A Complete From Noob to Pro Player in 1 Guide

This is a guide with everything you need to know on the technical side for Vermintide 2 to get good at it. By "technical side" I mean outside the battlefield, at the end of the day Vermintide 2 is a skill-based game despite having a short grind to level 35. For the skill part it's your job to practice but with this guide you have the theory. This guide will teach you about the best: classes, weapons, builds, talents as well as other things relevant to the game.

Disclaimer

This guide is intended as a handbook for a new players.

Future patches may change the balance of the game.
I have 200 hours in Vermintide 2 and I play on Legend.

Progression

Progression - Power Increase

This progression thing is not really a big part of the game (thankfully). In about 40 hours with 1 character you will have level 35 with 300 power items on him. It's more like a quick safe-check that new players don't play high difficulties right away than a true grind.

To progress in Vermintide you have to increase your power. Your power is your level * 10 + the average of all your 5 items. Since the maximum level is 35 and the maximum item power is 300, the maximum possible hero power is 350 + 300 = 650.

Level up is self-evident, you can get 350 power by just being level 35.

As for items. Each time a player opens a chest or crafts an item in the forge, the item's power is randomized (-5 ; +10) of the average power of the best 5 items the player has in all 5 slots in their inventory. So you don't need to have them equiped.

If you have a power 200 sword, but use a power 150 sword, and then power 100 everything else. It's (200 + 100 + 100 + 100 + 100) / 5 = 120, so you will get items between 115 - 130 power.

The only exception is red items since they are always 300 power. I used to have about 210 power, and then I got lucky and found 2 reds in a chest. With (300 + 300 + 210 + 210 + 210) / 5 = 246 therefore 241 - 256. And then (300 + 300 + 246 + 246 + 246) / 5 etc; you can see that I got to 300 in no time after that. You don't even need 2 reds, just 1 red to boost you to 300 asap. But don't worry about that, worry about reds when you can play consistently on Legend or Cataclysm, and even then they are rare.

So simply put, just open chests. That's how you increase your power.

There is a minimum required power for each difficulty:
- 0 for Recruit Difficulty (balance point -15) - yes negative, you will always be above par.
- 115 for Veteran Difficulty (balance point 175)
- 215 for Champion Difficulty (balance point 335)
- 415 for Legend Difficulty (balance point 655) - your max power is 650, you will be sub par.

Balance points means that the difficulty level is balanced around that power point.

There is also a balance factor, if your hero power >115 than the balance point, you get nerfed. So if you have 650 power and play on Veteran, you will be nerfed to 175 + 115 = 290 power.

Sounds complicated but it really isn't.

Progression - Weapon Quality

Don't worry about weapon quality that much, worry about getting power 300 on your items, you'll get much more powerful this way. Just make sure you always have the weapon that you like on each level.

Don't bother with properties & traits until you make power 300, won't make much of a difference. As I said, power is more important.

Properties is something like +5% attack speed while traits is something like "when you attack with this weapon you have a chance for magic to happen".They are not relevant until you reach max power, and at lower difficulties, anything works, so use a weapon you like regardless of color.

From white to orange they are plentiful. Only red is rare. Cosmetic is cosmetic. And Wave is only 1 game mode specific.

So as I said, just worry about:
1. Having high power on your items.
2. Leveling up.
3. Having the melee and range weapons you feel comfortable with.

Until you get to power 300 you have no reason to worry about rarity, properties and traits. A white 150 power weapon is better than an orange 140 power weapon.

Progression - Game Modes

There are 4 game modes:
1. Adventure
2. Chaos Wastes
3. Wave
4. Versus

- Adventure is the most fun in my opinon. You get to play the story and such. There your power, meaning your level and the power of your items, matters.

- Chaos Wastes is great for farming, because IN CHAOS WASTES YOUR POWER DOESN'T MATTER.

- Not even the talents you get at level 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 matter in Chaos Wastes because Chaos Wastes has its own set of talents. Simply put, your adventure level and items is irrelevant there.

- So if you want to level up fast, you can always play Chaos Wastes on higher difficulties. Since the fact you are low level bad weapons doesn't give you a disadvantage there. Provided you are skilled enough.

- But Chaos Wastes is also high-risk high-reward. If you die at any point on your journey, you lost and have to start from the begining of the journey.

- Wave is the least popular mod (mainly because it's locked behind a DLC) and requres farming just like Adventure to get good items. Versus is like Chaos Wastes meaning you don't have a disadvantage because you are level 1 with bad weapons.

- Everything is balanced in Versus regardless of your Adventure level & weapons.

Progression - Ending Words

You can consider yoruself "fully done" when you are level 35 with red items on all 5 slots. Getting level 35 isn't that hard. I made my first character, Victor Saltzpyre, level 35 in 20 hours, granted, I was also very lucky to get 2 reds but Vermintide 2 isn't that game where you have to spend 300+ hours to get fully maxed out. Although some people complain that the grind cap is too small, to which I'm like WTF? I'd rather have it no levels and no power, I hate grind in games, but Vermintide 2's grind just a small gap to keep new players from playing with people on Legend.

To get consistent reds, you have to be good enough to get Emperor's Chest on Legend. But before you do that, you have to get to power 300 normally by opening chests and end up with 5 orange items on each slot on power 300.

To have at least a decent chance you need at least the top 2 chests from Champion that gives you 2% and 4% chance for a red. Meaning you have to beat Champion with all books and dices. But to get consistent red (meaning not luck), you must be able to do Emperor's Chest on Legend consistently. In my experience, you get a red in about 1 in 10 chests.

After you made your first character power 300 the other ones are really easy, because all characters share 3 items slots. So if you have sword power 5, bow power 5, necklace power 300, charm power 300, trinket power 300, you'll get the sword and bow power 300 in no time. I think it took me like 5-7 chests before I also got the sword & bow to power 300 on all other characters.

But really, once you have level 35 and orange items of power 300 on all 5 slots, you are at 95% power. You are at almost perfect power as there's very little difference between orange items of power 300 and red items.

Only difference is red items have perfect properties (always 5% attack speed, no 1-5% range) and are always power 300 (which most oranges are also always 300). So you can consider yourself maxed out with oranges too. The reds are just an extra challenge if you want.

What do you do then? Legend and Cataclysm. Most people you'll meet in this game are maxed out, because it's not that difficult to max out, given that most play for fun.

And I understand the appeal for a little grind, so that you don't have people who never played the game pick Legend or Cataclysm. Or people who were carried by 1 friend in Legend have legend unlocked. Granted, you can have bad players of level 35 and power 300, but it's a much lower chance.

Difficulty

Difficulty - Really Significant

Difficulty is subjective, but in Vermintide 2 the differences between difficulty levels are huge.

Recruit -> Enemies die almost instantly and their number is quite small. You can win the game by W+M1 all the way to the end, give that you also take very little damage.

Veteran -> Enemies attack faster, attack more at the same time, and are more numerous, they still die easy but not as easy as in recruit, and you will take some damage making it somewhat of a threat this time.

Champion -> This is where you will see a significant difference. Enemies die harder, are far more numerous than in Veteran, attack faster, and more at the same time, and deal more damage. This is where things can get dangerous so you will need to have a strategy.
- A character that focuses on killing hordes.
- One that focuses on killing specials.
- One that focuses on killing elites (armored).
- One that focuses on killing bosses.
Then out of these:
- 2 characters for the frontline (melee).
- 2 characters for the backline (range).
Then out of these:
- One with support
- One with crowd control
- One who is tank
- One who is damage per second.
Of course you can do it without, but here a such thing will offer a significant advantage, because the battles are serious now you have a good chance of being pinned down and killed.

Legend -> Same as Champion except even more unforgiving even if you have the right classes. You take even more damage and the enemies die even harder. The number of hordes are pretty much the same but they are already big in Champion to begin with.

Cataclysm -> You need almost perfect skill to survive this one, a bad move or a bad encounter because you didn't finish the enemies fast enough can be fatal in Cataclysm. Even a lowly rat is dangerous if you don't pay attention. Being overwhelmed by numbers of normals or specials because you didn't kill them in time is something normal for Cataclysm and can mean the end for your team.
So playing higher difficulties gives you increased XP gain. Except on Cataclysm because Cataclysm players objected to it. They only wanted players who play Cataclysm for the fun of it not in order to get more XP or better gear. Cataclysm players are already maxxed out anyway.

If you want to further increase difficulty or simply have different challenges without making the enemies stronger or you taking more damage you can always play Heroic Deeds. It's better to play these with a premade team as nobody can join a deed during a game.

As I said previously, the items are only relevant for Adventure. For Chaos Wastes and Versus it doesn't matter your level and Weave has its own grinding system.

Classes Tier List 1

This is an best & easy to master tier list.

This is not the best class in the game list, this is the best & easy to master tier list. Very good and very easy to master classes. If we would consider only the best classes irrespective how hard to master they are the list would look very different. If you want objectively the best classes in the game it's: Battle Wizard, Witch-Hunter and Mercenary. If you master these you can complete the game solo on Cataclysm difficulty.

Human Inquisitor (Saltzpyre):

Witch Hunter (B) -> The perfect mix, great at everything. Objectively the best class in the game. Damage, support, tanking, special killing. It's F pushes back enemies around you for when you are in a tough spot or want to push someone off a cliff. Aaaand, is hugely difficult to play at his real potential. He's easy to play but insanely hard to master. This is why he's only B tier.

Bounty Hunter (F) -> Ranged headshots. Extra ammo, faster reload, guarantee ranged critical every 10 seconds, F shot that pierces enemies. Works if you're really good at hitting headshots, if you have good aim he is above average, if you have bad aim he is terrible. So not one of the best classes even if you're good but insanely hard to master. F tier.

Zealot (B) -> Melee killing machine. Zealot's biggest skill is killing a lot of enemies and never dying. He offers 0 support and 0 anything else. You don't have to rely on your team and they don't rely on you. The lower your health the higher your damage, to use him properly you need to intentionally get below 25 health then only get temporary health from Sigmar’s Herald by damaging hordes, it's a high risk high reward play. So I would say B tier but from reasons completely different from the Witch Hunter.

Warrior Priest (DLC;S) -> Tank with frenzy and immunity. Easy S tier. Your passive is very powerful, turning you into a killing machine like the Zealot when frenzy. Your F is once again, very powerful, granting temporary immunity and you are the tankiest of all human inquisitor 4 classes. Even a Warrior Priest that sucks is a great addition to the team. The only downside is no range weapon. A blast to play with, easy to learn, easy to master. S tier.

Dwarf (Bardin):

Ranger Veteran (B) -> Support and range. He gives his team ammo, potions, temporary health, attack speed. He is one of the best support classes in the game. He is more support than he is range so don't expect to do any miracles with the range weapons. B tier.
(Like: Bounty Hunter but more support and worse in range)

Ironbreaker (S) -> Tank, the best in the game that is. The easiest non-DLC class to master, while also being one of the best. You get 30% damage reduction. And while he got nothing special shining and fancy like Necromancer, Grail Knight or Warrior Priest. He is rock solid, literally. And with your special F you basically push back a bit enemies around you, not as much as the Witch-Hunter and Mercenary, but then lure all non-bosses and get unlimited blocks for 10 seconds. If you have 0 DLC, just play the dwarf, and at level 7 switch to Ironbreaker, it's the best non-DLC class to try to get to level 35 with.
(Like: Warrior Priest but more tanky and with a range weapon)

Slayer (C) -> Melee killing machine. The Dwarf's Zealot. Just use your F to leap into the horde and murder everything, you get +30% attack speed for 10 seconds after jumping. Much like the Zealot, offers 0 support to the team and the team expects 0 support, but unlike the Zealot he doesn't have a range weapon. This allows you to carry a weapon for hordes and a weapon for armor. The leap can help you save downed allies, since he staggers nearby enemies on landing giving you the time to save. But overall, kind of lacking in my opinion. C tier.
(Like: Zealot with jumps instead of low hp but no range)

Outcast Engineer (DLC; F) -> Machinegun killing machine. Outcast Engineer can be one of the worst classes in the game or one of the best classes in the game depending who is playing it. If you're a bad Witch Hunter you are going to be mid. If you're a bad Outcast Engineer you are going to be literally the worst in the team. But with a good player, he can special snipe, horde clear, anti-armor and boss damage. So while it's a good class if played correctly, it's very difficult to play it correctly and I cannot recommend it to a new player for that. Easy F tier.
(Like: Bounty Hunter but better in range)

Elf (Kerillian):

Waystalker (A) -> Fragile range specials killer who is also good in melee. Good damage in both melee and range, extra ammo is especially useful for Briar Javelins if you have bad aim and can't do headshots, if you have good aim for headshots use Longbow. One of the best specials killing in the game with her F. She's not the best at saving others and is quite fragile. You need to learn to position yourself well since she is very fragile, but if you can do you're good on both melee and range and can easily kill specials, not only with your range but also with F. A tier.

