Vermintide 2

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Vermintide 2 is the sequel to The End Times: Vermintide, made possibly due to the fact that the first game surpassed expectations and did pretty fucking well for a relatively niche title (2 million fucking copies sold!). Fatshark sensibly shortened the name from "Warhammer The End Times: Vermintide 2" to avoid sounding like a Japanese light novel, much to the joy of nerds who hate The End Times (pretty much everyone).

On October 10th, Vermintide 2 was announced, bringing a host of new additions. Most notably the Warriors of Chaos are being added as an enemy type. Specifically the jolly ones that don't mind being pox bloated messes. Along with the new enemy race, the Skaven also have a few new additions, such as the Stormfiends and Warpfire Throwers. They've also announced that everyone's favorite non-Welsh sheep shaggers will be added in sometime this summer.

The game was released on March 8, 2018, and quickly surpassed its prequel's success with 1 million sales in its first month alone.

The game became truly playable after a patch was released on April 12, 2018 to which brought back Saltzpyre's signature voiceline (actual patch notes banner).

It is Awesome.

Setting

Vermintide 2 is set during the End Times, an indeterminate amount of time since the ending of the previous game. After falling into Rasknitt's trap (and thus letting Ubersreik fall), the Ubersreik Five (or Four, doesn't matter) have ended up in their own castle and banded together again to face the Skaven forces of Clan Fester, along with their new allies: a Chaos Warband dedicated to Nurgle known as The Rotbloods. Both forces came together as the Pactsworn, their eyes gazed on the fortress town of Helmgart (the border town Bretonnia always conquers within the first 10 turns of an Empire Total War: WARHAMMER campaign).

Due to the presence of a Nurgle-aligned warband, it is possible that the game is set during/after the Fall of Marienburg. What we know so far is that the Skaven are up to their usual hijinks, like trying to build something called the Skittergate (it's different from that movie which they have never seen, so how would they copy it?), which apparently can warp in large numbers of soldiers, explaining how the Skaven and their new allies overran Helmgart and the surrounding area so quickly. The Rotbloods are here to help the Skaven with murder-fucking everyone in the Reikland and bringing great death-death to poor Helmgart. Clan Fester's also out for blood as payback for Ubersreik, even though Ubersreik apparently fell anyway.

There are a total of thirteen maps in the base campaign, plus another two in the Shadows Over Bögenhafen DLC and another four in Back To Ubersreik. These span: the town of Helmgart itself, where the heroes create a diversion at the Temple of Sigmar before the Hammerman himself purges it of vikings and rats; an Elven temple ruin in the woods where the gang uses a slow-moving puzzle to raise a magic shield; Ussingen, a farming town where the heroes rescue prisoners and later blow up a Chaos supply cache; a Nurgle-blighted canyon with a fortified Chaos Lord's tomb, which the gang destroys to stop the Rotbloods from harvesting his energy; a dense swamp, where the heroes assault the Rotbloods' main war camp and slay their leader, a Nurgle Champion; and quite a lot more besides, culminating in a double assault on the Skittergate and the Rotblood hometown in Norsca, obliterating both of them and saving Helmgart, or what's left ot it.

Later the gang ends up in Bögenhafen where they wipe out the Pactsworn a second time and keep a scary daemon sword out of Nurgle's grubby hands. Then they enter a magic simulation of Ubersreik being run by Olesya to try to locate some mysterious runes of power in the real Ubersreik, re-defeating the Skaven in it because she's trying to keep it as "believable" as possible (and also the Rotbloods, who either found a way to break into the simulation or are part of the simulation because Olesya likes messing with our heroes). In the upcoming Winds of Magic DLC the Beastmen get involved because the increasingly fucked Reikland now has a meteor crash onto it, and the angry goats surge out of the woods to make a herdstone out of it.

An event for the 1 year anniversary (March 2019) gave us "A Quiet Drink," in which the party decides they've done a very good job so far, and deserve a night on the town! Worth playing just for the many custom voice lines for the utterly sloshed characters. ("Queen Kerillian demands MORE ALE!") ("It wouldn't be the same! It wouldn't have the whistle!") While the map was only available on the official realm during the event, it can still be played through a mod.

Gameplay

The good old Vermintide core gameplay remains intact, which means that the game still has a robust and surprisingly skill-based melee system at its core. Light attacks, heavy attacks, blocking, dodging, pushing, etc., are all still here. Rather than fuck with anything that was already functional, Vermintide 2 focuses instead on adding more content to play around with.

Aside from the new enemy types, there are a couple of other new features, such as specializations for the classes (referred to as "careers") which have their own active and passive abilities. For example, the Dwarf can be a Slayer, or the Wood Elf can be a Shade, each one apparently representing alternative plotlines and events for each character after the defense of Ubersreik. This comes packaged along with a talent tree for each character and new weapons to go around for everyone.

