Warhammer 40,000: Darktide Hive Scum DLC review — Cartel chaos

Violence and war are a constant on the streets of Tertium, and no one understands this fact more than the hardened criminals of the cartels. After a lifetime of living in the gutters of the Hive, these scum are no conventional soldiers, but ruthless killing machines. Whether it's to protect their turf or simply relish in the bloodbath, the Hive Scum have answered the call of the Cartels to join arms with the Warband to fend off the forces of Nurgle.

Starting off with the new weaponry, the Hive Scum class has access to three new ranged weapons and three new melee weapons. Some of these are more conventional, like the brutal crowbar capable of rending armor with the sharp side or swung on the blunt side for crushing damage. Others though are more crude, like the toxin-coated saw or the dual-wielded shivs. Each of them felt fun to use, but the really interesting weapons are the dual wield options. These apply to the ranged side as well, where you’ve got your pick of dual autopistols to spray down hordes or dual stub pistols for more stopping power. There is also an armor-piercing needle pistol that can infect even the toughest of foes, but I felt like it didn’t have the same flair as the dual wield options.

Additionally, the Hive Scum class has access to an additional talent tree focused on concocting a stimm variant called the "Cartel Special." With each level, you'll gain a traditional talent point like usual, while also gaining a talent point for the stimm tree. These have a wide range of applications, from providing bonus toughness or cooldown regen to boosting movement and attack speed. Using the Cartel Special will lock you out of picking up stimms within the levels, but the upsides are so great that I never felt like I shouldn't bring my own cocktail of chems on cooldown in favor of the normal ones.

Darktide: Dev Blog: Hive Scum - Class Design & Talents

Nov 18, 2025

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Like other classes, the Hive Scum class also has access to three unique blitz abilities. The first is a blinding grenade, which does exactly what it says on the tin by providing a quick stun to a small area. These can also be recharged by killing enemies, meaning you won't be soaking up those precious grenade refills throughout a level. The other grenade option is the Chem Grenade, which, when thrown, creates a large damage-over-time pool on the ground, infecting any enemies that walk through it. This is great for taking out tons of chaff or poisoning a beefy monster for some extra damage. My favorite blitz though has to go to the Boom Bringer, a disposable rocket launcher that does tremendous damage. This thing will obliterate pretty much anything you shoot it at, but it can only carry a small amount of rockets. Sure the other grenades are fun and all, but come on, it's a rocket launcher.

The defining features of each class are, of course, their Combat Abilities, and the Hive Scum has three that each lend themselves to different combat styles. The melee-focus skill is Rampage!, which will grant a boost to attack speed and power while also making you immune to stuns and suppression. The duration can also be extended by hitting enemies with melee attacks, so it feeds into itself as long as you’re slaying out sufficiently. If you’re more interested in team support, you can instead opt for the Stimm Supply skill. This drops a modified medical crate on the ground that dispenses the contents of your Cartel Special instead of healing, meaning your whole team can reap the benefits. 

Finishing off with my favorite of the three is the Desperado skill, which grants infinite sprint stamina along with making you immune to ranged attacks. This skill also makes your reloads not consume any reserve ammo during the duration, and can be refreshed by getting ranged weapon kills. This is just as busted as it sounds, as you can run down enemies with essentially infinite ammo, while laughing in the face of bullets raining on you. The other two skills comparatively didn’t feel as high octane, but the Stimm Supply can still be useful in certain team compositions.

Outside of combat, this class also brings a wealth of new customization options, including hairstyles and body tattoos. There are also a handful of new faces to use when creating your character as well, along with new backstories, backgrounds, and armor sets that are themed around the four cartels of Tertium. These are a welcome addition, but I can’t help but wonder why some of these options are class exclusives to the Hive Scum. Sure it’s great to have them, but just know that a lot of the new options can only be used on the new class, which is kind of a bummer.

The Hive Scum is a high-adrenaline class that puts all of its focus on in-your-face combat and offers some great weapons to boot. Whether you’re peeling armor off of crushers with a crowbar, getting amped off of your tenth stimm in a row, or emptying mag after mag into the hordes of Nurgle, the carnage hardly ever stops. Despite some of the skill tree paths feeling like they are missing some of this power, the class overall still feels great to play, and fits right in with the rejects aboard the Mourningstar, even if the Arbites don’t feel the same way.