Darktide Class Tier List 2026: All 7 Classes After Patch 1.13

This Darktide class tier list ranks all seven classes in Warhammer 40,000: Darktide as of October 2026: Veteran, Zealot, Psyker, Ogryn, Arbites, Hive Scum and Skitarius. It doesn't copy anyone else's letters. Each class gets four scores, and every score points to a kit fact or a line in Fatshark's patch notes, so you can see why it landed where it did and reweight it for your own play.

This list covers the live game after Patch 1.13.0, the Depths of the Damned update of September 29, 2026, and the hotfixes through 1.13.4 on October 22. It's about class choice, not weapon or blessing builds.

Quick summary

• Darktide class tier list 2026, tier 1: Veteran and Arbites. Both scored well on every criterion, and Fatshark's 1.13 notes call Veteran "'the' Ranged Class."
• Tier 2: Psyker, Zealot and Ogryn. Each has one clear weakness: peril management for Psyker, a weaker team ability for Zealot after the Chorus change, and an Indomitable charge that Fatshark says "has continued to struggle."
• Tier 3: Hive Scum and Skitarius. Both are strong, but they're the hardest classes to play well. If you ignore difficulty, they move up.
• Biggest 2026 change: Patch 1.13.0 removed Golden Toughness spillover immunity and rebuilt all four base talent trees. Your old loadouts may need re-pathing.
• Three classes are paid DLC: Arbites (June 23, 2025), Hive Scum (December 2025) and Skitarius (June 23, 2026).

How this Darktide tier list is scored

Fatshark doesn't publish class win rates in its patch notes, so this list doesn't pretend to measure them. Instead, each class gets 1 to 3 points on four criteria, from its kit and from Fatshark's 2026 notes:

1. Solo carry: can one player hold a collapsing run together with this class's abilities and keystones?
2. Team value: how much does the class give the other three players through auras, shared toughness, crowd control or revives?
3. Ease: 3 means forgiving to learn, 1 means many resources to track. This is the criterion to remove if you're already experienced.
4. Havoc fit: Havoc stacks negative modifiers over 40 levels, and its rotating mutators have included Enraging Elites, which become immune to crowd control when badly hurt. Classes that kill elites and specialists at range, without leaning on stuns, score higher.

Sources are the Patch 1.13.0 notes, the May 2026 balance devblog, the Hotfix 1.13.4 post, and each class's launch post. Tiers come from the total: 10 to 12 points is tier 1, 9 is tier 2, and 8 or less is tier 3. Classes in the same tier are listed by score, then alphabetically.

Darktide class tier list (October 2026)

Tier	Class	Solo carry	Team value	Ease	Havoc fit	Total
1	Veteran	3	2	3	3	11
1	Arbites	2	3	2	3	10
2	Ogryn	2	3	3	1	9
2	Psyker	2	3	1	3	9
2	Zealot	3	2	2	2	9
3	Hive Scum	3	2	1	2	8
3	Skitarius	2	3	1	2	8

This table is a decision aid, not a verdict. The point gaps are small, and your weapon and blessing choices matter as much as the class.

Tier 1: Veteran and Arbites

Veteran

Fatshark's 1.13 notes are clear about the Veteran's job. It's "'the' Ranged Class," and the patch made Guardsman (+25% ranged damage) an iconic passive. It also added Sharpshooter, which restores 1% ammo on elite and specialist kills every 5 seconds, and raised base toughness from 100 to 120. That earns 3 for solo carry, ease and Havoc fit: the Veteran deletes gunners and specialists before they reach the team.

Team value is a 2. The Survivalist aura's ammo restore was cut from 0.75% to 0.25% (0.5% when improved). Voice of Command's Duty and Honour now gives 75 toughness instead of 50, to offset the Golden Toughness change. Krak grenades have been on a 90-second timer instead of 60 since May.

Arbites

The Arbitrator earns its team score through the Cyber-Mastiff. Fatshark's launch post says the Mastiff pins a human-sized enemy down until that enemy dies, or until you send it elsewhere, and it leaps at larger enemies to stagger them. Add the Nuncio-Aquila loudspeaker, which buffs nearby allies and now follows you when fast-deployed. The Breaking Dissent aura raises damage against staggered enemies for everyone in coherency.

Solo carry is a 2. Fatshark raised the Lone Wolf keystone, for players who drop the Mastiff, from 10% to 20% damage because that playstyle "could use some more offensive power." Ease is a 2, since you manage a companion with double-tap pings. Havoc fit is a 3: Mastiff pins and the Remote Detonation stagger work on almost everything. Fatshark says the blast can even stagger a Plague Ogryn mid-attack.

Tier 2: Psyker, Zealot and Ogryn

Ogryn

Patch 1.13.0 made the Ogryn the easiest class to survive on. It removed most stat nodes and raised base toughness from 75 to 125. Team value stays high because Towering Presence, which widens coherency by 50%, is now built in, and Soften Them Up makes enemies take 15% more damage instead of 10%. The low Havoc score is about how the Ogryn wins fights. Much of the kit is stagger and crowd control, and when the Enraging Elites mutator is in rotation, hurt elites become immune to it. Fatshark also wrote that the Indomitable charge "has continued to struggle in terms of impact compared to its competitor abilities," so its cooldown went from 30 to 25 seconds. At the same time, Bruiser's cooldown regeneration and Maximum Firepower's duration were cut.

Psyker

The Psyker kills elites at range with Brain Rupture, Smite and Assail, and the new Psykinetic Grip node adds 20% damage to all three. Focused Warp adds 15% warp damage, and base critical chance went from 7.5% to 10%. That earns a 3 for Havoc fit. Team value is a 3 because of Telekine Shield, which blocks enemy fire for the whole group. In March, Fatshark made the Wall version 50% wider and cut its cooldown from 45 to 40 seconds. Ease is a 1, because peril can kill you and every build revolves around it. Note one team nerf: Psykinetic's Aura now triggers only from your own kills, not your allies'.