Hand Maiden (A) -> Not fragile not tanky, but a dodge god. She doesn't have the extra range benefits that Waystalker has but instead she has more HP and is insane at dodge. You are good at both melee and range just like Waystalker but this time melee is your speciality because you can dodge better, block better and revive better. Your F dash makes you even more mobile than you already were and allows you to revive better. Can still kill specials but nothing at Waystalker levels.
(Like: Waystalker but with more hp dodge and dash for melee although range is decent too)

Shade (F) -> Assassin, backstab for extra damage. Forget fighting face to face, you are going to go on the back and stab them on the back. Her playstyle is very cool, unfortunately, you need to be very good at dodging, even more aware of your positioning than the Waystalker because now you need to get behind the enemies not just simply fight. She offers 0 support to her team and expects 0 support. The way to play with her is, you either use F or parry + quick dodge to get invisible. And when you are invisible charge attack from behind is huge damage. With a good player she can clear the map, but this is new player tier list we talk about, so F tier.
(Like: None. Get behind for double damage, get invisible for critical damage, go double critical)

Sister of the Thorn (DLC; B) -> Support Elf. Huge benefits to your team. Crowd control with her F gardening. She has good damage, BUT all other 3 elf classes have better damage, BUT she amplifies the damage her allies give on enemies with her Blackvenom Blades melee attacks on them. Also, just by existing healing received by the party is increased by 25%. The only thing you yourself benefit from is that whenever another party member receives temporary health while at full health, you gain that temporary health instead. B tier.
(Like: Ranger Veteran)

Classes Tier List 2

Human Peasant (Kruber):

Mercenary (A) -> The perfect mix, great at everything. Like Witch-Hunter but with slightly more support than offensive capabilities. His F pushes back enemies around you, not as much as the Witch Hunter but not as little as the Ironbreaker either, and then grants 25 temporary health to allies. Is one of those classes like Witch Hunter where if you're bad with him you're mid if you're good with him you're godlike level of skilled. A tier.
(Like: Witch Hunter but better if you are bad with him because he offers support)

Good melee and range damage and support. His damage is good, he is not going to contend with Grail Knight or Zealot but is good enough, his range is good enough, he is not going to contend with Bounty Hunter or Waystalker. And his support is really amazing to the point where I recommend if you play with bots your no.1 bot must be an Ironbreaker but your 2nd bot must be a Mercenary. Yes the Grail Knight kills bosses like no other but the Mercenary offers support like no other.

Huntsman (F) -> Sniper headshot guy. Just like the 2nd Saltzpyre class is the ranged one, the 2nd Kruber class is the ranged one. Extra ammo, double range, team aura extra critical chance and each headshot gives you +1 ammo. F makes him invisible and range deal more damage. He is more of long-range sniper, Bounty Hunter is a closer range rain of bullets except that critical once every 10 seconds, Outcast Engineer is just Machinegun Kelly and all Elf classes are good in range. He can be insane at sniping specials, but of out all of them I would say is the hardest to play well with. F tier.
(Like: Bounty Hunter but very long range sniper)

Foot Knight (A) -> Versatile mini-tank with a dash. You played the Prologue? this is what you played with. And for good reason, he's got a bit of everything. He is the tankiest Kruber class while having both melee and range. You are not Ironbreaker or Warrior Priest level of tank, but still tanky. You also don't have the damage of Ironbreaker or Warrior Priest but have great crowd control with your F dash. It's a really good class the only problem is that Mercenary and Grail Knight are so good for the same character. A tier.
(Like: Mercenary or Grail Knight but more tanky and with a dash)

Grail Knight (DLC; S) -> The best damage dealer in the game. He is a great tank, he offers some good support with his quests and potions drop, but his main thing is that he deals a lot of damage. Not limited to but especially to the bosses. He is also very easy to play with. S tier. Both as a good class and in being easy to play with.
(Like: Warrior Priest but focused on damage over more tankiness and support)

Witch (Sienna):

Battle Wizard (B) -> Potentially the best damage in the game. Her F can either escape her or save someone else, not to mention the damage on the road. With Bolt Staff can be a special sniper or elite killer. With Coruscation Staff can melt hordes. Fireball Staff is in between. With Beam Staff can melt bosses. Extra range damage, auto-ventilates if you play melee long enough and overcharge increases spell charge speed. She only lacks in support. That being said, she is squishy, and unless you're good at moving around a lot dealing massive damage, you are going to die a lot with her. It's just funny how the devs put some of the best classes in the game as the level 1 ones, but they are easy to learn and hard to master. B tier.
(Like: Witch Hunter and Mercenary in terms of being insane if you know what you're doing. Also like Grail Knight but ranged)

Pyromancer (F) -> Extra range Witch. The noob-friendly Battle Wizard. She no longer has the insane F of the Battle Wizard but she has a homing head just like Waywatcher. A larger range bar where you get extra critical chance the higher the bar is. And you are not slowed by being overcharged either. If you want to play Sienna safe, this is your bet. However, Battle Wizard does pretty much the same thing but better except more high-risk, she makes it easier to play range but the sacrifices of mobility and horde control from Battle Wizard. And she is not more insane in range, just easier to play with in range, she doesn't deal more damage in range, in fact the Battle Wizard does. She's like an easy mode but worse. F tier.
(Like: Battle Wizard except easier to play with on range but no teleportation for horde control)

Unchained (C) -> The only tanky Sienna, melee witch. The more overcharge you have, the higher your melee damage. When you take damage, 50% of that damage is sent into overcharge. With your F you cause an explosion around you and get rid of all overcharge. And no overcharge slow. You have less damage potential than Battle Wizard and even Pyromancer, and there are other more tanky characters in the game like Ironbreaker, Warrior Priest and Foot Knight who don't have the risk of exploding due to too much overcharge with no ultimate available. C tier.
(Like: Slayer and Zealot except you also have to keep your Overcharge in check)

Necromancer (S; DLC) -> Minions, overtime and crits. Have you noticed the pattern where DLC characters are really easy to play regardless? except Outcast Engineer? While 3/5 although not the best in the game are top tier and also easy to play at the same time? well, you have 6 skeletons that you summon and they play the game for you. Every kill grants her +2% crit chance for 5 seconds with a maximum of +10% crit chance so you can melt hordes. The damage over time from fire lasts double and enemies on fire take +20% damage from you and your skeletons. Her damage is fantastic especially against specials, she is right there with the Grail Knight and Battle Wizard. She is no squishy like Battle Wizard, Pyromancer and all 4 Elf classes. She has great options for special sniping. For crowd control and support you have 6 skeletons tanking and dealing damage. S tier.
(Like: Warrior Priest in terms of how many flashy gimmicks he has)

Best Bots:

Given how bots behave, these are the best bots you should use:

1. Ironbreaker -> Dual Hammers/ Coghammer/ Axe n' Shield & Masterwork Pistol/ Handgun
2. Mercenary -> Spear n' Shield/ Bretonian Longsword & Handgun/Repeater Handgun
3. Warrior Priest/Zealot -> Paired Skullsplitters/ Axe/ Fachon & Frail n' Shield/ Brace of Pistols
4a. Necromancer -> Ensorcelled Reaper / Flaming Flail & Soulstealer Staff / Bolt Staff
4b. Sister of the Thorn -> Sword n' Dagger & Longbow
4c. Grail Knight -> Bretonnian Sword/ Mace n' Sword & Bretonian Sword n' Shield
5. Unchained -> Flaming Flail/ Flame Sword/ Dagger / Reaper & Bolt Staff

The 4a, 4b and 4c are in case you have the DLCs in that order. If not, make Unchained the last bot. Ironbreaker is just tanky so he only needs to exist to help you, with best horde clearing melee & sniper shooting range. Mercenary has that +25 free hp ultimate which will help you, spear is more defensive longsword more damage and range is for special clearing. Warrior Priest is horde damage plus support or if you don't have it Zealot deals damage to hordes a ton. Necromancer gives you those really good skeletons to help you, Sister gives great support, Grail Knight great damage and Unchained again good versus hordes.

Disclaimer: Bots are not the smartest folks out there, so don't think that best bots = best classes. Rather the classes that is best used by a bot. Sometimes the same weapons are the best for the player, but not always, since the weapons are selected to be easy to use by a bot.

Classes Tier List 3 - Tryhard Edition

The previous tier list is for beginners not people who know the game already. This tier list is purely the best classes, no matter how easy or difficult they are to use. It's for those tryhards who want to try Cataclysm and have no skill issue.

Before I begin, it's worth pointing out that the differences are not as huge as it may intuitively seem, classes are very balanced to the point where careers are more sidegrades. Rather when compared to each other rather than straight upgrades or downgrades.

While there is a difference between careers the gap between them isn't that large, and none of them are useless. Every single career has a use and a purpose within the team. Even the lowest ranked careers can be played effectively.

Best Classes Ever:

1) Witch-Hunter Captain -> A powerful glass cannon for the skilled. With great crits and instant kill passive, but he lacks some of the survivability and control other Saltzpyre careers have, but this is no issue if you can dodge and block like there is no tomorrow. He requires more finesse and positioning than other careers but when played correctly he is unbelievably strong.

2) Battle Wizard -> Her F is a strong horde clearer and stagger ability, not to mention escape when things get bad. Allowing her to reposition easily. She has some of the best Sienna's temporary HP regeneration with Fire Sword combined with Confound. And Soot Shield makes her tankier. You can build her to be anti-horde, anti-special/elite, anti-boss.

3) Mercenary -> His passives just has "horde clearing" written all over them, he is not as tanky but if you are a good player you can and will of course dodge every attack. He has good Handgun for sniping and that temporary hp comes in handy for when things get bad and they would.

4) Warrior Priest -> Powerful offensive, defensive and utility options. Great weapons and temporary HP. His ultimate ability is a very powerful buff. His sole weakness is no range weapons and needs to rely on his teammates for that.

5)) Outcast Engineer -> The reason this was F-tier in the beginner-friendly tier list and top tier here is because, as I said previously, it's a class that can be one of the worst classes in the game or one of the best classes in the game depending who is playing it. One of the best special snipers, great survivability with a shield or high stagger weapons and stagger temporary HP, he can special snipe, horde clear, anti-armor and boss damage.

5) Sisters of the Thorn -> Tons of good buffs and utility to her team. She increases team HP gain by 25%, including temporary HP. Her F can create cover against warpfire and rattling gunners. Reclusive Toxin and for the last talent everything save for Ironbark Thicket are very powerful.

6) Shade -> Great survivability and massive single-target damage. She is a lot like Witch-Hunter Captain but with much more survivability due to her passive and active invisibility, she is more powerful against bosses due to her massive backstab bonus. But she has weaker horde clear and horde control potential.

7) Foot Knight -> The one you played in the tutorial. He can deal consistent damage while offering utility and defense to the team. His F is an on-demand hard stagger that can often be the difference between life and death, much like Battle Wizard's F. He also has heavy stagger weapons with stagger temporary HP, allowing him to control hordes while dealing damage and buffing his team by simply existing.

8) Grail Knight -> Rivals shade for having the best single-target damage but this one is in your face. He has many increase damage talents that allows him to reach massive damage potential. All of these power increase talents are very easy to gain their benefits from and keep up. As their activations are usually what you were going to do anyway. Unlike Warrior Priest, he can block warpfire and rattling gunners with his shield, making him not helpless against those.

