If you’re planning on running a !Warrior type build, either using your own player character or creating a mercenary for hire from Janris Danrock, then you may want to consider a Psyker. Warrior is the type of class that wants to go running into melee range and start swinging, however, you will start lacking cover, and be reliant on parry and dodge. And what better way to engage with that content than to be Psyker, more specifically a Biomancer, who can lower dodge, improve its own toughness, and heal itself.

The other added benefit of this build is that you can go Arch-Militant, take advantage of your life-sapping from the Biomancer staves you get through the game, offering ranged ways to get Arch-Militant stacks, buff allies, and setup your charges for later. All in all, this is an interesting playstyle for your typical Warrior. Here is a more in-depth look at our Warrior Psyker build in Rogue Trader.

Warrior Psyker Build - Rogue Trader¶

To begin building the Warrior Psyker build in Rogue Trader, you will need to create the backstory of the character. We recommend setting the basis of the character as follows:

• Homeworld: Death World
• Origin: Sanctioned Psyker- Biomancer
• Archetype: Warrior
• Characteristics
  • Weapon Skill: 40
  • Ballistic Skill: 30
  • Strength: 40
  • Toughness: 40
  • Agility: 40
  • Intelligence: 25
  • Perception: 30
  • Willpower: 45
  • Fellowship: 25

With that out of the way we can now move on to the talents and skills you want to take as a Warrior and then Arch-Militant.

Warrior Build - Rogue Trader¶

The idea behind the Warrior Build is to increase the general tankyness of your character pretty early on as Warriors will get hit with a lot of attacks. By choosing methods to increase your armor, dodge, and parry, you will make your character much safer to get into the frontline. Additionally, you also improve your weapon skill to increase your hit and crit chance, while taking Agility to increase your dodge further and lower an enemy’s dodge chance while you use melee weapons. These are the main factors to consider with your build.

In addition, you’ll start getting supportive melee spells through your Psyker at this point. Enfeeble will assist with lowering the defense of an enemy, which can also buff your allies’ shots against a target too. Not to mention taking the Adrenaline Surge talent makes casting Enfeeble free at the start of combat, allowing you to choose to focus targets for your warrior to get into combat with and beat them up. It also has some other synergies with other Arch-Militant characters like Argenta, who can now take Preferred Targets if you choose to turn her into an Arch-Militant ranged character.

You also want to prepare future crit synergy scaling with Trusty Weapons. 10% crit chance simply for using las, axes, or hammers is big, and later on we’ll be taking Power Weapon Expert for 10% armor pen. Chances are, you’ll be using a Power Hammer and combining those talents for some big damage-dealing potential. We have more hints on recommended items at the bottom of the guide.

Arch-Militant Build¶

The idea of the Arch-Militant is that you are looking to increase your tankyness when needing to get into combat. This makes you a solid bruiser character. Meanwhile, when you do get into combat, you’ll be taking advantage of the Kick skill and its Martial Art talent. This enables you to CC an enemy, making them prone for a turn. Additionally, the Contempt for the Weak Talent, which comes later in the build will enable you to do an extra 20% crit damage to them. When you get more crit via ally buffs, Weapon Skill increase, and more versatility stats, this will do a lot of damage. Throw in a Reckless Strike, and the enemy cannot retaliate. This is the core of your playstyle and role in the party.

There are three talents in this build that you may want to change around as Arch-Militant, depending on when you get three specific items. Bladed Boots will affect the timing you get Brutal Hunter, while the Psyker’s Breastplate will affect when you get Heavy Armour. Power Weapon Expert can also be changed if you get the Thunder Hammer from the trader or through some other equivalent, such as the one when sacking Foulstone if you don’t want it as a colony. You can read more on these talents below.

The other notable part of this build is that you will eventually get Heavy Armour, the Psyker’s Breastplate from a trader. It is a great Heavy Armor piece and will help you get your Psy Rating up. When you can do this, you will increase the power of Enfeeble, making it much easier to hit enemies, especially the annoying Drukhari and Aeldari dodge monsters through Chapters 2 and 3 - aka the chapters you will be leveling this Arch-Militant through. So, it is a needed talent, especially for that early part of chapter 3 when the Drukhari bosses begin to appear.

We also leave Brutal Hunter until quite late in the build. You’ll start seeing a lot of enemies with 600+ wounds in late chapter 3 and beyond. The idea is you’re looking to increase your burst attack on sub-50% HP enemies with your Prone knockdown, crit damage, and Reckless Strike on those types of enemies. If you grab the Bladed Boots from Kasballica then your charge will inflict bleed on an enemy, which means you can take this talent earlier if you want to. It all depends on when you get those boots, so keep that in mind.

Exemplar Build¶

The main focus of the Exemplar is to grab any talents you need for the build. Essentially, grab any more minor damage improvements that you can get. Alternatively, there are the Psy Rating improvements you get at 40, alongside other things like Strange Vitality since you have Regeneration. You can also take your final big spell, Metabolic Overcharge for rounds where your character or a companion can get multiple attacks in the same turn. That is two-four extra tracks per turn you grant this to an ally, which is extremely strong depending on how you set it up. Beware that it does come with some negatives, but you can offset those with Regeneration to a degree. Make sure to grab Reckless Swing, too, so you can guarantee you crit with Reckless Strike on prone enemies to make the most out of that Contempt of the Weak synergy.

As for the Exemplar Talents, you can either do an offensive or defensive build. If you want Defensive, then you can take Peak Condition, Flesh Wounds, and Tough as Steel. This increases strength based on your max wounds, while also granting more wounds based on your toughness in Tough as Steel, while Flesh Wounds heals you for 10-20% of your wounds per turn on top of Regeneration and other self-healing Psyker talents.

If you want more offensive options, then the Critical Velocity helps your crit windows and crit chances. Destroyer is for more armor shredding, and Eager Subordinates is for the Metabolic Overcharge synergy if you want to use it.

Recommended Items¶

• Bladed Boots - Kasballica Trader
• Kasrkin Gauntlets - Kasballica Trader
• Ghost Helm - Final Rep of the Explorators Trader. You may or may not get it depending on space explorations and cargo after completing Kasballica Trader, etc.
• Psyker’s Breastplate - Kasballica Trader
• Righteous Charge - Unlocked by completing the Reliquary project on Foulstone.
• Spirit Drape - Colony Management Event in Act 4.
• Warp Surge Brooch - Kasballica Trader
• Cameleoline Cloak or Reaper Cape - early-game cloaks
• Blooddrinker Staff - Acquired by the end of Chapter 3 in the Reaving Tempest Spire.

Also, while we are at it, we recommend your party has at least Cassia and Jae in. Having a way to grant extra turns via two Officers is very strong, and so, these are the only companions that will enable you to do so without a little toyboxing.

These are a list of items we recommend grabbing for the build at various stages of the game. Most of these items are late game so feel free to slot in other appropriate items as you go through. Standard strength, skill check items, and more will do until these items arrive in your possession. With that said, this concludes the Warrior Psyker Build in Rogue Trader. Hopefully, you now have an idea of how to build this class and what place it has in your party.