A Beginner's Guide to Rats and Scunners

An intro to the enemies in the game, describing the roles they play in the game and how to plan for them.

Part 1: What is this?

Last Edit: 10/16/2018

Will I keep version notes? No.
Will I at least try to deal with updates? Yes. Some things have changed in the game, and that should be addressed.

A Bestiary for New Players

Obligatory pompous Sun Tzu reference: If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Vermintide’s enemies aren’t just a horde. Every enemy in this game is coming at you with a well-defined role in crafting your demise. An early part of learning this game is learning the enemies; reading a build alone won’t prepare you. Now, there are awesome build discussions for every class out there. What I haven’t seen for noobs is a solid breakdown of the enemies yet, so I thought I could fill that hole. But first…

The Importance of Breaking Armor: Quite a few enemies are wearing significant armor. Generally speaking, most melee weapons do little to no damage to armored enemies on light attacks. Power attacks will do reduced damage to armored enemies. Longbows, crossbows, and gunpowder weapons generally break armor, but many other ranged attacks don’t. Magic from Sienna generally does reduced damage. You can get around these limitations by scoring headshots and critical hits.

Experiment on the armored dummies in Taal’s Horn Keep to figure out precisely what your weapon will do when it hits armor.

And second…

The Importance of Dodging: Dodging is a quick move back or to the sides to avoid attacks. In this game, you may by default press back or to the sides and your jump key to dodge. Many players prefer a single, dedicated dodge key. Dodging will get you out of retaliation by a special or a horde. Dodging will let you reposition for a follow-up while the enemy misses you. Embrace dodging. Dodge bosses. Dodge specials. Dodge anything you can. For added safety, dodge as you block. You will be glad you did.

And third…

The Importance of Tagging: Tag enemies. Make your allies aware of what is going on. Many enemies hide in crowds or move quickly. Help your allies help you.

The following enemies cannot be tagged: Skaven slaves, Clanrats, Raiders, Fanatics. Everything else can be tagged. Tag them.

Onto the foe.

Format:
I will list enemies as follows:

Name: Self-explanatory
Type & Race:: Enemies in this game have racial and type keywords that interact with traits and items
Callout: How do the characters in-universe refer to this enemy. This is why you are hearing strange names that don’t mean much to you.
Role: A very brief mention of what this enemy does
Base Health: The enemy’s health on Recruit. For Veteran, multiply by 1.5. For Champion, double it. For Legendary, triple it.

Behavior & Strategy: The meat and potatoes; what does this enemy do, how do they go about trying to kill you, and what can you expect from them. This will specifically go into how they move through the world and what attacks they use.

Progression: Starting in recruit and going to legend, what should you expect from this enemy type.

Part 2: Skaven Basic Warriors

The Skaven:
Name: Skaven slave
Type & Race: Skaven infantry
Callout: None
Role: Expendable mob
Base Health: 2.5
Behavior & Strategy: Looking like mole rats, skaven slaves make up the largest group of skaven. When they sight the player, they will charge with suicidal abandon and attempt to engage in melee combat. Skaven slaves will use their superior numbers to try to flank you; the first to reach you will usually end up directly in front of the player with their pack swamping in from the sides. They can attack in packs that number well over forty. Much more ominously, the pack can disrupt you from sniping an important special or act as a meat shield for a Stormvermin, Packmaster, or other serious threat.

Eliminating this mass of expendable nobodies is easy with all melee weapons, but pay attention to how you do it. With crowd-control weapons, keep on the move and keep them from forming up. With other weapons, dodge-dancing your way through them can get it done. For ranged options, the drakegun, swift bow, and several staves that either do area damage or rapid fire are good options. Avoid using slow-firing, high-damage sniper weapons. Every time a musket shot is wasted on skaven slaves, it’s a bad trade for your party. Stay tight with your group; the slaves will usually be numerous enough to surround players who aren’t within easy reach. Skaven slaves, with their low HP and horde mentality, are very vulnerable to you turning choke points against them. One or two players holding a narrow place can kill a virtually endless swarm of these little jerks.

Most characters have an ultimate that breaks the horde, but it’s usually better to find another target unless you have a very quick cool down.

Attacks and Ambushes: Skaven slaves descend in large hordes during two common events. The first, an Ambush, is a no-warning sudden escalation with 20-40 or so skaven slaves suddenly rushing the group with possibly a few specials along for the ride. The second option, an Attack, is always proceeded by a loud war horn. You will have appx 10 seconds to prepare before a far larger group of slaves, clanrats, and specials come out of the woodwork to attack. Attacks give you the luxury of picking your ground; turn choke points and narrow passages against them.

Progression: On Recruit, this horde exists to make you feel powerful and to make bosses and specials more challenging. By the time you get to Legend, you will learn to fear the horde again. First, those few attacks you let through on Recruit will deal much more damage. Second, the horde will finish you very quickly if you are dropped, stunned, or captured by a special.

