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Table of Contents
Dark and Darker is an extraction shooter à la Escape from Tarkov that’s a little less rifles and plate carriers and a little more swords and chainmail. The game’s punishing dungeon setting offers a welcome shake-up for the battle royale genre.
The eight playable classes in Dark and Darker draw from established high fantasy settings like that of Dungeons and Dragons, so you’ll likely be familiar with their general archetypes. However, there’s still plenty to get to grips with including playstyle, loadout, abilities, and perks. This guide will take you through the best Fighter build to optimise your time playing this class.
Fighter Class Overview
The Fighter is a good all-round combatant. Characters of this class can be a solid option for beginner players and for those choosing to take on dungeons solo. This is because of their unrivaled combination of simplicity and versatility.
Fighters can equip a wide variety of weapons and in some cases any weapon. Its starter stats are perfectly balanced with a score of 15 in each attribute. Additionally, no magic means you don’t have to keep track of spells or manage spell costs.
The Fighter is not a class without flaws though. Dark and Darker’s directional blocking can really challenge uninitiated players and blocking is a fundamental aspect of a new Fighter’s playstyle. You’ll rely heavily on acquiring equipment to scale your combat abilities. Also, the absence of spells in this class does limit you somewhat.
All Fighter Perks
Perks are passive boons that you can attach to your character before embarking on a dungeon crawl. They are accessed in the class tab of the main menu. The Fighter has 11 perks to choose from straight away but the availability of perk slots increases as you level. From Level 0, you have one slot but you gain additional slots at Level 5, Level 10, and Level 15.
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Adrenaline Spike |
When the fighter’s health reaches below 15%, they become flooded with adrenaline and gain 15% action speed. |
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Barricade |
When in a defensive stance, the defense rating bonus is increased by 5%. |
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Combo Attack |
Physical attack power temporarily increases by 10% with each successful melee attack within 2 seconds. |
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Counterattack |
Successfully blocking an attack increases your movement speed and attack speed by 10% for 3 seconds. |
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Defense Mastery |
Increases AR acquired from armor by 10%. |
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Dual Wield |
Equipping weapons in both hands increases attack speed by 15%. |
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Projectile Resistance |
Reduces damage taken from projectiles by 10% |
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Shield Mastery |
Movement speed is increased by 10% while in defensive stance, and upon successfully blocking an attack, the next block is 50% faster. |
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Slayer |
Cannot equip plate armor but gains a 5 weapon damage bonus when holding a weapon in each hand. |
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Swift |
Reduces base movement speed penalty from equipped armor by -10%. Not applicable to additional modifiers |
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Weapon Mastery |
All primary and secondary weapons are available regardless of class requirements. 10% physical damage penalty is applied for all non-native weapons. |
All Fighter Skills
Skills are active abilities that have timed effects. You have two slots and they can be edited from the class tab, below your perks. When in a dungeon, activate your skills with the ‘Q’ and ‘E’ keys. The Fighter has 8 skills, all of which can be selected from as early as Level 0.
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Adrenaline Rush |
Increases attack speed by 25% for 8 seconds. After the duration ends, reduces action speed by 8% and movement speed by 4% for 4 seconds. |
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Breakthrough |
Removes debuffs that slow all movement speeds. |
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Perfect Block |
The next defense completely blocks any attack. |
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Second Wind |
Recovers 50% of HP over 12 seconds. Additionally, Second Wind alleviates the side effects of Adrenaline Rush. |
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Shield Slam |
Inflicts 25 physical damage on the player, and reduces movement speed of the hit target by 20% for 2 seconds. |
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Sprint |
Movement speed greatly increased for 6 seconds. |
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Taunt |
Increases aggro value to all monsters within a 7.5m area by 50% and increases defense rating bonus by 15% for 8s. |
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Victory Strike |
The next attack deals additional 20% weapon damage. If the target dies from this attack, you recover 5% of your maximum HP. |
Beginner Fighter Build
Everyone starts somewhere and this beginner Fighter build is a pretty good place to start.
Recommended loadout: Pick up any loot you can find, but prioritise stronger variations of your base gear. It’s helpful to stick to a sword and shield at first so you can familiarise yourself with enemies’ attack patterns and with the game’s combat system.
Recommended perks: At this stage, you will only have a single perk slot. It’s worth taking on the Defence Expert perk to limit the damage you take from attacks you don’t manage to dodge. As a total beginner, you likely won’t successfully extract just yet so staying alive as long as possible and building EXP should be your primary goal.
Recommended skills: Second Wind and Sprint may be the default skills for this class but they’re still a great combination for newbies who want to evade enemies and benefit from a back-up health pool.
Tanky Fighter Build
As your Fighter processes, you may want to develop a more niche class identity. With this build, you can beef your Fighter up to a mini Barbarian.
Recommended loadout: Work on getting a set of Plate Armor. This variety has the highest AR and greater protection from projectiles. Though this will have a negative effect on your movement speed. In terms of weapons, seek out Axes for high damage or a Longsword to allow you to deliver riposte attacks.
Recommended perks: Defense Mastery, Projectile Resistance, Barricade, and Combo Attack will make you a defensive powerhouse well able to withstand up-close combat.
Recommended skills: Taunt redirects monsters away from your teammates while simultaneously giving you the defence bonus you need to take all that extra heat. If things do start to go south, Second Wind will restore lost HP up to 50% of your total, keeping you in the fight.
Ranged DPS Fighter Build
Less into the ‘in the trenches’ approach? This twist on the Fighter is more inspired by the playstyle of Rogues or Rangers, allowing you to slip away from the front lines when things get too heated.
Recommended loadout: For stealth and speed, have your character in Leather Armor. While providing less protection, it will incur a smaller movement speed penalty and stop you from drawing too much attention in PvP interactions. Try to pick up a Bow, and alternate to that from your melee weapon to secure distance when needed. This is particularly important when playing as a solo Fighter, as you can easily get overwhelmed in up close combat with multiple enemies.
Recommended perks: Projectile Resistance and Weapon Mastery mean you can equip a ranged weapon and limit the impact of ranged attacks you might receive in return. Counterattack is excellent as it equally suits withdrawing from combat or engaging further. In this build, you won’t be wearing plate armor anyway so you can benefit from Slayer‘s damage buff worry free.
Recommended skills: Second Wind and Adrenaline Rush are a superb pairing. It’s very clear that their synergy is intentional: Adrenaline Rush gives you a push in combat while Second Wind helps you quickly escape an altercation and regain lost HP.
