The Arbitrators of the Adeptus Arbites have arrived in Warhammer 40K: Darktide, and with them comes the long reach of the Lex Imperialis. These enforcers are frighteningly good at close-quarters combat, making them an excellent choice for players who want to play as a tanky frontline fighter. There are multiple ways to build an Arbitrator in Darktide, and if you’re looking for something simple but effective, then going the full melee route might be the best thing to do. This guide is for those who want to get into the thick of combat and dispense brutal justice upon the hordes of traitors and heretics in Tertium.

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Wrecking Ball Arbites Build – Skill Tree

Key Skills

Voltaic Shock Mine (Blitz) – Useful for stopping hordes and reviving teammates.

Breaking Dissent (Aura) – Increases damage vs Staggered.

Lone Wolf (Keystone) – Removes your dog, but buffs your stats.

Break the Line (Ability) – Charge forward and knock everything down.

Terminus Warrant – Dealing melee damage grants stacks that boost ranged attacks and vice versa.

The images above show the bare minimum skills you need to get this melee Arbitrator build going. We’ll be leaving our lovely dog behind in favor of bonus stats and an overall easier/simpler playstyle. Instead of micromanaging the Cyber Mastiff, we’re just going to charge at the enemy and introduce their faces to our Shock Maul buffed by the Lone Wolf skill. Carapace armor is going to be a bit of a problem, but not so much that they’d make the build unusable in high difficulties.

Spend your remaining skill points on what you think you need based on your playstyle. Although, we do recommend taking more skills on the right hand side of the skill tree, as they’ll give you better melee damage.

To summarize, the build does the following:

Increases damage and Impact

Increases damage against Staggered and Suppressed enemies

Increases survivability through bonus health and Toughness

Provides excellent emergency crowd control via the Shock Mine

Greatly increase the crit chance and weakspot damage of ranged weapons

Greatly increases the damage, Impact, and attack speed of melee weapons

Increases damage dealt to Ogryns and enemies above 75% health

Best Arbites Weapons

Best Arbitrator Weapons

Weapon

Blessings

Stats

Shock Maul and Suppressor Shield

Hammerblow

High Voltage

Damage (Maniacs)

Damage (Flak Armor)

Bolt Pistol

Puncture

Surgical

Damage (Flak Armor)

Damage (Unarmored)

Zarona Stub Revolver

Point Blank

Surgical

Damage (Flak Armor)

Damage (Unarmored)

Melee Weapon

This build’s primary weapon will be the Shock Maul and Suppressor Shield. Not only does it give you protection from ranged attacks, but it is also insanely good at controlling crowds thanks to its Special ability, which stuns and suppresses all enemies in a large area in front of you when used. Hammerblow increases your weapon’s Impact, making it easier to stagger or knock enemies down. Meanwhile, High Voltage makes your Shock Maul deal more damage versus electrocuted enemies. Refine your Shock Maul with Damage (Maniacs) and Damage (Flak Armor) to better deal with Scab and Dreg Ragers (they’ll die in four hits or so on Auric difficulty).
Ranged Weapon

As for ranged weapons, you have two options: the Bolt Pistol and the Zarona Stub Revolver. These do the same job — take out ranged Elites and Specialists in one or two shots. Arbitrators have relatively low mobility, and without their dog or Break the Line, they’ll be vulnerable to Machine Gunners, Snipers, and regular shooters, but if you play like an Ogryn, you’ll be fine. These weapons will help you deal with those guys efficiently (except for the shooters since they’re too many and you likely won’t have enough ammo for all of them).

Bolt Pistols with 500 damage, Flak Armor and Unarmored damage bonuses, and stacks of Terminus Warrant with the Writ of Judgment skill can kill Auric-level Dreg and Scab Gunners with one non-critical shot to the face. They can also kill Crushers with a full magazine to the body.

If you’re having trouble with Monstrosities like Plague Ogryns, use a Boltgun. However, since it’s incredibly slow to draw, you won’t be able to use it in the thick of combat. Still, with the right Blessings, it can deal significant damage to bosses with just one clip, especially if you’ve stacked your Terminus Warrant Capstone skill.