Name: Clanrat / Shielded Clanrat
Type & Race: Skaven infantry
Callout: None
Role: Slightly less expendable mob
Base Health: 5

Behavior & Strategy: Clanrats act like slaves, though a lone clanrat may hide from you. They possess slightly higher health and deal slightly more damage. A small minority of clanrats carry shields. Shields will stop many ranged weapons and will block most hits from the front. Fortunately, clanrat shields are made of what must be balsa wood, because after two or three blows, the shields break.

Everything that works for skaven slaves applies to clanrats. Shielded clanrats can be sniped if they are unaware; otherwise, save your ammunition. Additionally, consider whether there is a better target for your ranged attacks before shooting a shielded clanrat.

Clanrats will join ambushes and attacks.

Progression: Everything said about skaven slaves applies, though in lesser numbers.

Name: Plague Monk
Type & Race: Skaven Berserker (Elite)
Callout: None for appearance/death; if they are damaging you, the other characters yell for you to parry
Role: High DPS elite mook
Base Health: 18

Behavior & Strategy: Plague Monks typically appear in small groups of three or more. They are very distinct in their green robes. Their AI is simple; they will close with the player and launch into very damaging, quick strikes. Plague Monks have high resistance to stagger from your weapons, will survive a blow or two on most difficulties, and will punish you for attacking into their attacks. It’s a bad idea to trade blows with them, as the game can always spawn more enemies for you. Instead, take them out from range, block until their combos finish, or have an ally flank while you are engaged.

Progression: As you raise the difficulty of Vermintide 2, you will find that your power might grow, but the enemy gets stronger faster than you do. Mistakes get punished more harshly. As a result, on higher difficulties Plague Monks feel like a test of skill; you know how to defend yourself, and the game wants you to prove it before engaging these guys.

Name: Stormvermin
Type & Race: Skaven Elite (Armored)
Callout: Stormvermin will be called Stormvermin, Black Rats, and Warrior Rats.
Role: Elite Heavy Hitter
Base Health: 13

Behavior & Strategy: Stormvermin are a serious threat. They have four basic attacks. They will use their long polearms to swing high at you for medium damage, drop it low for a quick stab for light damage, raise it for a massive, two-handed swing that does deadly damage, or else shove you and interrupt your attacks. Working as a team, they will try to break your guard together and then cut you down. They will also hide in hordes, letting the slaves take hits while they use their reach to smash you. Stormvermin strikes can eliminate three shields from your block at a time, so if you let them gang up on you, you will have a bad (but brief) time.

Stormvermin are generally smart enough to get behind Shielded Stormvermin, slaves, or clanrats.

Stormvermin are high priority targets. Use armor-breaking weapons or snipe them from range whenever possible. Avoid provoking them until you’re ready. Go for the head when possible.

You can dodge many of their attacks; this is good practice because they break shields easily.

Progression: Once you learn your tactics for basic Stormvermin, they are good throughout the game. However, as their damage and health rises, you have to watch the break points and make sure you can still execute your plan.

Name: Stormvermin (Shielded)
Type & Race: Skaven Elite (Armored and Shielded)
Callout: See Stormvermin
Role: Elite Tank
Base Health: 13

Behavior & Strategy: Stormvermin with shields have strong defense and will block almost any ranged attacks they are aware of. It takes multiple blows to knock the shield out of position and land a strike, and even then, the rat is armored. Fortunately, Shielded Stormvermin are not as deadly on offense as their glaive-wielding kin. Unfortunately, they tend to show up together and tank for their buddies, especially on higher difficulties.

Progression: As you rise in difficulty level, the Stormvermin (Shields) / Stormvermin combo becomes more and more common, requiring you to learn how to break shield guards with your loadout.

Part 3: Skaven Specials 1

Name: Stormvermin Patrol
Type & Race: Skaven Elite (Armored and Shielded)
Callout: Similar to Stormvermin, but mentioning the patrol. Alternatively, an annoyed comment such as, “They march like warriors…but are only rats,” or “Black rats, and in number!”
Role: Elite Mob
Base Health: - -

Behavior & Strategy: These Stormvermin may be the smartest rats out there. They bring a big posse with them. They pretend not to see you unless you get right in their face. They make sure to warn you where they are with their chants of “Kee! Yah!” You’ll hear them coming a mile away. Experienced players – those that can generally take on a swarm of angry Stormvermin, will hear this and avoid the patrol like the plague. Newbies will charge yelling “YOLO LEEROY!” and be slain out of hand. Either way, these rats are among the few rats to survive in the Vermintide universe.

Progression: All joking aside, a Stormvermin patrol is a serious threat on low difficulty and a possible game-ender on high difficulty. Their ability to see the players is pretty limited unless they’re attacked, so if you hear their chanting, stop using gunpowder weapons and lay low. If you do stir the hornet’s nest, a few well-placed bombs will not go amiss. If you don’t have that, refer to Stormvermin protocols and pray. On lower difficulty, you may face a half-dozen clan rats and four Stormvermin. On high difficulties, it’s all Stormvermin and they will roll deep.