Zealot

Until Death is now a core keystone. While it's active, you're Unkillable for 8 seconds instead of 6. Holy Revenant heals you for up to 25% of your max health while Unkillable, and base toughness rose from 100 to 125. That's a 3 for solo carry.

Team value drops to 2 because of the Chorus of Spiritual Fortitude rework, which Fatshark said had been "high above the power of its competitors for a long time." Chorus now pulses 5 times instead of 7. It makes allies Unkillable rather than Invulnerable, and after the first pulse it only staggers enemies within 8 meters.

Tier 3: Hive Scum and Skitarius

Hive Scum

Hive Scum is the class Fatshark has trimmed most in 2026, which tells you how strong it was. In May, Boom Bringer and Chem Grenade went from 3 charges to 2 and Chem Toxin damage was lowered. In 1.13.0, Rampage strength dropped from 50% to 35%, because the melee playstyle "has proven much stronger than we initially intended."

Desperado (immune to ranged attacks) and Rampage (immune to stuns and suppression) still make it a 3 for solo carry. It scores a 1 on ease: Rampage leaves you exhausted when it ends, and the optional Stimm Lab is one more system to manage.

Skitarius

The Skitarius has the most team utility on paper. Voltaic Emitter at 2 or more charges makes ranged enemies within 30 meters malfunction for 12 seconds. The Medicae Servo-Skull can revive a netted or hogtied ally, and the base Servo-Skull can run Data Interrogators for you. Fatshark said it was "overall very happy with where the Skitarius has landed."

The class scores a 1 on ease. Abilities run on Capacitance Charges instead of a cooldown, and the talent tree starts from the center with more nodes than any other class. Havoc fit is a 2 for now. Patch 1.13.0 cut Servo-Skull strength from 160 to 100, and the October 22 hotfix post says Fatshark is "re-evaluating if the nerf was justified." Recheck this score after the next patch.

Best Darktide class by goal

If you want	Pick	Why
Your first class	Veteran or Ogryn	Highest ease scores, high base toughness
To carry random groups	Veteran, Zealot or Hive Scum	Highest solo carry scores
To support a premade	Arbites, Psyker, Skitarius or Ogryn	Team value 3
To climb Havoc	Veteran, Arbites or Psyker	Havoc fit 3
To learn a new system	Skitarius	Capacitance Charges and a center-start tree

Example: you play Psyker and want to push Havoc with friends. The table says keep it: Havoc fit and team value are both 3. The score that holds it back, ease, matters less once you've learned to manage peril.

What changed for every class in Patch 1.13

The biggest change hit everyone. Golden Toughness no longer has spillover immunity, so a single point of it can't absorb an otherwise lethal hit. Fatshark paired that with enemy changes: Poxburster damage now falls off past 3 meters, sniper spillover damage is halved, and Ogryn Crushers are less likely to target a player who is already overwhelmed.

The four base talent trees lost most of their stat nodes. Fatshark warns that "your loadouts may need slight rearrangements," since the trees were only partly reset, so reopen every saved loadout before your next mission. If you're new, the Darktide beginner guide covers coherency, threat priority and supply sharing, which matter more than your class at first.

How to choose your Darktide main

Pick the role you enjoy first, then use the table to choose between classes that share it. Fill in this line before buying a DLC class: "I want a class that ___, and my weakest score in the table is ___." If your weakest score is ease, give yourself time on Malice or Heresy before Damnation.

Havoc unlocks at trust level 30 once you've completed a Maelstrom mission. The Party Finder is how you build a group for it, so a premade that covers ranged elites, crowd control and revives matters more than four copies of the top class.

Want a hand with this?

If you'd rather not level a new class yourself, Darktide leveling services are listed on FullBoosts, and the Darktide hub shows the other categories. Read Fatshark's EULA before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included. A marketplace listing isn't publisher permission, and the refund policy explains what happens if an order goes wrong.

FAQ

What is the best class in Darktide in 2026? On our four scores, Veteran (11 of 12) and Arbites (10) lead after Patch 1.13. Veteran got +25% ranged damage as an iconic passive, and Arbites brings the Cyber-Mastiff's pins to any team. The gap between classes is small, so play the role you enjoy.

What is the best Darktide class for Havoc? Veteran, Arbites and Psyker score highest for Havoc. They kill elites and specialists at range or lock them down, which matters when mutators such as Enraging Elites make hurt elites immune to crowd control.

Is Hive Scum still good after the nerfs? Yes. Rampage dropped from 50% to 35% strength, and Boom Bringer and Chem Grenade lost a charge, because Fatshark found the melee playstyle stronger than intended. Desperado and Rampage still make it one of the best solo carries. It's just demanding to play.

Is the Skitarii class worth it? It's worth it if you want the deepest support kit: ranged-weapon malfunctions, a reviving Medicae Servo-Skull and Data Interrogator help. Fatshark is reviewing the Servo-Skull damage cut from Patch 1.13.0, so its Havoc fit may change.

What is the best Darktide class for beginners? Veteran or Ogryn. Both score 3 for ease, and Patch 1.13.0 raised their base toughness to 120 and 125. Ranged Veteran play also teaches threat priority, which every class needs.

Are Arbites, Hive Scum and Skitarius free? No. All three are paid class DLC released in June 2025, December 2025 and June 2026. Veteran, Zealot, Psyker and Ogryn come with the base game.

Related guides

• Darktide Beginner Guide: Teamplay, Threats and Survival
• Warhammer 40,000: Darktide game hub