Fatshark released Vermintide 2 on 8 March 2018 and it still runs on the same five heroes: Markus Kruber, Bardin Goreksson, Kerillian, Victor Saltzpyre and Sienna Fuegonasus. Each has four careers, three unlocked through levelling and one sold separately, which gives 20 loadouts built on one first person melee system. Difficulty climbs through Recruit, Veteran, Champion and Legend, with Cataclysm added by the Winds of Magic expansion in August 2019.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best characters, weapons worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Temporary health from damage dealt
Most careers take a talent that converts damage into temporary health, triggered on kills, on cleaving several enemies at once or on critical hits. Temporary health drains steadily but it is the only healing available between medical supplies, which turns an incoming horde into a resource rather than a threat.
Stamina shields and push attacks
Blocking spends stamina shown as half circles above the crosshair, and a shield weapon carries several more of them than a two handed weapon does. Blocking and then pushing staggers everything in front of you and opens a free heavy attack, which is the standard answer to being surrounded.
Dodge count per weapon
Every weapon allows a fixed number of effective dodges in sequence before the dodge stops moving you far enough to matter. Dual daggers dodge further and more often than a two handed hammer, so chaining more dodges than a weapon supports walks you into the attack you were avoiding.
Tomes and grimoires as loot penalties
Each map holds three tomes and two grimoires. A tome occupies the healing item slot so you carry it instead of a medical kit, and each grimoire cuts every player's maximum health by 30 percent, stacking to 60 percent with both, in exchange for better end of mission loot.
Specials and monster spawns
Specials such as the Packmaster, Gutter Runner, Ratling Gunner, Warpfire Thrower and Blightstormer each disable or delete one player at a time, while monsters such as the Rat Ogre, Chaos Spawn, Stormfiend and Bile Troll soak the whole team. Calling them out by name matters more than personal damage, because a hooked teammate nobody noticed is how runs end.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Warhammer: Vermintide 2 combat guide.
Characters Overview
| Role | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Markus Kruber | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Bardin Goreksson | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Kerillian | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Victor Saltzpyre | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Sienna Fuegonasus | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Warhammer: Vermintide 2 builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Weapons Guide
| Weapon | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Halberd | Kruber's long reach polearm, with a light attack chain that cleaves infantry and a heavy that punches through armour. | Kruber holding a front line against mixed hordes and armour |
| Drakefire Pistols | Bardin's ranged weapon that fires fire damage instead of ammunition and overheats instead of running dry. | Bardin players who keep running out of ammunition on long maps |
| Dual Daggers | Kerillian's fastest melee option, with the best dodge count in the game and enormous critical damage against a single target. | Shade burst damage on monsters and elites |
| Rapier | Saltzpyre's starting melee weapon and still one of his best, with fast thrusts, a strong push attack and a pistol shot bound to the special attack. | Witch Hunter Captain duelling elites and finishing tagged targets |
| Conflagration Staff | Sienna's crowd control staff, dropping a fire pillar that staggers and burns everything caught in it. | Holding a corridor and breaking up horde momentum |
Halberd: Kruber's long reach polearm, with a light attack chain that cleaves infantry and a heavy that punches through armour. It handles both jobs adequately, which is why it stays in loadouts long after players have unlocked flashier options.
Drakefire Pistols: Bardin's ranged weapon that fires fire damage instead of ammunition and overheats instead of running dry. Venting the heat costs health, so the pistols never leave you empty but they can kill you if you ignore the gauge.
Dual Daggers: Kerillian's fastest melee option, with the best dodge count in the game and enormous critical damage against a single target. Cleave is almost nonexistent, so a Shade caught in a horde with daggers has no good answer.
Rapier: Saltzpyre's starting melee weapon and still one of his best, with fast thrusts, a strong push attack and a pistol shot bound to the special attack. Its low cleave means it wants a career that kills quickly rather than one that grinds.
Conflagration Staff: Sienna's crowd control staff, dropping a fire pillar that staggers and burns everything caught in it. Damage per second is lower than the alternatives, but stopping a horde before it reaches the line is worth more than damage on most runs.
Full breakdowns in our Warhammer: Vermintide 2 weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Righteous Stand | Recruit to Legend | Three tomes, two grimoires, an easy end event to hold |
| Screaming Bell | Veteran to Cataclysm | Three tomes, two grimoires, heavy Skaven elite pressure |
| Athel Yenlui | Veteran to Cataclysm | Three tomes, two grimoires, good sight lines for ranged builds |
| Against the Grain | Champion to Cataclysm | Three tomes, two grimoires, a demanding hold at the finale |
| Skittergate | Champion to Cataclysm | Campaign completion, boss encounter, best end of run loot |
Righteous Stand: The usual first map, running through Helmgart's streets up to a cathedral finale on a defensible platform. The layout is generous with sight lines, which makes it the best place to learn to spot specials before they reach you.