Best Weapons 1 - Saltzpyre

Human Inquisitor:

Melee:
Rapier (S) -> Is one of the most powerful weapons in this game. Arguably the most powerful weapon in the game alongside Elf's Sword and dagger. You fire the pistol with middle mouse button that can kill both normal and armored enemies, you have attack speed, good block, good mobility, good dodge, fast attacks, extra heatshot damage. It's just a beast of a weapon. Not the best at killing armored, but can definetly do it with both the sword and the pistol. Recommended as Witch Hunter & Bounty Hunter's 1st weapon. Unlocked at level 1.

Paired Splitters (Zealot & Warrior Priest only; S) -> These are the equivalent of Bardin's dual hammers and are just as good. You will absolutely annihilate hordes with this weapon. Low damage vs armored but you have other ways to deal with them, given how amazing it is against non-armored it's really worth it. Recommened as Zealot & Warrior Priest's 1st weapon.

Frail & Shield (Warrior Priest only; S) -> This weapon compensates for everything the Paired Splitters lacks. It can kill armored units and defend you against ranged units which are the double melee weapons (Warrior Priest, Slayer, Grail Knight) classes weakness. Recommened as Warrior Priest's 2nd weapon.

Axe & Falchion (A) -> A good weapon. Seems like a great mix of the benefits of the Axe and of the Falchion. It's a good weapon, a decent weapon, but definetly not top tier.

Bill Hook (B) -> Not the best damage but the reach is definetly cool.

Tome & Hammer (B) -> The weirdest weapon of them all. I don't know how to feel about this weapon, on paper looks good but I haven't seen anyone using it effectively. So I'm putting it as a maybe, one this is clear, it's a complicated weapon so avoid it as a new player.

Flail / Falchion (C) -> Lower damage than the Axe but better against hordes, they are both more balanced versions. Out of the 2 I'd recommend the Falchion especially with the Zealot.

Axe (C) -> I have to talk about this because it was my favorite when I started the game. Bardin also has this axe. It can cut through armored units like no other. So definetly easy to play, I would recommend it for that alone for new players because I used to struggle with armored. But, as Saltzpyre you always have the 2nd weapon that is either range or something really good against armored preferably with a shield to deal with them. So objectively is bad, especially when dealing with hordes you're going to have a really bad time, but also really easy to use, which is why I still recommend it despite being F tier.

Greatsword (F) -> Not great against hordes, not great against specials, bad against armored.

Skull Splitter Hammer (F) -> Budged paired splitters. Does the same thing but worse.

Spitter n' Shield (F) -> The same but with a shield. You sacrifice the damage for protection that you don't need in the first place because you have other ways to deal with that. Such as the range weapon or the 2nd weapon being anti-armored and with shield for Warrior Priest. What adidafs is to adidas, Spitter n' Shield is to Frail & Shield.

Holy Great Hammer (F) -> Is like an axe but with lower attack speed and more damage. It looks fun when you use it and there's definetly some combos for it, but you simply have simpler and better options.

Range:
Brace of Pistols (S) -> Best weapon for Saltzpyre. Looks cool, good damage, good fire rate, good accuracy. No need to shoot at point blank to deal good damage. The only thing it lacks is super long range sniping but having that too would just make it broken.

Crossbow (S) -> Crossbow is the opposite of Brace of Pistols. It deals massive damage and has a longer range. It's fire rate is still good but clearly not Brace of Pistols level. It is good at long range sniping of specials but not only that. It's nowhere near Brace of Pistols level short range but can definetly handle it. So the question is, would you like to be stronger on long range say sniping specials or short range say fighting armored or patrol or a horde? depending on that I recommend either Brace of Pistols or Crossbow.

Volley Crossbow (B) -> Is like the Brace of Pistols except with less damage. Yes you can snipe with this, but the snipe does ridiculously low damage so don't bother. It tries to be a mix between Brace of Pistols and Crossbow but it fails at both, not being good enough in either case. It's only saving grace is more ammo.

Repeater Pistol (C) -> It hurts me that I have to put the Axe and Repeater Pistol so low on the tier lists because they were my favourite weapons back when I started playing Vermintide, but they are bad weapons. They are very fun, so 100% recommend it to try it if you want a fun build. But not very good. It has mediocre damage and low accuracy, you have to be at point blank to do a decent amount of damage, which isn't really the point of a range weapon. The only way you can use this weapon effectively is if you make a Bounty Hunter build with critical shots.

Griffonfoot Pistols (C) -> Brace of Pistols but shotgun. It's really good against hordes. And that's it. And even that is not so great, you're much better clearing the horde with a melee weapon. And against armored units is just terrible. Maybe there's a Bounty Hunter critical hit build out there but with this weapon who knows, fat change.

Recommened:
Witch Hunter: Rapier / Axe n' Falchion & Brace of Pistols / Crossbow
Bounty Hunter: Rapier / Axe n' Falchion & Brace of Pistols / Crossbow
Zealot: Paired Splitters / Rapier / Axe n' Falchion & Brace of Pistols / Crossbow
Warrior Priest: Paired Splitters & Flail n' Shield.

Best Weapons 2 - Dwarf

Dwarf:

Melee:
Dual Hammers (S) -> The equivalent of Saltzspyre's Paired Splitters. Do I need to say again how good this weapon is? you absolutely destroy hordes, you melt hordes down. You have low damage vs armored but again there are other ways to deal with them, the range weapon or the 2nd melee weapon if you're Slayer. I recommend it on every dwarf class, everyone? EVERYONE! (see that Most Wanted reference?)

Coghammer (S) -> Bardwin's second best weapon by far, right after the Dual Hammers. It doesn't have the same dodge or stamina, but is the Dual Hammers in every other way. It deals more headshot damage than Dual Hammers and its easier to get heatshots with it. But wait, if it's just a budget Dual Hammers why is it S tier? Because a Lamborghini Huracan may not be the best Lamborghini but it's still a Lamborghini.

Great Axe (A) -> Fast, high damage, low defense. This is a weapon that compensates everything the Dwarf lacks. It doesn't have the same killing power of hordes like Dual Hammers and Coghammer but it is good against armored and it is still fast. It's also not a bad weapon to use against bosses. Great Hammer deals more damage but this one is faster. Recommened for Slayer as the 2nd weapon. Unlocked at level 2.

Axe and Dual Axe (B) -> Decent weapons. Fast and with good damage and can kill elites. Dual axe is faster, single axe has better defense. But more or less the same weapon. Good vs hordes and good vs elites, but doesn't melt hordes like Dual Hammers or Coghammers and doesn't melt elites like a Great Axe or Great Hammer even if the latter is slow. If you want a balanced weapon, jack of all trades, these are good. Unlocked at levels 8 and 12.

Axe & Shield (C) -> Has more damage than Hammer & Shield and can actually hit armored, but it's rather slow. Is the equivalent of Kruber's Sword & Shield. Is just better than Hammer & Shield in every single way but it's not great. It's supposed to be a high damage slow defensive weapon. But the dwarf is already good with that. Might as well get weapons that are good at what he generally lacks.

Hammer (C) -> The equivalent of mace on Kruber. You trade some of that defensiveness from Hammer & Shield for speed, which is good, but not enough to make a difference. It's not a bad weapon, so no F tier, but it's no a good weapon either, it's just mediocre, below average.

Great Hammer (C) -> Not great, slower than the other and not enough of a high damage to justify the difference, might as well use the Axe & Shield and have more defense for lower attack. Both can break armor although the Great Hammer faster, and when dealing with hordes both aren't great but the Axe & Shield is definetly superior. The only exception is a certain build on Slayer with his extra attack speed and bonus damage.

Hammer & Shield (F) -> Not a lot of damage, has good stagger because of the hammer but any shielded weapon has stagger. Is the equivalent of Kruber's Mace & Shield.

Warpick (F) -> Do you like memes? do you like to suffer? then pick Warpick. Warpick has an insane right click damage. And that's it. That's its only saving grace and its thing. Other than that it's the worst elements from Hammer, Axe, Hammer and Shield and Axe and Shield combined. This is supposed to be great for Slayer due to extra attack speed and bonus damage, but when Slayer Dual Hammers exist you can left click everything into oblivion and for armored do the same thing but with Great Hammer.

Range:
Masterwork Pistol (S) -> The name gives it away, it's a masterwork. It's one of Bardin if not Bardin's best weapon. Insane damage. Pinpoint accuracy on the left click, great for sniping, rapid fire on the right click for close situations. The downside is that it does have damage falloff unlike the Handgun, but it's only gets bad when the enemy is super super far so 9/10 cases you can snipe very well with this, and it takes a second to fire, it's not instant fire.

Crossbow (S) -> This crossbow is not the same as Saltzpyre, is slightly worse. But it's still very good. It does the same job as Masterwork Pistol, high damage, single target, the difference is that Masterwork Pistol deals higher damage but Crossbow doesn't have that second delay when you fire, so you can fire with it much faster. Granted, the damage is also lower, and while it doesn't have perfect accuracy at long range without right-click, it's much more accurate than the Handgun.

Handgun (A) -> Identical to Kruber's handgun. Huge damage but very inaccurate long range unless you right click to aim. If it had accuracy by default long range it would have been an S tier weapon, like the Crossbow and Brace of Pistols for Saltzpyre. But this downside, it really shows, and it really makes it bad. I can't decide between A tier or B tier so I went A tier.

Trollhammer Torpedo (A) -> A very special weapon. I wouldn't put it S tier because it's not consistently great. But on some builds it is really great. You deal huge damage to everything hordes or armored in an area of effect, but has a slow fire rate, slow reload and little ammo. Trollhammer Torpedo is the nuclear option, which on some builds it can work great.

Drakegun (B) -> Very fun to use. Good at clearing hordes, decent but not great against armored. You can only fire 5-6 times before it overheats and then you're going to have to wait a lot. It's a good short range weapon, mainly because of it's AoE, don't even think about using this gun long range, if this is a B tier weapon then denfinetly the Handgun deserves the A tier. I mean you can try some unique builds with it, but the issue is that the Dwarf is already very good at clearing hordes in melee. So it's a gun that makes you good at what you're already good at.

Drakefire Pistols (C) -> Very fun to play with. But kind of a mediocre weapon. It deals little damage to armor, it's good for clearing hordes but not great, you have better options in melee for clearing hordes, way better options, and it is a thermo weapon which means that you're going to have to wait for cooldown. Which is a lot worse than the weapons with ammo, since most of the time you can find ammo, especially if you play premade. On the bright side, it has good range and you can shoot specials, although not that accurate.

Grudge Raker (C) -> Decent short range, uselss don't even try it long range. And at short range, it's okay for hordes, it's okay for armor. Nothing that will blow your mind, it's just eh.

Throwing Axes (F) -> Remember the meme build with the Warpick? the 2nd weapon for the meme build is Throwing Axes. Is just a worse version of the Elf's javelins. Also have great friendly fire damage, because just being a bad weapon wasn't enough.

Recommened:
Ranger Veteran: Dual Hammers / Coghammer & Masterwork Pistol / Crossbow
Ironbreaker: Dual Hammers / Coghammer & Masterwork Pistol / Crossbow
Slayer: Dual Hammers / Coghammer & Great Axe
Outcast Engineer: Dual Hammers / Coghammer & Masterwork Pistol / Crossbow

Best Weapons 3 - Elf

Elf:

Melee:

Elf? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLFF!!!!!
Sword & Dagger (S) -> Saltzpyre's Rapier and Kerillian's Sword and Dagger are arguably the best weapons in the game. Is insanely fast, has good dodge, deals good damage, extra attack speed, headshot damage multiplier, extra critical change on the 3rd and 4th swing, bleed chance on the dagger hit. It can even take out armored although not as fast as other weapons. Unlocked at level 2.

Dual Daggers (A) -> Slightly faster than Sword and Dagger but slightly lower damage than Sword and Dagger and less defense. But has even higher headshot damage. Don't get me wrong, this weapon is still very good, we're comparing it with the S tier here. Their biggest flaw is that they struggle with hordes, comparative with Sword and Dagger.

