Class Builds: Zealot, Preacher: "The Smiter"

The Zealot Preacher is well equipped with Stumm grenades (Which stun enemies upon detonation), which has a lot of crowd control. Their aura is called "The Emperor's Will" which grants +10% Toughness Damage Reduction to all allies in coherency. Their tactical ability is "Chastise The Wicked" which makes them sprint forward and grants them +25% Melee Damage on next hit. With this ability, the Preacher can be built around some movement and high DPS.

The Zealot Preacher's unique resource is Martyrdom. For every 15 health missing, the Preacher receives one stack of Martyrdom. The Preacher's damage increases by 5 for each stack of Martyrdom the Zealot has. Without any modifying perks, the Max amount of Martyrdom a Zealot can have is three (3) stacks. The Preacher has a passive that grants them +10% Melee, which pulls them into being more of a melee focused character. Also, the Preacher has an ability called "Until Death" where upon taking damage that would kill you, you proc invulnerability for 5s. This has a 90 second cooldown, which means you can potentially challenge the horde face to face even at low health and not worry too much about dying.

For the first build I want to introduce for the Zealot Preacher, let's take a deeper dive into the massive DPS potential that this build could give you. +10% Melee always, along with +25% melee after using the Tactical ability, and then +5 damage for every 15 health missing up to +15 damage, you can have a lot of one shot potential. I believe with the list of perks that I've chosen to build off of the Zealot Preacher's DPS foundation, this may be one of the best Anti-Elite classes in the game at this current time.

Here I will list the perks I chose for every 5 levels that the Zealot Preacher gains. After I will talk a little more about how all of these perks can synergize to create a good build.

Style: Front Line Melee

Focus: Anti-Elite

Melee Weapon: Axe or other single target high damage weapon

Ranged: Flamer to clean up weak enemy hordes, as you will likely have your melee out for elites. Other options that might work well would be an auto-rifle, auto-pistol, or other automatic weapon you can spray into the horde.

Level 5: Enemies Within, Enemies Without:

"Replenish 7% Toughness per second while within 8 meters of any enemies."

- This class build is designed to go toe-to-toe with elites, which means you will be spending time dodging attacks and striking in opportune moments. Having a steady stream of toughness, even when being evasive, is important in case you do get hit.

Level 10: Zealous Rage:

"+10% Melee Critical Chance"

- Increasing the critical chance will increase DPS, especially when focusing on an elite that you may have to hit multiple times to bring down. This will give us the opportunity to clear elites quicker.

Level 15: Benediction:

"+20% Toughness Damage Reduction (Allies in Coherency)"

- If one of your allies is fighting an Elite, you can use Chastise The Wicked to sprint to your teammate, immediately protecting them via coherency, and then focus the elite. This perk is chosen with the idea that your position will be in between your team and the elite, but if the elite does get a swing on your teammate, it won't be as devastating.

Level 20: Thy Wrath Be Swift:

"You no longer get Stunned by Enemy Melee Attacks. When you take Damage, gain +30% Movement Speed for 2s."

- You will be going against Elites. You don't want to be staggered with 2 or 3 elites in your face.

Level 25: Rising Conviction:

"+5% Damage for 5s on Hit. Max Stacks 5"

- Elites will be spongey, so stacking hits will be common procedure. This will add to finishing elite enemies quicker, especially if there are two together.

Level 30: Fury of the Faithful:

"+20% Attack Speed for 5s on using Chastise the Wicked."

- If you find that an elite is pushing your ally, using Chastise The Wicked to sprint to the elite and taking them out could free up your teammate to focus on the horde.

With this build I foresee the Preacher being one of the best classes to go toe to toe with Elites at launch. If you don't have a Psyker on your team, this could be the anti-elite formula you need to get your allies through.