A Marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting. In the case of Darktide, weak point kills.
The main difference between military Marksmen and Snipers is that Marksmen are usually considered an organic part of a fireteam of soldiers and are never expected to operate independently away from the main force, whereas Snipers are special ops troops specialized in camouflage who usually work alone or in very small teams with independent mission objectives.
Marksmen are attached to an infantry fireteam or squad (where they are known as designated Marksmen) where they support the squad by providing accurate long-range shots at valuable targets as needed, thus extending the effective tactical reach of the fireteam or squad.
This Honour is only awarded to those who have shown remarkable accuracy with ranged weapons or consistently perform far above average in targeting foes. To even be considered for such an Honour, a Battle-Brother must have made a near-impossible shot, such as striking a chink in a man-sized opponent’s armor at the edge of his weapon’s maximum range, snap-shooting a target while running in complete darkness.
Disclaimer - This is the definitive Marksman role build, nothing about this build is generalist and it relies on your ability to click on heads. If you cannot devote yourself to the role and adapt to the playstyle, look elsewhere.
Position yourself from a high vantage point, behind cover, or just from behind the rest of the team, the Marksman's job is to thin enemy numbers with precise shots while looking out for and tagging larger foes.
This build is all gas and minimum survivability while highlighting all the qualities of an expert Marksman who exerts skill, control, and discipline.
Unless swarmed by hoards of trash mobs or dealing with a boss, you should be well positioned behind cover clicking on the heads of elite and specialist targets.
Use grenades liberally on hordes and carapace armored targets and ragers in packs of three or greater.
Spam your ability in combat and preemptively when entering new combat zones, the data you provide with Executioners' Stance is priceless to your allies and how they engage situations.
Your melee option with this build should specialize in good hoard clear, boss damage/carapace armored targets, and provide solid mobility. My suggestions are the Cadia Mk IV Chainsword (example shown above) or the Rashad Mk II Combat Axe (Brutal Momentum, All or Nothing, or Thrust).
Any ranged option can work for this build if you have the skills to pay the bills, even the plasma gun (for a more Ogryn-centered Marksman). I believe that the MG IV and XII rolled as shown above, are the two best options. You ideally want a firearm with a high ammo count.
If you can dedicate yourself to the bit and play the role as intended you will do the job the team needs, a shooter exterminator is invaluable. Making mistakes with a build like this will put you on the floor.
If you need more freedom in gaining Marksman stacks, I suggest swapping Long Range Assassin for Camouflage in the keystone. This option is strictly preference. Any further adjustments should be based on the skill level of the operator.
Exhilarating Takedown is currently bugged and will cause you to take more damage than intended in a melee situation. Deselect this node and swap it with your preference until FatShark patches the bug, if you must. Although, I do still take Exhilarating Takedown. Because in the situation when you are posted up shooting a pack of gunners, you only need to headshot 1 gunner to proc an incredibly strong toughness buff that allows you to tank the incoming fire that gets even stronger after 3 weakspot kills (on any target). In combination with Confirmed Kill and Close Order Drill, your toughness (while actively getting weakspot kills) will not break and is incredibly strong (read talent descriptions). These toughness combinations are immensely effective, currently super underrated and slept on. I highly suggest you take these talents for this playstyle, regardless of the Exhilarating Takedown bug. However, your melee game must be squared away.
Protip, use crouch to move freely without dropping any Marksman stacks. Space your dodges between weak point kills (under the 3-second grace period) to retain mid-combat Marksman stacks. Don't worry too much about maintaining stacks, they build up fast and will always be there, just do your job. That statement assumes you can consistently get headshots...
This build provides insane bonus damage to ranged attacks. Without diving into how finesse power and weakspot damage calculates, this build puts you somewhere around 260% bonus damage on ranged attacks under optimal buffs at the weakspot...before crits...
I have played this build a lot since the Keystone update and the following hotfix. I do not subscribe to any theory that a Veteran is "weak" or that the skill tree is flawed. FatShark has boiled the Veteran down to three types of roles, Ranged DPS, Support, and Melee DPS with some flexibility thrown in. You cannot have it all and do it all anymore. You must find the role that fits the identity you align yourself with. Weapon rolls and blessing choices are also more critical to your overall build as well, now. I have found that this build performs exceptionally well in a fireteam built around specific roles even in the highest difficulty, yes it is skill-dependent.
I hope you found this build and guide helpful.
Let go of hope, and cling to vengeance.
One shot, one kill.
Severe the head, the body dies.
For Cadia!
DrDamagePHD