All weapons also now have a "push attack" which is performed by holding down the attack button while blocking, causing an attack after you push. Speaking of weapons, the loot system got an overhaul too, with the devs acknowledging the first game's system was kind of bullshit. We now have lootboxes like every other dev under the sun, but entirely earned through gameplay and they come unlocked, so it's basically just normal random loot drops with a loot box skin slapped on. A "Heroic Deeds" system has also been implemented, consisting of consumable quests that mix gameplay up by dramatically changing objectives, mix of enemies faced or limiting your own tools (many combinations of which are pure Anal Circumference), along with a Challenge system for those of you who want some more out of the ordinary objectives.

Aside from those additions, aside from the quality of life improvements it seems to mostly be the same game, which is okay since most people just wanted it to be the first one with more stuff to begin with. For the cherry on top, the game also supports modding to the point that the devs maintain a list of "Sanctioned Mods" which can be safely used with the base game, a lot of which are pretty sweet.

Two DLC campaigns are currently out: the first one, Shadows over Bögenhafen, has the heroes searching for a runesword in the titular city, while Back to Ubersreik features remade versions of some of the original Vermitide missions along with new melee weapons as the Heroes of Ubersreik head off to an illusionary copy of the city to find a hidden set of runes for Olesya. The third DLC, Winds of Magic, will add Beastmen, a higher level cap and difficulty level, and a set of endgame challenges in the "Winds of Magic" mode.

Characters and Careers

Each character now has three different Careers, which affect their weapon choices, abilities, and talent trees, allowing a great deal of customization for each one. Lore-wise, the three careers are based on how each of the heroes might have reacted to the fall of Ubersreik: either using it as inspiration for a higher calling, felt it was traumatic and made them jaded, or they didn't change much at all and kept doing what they were good at. Fittingly that last option is the starter career.

Victor Saltzpyre

• Witch Hunter Captain: The deaths of several Captains over the course of the End Times has allowed Victor to rise in rank, but he has had to accept that the Witch Hunters won’t recognize the fact that there’s an entire fucking empire of ratmen just below their cities; Saltzpyre now uses his new political position to fight the menace in secret. In addition to a fancier hat, Victor as a Witch Hunter Captain can do everything he could in the first game and also gets some abilities that help him support his allies.
  • Base Health: 125
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Witch Hunt- Enemies pinged by Victor take extra damage
    • Eternal Guard- Blocking light frontal attacks does not consume stamina
    • Killing Shot- Critical hit headshots instantly kill human-sized enemies (i.e. any non-boss enemy smaller than a Chaos Warrior)
  • Unique active ability: Animosity- All nearby allies have their critical rate enhanced for 6 seconds, and nearby enemies are knocked back.
• Bounty Hunter: When his order attempted to cover up what happened at Ubersreik, Salty removed his heraldry to fight the Skaven himself, taking odd-jobs on the side to pay for his endeavors. While officially he's still a witch hunter, he doesn't even associate with other witch hunters anymore after the threats they made in response to Saltzpyre snapping and speaking his mind about the Skaven. As a Bounty Hunter, Victor focuses on ranged weaponry to blast away Skaven and Chaos Warriors alike. He also dressed in a similar appearence with Brunner, a canon bounty hunter.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Blessed Shots- Guaranteed ranged critical every 10 seconds
    • Ammo Pouches- +50% ammo capacity
    • Quick Release- Improved reload rate
  • Unique active ability: Locked and Loaded- Fires a powerful shot that pierces multiple enemies.
• Zealot: The horrors of Ubersreik and the Witch Hunters' refusal to admit the threat the Skaven pose have caused Victor to give up on earthly organizations entirely and place his trust in Sigmar alone, with the rest of the world fit only to be cleansed in righteous fire. Victor as a Zealot favors vicious melee combat, and not only is his armor isome of the best in the game even without the Flagellant talent (which is mandatory while playing the class) a heaping helping of faith and holy rage makes him even more dangerous as he loses health - after all, the end is upon us, why not shed as much blood as possible before it goes? As a nice bonus, picking up grimoires will count towards his health-based attack boosts.
  • Base Health: 150
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Fiery Faith- Attack power increased by 5% for every 25 health lost (up to 20%)
    • Unswerving Strikes- Heavy attacks cannot be interrupted by enemy attacks.
    • Heart of Iron- Ignores death upon taking lethal damage (long cooldown)
  • Unique active ability: Holy Fervor- Charge forward and gain 25% attack speed boost for 5 seconds.

