'Beyond the Hive' free update, out now! Patch 1.11.0 & Expeditions!

Today’s update is quite big. We are introducing Expeditions, our new game mode, to Darktide. You will be able to venture on missions outside of Hive Tertium, and fight your way through more open landscapes than we usually have inside of the Hive. With Expeditions we are also introducing the Ogryn Pack Master, a new Monstrosity, and his companions, the Armoured Pox Hounds.

On top of this we are also implementing a number of balancing changes, with various refinements to both core game classes and the DLC ones, Arbites and Hive Scum. We have also made some balance changes to weapons. 

Finally we have also added a bunch of quality of life improvements and bug fixes.

Patch 1.11.0 is now being rolled out on all platforms, and while you wait for it to download you can read the notes below! Let’s get right to it!

A new game mode that can be accessed through the Expeditions Menu terminal, on the left side of the Mission Board. The players’ objective in the mode is to explore a sequence of Scavenge Zones in search of Tech-Remnants.

• Scavenge Zones have randomly-spawned elements in them, so no two runs are the same.

• Scavenge Zones are much more open and sandbox-like than regular Darktide missions.

The choice of when exactly to end a run is in the players’ hands - they can go to an extraction point and call a Valkyrie to come pick them up.

• In-between Scavenge Zones, the players can visit Deadsider Sanctuaries - safe zones in which they can trade Salvage (an in-run currency found while exploring) for helpful items.

  • This includes completely new gadgets, like grenades that summon artillery strikes.

Each run has a time limit, since the environment outside of Tertium is heavily polluted.

• Players start with 15 minutes on the clock.

• Entering a Deadsider Sanctuary regenerates 5 minutes (still capped at 15).

• After running out of time, the players start gaining corruption.

  • The corruption gain is slow at first and ramps up over time.

  • Corruption won’t build up past 1 HP.

During a run, the players can access their auspex to discover Sites of Interests - places that contain large quantities of Tech-Remnants.

The Expeditions map is a custom menu through which players access Expeditions - similar to the Mission Board for regular missions.

It presents the players with a map consisting of several nodes.

• Each Grid Point is a unique configuration of Expeditions, with different randomization parameters.

• This includes environmental modifiers like the Dust Vortex, and enemy modifiers like Hunting Grounds.

By extracting Tech-Remnants, players unlock more of the nodes on the map. The map will be changed at regular intervals, to ensure the mode stays fresh.

Expeditions are accompanied by Penances that reward players for engaging with the mode. These come with new cosmetic rewards, including a new set of cosmetic items for each of the four base classes, in two color schemes.

To accompany the release of the mode, players can take part in a new live event - Deadside Patrol. Starting today until April 6, playing Expeditions and extracting Tech-Remnants from runs will advance your progression in the Deadside Patrol event. Different tiers of the event will reward Plasteel, Diamantine and Ordo Dockets, and the final tier will award players with the following portrait frame:

New monstrosity in the form of a Ogryn wielding a shocking prod that will afflict any players hit by it with higher Stamina cost and lower Stamina regeneration for 10 seconds. 

The Pack Master and his hounds will initially spawn exclusively in the new game mode Expeditions.

New Armoured version of the Pox Hound, this dog is a bit slower and heavier than its unarmoured version; it will only show up together with the Ogryn Pack Master.

Dev Note: “Hey guys. This update sees a new layout for Hive Scum’s talent tree. We felt that the old version had some snags and a general sense of friction to it, so the whole thing has been redesigned to be more cost effective and dynamic.” - Teodor, class designer.

• New layout added for Hive Scum Talent Tree.

Hive Scum Talents

Dev note: “We are also cleaning out a few lesser picked talents and replacing them with new ones or moving them somewhere else. We want the Hive Scum tree to feel as cohesive as we can, and this should be another step in the right direction, without losing the explosive feel of the class.”

• One of the two +25 Toughness Boost nodes has been removed. Hive Scum’s Base Toughness has been increased from 75 to 100 to compensate.

