Darktide's class Arbites is out now and the new update Battle for Tertium has dropped!
/Hey Everyone,
Upcoming New Class: Adeptus Arbites.
Darktide’s first Class DLC is now available to all players! Get the Arbites Class on Steam, PS5 and Xbox at the price of $11.99 / €11.99.
Free Update: Battle For Tertium
The Battle for Tertium
The core player experience has been reworked to provide a new clearer narrative focus, following the conflict of the Battle for Tertium. Players will now experience a linear campaign with new mission debriefs and embedded cinematics. This new progression path is designed to ease in new players and gradually unlock features that were previously gated by character level.
While previously each new player’s experience was completely random, the Battle for Tertium narrative presents maps, enemies and characters in a specific order, allowing players to discover all aspects of the game at a much better pace.
The story missions play the same as regular missions, except that these missions have a more tight control over which enemies spawn. You might also hear some new VO lines during missions, and some brand new mission debrief cinematics when completing each mission.
Existing players with characters at level 10 or higher can choose to skip the story or play it from the beginning. Players who change their minds about playing the campaign can opt out by using the Personality Scourge at the Barber-Chirurgeon. Note: If you decide to skip the story when you first log-in with this update, you cannot revert this decision. The only way to play the story after choosing to skip it is to create a new character.
It is worth noting that the Arbites’ arrival takes place after the events of the Battle for Tertium, so while you can absolutely play as an Arbites through the new campaign, some of the story scenes will not be addressed to your type of character. For this reason, we suggest playing the Battle for Tertium for the first time with one of the core characters.
Mission Board Rework
A new mission board system will be bringing several changes to how you engage with missions and difficulties. Missions are no longer tied to a specific difficulty, allowing you to select a mission and then choose the difficulty you want. This will effectively increase the amount of mission options available for players of all difficulty levels. While most circumstances remain consistent across difficulty levels, some are disabled on lower difficulties. Notably, Maelstrom missions are exclusive to the Heresy and Auric difficulties.
Additionally, the difficulty system has also been overhauled. You now unlock new difficulties by completing missions rather than leveling up your characters. You must prove your skills at your current maximum difficulty to unlock access to the next one. We intend to create a motivation for new players to master the game step by step, and for veteran players to feel assured that their teammates have earned the right to be there.
You will make progress by playing missions at your current maximum difficulty. Completing missions advances your progress. Mission Failures reduce your progress slightly but you will never be demoted to a lower difficulty. Higher difficulties will require you to complete more missions to unlock them.
For existing characters, your difficulty progression will be migrated based on their character level and completed missions.
Auric is now a standalone difficulty tier, placed above Damnation. We felt that Auric Heresy fell in an awkward spot compared to Damnation, with the increased mission options per difficulty, we decided it was best to turn Auric into its own difficulty level. Additionally, we have removed Sedition difficulty and made a few minor changes to Uprising to take its place, as we felt there was too much downtime with too few enemies between hordes. These changes aim to keep you in the action more often.
Mortis Trials
The Secrets of the Shipmistress
Sefoni’s indiscretions are getting worse! During Mortis Trials, keen-eared Rejects now have the opportunity to sift pieces of Shipmistress Brahms’ past from the psychic chatter. How did she inherit the Mourningstar? What is she hiding? Is she really on the same side as Grendyl, let alone his irksome busybodies? Delve deeper into all these and more across dozens of new memory echoes, unlockable by claiming victory in the Mortis Trials!
Dev Note: If you've ever wanted to relisten to the memory echoes you've unlocked in the Mortis Trials, you should take a look behind the pillars in the Meat Grinder.
New difficulty for Mortis Trials
Since the release of Mortis Trials we have noticed people requesting a higher challenge in Mortis Trials! So, we are adding a new difficulty, Auric, as well as some other small changes.
There will now be a shorter time in between waves.
Waves will now have more enemies and enemy types increasing variety.
We are changing the base difficulty to match an Auric difficulty mission.