Markus Kruber

• Mercenary: The life of a mercenary has suited Markus well, in no small part due to not having to answer to incompetent leaders like he used to. Being a Mercenary allows Markus a good degree of versatility, with medium armor that grants protection without losing maneuverability and a focus on using sweeping attacks to clear out hordes.
  • Base Health: 120
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Paced Strikes- Hitting 3 enemies in 1 swing boosts attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds
    • Hitting the Sweet Spot- 25% more cleave (attacks hit more enemies at once)
    • No More Laughin' Now- Critical hit rate improved by +5%
  • Unique active ability: Morale Boost- Staggers nearby enemies and grants nearby allies temporary bonus health.
• Huntsman: After Ubersreik, Markus found a degree of inner peace by devoting himself to Taal and Rhya, the gods of nature (though not devoted enough such that gunpowder weaponry is disallowed on him). As a Huntsman, Markus trades away his access to heavier armor for greater proficiency with ranged weapons of all kinds. He also gets to use a bow, a ranged weapon unique to the Huntsman career that, while much slower than Kerillian's, holds a lot of ammunition and does considerable damage. Had a hilarious bug that pretty much gave him an AK-47 and absolutely melted bosses.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Waste Not, Want Not- Ranged headshots return 1 ammo
    • Poacher's Mark- Effective range for ranged weapons doubled
    • Call Out Weakness - Aura that boosts critical rate by +5%
    • Deep Pockets - +50% ammo capacity
  • Unique active ability: Hunter's Prowl: Become invisible for a short time; automatically reloads ranged weapon for no ammo cost, improves reload speed, and adds 1.5x damage multiplier to ranged attacks while invisible.
• Foot Knight: For his part in the defense of Ubersreik, Markus was made a knight of the Order of the Reikshammer. Markus may not have been aiming for the position, but his heavy armor, protective aura, and highly disruptive ultimate make him an excellent tank as a Foot Knight.
  • Base Health: 150
  • Unique passive ability:
    • Protective Presence- Aura that reduces damage taken by 15%
    • Taal's Fortitude - Extra stamina shield
    • No Guts, No Glory - Reduces damage taken by 10%
  • Unique active ability: Valiant Charge- Charges forward, knocking back any enemies hit by the charge. Also interrupts and stuns bosses and specials.

Kerillian

• Waystalker: Frustrated with the clumsiness of her companions, Kerillian has resolved to further hone her skills to compensate further for the "lumberfoots". As a Waystalker, Kerillian further specializes in her longbow, both for precision sniping and for raining arrows on enemies.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Amaranthe- Automatically regenerate health (3 health per 10 seconds, up to a maximum of half your total hit points)
    • Arrow-Storm- +50% ammo capacity
    • Waywatcher's Bow- Effective range for ranged weapons is doubled
  • Unique active ability: Trueflight Volley- Fires a volley of homing arrows.
• Handmaiden: Through the subtle guidance of the Everqueen, Kerillian came across a long-lost shrine to Isha and gave herself up to serve her. Kerillian's Handmaiden Career focuses primarily on dancing around enemies in direct melee combat, and is her most durable career option through both maximum health, stamina, and mobility. The career for players that are allergic to standing still.
  • Base Health: 120
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • The Dance of Seasons- 15% longer dodge distance
    • Aura of Renewal- Aura that increases stamina regeneration speed by 100%
    • Ariel's Benison- Cannot be interrupted when reviving allies
  • Unique active ability: Dash- Quickly dash forward through enemies, stunning enemies that are hit and causing them to bleed. Has a hilariously low cooldown, the lowest of all of the game's abilities.
• Shade: One of Kerillian's dreams spoke of an ancestor of hers who dwelled in Clar Karond, and with it came the voice of Khaine urging her to reclaim the mantle of her ancestor. Kerillian as a Shade is an assassin, focused on rapidly killing elite, special, and boss enemies. She also gains access to the volley crossbow in this career. This is the class to play if you really like killing the absolute shit out of Chaos Warriors and bosses.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Murderous Prowess- 50% damage bonus when attacking enemies from behind
    • Assassin's Blade- Critical hit backstabs instantly kill man-sized enemies
  • Unique active ability: Infiltrate- Become invisible and intangible for 10 seconds, or until performing an attack. Also has a unlisted effect where any melee attack that ends Infiltrate gets a massive damage boost; depending on the weapon this can increase the power of Kerillian's melee attacks to the point where they 1-hit kill a Chaos Warrior on Legendary difficulty, and can even reach the maximum damage value possible for a single attack.