Dual Swords (A) -> They do really really really well against hordes but really really poor damage against armor. This sounds like a good weapon, but given that Sword & Dagger can deal with hordes as well and even Dual Daggers although less than the other, it makes it nothing special and only the fact that is the weakest against armor stand out. Still a very good weapon, especially if you enjoy the melting hordes of Saltzpyre and Bardin's dual hammers.

Elven Spear (B) -> Is a lot like Saltzpyre's Bill Hook. The long reach weapon. Slower attack speed and lower damage than others, but compensates with a longer reach. Can deal damage to armor but it's nothing special. Not fantastic, but definetly better than Dual Swords. Good vs hordes although again, nothing special. It's very good on a Shade build where you can backstab and delete hordes.

Elven Axe (C) -> It's okay. Not as good as Dual Daggers due to lack of headshot multiplier and bleed, it's damage output isn't as high as dual dagger and it's attack speed isn't as high either. But it's good point is that it's first attack is overhead and that makes it really really easy to headshot. Generally it's attack pattern is only good for headshots. So yeah, an attack weapon that is only good for headshots.

Greatsword (C) -> Greatsword was bad on Saltzpyre, but is good on Kerellian. With a Handmaiden attack speed build this weapon is a beast. If boosted with attack speed, this one is great for clearing out hordes, otherwise not that impressive. Good versus hordes but slow and terrible versus armor.

Spear and Shield (C) -> Is a lot like the Elven spear except is a bit better at single target damage and a bit worse at horde damage when compared to Elven Spear, that's not to say it's bad at horde damage, it's still pretty okay. But it's biggest downside and the reason I considered it for tier C is that it doesn't have a shield bash for some reason like all other shields in the game.

Sword (C) -> It feels like a lesser Sword & Dagger. Yes, it has armor damage but so does Sword & Dagger. It would not be a bad weapon by itself, but it's literally budget Sword & Dagger.

Glaive (C) -> Has better reach than a sword but worse reach than Elven Spear. However, Glave has lower attack speed than Elven Spear, lower damage vs armored than Elven Spear, and lower dodge than Elven Spear. So why would you take Glave over Elven Spear? because of hordes? yes, but it's not significant enough to compensate.

Range:
Longbow (S) -> Insane headshot damage. If you can deal consistent headshots, this is your weapon. It deals good damage even if you hit the body but in headshots it shines. Moonbow used to be overpowered but was nerfed, now it's worse due to termo and not being as good at sniping as this weapon is and having lower damage.

Braiar Javelin (S) -> You can use R to regenerate javelins. Hello, welcome to the corner of shame where you can't deal consistent headshots. There's no shame in being a worse player, this weapon is just as good. It has the highest body damage, so if you miss the head no worry. It's only issue but also good point is that (a) it has only 1/2 ammo so you'll run out very quickly but (b) you can regenerate ammo by holding R so you will never really be out of ammo. I'd say use it occasionally when you have to snipe something.

Volley Crossbow (Shade only; S) -> Great damage, both against hordes and armored, it does have a significant damage fall off so you want to be close to an armored if you want to deal significant damage, fast fire of rate, high accuracy. But the right click, with the right click attack you can snipe with no issue because it fires mutliple bolts.

Deepwood Staff (Sister of the Thorn only; A) -> It's okay, but not terrible. The left click damage is not much, it fires 3 bolts and is good for sniping, not amazing but deals okay damage when sniping, it's very good versus hordes because again multiple shots, but you can clear hordes better with melee and specials or armored with Longbow or Javelins, although the Deepwood Staff is more forgiving. You can fire about 13-14 times before overcharged, which is a lot, and then you "wait for the ammo". It's okay occasionally but not as good as the main weapon. And the right click I find useless because instead of stuning enemies you might as well kill them with another weapon like Longbow or Braiar Javelin. Still, a solid choice for armor or when times get bad.

Hagbane (B) -> Hagbane is the anti-horde bow and that's about it. It sucks against armor.

Swiftbow (B) -> The other horde clearing bow. Hagbane is much easier to use due to its area of effect damage. It has more ammo and does more damage to compensate for the lack of area of effect, but its armor damage is even worse than the Hagbane, so slightly better versus horde provided you can aim well otherwise Hagbane is still the better, and slightly worse versus armored although the Hagbane isn't good versus armor either. These are the horde clearing bows, don't deal with these if you're fighting armor.

Moonbow (C) -> Used to be great, not anymore, the longbow is better in any other way. Including ammo, because after 5-6 arrows you have to wait for the Moonbow to recharge. Moonbow used to be like a Hagbane but for long range, it was too OP and then got nerfed to oblivion. How far have you fallen.

Recommened:
Waystalker: Sword n' Dagger / Dual Dagger / Dual Swords & Longbow / Javelin
Handmaiden: Sword n' Dagger / Dual Dagger / Dual Swords & Longbow / Javelin
Shade: Sword n' Dagger / Dual Dagger / Dual Swords & Longbow / Javelin / Volley Crossbow
Sister of the Thorn: Sword n' Dagger / Dual Dagger / Dual Swords & Longbow / Javelin / Deepwood Staff

Best Weapons 4 - Kruber

Human Peasant:

Melee:
Bretonian Longsword (S) -> Very good versus hordes, deals good damage to armor with right click. Very fast.

Mace & Sword (S) -> Fast, very good versus hordes, you have both mobility and attack speed, good damage, and even some damage versus armor. This weapon has everything. When compared to the Bretonian Longsword I would say the Bretonian Longsword is slightly better against armor while Mace & Sword are slightly better against hordes, although both of them can easily do both.

Great Hammer (A) -> Great Hammer is that weapon that melts armor. It has insane damage versus armor, you will see enemies fall off. Although I would not recommend it as a solo weapon because you have issues dealing with hordes, it can be a great addition as the 2nd melee weapon for Grail Knight for when you have to deal with elites. Bardin has an equivalent with the Great Hammer that works really well with the Slayer with his extra attack speed and bonus damage, and while Kruber doesn't have that, the fact it deals good damage to armor makes it a good situational melee weapon. It's unlocked at level 11.

Bretonian Sword and Shield (A) -> Very good damage versus hordes, low but existant damage versus armor. It has a weird attack pattern but is good. I wouldn't recommend it as an only weapon because it doesn't deal well with armor, but definetly a good weapon to use in a combination for the Grail Knight because it provides good defense and good horde clearing and you can simply use something else for dealing with armor. It's not Dual Hammers level of melting hordes but it's a solid weapon. It also has a very good shield bash. Definetly try to rapid bash.

Sword and Shield (B) -> Is like Bretonian Sword and Shield with slightly faster attack speed but slightly lower damage and no damage versus armor. And a better attack pattern. The shield bash also works. It is a great mix between attack and defense. The reason I think Bretonian Sword and Shield is better, is because it's more versatile because it can also deal with armor. And while Sword and Shield can deal with hordes better, it's not the best against hordes, might as well use Greatsword or Mace & Sword. Usually when you use the shield, you are in tense sitaution. If you are in a tense situation either because of horde or armor you can make due with Bretonian Sword and Shield since it can kill both, but if you are in a tense situation with Sword and Shield and happen to be attacked by armor, good luck.

Tuskgor Spear (B) -> It's a decent weapon, not great not terrible. Good block, good attack patterns, good single target damage, good versus hordes. It's the long reach weapon.

Executioner Sword (B) -> Is a lot like the Greatsword except it has lower attack speed and lower mobility. But it has higher damage, right? nope. Same damage. Then what's the Executioner Sword's gimmick? it's the headshot weapon. With right click is very easy to deal headshot that deals massive damage. That's this weapon's thing, you execute with it.

Sword (B) -> It's Sword and Shield but you trade defense for mobility. The damage is roughly the same, both are bad against armor. But you have better speed and dodge with Sword.

Shield and Spear (B) -> You know the drill, you have the reach and the damage of the spear, but you trade some of that movement speed and good dodge for a shield that gives you more protection. This one is decent both against hordes and both against armored without being a master of none. I would have used it on Grail Knight as the 2nd weapon had it have been equipable on the Grail Knight since armor killing & shield works amazing with another horde clearing weapon.

Mace (C) -> It's the Mace and Shield but trading defense for speed and mobility.

Halebard (C) -> Is like Tuskgor Spear, also a reach weapon, but with lower attack speed compensated by the fact that you can hit more targets at the same time.

Greatsword (F) -> Slow, low damage, bad damage versus armor. Saltzpyre also has a two-handed sword and is bad for him as well. You have a lot of weapons that are faster and can deal better damage. And weapons that are good versus armor.

Mace and Shield (F) -> Is like a worse Bretonnian Sword and Shield, same attack speed, so lower than Sword and Shield, but in spite of being a mace is bad versus armor, beating armor is supposed to be the reason you take a mace. But this one is bad versus armor. Is like Bretonnian Sword and Shield but also bad versus armor, so why would you take this one?

Range:
Repeater Handgun (S) -> One of the best ranged weapons in the game. When I first started playing the vermintide series, I just loved the repeaters both on Saltzpyre and Kruber, Saltzpyre's repeater is actually bad although looks very cool. But Kruber's repeater is hands down one of the best ranged weapons in the game. It has insane fire rate, if you want you can make it even more insane with right click. Little to no damage fall off at distances. Melts hordes and deals good damage to armored even at long distances. The only thing that beats this is the Longbow and Handgun in damage at long range against armored. Everything else, Repeater Handgun clearly sueprior. And even in that scenario, Repeater Handgun isn't bad, it's just that Longbow and Handgun are better at that particular thing.

Longbow (A) -> Only useable on Huntsman, very good versus hordes, decent versus armor. Except when you use right click, when you use right click to aim this thing becomes a beast against armor. Don't ask me how that works, must be some weird quantum mechanics at play.

Handgun (A) -> Handgun is a good weapon. It's mean to be the 1 shot kill weapon for specials and elites. You can snipe with this gun, and unlike the bow you don't have to right click for the weapon to kill armor, can kill armor whether you aim or not. At long range it doesn't have perfect accuracy, but it doesn't have bad accuracy either, so it's a good sniping gun.

Blunderbuss (F) -> Aka shotgun. It can deal with hordes at close and long range. And it can deal with armor at close range. When compared with Saltzpyre's shotgun, the Griffon-foot, the Griffon deals better with hordes but significantly worse with armor and has faster fire time. It's better than the Griffon because as I said, you usually want to deal with the hordes with your melee weapon, but it's anti armor abilities aren't that impressive either mainly because you have to be close range which breaks the whole point of a ranged weapon. It's not that good at horde clearing, the worst when compared with that other shotgun, and for armored you have to be close where you might as well use your melee weapon's right click attack at that point. Not a good weapon. There's no reason to play Blunderbuss other than it's fun to use a shotgun. Using the Blunderbuss would be a blunder.

Recommended:
Mercenary: Bretonian Longsword / Mace n' Sword & Repeater Handgun / Handgun
Huntsman: Bretonian Longsword / Mace n' Sword & Repeater Handgun / Handgun / Longbow
Foot Knight: Bretonian Longsword / Mace n' Sword & Repeater Handgun / Handgun
Grail Knight: Bretonian Longsword / Mace n' Sword & Bretonian Sword and Shield

Best Weapons 5 - Witch

Witch:

Melee:
Sword (S) -> The Sword is equivalent to Kruber's sword in every single way. Good versus hordes, mobility, can deal some damage to armor although not much. Which is exactly what Sienna needs, a lot of mobility with decent damage because she is ultimately a ranged class, so the Sword can keep you alive the longest. The FIaming Sword does more damage over time while the Sword does more direct damage. The Flaming Sword has slightly faster attack speed although not much but the Sword deals more damage to armor, to the point where it's actually doable, so you can actually kill elites with it. Pyromancer's attack speed and critical chance boosts the sword even more and you can also run it on Unchained and do pretty well because of extra power increase. Unlocked at level 1.

Ensorcelled Reaper (S) -> Good reach, good versus hordes although not the best, amazing versus armor. It's a slow but versatille and powerful weapon. Because of its attack pattern the first hit is almost always a headshot.