Name: Warpfire Thrower
Type & Race: Skaven Special (Armored)
Callout: Firerat, Warpfire Thrower, Skaven Artifice. Sienna in particular has some wonderful insults for these guys, such as daring them to challenge a Maven of the Flame. The Warpfire Thrower himself will laugh like an evil chipmunk and talk about “burning surfacedwellers,” and so on.
Role: Armored AoE damage and area denial
Base Health: 12

Behavior & Strategy: The Warpfire Thrower is straightforward. He will close to appx 10 meters from you and unleash a torrent of highly damaging green fire. There is significant knock-back from the fire as well. The firerat can kill other skaven or Rotbloods for you. The best solution to this is to shoot this enemy with an armor-breaking attack early.

Unlike most armored enemies, he has multiple weakpoints. A headshot will likely kill him. A shot to his apparatus usually causes an explosion with a small radius and is very satisfying. So when targeting this rat, consider going for the head or the big brass balls he’s carrying.

Progression: While the scaling damage makes them more dangerous, as you raise the difficulty, the Warpfire Thrower’s area denial becomes even more important. Being pinned and trapped becomes more and more of a problem with time.

Name: Poison Wind Globadier
Type & Race: Skaven Special
Callout: Gasrat, Globadier, Poison Wind, and similar references, such as “Poison on the wind!” His breathing apparatus makes a sound like an electric hum. If he is damaged, you may here that he is performing a suicide run or will try to take you with him.
Role: Area denial specialist
Base Health: 20

Behavior & Strategy: The gasrat will lurk in the background and lob poison wind grenades. These explode to produce a damaging gas that obscures vision and lingers. The time vision is obscured is longer than the time it deals damage; the gas is safe to enter as soon as there is no visible liquid on the floor. The poison wind can kill his allies.

The gasrat will launch two grenades and then mill around for a while before launching two more. If damaged, he may enter into poison kamikaze mode, charge you, and blow himself up. Be careful; he may suicide right in your face if you melee him but don’t kill him quickly.

Progression: The gasrat becomes more threatening over time due to increasing HP and damage, but his battlefield role doesn’t change much.

Name: Gutter Runner
Type & Race: Skaven Special
Callout: Sneak rat, Assassin, Backstabber, Gutter Runner, Blades in the Dark. He may cackle to himself and stage-whisper about his plans to sneak up on you and murder you. Saltzpyre in particular may yell about them; fans think he lost an eye to one.
Role: Assassin
Base Health: 12

Behavior & Strategy: Gutter runner will stalk the party and wait for a lone individual to be vulnerable or for the party to be distracted. He will then leap a long distance and knock down his victim, rendering them helpless as he savages them with his claws. A cornered Gutter Runner may deploy a smoke bomb and disappear. If a player runs off on their own, the game is likely to send a Gutter Runner after them.

When an ally is pinned by an Assassin, you can push him off or try to kill him. As a general rule, on lower difficulties it’s safer to kill the rat once and for all. On higher difficulties, pushing first is recommended since that damage adds up faster and fewer players should mistime their dodges.

You can dodge the Gutter Runner’s leap, shoot it during it’s jump, or block it with a perfectly-timed push. Dodging is easier, but be aware the Gutter Runner can jump twice in quick succession.

Progression: Like Packmasters but less so, Gutter Runners rely on other rats for damage. The Runner can do enough damage to kill you fairly quickly, but it’s being pinned and helpless that makes you really vulnerable.

Name: Ratling Gunner
Type & Race: Skaven Special (Armored)
Callout: Ratling, Gunrat, “Walking artillery,” “Couldn’t hit the side of a mountain!”, and similar
Role: Ranged DPS and suppression
Base Health: 12

Behavior & Strategy: Gunrat will choose a single hero as his target and try to exercise his Second Amendment rights all over that hero. At close range, he can easily rip a hero apart. At long range, the damage can stack up quickly, but with a lot of spread to his attack, you will last longer. Eventually, they have to reload or unjam the gun, causing a break in fire. Ratling Gunners are about as dumb as a sack of rocks; if their target has full cover, they will keep shooting the cover ineffectually. They will happily shoot a bunch of their own rats while missing you.

If you are the target, stay cool, get behind something, and protect yourself from the other rats. If you are not the target, look for the giant glowing bulletstorm, follow it back to the source, and shoot it dead. Ratlings wear armor, so plan for that. They do not have a secondary weakpoint, so headshots are ideal.

If you have a shield, you can block the bullets if you’re far enough away. The more stamina you have, the closer you can be. The further the gunrat is, the more he misses, so the less stamina you need. About six meters is good enough.

Progression: Gunrat falls off the curve as you rise in difficulty; since he is so predictable, experienced players are rarely caught. He remains high DPS, however, so when you get caught, it will suck.

Part 4: Skaven Specials 2 and Bosses

Name: Packmaster
Type & Race: Skaven Special (some bestiaries list as Monster)
Callout: Hookrat, Skaven Slaver, Packrat, Packmaster. The Packmaster will cry out things like, “Bring back prize,” and “Soon catch, soon catch!” He will be accompanied by a clacking sound like wood on bone.
Role: Sneaky abduction specialist
Base Health: 25

Behavior & Strategy: This rat looked at the skaven armory, decided a mancatcher was perfect, and went to war with that, never thinking a lethal weapon might be better. Thanks to video game logic, that somehow works and for some reason those mancatchers resist every effort of yours to escape. (Yes, I know the fluff.)

