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Ogryns are towering abhumans that are often used as meat shields and frontline soldiers in the world of Warhammer 40K. They fulfill a similar role in Darktide, where they specialize in melee combat and tanking while also providing valuable support for the rest of their party.

Related: Warhammer 40K Darktide Ogryn Skullbreaker: Tips & Tricks For Beginners

If you’re thinking about playing an Ogryn Skullbreaker in Warhammer 40K: Darktide, you have a couple of different options at your disposal. Turning your Ogryn character into a tank is the most obvious option, but you can also focus on damage and crowd control instead. Of course, in order to make the most out of your abilities and weapons, you’ll first need a proper build.

Ogryn Skullbreaker Tank/Support Build

Ogryn wielding a shield in Darktide

This first build is designed for players who love the idea of playing a tank in Warhammer 40K: Darktide. Unfortunately, there’s no taunting or any other similar abilities in the game, but you can still defend your allies by making sure enemies focus their attention on you instead of them.

The secondary purpose of this build is to allow you to play your Ogryn character as a support of sorts. Darktide doesn’t have a dedicated support class, but you can play the Ogryn Skullbreaker as a support to some extent by focusing on Feats that help your allies and rushing to pick them up whenever they get downed.

Feats

Ogryn tank/support build Feats for Darktide

Level 5

Lynchpin

‘Best Form of Defence…’ might seem like the obvious choice for a tank build, but you’ll actually want to spend your first skill point on ‘Lynchpin’ instead. Lynchpin allows allies in Coherency to passively replenish their Toughness twice as fast as normal. Don’t worry about having to stick to your allies like glue to make the most out of this feat because you can expand the Coherency radius later on.

Level 10

Heavyweight

‘Heavyweight’ is the only feat on the second row that increases your defensive capabilities, and not by a small margin, either. Whenever possible, you’ll want to engage enemies as big as yourself in melee and have them focus their attention on you. This Feat allows you to withstand a lot more punishment while you’re fighting them while also allowing you to deal more damage in return.

Level 15

Towering Presence

Warhammer 40K: Darktide encourages players to stick close to each other via the Coherency mechanic. However, you’ll still run into players who love running around the map all by themselves in a lot of matches. While you can’t force people to stick close together, you can at least increase your Coherency radius using this Feat. ‘Towering Presence’ synergizes not just with ‘Lynchpin’ but also Intimidating Presence, the Ogryn Skullbreaker’s Aura ability.

Level 20

Hard As Nails

All three Feats you unlock at level 20 are good for tanking, so this row is mostly a matter of preference. ‘Hard As Nails’ is the best of the bunch if you’re mostly playing with random or low-level players where the chances of somebody getting downed are pretty high. Ogryns are already better than other classes at reviving and assisting allies, thanks to the ‘Loyal Protector’ iconic ability. ‘Hard As Nails’ simply makes you even better at it.

Level 25

Payback Time

Unlike the previous row, this one doesn’t contain any Feats specifically designed for tanking. ‘Payback Time’ is probably your best bet here since you’ll often find yourself surrounded by Poxwalkers as you’re trying to keep hordes off your allies’ backs. It also comes in handy when you’re fighting several hostile Ogryns at once. The damage buff stacks with the one you get from ‘Heavyweight’.

Level 30

Unstoppable

‘Unstoppable’ is a very good utility talent that allows you to travel much further when using your class ability. This helps you reach downed allies faster and can also be used to intercept incoming Pox Hounds or Trappers before they reach the rest of your party. Moreover, ‘Unstoppable’ allows you to knock over a lot more enemies with Bull Rush, making it easier for your party to finish them off.

Weapons

Ogryn tank build recommended weapons

Battle Maul & Slab Shield: Your choice for melee is pretty self-explanatory. The Slab Shield is a fantastic defensive tool as it can block melee and, more importantly, range damage. You also get a Battle Maul to go along with it, so use it to bash enemies when you’re not defending with the shield.

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There aren’t a lot of defensive modifiers to choose from, so get Block Efficiency for your first one and Sprint Efficiency for the second one. For traits, you’ll want to go with Skullbreaker and Confident Strike.

Grenadier Gauntlet: Although you’ll be spending most of your time in melee, having a good ranged weapon comes in handy when you need to soften up enemies from afar. The Grenadier Gauntlet is a good choice with this build since it gives you some nice AoE damage while also allowing you to stagger groups of enemies that are attacking your allies.

The Grenadier Gauntlet takes a while to reload, so grab the Reload Speed modifier to speed things up. You’ll mainly use the Grenadier gauntlet against swarms, so pick the extra Damage to Unarmored Enemies as the second modifier. And then, for traits, you can go with Pinpointing Target and Reassuringly Accurate.

Curios

Ogryn tank build recommended curios

There are a couple of ways of going about customizing your Curios, the most obvious of which would be to focus entirely on extra health to the detriment of everything else. However, you might not need a ton of health in some situations, so it’s better to spread things around.

