Vermintide 2’s Veteran items, more commonly referred to as “Red” items due to their unique red icons, are the best possible items to have in the game. However, if you are new to the game, you might be unfamiliar with these items. There are a few defining features of red gear and some key distinctions that make them the best items to have.
Weapons and items are defined in strength by their power level and their properties. While these numbers can vary in strength on Exotic and lower-tier weapons, these properties are always at their maximum on red items, making them the equivalent of perfectly rolled Exotic items without the resource cost.
Red items are found in General- and Emperor-tier chests (earned from Champion missions) and any vault (earned from Legendary and Cataclysm missions) or Commendation Chests. The drop chance increases with rarity: Commendation Chests have a near-impossible drop chance, while Emperor Vaults have a fairly decent drop chance. You also need to be playing a level 30 character to have a fair drop chance.
So, how do you get these perfect weapons and items?
#5: Deeds
A menu showcasing a collection of completable Deeds.
Deeds are certainly one way to get red items. Deeds are earnable contracts to undertake missions with special modifiers that grant the player tiered bonus rewards upon completion.
As far as red items go, this is a relatively unreliable way to earn them. Deeds that grant good rewards are often extremely difficult, and the chance of failing them and earning nothing is high if you don’t already have a loadout full of red items. While this is certainly an option, at least for experienced players who want to keep things fresh, if you are looking to earn your first red item, this is not the ideal method.
The Deed method is done by:
- Playing any Legend game
- Opening a mission loot box might grant you a deed that is the same level as the box, with the same box for a bonus reward (In this case, a Legend Deed with a Vault reward)
- Play through and complete the Deed mission
- To earn deeds that give you Vaults, you have to be opening vaults already. Deeds are more of a supplementary way to get bonus items after going through some of the more efficient methods.
#4: Just Play The Game (On Legend)
A Warrior Priest having fun playing the game. No min-maxing here: Sigmar provides.
Legend missions are playable for most players by around level 20, and when your items’ power levels are somewhere between 200-300. Legend missions require a decent amount of skillful play, but if you are familiar enough with the game that Champion missions are a walk in the park, it might be time to move up to Legend.
It might sound like non-advice, but you can still earn a decent amount of red items just by playing on Legend regularly. Every legend mission Vault will have a chance at getting a red item, so playing the game at a casual pace can earn you red items.
This method is simple.
- Enter a mission on Legend difficulty
- Complete the mission
- Any Vault earned from a successful Legend run will have a chance at dropping a red item.
#3: Legend Full Book Runs
Pyromancer holding one of the three tomes found in a mission. Be careful not to singe the pages.
Full book runs are legendary missions with a difficulty twist. Across every map, there are three tomes hidden away that take up your healing item slot and two grimoires that take up your potion slot and reduce your entire team’s health by 33% each. Each of these books that your team collects and carries until completing the mission gives good rewards.
Not only do they earn your team bonus XP, but they also raise the quality of mission loot boxes significantly. By collecting all five books, you are guaranteed a Soldier-rarity box. While book-collecting significantly ups the challenge by restricting your team’s healing and buff items and lowering your health, the reward for winning is greatly increased, as by playing quick play missions you can earn Emperor vaults with high consistency.
To maximize your chances of getting red items, you should:
- (Optional: Equip a trinket with Curse Reduction to lessen the Grimoire health reduction)
- Play on Legend difficulty
- Play on Quickplay
- Collect all 3 Tomes
- Collect both Grimoires
- Open as many chests, and kill as many bosses and Sack-Rats as possible to get more loot dice
- Complete the mission.
This method will guarantee you a General-tier vault even if you find no loot dice and receive no Ranald’s Gift bonus, but will often give you an Emperor-tier vault if you luck out on these bonuses too.
#2: Legend Full Book Screaming Bell Runs
The "Screaming Bell" in question, which strangely doesn't do much screaming.
“The Screaming Bell” is a mission midway through Act 2 of Vermintide 2’s Helmgart campaign. “The Screaming Bell” makes for a good mission to complete when farming for mission rewards due to its shorter-than-average length.
“The Screaming Bell” stands out because its books are relatively easy to acquire, especially when compared to some of the complicated jumping puzzles on other maps. The mission can be completed in roughly 20 minutes when playing solo with bots, and faster when playing with other players, and even faster when playing with a team optimized for a speedrun.
This method involves:
- Launching “The Screaming Bell” mission on Legend Difficulty
- Ideally, play with human teammates, and pick fast heroes like Handmaiden, Zealot, Foot Knight, etc.
- Collect Tomes, Grimoires, and Loot Dice
- Complete the mission
By completing repeated book runs on “The Screaming Bell,” your loot boxes might be slightly lower rarity than quick play missions, but you will earn more of them and have a good chance at earning red items.
#1: Legend Chaos Wastes Runs
Vermintide 2's five heroes preparing to enter the Chaos Wastes. Looks like they forgot this is a four-player game.
The Chaos Wastes is Vermintide 2’s rogue-lite gamemode. You begin with rudimentary common equipment and your selected class perks, but as you progress, you earn tokens that can be used to purchase new perks and upgraded weapons with new traits and properties throughout the sequence of maps. Chaos Wastes are some of the most fun you can have in Vermintide 2, and the best part about them is the big rewards they offer.
While Chaos Wastes runs take about an hour from start to finish, when you win a run, you earn three loot boxes per your difficulty setting: two emperor-level and one variable-level depending on performance. When playing Legend, that’s two guaranteed Emperor-tier Vaults (and a possible third!) for just an hour or less of playtime– no books required.
This of course is very risky. You could put 45 minutes into a run and fail, losing a lot of time and any chance of an Emperor’s box. However, even on a failure, you still receive one box, which increases in rarity depending on actions completed throughout the run. If you are trying to earn red items as quickly as possible, this high-risk, high-reward method is sure to get you some good drops.
The most efficient method involves:
- Entering the Chaos Wastes on Legend difficulty
- Play through the levels as usual
- Ending the run:
- Lose: Keep 1 vault that scales with completed tasks
- Win: Keep scaling vault, receive 2 Emperor’s Vaults guaranteed