Packrat will try to approach under cover of other rats when possible, usually hiding in a horde if he can. He will then lunge with his mancatcher to catch a hero. If he misses, he will retreat, wander for appx 5-10 seconds, then find a new avenue of attack. If he hits, the hero takes minor damage from the Packmaster as they are slowly dragged off. However, the hero is utterly helpless against other rats and cannot save him/herself. If you are downed by the Packmaster, or if he gets you to himself long enough, he will hang you on his polearm and hunt a new hero. At this point, you must be saved twice; once to get you off the polearm, once to pick you up off the ground. If a player runs off on their own, the game is likely to send a Packmaster after them.

Packmaster’s attack can be dodged, and he can be sniped, but he has a notorious habit of hiding in a horde until it’s too late.

Progression: This rat gets a lot more menacing with increasing difficulty. On Recruit, Packmasters are sorry little losers. They can annoy you with their grab, but it’s rare that the horde can damage you much due to their pathetic DPS. On higher difficulties, suddenly that horde is doing much more damage and attacking much more aggressively, and the Packmaster has proportionately more HP. It is harder to free you. Thus, the Packmaster goes from nuisance to serious threat as one progresses.

Name: Sack Rat
Type & Race: Skaven infantry
Callout: Sackrat, Lootrat. He will scream, “Mine! Mine!” in a voice so annoying you would rather have Gilbert Godfried read you erotica than listen to it
Role: Extra reward for players and bait
Base Health: 25

Behavior & Strategy: Sackrat found some nice stuff and he wants to keep it. Maybe he can buy a weapon when he gets back to Skavenblight. Maybe he’s just a hoarder.

As soon as he sees you, Sackrat will hightail it. If he gets far enough away, he will escape. He can outrun most heroes, and his sack seems to make some shooting less effective. If killed, he can drop bombs, loot dice, health kits, and potions.

Progression: None. The decision with Sackrat is always the same decision; is the chance for his goodies worth the risk in trying to kill him?

Name: Rat Ogre
Type & Race: Skaven Monster, Boss
Callout: Rat ogre, “Rakogri,” or a comment about its size
Role: Aggressive, simple-minded boss
Base Health: 700

Behavior & Strategy: Rat Ogre’s back from VT1, and he’s the same, goofy, lovable rage case. Rat Ogre will roar loudly and announce his presence before he attacks. He will then close to melee. Rat Ogre can leap a very long distance and stun and scatter players when he lands.

Defeating Rat Ogre usually takes a team effort as he has a mountain of HP. He will usually go after one player at a time and switch off if he gets stunned or heavily damaged. His basic attacks include a charging punch, an overhand slap that bypasses your block and damages you through it, and a flurry of shots that must be blocked.

To defend against Rat Ogre, you need to dodge his overhand blows and block or dodge the others. This means learning to time his attacks and slipping away when he goes for the overhand blow. Alternatively, just try to dodge everything and keep blocking. Remember to keep an eye on the horde that accompanies Rat Ogre.

Many characters and classes have special attacks or ultimates (Bounty Hunter, Shade) that can do very high damage to one priority target. Others deal massive stagger, as do grenades. Rat Ogre is a prime target for these.

Rat Ogre can leap high into the air as a means to reposition quickly, staggering the players when he lands.

Rat Ogre goes for one foe at a time. When he’s after you, you should usually play very defensively. Dodge or block everything while your allies do damage. Soon, Rat Ogre will break off and try after another player; hit him hard then.

In VT1, he was nicknamed Roger.

Progression: Rat Ogre doesn’t change, though he deals and takes more damage with increased difficulty. What becomes worse is his accompanying horde.

Name: Stormfiend
Type & Race: Skaven Monster, Boss (Armored)
Callout: Stormfiend, or a comment about an armored Rat Ogre
Role: Area denial ranged boss
Base Health: 700

Behavior & Strategy: What if someone strapped a Warpfire Thrower to a Rat Ogre?

The Stormfiend is armored in his front only. He can perform melee attacks similar to the Rat Ogre, but less effectively. Additionally, he is capable of tossing out line-shaped area effect fire attacks that will deal significant damage over time. Take your strategy for a Rat Ogre and apply your strategy for a Warpfire Thrower.

The Stormfiend has a strange, baby-like rat thing on its back. This is a critical and unarmored weakpoint which you can target. If you hit it, you will A) do massive damage and B) draw the Stormfiend’s aggro to yourself.

Progression: Stormfiend’s armor becomes more of a factor as you get into higher difficulties. Stormfiend has a lot of health, so having specialist who can take down monsters becomes more and more helpful.

