Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader – Unfair difficulty guide

Posted on by The Panda

In advance of the Infinite Museion DLC I had decided to refresh my quite fond memories of Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, and finally set down a few thoughts on surviving, and thriving, in the game’s Unfair difficulty mode.  Which is actually not the game’s most unforgiving difficulty setting; it is possible to make the enemies even stronger, and player-controlled characters even more inept at just about any sort of action, by using the custom sliders during character creation. I will be honest – I have tried, successfully, an absolute-max-difficulty run, and found it to be not terribly more difficult than Unfair, but at least two or three times as tedious, particularly in the early game. In any event, the general principles of this guide should work equally well on any custom-made difficulty as on the preset Unfair mode.

An important note – the guide implicitly assumes that both Void Shadows and Lex Imperialis DLCs are installed. If this is not the case, the guide should still work, however some of the specifics, like the DLC-specific companions1, become obviously non-applicable.

OVERALL STRATEGY

In very basic terms, enemies in Unfair difficulty hit harder, and are not quite as easy to bring down, especially in the early stages of the game when the party’s skills and equipment are comparatively lacking.

Specifically, enemies have their wounds boosted by 80%, and their dodge, characteristics, and damage done to player-controlled characters by 20% a piece. What this effectively means is that through all of Act 1 and into Act 2, a single burst fire from a Rebel Guardsman can severely inconvenience a party member or two, and even well into Act 4 non-boss enemies will be able to do some 30-60 damage per hit against characters wearing Power Armour. As well, at least initially, melee party members will be frustrated to no end by the enemies’ uncanny dodge and parry percentages, though this becomes less of an issue with levels and decent gear.

The optimal player strategy then becomes clearing the field before having to absorb more damage than the party can withstand. Specifically given the rules and mechanics of Rogue Trader, this means maximizing the number of attacks in a given round, while having some means, whether through mobility or long range fire, of hitting all enemies on the battlefield irrespective of their starting positions. As well, within specific fights this means controlling the enemies to limit the number that can actually attack the party, whether through positioning, stuns, or some other artifice2.

This does not mean that a tanking and grinding approach is impossible, even in the custom-made absolute-max-difficulty mode. However, Abelard the Tank in Unfair is far, far less useful, than Abelard the Arch-Militant Nuker, by the simple expedient of the latter, with the right setup, simply clearing most enemies before they even have a chance to act, never mind do any “tank-worthy” damage.

In fact, there is a broader point to be made here – any reasonable build, either for the player character or for other party members, and any party composition in general, can still “work” in Unfair. Conceivably even a party of six Grand Strategists armed with laspistols, not that I would recommend this experience except for the most masochistic of players. There is a difference, however, between an average party barely surviving about half of the encounters in Acts 1-3, and a more optimized party having a fairly easy go of it, especially once out of Act 1. With that in mind…

PARTY CONSTRUCTION

Since the objective is to clear the field in as quick and efficient manner as possible, each player party should ideally fit the following requirements:

  • 3-4 optimized damage dealers. These are the party members that do the actual clearing, whether at range or in melee – or, in the case of shotguns and pistols, with ranged attacks in melee range. 
  • 1-2 officer archetypes to provide extra turns. Officers can do so both through their Bring it Down! talent, and the Finest Hour! Heroic Act. In fact, two Officers can conceivably provide four extra turns in a single round – provided the first Finest Hour! is used on a damage dealer who builds enough momentum for a repeat performance.
  • 1 or more characters who can deal with snipers. In other words, some way of reaching an enemy set up >20 spaces away before he makes too much mischief. This can be one’s own sniper, an Overseer with a fast pet, or simply a very high mobility character that can cross much of the field in a single round. Importantly, this need should be addressed before the Act 1 boss fight, as arguably the toughest element of this is the enemy sniper set up in the opposite corner of the field.
  • 1-2 characters who can lock down important threats in melee. Essentially, these serve as the party’s “tanks”, less through attacks of opportunity and more by getting a high-value enemy to focus their efforts on themselves, and not on the rest of the party. Certain damage dealer builds, like the shotgun-and-shield Arbitrator, are exceptionally good at this even without any traditional “tanking” talents.

Importantly, some characters or builds can combine these functions. Cassia is an excellent example of an Officer who can also be a general-purpose damage dealer, or even a “counter-sniper” of sorts with a Cyber-Eagle3. Conceivably, it is possible to combine all of these functions on 3-4 party members, with the other two simply coming along for the ride for quest or conversation purposes. Of course, the more practical approach would be to ensure that every party member fits at least one of these roles.

PLAYER CHARACTER BUILDS

I have to admit – my first run through Unfair, and coincidentally my very first run through Rogue Trader, when I basically did not know what I was doing, I built my player-character to be an Officer-Grand Strategist. Armed with a pistol. To say that they were absolutely, utterly useless as a damage dealer would be to make a considerable understatement. And yet…I still managed to give Argenta enough extra actions to mow down the third stage of the final boss in a single activation.