• New Class Iconics:

  • Hive Scum now has +1 Effective Dodges by default, and the ‘Moving Target’ talent has been removed.

  • The talent ‘Like the Wind’ has been removed from the Talent Tree and is now active for Hive Scum by default.

• New Talents:

  • Alley Rat +50% Dodge Distance.

    • “This talent acts as a twin to ‘Nimble’. They are mutually exclusive to one another and only one of them can be picked. As our most mobile class, Hive Scum should have plenty of customizability when it comes to how to dodge and move about.”

  • Street Tough When taking Melee Damage, knock all nearby Enemies around you backwards and gain +10% Movement Speed for 3s. Can only trigger once every 8s.

  • Channelled Devastation Each 1% of your current Critical Hit Chance grants a stack of +0.5% Melee Damage. Stacks 30 times (up to +15% Melee Damage).

  • Splash Damage Killing an Elite Enemy with a Melee Attack infects up to 10 enemies within 4m of the target with 2 stacks of Chem Toxin.

    • “Similarly to the Chem Grenade, this talent is also capped at 2 stacks of toxin, and only adds stacks up to that value.”

  • Virulent Strain When infecting an Enemy with Chem Toxin, increase their damage taken by +10% from all sources for 5s.

• Removed Talents:

  • ‘Loose Formation’.

  • ‘Untouchable’.

  • ‘Gang Tough’.

Dev Note: “We have changed how ‘Toxic Renewal’ works. The issue with the old version was that it was pretty easy for your kills to become swallowed by the toxin instead, which would deny the talent. This new version, while fundamentally different, should allow for good Toughness control while dipping into the toxin spreading archetype of the class.”

• Toxic Renewal Replenish 1% Toughness every 1s for each Chem Toxin infected Enemy within 15m, up to a maximum of 10 Enemies.

Dev Note: “‘Pickpocket’ has been in the talks a lot lately. While a near infinite ammo source can become problematic, it is also a talent that the run-n-gun playstyle of Hive Scum greatly benefits from. So, we are making some targeted changes, leaning into Scum's usual deliberately aggressive and up-close playstyle for the bonus to take effect.”

• Pickpocket Killing an Elite or Specialist Enemy with a Melee Attack while Ammo Reserve is below 20% will refill it to 20%.

• Castigator’s Stance

  • Damage Resistance from 80% to 70%

  • New: Increase Strength by 20%

• Writ of Execution

  • Max Stacks from 10 to 6

  • Damage per stack from 5% to 7.5% (max from 50% to 45%)

  • Duration from 10s to 12s

• Blessed Armament

  • Cooldown from 1.5s to Once per attack

• Nuncio-Aquila

  • Stun Immunity changed from during Ranged Secondary Fire only to Stun Immunity at all times

• Terminus Warrant - Reworked

Dev Note: Terminus Warrant has since the release of Arbites been one of the least popular keystones across all Classes. In this update we're trying to bring in changes that make it less difficult to get value out of.

• New Description reads: Ranged Attacks grant stacks of Melee Justice for each Enemy Hit (max 20), Weakspot hits grant 3 stacks. Wielding your Primary Weapon spends your Melee Justice stacks to grant you +10% Melee Strength and +20% Toughness Damage Reduction for 12s.

• Melee Hits grant stacks of Ranged Justice (max 20). Wielding your Secondary Weapon spends your Ranged Justice stacks to grant you +10% Ranged Strength, +50% Ranged Cleave and +50% Suppression for 12s.

• Writ of Judgement

  • New Description reads: Spending 20 stacks grants +10% Melee and Ranged Attack Speed, as well as +10% Crit Chance for 12s.

• Terminal Decree

  • New Description reads: For each stack you spend, replenish 1% Toughness to you and Allies in Coherency.

• Obstinate

  • New Description reads: Spending 20 stacks grants you +33% Ability Cooldown Regeneration, for 12s.