Bardin Goreksson

• Ranger Veteran: Karak Zorn is yet to be found, but the defense of Reikland currently comes first for Bardin. Bardin the Ranger Veteran favors the use of ranged weaponry to punish foes from a distance, but he's more than able to hold his own in melee if a hail of crossbow bolts doesn't do the trick. Cousin Okri would be proud. While this used to be the least powerful of the range-focused careers due to lacking a consistent means of generating ammo for itself, recent balance updates have made it into an extremely versatile and powerful support class. Of particular note is a talent that gives a chance for every special enemy you kill to drop a bomb, which is just hilariously strong.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Survivalist- Special enemies drop ammo on death
    • Loaded for Battle- +50% ammo capacity
    • Fast Hands- Increased reload speed
    • Ingenious Improvisation - 10% chance to not consume health items, potions, or bombs on use
  • Unique active ability: Disengage- Drops a smoke bomb that staggers enemies and turns Bardin invisible as long as he remains within the cloud. Lasts ten seconds. While invisible, Bardin gains increased ranged attack power.
• Ironbreaker: Bardin used to be an Ironbreaker in Kazak Norn, and following the defense of Ubersreik he took up his old oaths and gromril armor once more. The heavy armor and shield of the Ironbreaker makes Bardin a superb tank that can take whatever the enemy can dish out, and then return it in kind. In addition, he gains access to a drakegun and drakefire pistols, which let him spew out gouts of flame. Like in the first game, they do not use ammo and instead use a heat meter, like Sienna. Be mindful that this also means that they'll kill you if the heat gauge maxes out.
  • Unique passive abilities:
  • Base Health: 150
    • Gromril Armor- Negates all damage from 1 hit every 20 seconds.
    • Dwarf-Forged- Reduces damage taken by 30%
    • Doughty- Grants an extra stamina shield
    • Resilient- Decreases stun duration after getting hit by an attack by 50%
  • Unique active ability: Impenetrable- Briefly staggers nearby enemies, then forces all man-sized enemies among them to attack Bardin exclusively. Bardin also takes no stamina damage while blocking for the duration, and can block normally unblockable attacks.
• Slayer: Bardin had been carrying a secret burden in his heart even before Ubersreik, and by the time the Skaven came to Helmgart he had taken up the Slayer's Oath in the hopes of an honorable death. As a Slayer, Bardin can't use ranged weapons at all but becomes a melee powerhouse, with exclusive access to the Dual Axes weapon and the ability to take a second melee weapon to replace his ranged weapon slot. Despite his deceptively low base health, he's one of the tankiest things in the game due to his Oblivious to Pain talent, which is practically mandatory while playing the class. He even has another talent that can increase his base health, as if this weren't enough.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Trophy Hunter- Stacking damage buff gained upon hitting an enemy
    • Path of Carnage- +7.5% attack speed
  • Unique active ability: Leap- Leap forward, stunning enemies and gaining a temporary boost to attack speed.

Sienna Fuegonasus

• Battle Wizard: Ubersreik taught Sienna the value of self-control, and while she was reluctant to do so she has learned to control the flame for the first time. The greater degree of self-discipline Sienna has as a Battle Wizard allows her to focus on perfecting her spellcasting, letting her cast spells more quickly, more often, and for more damage.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Tranquility- Passively vents overcharge after 6 seconds of not casting spells
    • Reckless Haste- Overcharge increases spell charge rate
    • Pyromantic Surge- 10% increased ranged damage
  • Unique active ability: Fire Walk- Quickly teleport forward, leaving a trail of fire behind you
• Pyromancer: While far from having the control of a proper Battle Wizard, Sienna has enough self-awareness to restrain herself from the most ostentatious of fire magic. Sienna the Pyromancer trades in the consistency of her Battle Wizard career for more explosive moments of burst damage. Of special note is a talent which lets her activated ability also instantly clear all overcharge.
  • Base Health: 100
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Critical Mass- Critical chance increases based on overcharge level
    • Searing Focus- 10% increased ranged damage
  • Unique active ability: The Burning Head- A powerful fire blast that initially travels directly forward, but after a short time it will attempt to home in on the closest enemy; holding the active ability key down allows the user to designate a target for the fire blast to home in on instead. It will jump from foe to foe, killing until it runs out of power. Anything not killed by the blast is staggered, including bosses.
• Unchained: Sienna's addiction to magic has finally overwhelmed her, and now she lives only from one magical high to the next. As an Unchained, Sienna favors magically-boosted melee, with a focus on generating as much overcharge as possible before moving in for the kill.
  • Base Health: 150
  • Unique passive abilities:
    • Blood Magic- 50% of damage received is converted to overcharge. Do not get hit while at high levels of overcharge, lest you accidentally explode yourself like a dunce.
    • Slave to Aqshy- No overcharge slowdown
    • Unstable Strength- High overcharge increases melee attack power up to 60%
  • Unique active ability: Living Bomb- Expends all overcharge to produce a massive explosion centered on Sienna, dealing heavy damage to all nearby enemies. Fortunately, this can be done even while beginning to explode from too much overcharge.

