Warhammer 40K Darktide: BEST Psyker Feats

Learn to make the most of Psyker by using the best Feats that the class has to offer!

Out of the four different classes in Darktide, utilizing a Psyker build efficiently is challenging. With a high-risk, high-reward-styled playstyle, Psyker players are usually great at taking enemies out from a distance and dealing high enough damage right after an Orgyn build. Knowing the Psyker’s best feats in Warhammer 40K Darktide will give you an edge in combat.

Key Takeaways
  • Psyker is mostly a ranged class that uses casting abilities, though melee builds are possible with the right Feats.
  • Many of Psyker’s Feats are centered around working with and managing Peril; a meter that downs the player if it gets filled.
  • With the right Feats, Psyker can use its powerful Brain Burst ability to take down many foes. 
  • Abilities and buffs such as Soulblaze and Warp Charges can be combined with the Feats to create a strong character.

Best Feats According To Playstyles

Psyker is considered tricky to use due to their Peril meter, which gets filled up as they use all sorts of abilities. When it gets filled up, the player explodes and gets downed. But if you understand how to manage Peril and use Psyker’s useful ability, Brain Burst, you’ll become a strong adversary.

We’ve discussed each of the Feat and which kind of players might benefit from which one in detail down below. But if you want a quick summary to determine which Feat might be best for your Psyker in Warhammer 40K Darktide, then here’s a table to help you out. Remember that this is only a general outline, you can mix and match by swapping out any Feat to match your playstyle more.

Level Beginner Melee Focused Brain Burst Focused Balanced
Level 5 Quietude Warp Absorption Essence Harvest Quietude
Level 10 Inner Tranquillity Psykinetic’s Wrath Wrack and Ruin Wrack and Ruin
Level 15 Cerebral Lacerations Psychic Communion Cerebral Lacerations Psychic Communion
Level 20 Mind in Motion Kinetic Shield Kinetic Shield Kinetic Shield
Level 25 Warp Battery Kinetic Overload Kinetic Flayer Kinetic Overload
Level 30 Kinetic Barrage Ascendant Blaze Kinetic Barrage Ascendant Blaze

Level 5

Psyker Best Feats Warhammer 40K Darktide
Psyker Level 5 Feats [Image by eXputer]
Like every class out there, the Level 5 Feats are more oriented towards regenerating your Toughness so that you’re not always running with low health during missions. Here is a summarised version of where each Feat might be useful:

  • Quietude: Best Feat for those who are just starting out and have difficulty managing Peril.
  • Warp Absorption: Good for those with a more aggressive build and have other Feats unlocked.
  • Essence Absorption: Niche, yet useful for builds that are centered around the Brain Burst ability.

Quietude

If you’re just starting out with little to no experience with Psyker, then Quietude is an obvious pick. It allows you to get 5% toughness for each 10% of Peril quelled. Managing your Peril can be tricky initially, and you’ll likely be quelling your Peril often, so you don’t blow yourself up.

As a beginner, or just at the start, you don’t have many alternatives to reduce your Peril through any other means except quelling. Therefore, using it as a way to regain Toughness is a good option. But if you’ve reached further in the game or are better at managing your Peril, there are some other risky but rewarding options.

Warp Absorption

If you’re a more advanced and aggressive player that has gotten the hang of Peril, then Warp Absorption might be useful for you. It allows you to get 10% toughness whenever you kill an enemy with a warp attack.

If you’re unaware, Warp Attacks are your abilities, staff attacks, and Force Sword special actions. These are all moves that you’ll likely be using often during combat. Therefore, you’ll be able to go on offense and defense simultaneously with Warp Absorption.

Essence Harvest

An important concept for the Psyker class is understanding Warp Charges. These are stackable buffs that get granted to you each time you use the Brain Burst ability. Without any upgrades, you can stack them up four times, and each charge lasts 25 seconds, while each stack increases your damage by 3%.