Flaming Flail (S) -> It's another one of those weapons like the dual hammers that melts hordes. But unlike dual hammers it can also deal damage to armored units, not as good as Ensorcelled Reaper or Mace but it can still deal a pretty good damage. While the hold left click attack does some small aoe damage and also breaks shields and also ignores shields. How is the Ensorcelled Reaper better against armor if that's the case? because the Ensorcelled Reaper just don't care about the armor, it kills you directly.

Mace (A) -> The two-handed mace is a deceptively good weapon. It has faster attack speed than Ensorcelled Reaper, although deals less damage, it can still deal with armor although not as good as Ensorcelled Reaper. Is the version of the reaper that will be better against hordes due to higher mobility and attack speed but weaker against armor. If you use this weapon with the Pyromancer's attack speed and critical chance it becomes an absolute beast of a weapon. Like the reaper its first attack is an over the head allowing you to do a good headshot. I would say this weapon is borderline S tier and A tier, somewhere as the middle ground between Ensorcelled Reaper and Mace in terms of attack speed and damage including damage versus armor. All 3 weapons have good attack speed and good damage versus armor. None of them suck at any. For the mage class she has very good melee.

Flaming Sword (B) -> Goes even faster than the Flaming Flail but with even lower damage. The issue is, although this is probably the best weapon against hordes, which isn't much because Sword and Flaming Flail are close to that level already, it really struggles against armor. I mean Sword and Flaming Flail struggles a bit against armor when compared with Mace and especially Ensorcelled Reaper that just melts them, but at least Sword and Flaming Flail can do it while being a decent horde melter, Flaming Sword has serious issues in the anti-armor department. I really like this sword, but to be honest, doesn't deserve S tier or A tier.

Dagger -> Insane mobility and damage over time. But as you can expect from a dagger, low damage to hordes and the damage to armor is a joke. I don't know whether Dagger or Flaming Sword has worse damage against armor. I mean you can damage armor with the stab but that's only after 2 hold left click attacks so yeah don't bother.

Crowbill -> Sienna's version of one handed axe. It's just like Saltzpyre's axe, sounds good in theory but in practice is kind of meh.

Range:
Soulstealer Staff (S) -> Necromancer only. This one is just a beast, it's left click deals a little amount of damage but you can spam a lot of them and its right click deals an insane amount of damage instant killing elites and specials.

Corucsation Staff (S) -> I don't like this weapon, but I have to admit, it has the highest damage potential of any of Sienna's staffs. It's left click is a shotgun and right-click raises fire from the ground that melts everything as long as it stays in the area. The right click damage stacks, so if you can spam those you can anihilate everything. Its weakness is that is a bit weak on defense.

Beam Staff (A) -> My love. It has a left click that melts bosses and armor not to mention hordes. And a right click shotgun that you won't ever use because it just sucks. It's already good versus bosses, but with a certain build with Battle Wizard using the Flamished Flames talent and weapon trait Barrage you melt bosses. Unlocked at level 8.

Bolt Staff (B) -> Borderline A. The generic staff. The default one. It has multiple small damage missiles with left click and one moderate damage missile with right click. Both are good both against hordes and armor, it's just that ones costs less charge and does less damage the other costs more and does more damage. I mean it's all right. The right click works great with Battle Wizard's talent Volcanic Force. Unlocked at level 7.

Fireball Staff (B) -> Borderline A too. The Fireball Staff is like the Bolt Staff except with even higher increase in damage and charge time. Fireball's left click is like Bolt Staff's right click and Fireball's left click takes even more charge and time to prepare and does even more damage. I mean it's all right. Unlocked at level 1.

Conflagration Staff (C) -> It's left click are some bolts that deal decent damage, both versus hordes and armor, and its right click is an area of effect explosion that is good against hordes. Is not good, is not bad, is mediocre, kind of below average.

Flamestorm Staff (F) -> Is like Bardin's Drakefire gun on Sienna. It melts hordes but sucks versus armor. It's not a bad weapon per se, but you have so many so much better options with Sienna.

Recommended:
Battle Wizard: Reaper / Mace / Flaming Flail & Corucsation / Beam
Pyromancer: Reaper / Mace / Flaming Flail & Corucsation / Beam
Unchained: Reaper / Mace / Flaming Flail & Corucsation / Beam
Necromancer: Reaper / Mace / Flaming Flail & Soulstealer / Corucsation / Beam

Other 3 Items: Traits and Properties

You have noticed that you have 5 items for each character.
- Primary weapon.
- Secondary weapon.
- Necklace.
- Charm.
- Trinket.

The use of necklace, charm and trinket is that they provide traits and properties, that the primary and secondary weapons also provide.

Until you reach power 300 with orange weapons, don't worry about these, it's not worth it, just put whatever has the highest amount of power at the moment on you, as long as you like the primary and secondary weapon. That's it.

If you've made power 300 on all 5 items and they are orange. Let me explain you what traits and properties are and why necklace, charm and trinkets are important.

Traits:

Swift Slaying (S) -> Is amazing if you pair it with the increased critical chance property from the melee/ranged and trinket. Giving you 15% chance for a critical chance with each attack. Some classes can go even higher due to their talents. And when you hit that Swift Slaying makes you a beast in melee.
Recommened on: Everyone unless said otherwise.

Resoruceful Combatant (A) -> Although Swift Slaying is really damn good, some classes have ultimates that really change the game, and with the same 15% chance for a critical chance you can get your F back in no time.
Recommened on: Bounty Hunter (Sometimes), Warrior Priest (Sometimes), Mercenary (Sometimes), Grail Knight (Always), Waystalker (Sometimes), Battle Wizard (Sometimes), Pyromancer (Sometimes), Unchained (Sometimes).

Opportunist (S) -> But you have to be really good to take advantage of it.

Hunter (S) -> If you hit a critical, your next attack against similar targets will be increased. Good for when dealing with armors or hordes. Not so good when you snipe specials.
Recommened on: Everyone unless said otherwise.

Thermal Equalizer (S) -> If you have a weapon that has overcharge, this is a must, ignore Hunter, you take this on that weapon.
Recommened on: Every weapon that has overcharge.

Resoruceful Sharpshooter (A) -> Although Hunter is good sometimes, some classes have ultimates that really change the game, and with the same 15% chance for a critical chance you can get your F back in no time. Would not recommend it over Thermal Equalizer ever. But would recommend it over Hunter if it makes sense sometimes. Hunter is weaker than Swift Slaying.
Recommened on: Bounty Hunter (Sometimes), Warrior Priest (Sometimes), Mercenary (Sometimes), Grail Knight (Always), Waystalker (Sometimes), Battle Wizard (Sometimes), Pyromancer (Sometimes), Unchained (Sometimes).

Barrage (A) -> If you have a range weapon that deals constant damage to the same target, or deals small damage and you have to spam the target to kill it, this is amazing.
Recommened on: Ranged weapons with small damage but high fire rate.

And now if you run out of ammo, if you don't happen to have this issue ignore this one:

Conservative Shooter (B) -> You have good aim and can headshot for 1 ammo.

Scrounger (B) -> You have bad aim and can't do constant headshots but would still like some ammo.
Barskin (S) -> Gives you tons of survivablity. Things that would deal constant damage to you like specials, won't deal that much constant damage to you anymore. Allows you to survive more in critical situations.
Recommened on: Everyone unless said otherwise.

Boon of Shallya (A) -> Yes better healing, but the key ingredient of this one is better temporary healing. If you have a character that has huge temporary healing, this one increases that temporary healing by 30%. This one will help you in non-critical situations, Barskin will help you in critical situations.
Recommened on: characters with good temporary healing gain.


Decanter (S) -> Best general choice.
Recommened on: Everyone unless said otherwise.

Concoction (A) -> Forget the speed and power, you're only using this for the purple that refills your ability bar. And with 5 seconds it means that from now on, no matter what potion you use you will have a free F to use. You know the drill, decide whether you want to use this one or Decanter. I would say for Grail Knight if you combo it with Virtue of the Penitent talent to spam potions but for everyone else is a maybe depending on your playstyle. This is only good for characters that have a good ultimate, otherwise not worth it. And yes Necromancer has a good ultimate but you don't have to spam it so she's not here.
Recommened on: Bounty Hunter (Sometimes), Warrior Priest (Sometimes), Mercenary (Sometimes), Grail Knight (Always), Waystalker (Sometimes), Battle Wizard (Sometimes), Pyromancer (Sometimes), Unchained (Sometimes).


Shrapnel (S) -> Clear hordes like a normal grenade and then boosts damage against armor or bosses so it makes the grenade good even if it barely scratches the bosses. The other one, Expolsive Ordinance, the grenade is already good at clearing out hordes, so you hardly need it.

Properties:
Attack speed & critical chance are amazing. Sometimes you may want to take stamina instead of either critical chance or attack speed, but most of the time attack speed & critical chance are the best.
Critical chance is amazing, power versus armored is amazing because these are usually the hardest to crack. And if you want to double down on it, you can sometimes get rid of critical chance and simply have power versus armored & power versus chaos; the reason being that chaos are usually much stronger than skaven and also includes Beastmen. So you'll do tons of damage against armor.
Health is the best thing ever. And then it's either stamina or cost block reduction. I would say stamina beats cost block reduction because you can be more offensive with it, bashing shield will cost you less. But if you just want to purely block, then cost block reduction is better.
Ah, the charm, charming isn't it? attack speed and power versus armor are amazing. But again, just like the range one, if you want to anihilate armored take power versus armor and power versus chaos which also includes Beastmen.
Critical chance is amazing, and then it depends:
- Are you going to take grimmores? Curse resistance no question.
- Want to be faster? want to have you F faster? want to regenerate shield faster?
I would say stamina regeneration is objectively the best, but not much of a difference, I like the Cooldown Reduction more.

Talents at 5: Temporary Health

What is temporary health? And what temporary health gaining is better?

At level 5, every class gets to pick between: 2 temporary health talents & 1 healing boost talent. Don't pick the healing boost talent it's terrible. As for the temporary health, despite having different names, there are only 4 in the whole game, here is how they work:

- Damaging Multiple Enemies (if nothing else applies, easiest and most consistent)
- Staggering Enemies (low damage weapons that hit many enemies at once and stagger them)
- Killing Blow (weapons that deal a ton of damage, whether single-target or kills many at once)
- Critical Strikes and Headshots (you are very skilled and have a class focused on critical hits)

* Stagger power is basically the power to push larger enemies, the higher the stagger a weapon or character has, the larger enemies it can stagger. But small skavens can be staggered by just about any weapon.

What method of getting temporary health is better?

- Damaging Multiple Enemies is the most consistent. 1 HP/enemy hit up to 5 enemies. Every single weapon gets a good use out of this one. If you aren't sure what to go for, go for this one.
- Use Staggering Enemies on fast weapons with low damage but cleave and stagger. 1 HP/staggered enemy up to 10 enemies. But if you kill the target instead of staggering you don't get any HP. You want this on fast and low damage weapons that can hit many at once.
- Use Melee Killing Blow on weapons with very high damage and either good versus armor or able to kill horde skavens in 1 hit. 1 HP/enemy killed, 20-50 HP/specials killed, 100 HP/monsters killed. The opposite of Stagger basically, there you want low damage here you want instant kill. If you have good anti-armor you want to focus on elites or monsters. If high cleave then on killing basic skavens and specials.
- Use Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots on weapons that you can consistently headshot and do critical damage with, and even then it requires skill. 2 HP/headshot or critical hit. 4 HP if both. Theoretically it is just a straight upgrade. In practice, if you aren't aiming for those headshots you will get less HP than the other 3 options.

What to pick?

Just go for Damaging Multiple Enemies, you cannot go wrong there. In the event you have a weapon with low damage but fast, clave and stagger; meaning you can hit hordes a lot very quickly go for Staggering Enemies it would be a huge improvement.
And in the event you have a weapon that can instant kill horde enemies or armored elites go for Melee Killing Blow you might get a better use out of it. And if you are very skilled with a class that does a lot of critical strikes and a weapon you can easily melee headshot with go for Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots.

So baseline - Damaging Multiple Enemies. And then change in the other 3 depending on your weapon.

