Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is Fatshark's four-player co-op action game set in the Warhammer Fantasy Battles world, and the sequel to the original Vermintide. The five heroes who survived the Skaven assault on Ubersreik are back, and this time they face a Skaven horde fighting side by side with a ruinous Chaos army. The combat is first-person, up close and brutally physical, and the only thing standing between the Empire and ruin is you and your allies.
First-Person Melee With Real Weight
Vermintide 2 made its name on how its melee feels. Every swing has heft, a well-timed push buys breathing room when the horde closes in, and a heavy attack in the right place can cleave through a whole line of Clanrats. Blocks and pushes drain stamina, so good players read the crowd and time their dodges rather than simply mashing through it. Ranged options, from longbows and crossbows to handguns and fire staffs, fill the gaps, but survival usually comes down to holding a doorway with steel.
Five Heroes, Fifteen Careers
Each of the five heroes branches into three careers, and each career brings its own talent tree, passive abilities and career skill. With 15 talent trees and more than 50 weapon types to choose from, the same character can play very differently from one run to the next.
- Markus Kruber
- A veteran soldier of the Empire who can serve as a Mercenary, a Huntsman or a Foot Knight. Kruber moves between hard-hitting frontline fighter, patient marksman and armored anchor who charges straight through the enemy line.
- Bardin Goreksson
- A dwarf ranger with a long list of grudges, playable as a Ranger Veteran, an Ironbreaker or a Slayer. Pick the Ironbreaker to soak up punishment for the team, or the Slayer to throw caution aside and carry a second melee weapon in place of a ranged one.
- Kerillian
- An elf of Athel Loren with little patience for her human companions, playable as a Waystalker, a Handmaiden or a Shade. She covers everything from precise longbow support to agile spear work and lethal strikes from the shadows.
- Victor Saltzpyre
- A relentless witch hunter who can take up the mantle of Witch Hunter Captain, Bounty Hunter or Zealot. His careers range from marking and dismantling priority targets to a fervent close-quarters brawler who grows more dangerous as his health drops.
- Sienna Fuegonasus
- A Bright Wizard whose power comes with dangerous heat, playable as a Battle Wizard, a Pyromancer or the Unchained. Every career juggles overcharge, the build-up of magical energy that makes her spells stronger and can burn her out if pushed too far.
The Rat and the Rot
This time the Skaven of Clan Fester are not alone. They have joined forces with the Rotbloods, a Chaos army devoted to Nurgle, and the result is a far more varied and dangerous enemy roster. Clanrats and Stormvermin share the battlefield with Chaos Marauders and heavily armored Chaos Warriors, while specials such as Gutter Runners, Packmasters, Poison Wind Globadiers and Blightstormers wait for a team that drifts apart. Then there are the monsters: Rat Ogres, Stormfiends, Chaos Spawn and Bile Trolls that turn any quiet stretch of road into a desperate last stand.
Climbing the Difficulty Ladder
- Recruit to Legend: The difficulty ladder runs from Recruit through Veteran and Champion up to Legend, and each step demands tighter teamwork, smarter positioning and a real understanding of what your career brings to the fight.
- Tomes and grimoires: Hidden tomes and grimoires reward teams willing to explore, trading precious inventory space or maximum health for better rewards at the end of the mission, a gamble that gets harder to justify the higher you climb.
- A keep to call home: Between missions the heroes regroup at their keep, where you switch careers, manage your gear and choose where to fight next, with loot and hero power carrying your progress forward from one mission to the next.
- Friends or bots: Team up online with up to three friends for the full co-op experience, or take the fight on alone with computer-controlled heroes filling the empty places in your party while you learn the ropes.
Chaos Wastes and Versus
The campaign is only the start. The Chaos Wastes is a roguelite mode in which your team sets out on an expedition through a twisted realm, gathering boons, weighing curses and building each run from scratch before a final push on the Citadel of Eternity. Versus is a 4v4 mode where one team plays the heroes while the other takes control of the Pactsworn, hunting them as Gutter Runners, Packmasters and other specials before the sides swap. Both modes are part of the game, and each puts a very different spin on a combat system that already rewards hundreds of hours.
If you have ever wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with friends as the horde music swells and the walls start to crawl, Vermintide 2 is the game to do it in. Pick your hero, choose your career and hold the line.