Therefore, Essence Harvest, which offers you 30% Toughness regeneration over five seconds each time you get a Warp Charge, can be a good option. But it depends more on what kind of build you’re working with. It might be a good option if you are trying to make maximum use of Brain Burst.

But to use the Feat as effectively as possible, you’ll likely need to combine it with other Feats as, on its own, it can put you at a rough spot with the amount of Peril you’ll gain each time you use Brain Burst.  

Level 10

Psyker best feats level 10 Warhammer 40K Darktide
Psyker Level 10 Feats [image taken by eXputer]
The Feats in Level 10 for Psyker are more focused on how to damage your enemies more effectively while also keeping Peril in mind. Here’s a general idea of where each Feat might be useful:

  • Inner Tranquillity: Useful for beginners that struggle with Peril or build that relies on Brain Burst.
  • Psykinetic’s Wrath: Requires mastery of Peril but can significantly boost melee damage.
  • Wrack And Ruin: A good and less risky offensive option that might suit support-styled builds.

Inner Tranquillity

Inner Tranquillity is great for beginners as well as those that are heavily reliant on Brain Burst. For every Warp Charge that you have, you’ll gain Peril 6% slower. As it can stack up to four times (without additional upgrades), you can have a 24% reduction. Therefore, the Feat is extremely useful for those that struggle with the Peril meter filling up too quickly.

Psykinetic’s Wrath

Psykinetic’s Wrath is one of those high-risk-high-reward Feats which might be more useful for those players that have gotten accustomed to Peril. With the Feat, you will gain anywhere between 5% to 15% increased damage on your melee weapon, depending on how much your Peril meter is filled.

Therefore, you’ll be encouraged to keep your Peril meter as full as it can be without dying. You’ll likely have to switch your weapons and be careful about what kind of abilities you’re using. But for aggressive melee builds, the 15% extra damage will make a huge difference and is worth it.  

Wrack And Ruin

The Wrack and Ruin is a safer, yet another great attack-focused Feat in Level 10. Killing an elite or specialist with Brain Burst will apply Soulblaze to all enemies within a 3-meter radius of the target. Usually, two stacks of Soulblaze will be applied, which can inflict a significant amount of damage over time.

Considering that there are always a good number of enemies near Elites or Specialists, you can benefit from Wrack and Ruin. But it will likely put you in more of a supportive position where you rely on your teammates to reduce the target’s health low enough for your Brain Burst actually to kill the target.

Level 15

all the best feats at level 15 for Psyker in Warhammer 40K Darktide
All Level 15 Feats for Psyker [image captured by eXputer]
The Feats that you unlock at Level 15 are geared towards teamwork and give you additional buffs for sticking together and getting Coherency. Here’s a general overview and use of each of the Feat:

  • Psykentic’s Aura: Helpful for teams that rely on Active Abilities against bosses.
  • Psychic Communion: Useful for gaining Warp Charges, making Brain Burst builds stronger.
  • Cerebral Lacerations: Situational and only useful against bosses.

Psykinetic’s Aura

If you and your allies rely on their Active abilities quite often, especially while remaining in Coherency, then Psykinetic’s Aura might be useful for you. Whenever you kill an elite, the Active Ability cooldown will reduce by 15% for you and your allies in Coherency.

The only drawback is that if you’re in an area with few Elites around, you won’t be able to use the Feat that often. Therefore, Psykinetic’s Aura is quite situational, and other options exist.

Psychic Communion

If you and your allies have got the hang of maintaining Coherency, then you’ll be able to use it to get a good number of buffs. Whenever you, or any of your allies, kill an enemy in Coherency, you’ll have a 4% chance of gaining Warp Charge.

Considering that your main source for Warp Charge is Brain Burst which increases your Peril, having an alternative method can be quite useful. If you combine Psychic Communion with other Feats, such as Essence Harvest (level 5) and Inner Tranquillity (level 10), you’ll have yourself a solid Brain Burst or Warp Charge-focused build.