Enemies

Bosses

• Grey Seer Rasknitt: The same asshole in charge of invading Ubersreik is back. Having captured the heroes in the first game, he attempts to sacrifice them to fuel the Skittergate, a portal contraption capable of bringing in huge armies in a flash. With it, he and the Rotbloods swarmed Helmgart and the countryside, though as is typical of technology made by mice, it breaks in the prologue. It's fixed soon after though, and much of the game is dedicated to destroying it. During the final showdown, he sent his precious Stormfiend called Deathrattler (who uses dual ratling guns instead of the flamethrowers) against you, only to call it a worthless piece of junk after the heroes killed it. He then attacks the heroes with his Skaven magic, teleports around at lightning speed while summoning special Skaven of all types, then is blown the fuck up once the rat bastard's health is at its end.
• Chaos Champion Bödvarr Ribspreader: Here to spread ribs and smiles in Papa Nurgle's name, Ribspreader is a Champion of Chaos and the scary dude on the box cover. The leader of the Rotbloods, who are said to be insane even by Chaos Warbands' standards, he's here to slaughter and destroy, and has allied himself with Rasknitt for that purpose. He berates the Grey Seer for the portal's failure, but interestingly enough doesn't rip his spine out for it, though it's probably because Rasknitt is more powerful than he is. After hitting a breaking point as the heroes foil his plans and kill his men and free his slaves, he sends out most of his army to scout for and attack the Keep, but thanks to Olesya reading the script, they learn about this, attack his under-staffed camp, and kill him in his own arena. Despite claiming that he can take care of the heroes all by himself, he displays cowardice, ranting and bawwing about the precious slaves and loots he lost to the Ubersreik Five/Four/Doesn't Matter when he starts losing and calls his warriors for aid, with a horde attacking as he loses health. Interesting to note that despite being a Nurgle worshipper, he has a magic axe (which the axe itself is alive, noted by the growing eye skull on the axe) that he can will it back to him if he ever throw it out against the players. Interestingly the axe itself has been repaired and used many time by other champions of chaos according to the boos loot description. Saltzpyre would often refer it as "flying axe witch" whenever it was thrown.
• Burblespue Halescourge: The Nurgle sorcerer lord that the Skaven met back at Stromdorf. Has a good manner like papa Nurgle himself and he can do everything that the Nurgle sorcerer can do in the game (AKA like drain & Nurgle Vortex) only tougher and more AOE green plague in the oxygen, with a couple of unique abilities like summoning a swarm of flies to chase and stun one of the players, summon green images of himself to attack the players as well as erect an even bigger green vortex in the center of the battlefield. He will absolutely make you fucking rage with his lack of visual cues for his attacks, his billion and one hit points, and his habit of teleporting around like a fucking asshole whenever someone so much as sneezes on the fucker. Has a large number of very angry nicknames from the fandom, several of which have even made it into official patch notes (e.g. "Bunglesnatch Humbledink","Vorpalblade Noobhurl", "Hailstorm Barbeque", "Bubbly-Spurge" and "Bubblespit Halleberry", among many others).
• Skarrik Spinemanglr: The "Scary" Skaven Warlord in charge. Seem to be heavily inspired by Queek Headtaker in both his looks, size and unskavenly bravery, although he uses more traditional halberd alongside dual shortswords. Can perform every nasty abilities that the elite melee Skaven like the packmaster and eshin assassin can do to the players. Just like Queek, he is the largest non-monster Skaven of them all, towering over the players. He will regularly summon stormvermin and skavenslaves, if you don't take care of them quickly it can snowball into a horde no player could ever hope to kill. He is also fully armored like Ribspreader, but unlike him, Skarrik is much faster, forcing the player to have a frustrating time of chipping his health away with their seemly ineffective charge attack. Currently the most frustrating boss to fight after Burblespue got nerfed. Also, he calls you cat fondlers.
• Gatekeeper Nagfahr: A Ribspreader look alike, even shares the same axe design....until the recent path came and changed his completely outlook. He now only use a normal axe with his head exposed: pale bald head, probably the only chaos warriors that showed his face in the game. Responsible for guarding the skittergate key staff. Was blessed during the battle and turned into...It-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named.
• Baron Francke: Not an enemy you fight but nonetheless important to the plot. Besides the Skaven having a portal underneath Helmgart, Fucko Francke is the other reason Ussingen and the countryside were overrun so quickly. It's revealed he made some kind of deal with the Rotbloods and Clan Fester, and like a lot of shitty nobles, might've been in league with the Chaos Gods even before the invasion. His fortified mansion, the only undamaged building in Ussingen, is blown up accordingly by the heroes. His fate is unknown.

Skaven
Clan Fester's back, and they're pissed. Sore after getting thwarted at Ubersreik, they want revenge.

