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.
These tips go beyond the basics. They're the strategies experienced players use to play more efficiently, the hidden mechanics most people miss, and the optimizations that compound over a full playthrough. If you're just starting, check our beginner's guide first.
Essential Tips
1. Block, push, then heavy attack is the core loop of the entire game
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.
2. Take a temporary health talent on every career you play
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.
3. Learn the sound cue for each special before you learn any build
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.
4. Walk around patrols rather than fighting them
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.
5. Carry the potion type your team lacks rather than the one you prefer
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.
6. Only take grimoires when everyone in the group has agreed to
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.
7. Match your weapon to your dodge budget
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.
8. Put Swift Slaying on melee weapons and Scrounger or Barrage on ranged ones
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.
9. Stay within reviving distance of at least one teammate at all times
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.
10. Item power caps at 300 and characters cap at level 35, so once you reach those numbers all further progress is horizontal
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.
Advanced Strategies
Role Optimization
The difference between an average build and an optimized one is massive. See our builds guide for full breakdowns.
For Markus Kruber (A-Tier):
- Focus on Temporary health from damage dealt combinations for maximum output.
- Core gear: Halberd
- Stat priority: Offensive stats first
For Bardin Goreksson (A-Tier):
- Versatile approach that handles any situation.
- Core gear: Drakefire Pistols
- Stat priority: Balanced stats
Mechanic Interactions
Understanding how Warhammer: Vermintide 2's systems interact is where the real optimization lives. Our combat guide covers this in detail.
Temporary health from damage dealt + Stamina shields and push attacks: Most careers take a talent that converts damage into temporary health, triggered on kills, on cleaving several enemies at once or on critical hits. Combined with 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.
Dodge count per weapon + Tomes and grimoires as loot penalties: Every weapon allows a fixed number of effective dodges in sequence before the dodge stops moving you far enough to matter. When paired with Tomes and grimoires as loot penalties, each map holds three tomes and two grimoires.
Specials and monster spawns scaling: 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.
Weapons Efficiency
| Weapon | Best Use Case | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Halberd | Kruber holding a front line against mixed hordes and armour | Kruber's long reach polearm, with a light attack chain that cleaves infantry and a heavy that punches through armour. |
| Drakefire Pistols | Bardin players who keep running out of ammunition on long maps | Bardin's ranged weapon that fires fire damage instead of ammunition and overheats instead of running dry. |
| Dual Daggers | Shade burst damage on monsters and elites | Kerillian's fastest melee option, with the best dodge count in the game and enormous critical damage against a single target. |
| Rapier | Witch Hunter Captain duelling elites and finishing tagged targets | 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. |
| Conflagration Staff | Holding a corridor and breaking up horde momentum | Sienna's crowd control staff, dropping a fire pillar that staggers and burns everything caught in it. |
Location Efficiency
Righteous Stand (Recruit to Legend): 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 (Veteran to Cataclysm): 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 (Veteran to Cataclysm): 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 (Champion to Cataclysm): 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 (Champion to Cataclysm): 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.
Mistakes Even Veterans Make
- 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.
Pro Quick Tips
- 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.
- Start with Bardin Goreksson, switch to Markus Kruber when ready
- Invest in Halberd above everything else
- Clear areas in order: Righteous Stand → Screaming Bell → Athel Yenlui → Against the Grain → Skittergate. See our maps guide
- Temporary health from damage dealt + Stamina shields and push attacks together are stronger than either alone
More Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Guides
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Overview
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Best Builds
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Tier List
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Walkthrough
- Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Beginner's Guide
- 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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