Cerebral Lacerations

Cerebral Lacerations are one of those Feats that your entire squad can benefit from without having to be in Coherency. But just like Psykinetic’s Aura, the use of this Feat can be quite situational. Whenever you damage an enemy with Brain Burst, you’ll be able to deal 15% more damage to that enemy for the next five seconds.

Although that sounds great, you need to realize that regular enemies will likely die from Brain Burst, making the Feat useless against them. Therefore, you can only properly use the Feat against Elites or Specialists.

Level 20

level 20 best feats for Psyker Warhammer 40K darktide
All Psyker Level 20 Feats [captured by us]
The Feats that are available to you at Level 20 range between using Peril or Warp Charges. There are only two actual Feats that are useful, while the other one might not be a great choice for almost every Psyker Build.

  • Mind in Motion: Useful for almost any build as it lets you maintain your movement speed while reducing Peril.
  • Kinetic Shield: Great defensive Feat for Brain Burst or Ranged builds.
  • Kinetic Deflection: It might not be a good option for most players due to the added burden on the Peril meter.

Mind In Motion

Probably the best Feat for Psyker in Warhammer 40K Darktide at Level 20 is Mind in Motion. It allows you to move at full speed while quelling your Peril. Reducing your Peril is similar to reloading. Your movement speed will slow down, and you’ll be vulnerable while performing the action. In fact, reducing Peril takes longer than simple reloads, putting you in an even stickier situation.

Therefore, if you can maintain your regular movement speed, you’ll be able to get to safe distances or position yourself away from danger.

Kinetic Shield

Depending on how many Warp Charges you have, you’ll take reduced Toughness damage from ranged attacks. The buff caps at 35% reduced toughness damage. You’ll likely get your Warp Charges from your ranged ability, Brain Burst. Therefore, reducing ranged damage will be a huge advantage and can be useful for builds centered around Brain Burst.

Kinetic Deflection  

Kinetic Deflection is the type of Feat that the majority of the players might avoid. It lets you use your Peril instead of Stamina while blocking, as long as your Peril meter isn’t red (critical). Because your Peril meter is used for so many other abilities, it doesn’t feel too advantageous to use it in place for Stamina.

Level 25

level 25
All Psyker Level 25 Feats [image by eXputer]
Each of the Level 25 Feats for Psyker are quite useful for all sorts of builds in Warhammer 40K Darktide. Whether you’ve got a melee build, Brain Burst Build or just rely on Warp Charges, there is something for everyone. It is important to analyze which Feats you’re already using in order to pick the best one out of the three.

  • Warp Battery: The best option for every Psyker player out there due to the increase in Warp Charges.
  • Kinetic Flayer: If you can work with the cooldown, Kinetic Flayer can be useful for those that love using Brian Burst.
  • Kinetic Overload: Works best for melee builds or those that don’t rely on Warp Charges.

Warp Battery

Probably the Feat that any build could take advantage of is Warp Battery. It increases your maximum stackable Warp Charges to six. That means that through your passive ability, Warp Siphon, you’ll be able to get a total of 18% increase in damage (3% per stack).

You can further combine Warp Battery with Essence Harvest (Level 5) to pretty much refill your Toughness meter with ease. And Inner Tranquillity (Level 10) will allow you to reduce your Peril meter filling rate by 36%. Therefore, with increased damage, higher shield regeneration, and with slower Peril build-up, you’ll have a great mix of offense and defense where you can use many of your abilities without many consequences.

Kinetic Flayer

Like many of the Feats that we’ve discussed so far, there is always one Feat that might be great for a build that uses the Brain Burst ability as its main form of attack. That is the same case for Kinetic Flayer, as it gives you a 10% chance of inflicting Brain Burst whenever you hit an enemy.

The only drawback is that there is a 15-second cooldown whenever the Feat gets activated. That’s mostly an issue if you’re trying to use Brain Burst on hordes of enemies. But against bosses, Kinetic Flayer can be quite useful.