• Skavenslaves: Still the most piss-poor enemies in the game. Even though they come in huge swarms they're only dangerous if they blindside you or if you're too busy dealing with actual threats.
• Clanrats: Rank and file of the clan Fester, only slightly better than slaves. Now come with a shield and hand weapon variant that could hopefully block one or two hits from the front and make dealing with the horde slightly more difficult.
• Plague Monks: A more durable Skaven with fast attacks designed to exhaust the player's stamina. Weak to ranged fire but hit like a freight train and knock you back. They let out a loud howl when they charge, but can be hard to spot in a swarm. Usually spawn in triplets and tend to focus a single target just to make sure even 7+ stamina would not be enough to withstand their attack.
• Stormvermin - The most common breed of Special Skaven, Stormvermin will spawn at random among the crowds of Clanrats seeded throughout the various levels. Unlike the rest of their ratty brethren, the Stormvermin have actual armor, actual weapons, and actual training, making them a serious threat. Their halberds do more damage than the standard Clanrat improvised weaponry, and hits against them that don't aim for the head (or have the Armor Piercing trait) will glance off their armor. Even blocking their attacks is difficult, since they do significant Stamina damage and therefore have a high chance of breaking your block and putting you into stun, making you an easy kill. At higher difficulties, they become one of the most significant threats in the game, and require careful combat to take down safely or make ranged weapons good at taking them down quick very desirable.
• Stormvermin (Sword & Shield): Elite troops who still sound vaguely like Bane, except some of them now have swords and shields that give them multiple attacks and near-immunity to frontal hits (but mercifully deals less damage than the halberd wielders), plus their shields are metal and can't be broken. All around assholes, and a definite reason to consider having a handgun on the team since it's one of the only ranged weapons capable of easily handling them from the front.
• The Stormvermin Patrol - Once or twice per map, if you're listening carefully, you'll hear the sound of rats shouting out a ratty little marching drill. And if you're smart, you'll hide. If you're not smart, you'll die, because the Patrol is a massive mob of Stormvermin that all aggro at once if they spot any of the heroes, and will never back down from a fight. Their numbers are slightly randomized, but rule of thumb is for +5 rats for each difficulty level, so at Legendary difficulty you're facing patrol sizes that wouldn't be out of place in an actual game of Warhammer Fantasy Battles. Yeah. Have fun with that.
• Gutter Runner - Representing Clan Eshin, we have these stabby little ninja-rats with warp-dust coated knives strapped to their hands. They lurk in the shadows, trying to find a hero that's cut off from the rest of the group or waiting for you to be otherwise distracted, then pounce and pin one hero to the ground while they stab and stab and stab until the puny man-thing stops moving. Once you're pinned (but you can hope to dodge their jumps at you by dodging to a side), you're helpless. It's up to the rest of the team to save you. So if you hear that strange whispering in the distance, make sure to stay close to your team.
• Packmaster - Clan Moulder's representatives, the Packmasters have taken up capturing humans for slaving. To this end, they cart around giant spiked collars on poles; if they get close enough, they'll snap that collar shut around your neck, disabling you like the Gutter Runner. The good news is that the collar doesn't hurt nearly as much as the knives and you can dodge it if you time it right. The bad news is that the Packmaster will drag you off into the distance, probably through a mob of Clanrats, and then hang you up to die - or at least for the rest of their companions to stab while you wriggle helplessly.
• Poison Wind Globadier - A Skryre-rat in a gas mask, with a miniature plague factory on its back. At a distance, it will constantly lob spheres full of gas so poisonous that it eats into the skin like acid, covering the battlefield in green clouds of death. The good news is that these are as poisonous to the other Skaven as they are to our heroes. The bad news is that you'll still die like a bitch if you stand in one. And if you get too close, they'll rig the tanks on their backs to explode, taking you with them in one final kamikaze assault.
• Ratling Gunner - Clan Skryre is pulling overtime here. This rat's got a miniaturized, one-man version of the tabletop Ratling Gun strapped to its back, and the rest of its body is covered in heavy armor. When it finds a good firing line, it'll wind up that gun and then unleash a hellstorm of warp-shot onto one of the heroes, tracking them as best as it can. The good news is that it's not very accurate, kills Skaven who enter its firing line, and tends to jam after a while. The bad news is that it's firing so many bullets that it's probably going to hit you anyway, and while it's not as powerful as a full sized "kill both knight and his horse with a single bullet" ratling gun it still hurts a lot. Got a significant buff compared to the original game by taking body amour and revving up his gun quite faster.
• Warpfire Thrower: Another Skryre-rat, now with a flamethrower strapped to its back, which it uses to spew out gouts of green fire at anything in range. The good news is that it has shorter range compared to the Ratling Gunner and gives even less fucks about torching other Skaven and Rotbloods in its path. Bad news is it hurts even more then the Ratling Gunner and blocks your vision as well. The warpstone crystal on its back is its weak spot, but it violently explodes if said weak spot is hit, leaving a sizeable puddle of the flaming warpstone on the ground. While it can take out a lot of enemies with the explosion, it also makes engaging it in melee even more suicidal, especially if you use wide sweeping weapons.
• Rat Ogre - The triumph of Clan Moulder's scientific prowess. The Rat Ogre, like the Stormvermin Patrol, is a once-a-map event, barring special mission rules, and is always announced by a throat-peeling bellow of rage. It's a giant, hulking brute that rampages across the battlefield, pummeling and punching its way through any heroes it can find. It is possible to kite the Ogre, but the problem is that it's rarely alone; the true difficulty arises in managing the Ogre and the accompanying Clanrats at the same time, since they limit your mobility just by existing.
• Stormfiend: If you thought the Rat Ogres were a huge pain in the ass, say hello to their upgraded cousins, the masterwork of Clan Moulder and Clan Skyre! They are clad in heavy armor from the front and wield twin warp-fire throwers attached to their arms. Unlike the warpfire throwers on regular skaven these ones leave a burning trail on the ground for quite a time, turning a battlefield into a maze of green fire if you let it disengage and rain fire on you from distance. Their major weakness is the smaller Skaven acting as a second brain that's stuck on their backs.
• Sack Rat - A Skaven with a big sack full of loot. Pretty rare to spawn. It doesn't attack on its own, but kills teams anyway as the people in it tunnel vision on it before being killed by all the other enemies in the level (seriously, a loading screen tip jokingly tells you to do this). If you can kill it before it runs off you'll get to claim its stuff. One of it's notable dialogue is MINE! MINE! MINE! whenever it walks, so it's easy to spot him from such obvious dialogue.