• Dispense Justice

  • Removed

• Force of Will

  • Toughness from 10% to 7.5%

• Base Passive

  • Dev Note: Although his movement is a bit clumsy, he tries his best, and should be rewarded for it by making him hurt a bit less.

  • New: While Dodging and for 0.25s afterwards, you have +50% Damage Resistance.

• Point Blank Barrage

  • Dev Note: Point Blank Barrage was left in the dust and forgotten by many, but with the release of Expeditions, we've stumbled upon a new and improved version, with some Ammo to spare!

  • Duration from 10s to 12s

  • New: When Point Blank Barrage ends, replenish 50% of Ammo spent to your Reserve.

• Indomitable

  • Will now always stagger enemies hit.

• Go Again

  • Cooldown replenished from 2.5% to 2%

• Frag Bomb

  • Now always kills Human-sized enemies (non-Captains)

• Big Friendly Rock

  • Now always kills Specialist enemies.

• Steady Grip

  • From ‘... while bracing your Ranged Weapon’ to ‘... while bracing or shooting your Ranged Weapon’

• Mobile Emplacement

  • From ‘... while bracing a Ranged Weapon’ to ‘... while bracing or shooting a Ranged Weapon’

• Dedicated Practice

  • Weapon Swap Speed from 20% to 35%

• Slam

  • Cooldown from 1s to 0.75s

• Crunch

  • Damage from 15% to 30%

• Telekine Shield 

  • Dev Note: The Telekine Shield has long dominated Psyker builds, and more specifically the Telekine Dome. To add some more variety, we're trying to incentivize choosing the Wall variant by making it wider, and making the Bolstered Shield talent more easily available.

  • Base Size increased by 50%

  • Cooldown from 45s to 40s

• Telekine Dome

  • New: Cooldown increased to 60s.

• Swapped positions of Bolstered Shield and Enervating Threshold

• Bolstered Shield

  • Removed: Cooldown reduction.

• Psykinetic’s Aura

  • Cooldown Regeneration from 60% to 50%

• Malefic Momentum

  • Duration from 8s to 10s

• Get Back in the Fight! - Removed

Dev Note: Get Back in the Fight! was seldom picked, and even then with little success. With the changes to Plasma Gun this new Talent should come in handy:

• New Talent: Withering Fire

  • Effect: +50% Ranged Cleave.

• Executioner’s Stance

  • Duration from 5s to 6s

• Enhanced Target Priority

  • Outline Duration from 5s to 6s

• The Bigger They Are… 

  • Duration from 8s to 9s.

• Voice of Command

  • Cooldown from 30s to 40s

• Only in Death Does Duty End

  • No longer increases Cooldown

  • No longer decreases Radius

• Infiltrate

  • Cooldown from 45s to 40s

  • Damage bonus Duration from 5s to 8s

• Zealous

  • New: 0.15s Stamina Regeneration Delay Reduction.

• Impassable

  • Block Cost Reduction from25% to 50%

• Riposte

  • Damage from 3% to 5%

  • Stacks from 5 to 3

• Punishment

  • Minimum hits requirement from 3 to 2

Dev Note: The differences between the two marks of Shivs were not large enough, leading the Mk I to outperform the Mk III even in its intended multi-target niche.

• Improvised Mk I

  • Lowered base Cleave for Light attacks to {1.0, 3.0}, from {3.0, 5.0} for Light 1 / Light 3 and {2.0, 4.0} for Light 2 / Light 4

• Improvised Mk III

  • Heavy Vanguard 1st target damage from {90,160} to {95,170}

  • Heavy Vanguard 1st target impact from {4,8} to {5,9}

Dev Note: While the Crowbar secondary stance provided good control and damage, it was often hard to use its attacks effectively in more involved situations.

The changes aim to lower the penalty when canceling out of a stuck attack, while also increasing the reward in damage when completing it. We are also slightly increasing the speed of the Special mode change action, to allow it to be weaved more easily into high-paced gameplay.