And so I stress, it is perfectly viable and legitimate to build the player character as a buffer. Officer-Grand Strategist is one option, another would be a Psyker-Operative-Overseer4 to mass-buff or mass-debuff at range.

However, since there are already enough support party members available – Jae, Cassia, possibly Idira, possibly Pasqal, Heinrix, even as a damage dealer, conceivably the upcoming Infinite Museion tech priest – my favourite player character setups revolve around damage dealing. Examples include:

  • Psyker-Bladedancer-Executioner. A better version of Kibellah or Heinrix, setting yourself on fire at the start of the battle, then running around slaughtering everyone and everything. Of note, I almost never use the Executioner Heroic Act, as Bladedancer’s Death Waltz is more than sufficient to remove just about any target, especially once enough DoT stacks are built up.
  • Soldier-Arch Militant bolter expert. Essentially an Argenta clone, with similarly ridiculous damage potential. The issue here is that this character would compete with Argenta for some best-in-slot wargear; on the other hand, this is perfect for a Heretical run, or one where Argenta is killed in Commoragh after her confession.
  • Navy Officer-Warrior-Arch Militant. I have recently stumbled on this while trying to maximize Abelard’s damage potential, and successfully ran it on the player character. The key to the build is the Navy Officer talent Fleet Combat Training, which gives the character free attacks with their secondary weapon on a critical hit. With a pistol as the second weapon and the Confident Approach, every melee attack that is not dodged or parried will trigger the free attack, building up Versatility stacks at an incredible pace, in turn boosting both armour and critical damage. In terms of gear, Ryzza sells a chainaxe called Carnage, which boosts critical damage by 25% for every melee hit, while Void Veteran Boots give a free Charge for every melee kill, useful for either additional free attacks or simple repositioning.
  • Arbitrator Vigilant-Soldier-Arch Militant. Shotgun. Shield. Multiple attacks per turn. This build becomes ridiculous with Double-Barreled Shotgun and Gun Shield, and the combination of a shield and decent armour means it can “shadow tank” in a pinch.

These are far from the only possible combinations, of course – a Crime Lord Bounty Hunter sniper comes to mind, for example, or a Warrior-Executioner Heinrix clone with a saw or a drill for multiple hits and DoT procs. However, in my experience, these combine relative ease of use, even from the very beginning of Act 1, and very high offensive potential once the build gets rolling.

PARTY MEMBER SETUPS

These are the pre-made companions provided in game, excluding the three recruitable companions that, depending on the circumstances, can join the player in Act 45; to be honest, I’ve never really bothered with these, in part as you get them so very late in the game, and only through certain alignments and actions. As well, I won’t cover custom-made companions, as these can be, well, easily customized to fill whatever need a given party might have. Finally, I have avoided recruiting Marazhai, except the one time for the Steam achievement, as shooting him in the face is a vastly more satisfying outcome, and so will not cover his build options here.

In alphabetical order.