So I would recommend:

Damaging Multiple Enemies > Staggering Enemies if fast weapon with cleave and stagger > Melee Killing Blow if high damage with cleave or anti-armor > Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots if your build has tons of criticals and weapon easy headshots.

* The higher the difficulty the harder enemies die the more useful 2 over 1 becomes.

Talents at 15: Smiter & Mainstay

At level 5 you unlock the temporary health talents. At level 15 you unlock the stagger talents. There are 5 types of such talents in total, every class will have Enhanced Power + 2 of the other ones.

What even is stagger? knockback.

When you hit an enemy, depending on your weapon & character on your side and enemy size on their side, you can stagger them or not. When you stagger an enemy you interrupt their attack. When that happens, they are staggered and take +20% damage. If a stagger enemy is further attacked he is then in stagger 2 and takes +40% damage. As long as an enemy is in that stagger animation they take either +20% or +40% extra damage depending on the stagger level.

Generally (more or less, not always):
Enemy is knockbacked -> stagger 1.
Enemy is on ground -> stagger 2.

By default (all characters): +20% damage in stagger 1, +40% damage in stagger 2.

- Smiter (first hit by any attack automatically considers the enemy in stagger 1, so +20% damage by default; best used with weapons with high damage OR weapons you tend to aim for the head with)
- Mainstay (+40% damage in stagger 1, +60% damage in stagger 2 FROM YOU; best used with fast weapons that are hold clearers)
- Bulwark (+30% damage in stagger 1, +50% damage in stagger 2 from ALL TEAM; best used with shields. For 2 seconds, not only until animation ends.)
- Assassin (critical hits & headshots deal +40% damage, no matter the stagger level; best used with classes with high crit chances and fast weapons aim for the head well)
- Enhanced Power (increases total hero power by 7%; best used on ranged focused classes or builds as the 7% boosts applies to range attacks where as all other 4 talents do not)

What method of stagger damage is better?

Smiter -> Good for single target damage. Adding Smiter when you have a high damage weapon will allow you to 1-hit large enemies that you cannot otherwise. Smiter is a free 20% damage boost against specials, elites and bosses which your weapon is not able to stagger.
Mainstay -> Improves anti-horde weapons by making them even better anti-hordes.
Bulwark -> Improves the damage your team does to enemies you stagger, good for tank characters with shield.
Assassin -> Works well with characters that have the Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots temporary health level 5 talent.

Default: 0%/20%/40%
Smiter: 20%/20%/40%
Mainstay: 0%/40%/60%
Bulwark: 0%/30%/50%
Assassin: 40%/40%/40% (when headshot or critical, otherwise, default)
Enhanced Power: 7.5%/27.5%/47.5% (but also for ranged weapons)
You have Mainstay and a teammate with Bulwark just staggered an enemy: 0%/50%/70%.

What to pick?

Smiter if high damage weapon or simply you want to be consistent > Fast weapon Mainstay > Enhanced Power if range.
Generally, Smiter is the most convenient and consistent, you get that +20% damage on the first hit no matter what. That +20% first hit damage vs specials, elites and bosses is so good. And in Versus for example, there is no question, Smiter is the best. You will best notice it against berserkers and monks.
However, don't pick Smiter if you went for Staggering Enemies in temporary HP, they work against each other. But do pick Smiter if you went for Killing Blow, they work very well with each other. If you went for Damaging Multiple Enemies you can pick Smither it works well with as killing also counts as damaging but doesn't count as staggering.
But the more hits you need to kill an enemy, the more useful Mainstay is over Smiter, the less hits you need the more useful Smiter is.
While Assassin really makes a huge difference, more than any other, 40%/40%/40%, if you can constantly hit headshots and have a class with a lot of bonuses for critical hit chance. Again, this is the "skill talent" but it's even more useful than the Melee Critical Strikes and Headshots for temporary health.

So I would recommend:

Smiter > Mainstay if fast weapon > Enhanced Power if range.

* Mainstay only gives you that +40% and +60% if you can stagger the enemies, for Smither you don't it's simply free +20% damage.

* Staggering Enemies & Smiter although they counter each other, work well in harder difficulties because enemies already have that much more HP to begin with. And will significantly help you against non-horde enemies.

Jeez, don't bother me with all this stuff

To recap level 5 & 15 talents:

If you really don't want to be bothered with learning all of this just go: Damaging Multiple Enemies and Smiter as they are never not good. If you don't have them as options go for Staggering Enemies and Mainstay. If you have a range class instead of Smiter and Mainstay go for Enhanced Power. And if your class doesn't have any of the 4 talents mentioned above and is not range, then go Killing Blow and Bulwark.

PvE Builds - Saltzpyre

Disclaimer: there are many good builds, these are just a few recommened ones.
Here you can find tons of good builds - https://www.ranalds.gift/

1.1) Witch Hunter (122212)
This is the ultimate pro-player build. You have your Rapier and Brace of Pistols. As for the talents, everything is focused on dealing headshots and critical damage. If you can consistently hit headshots and criticals, you are a beast with this.

If not. I suggest taking (231212), this is a much more forgiving build with Witch-Hunter. It doesn't have the same top-tier potential but is a lot easier to play wtih. You get temporary HP from damaging multiple enemies rather than headshot, enemies hit bleed, and mainstay works well with the multiple enemies HP allowing you to survive better vs hordes.

1.2) Bounty Hunter (232122)
This is a boss killer build. Everything is focused for high ranged damage. At level 20 you can take 2 Cruel Fortune for more common guarnateed crits, although 1 with the melee & range combo is better the 2 is easier to use so (232222). At 25 really are 3 are good, you have to pick between: speed, ammo or damage resistance.

1.3) Zealot (212223)
For the first talent is 2 because due to your high damage you will get a lot of killing blows, Castigate makes your low HP damage even stronger.

A safer version of this would be (212212), Devoution gives you speed but Redemption gives you blocking which helps you push. Flagellant's Zeal is objectively better but Feel Nothing can save you at times.

1.4) Warrior Priest (121323)
This is the most support build possible while using a high damage weapon. Therefore Smither and Stagger, focused on elites, could work with Slayer too meaning (221323) that would work better vs hordes.

You could also try (232132) which is an easier way to play with him. You're esenially becoming a horde melting machine while offering your allies extra health and one extra shield of faith to give to someone.

PvE Builds - Dwarf

2.1) Ranger Veteran (223221)
At level 20 really all 3 options are good for support: ale for special killing, extra ammo when you drop ammo anyway, potions or bomb for extra special killings. It's very dependent on what your team needs.

Same for the one at level 25: extra speed, extra protection when you headshot which is good but hard to pull off, or reload speed when you shoot hordes.

2.2) Ironbreaker (122223)
You could also go (222223) which may increase your HP against weak hordes. At level 20 again all 3 are good. At level 25 is just cooldown reduction as long as you don't block, but block if you have to. And at level 30 both 1 and 3 are good. 1 is for damage support 3 is for escape.

2.3) Slayer (221323)
Fury & Smither to rekt guys in armor after you jump. If you want to focus hordes go Doomseeker and Mainstay instead meaning (122323). Both Cog Hammer and Great Axe are two-handed. But if you pick something else change level 10 talent accordingly.

2.4) Outcast Engineer (223213)
The 2 at level 10 is great for the machinegun. At level 20 talent number 2 is the best but 3 is the easiest option to play with, at level 25 you gain armor at at level 30 killing specials make you fire for longer for free. So alternatively you can try (223313).

PvE Builds - Elf

3.1) Waywatcher (233131)
At level 20 really all of the 3 options are good. Either you get better HP restore to 50%, get cooldown reduction instead, or support the whole team gets HP regen up to 50% (Zealots will hate you for it). At level 30 Piercing Shot turns the usual F into a high damage single arrow. If you want an easier to use version you can try (223132) or if you really want to spam the auto-arrows (223232) instead.

3.2) Handmaiden (133121)
All elves builds are good on range so at level 15 Enhanced Power works on her, but you can also pick Mainstay (232131). The attack speed from Willow Stance is very good when fighting hordes. At level 25 really all 3 options are good si you could try something like (232111) or (232131).

3.3) Shade (132321)
Black Vigour because you already focus on Critical Strikes with Shade but 2 works as well. At level 10 the 3 focused once again on headshots, you can headshot in melee, but if you cannot do so consistently go for 2. At level 20 all 3 are good so you can go for either. Same for level 25. For example you can have something like (122231). Or if you want to be less headshot dependent something like (211121).

3.4) Sister of the Thron (131322)
For level 5 go for 2 if you can't constantly hit headshots. For level 10 go for 2 if you want less but more consistent damage. For level 15 the 2 makes you better against hordes although at the cost of single target damage. At level 20 the 1 is a good option too. For level 25 the 1 is a good option too. For level 30 the 2 is very good. So you can also make something like (222112).

PvE Builds - Kruber

4.1) Mercenary (112121)
This is a bit balanced. You can also try Drillaster + Mainslay (111121) for more horde potential or Mercenary Pride + Smither (212121) for more elite and specials potential. At level 20 the 2 is also a viable option if you want to be more support. And at level 30 the 2 is also good. So you could also use (212122).

4.2) Huntsman (133223)
You can also try this with the Handgun, taking advantage of the Huntsman's longer range than others. This is pretty much standard. At level 1 talent 2 Huntsman's Tally is also viable focused on killing blows if you have a high damage melee weapon, but for something lower damage but fast speed like Mace and Sword for hordes 1 is better. At level 30 all 3 options are viable. Either cooldown reduction, attacking doesn't break stealth or increased duration.

4.3) Foot Knight (232311)
You can also use the Bretonian Longsword. Remember to push due to 3 at level 10. At level 20 the 3 is the best but the 2 can be useful for utility too. The 1 at level 25 is life saving. Allowing you to instantly revive. Combined with the 1 at level 30 means you can revive with no issues. Meaning your dashing and tanking are even more useful.

4.4) Grail Knight (212333)
Level 10 Vitrue of Heroism 1 is good vs hordes but 3 is also amazing for him. Making your heavy attacks already stronger than they generally are. At with Smither, that things stacks. At level 20 the 3 is broken, giving you damage potions like no other, once again, damage. For level 25 talent 1 is also a viable option with 50% of hp back as temporary health. At level 30 both 1 and 3 are good. So you could have something like (232311) to be more heavy focused while with (232333) you are more horde focused. The 1 is better vs bosses but the 3 is better vs hordes.

PvE Builds - Witch

5.1) Battle Wizard: (123113)
Can also try wtih Sword and Enchanter Bolt Staff. Her talents depends on her weapon, Bolt Staff for specials and elite. Coruscation Staff for hordes. Fireball Staff is in between. Beam Staff for bosses. At level 10 all 3 are really good, the 1 makes more powerful spells heavy attacks. The 2 extra damage over time at the cost of non-damage over time. And the 3 makes damage over time last forever. If you use heavy spells you can try (113113) instead. At level 20 the 3 seconds reduction for Tranquility is the best. At level 25 the 3 is a viable option with hordes but really 1 is superior as it gives you protection, much needed protection with a fragile character and already high damage. At level 30 both 1 and 3 are good, Burnout gives more mobility when you have it, but Quickening makes you use the teleportation almost twice as frast, so (113111) and (113131) is again a viable option.

5.2) Pyromancer: (133333)
Can also work with Sword and if you want to melt bosses Beam Staff. At level 10 the 3 is very powerful as long as you manage to stay full hp. If you cannot, then pick 1 instead so (113333). At level 20 the 1 can be powerful too, you kill a special then have 12 seconds of free kill so (113133). If you don't want to focus on criticals, at level 30 you can take 1 and after using your F intentionally overcharge so you won't die from it (113131).

5.3) Unchained: (213223)
The 2 at level 25 is great, because when you overcharge, it makes your F cooldown faster so you can get rid of overcharge in the explosion. She is a melee Sienna so at level 15 something like 2 Mainslay can work. At level 20 talent 3 is also a viable option At level 30 all 3 are viable options so you can have something like (212321) so you can become a killing machine right after explosion although 3 at level 30 is the safer option.

