Best Chem Toxin Hive Scum Build in Darktide

The Hive Scum class in Darktide is a fast, close-ranged skirmisher with a penchant for both guns and melee. They’re quick on their feet, and they’ve got access to some of the most wicked weapons that Tertium’s seedy underworld has to offer, from twin autopistols to makeshift shivs and toxic bone saws.

There are plenty of ways to build a Hive Scum character, but if you want something that’s good for both leveling and high-difficulty matches, this Chem Toxin build for Darktide should be exactly what you’re looking for.

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Best Hive Scum Leveling Build in Darktide

We found the Chem Toxin build path for Hive Scum to be the most convenient one for leveling up for the following reasons:

• It’s good for both ranged and melee combat.
• The damage it deals is more consistent than a melee Rampage build.
• You get free Stimms that you can share with the entire squad.
• It has very low ability downtime.

The other build paths aren’t terrible by any means, and we’d even argue that the Chem Toxin build is the squishiest among them, which may make this build hard to use in Auric difficulty and beyond. However, the utility provided by Stimm Supply and various Chem Toxin-related perks can make up for this build’s glass cannon nature.

The good news is you only need to be level 25 to get the most important perks for this build. The build path is shown in the images above, but while you’re unlocking new perks, make sure to get these ones as soon as possible:

• Precision Violence: Gain Toughness on Melee Hit. Critical Strikes and Weakspot hits replenish more Toughness.
• Anarchist: Gives you and teammates in Coherency more Critical Chance.
• Stimm Supply: Drop a modded medcrate that releases Stimm fumes. Affected allies heal Corruption over time, and they are affected by whatever Stimm you have equipped. Get all three of Stimm Supply’s nodes to get the following effects:
  • Booby Trap makes your Stimm crate explode when its duration expires.
  • Fast Acting Stimms reduces your crate’s duration to 5 seconds, but its effects will linger for 15 seconds even after leaving the cloud. This also makes Booby Trap trigger faster.
  • Practiced Deployment instantly recharges Stimm Supply when you get a new Stimm or if your custom Stimm cools down.
• Punching Above One’s Weight: Deal more damage against Elites and Monstrosities.
• Hive City Brawler: Grants up to 20% damage reduction based on available Stamina as well as up to 20% bonus melee damage based on missing Stamina.
• Adrenaline Frenzy: Gain bonus attack speed and melee damage upon reaching 30 stacks of Adrenaline. Stacks are gained through Melee Hits.
  • Stoked Rage increases Adrenaline Frenzy’s duration to 20 seconds.
• Potent Tox: Gain 10% bonus Chem Toxin damage.
• Sample Collector: Kills replenish 1% of your custom Stimm’s cooldown. Killing enemies affected by Chem Toxin replenishes 2% instead.
• Coated Weaponry: Melee Critical Strikes apply 1 stack of Chem Toxin to your target.
• Toxin Mania: Gain up to15% base damage per nearby enemy affected by Chem Toxin.
• Toxic Renewal: Replenish 15% Toughness when an enemy affected by Chem Toxin dies from a melee attack.

Practiced Deployment and Sample Collector will let you use Stimm Supply multiple times during a big horde, provided you can inflict Chem Toxin to as many enemies as possible before they get killed.

Stimm Lab Setup

Hive Scum’s Stimm Lab sets it apart from other classes like the Arbitrator in Darktide. When you put a point into any Stimm Lab node, you’ll get a custom-brewed Stimm that grants you all the effects you selected in the Stimm Lab screen. The higher the Viscosity of the Stimm, the longer its cooldown will be.

For this build, we recommend going all-in on the attack speed and cooldown regeneration branches. More attack speed means you get to inflict more Chem Toxin stacks, while more cooldown regeneration means your allies get to use their abilities more often. You won’t necessarily need the cooldown regeneration yourself thanks to the Sample Collector and Practiced Deployment perks, but it’s still nice to have.

Alternatively, you can go with the defensive branch instead of the attack speed one if you find yourself going down often.

Best Chem Toxin Hive Scum Weapons

The Bone Saw is arguably the best melee weapon for this build simply because of how it innately applies Chem Toxin with every hit by default. Its moveset is decent for clearing hordes and dealing with Elites/ Specialists, and if you have absolutely no option left, using the Bone Saw’s weapon special will coat the blade in a substance that inflicts Rend, making it somewhat decent against Carapace Armor (only use this as a last resort).

Alternatively, you can use Shivs with Flesh Tearer or Lacerate. The bleed effects from these Blessings will stack with Chem Toxin, which you’ll be applying with your critical hits thanks to Coated Weaponry. Shivs are good if you want a weapon that’s easier to use, though it’s less consistent with its Chem Toxin application due to its reliance on crits.

As for your gun, the Needle Pistol is the best choice. Its main job is to eliminate Elites, Specials, and Bosses. Dealing with Carapace Armored Enemies in Darktide can be a pain, and even more so with Hive Scum. The Chem Toxin from Needle Pistol hits will easily melt a Crusher’s health bar, and it’ll let you deal with pretty much everything else with ease.

Chem Grenade is arguably the best Blitz for Hive Scum because of its high-damage, lingering area of effect. The grenade also inflicts Chem Toxin on enemies, which means it interacts with all of your Chem Toxin-related skills.

Weapon Blessings

Increasing Finesse and weak spot damage for your Bone Saw gives you the best chance to one-shot fodder enemies on high-difficulty runs. This greatly increases your ability to control crowds without sacrificing much DPS against tankier targets like Maulers and Ragers.

Meanwhile, we found that defensive Blessings such as Ghost and Stripped Down are more valuable for the Needle Pistol than the offensive ones. As mentioned, this build is very squishy, and without these Blessings, you’ll be at a disadvantage when facing large crowds of ranged enemies.

How to Play the Build

Your main job is to get rid of Crushers and other tanky targets as quickly as possible. Chem Toxin is extremely potent, and five shots with even a sub-optimal Needle Pistol is often enough to kill a Crusher on Auric difficulty (at least in the Psykhanium). A single headshot with the same sub-optimal Needle Pistol is also enough to kill the majority of Elites and Specials as well.

Also, don’t forget that you double as a support-oriented class. When a big fight is about to go down, use Stimm Supply to buff your entire team, then fight until there’s nothing left to purge. Here are some tips on how to fight using this build:

• Keep in mind that Stimm Supply will explode thanks to Booby Trap. This is great if you’re getting swarmed by a gaggle of Ragers.
• Stimm Supply’s cooldown only begins after the crate disappears from the map. If you want to refresh it quickly with a Chem Grenade, make sure the crate isn’t on the field anymore.
• Chem Toxin deals less damage against Infested enemies.
• Human-sized enemies (except Maulers) die to a single Needle Pistol shot to the chest.
• The Bone Saw has to crowd control combos:
  • Light → Heavy
  • Push Attack → Heavy → Heavy