Chris InglisWhen Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters released in May this year, I found it to be one of the best games in the 40K universe, both graphically and for the versatile combat mechanics. The game’s first DLC, Duty Eternal, launched on December 6, 2022, and added a heap of new event missions and two new awesome units to control, as the Grey Knights continue their all-out purge against the forces of Nurgle. I enjoyed this DLC, however it took a long time to unlock everything that was on offer.
The Bloom has mutated, and we must overcome a new rampaging Technophage Outbreak by aiding the Adeptus Mechanicus and halting the scourge. In order to unlock these new missions, you will need to have a save game that is before day 100 of in-game time. For me, the first mission ‘Allies Under Siege’ unlocked around missions 98. Once you do this mission, you will get a first look at a new unit called the Venerable Dreadnought. This is a big hulking mech that can be used to devastating effect. It has a charge ability, smashing everything in its path, a doomfist melee bash, a flamethrower, plasma cannon and a smoke screen ability. This this absolutely wrecks with 3 AP and 7 WP, plus 30HP.
After you complete this mission, the dreadnaught returns to his original mission, so you can’t recruit or use them until the next mission. The second mission ‘Honor of the Ancients’ has you controlling one again. This time though, we were up against an equal sized enemy unit and with only 2 HP left, I attempted to charge my way out of range of this new baddie, only to bash through an explosive box and blew him up. Thankfully I still successfully completed the mission, and in doing so it adds a hangar section to the manufactorum on the ship.
In the hangar, you can outfit and upgrade the dreadnoughts, however I had to repair him before I could use him in missions. At that point in my play through, I had no servitors left due to doing ship repairs and it required 18 to repair him. For the next few hours of gameplay, I was unable to use the dreadnought, which was frustrating, but it allowed me time to play the other new unit added with this Duty Eternal DLC which is the techmarine. These techmarines have an ability to heal any mechanical teammates like the dreadnaughts. They also have a servo-harness which adds a minion to aid them, and there are several types of combat servitors (minions) you can unlock with a new resource called archeotech which can be found in caches within missions and certain mission rewards.
As you progress through the game, more locations will unlock on the map and some will be noted to have a technophage outbreak. For these missions, Titan has authorised the use of Heavy Firepower, and so when you are eventually able to deploy a venerable dreadnought, you can use them. For other general base game missions, you can’t use the dreadnought which I hear a lot of players are complaining about. For me, these units are super powerful and if we could just deploy them in every mission, it would be far too easy. As it is, technophage elite enemy units have been added to these technophage outbreak missions, so they’re not a walk in the park even with the dreadnought and techmarine combinations.
Finally, there is a fourth main mission in the Duty Eternal DLC called ‘A Corrupted Vessel’ and once you complete this, you will unlock a Gladius Frigate. Quite often when new missions spawn on the map, I generally can travel one or two of them, but usually there are missions I just can’t reach before their timers disappear. Now with the Gladius Frigate, and providing you have enough mission-ready units, you can send a squad to deal with a mission remotely using the Gladius Frigate.
Quite often I feel overwhelmed when I look at the map and see so many hostile systems, and the missions keep getting harder and harder. My squad list is constantly half filled or more with critically injured soldiers (my fault), but to be able to send a crew off to deal with a far-reaching mission is an awesome feature. It made me feel like I could start clawing back control of the game’s universe. It also helped me to be able to target specific missions to earn spores to be able to unlock specific research options.
Overall, this Duty Eternal DLC has extended my enjoyment of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters by adding more versatility in how to play the game. New units and missions changed up the gameplay enough that it felt like a fresh game again, though there was a bit of grinding to get the dreadnought fully operational. I understand why the Dreadnought has been limited to certain missions as it would be far too powerful otherwise. Combining them with the techmarine makes for an awesome addition to your army, as is the Gladius Frigate to expand your control of the universe.
This review utilised a key provided by Heaven Media and Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters – Duty Eternal DLC is available now on Steam.
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