If you are new to Warhammer: Vermintide 2, you are likely wondering which of the game’s whopping 19 (soon to be 20) classes to play. While each class is competitive in its own way, some stand out for being easy to grasp, versatile, or exemplary in a certain area. This guide will go over some of the best characters for you to play to learn the game and quickly become a valuable team player.
#5: Handmaiden
The Handmaiden standing still, showcasing her high mobility.
Handmaiden, the second of the unlockable classes for Kerillian, is a capable melee fighter and strong team player. With her strong defensive auras, beneficial buffs, quick movement and fast revive speed, the Handmaiden is a fierce guardian that can ensure a team’s victory.
The Handmaiden is a strong pick for those eager to play a class that can provide useful support to their teammates but is also a strong solo fighter.
Handmaiden excels in several areas:
- Support: Handmaiden’s “Renewal” aura gives allies double stamina regeneration speed, allowing them to block attacks more frequently. When reviving teammates, she does so 50% faster and gives them some bonus health on top.
- Mobility: Handmaiden’s career skill, “Dash,” allows her to cross large distances quickly, and has the quickest cooldown of any skill in the game at 20 seconds. Through perks, Handmaiden can also dodge farther or phase through enemies by dodging.
- Offense: Handmaiden can give herself several offensive bonuses, like bonus damage, bonus crit chance, and bonus attack speed.
You should play Handmaiden if:
- You enjoy supporting your teammates. On top of her defensive aura, if a teammate is surrounded by enemies and goes down, Handmaiden can phase through the horde with “Dash” and revive them quickly before the enemies get a chance to react.
- You enjoy fast gameplay. High-level handmaidens are very fast and mobile, darting across the battlefield and cutting enemies to ribbons with lightning-fast attacks.
- You enjoy versatile characters. Handmaiden’s strengths can be focused on separately depending on equipped items. Prefer a tankier handmaiden? Equip her with a spear and shield and give her bonus health perks. Prefer a more offensive Handmaiden? Give her a sword and dagger and take as many damage-based perks as you can.
#4: Battle Wizard
The Battle Wizard cooking up some Northern-style barbequeue.
The Battle Wizard is the first class available for Sienna Fuegonasus and is the strongest fighter among her classes (at least, before the release of her upcoming Necromancer class this October). Battle Wizard has it all: survivability, damage, mobility, and crowd control. The Battle Wizard is the strongest class for players who want to dominate the battlefield.
Battle Wizard is not only strong in her own right, but extremely versatile while still maintaining that strength. She can be played in several ways which are all equally powerful.
Battle Wizard excels in several areas:
- Damage: Battle Wizard has access to many damage talents which make her a powerhouse, capable of dealing with both high-health bosses and hordes of smaller enemies.
- Survivability: Depending on weapon choice, Battle Wizard is capable of rapidly regaining her lost health by attacking enemies in different ways. Her mobility only adds to her survivability.
- Mobility: Battle Wizard’s career skill, “Fire Walk,” teleports her a short distance and leaves a trail of flames in her path. This can be upgraded with an explosion which ensures her safety after teleporting, or a second charge that lets “Fire Walk” be cast twice in a short window.
- Crowd Control: Through her selection of melee weapons and staves, Battle Wizard has access to several tools that let her burn entire groups of enemies at once.
You should play Battle Wizard if you:
- Don’t want to rely on teammates. Battle Wizard is many things, but a team player she is not. While anyone as powerful as her is useful on a team, she does not provide any buffs or distinct advantages to help her teammates: instead, all of her power is self-centered, making her a self-reliant killing machine.
- Enjoy topping the leaderboard. Battle Wizards will frequently outperform all their teammates in damage, kills, and plenty of other notable stats.
- Like versatile characters. Battle Wizard, depending on equipment, has several different playstyles. With a Crowbill and Bolt Staff, she becomes a single-target damage machine. With a Fire Sword and Coruscation Staff, she can burn whole hordes to ash with devastating fire tornadoes and fire claw attacks.
#3: Mercenary
The Mercenary prepares to face off against some random spores.
Mercenary, the first of Markus Kruber’s classes, is a steady soldier who inspires his comrades on the battlefield. A powerful melee fighter and quick shot with a musket, Mercenary’s auras and supportive skills make him a valuable addition to any team.
Mercenary is a great pick for players who want to carry their own weight as well as carry the rest of the team. Mercenary’s abilities give his whole team greater offensive power and he can keep them in fighting shape.
Mercenary excels in several areas:
- Horde Clear: Mercenary is exceptional among the starting classes for his ability to cut through hordes of enemies. Not only does he gain more cleave on his swings, but also attacks faster when hitting several enemies at once. Through perks, he can even gain bonus damage the more enemies are near him.
- Support: Through perks, Mercenary’s bonus attack speed can be granted to all teammates for as long as it is active. Mercenary’s skill, “Morale Boost,” knocks down all nearby enemies and gives all nearby teammates bonus health for a short time, and can even be upgraded to instantly revive downed teammates.
- Survivability: Mercenary’s abilities can grant him damage reduction when fighting hordes, and his skill “Morale Boost” also grants him bonus health, making him a solid self-sustain class.