• Stamina drain on canceling a stuck attack from 0.2 to 0.05 (lowered)

• Damage for Heavy stuck attack second instance from {120,240} to {130,260}

• Special mode change time scale from 1.1 to 1.2 (sped up around 10%)

Dev Note: The Thunder Hammer provides great damage when empowered, but was often lackluster when unempowered, especially against the Maniac type enemies. This would lead to situations where it was unable to have good options when faced with common enemy compositions.

• Raised Armour Damage Modifier vs Maniac for multiple profiles:

  • Lights 1st target from 0.5 to 0.75

  • Lights other targets from 0.5 to 0.6

  • Heavy Relentless 1st target from 0.5 to 0.75

  • Heavy Relentless other targets from 0.5 to 0.6

Dev Note: The Heavy Sword is intended to have a weakness when it comes to the more heavily armoured enemies, and especially the ones clad in Carapace armour. However, this created a situation where spamming the Special attack was too often the best course of action, leading to a very one-dimensional gameplay experience.

In this update we are tweaking the Special attack, lowering its immediate damage output but making it a stronger opener for the following attacks thanks to a small Brittleness on-hit debuff.

The unique Light attack performed after the Special was also improved, with additional direct offensive properties but also making it able to cleave more easily through all armour types, including Carapace.

Finally, we reworked the Bladed Momentum blessing to provide a smaller maximum bonus that is in turn much easier to maintain.

Alongside the above changes, we also took a pass on the overall weapon family, cleaning up some rough edges and polishing several attack hitboxes and ranges.

• Check out the post in the forums for the full list of changes, here!

Dev Note: The Power Falchion is a very reliable and easy to use weapon, but was lacking a little oomph when it came to its activated attacks. We are giving them a gentle bump to bring the family more in line with the other power weapon options.

• Increased 1st target damage over all the Special active profiles by around 5-10%

Dev Note: The chain timings and input buffering for both Light and Heavy attacks on the Mk XV Heavy Eviscerator were particularly unintuitive, causing situations where attack chains could be dropped in an annoying fashion.

Thanks to player “SpookySkeleTOM” (among others) for bringing this to our attention!

• Tigrus Mk XV

  • Raised the buffer time for the Start Attack input

  • Lowered the chain timing to Block for the Heavy 1 and Heavy 2 attacks

  • Increased the chain timing to Unwield and Special activate for the Heavy 1 and Heavy 2 attacks

Dev Note: We had been a tad conservative when reworking the Paul Special with the introduction of a cooldown, but we think that the big man can be allowed more explosions on their bonking stick.

• Special activate cooldown period from 8 to 6 (total Special cooldown from 12 to 10)

Dev Note: We are tweaking the Primary and Secondary fire of the Plasma Gun to encourage the use of both in different situations, instead of defaulting to the former in almost all cases.

The base Cleave of the Primary fire was significantly lowered, while still remaining top tier in the ranged arsenal (for comparison, the Stub Revolver Mk IIa has a base Cleave value of 6.5, while the Boltgun Mk IIb has 3). The newly introduced ‘Withering Fire’ Veteran talent can also be slotted in to significantly improve the Cleave of both the Primary and Secondary fire.

Conversely, ammo usage scaling for the Secondary fire was improved, allowing the weapon to consume less ammo when releasing either partially or fully charged shots.

• Primary fire base Cleave lowered from Infinite to 18

  • Secondary fire base Cleave unchanged at Infinite

• Secondary fire Ammo usage scaling improved from 5-9 to 1-8

• Wield action time scale from 1.0 to 0.85 (slowed down)

Dev Note: The Infantry Lasgun’s are receiving upgrades in a few different aspects. To support it being an Infantry weapon, All marks get increased magazine capacity and ammo reserves. The Mk IIb is also getting a recoil reduction to support it utilizing its faster fire rate. Additionally, all marks will receive a minor increase to their hitscan radius, meaning that the hit registration will be more generous with close misses.