Warriors of Chaos
The Rotbloods, a Nurgle warband so fanatical for the Rot-Father that they make typical fanatics look tame. They're in league with Clan Fester to work on the Skittergate while plundering Reikland's countryside. They're generally tougher and hit harder compared to Skaven, but come in smaller groups, are slower on the flat ground, even slower at climbing vertical obstacles and most importantly spawn from sane points rather than crawling from every nook and crannie including those on the ceiling.

• Nurgle Cultists: Your typical cannon fodder of Nurgle about as tough as a Clanrat. Fill the same role as Skaven slaves in the Chaos horde, though they might last an extra hit compared to slaves.
• Chaos Marauders: Plague-ridden warriors that come in four flavors:
  • Raiders (hand weapon) and Bulwarks (hand weapon and shield) are the basic units for the Chaos Forces, and fulfill a similar role to the Clanrats, but they are significantly more durable than the former.
  • Savages (dual-wielding weapons) are pretty much carbon copies of Plague Monks and work exactly the same except its attack isn't as fast.
  • Maulers (great weapons) huge guys with huge axes and huge horned helmets. Fill the niche of a Stormvermin in Chaos horde, leading packs of marauders and acting as a primary threat in them, except they hit even harder, depleting all the stamina in one hit, are only armoured on the head, and have more health.
• Chaos Warriors: ASININE MORTALS!! The great axe variant. The toughest non-boss enemy in the game. Has nearly three times as much health as a Stormvermin, and their armor is so thick that even headshots from guns hardly faze them. They can down you in a hit or two from full health but are very slow targets. For extra fun, they sometimes spawn two or three at a time.
• Chaos Patrol: when you thought Stormvermin patrol was bad, these guys come in with their chaosy march song... Include at least two Warriors and Maulers even at the lower difficulty with the rest filled with Raiders and Bulwarks.
• Chaos Sorcerers of Nurgle: Come in two variants - the Lifeleech (also known as "Chester the molester" by many players), who teleports around and attempt bind a character to leech their health, and the Blightstormer, who casts a Nurgle-flavored green vortex spell that sucks in both the enemies and player characters, damaging and preventing them from moving. (The Blightstormer also likes to talk about how Papa blessed them with sneezeies and brings forth much joy.)
• Bile Trolls: Chaos Trolls of Nurgle. Wield huge blunt weapons and spew acidic bile that slows you and drains your stamina as long as you're exposed to it. They can also attempt to heal themselves over time, both as a passive effect and as an ability they channel when their health is low.
• The Unnameable Beasts: Tough boss monsters that like to chew you to regain their health. They are also probably the worst thing to face with pubbies, as they devour you, smack you into other players damaging and potentially downing them, and each snack they grab heals them. You will definitely want to use your bombs and any other knockback abilities you have to stop their chow time. Oh and they are about one of the fastest boss enemy just like the rat ogres. Have fun with that.

Beastmen
The Cloven Ones are confirmed to be an upcoming enemy faction premiering in the "Winds of Magic" expansion pack. They are the true children of Chaos, born amidst the collapse of the Polar Warp Gates and the subsequent release of Chaos energy into the world. As such, they serve the Chaos Gods without question, as their souls are forfeit to Chaos at the moment of their conception. Although the Beastmen vary in appearance, as true to their Chaos heritage, they are mainly comprised of humanoid mutants and abominations with bestial features such as cloven hooves, horns, and goatlike heads. According to previews, a meteor falling in the Reikland got their attention, and now they seek to claim it as a Herdstone.

