Stay Inside Your Team's Reach

Darktide is explicitly a co-op game. The publisher warns that wandering too far risks punishment from foes looking to immobilise or capture strays, and that your toughness only recharges when you are in the proximity of your strike team.

Toughness has a radius

Toughness recharging only near your strike team is the clearest mechanical reason to stay close. The further you push alone, the less of your damage buffer you get back, which makes isolation a slow loss rather than a single mistake.

Strays get captured, not killed

The store names the Chaos Hound and the Moebian Trapper as enemies that immobilise or capture players who stray. Being caught is not the end of the run, but the official text is clear that only your teammates can save you - which means the punishment for exploring alone is paid by the group.

Stick to your strike team, not the whole lobby

The description talks about proximity to your strike team. With four players in a hive, that usually means one or two players rather than the entire group, so agree on pairs before the mission rather than assuming everyone is covering everyone.

Rescue is a team responsibility

If the only fix for a captured teammate is another player, then leaving someone behind is a decision you make twice: once to abandon them, and again when the mission shrinks.

Once the team is together, the fight alternates between two modes: balancing melee and ranged. And the briefing matters, so read rebuilding your loadout for conditions.