  • Abelard. In principle, on Unfair Abelard still works as a Warrior-Vanguard tank. As noted above, however, given his Naval Officer background, setting him up as an Arch Militant damage dealer with Carnage and Void Veteran boots is a very effective way to boost the party’s damage output, especially if the player character wants ot use a different background.
  • Argenta. The game’s bolter saint. She is no slouch with a flamer, however a Bolter or a Heavy Bolter with some rate of fire boosts and a few Arch Militant talents turn her into an absolute damage dealing beast all the way through the final boss. She is especially vicious with the Blessed Bolter Casing, found in the Omicron system, as this lets her auto-hit with a barrage of single shots during the Firearm Mastery Heroic Act.
  • Cassia. I have typically used her as more of a support character, however in my last couple of playthroughs I really leaned into her damage dealing abilities. Lidless Stare when paired with any “Devastating” staff can do wonders, especially with the Master Tactician archetype for extra damage. And it can also stun enemies rather effectively, even on Unfair. Of course, she is still great as either a Grand Strategist or an Overseer, what with the Navigator buffs she can hand out, but I would suggest stacking as much Willpower boosts on her as can be found, and letting her go to town on enemy groups.
  • Heinrix. Thus far, I have largely used Heinrix as an Executioner, given that with Pyromancy he can stack all three types of DoTs. This, however, requires that he uses a drill or a saw to mitigate his comparatively paltry number of attacks per turn. I am curious about making an Arch Militant archetype work with him, however; perhaps something to try on my next run. In any case, Heinrix is in a curious spot of being a good damage dealer, at least with the right setup, but not so good as to eclipse the Argenta-Cassia-Kibellah triumvirate, or the Arch Militant Abelard.
  • Idira. Idira is a little frustrating, especially early on, as she can damage or even knock down her own party at the most inopportune moments. As well, I am generally not a fan of the Operative archetype, though in her case it hardly matters. She can be built as a pure damage dealer, though I am rather more fond of using her as an Overseer for mass buffs and debuffs, as well as for taking out enemy snipers in a pinch. Curiously, Idira can also fill the Logic/Tech Use skill monkey function irrespective of her archetypes and battlefield role, at least if Jae or Pasqal are not available.
  • Jae. The ultimate skill monkey, provided one constantly trades with all five reputation factions. Conversely, her damage potential is uninspiring, at least until relatively late in the game. Up to that point, sometime in Act 4, I would either use her as a pure support character – Jae as a Grand Strategist is just great – or give her two Foehammers to try and knock down groups of enemies while tanking any return fire as a Vanguard.
  • Kibellah. Our favourite Death Cultist is practically begging to be specced into Executioner, provided she also takes Lore: Xenos and Drukhari Weapon Proficiency, so that she could apply Toxin as well as Bleeding. By the end of Act 2, when she gets her hand on some decent Drukhari swords, she can start coming into her own, especially with the Death Waltz Heroic Act and the Acrobatic Artistry skill, which not only lets her dart back into cover after doing damage, but “doubles up” Death From Above casts as she backtraces her path. As well, she can become a lot tankier with archetype and gear upgrades, though in general I would still prefer not to use her to lock down powerful enemies, as dodge-tanking only gets you so far, especially against bosses.
  • Pasqal. Pasqal is actually a very flexible “sixth” character, filling whatever need the party has at that point. He can, potentially, do a great deal of damage, especially as a Bounty Hunter with a Plasma Gun. He can also buff and debuff en masse, especially as an Overseer. In the Act 1 boss fight I like to just give him a sniper rifle and have him go after the git in the upper right corner of the map. All that said, to me, if I am using Jae or Idira, there is just no reason to bring Pasqal except for his character quest or for roleplaying flavour.
  • Solomorne. Even as an Overseer, Solomorne is still serviceable as a damage dealer, especially with a Double-Barrelled Shotgun and Gun Shield. He is just not nearly as effective at it as a Vigilant-Arch Militant player character would have been. On the other hand, through Glato he possesses some added utility functions, such as locking down snipers, knocking down individual enemies, or – and this is really Glato’s ultimate raison d’etre – absorbing the attention of the final boss on Thassera for one or two rounds, giving the rest of your party just enough time to knock down at least a couple of statues and burn the boss down.
  • Ulfar. Honestly, I feel I would have had a much more favourable view of him if he didn’t join the party only halfway through Act 3. By that point, I have to drop someone like an Argenta to make room for him, and it’s just not terribly worth it. To be sure, with the right sequencing of attacks Ulfar can still do quite a bit of mischief, especially to enemy rank and file. I am also intrigued by the possibility of making him into a pure shooter with a Heavy Bolter, though this is something for me to try in the future.
  • Yrliet. On paper, the little Eldar girl makes for a phenomenal sniper, especially if specced into Assassin. My problem with Yrliet, aside from the obvious lore-related issues6, is that in reality, her “nameplate” 95% hit rate means she misses roughly one third of the time. This is incredibly frustrating for a character whose whole gimmick is extremely powerful single-shot attacks. Yes, there are technically ways to try to offset this, and yes, there will be fights where she won’t miss a single shot out of a dozen or more. Her RNG dependency, however, especially on Unfair, often means – at least for me – that there are more useful companions to take in that party slot.

Character skills are an additional consideration. To me, the important ones to have at a high level in any party are Athletics, Awareness, Demolitions, Logic, Medicae, and Tech Use (“AADLMTu”). The rest can be basically worked around, or even ignored altogether, though Coercion is technically important for Arbitrator builds. As a rule, the player character can take care of one or two of the AADLMTu sestet – for example, a Warrior might take Athletics, or an Arbitrator Vigilant focus on Demolition – which means at least three of the companions need to be chosen with the view of covering the remaining skill gaps, as well as performing on the battlefield.

With all that in mind, I like to start all my parties with Cassia and Argenta, who are not only a great battlefield combination, but also cover Awareness, Demolitions and Medicae. If the player character can handle Athletics, then there is no need to take Abelard except for damage and flavour; conversely, if the player character is doing something else, Abelard for Athletics – and killer damage as an Arch Militant – is a natural fit. Executioner Kibellah will naturally pump Medicae while filling the damage dealer role. Just those four – Cassia, Argenta, Kibellah and Abelard – can, by themselves, without the player character’s participation, handle just about any threat in Unfair, leaving a spot open for a support character with Logic and Tech Use. This is not a set-in-stone party setup, however, especially depending on how the player character is built.