5.4) Necromancer: (112113)
Considering her special powers: minions, overtime and crits. She can be played melee very well. You can even go (111113) to be even better against hordes. Or go (212113) versus large enemies with a powerful weapon like the Reaper. At level 25 the 1 cooldown reduction allows to you always have more than 4 skeletons for the level 10 talent 1. But 2 Curse of the Undeath is the better option if you manage to keep your selectons up due to huge protection so (212123). At level 30 the 3 makes you skeletons more tanky to take more damage but the 2 is good too as they now deal damage over time, but the 3 works better with the 1 at level 10.

Some Builds I Made

Here are some personal builds of mine: Free Candy[www.ranalds.gift]
1) Dwarf
(Read this in Lord of the Rings Dwarf accent)
Your job description includes:
- Being grumpy.
- Using your primary weapon (Dual Hammers) to anihilate hordes.
- Using your secondary weapon (Masterwork Pistol) to shoot down specials and elites.
- Just existing and being a tank there.
- Using the ultimate to lure even more enemies towards the tank you are.

2) Saltzpyre
(Read this in suspicious accent)
Your job description includes:
- Looking down on everyone else, except Kruber Grail Knight because you can't anymore.
- Melting hordes with your primary weapon (Paired Skull-Splitters)
- Getting healed a lot with Slayer of the Wicked especially when passive with From Fury starts.
- Supporting your team with increased HP and United in Prayer.
- Feeling like a boss when you pick Grimoires or get that Nurgle curse in Chaos Wastes

3) Kruber
(Read this in humble soldier being called peasant by everyone accent)
Your job description includes:
- Just doing your job and saying "I was just following orders"
- Killing hordes and elites with your primary weapon (Bretonian Longsword)
- Killing specials and elites with your secondary weapon (Repeater Handgun)
- Getting HP from fighting hordes with Drillmaster
- Dealing good single-target damage with Smitter
- Boosting your team a lot with Strike Together and with your ultimate
- Healing the team for 25 HP whenever you find a potion due to Concoction

Notes for honorable men:
- This build makes for an amazing bot, but don't expect him to play it as good as a player.
(Read this in nobility accent, so they can hear your yacht)
Your job description includes:
- Calling everyone "peasant" because everyone called you "peasant" when you were a peasant.
- Deal massive damage to elites and bosses
- Regenerate tons of health with Lady's Generosity and Stoicism
- Deal good damage on the first hits with Smitter
- Spam potions like no other with Virtue of the Pentinent
- Use those potions to always get your ultimate back with Concoction
- Either use Audacity for even higher boss damage or Confidence for hordes.

4) Witch
(Read this in a very cool-headed and pragmatic for a fire wizard voice)
Your job description includes:
- Getting everyone to calm down.
- Melting everything you, your mother, your family, China and Mars ever knew and loved.
- Melt bosses with Flamished Flames and Barrage.
- Get some survivablity with an all-purpose sword, HP on stag Confound, Immersive Immolation.
- Escape quickly with Burnout and Concoction that makes potions instantly giving you ultimate.

(Read this in a "I have the power" voice)
Your job description includes:
- Showing everyone who is the boss.
- Survive with the sword.
- Use the right-click of the Staff to kill hordes, elites, specials and monsters like no other.
- Heal yourself with Spark Smith versus hordes and Bonded Flame when you use your ultimate.
- Randomly run after you manage to get a critical hit with Fleetflame
- Deal extra damage with Rise of the Fire Wind and Enhanced Power
- Spam fire tornado like no other after killing a special
- Spam fire tornado at the boss' feets or inside a horde when attacked

Questions asked by non-magic users:
- Why not use the Reaper or Flail? those are damage dealers, but with Sienna's melee you just want to survive and dodge hordes, and the default sword is the best at that. You can always sacrifice some survivability for melee damage and take Reaper or Flail, but you'll have to change the first talent to Spirit-Binding.
(Read this in a I'm still the old me but everyone is suspicious voice)
Your job description includes:
- Just being creepy in general while saying "I'm still the old me" thing.
- Just be there and use your ultimate to raise skeletons.
- Use your melee to kill both hordes and elites, specials, monsters with right click.
- Get health on kills with Deathdealer, attack speed with Vanhel and damage with Smither
- Get some nice AoE kills with Cursed Blood whenever you hit critical hits
- Get fast cooldown with Spirit Leech and Sharpnel
- Get instant cooldown whenever you have a potion with Concoction
- Make your skeletons even more deadly with Barrow Blades

Information for non-necromancers:
- Ensorcelled Reaper kills easily thus better than corpsemaker in the long run.
- Can go for Enhanced Power over Smither if you want better staff but staff is already good.
- Curse of the Undeath if you want more protection, Spirit Leech if you want better cooldown.
- Army of the Dead is a good alternative with this build, Dread was nerfed from 50% to 25%

5) Elf
(Read this in a deep voice like you have a dark past you don't want to talk about)
Your job description includes:
- Calling everyone mayflies.
- Killing both hordes in melee with primary (Sword & Dagger) and elites, specials with Javelin.
- Get your health back with Driad's Thirst in melee against hordes.
- Spaming your ultimate as much as possible as you have a lot of cooldown reduction.
- Drinking potions that because of Concoction allow you to spam ultimate as much as possible.

Note for mayflies:
- If your aim is good, use: Weavebond, Drakira's, Assassin and a Longbow instead of Javelin.
- If you find yourself dying a lot use Isha's Embrace instead of Spirit Arrows.
(Read this like someone who likes to dance)
Your job description includes:
- Talk about how High Elves are the most civilized living beings in the whole world.
- Fighting hordes and dodging everything.
- Killing specials and elites with your bow while aiming with right click.
- Using your ultimate as much as possible that now makes you invisible Ladrielle
- Having high critical chance Oak, good horde damage Maystay, good health Spirit Echo
- Dodging makes you attack even faster with Willow, and more health with Heart of Oak
(Read this like someone who embraced their destiny)
Your job description includes:
- Saying that you are the greatest support that has ever lived!
- Your ultimate isn't much, don't worry about it.
- Kill hordes with melee Sword and Dagger and elites or specials with left click Staff
- If they are heavy armored you can use the right click staff to disable them
- Your melee hits will always poison and then make enemies bleed, Althrati's
- Whenever you poison someone they take extra damage from all your allies
- Just by existing you get extra temporary hp from allies getting over 100% hp
- Just by existing your allies get +25% more hp whenever they get hp
- Using radiance, your passive that is actually active, makes your allies way stronger.
- Recursive Toxic doubles your everyone's attack bonus against what you hit
- If you are in a bad spot, Tanglegrasp's wall can save you in no time

PvP - Basic Strategy

In PvP, unlike PvE, your main enemy is no longer 10.000 small skavens or big and powerful bosses. But the specials as the specials are other players. As such, the no.1 priority in versus is to counter specials.

Here are some PvP tips:

1) Keep up the pace of your teammates -> As the heroes, speed is essential as the skaven players have virtually unlimited lives. You should only go back if one of your teammates is downed or captured, otherwise keep advancing. If you are always lagging behind of the group, you are the one doing something wrong.

Don't go on the other extreme of rushing alone either. But generally, you don't want to waste any time. More time you stay put = more time skaven players respawn = more chances to lower your HP. Keep the pace, don't run ahead and most importantly don't lag behind.

If the whole team is rushing the map that is great, but if only you are doing it, you are actively losing the game. Heroes survive by staying together, isolated hero is free kill. You also make it harder for your team because now there's only 3 of them left.

If you are too ahead, it's up to you to wait a bit for your team to catch up. If you are too behind, it's up to you to catch up. But if someone behind you is downed, go save him.

2) Don't 1v1 as Hero -> If a special doesn't cause major troubles and cannot be killed instantly, it is not worth killing that special.

Because what's going to happen, you are going to 1v1 trying to kill that special, your team is not going to notice and run ahead of you, so now even if you won are essentially left behind and alone.

Even if you won the 1v1 battle, you have lost tactically. Where as if you just ignore the special, if you can, you score points by advancing, and he stands looking there like a loser.

3) Revive teammates when you can, but make sure it's safe when you revive -> If you can revive without getting incapacitated yourself, do it. If trying to revive him will result in both of you getting incapacitated, don't do it.

When one of your teammates is down, it's your team no.1 priority to get that person back up. Forget everything, save them. When you pick up a teammate you are automatically blocking. And if you are attacked when you are reviving, the revival will stop.

Meaning, if you have normal skavens around you or elites in armor, you can savely revive as your character will block. But, if you have a special player around you actively targeting you, don't go for a revive, kill the special players first. Because while reviving you are just a free target. Going for revive makes you an easy target for special, and the damage they do will stop your revive.

4) Have a team of 3 special snipers and 1 horde clearer. -> Versus is all about special sniping the game. As I said originally, in versus range is king, because the mode is all about special sniping. You need bare minimum 2 people that can special snipe, ideally 3 people.

If you have more than 1 melee hero in your team, you're making it a lot harder than it's supposed to be. There is not enough pressure from normal skaven and elites to justify taking more than 1 melee class.

I'm not saying all the melee classes are bad because they are not, even Warrior Priest and Slayer can be good but a team with both Warrior Priest and Slayer is a very bad one. Add Grail Knight too and you may have the worst team ever. Meme worthy really. You do not need more than 1 melee class, it's all about special sniping.

If you are playing that 1 melee class it's your job to clean the field of normal skavens and elites to make room for your snipers.

PvP - Builds

Let's talk about PvP builds:

In my opinion, the best Versus classes are:

1. Bounty Hunter (Saltz - insane short range special sniping)
2. Huntsman (Kruber - insane long range special sniping)
3. Ironbreaker (Dwarf - melee field clean and special sniping hybrid with tanky)
4. Ranger Veteran (Dwarf - special sniping and support)
5. Waystalker (Elf - special sniping, provided you can actually hit)
6. Pyromancer (Witch - special sniping)

And these are the lesser options but still viable:

7. Master Engineer (Dwarf - special sniping)
8. Handmaiden (Elf - special sniping)
9. Footman (Kruber - hybrid special sniping and melee field with tanky)
10. Necromancer (Witch - hybrid special sniping and melee field with tanky)[/i]
11. Warrior Priest (Saltz - very good for cleaning the field, not much for else)

Why? because Versus is all about special sniping. But also due to the different conditions in versus, the builds here are going to be very different from PvE.

1. Bounty Hunter (233231)
Bounty Hunter is the MVP of Versus. Because even in PvE the Bounty Hunter's speciality is taking out specials, and Versus is all about taking out specials.
Melee: Rapier
Range: Brace of Pistols
Skills: 233231

You will notice that in PvP the talents are very different from PvE. This is because the priorities are also very different. Witch-Hunter is Zealot is bad for PvP.

- Witch-Hunter: Rapier & Brace of Pistols. Skills: 233131.

- Zealot, do not play Zealot on versus, but if you insist: Rapier & Brace of Pistols and skills: 133312.

- Warrior Priest is in a very interesting situation. Because with no range weapons he is bad like Slayer or Grail Knight. However, unlike the other 2 he offers so much support to the team that it may offset his almost inability to deal with special. So I'm not saying Warrior Priest is good or bad in Versus, only that he is played very different. But, if anyone else from your team picked a non-range class, don't pick the Warrior Priest.
Melee: Hammer and Shield (in Versus shield is OP vs specials)
Range: Holy Great Hammer (so you can insta-kill enemy specials when close)
Skills: 121332

2. Huntsman (113112)
Hunter is a very loved class in Versus. Because in Versus your main enemy as the players, who take the form of enemy specials. So anything with a powerful range, meaning can take down enemy players, is powerful.
Melee: Spear and Shield or Sword and Shield. (because shield is good vs enemy specials)
Range: Handgun or Blunderbuss (Blunderbuss if you want a shotgun so you don't aim)
Skills: 113112 (113132 also works)

- Mercenary is also very good. Bretonnian Longsword & Handgun. 212333

- You will see a lot of shields as melee weapons in PvP. This is because protection from enemy range is more important here than killing hordes as it was in PvE. You can try the same build with the Footman, Spear & Shield with Handgun, but skills: 133211 (the F dash is very good in Versus).

