Vermintide 2 Classes Tier List, Ranked from Worst to Best (2023) (2024)

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a groundbreaking hack-and-slash game that revolutionizes horde-based first-person melee combat. Vermintide 2 follows the Ubersreik 5 as they march and cut through hordes of Skaven, Chaos, and other monstrosities to save what’s left of their world during The End Times.

In Vermintide 2, every character has three default classes and an extra DLC class. As of 2023, we have 19 different careers across five characters. Unfortunately, Sienna’s fourth career has not been showcased even as Darktide is quickly approaching its release date. We will rank all available classes from worst to best for this Vermintide 2 tier list.

Disclaimer for our Vermintide 2 Tier List

Before we begin our Vermintide 2 tier list, we must clarify that we are ranking these classes based on how they perform between Champion and Legend difficulty. Despite our rankings, any class can perform well based on the player’s skill level and the weapon choices the user makes, so even if your favorite class is low on the tier list, you can still actively succeed while using them. Let’s begin our Vermintide 2 classes tier list!

D Tier – The Worst Vermintide 2 Classes on Our Tier List

19. Huntsman

Huntsman is Markus Kruber’s ranged-focused class, proving to be the worst class in this Vermintide 2-tier list. Huntsman’s gameplay revolves around saving ammunition, having double the effective range for guns, and rewarding consistent headshots. Huntsman’s passive is Waste Not, Want Not, which recovers one ammunition if you land a ranged headshot. His career skill is Hunter’s Prowl, which turns Kruber invisible and lowers his movement speed, making the next shot not consume ammo while gaining increased reload speed and extra damage on his next shot.

If there’s one class to avoid on this tier list, it’s Huntsman. Huntsman provides no team support, and the entire talent tree reinforces saving ammo and gaining extra crit chance or other buffs for landing headshots. Huntsman’s selfish hitman-like gameplay flow isn’t on par with the other ranged classes.

18. Pyromancer

Sienna’s second career is the Pyromancer. It is a weak attempt at making a range-first version of the Bright Wizard’s power. Pyromancer has the least amount of buffs or passives in the game. Even Huntsman has more perks than the Pyromancer.

The Pyromancer’s gameplay style focuses on gaining high overcharge to boost critical chance with the Critical Mass passive, which gives her a 6% crit chance per 6 overcharge, up to 30%. Her career skill is The Burning Head, which unleashes a flaming skull that seeks out nearby foes.

Pyromancer struggles to do well because staying at a high overcharge is extremely difficult and oftentimes dangerous. While the extra critical chance is nice, she can’t perform ranged attacks while overheating, making that critical chance go to waste if you’re trying to maintain it. This then shifts her to melee, but this career’s talents focus on range, which is very counterintuitive.

Her career skill has terrible tracking, and the skull can bounce off terrain, often melting one enemy before flying off into the skybox. While some talents can make Pyromancer work, she is still fragile, and we recommend avoiding this career path. Although she isn’t as bad as Huntsman, she is one of the weakest on our Vermintide 2 classes tier list.

C Tier– Below Average Vermintide 2 Classes

17. Outcast Engineer

The Outcast Engineer is Bardin’s DLC career, giving the dwarf another ranged class. Outcast Engineer’s Career Skill is the Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (Mk II) which unleashes a Gatling gun that drains the ability bar with each shot. His passive is Built Pressure, holding the reload with the Steam-Assisted Crank Gun (Mk II) equipped builds pressure. Each Pressure stack lasts 12 seconds and slowly restores the ability bar.

Outcast Engineer has 50% more ammo and can carry up to 3 bombs at once, plus nearby teammates have 10% increased Ranged Power. Outcast Engineer relies on using the minigun rather than melee, and their entire talent tree supports this. Due to this playstyle, Outcast Engineer is notorious for hitting allies with stray bullets.

