I am a big fan of Warhammer 40k. For some reason certain people find that unusual. I am not sure why. The 40k Universe is, in my opinion, the best science fiction universe currently established, and far, far superior to any other mainstream sci-fi verse. So of course I am a fan ... what other universe has 8 foot fungi fighting space nuns?
I should clarify that I am more a fan of the books and lore than the tabletop RPG, which is possibly where people get confused. I have over 30 books so far, most involving the Horus Heresy, but some focused on the 40k era proper. Many folks only really consider the tabletop realm when describing 40k to them. This is a shame and something that also confuses me as 40k is so much more than plastic figures and dice rolls on a table. The video games, for example, are a great way to explore both the lore of the game and the glorious and horrifying universe that is 40k.
One such game is Inquisitor Martyr, a B-tier ARPG by a small indie company that I have been playing recently. For what it's worth, its not a bad game, but not quite on par with the likes of Diablo 3 and Path of Exile. It is perhaps more comparable to Wolcen in terms of production value as far as ARPGs are concerned. Nevertheless, Martyr has allowed me to cleanse a pocket of the galaxy of xenos and heretic filth in 40k style, which is more than I can ask for in the current drought of good 40k games. Hopefully Darktide further cures that itch in the near future.
I have been playing as a Crusader, one of 4 types of 'Inquisitors', a word used very lightly in said game. I burn things with a Heavy Flamer, the most zealous and righteous tool for correcting the errors of heretics, mutants and the unclean. The build focuses on crit, vulnerability and area of effect damage. It's all very straightforward work. However, the build I am running is quite unique as I seem to be doing something that no-one else is. I usually build incredibly tanky with good sustain in almost all ARPGs I play, and although that is technically no different in Martyr, I am approaching it from a very different angle.
In Martyr, there are up to 3 health pools you should maintain in order to stay alive. The first two exist by default, Health and Suppression. Health is obvious: if you hit 0 you die. Suppression is not as obvious, as you can technically be completely suppressed (i.e. 0 suppresion) and still stay alive. Suppression acts as a pseudo crowd-control and status effect resistance meter, with multiple game mechanics tied to various stages of it. Keeping it as high as possible in the green or "Protected" state is usually the best strategy. Both health and suppression regenerate out of combat, however you will definetly need to build for both if you want to stay alive IN combat (i.e. sustain).
Energy shield is the third form of "health" pool that you can explore, sitting over/before your health pool and tangential with suppression. It is optional as you can choose to use gear which gives you energy shield on activation, or have (very) small amounts of it accumulate on hit or kill. You can accumulate up to 2x your health pool in energy shield. However, it is generally accepted within the community that energy shield is ... really bad. This is mostly because it does not scale with your defenses at all (i.e. it takes raw damage) and therefore does not last for any reasonable or worthy amount of time. However, it is the backbone of my build's defenses and sustain.
To explain, I will introduce you to one of the many Psalm Doctrines (i.e. think D2 Runewords) currently in the game:
As you can see it gives you health and energy shield based off a portion of the damage you deal. Not too bad, but it absolutely pales in comparison to some of the more powerful damage focused Psalm Doctrines, for example:
Sooo ... no one uses it. This is a grevious mistake, one that I personally cannot blame people for. Prior to using Psalm Doctrines, you are taught that energy shield sucks and you shouldn't pay it any attention, which is mostly true. However, 12% of your damage done going into energy shields is quite considerable ... assuming you are dealing truckloads of damage and SIGNIFICANTLY more than anything else in the game. So, the more damage you do, the tankier you become. However, you can still get suppressed while shielded and occasionally even lose health. You don't always have the potential to maintain 100% energy shield uptime, especially when things get hairy. To counteract this, I will introduce you to two very special relic gear enchants, which again no-one seems to be using:
Yes, that's right. Taking damage to energy shield can completely restore your health AND suppression, and taking higher amounts of energy shield damage (i.e. raw damage) means you only do this faster and more efficiently! That is ridiculous, and results in a build philosophy very much in the vein of "a good defense is a good offense". Essentially, damage=tankiness=sustain. Combined with a reckless playstyle, the build becomes incredibly fun to play with a solid risk vs reward paradigm, dealing and wading into damage as a means of staying alive. Observe...
Inquisitor Martyr has been a good bit of fun during a general drought of interesting games. I will likely be done with it soon, but I can safely say I did enjoy it and definitely got my money's worth (over 110 hours presently). It has also taught me a few things about game design that I was not expecting.