Part 5: Rotblood Basic Warriors

Name: Fanatic
Type & Race: Rotblood infantry
Callout: None
Role: Expendable mob
Base Health: 6

Behavior & Strategy: Fanatics are just slightly stronger, much greener skaven slaves. Every comment about slaves applies, but Fanatics have two to three times the health of the slaves. A powerful weapon can still one-shot them even on higher difficulties, but it may take two hits or more with lighter weapons.

Here we find a general trend; Rotbloods are tougher than Skaven but less numerous or slower.

Progression: Everything said about skaven slaves applies.


Name: Raider / Bulwhark
Type & Race: Rotblood infantry
Callout: None
Role: Slightly less expendable mob
Base Health: 13

Behavior & Strategy: The Rotblood answer to Clanrats. When one picks up a shield, he feels all boss and calls himself a Bulwhark. This really doesn’t change much; he behaves just like a Clanrat with a little extra health. Like Fanatics, Raiders / Bulwharks have appx two to three times the health of their Skaven counterparts.

Progression: All that’s been said about Clanrats applies. The same general trend - Rotbloods are tougher than skaven - applies.



Name: Savage
Type & Race: Rotblood berserker
Callout: None
Role: None for appearance; if they are damaging you, the other characters yell for you to parry --> Now, they do indeed have callouts
Base Health: 18

Behavior & Strategy: Savages are the Rotblood version of Plague Monks. They will mindlessly charge with dual axes. Savages break the trend of Rotbloods being tougher than their Skaven counterparts; Savages are barely tougher than Plague Monks.

Progression: Again, see Plague Monks.







Name: Mauler
Type & Race: Rotblood Elite, infantry
Callout: None
Role: Elite Heavy Hitter – Slow moving
Base Health: 30

Behavior & Strategy: The Mauler is the Rotblood answer to the Stormvermin. They resist stagger well and have a high amount of health. Maulers carry a massive two-handed axe and can be tagged. They launch powerful, often slow attacks which will take your health down quickly.

The key differences between Maulers and Stormvermin is that the latter are smarter and armored. Maulers are brutes whose attacks and style is straightforward. They rely on taking hits to stay in the fight and can be tough to stagger. Stormvermin will play smarter and require armor-breaking attacks to deal with, but their health is much lower than the Mauler.

Maulers can shove like Stormvermin. Their slower, stronger attacks will drain your stamina quickly.

The head resists ranged attacks without the armor piercing trait, but does not seem to be actually armored, as the Mauler does not seem to similarly shrug off melee non-AP headshots.

Progression: Maulers exist to punish mistakes. A Mauler’s damage is survivable on Recruit, but by the time you are playing Champion and Legend, a Mauler’s massive axe can almost drop most of the squishier characters. You better be ready to dodge and control the crowd.

Name: Chaos Warrior
Type & Race: Rotblood Elite (Armored)
Callout: Chaos Warrior, Northman Knight, and occasionally references to armored brutes or heresy, Khazaki’dum (spelling?) from Bardin
Role: Slow-moving punisher
Base Health: 40

Behavior & Strategy: A Chaos Warrior is another Stormvermin analog. They deal horrifying amounts of damage and are armored. Their reach is surprisingly long. However, the Chaos Warrior is slower than molasses. He can easily be overwhelmed and his attacks can be dodged. His armor now shrugs off most typical armor-piercing ranged attacks unless you get the headshot.

A Chaos Warrior delivers four basic attacks. He has a quick jab with his fist for light damage, a shove-like kick, a normal axe strike, and a final axe strike. This final strike has a wind-up during which time you can easily see it coming. You can also step aside, block, take a nap, and read War and Peace in the original after learning Russian before he actually lands the attack. The Chaos Warrior will clumsily stagger forward to keep you in reach. If this connects, your hit points will fly away fast, probably disgusted to be associated with you for being unable to avoid something that slow.

Chaos Warriors in pairs or triplets are more of a threat, or if they can hem you in where you can’t dodge. They’re high priority targets for single-enemy elimination specialists like the Shade or the Bounty Hunter. Don’t expect ranged headshots to drop them easily like they drop Stormvermin.

One of the biggest dangers of Chaos Warriors is one known to Warhammer fans as a “Distraction Carnifex.” While the Chaos Warrior occupies your attention and you are easily dodging their attacks, something else will get you. They also pair well with enemies that trap or stun you, such as Blightstormers.

Progression: Chaos Warriors don’t change tactics, but your interaction with them will. As their HP outpaces your DPS, you will have to spend more time dodging and spanking them. As a result, the value of boss-level monster killers rises over time.

Part 6: Rotblood Specials and Bosses

Name: Chaos Warrior Patrol
Type & Race: Rotblood Elite (Armored)
Callout: Chaos Warrior, Northman Knight, and occasionally references to armored brutes or heresy, Khazaki’dum (spelling?) from Bardin, with mention of the patrol
Role: Elite Mob and mountain of HP
Base Health: - -

Behavior & Strategy: With multiple Chaos Warriors and Maulers, as well as some Bulwharks, this mob will let you know where they are with their super macho grunting and carrying on. Treat them like a Stormvermin Patrol. A previous bug would often let them spot players behind them, but the devs state this has been fixed.