• Ungors: Ungors are the weakest and most humanlike of the Beastmen, with most possessing diminutive horns or no horns at all. However, they are no less hateful and repulsive than their larger cousins. They are confirmed to use spears and bows, making them the first common enemy type to have a ranged attack.
• Ungor Raiders: The weakest specials in the game, they look similar to regular Ungors but have much darker skin and white body paint across their upper body. Despite falling over in a stiff breeze, their arrows do lowish damage and they have an average rate of fire. The real threat is when you're caught of cover by large packs of 8~10+ Ungor Raiders who will sustain fire their arrows so there's no safe opening to close the gap, and being exposed leads to a lot of damage quickly.
• Gors: The most common of the Beastmen, Gors form the backbone of the Beastmen Brayherd. Each Gor is recognized for their resplendent rack of horns, with larger horns denoting higher status within the Beastmen hierarchy. Prerelease screenshots and artwork show Gors wielding Man-cleavers and two-handed axes, although more variations are possible.
• Bestigors: Bestigors are the elite of the Brayherd as their name would imply. They can use a charge attack to knock down players and are heavily armored.
• Standard Bearers: Beastmen who carry foul standards into battle to increase the Brayherds morale. They can place totems to buff their comrades with invulnerability.
• Minotaurs: A new monster-boss enemy, Minotaurs are the most Beastmen-like of Beastmen: extremely strong, extremely ferocious, and extremely dumb. According to the developers Minotaurs will be more aggressive than any other boss type, B lining it for the nearest hero and attacking them relentlessly. They apparently will have a charge ability like the Stormfiend, and can deal serious damage to players and enemies alike in their path. Considering the other bosses already pretty much do the same thing - run at a player, attack until dead, repeat - it's unclear how Minotaurs will differ overall, and more importantly how much of a pain they'll be to run into on Legendary with only two people up and wounded Kerillian sitting on a health potion she forgot about.

Gameplay Tips (aka How To Avoid Dying Like An Asshole)

1. Don't be That Guy who wanders off alone and dies due to getting incapacitated due to the half-dozen or so methods an enemy can do such a thing. I don't care how badass you think you are, nothing actually makes you immune to being pounced by a Gutter Runner, hooked by a Packmaster, yote by a Blightstormer, et cetera. Seriously, wandering off alone is one of the certain ways you can get kicked from a match, along with going AFK during horde or boss attacks.

2. If someone starts grabbing Tomes and Grimoires, fucking follow them and hope they know where to show you where the others are. Because if you are not grabbing them, you're not optimizing your loot and XP gain, thus you are shit and should uninstall this game (and/or kill yourself). Or don't, whatever, I'm not Asmodai.

3. If you play Sienna and overheat more than twice in a match, don't be butthurt when you get kicked. Learn to manage your overheat, or learn to play anything else. (Same goes for playing an Ironbreaker with drakefire guns.)

4. The game is actually really great about audio clues for your enemies; if you hear something suspicious, start looking around for the source of the sound. Nine times out of ten, you can spot a Gutter Runner or other special enemy fast enough to kill it. The other tenth time? Hope your buddies didn't rush forward and leave you for dead.

5. Consider taking weapons with Shield Breaking and/or Armor Piercing if you're consistently getting fucked up by the heavier enemies. Instead of having to charge up a heavy attack, you just make regular attacks as fast as you can and watch enemies like Stormvermin and Chaos Warriors get fucked up.

6. Mix in side-dodges and pushes with your melee swings in order to defend yourself. The different weapons each have optimal attack/push/dodge patterns unique to them. Learn yours. Blind offense is a good way to get yourself killed by stray hits from trash mobs. Side-dodging repeatedly also has the benefit of helping you not get surrounded as the hordes have to relocate to you.

8. Trying to outrace other players for DPS is only going to get everyone killed, which means nobody gets loot and very little XP. Don't be that asshole who tries to "prove" something to the others by trying to outperform them. The only stat that matters is how much damage you took. Kills will happen eventually. Focus on keeping yourself alive and healthy first and foremost.

9. This is a fucking co-op game. Heal other people, leave stuff they need behind, try to watch their backs. If you can't handle this concept, then you really need to try a different game; "lone wolf" types are wasting both their time and everyone else's.

10. When the coast isn't clear, don't make forward progress in the map. You don't want to trigger a boss fight while knee deep in a horde. While dealing with shit and you have to move around, go backwards, not forwards.

11. Don't be afraid to use those bombs and potions the moment things are beginning to look dicey. One thing (horde, patrol, special) can be handled without too much trouble, but the multiples are what kills teams. Also, Strength potions oddly enough do affect ranged weapons and bombs.

12. Dash abilities (such as Foot Knight's or Zealot's abilities) can be canceled part of the way by blocking, allowing you to gain value from them while not charging away from your group if you're already with them.

Gallery

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  HELLO I'M FUCKING FAT TOO
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  WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY SWAMP???
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  How Kerillian came to live in a tent.

Links

• Website
• Announcement Trailer plus a little bit of gameplay