New In-Game Event: Inferno
The streets of Tertium are aflame. Whether by heretic plot or over-zealous Imperial enforcement makes no real difference. Missions must still run, so be careful down there. You're literally dropping into a hot zone.
To make progress in the event, complete missions with the Inferno condition.
This event will start on Monday, June 23. The rewards will be Ordo dockets, Plasteel and Diamantine. Those who complete the last tier of the event will receive a cosmetic portrait frame.
New Havoc Campaign
Havoc Maintenance: With the upcoming release of this update, Havoc will be unavailable from June 23, 2025 from 00:00 to approximately 12:00 UTC.
New Mission Pool
Power Matrix HL-17-36
Magistrati Oubliette TM8-707
Archivum Sycorax
Dark Communion
Refinery Delta-17
Smelter Complex HL17-36
Chasm Station HL-16-11
Excise Vault Spireside-13
Consignment Yard HL17-36
Chasm Logistratum
Mutators
Pus-Hardened Skin
The Final Toll
Heinous Rituals
The Encroaching Garden
Rampaging Enemies
The in-game event condition, Inferno, will temporarily be available during the first rotation in this campaign, as well.
Quality of Life Changes
Increased maximum number of operatives to 8.
Increased maximum number of weapon loadouts to 8.
Added a total of ~900 new banter conversations, both between the original cast and Arbites.
With the Arbites Class, you'll get to restore order on Tertium with your Cyber-Mastiff and a devastating array of new weaponry.
What does the Arbites Class bring to the battlefield?
Command your Cyber-Mastiff: A relentless, cybernetically-engineered hound, that is never far from your side. Direct your vicious kill-dog to take down enemies, disable priority targets and provide critical support to your strike team. This is no pet - it’s a fearsome weapon.
Your judgment. How will you enforce it? Craft your unique Arbitrator by mixing freely between 80+ talent nodes, or choose one of the three main paths found in the branching talent trees. A more separate dev blog will be coming out delving into more detail on the Arbites’ unique talent tree soon.
Deploy the Nuncio Aquila: Arbitrators bring new technology in the form of the Nuncio Aquila, anti-grav vox platforms that spreads propaganda overwhelming their opponents with fear of the impending voice of the Lex.
Exact punishment with extreme prejudice: Muscle forwards with reinforced Assault Shields and a choice of Dominator Maul or Arbites Shotpistol - Darktide’s first defense/range combo. For tougher targets, the Arbites Shotgun packs a unique punch with its Special Issue ammunition. A more in-depth detailed breakdown of the Arbites weapons will be coming out soon.
Sanction wears many faces: Customise your Arbitrator, choose from six voices across three personalities, earnable cosmetics for your Cyber-Mastiff, character, and weapons.
Players will be able to purchase the Arbites Class on all platforms on June 23, 2025 for the price of $11.99 / €11.99.
Free Update coming June 23
Launching alongside the Arbites Class DLC on June 23, Darktide will receive a free update designed to offer a more structured narrative experience for new players as well as a rework on difficulty progression and selection
Improved onboarding and narrative experience:
A curated mission path will guide new players through Tertium, introducing key characters, locations, and threats across escalating difficulty tiers.
Missions will feature increased story context, with debriefs showcasing the impact of strike teams across Tertium.
Seasoned players will be offered the option to re-experience the improved story of Darktide from the start.
Changes to difficulty progression and selection:
Introducing a reworked difficulty progression system: players will now unlock higher difficulties by demonstrating skills, not just by leveling up. Progression will be tied to completing a number of missions at your current difficulty, rewarding mastery over time played.
Mission board changes: all missions currently in rotation will now be available at every difficulty level. This update significantly broadens the mission selection for players at any tier, offering greater variety and more meaningful choice when deciding how (and where) to fight.
Thank you for reading our announcement on Arbites! We’ll be looking out for any questions over the weekend and we’ll do our best to answer them!
This is the will of the Lex.
We’ll see you on the Mourningstar.
Darktide Team
