How Does Bleed Work in Warhammer 40K: Darktide? – Answered

Warhammer 40K: Darktide has a small handful of status effects that can impact both your ability to kill and the enemy’s ability to rip you apart. At its most basic there’s Stagger, which affects how much the enemy is stunned after you hit them with various weapons. There’s also Penetration, which affects armor penetration and allows you to deal more damage to armored targets. One type of damage seems basic on paper, though has a fair bit of nuance to it. Here is how Bleed works in Warhammer 40K: Darktide.

What is Bleed in Warhammer 40K: Darktide?

At its most basic level, Bleed effects cause damage over time to foes (which we’ll refer to as DoT for the rest of the article). One stack of Bleed will deal five damage to a target, while any subsequent stacks will refresh its duration and increase the damage by an additional stack of five damage. This doesn’t sound like much, but when dealing with hordes or armored targets, it can be a godsend and help you dump that extra bit of damage you need while focusing on other foes.

A few characters have built-in feats that allow them to apply Bleed to foes. The Ogryn Skullbreaker, for example, has two key feats that affect Bleed. The first is level 10’s Blood and Thunder, which applies a Bleed stack for each enemy hit by a melee attack. The other is Bull Gore at level 30, which applies Bleed stacks to all enemies hit by your ultimate. Someone like the Veteran Sharpshooter gets this sort of Bleed-applying feat as well with level 25’s Frag Storm.

Related: What is Soulblaze in Warhammer 40K: Darktide? – Answered

While Bleed is a powerful stat, it requires a build that works around the stat to see its full effect. If you slap on one feat and call it a day, that Bleed likely won’t have a noticeable impact on your performance, especially when compared to other feats in their tiers. Instead, you should do your best to focus on your traits and feats to see some proper DoT damage. It may not quite compare to a Soublaze DoT build, but you’ll benefit nicely regardless.