The Daemonhost in Darktide is a brand new enemy in the final patch of Darktide’s pre-order beta. The boss was only added during the Light’s Out condition, meaning that players got a brand new interesting villain to fight, rather than your usual Beast of Nurgles or Chaos Ogryns. BUt, since its full release, it now appears at any point, regardless of the condition. Here’s everything we know on the Darktide Daemonhost, and what to expect.

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Here is a look at the Daemonhost boss battle, and tips and tricks on how to beat one. Image via Fatshark.

What is the Darktide Daemonhost?¶

The Daemonhost is a special type of monstrosity that comes out to play. On the odd occasion, you may accidentally stumble into a long demon-looking female, similar to the presence of a Witch in Left 4 Dead, without the crying. Instead, some of the Pox Walkers may worship it, and you can potentially hear whispers too. But that could just be the Dreg enemy since they like to praise Nurgle and all that. Upon aggro, the boss’ lanky body will rise from the ground and then begin to grow green in demonic energy.

In terms of its moveset, players can expect it to behave similarly to a witch in Left 4 Dead as well. When it glows green, it will then fixate on a player and then unleash all of its attacks on the player. These attacks will come in quick succession, which will easily rip through block chances fast. It will also deal lots of damage too. Th only thing you can do is dodge and block the best you can, without breaking your stamina, as that will expose your if you’re the player fixated by it.

Once a player goes down to the Daemonhost, the player will then get picked up by the Daemon by chaos magic. If your allies cannot kill the Daemonhost in time, then it will eventually kill you and force you to go out of the game before you can eventually reappear on the map for rescue.

It’s also worth noting the Daemonhost also has an aura that will slowly apply corruption to players nearby, which is one minor thing that players will need to monitor, depending on the state of their team’s wounds.

Lastly, players should be aware you don’t need to fight them. If they spawn in a position where there is an alternative path, you can always avoid them, especially since multiple Daemonhosts can spawn on the same level.

How to beat a Deamonhost in Darktide¶

The main strategy for beating a Daemonhost is by bringing stamina gear and other boss-killing tools. The idea is for a player with high stamina to deliberately get the boss’s aggro by activating it. The player who activate it should be the one who gets fixated. A player with high stamina, and weapons with bonus stamina on them will be able to block more attacks and dodge her attacks better too.

Alternatively, if you have a slab shield Ogryn, you can have them aggro the boss and then special the shield, so it covers the Ogryns full front. The boss only tends rapidly to swing directly at the players, so if a shield is in the way, it will do a good job tanking it.

It is also possible for a Zealot to take the aggo of the boss, since they have to Chastise the wicked. His can be used to has rather far away from the enemy, which can open up some space. It can also be handy for regenerating toughness if it does break, and level 30 Zealots can take the two charges of the ability to double up on escape options or toughness restoration when necessary.

No matter your strategy, you will find that the rest of the team needs to destroy the boss the best they can. Most Monstrosities in the game tend to be classed as Unyielding enemies, so weapons with Unyielding on them is a good shout for dealing extra damage to them . Moreso, Psykers can also opt into the feat that grants 15% damage to ally attacks on the target that survived a brain bust. These combinations will grant extra DPS to the boss, which is key for players to deal with this boss, thanks to its low HP, yet high damage. The quicker you beat the boss, the better chance you have your ally with the aggro surviving the encounter, and not losing a wound to being downed by it, or even outright killed by it.