• Check out the post in the forums for the full list of changes, here!

Dev Note: The Twin-Linked Heavy Stubbers are receiving an upgrade. The primary change is a reduction in maximum spread, allowing players to sustain fire more effectively. Additionally, the damage output and Armour Damage Modifiers have been slightly increased.

• Check out the post in the forums for the full list of changes, here!

Dev Note: Attack strength interacts mainly with Talents that check for Light or Heavy attack types. We are increasing the attack strength of the Rippergun Special from Light to Heavy, allowing it to gain a larger benefit from Ogryn Talents like ‘The Best Defence’ and ‘Batter’.

• Special bayonet attack strength from Light to Heavy

Dev Note: The Dual stubs landed a bit in the shadows of other options so we have increased some aspects to support a Run N Gun playstyle. Mostly focused on spread reduction but they also will receive a slight buff to base Damage, Special damage and Armour Damage Modifiers.

• Check out the post in the forums for the full list of changes, here!

• Added Quality of Life change to prevent Talent Trees from fully resetting when their layout receives changes in an update.

  • The Talent Trees will now try to rebuild themselves as best as they can if the Layout has seen changes. This might not always produce complete builds, but in such cases you will be notified in the UI that your Tree requires some manual help.

• Penance track extension

  • We have extended the Penance track by 500 points, with accompanying new rewards.

• Some Penance Descriptions specified that they could only be achieved by using the Base Abilities of the Class, which caused some confusion. We've added the Upgraded Ability variants to the descriptions as well.

• Added a new custom, in-house made font called "Mono Tide"! Which is used in the Mission Board.

• The Weapon preview in the Inspect screen now keeps rotation when changing between weapons or cosmetics.

• Added some small improvements to navigation and presentation in the Marks, Weapon Cosmetics and Crafting screens.

• Hive Scum Penances

  • Lowered the unlock requirements for the ‘Enhanced’ penance from 2600 to 1500, and for the ‘Brutal Bludgeons’ penance from 1000 to 650."

• Pacing - Havoc

  • Increased hard terror point limit from 60 to 90 while playing Havoc

  • Elite enemies always allowed to be apart of an terror event in Havoc regardless of the events rules

• Fixed a rare crash occurring when loading into one of the Mortis Trials theatres.

• Fixed an issue where Barrels explosions could break the Stealth of Zealot and Veteran.

• Fixed an issue with Psyker’s ‘Lightning Speed’ talent incorrectly affecting Ranged Attack Speed.

• Fixed the Psyker ‘Souldrinker’ talent not triggering properly when enemies die with Soulblaze.

• Fixed an issue where player portraits might appear off-center.

• Fixed an issue where controller scrolling on text chat wasn't working.

• Fixed a crash that might happen when changing tabs in the weapon cosmetics screen if connection with Fatshark services was temporarily interrupted.

• Fixed an issue where the Critical Bonus stat of the Atrox MK II Tactical Axe was not applied correctly for the Light 3 and Special 2 attacks.

• Fixed an issue where the description of the ‘All or Nothing’ weapon blessing showed a value representing the bonus obtained for each stack, instead of the maximum obtainable amount. Note that this is only a display change.

• Fixed an issue where Heavy stab attacks for Duelling Swords could cause excessive dismemberment of enemies.

• Fixed a minor Level Art issue in the Clandestium Gloriana mission.

• Fixed a crash that could happen when ignoring the mission vote pop-up while being in a pause menu.

• Fixed a rare crash related to Stimm unloading when transitioning between levels.

• Fixed the missing description for the ‘Warp Expediture’ talent buff in the Tactical Overview.

• Fixed the missing description for the ‘Out Of Pocket’ talent buff in Tactical Overview.

• ‘Benediction’ must now be equipped for the 'Test of Faith' penance to progress.

• Fixed an issue with the color being incorrect on the ‘Cyclopean Pain Hood’ headgear.

