Best in Slot Gear & Builds in Warhammer: Vermintide 2

Find best in slot gear and builds for each Warhammer: Vermintide 2 career. Optimize your loadout with specific items for Cataclysm difficulty and Chaos hordes.

Best in Slot Gear & Builds

Welcome, stalwart heroes, to the definitive guide for optimizing your Vermintide 2 experience! This section delves deep into "Best in Slot" (BiS) gear and synergistic builds for each career, ensuring you're always prepared to face the horrors of the Skaven and Chaos hordes on any difficulty, especially Cataclysm. Achieving BiS often involves a combination of specific item properties, traits, and careful crafting. Follow these actionable steps to elevate your gameplay.

Understanding Best in Slot (BiS)

BiS isn't just about having the highest power level; it's about finding the perfect combination of weapon properties, traits, trinkets, necklaces, and charms that synergize with your chosen career's talents and playstyle. Our recommendations focus on maximizing damage, survivability, crowd control, or utility, depending on the career's role.

General Gear Acquisition Strategy

The path to BiS gear is primarily through crafting and the in-game store. Here's a walkthrough:

1. Salvage Everything Unnecessary: At Lohner's Emporium of Wonders, salvage all unwanted gear (white, green, blue, purple) to accumulate crafting materials (Scrap, Dust, Shards).
2. Craft Orange (Exotic) Items: Use your accumulated materials to craft orange-tier weapons, necklaces, charms, and trinkets. This is your baseline for rerolling properties and traits.
3. Reroll Properties: At the crafting station, select your orange item and choose "Reroll Properties." Aim for specific stat bonuses like Crit Chance, Attack Speed, Power vs. Skaven, Power vs. Chaos, Stamina, Health, or Cooldown Reduction. This can be costly in Shards, so be patient.
4. Reroll Traits: Once you have desirable properties, reroll the item's trait. Traits like Swift Slaying (melee), Barrage (ranged), Barkskin (necklace), Proxy (charm), or Shrapnel (trinket) are often highly sought after.
5. Red (Veteran) Items: Red items have maximum property rolls and fixed traits. While not always "BiS" due to fixed traits, they are excellent foundations. They can be acquired from:
   • Emperor's Vaults: The highest chance to drop from Legend and Cataclysm difficulty.
   • Weekly Quests: Completing Lohner's weekly quests can reward a guaranteed red item.
   • Commendation Chests: A very low chance, but possible.
6. Upgrade Red Items: Once you have a red item, you can still reroll its properties to perfectly match your build, making it truly BiS.

Career-Specific BiS Builds & Gear

Kruber: Mercenary - "The Unstoppable Frontline"

The Mercenary excels at crowd control and supporting the team with temporary health and cleave. This build focuses on maximizing his ability to stay in the fight and protect allies.

• Melee Weapon: Executioner Sword
  • Properties: Crit Chance (5%), Attack Speed (5%)
  • Trait: Swift Slaying (On crit, gain 20% attack speed for 5 seconds)
  • Strategy: The Executioner Sword's wide cleave and high damage are perfect for Mercenary. Swift Slaying ensures consistent damage output and faster cleave.
• Ranged Weapon: Repeater Handgun
  • Properties: Power vs. Skaven (10%), Crit Chance (5%)
  • Trait: Scrounger (Critical hits restore 2 ammo)
  • Strategy: Excellent for clearing specials and elites. Scrounger helps maintain ammo economy, especially with the Mercenary's passive crit chance.
• Necklace:
  • Properties: Health (20%), Stamina (2)
  • Trait: Barkskin (Taking damage reduces damage taken by 40% for 2 seconds)
  • Strategy: Maximize survivability. Barkskin is essential for mitigating burst damage.
• Charm:
  • Properties: Power vs. Chaos (10%), Attack Speed (5%)
  • Trait: Proxy (Using your career skill grants 20% power to nearby allies for 10 seconds)
  • Strategy: Boost team damage during your ult. Power vs. Chaos helps against tougher enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors.
• Trinket:
  • Properties: Crit Chance (5%), Cooldown Reduction (10%)
  • Trait: Shrapnel (Grenade explosions cause affected enemies to take 20% increased damage for 10 seconds)
  • Strategy: Shrapnel provides a significant damage boost for the whole team on boss fights or large patrols. Cooldown Reduction helps get your ult back faster.

Kerillian: Waystalker - "The Ranged Annihilator"

The Waystalker is a master of ranged combat, capable of eliminating specials and elites with precision. This build focuses on maximizing her ranged damage and ammo efficiency.

• Melee Weapon: Dual Daggers
  • Properties: Crit Chance (5%), Attack Speed (5%)
  • Trait: Swift Slaying
  • Strategy: Primarily for self-defense and quick horde clear. Dual Daggers offer fast attacks and high crit potential to proc Swift Slaying.
• Ranged Weapon: Longbow
  • Properties: Power vs. Skaven (10%), Power vs. Chaos (10%)
  • Trait: Barrage (Consecutive hits on the same target increase power by 5% up to 3 times)
  • Strategy: The Longbow is a precision tool. Barrage significantly boosts damage against high-health targets like Monster and Elites, allowing for quick eliminations.
• Necklace:
  • Properties: Health (20%), Stamina (2)
  • Trait: Barkskin
  • Strategy: Standard survivability.
• Charm:
  • Properties: Power vs. Armored (10%), Attack Speed (5%)
  • Trait: Decanter (Potions last 50% longer)
  • Strategy: Decanter is excellent for extending the duration of Strength or Concentration potions, crucial for boss damage or rapid special clear. Power vs. Armored helps against Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors.
• Trinket:
  • Properties: Crit Chance (5%), Cooldown Reduction (10%)
  • Trait: Shrapnel
  • Strategy: Shrapnel for team utility on bosses. Cooldown Reduction for more frequent use of her ultimate, Trueshot Volley.

Remember, these are starting points. Experiment with different properties and traits to find what truly clicks with your playstyle and team composition. The beauty of Vermintide 2's gear system lies in its flexibility!