Progression: Just like Stormvermin patrols, the incentive to avoid these guys goes up over time.

Name: Lifeleech
Type & Race: Rotblood Special
Callout: Leech and Sorcerer
Role: Ambusher
Base Health: 20

Behavior & Strategy: A leech looks like a very obese man with a hood on. Once a leech is aware of the party, he will teleport around, move to an angle where no one is watching, and launch a projectile at one of the heroes. If it hits, that hero will be magically immobilized and then dragged to the Leech, who will begin draining out that hero.

A Leech hit by a ranged attack will drop a hero even if the attack does not kill them.

Tag these guys quickly! If you do not kill them, make it easy for your group to spot them. Lifeleeches can easily blend into the horde.

Progression: The Lifeleech becomes more and more dangerous for the same reasons Packmasters and Gutter Runners do; they will do more damage, as will the horde that accompanies them.

Name: Blightstormer
Type & Race: Rotblood Special
Callout: Blightstormer, Sorcerer, or references to the winds. Sienna has excellent challenges where she proclaims how her fires are superior
Role: Area denial specialist
Base Health: 20

Behavior & Strategy: A Blightstormer will wander in the background and begin chanting, during which time magical lines will show the creation of a vortex. During this time, lines will trace back to the Blightstormer, allowing you to tag or kill him. If he gets the spell off, the Blightstormer’s winds will begin moving through the world. Anyone except the largest enemies will be sucked into a vortex and made vulnerable, then expelled to take damage. This can be used against enemies.

The Blightstormer’s damage is minimal, but the risk of being divided and hurled off into danger are high. You can be instantly killed by being thrown off the map, can wind up hanging onto a ledge, or can be thrown into danger.

Blightstormers will teleport around. They wear no hoods, unlike the Leeches. Blightstormers pair well with bosses or Chaos Warriors, as those enemies aren’t blown away by the storm.

Progression: Have we figured out the pattern? Specials which trap or hold you become progressively more dangerous because you cannot survive being made vulnerable for long on higher difficulties.

Name: Bile Troll
Type & Race: Rotblood Monster, Boss
Callout: Troll
Role: Boss with area denial powers
Base Health: 475 --> Now per the dev: "Its health has been increased on all difficulty settings to 570, up from 475 on Recruit. Increased to 900, up from 750 on Veteran. Increased to 1200, up from 1000 on Champion. Increased to 1800, up from 1500 on Legend."

Behavior & Strategy: Trolls fight like other bosses, dealing overhand attacks that evade your block and other melee attacks that can be blocked and dodged. The Troll has less health than the other bosses and can be made to go down easily. Once he drops, the Troll will be given some temporary health and begin recovering.

The Troll has two puke-attacks. One version has him vomit damaging puke in the area. A second version has him vomit on a character in a long line-shaped attack. This second puke will deplete your stamina, deal damage, blind you, and make your movements slower. Bile Trolls use this second puke almost every time as soon as they recover from being downed.

A downed Bile Troll gets to keep all of the temporary health it still has after recovering. Thus, when a Bile Troll goes down, you have to put the boot in. Go for the head to get the job done more quickly. Damage the Bile Troll when he’s down to prevent his regeneration from giving him most of his health back.

Listen to this PSA: Hit downed bile trolls in the face. Those are head shots. They do more damage. You will finish the job more quickly. That is all.

Bile Troll attacks have huge AoE’s. Trolls regenerate if not dealt damage. The delay on this is 2 seconds; the longer they go without being hit, the faster this regeneration goes, so try not to leave them alone.

Progression: Bile Trolls can become more problematic over time because your dedicated boss-killer powers (such as the Huntsman and Shade ultimates) still require someone to beat the Troll when it goes down. Watch the horde carefully as you do so.

Name: Spawn of Chaos
Type & Race: Rotblood Monster, Boss
Callout: Spawn
Role: Berserker boss
Base Health: 700

Behavior & Strategy: The Chaos Spawn is similar to the Rat Ogre, but a bit clumsier. He has a series of quick light attacks, a powerful swipe, and a deadly grab attack. A grabbed hero is helpless and will be chewed on by the Spawn’s orifice-face, taking damage and healing the Spawn.

Use similar tactics to the Rat Ogre. Grenades, ultimates with stagger such as Kruber’s Foot Knight charge, and other attacks can break a hero free before the Spawn chews off too much health. If you don’t have another option, just pour on damage until it drops its victim. When it does so, it will flail wildly and damage anyone near them, then hurl their captive hero a long distance and into potential danger.

Progression: The Spawn’s grab and heal is much more dangerous and aggressive on higher difficulties; it’s harder to free allies with damage, the boss’ higher health means the chunks of life the Spawn gets back are higher, and the damage dealt is worse. Be ready to free that ally quickly.