- Don't try Grail Knight, with no ranged weapons he's very bad in Versus. But if you insist: Bretonnian Longsword + Bretonnian Sword & Shield. Skills: 132313

3. Ironbreaker (123223)
The Ironbreaker is a very solid Versus choice. In fact, I would say the most solid melee choice. All others who are at the top are range-focused classes. But the Ironbreaker is so tanky that it may worth it, while still having 2 very good range guns Handgun or Torpedo, despite not being a range class.
Melee: Axe and Shield or Dual Hammers. (pays more to have a shield to defend against enemy specials, and Dual Hammers help you clear the field if you want to be that 1 melee guy)
Range: Handgun, Torpedo, Masterwork Pistol (Torpedo if you want a long-range shotgun, while Pistol is slightly worse vs specials due to shoot delay but better vs the Troll boss)
Skills: 123221 (the F turns into damage boost for allies)

- Ranger Veteran is also very good. Axe & Shield and Handgun. Skills: 123321.

Slayer can be surprisngly good but for very different reasons due to his F. Cog Hammer and Great Axe. Skills: 121323.

- You can try the same build with Master Engineer. And only Axe and Shield, you will play range with Handgun with Master Engineer. Skills: 113312.

4. Waystalker (233133)
The Waystalker is very clear, she is a range-focused character with a very good ultimate. It's doesn't take a Quantum Physics professor to figure out why she is good in Versus where your biggest threat are enemy specials that can most of the time be taken out from range. She is a good sniper.
Melee: Sword and Dagger. (no shield for her, sorry)
Range: Longbow or Javelins (Longbow is the only good bow and Javelins are high damage)
Skills: 223333

- You can try the same build with the Mandmaiden but: Melee: Spear and Shield. (yes, sheild!) Range: Longbow or Javelins. Skills: 123131 (the F dash is very good in Versus)

- Shade. Sword & Dagger and Volley Crossbow. Skills: 213211.

- Sister of the Thorn: Sword & Dagger and Longbow. Skills: 233312.

5. Pyromancer (113112)
Look who is crawling back, eh? We called the Pyromancer bad in PvE but turns out that out of all Witch's classes she is the best in PvP because she has that range power, and Versus is all about range power.
Melee: Sword or Dagger (If you consider you need melee then Sword, but if you can avoid it, you don't need melee with her, all you need is speed, and the Dagger has it)
Range: Fireball (the Beam and Necromancer staffs are absolutely terrible in Versus. The right-click with Fireball Staff is very good)
Skills: 113112 (her F is also very good in versus especially with the 35 hp regen talent 2)

- Battle Wizard: Sword and Fireball Staff/Bolt Staff. Skills: 113111. The 2 from level 10 makes her right-click with Bolt staff very good, provided you can aim. If not, take the Fireball Staff.

- Unchained: Sword and Fireball Staff. Skills: 123313.

- Necromancer: Sword and Fireball Staff. Skills: 123123.

BONUS: The Definitive Best Maps List

Warning: This is the objectively best maps list, if you have a different opinion that simply means you are wrong.


I wish we got a "Back to Ubersreik 2.0" at some point... Just so we could revisit more of the old maps. Garden of Morr and Engines of War weren't really on my "want them in Vermintide 2" list.

I mean Wizards Tower, Trial of the Foolhardy, The White Rat and Waylaid.

BONUS: What your class says about you

This isn't a joke but objectively correct.
If you disagree you are sad and I have no desire to speak with you.

Saltzpyre

Witch Hunter Captain -> Main character syndrome. You believe that you are the main character of your life and everyone else exists just to watch you. Just like Saltzpyre believes he is the boss of the group and everyone else just let him live that illusion although they know he isn't. You think you are a pro player that dodges attacks like no other and can singlehandedly defeat the entire map only to have your team revive you 90% of the time. You brag about being able to block infinitely but never block important stuff.

Bounty Hunter -> We get it, you kill bosses in 4 shots. At 2 AM, you turn off the lights, pull the curtains, turn off the audio and watch youtube compillations of Bounty Hunter melting bosses. Then you clean up after yourself. You think your team should kiss your feets everytime you kill a boss even though you were idle for the rest of the game because "I have no ammo".

Zealot -> You are a massochist. When is the last time you hurt yourself? last time being emo was cool was like in 2007. We get it, you love killing hordes. You love the adrenaline of having 1 HP left and insane damage because of it. But please don't be upset everytime someone tells you that there are better classes for killing hordes.

Warrior Priest -> There are 2 types of warrior priest. Those that help their team with the ultimate and are a great addition to the team, and those who basically play solo even though they have a support class. And both types scream "help" whenever there is a ranged special attacking them as they are useless against range.

Dwarf

Ranger Veteran -> You get mad when someone else takes one of your ammo drops, even though it doesn't even give you a full load of ammunition. Your special ability only helps you escape and leaves your allies to take all the damage. And then you complain that they are noobs who don't know how to play.

Ironbreaker -> You like 'last stand' Youtube compillations. You manage to be the one person on the team that singlehandedly holds a choke point when the other three are busy. Your class ability drives you to be a true hero, and yet you never take damage for your team, still die a lot and scream that the game is unfair even though you have one of the easiest classes to play with.

Slayer -> Hey there Rambo! You try to play in character by being reckless, but it's just making your team babysit you because you die a lot. You brag about how much damage you can deal only to deal the least of your teammates at the end of the mission. But you know deep in your heart that you have true skill, one day you'll be good enough, one day to make real use of that jumping without dying in the next 5 seconds.

Outcast Engineer -> You would be one of the most powerful classes in the game, if you would manage to hit the Skavens as often as you hit your teammates. And when you don't scream at them because you need a clear line of sight, with a red cape and a beer next to you to get going. You manage to get tangled up in a lot of melee and scream at your team because they cannot protect you aka babysit the baby.

Elf

Waystalker -> First off, stop googling hentai of Krillian. Second, you read the passives and started licking your lips at the "Regains health automatically". Third, just because you can regain health it doesn't mean you aren't squishy and you can't deal damage because you can't aim for s***. The only time you hit something is when you use your ultimate because it's auto-aim.

Handmaiden -> Oh, the other "dodge master". You and Witch Hunter Captain players should date. Yeah, we get it, you have a god complex and think you can singlehandedly kill the entire enemy team. You are this god of war on the battlefield that makes Kratos look like an NPC. But often, your teammates revive you more than you revive them.

Shade -> A sharp-witted player who can kill most large enemies, at least in your head. In reality, you can't land any of those hits. And when you manage to hit 1 large enemy with a backstab you'll remind it to your team for the next 30 minutes, even though your team needed to fight the hordes back then and that berserker wasn't the problem. You obviously are the best player and this is the best class because it's the most difficult class so you can brag about skill. Even though you don't have the stats to show for it, you know in your heart that you are the best.

Sister of the Thorn -> Thank you. No seriously, thank you. SotT is a support class even when they do nothing and just play the game normally. You give so many buffs to your team. But of course you need to remind this to everyone every 5 minutes and whenever you have bad stats it's because "I play the support class, I help you guys, that's why you have better stats, do you want me not to help you and play another class? I can do that and we'll all lose".

Kruber

Mercenary -> As skilled as the Witch Hunter Captain but without the God complex. You're the best player in the team not for bragging rights. You are always a Chad for giving your team that +15 HP, even when you press ultimate because a single rat showed up and the rest of the team had 99% HP anyway.

Huntsman -> You shoot enemies from 200 km away. And then you get an assassin or hook rat and die because you were too far away from your team, but it's somehow their fault. You will carry your team or die trying. You're a damage dealer and everyone must know so they get out of the way. When someone kills a rat you were aiming at from 200 km away, you complain about making you "waste ammo".

Foot Knight -> You're a budget Ironbreaker with more abilities. Defense aura makes you seem like a useful teammate, but in reality you ultimate charge across the map to hit that one chaos warrior in the middle of a swarm, making you die instantly despite having all those defensive buffs.

Grail Knight -> We get it, we must take care of the specials because you take care of hordes and elites, you don't.

Witch

Battle Wizard -> Are you the Battle Wizard that is everywhere on the map at once and melts hordes and elites left and right like crazy? or the one who dies in 3 hits because he doesn't know you press W to move forward? I get it, you can deal the most damage out of all classes in the game, and it takes a lot of skill to play BW, but it would be great if you'd help your teammates once in a while.

Pyromancer -> Aww, look at him, such a baby, little Timmy cannot play Battle Wizard so he plays the easier Battle Wizard instead. Yes you have a larger ranged attack bar, that ultimately won't help you at all because you don't have Battle Wizard's fast bar regen, and just like Bounty Hunter you think you are god's gift to mankind when you melt down entire bosses with your beam even though that's all you did the entire mission.

Unchained -> Between you and Zealot you're obviously the more sane choice. But that's like having more hair than Vin Diesel, not that hard. Yes, use the melee class for the range character. At least the Zealot gets a ton of extra damage when close to death, you get an okay amount of extra damage and it only takes a few hits for your bar to get full while your ultimate is on cooldown and you die then spam 'help'.

Necromancer -> The noob version Sienna. The people who use this class are those who like to brag that they are a pro Sienna player even though a baby could use Necromancer effectively. It must be very hard pressing the F button and letting your skeletons fight for you, so much skill. And who can forget about you using the Ensorcelled Reaper where you left click elites and they die or Soulstealer Staff where you right-click elties and they die, so much skill.

DLC: Which one is worth it?

I would rate the DLC like this:
*The Curse of Drachenfels is also free content but was incorporated in the base game.
- You have 3 free DLC by just getting the game: Chaos Wastes, Dwarves-themed, Ice-themed.
- Shadows Over Bögenhafen is short with only 2 maps, but those 2 maps are really good.
- Necromancer, Warrior Priest and Grail Knight are some of the most fun classes in the game.
- Back to Ubersreik has 1 really good map and 2 bad maps.
- Sister of the Thron and Outcast Engineer were not as cool as the other 3 but still fun to play.
- Winds of Magic unlocks Cataclysm and gives you 1 okay map and 1 ignored gamemode.
- Forgotten Relic gives you 5 weapons, only Coruscation Staff and Trollhammer Torpedo are good.

Ending

Have fun, and kill skavens! Shoot, melee them, do whatever, break them and kill the enemy!

[0rionO7]

Yes the Talent you pick for level 5, 10, ect. DO matter in Chaos Wastes. They carry in as you can easily see if you hold "i" to open inventory.

[Romping the gay]

apparently the grail knight passive that returns 50% of damage taken as temporary health only does so if you do not take damage for 5 seconds. Otherwise, it resets the 5s cooldown and only recovers based on the new last hit. So, its trash. (https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2139200953)

[0ping0skill]

so now i got wom for quite some time
and i have to say
it may not be worth it to buy full price but at 50% discount it has complete value

[toxic.ninja]

It is called Weave, not wave. Difficulty hurdles have been changed recently. The game also shows official loot table numbers.
Higher difficulty also grants more XP (vets in legend).
Slayer has indeed a ranged weapon. Glaive does nearly triple the armor damage of a spear, check the armory mod.

[(V-army)Commissar Vic]

Some of this is subjective AF. Some of it is regurgitated spaghetti on top of this spaghetti game, DLC insistence included. I have seen so called S tier IBs and GKs get fucked like schoolgirls 3mins into CW. And as huntsman 70% main, I laugh at F tiering. Whole game might be F tier.

[Floofinity]

all you need to know is block and dodge backwards. Your block works 360. ez W

[hspank]

the guide to look for when only buying one DLC, it will be grail knight. thanks.

[♛༺࿈LoVrain࿈༻♛]

This is what i was looking for, Huge W this gonna help me a lot of with understanding game, i bought game yesterday and its geat

[Helion139]

Did the beam stuff got nerfed to oblivion or does it need high level to shine? so far it's pretty meh on like lvl 10

[Akfiz]

Most classes have different specializations, Pyromancer is just Battle Wizard but weaker, why would the Pyromancer be anything else when you have the option to pick a class from the same character that does everything the Pyromancer does but better?