SPACE COMBAT

While some players seem to revile this game mode, it actually happens to be my favourite, and not just because I can no longer play Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II thanks to its imbecillic DRM. Of course, at the very start of Act 2 in Unfair mode, one’s ship is hardly suited for any grand fleet battles.

In fact, I would recommend that any and all space battles are avoided until one can make one’s way to the Mu-Rho 79 system, where the Imperial Navy is taking on some pirates. Joining up with the Imperial Navy, and spending the battle largely hiding behind its big cruiser and picking off pirate strays, not only yields experience and scrap, but also Fury Interceptors, which are absolutely invaluable for taking on space-borne enemies all the way through the endgame. Especially if one uses them as one-shot missiles, either making sure they land back on the mothership at the end of their move, or parking them next to an enemy vessel that is about to explode – then making it do so. Attack craft also ignore Aeldari and Drukhari Holofield/Shadowfield nonsense, and so are invaluable in those encounters. Naturally, I recommend that both front weapon slots are set to torpedo tubes, so that one can either launch two flights per turn, or one flight and a torpedo salvo.

Once the attack craft are available, the next step is to obtain escorts. One can be built via a colony project on Dargonus, though it requires a fairly high, for Act 2, Navy reputation level. The Heartless is the other invaluable escort, and as long as one’s party is prepared for the final boss battle, its quest chain is relatively easy to complete even fairly early in Act 2. With an escort or two and with attack craft, just about any and all other space battles in the game become borderline trivial, even on Unfair difficulty.

I am also a great fan of Shallow Jump and Warp Wave ship skills, the former great for repositioning, while the latter can finish off stragglers, especially with Idira’s upgraded version, or make sure that the Big Enemy Threat starts its turn pointed the wrong way. With Focused Efforts one can use both of these in a single turn, playing keepaway with the biggest threat in the enemy fleet while whittling down its supports. Torpedo Control is also good for alpha strikes, especially if Jae is on station, as her upgraded version of the skill allows one to immediately hammer home a torpedo salvo from close range.

Finally, even on Unfair, I almost never end up using the ship’s ultimate abilities, mostly as these are not necessary. The defensive ones are almost never needed, while the damaging ones can certainly speed up some encounters, to be sure, but the long recharge time and the, shall we say, moderate upgrade to overall damage output. There are exceptions, such as when I need to burn down the turrets around the Heriokh’s Rim space station as quickly as possible. These are fairly few and far between, however.

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS AND TRICKS

  • The Capella Biologis colony project on Janus is invaluable, especially early on, in giving the party a way to remove traumas without heading back to the voidship.
  • In general, having as many party members as possible, including the player character, unlock the use of Medikits is fairly crucial in Acts 1 through 3. Beyond that, between the fully fleshed out builds and the automatic heals from the Flesh Wounds Exemplar talent, Medikits become strictly a means of removing injuries and traumas.
  • Especially early on, setting up away from some or all of the enemies can be a life-saver. Fighting half of the enemy force while the rest is forced to reposition for a round or two is much better than fighting all of them at once, especially during certain encounters such as the boss fight on Thassera.
  • Know your fights. At least, the big ones, such as the various boss fights. While it’s fun to discover things through trial and error, on Unfair an incorrect understanding of mechanics – or simply incorrect deployment – might mean that your party is nearly wiped out by halfway through the second round, which is a real possibility on Unfair difficulty. Similarly for some of the more powerful individual enemies in early game, like the Nimble Prisoner on Rykadi Philia.
  • The party composition and equipment should be pretty much set by the end of Act 2, as one will have to employ pretty much the same companions through all of Act 3 – unless Ulthar is recruited, of course.

There isn’t really much more to it. With a solid party setup, and some basic knowledge of the key encounters and enemies, most fights won’t necessarily be a breeze, but after a while Unfair will start to feel pretty much like Normal.

Provided, of course, that the Infinite Museion DLC does not throw an entire crate of monkey wrenches into the proceedings. Though to be honest, I actually think it might make the Unfair difficulty mode even easier, depending on how the new implant system interacts with various character and party builds.

Footnotes:
  1. As of this writing, Kibellah and Solomorne Anthar[↩]
  2. Simply setting up far enough away that melee enemies have to spend a couple of rounds walking towards the party while absorbing fire is a useful enough tactic to employ all the way through the Act 3 boss fight.[↩]
  3. Yes, I have tested this; it is not an optimal setup for Cassia on Unfair, but it is still workable, especially in a party of melee of short-ranged characters.[↩]
  4. Essentially an Idira clone, but without the psychic blowback.[↩]
  5. Incendia Chorda, Calligos Winterscale, and Uralon the Cruel.[↩]
  6. And the fact that she betrays you at least once…[↩]