  • First Curio trait: Max Health. Modifiers: Health X 3
  • Second Curio trait: +1 Wound. Modifiers: Damage Resistance (Snipers), Damage Resistance (Tox Flamers), Damage Resistance (Gunners)
  • Third Curio trait: Toughness. Modifiers: Revive Speed (Ally), Toughness Regeneration Speed, Corruption Resistance (Grimoires)

Ogryn Skullbreaker Damage/Crowd Control Build

Ogryn using a Heavy Stubber

Just as its name suggests, this second build focuses more on damage, so a lot of the Feats will revolve around heavy attacks and bleed stacks. Depending on the composition of your party, you can let Psykers or Veterans deal with Specialists and Elite enemies as you focus primarily on crowd control instead. That said, don’t hesitate to engage troublesome enemies when needed. You’re still an Ogryn, after all, and can go toe-to-toe with every type of enemy found in Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

Feats

Ogryn damage build recommended feats

Level 5

Best Form of Defence…

Unless you're using a shield, the best form of defense is indeed a good offense when you’re playing an Ogryn. Be careful when picking this perk, though, because heavy melee attacks are very slow and can land you in hot water if you’re not careful, especially when you’re already surrounded. Ideally, you’ll want to use them after you create a bit of space with Bull Rush or dodging.

Level 10

Blood and Thunder

Warhammer 40K: Darktide doesn’t really explain how status effects work, but they’re pretty much what you would expect. Bleed is the most important one to keep in mind when playing as an Ogryn Skullbreaker, as you have two Feats related to it, with the first one being "Blood and Thunder." Bleed causes targets to take damage over time and applies to all enemies hit by your heavy melee attacks. This Feat is very useful when fighting armored opponents and also helps you finish off weaker ones.

Level 15

Bullfighter

Bull Rush is very useful when you’re focusing on crowd control, so any Feat that allows you to use it more often is an absolute must-have. 10% cooldown reduction may not sound like much, but it quickly adds up during prolonged fights. ‘Bullfighter’ is especially helpful while playing on higher difficulties where you’ll run into Elite enemies way more often.

Level 20

Bloodthirst

'Bloodthirst' is great for both tanking and damage builds but seems a bit more appropriate for the latter since it focuses more on applying to bleed. At most, you can get 50% damage reduction thanks to this Feat, which will allow you to stay alive long enough to see all your bleeding enemies die one by one.

Level 25

Raging Bull

The description of this one sounds a bit convoluted, but essentially you get bonus damage on a follow-up melee attack based on how many targets you hit with your first swing. The bonus damage is 5% per target and quickly adds up when you’re fighting tons of enemies. Ideally, you want to use a heavy attack to cleave through a bunch of weak enemies and then use the extra damage of your next swing on a powerful foe. ‘Raging Bull’ is sort of the equivalent of charging up your Force Sword as a Psyker. It’s more difficult to pull off but can lead to more devastating attacks.

Level 30

Bull Gore

‘Bull Gore’ combines Ogryn’s two favorite activities – charging blindly at enemies and making them bleed. Although very useful, Bull Rush doesn’t usually inflict any direct damage, so it’s more of an opener than anything else. ‘Bull Gore’ changes that by allowing you to inflict bleeds on enemies hit by your charge. The two bleed stacks will inflict 10 damage per second, so not a huge amount, but still enough to kill many enemies in many situations.

Weapons

Recommended weapons for Ogryn damage build in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Bully Club: While the maul and shield are your best option for tanking, you’ll want to switch to the good old Bully Club if you’re looking to deal more melee damage. The Bully Club has a higher reach than other melee weapons, thus allowing you to easily apply bleeding to more targets when fighting hordes.

The recommended modifiers are pretty straightforward. With extra Damage to Unarmored Enemies and extra Damage to Carapace Armored Enemies, you’re covering most of your bases. Bully Clubs have a lot of great traits, so feel free to pick differently, but with this build, we recommend going with Haymaker and Thrust.

Twin-Linked Heavy Stubber: The Heavy Stubber is a devastating weapon that can be used effectively against most types of enemies. It’s not particularly accurate, but that’s not a huge issue since you’re mainly going to use it at close to medium range anyway.

This weapon can hold a lot of ammo but takes ages to reload, so you should pick Reload Speed as one or both of its modifiers. If you don’t want two identical modifiers, your best bet for the second one is Increased Ranged Critical Strike Chance. As far as traits are concerned, Charmed Reload and Deathspitter are both good picks.

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Curios

Darktide Ogryn damage build recommended curios

When customizing your Curious, you’ll generally want to go with a little bit of everything. Their traits and modifiers are primarily defensive or utilitarian, so you can’t rely too much on them to increase your damage output.

  • First Curio trait: +1 Wound. Modifiers: Combat Ability Regeneration X 3
  • Second Curio trait: +1 Wound. Modifiers: Damage Resistance (Snipers), Damage Resistance (Gunners), Damage Resistance (Bombers)
  • Third Curio trait: Max Stamina. Modifiers: Toughness Regeneration Speed X 2, Corruption Resistance

Next: Warhammer 40K Darktide: Everything You Need To Know About Grimoires And Scriptures