Part 7: Lords - Both Rotblood and Skaven

Name: Skarrik Spinemangler
Type & Race: Skaven Lord (Armored)
Callout: He will monolog for you. He is invulnerable while he does so.
Role: Stage Boss
Base Health: 500

Behavior & Strategy: Skarrik is a skaven Warlord. He is much larger than most skaven and armored. Skarrik will switch between a glaive similar to the Stormvermin and two swords. He will use the glaive to deliver large, slow, heavy blows. Many are area of attack moves that can damage anyone around him and break your guard quickly. He can also use two swords which will defend his front arc and allow him to perform very rapid attacks on one enemy.

During his fight, Skarrik will call other skaven to fight. He will then retreat to one corner of the map and hide out there. During this time, Skarrik will hit any player near him with a power attack glaive swipe. He can be damaged during this time, but he will hit you back hard if you don’t dodge his counter. Other skaven will enter the fight, and Skarrik will eventually rejoin the battle.

Skarrik has a charge attack that can be dodged or blocked, though if you block it, you may find yourself cornered by Skarrik. Skarrik is vulnerable to the same tank-and-spank tactics as a Rat Ogre.

Progression: Skarrik follows the trend for all armored bosses; your ability to break armor becomes more and more important over time.

Name: Deathrattler
Type & Race: Skaven Monster, Lord (Armored)
Callout: None
Role: End of Game Boss
Base Health: 500

Behavior & Strategy: If you replaced a Stormfiend’s firethrowers with two large gatling guns, you would have Deathrattler. He will carry Rasknitt into battle, rending him invincible.

Progression: Deathrattler doesn't do anything new over time. The increased challenge simply comes from his higher health and damage output. It's worth working together to keep him shooting at a target that is behind cover while moving your monster/boss killers into range.




Name: Rasknitt
Type & Race: Skaven Lord, infantry
Callout: He will monolog for you. He is invulnerable while he does so.
Role: Magic-using ranged damage dealer, evasive jerk
Base Health: 400

Behavior & Strategy: Rasknitt is a Grey Seer, a skaven wizard, and the final antagonist of Vermintide 2. He will appear during the Skittergate. Rasknitt will often ride Deathrattler, during which time he is invulnerable. When he dismounts, Rasknitt can be damaged.

His usual tactic is to teleport from corner to corner of his chamber and unleash damaging green lightning spells. These are unpredictable but can be dodged. When he is struck, Rasknitt can be easily disrupted from casting. Rasknitt will not remain in one place for long. You will only have a few seconds to deliver hits before he teleports away.

Having everyone chase Rasknitt at once leaves him with time to cast while the party closes with him. In a rare example where splitting up can be a good idea, consider scattering to the corners so someone can immediately start smashing Rasknitt as soon as he teleports. This carries risk, of course. Additionally, keep him tag; while most bosses are easily seen, Rasknitt can blend into the other skaven easily.

Progression: Rasknitt becomes a tougher fight because as his horde gets stronger, the tactic of scattering to shut down his teleportation tricks becomes more dangerous.

Name: Burblespew Halescourge
Type & Race: Rotblood Lord, Monster
Callout: He will monolog for you. He is invulnerable while he does so.
Role: Area of Effect Boss
Base Health: 720

Behavior & Strategy: Burblespew looks like a beefier version of the Blightstormer. He will deal significant damage with a bunch of confusing area of effect attacks while teleporting around the building you fight him in. Burblespew moves very slowly when not teleporting, but rarely stays in one place for long.

Burblespew’s first attack is to send out multiple shadow-versions of himself that radiate out from him like spokes. These are damaging and will deal knockback, but can be dodged. He can also summon seeking clouds of damaging, disabling flies. These can be shot down. He can also conjure a Blightstormer-like storm, which is never fun. Finally, he can teleport out of reach and call in the horde.

While he’s on the second story, a long weapon can reach Burblespew’s feet and deal damage. Additionally, he should always be tagged, making it easier to follow his erratic teleportation. Burblespew is unarmored.

Progression: On Recruit, you don't have to be good at dodging his spells to defeat Burblespew if you can DPS-race him. On higher difficulties, this stops being a possible option.


Name: Bodvarr Ribspreader
Type & Race: Rotblood Lord (Armored)
Callout: He will monolog for you. He is invulnerable while he does so.
Role: Melee boss
Base Health: 600

Behavior & Strategy: Bodvarr, recently rejected from a heavy metal band, is one sad Chaos Lord. He fights hard while whining about how the heroes have wronged him. It’s pretty funny.

Bodvarr paces fairly quickly through his boss arena. He will execute a quick strike, a heavy blow, a fast charge, and an attack where he throws his axe like a boomerang. All will do heavy damage, but can be blocked and dodged. He also has a strange area of effect attack where he takes a knee and hits everyone near him with green energy. When he does so, he deals area of effect damage, breaks your guard, and does high damage.

Bodvarr will attack alone at first, then will call in his horde. When he does so, he will make a “come at me, bro” gesture and pace. During this time, he will borrow Skarrik’s trick of inviting attack and then countering with an area of effect attack. Like Skarrik, you can dodge out of these and deal damage to him then, but it’s tricky.

When he throws his axe, he will stand still in his dramatic axe pose for several seconds waiting for it. If you dodged the attack or weren’t the target, make him pay. If you were the target and had to block it, hope your party is taking advantage of it.