• Fixed a pitch black texture under a book in the ‘Krieg Vigil Greatcoat (Krieg 143rd)’ cosmetic.

• The ‘Stygian Mk II Flak Helmet’ headgear no longer clips with beards.

• The ‘Purloined Flak Helmet’ no longer clips with beards.

• Fixed the hair and ear clipping issues with the ‘Command Cap’ headgear.

• The ‘Bakkan Scrier's Cowl’ headgear no longer clips with beards.

• Fixed the clipping issues with faces on the ‘Bakkan Scrier's Cowl’ headgear.

• Fixed the hair clipping issues on the Ogryn headgear, ‘Bodyguard Cap’.

• Fixed the clipping issues on the Ogryn headgear ‘Mark IX Brute Pattern rebreather (XXXXL)’.

• The ‘Agripinaa Mk Flak Trooper Helm’ Veteran headgear no longer clips with beards.

• Fixed the clipping issues on the Ogryn upperbody cosmetic, ‘Militarum Heavy Battlegear (Protectus pattern IX)(XXXXL)’.

• Fixed the black textures on the Zealot upperbody cosmetic, ‘Scavenged Militarum Battlegear (Cadian 802nd)’.

• Removed the black texture spot on the gloves of the Veteran upperbody cosmetic, ‘Heavy Flak Armour (Relic of Cadia)’.

• Fixed an issue with the ‘Antax Mk III Conclave-issue Tactical Helm’ headgear having an unintentional red visor.

• Fixed the clipping issues on the Veteran headgear, ‘Arges Pattern Augmetic’.

• Fixed a bug where trinkets were not displaying correctly on certain Ogryn weapons.

• Fixed a bug where trinkets were not displaying correctly on the Godwyn-Branx Pattern Bolt Pistol (Fire Wastes Camo).

• Fixed a bug where trinkets rotated wrong on the Heavy Laspistol (Adamantine Inferno).

• When doing an Expeditions Auspex Puzzle, players can lose access to their Auspex if they cancel the minigame by swapping weapons. Players can recover their Auspex by attempting the minigame again and cancelling normally.

  • Note: If another player completes the minigame before you recover your Auspex, you will lose access to your Auspex for the remainder of the Expedition, which will hinder navigation and will make it impossible to perform Auspex Puzzles.

• When hot-joining an expedition, players might enter the mission as dead if it happened while the existing players were leaving a Sanctuary. 

• When hot-joining an expedition, players can crash if the rest of the team is inside a Sanctuary. Potential solve in the next hotfix.

• Rarely, when hot-joining an Expedition, the entire team might disconnect from the mission.

• Some texture anomaly can occur when hot-joining an Expedition while players are in a Sanctuary.

• The Expeditions grid map names don’t match with the Greek symbol associated with them. Unplayable, we know.

• Players can use some of the new grenades while inside a Sanctuary. Please be nice to the locals.

• Some of the new items found in Sanctuaries can’t be tagged.

• Some breakable walls in Expeditions can be walked through even without breaking them.

• Some textures can bug out when playing on AMD GPUs.

• When disconnecting from a mission, the camera can flicker until the loading screen shows up. Potential solve in an upcoming hotfix.

• Players can hot-join private matches if they enter matchmaking through Quickplay.

• Some barrel explosion animations can trigger more times than intended. This is only a visual issue.

• \[Xbox Only] Some level and enemy textures can take a while to load, leaving a low-quality texture visible until it finishes loading.

• The description for Psyker’s “Psykinetic’s Aura” ability is missing localization in some languages.

• When respawning, ammo count on the HUD can show incorrect numbers.

• In Expeditions with tornadoes, sometimes players can be spun around and taken for a ride even with no tornadoes nearby.

Dev Note: We are working on several fixes for these known issues, and we aim to add them to the next few hotfixes.

That’s all for today! 

We’ll see you on the Mourningstar. 

– The Darktide Team