Kinetic Overload

Although many builds do rely on Warp Charges and Brain Burst, there might be a chance that you’ve taken a different path. In that case, Kinetic Overload is a great option as if you already have maximum stacks of Warp Charge and are about to get another one, instead of getting the Warp Charge, you’ll inflict Soulblaze on a nearby enemy.

The target who gets inflicted is mostly random, but Elites are most likely to get affected by the Soulblaze. Considering there is no cooldown, Kinetic Overload is great for melee builds while dealing with multiple enemies.

Level 30

level 30
All Psyker Level 30 Feats [image by Us]
Like most other classes, the Level 30 Feats are focused on Psyker’s active ability, Psykinetic Wrath. Depending on what kind of build you’re working with, one of the Feats will be an obvious choice from the rest. But if you don’t heavily rely on Warp Charges, then there are two other good options available.

  • Ascendant Blaze: Useful for balanced players that rely on Warp Charges but also use other means, especially Soulblaze, to damage enemies.
  • Quicken: If you rely on Psyker’s active ability, then Quicken is a good way to use it almost twice in a row.
  • Kinetic Barrage: Most players will benefit from this Feat as it’ll let you use Brain Burst more often in a short time period.

Ascendant Blaze

Starting off with a Feat that might be used best by players that are focused on a balanced build that relies on Warp Charges as well as other means of damaging enemies. Whenever you use Pskinetic Wrath, all of your Warp Charges will get used up to apply Soulblaze to all those enemies that you hit with the ability. The stack of Soulblaze will depend on how many Warp Charges you had at the time.

Additionally, you’ll have a 10% chance of getting Warp Charge if enemies die from Soulblaze. The Soulblaze doesn’t have to be the one from Ascendant Blaze and can be from something like Wrack and Ruin (level 10) or Kinetic Overload (level 25).

The Feat is mostly useful for players that are going up against hordes of enemies as the Soulblaze will continue to damage them over time while you can get to a safe distance to plan out your next move or simply gather your Warp Charges again. And if you combine it with the mentioned Feats, you can quickly stack up your Warp Charges with ease, without relying on Brain Burst.

Quicken

If you’re the type of player that likes using Psyker’s active ability quite often, then Quicken will be a good choice for you. Whenever you use Psykinetic Wrath, the cooldown for when you can use the ability again will be reduced by 12.5% for each Warp Charge that you had. Therefore, 50% if you had four charges and 75% if you had six.

Kinetic Barrage

Lastly, probably the more popular pick among Psyker players will be Kinetic Barrage, as it doesn’t get rid of your Warp Charges, allowing you to maintain any buffs that rely on it. Instead, for the next 10 seconds after using your Psykinetic Wrath, Brain Burst recharges 25% faster and consumes 50% less Peril.

All these buffs will let you use Brain Burst in quick succession and eliminate multiple targets. And considering Psykinetic Wrath also reduces your Peril by 50%, you won’t have to worry about filling up on Peril while using Brain Burst during those 10 seconds.

With that, you know all about the best Feats for Psyker in Warhammer 40K Darktide. Depending on what kind of playstyle you’re going with, your preference for the best Feats may vary. That is why we thoroughly discussed the Feats and gave a general outline for what might work for you!

If you are new to the game, then our Warhammer 40K Darktide tips and tricks guide. There is a Toughness Bug associated with a certain class that you may not want to use it for now unless developers fix it. It does not affect the weapon unlock levels but it still impacts the overall gameplay of a particular class.   

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Atik Younas is a Junior Guides Writer on eXputer with decent experience writing about games. He’s an avid 3D designer and a coding wizard who gets fascinated by the technical aspects of the latest games. He’s got a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and loves enjoying well-written stories and combat mechanics in games. Atik has been playing games for more than 10+ years now. Most notably he has spent 1,000+ hours on GTA V Online and Minecraft! Feel free to get in touch with Atik on his gaming profile at Xbox and PSN. Experience: 2+ Years || Education: Bachelor's in Computer Science || Written 200+ Guides || Mainly Covers Game Strategy Guides on eXputer

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