Progression: All the prior comments about high damage single target elimination apply, and his horde grows stronger to boot. Watch out for a Mauler flanking you.

Name: Gatekeeper Naglfahr
Type & Race: Rotblood Lord (Armored) and Lord, Monster
Callout: None
Role: Derp
Base Health: 400

Behavior & Strategy: Gatekeeper Naglfahr is basically Ribspreader 2.0. He has a secret weapon, however. When you see his face, a microcephalic masterpiece of derpiness that looks like a Deep One who just stained his drawers, you will be too distracted to fight him properly.

Do exactly what you did on Ribspreader.

After he takes about 25% damage, the Chaos Gods (presumably Nurgle) will tire of how silly he looks and turn him to a spawn. Then his arena will open up to the horde.

Progression: Learn not to laugh at this poor schlub. He’s having a bad day.

Just look at this derp.


(Actually, all the Chaos Warriors have that kind of face, but Gatekeeper Naglfahr removes the helmet.)

Part 8: Closing Matter

Thanks for the read. Hope you enjoyed it. Happy gaming.

What, you thought this guide was too general and just introduced the enemies?

That was the point. Go choose your class, figure out how it fights, and apply that to what you just learned.

[Doc CC]

VBP, might I recommend the (sanctioned) Bestiary mod, which will let you get them from any angle?

[VanBurenPhilips]

Dude. I've been looking for good screenshots to do some sketches of V2 enemies. You're my hero. \o/

[794redfield]

Little Tip about the Chaos Spawn: If you block every hit of its Attack Flurry and are not close enough for a follow-up strike (Which deals chip damage and breaks blocks) it will ALWAYS do a Tentacle Based attack when it closes the distance again, usually it does the Tentacle Slap first then after another Flurry, it will try to Grab someone. Basically it has a deadly, but predictable pattern.
Flurry, Tentacle Slap, Flurry, Grab, Rinse and Repeat.

[Ceekur]

Ogre-specific comment: I ran out of room XD
You did mention dodging and timing his attacks, but fairly vague. "Kite-locking" it is a reliable way to fight it. It keeps you safe while you have aggro and saves stamina, and it stays in one spot while your allies deal with it. Walk forward to trigger its unblockable fist pound then dodge backwards as the animation starts. Repeat 2-3 times, where it'll either change patterns or change aggro. Remember that while you need to backpedal at times, do not fully corner yourself. And if somebody has it kite-locked, save your stuns. You'll knock it loose and mess up what they're doing.

[Ceekur]

Good summary of the enemies and tips for them. Though there are a couple more things that could be useful to know about them.

Gutter Runner: Don't stack up when they're near. The pounce knocks nearby players away, possibly off a ledge. Even if not, it staggers you and gives the runner extra hits before you can free your ally.

BlightStormers: They tend to teleport if they take non-fatal damage, while keeping the storm going. If you have a player specced into killing specials in one shot, let them do it even if you have to wait a second. Tag them and give up the circle chase. It'd be better than letting it get behind a wall where no one can kill it.

Stormfiend: It also has a dash move it can sometimes do.

Mauler: The head is armored while its chest is not. Aim for his 6-pack.

[Decoy3]

This is exactly the sort of guide I was looking for when I first started playing. I can't believe it's not rated higher.

But aren't Chaos Warriors classed as Super Armor? I don't think PvArmored works against them.

[Doc CC]

Now you are being subjectively insulting to a person who fully intends to be a jerk to you because you came off as subjectively insulting. And given that this information is objectively labeled a *Beginner's* guide and collates information into a jocular (look it up) discussion, consider it's not intended to be a be-all source.

And what (subjective) pompousness by a (subjectively) sophmoric person who would throw around anti-intellectual about this kind of stuff.

Have you figured out subjective and objective yet? ;)

[Doc CC]

Oh no, Rhax called me willfully ignorant. What will I do?

Let's see. Describe the attacks. Check. Discuss how to free from chaos spawn? Check. When to push vs kill the assassin? Check. How to force a drop on the Leech faster with ranged than melee? Check. Avoiding patrols? Check. Gasrat's two globes then lurk behavior and suicide run behavior outlined? Check. Warpfire thrower's flamethrower weakpoint? Seems you are objectively wrong in your "just Dodge it, 4 head" comment? Check.

[Rhax]

I'm not sure if you're trolling me, being petty, or are willfully ignorant. For nearly all of your moster descriptions, you have 'just Dodge it, 4Head' as the survival strategy. Dodge distance is a static distance across all characters sans items and specs that specifcially alter Dodge disance, which are in the minority. Citing the existance of variables as a reason to avoid discussion is both anti-intellectual and stupid, kid, but grats on copying generic information that existed on the internet since beta.

[Doc CC]

Dr. Wiggles: Yes, all Rotblood enemies count as Chaos; Chaos and Rotblood should (probably) be considered synonymous at this point as no other Chaos faction has come up yet. My pet theory is this is due to GW's big meat-space push for Nurgle stuff that coincided with this game.