How to Complete the Up Close and Personal Penance in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

Warhammer 40K: Darktide doesn’t shy away from making its challenges, also known as penances, incredibly difficult. You could have something as simple as completing a certain amount of missions, sure, but you can also have challenges that require incredibly specific conditions like knocking 20 enemies off the edge with your ult. Needless to say, you’ll be spending plenty of time practicing including with one of Zealot’s penances. Here’s how to complete the Up Close and Personal penance in Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

How to Finish Up Close and Personal in Darktide

The penance reads as follows “Complete a Mission on Malice Threat or higher without firing a shot”. This sounds incredibly difficult, though once you get the right build and set of teammates, it’s much easier than you think. Before you do any of that though, we suggest first getting to trust level 30 on the Preacher (or at least a very high level). Malice might only be the third of the five difficulties, though it’s still a challenging difficulty that requires patience and finesse. That, combined with the fact you won’t be able to shoot a weapon, means you’ll need a lot of assistance from teammates. If you can get friends to help you with this challenge, that would be ideal.

As far as a build goes, we suggest running either the classic Thunder Hammer or, if you don’t have it unlocked yet, the Heavy Eviscerator. The Thunder Hammer is hands down your best option due to just how much it can do and the versatility of its kit between hitting several enemies and one-shotting larger specialists and elites. The Heavy Eviscerator can provide the same benefits, though we find the need to rev it a tad annoying. Still, if you like the weapon, this won’t be a bad call.

As far as feats go, you’ll want feats that complement the idea of getting in the enemy’s face. After all, that’s about all you’re going to be doing to get Up Close and Personal. As such, the following feat build is recommended.

• Level 5: Enemies Within, Enemies Without
• Level 10: Bloodletting
• Level 15: Holy Fervour
• Level 20: Holy Revenant
• Level 25: Rising Conviction
• Level 30: Fury of the Faithful

While there’s plenty of flexibility, especially when it comes to the level 10 and level 15 talents, this is the build we feel best complements a melee-only playstyle. These talents are aimed both at increasing your damage on enemies you hit while also increasing your survivability should things come down to the wire. You even have some added Toughness for teammates, better letting them assist you in getting the penance.

Related: How to Complete the Vantage Point Penance in Warhammer 40K: Darktide

That’s about all you’ll need! Get some practice on Uprising difficulty going melee only, then jump in and attempt it and you should have it in no time. Soon, that new Upper Body cosmetic shall be yours!