Screaming Bell: A vertical Skaven map with tight interiors and an end event beneath a great bell. The corridors punish two handed weapons and reward anyone who took a shield, since there is rarely room to dodge sideways.
Athel Yenlui: Elven ruins with wide open ground and long approach lines, which makes it one of the better maps for ranged careers. The open space also means patrols are visible early enough to route around them.
Against the Grain: Farmland and barns with an end event defending a burning building. The middle section has several ambush points where a horde and a special can arrive together, which is where most runs on this map fall apart.
Skittergate: The campaign finale, longer than any other map and ending in a boss fight against Rasknitt. It is the most punishing map to attempt with both grimoires because the run time gives the health penalty far more chances to matter.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Block, push, then heavy attack is the core loop of the entire game. Pushing costs stamina but staggers everything in an arc in front of you, and the heavy attack that follows lands before anything recovers, which is how one player holds a corridor against a horde.
- Take a temporary health talent on every career you play. Between medical supplies there is no other healing, and the temporary health you generate from cleaving a horde is often larger than the total health pool you started the map with.
- Learn the sound cue for each special before you learn any build. The Packmaster's chuckle, the Gutter Runner's chittering leap and the Ratling Gunner's spin up all announce themselves seconds before they act, and calling them out is worth more to a group than any weapon property.
- Walk around patrols rather than fighting them. A Skaven or Chaos patrol on Legend contains enough elites to wipe a full health team in under thirty seconds, and every map has room to slip past if the group crouches and stops shooting.
- Carry the potion type your team lacks rather than the one you prefer. Strength potions belong on the highest single target damage career for the boss fight, speed potions belong on whoever is reviving people, and concentration potions belong on careers with a strong ultimate.
- Only take grimoires when everyone in the group has agreed to. Each grimoire removes 30 percent of every player's maximum health and both together remove 60 percent, which turns survivable mistakes on Champion into instant downs.
- Match your weapon to your dodge budget. Dual daggers and the elven spear allow several effective dodges in a row, while two handed hammers and executioner swords allow very few, so a weapon swap changes your defensive plan and not just your damage.
- Put Swift Slaying on melee weapons and Scrounger or Barrage on ranged ones. Swift Slaying converts critical hits into attack speed, Scrounger returns ammunition on weak spot hits, and both compound over a full map rather than spiking once.
- Stay within reviving distance of at least one teammate at all times. Vermintide 2 kills isolated players faster than grouped ones because a single Gutter Runner pounce or Packmaster hook on a lone player is unanswerable until someone walks over.
- Item power caps at 300 and characters cap at level 35, so once you reach those numbers all further progress is horizontal. Chase weapon properties and traits that suit the career you actually play rather than chasing higher numbers that do not exist.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Fighting a patrol on Legend instead of crouching past it, which is the single most common cause of a full team wipe.
- Taking both grimoires on a public run, then losing at 60 percent reduced maximum health to damage the team would normally survive.
- Attacking into a horde without blocking and pushing first, so the surrounding enemies get free hits from angles nobody is watching.
- Chasing a fleeing Gutter Runner away from the group and being pounced with nobody in range to help.
- Playing a two handed weapon like a dagger, chaining dodges the weapon does not support, and walking into the attack instead of out of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many careers are there?
Twenty. Each of the five heroes has three careers unlocked through levelling plus one premium career sold separately: Grail Knight for Kruber, Outcast Engineer for Bardin, Sister of the Thorn for Kerillian, Warrior Priest of Sigmar for Saltzpyre and Necromancer for Sienna.
What do tomes and grimoires actually do?
They raise end of mission loot. Each map holds three tomes and two grimoires. A tome sits in your healing item slot, so carrying one means going without a medical kit, and each grimoire removes 30 percent of every player's maximum health, stacking to 60 percent.
What is the level cap?
Level 35 per character, with item power running from 5 to 300. Once both are maxed, progression becomes horizontal: chasing specific weapon properties, traits and the red rarity items that come with maximum stats.
Which career is best for a new player?
Mercenary Kruber. He generates temporary health for the whole team through cleaving, his Morale Boost staggers everything nearby and heals allies, and the halberd or executioner sword handles both hordes and armour without needing precise positioning.
What is Chaos Wastes?
A free expedition mode added in 2021 that strings randomised maps together into a run, with Pilgrim's Coins spent on boons and weapon upgrades between levels and a finale at the Citadel of Eternity. Progress does not carry between runs, so it plays very differently from the main campaign maps.
More Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Guides
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Best Builds
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Tier List
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Walkthrough
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Beginner's Guide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Tips & Tricks
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Weapons Guide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Combat Guide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Boss Guide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Maps & Locations
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Crafting Guide
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Classes & Characters
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- Monster Hunter Wilds Guide: action game with similar mechanics
