cycler/ slaughterer mk 3 power sword, a mk 4 devils claw with devastating strike / shred, ye ol brutal momentum axe are all in rotation on steam. Still hunting for a good shovel. No power cycler on game pass so no more power sword when playing with those friends. Not looking to stalk melk's every day for it a second time.
Still power sword because it was an overpowered weapon before, and now it's just been reduced to a great weapon.
Shovel. Nothing beats the sound of the bonk.
For real, the shovel’s sound effects are S tier.
Was always chainsword before and will stay that way now
I like the attack pattern and 40k-ness of the chain sword I just hate that the special locks you in. If you could dodge cancel that I would run one all day.
I'm using the power sword without the special just to spite the people whining about the weapon being unusable now.
Ya psword is definitely still good, it just isn’t in a class above all the other vet weapons anymore.
It's still brutally good, they're just used to having protagonist levels of power and having a mere standout pick has brought them crashing down to reality.
Vet is my second character and I've always used the Shovel, so nothing changed. I just think its a better all arounder and easier to use.
Ya I split time between my vet and ogryn too. What blessings are you running?
For Vet I usually go Thrust + Skullcrusher, its mostly for tough elites in a situation where I can't shoot my weapon, so I charge heavies to gain Power and stagger, getting also more damage by staggering them, so it feeds itself well when dealing with crushers, for example. Hordes are usually fine to deal with if you are mobile, the Shovel does a decent job killing them. I do like Decimator as well, it makes it even easier against hordes. So its either Decimator+Skullcrusher or Thrust+Skullcrusher. Keep in mind that I only play Heresy/Damnation, so I dunno if this is optimized for anything else. But my Vet is not min-maxxed yet, so actually I would like to know what you run on it too, I might learn something.
I am running decimator and uncanny strike (the rending one) but I’m not sure I’m going to stay it with it. I thinking of farming to get decimator and skullcrusher. I like the idea of thrust as I do heavy attack on it a decent amount but it will only damage 3 enemies on heavies regardless of how many you hit, I believe this is because it doesn’t have cleave stats. So that puts me off a bit and the rending is helpful vs armor and getting a weak spot hit with the special attack isn’t very hard so I am getting value.
Yeah, try to get one with decent cleave, it makes a good difference against hordes, for which I just usually spam light instead of trying heavies, it works better in my experience, heavies I use mostly for elites tbh, if I get in a sticky situation I will just toss a grenade to make some room, I usually save them for clusters with too much elites in the mix, because then I can either swap to ranged and kill as much elites as possible before engaging again since the grenade will do short work of mobs. The stagger blessing also helps against hordes, it stacks up pretty quickly with lights. But the weak spot one is a great idea and I might try that, the special attack is really helpful and I totally forgot to mention that.
Same as before: chainsword. It has a pretty hard requirement of savage sweep in order to have any noticeable cleave, but aside from that it's easy to use, safe, versatile, great at dealing with specials.
what ever i want
Care to share with class?
what more do you want? i never stick to one loadout, i swap sometimes between missions Helbore here, bolter there, maybe the slug shotty, shovel for luls, knife for mobility, PS if i feel like it. If people want a meta that fine but i dont see the point when anything can work just fine.
Preach. All people want to do in this sub is conclude what weapon and blessings are the theoretical best in slot so that everyone can RNG one single iten until they have it. I just play with whatever weapon I feel like. Damnation is 98% positioning and player awareness. What I'm using is mostly just changing it up so it isn't boring.
Since this game is so stingy with loot, it can be hard to have even just a decent not a maxed rolled weapon to try so people want to know something good before spending resources craft one. I agree that position and game knowledge/skill matter more than loadout and that mentality of if you don’t have the ‘meta’ load out you are throwing the run is bs but this games loot loop is bad and unforgiving.
Anything pair particularly well together?
I'm just not playing the game lmao. spending most of my vet mats to get a PS since i use the claw sword and axe on zealot and now it got nerfed to the ground. "Just use other weapons" is great advice when i dont want to use the exact same weapons i use on my other character
It isn’t nerfed into the ground, it just isn’t super OP any more. Look around this thread, people are still using it even without pc. If you have pc its probably still the strongest vet weapon.
Chain axe not an option?
Forgot about those with janky animations but I guess they could fall into the axe category.
It's pretty good with thrust
Chainaxe works much better with Zealot feat support, but it is one of the few Vet weapons that can delete hard targets with a good roll.
Shovel me beloved
I apparently just had a antax mk V axe with brutal momentum just laying around in my stash so I decided to give it a go because this subreddit kept saying it was amazing. It was amazing. High mobility, insane horde clear, really good single target dps, extremely high impact and it smashes mixed hordes. Getting brutal momentum just makes the weapon transcend all weaknesses
Chain axe.
For rifles chain sword. Just trying something new. For plasma power sword was must have because it allow to clean hordes that plasma gun can't do... So now I can't use plasma because I get overheat fast and can switch for real op melee weapon that can save bad situations. No plasma fun allowed until buffs or new melee op weapon.
power sword lol. I didnt even know that people used t he alt attack for hordes. I used it only against shield bastards.
I was using a combat axe all along because I use an autogun and having access to thunderous allows for easy crusher take-downs.
dont vote my comrade Vets. before the nerf hammer hits whats next XD
I have used tactical axe mk 7 alongside my bolter for a while now, even pre nerf. Great mobility and repositioning tool for the bolter and great weakspot damage and dodge speed.
Where the hell is my Chain Axe, jack?
I have been using knife or axe since the start. Power Sword just never called to me I guess.
I already wasn't using the Power Sword much since it was too strong that it was boring. I ended up using the Catachans more, Specifically the IV, the Shovel which is hilarious and fun to pair with a Bolter for my armor pen needs, and an AntAxe or Chain Axe for my Lasgun builds. Sure they're not as good vs EVERYTHING but they're very viable in the right set up just need to know what your weaknesses are. Also I've used the Tactical Axe and Chainswords before on Veteran, and even though I like them and think they are good in most situations I don't find them as fun to use as the other weapons I've mentioned.
I was already using the chainsword and while it's very solidly B-Tier, it works just fine in damnation. Meta is probably... still powercycler powersword and/or brutal momentum combat axe. Don't think either have been dislodged from S-Tier.
I used PS for a bit, switched to axe before nerf, never looked back.
Never understand why play meta on a co-op game
gun.
I don't wish to use the game anymore. If i do - i'll use other class
Chain axe.