You should play Mercenary if you:
- Enjoy low-complexity characters. Mercenary is a very easy class to play under most circumstances, but his viability does not suffer because of it. Mercenary’s easy-to-grasp mechanics and playstyle make him a great choice for newer or less mechanically skilled players.
- Enjoy “middle-of-the-road” style characters. Mercenary is not as fast and light as classes like Handmaiden, but not as slow and heavy as classes like Ironbeaker. Mercenary has solid damage, solid health, and solid weapon attacks.
- Enjoy actively helping your team. Mercenary’s attack speed aura and his healing/crowd-controlling ultimate give him great supporting capabilities and make him a great contributor to any team.
#2: Ranger Veteran
The Ranger Veteran doesn't yet realize that Rat Ogres don't obey lawful commands.
Ranger Veteran, the first of Bardin Goreksson’s unlockable classes, is a stocky damage dealer and light support who pelts enemies with bolts and lead. While scavenging extra supplies for his team and dropping smoke bombs for quick escapes or high-damage attacks, Ranger Veteran is a dangerous damage dealer who also provides useful benefits to his team.
Ranger Veteran is a powerful ranged-focused class with very useful support skills. Despite his health pool coming up a bit short, Ranger Veteran makes up for it with his serviceable melee skills and deadly ranged attacks.
Ranger Veteran excels in several areas:
- Killing dangerous enemies quickly: Ranger Veteran’s crossbows, shotguns, and rifles are all high-damage weapons capable of dealing a quick death blow to elite and special enemies before they have a chance to deal serious damage or incapacitate any of your teammates.
- Support: Ranger Veteran’s unique passive, “Survivalist,” causes all special enemies to drop ammo pouches on death. Since ammo is typically a scarce resource in Vermintide 2, this passive is invaluable. It can also be upgraded to spawn bombs, potions, or unique ale mugs that grant anyone who drinks them a stacking attack speed buff. Ranger Veteran’s skill, “Disengage,” can also be upgraded to give his teammates brief attack speed and healing.
- Boss Killing: In addition to his quick kills on elite and special enemies, Ranger Veteran is capable of stacking immense damage on Vermintide 2’s boss enemies. A properly equipped Ranger Veteran can often kill bosses within seconds of them appearing.
You should play Ranger Veteran if you:
- Enjoy ranged combat. Ranger Veteran is one of the most effective ranged classes due to his “Survivalist” passive, and his arsenal gives him ranged weapons that are strong at killing hordes of smaller enemies, too.
- Enjoy getting valuable “picks.” Special enemies like the Ratling Gunner with its long-range minigun or the Warpfire Thrower with its powerful flamethrower are capable of dealing overwhelming damage to a team caught out in the open. Your frontline teammates are often too swamped by hordes to get a clean shot on these enemies, but characters like Ranger Veteran can use their positioning to get a quick headshot on these enemies before they have the chance to deal any real damage to your team.
- Enjoy helping your teammates succeed. Ranger Veteran’s supply scavenging and his healing smoke bombs are extremely helpful for keeping your team well-supplied and healthy.
#1: Witch Hunter Captain
The Witch Hunter Captain takes a moment to flex his mad bling on the jealous Northlander Berserker.
Witch Hunter Captain is the first unlockable class for Victor Saltzpyre and one of the most powerful classes in the game. With his swift and versatile rapier, akimbo flintlock pistols, and team-wide damage buffs, Witch Hunter Captain is as lethal as they come, and a great class for melee combat and for commanding his team to great potential.
Witch Hunter Captain is a damage-dealing machine that also enables his teammates to deal high damage. His perks grant him bonus critical chance, boosted headshot damage (even instakills on critical headshots), and his unique tag passive and class skill give both himself and his allies bonus damage and critical chance.
Witch Hunter Captain excels in several areas:
- Damage: His perks and skills boost both his and his teammates’ damage to great effect. The most notable of these is his passive, “Witch-Hunt,” which boosts all damage taken by tagged enemies by 20%. Tagging has no cooldown and is performable by all classes, making it extremely useful.
- Horde Clear: Witch Hunter Captain’s boosted headshot damage, in conjunction with the movesets of several of his weapons, make him extremely effective at quickly killing hordes of weak enemies. His rapier in particular is to skaven what a lawn mower is to grass.
- Support: While Witch Hunter Captain does not offer defensive buffs, healing, or bonus supplies to his team like other classes on this list, his damage buffs dramatically improve the effectiveness of teams who can make the most of it.
You should play Witch Hunter Captain if:
- You like fast gameplay. His arsenal is already quite fast, and he can further boost his attack speed through perk choice. Effective performance of the Witch Hunter Captain demands swift and accurate play since so much of his damage is headshot-focused.
- You enjoy supporting your team. A common trend in this tier list, Witch Hunter Captain is not a selfish class. Despite being a melee powerhouse all on his own, he also allows his teammates to share in the damage, leading his teammates to crushing victories.
- You like your characters to have some style. Witch Hunter Captain has great cosmetics and a stylish base appearance, with a wardrobe full of sleek leather coats and wide-brimmed hats. He wields two pistols at once with confidence and holds an offhand pistol with his rapier à la Bloodborne. The one area that no class beats Witch Hunter Captain in is his cool factor.