While incredibly powerful at mowing down hordes of enemies in a hail of bullets, they also deny a lot of temporary HP to your team. All characters in Vermintide need to stagger or kill enemies to get temporary HP, and Outcast Engineer denies that by being highly effective at killing non-armored hordes. As a saving grace, the Engineer’s bullets are great for quickly eliminating non-armored specials, elites, or bosses. Outcast Engineer also needs downtime to constantly build pressure for their minigun since the ability bar doesn’t naturally replenish.

This class is great at sweeping through hordes but can be easily overwhelmed in melee. In the right hands, the Outcast Engineer can become very powerful and bypass many of their weaknesses with skill. Yet, on average, they are a C-tier Vermintide 2 class.

16. Unchained

Unchained is Sienna’s third career which shifts the Bright Wizard from being a ranged horde killer to an explosive frontline tank. Unchained’s passive is Blood Magic which converts 50% of damage taken into overcharge. Her career skill is Living Bomb, which causes her to explode as if she built up 100% overcharge, dealing damage to nearby enemies and cleansing overcharge.

Unlike her other careers, she suffers no decrease in movement or attack speed while overcharged, and gains increased melee power.

Unchained does everything Pyromancer tries to accomplish but leagues better. While tank classes in Vermintide 2 offer some support to their team, Unchained offers very little. However, they do have a very high amount of damage reduction, and paired with the right ranged staff, she can still provide a lot of distant firepower, even when leading the charge into melee combat.

If you aren’t a fan of Siena’s other careers since they focus on being a ranged carry, we recommend trying Unchained since it is her most melee-focused career. Unchained is especially powerful with the Flaming Flail, allowing her to ignore shields and adding crowd control to her moveset. While it isn’t even close to the top Vermintide 2 classes featured on our tier list, it’s certainly fun.

B Tier – Average Vermintide 2 Classes Featured on Our Tier List

15. Foot Knight

The Foot Knight is Markus Kruber’s tank career and offers a lot of pushback against hordes of enemies, but struggles in utility that over tanks classes bring. Foot Knight’s passive is Protective Presence, which grants everyone around Markus a 15% damage reduction. His career skill is Valiant Charge, which makes Markus charge forward like a battering ram, stunning and knocking enemies aside. For perks, he gains an extra stamina shield and has a 10% damage reduction.

Foot Knight’s gameplay involves pushing and knocking around groups of enemies, making him a formidable force for driving back enemies. His talents bolster his defensive capabilities by offering increased power against staggered foes and saving his allies if they are incapacitated.

Two major parts about Foot Knight make him arguably weaker than other tanks. Foot Knights Protective Presence’s aura is extremely small compared to other tanks, making it hard to give your allies damage reduction when you’re not all together, especially considering this class lacks damage. Players are split between using shields for utility and stagger or other weapons for more damage. Kruber’s other melee-focused careers are far better at killing than Foot Knight.

Even if Foot Knight lacks damage, he shines at pushing back hordes of enemies and giving his allies the space they need to maneuver. We still love Foot Knight for what he can accomplish, especially with how ridiculously fun using Valiant Charge through a horde of Skaven can be. However, we wish his shield weapons had better movesets to boost his damage. This would have earned him a higher spot on our Vermintide 2 classes tier list.

14. Waystalker

At the top of the B tier, we have Waystalker, Kerillian’s first career, and offers a lot of ranged firepower. Walksalker’s playstyle revolves around the typical elf ranger archetype and doubles on that fantasy. Waystalker’s passive is Amaranthe, which gives Kerillian health regeneration when below half health. Her career skill makes up the bulk of her kit, Trueshot Volley, which fires a volley of arrows that decimates nearly any foe.

Waystalker also has extra ammo capacity, double effective range for her ranged weapons, and can zoom. She shares similar traits with Huntsman, but her career skill is one of the strongest abilities in the game, allowing her to take out a squad of armored enemies with a single keystroke. This is reinforced by the fact that most of her talents help lower Trueshot volley’s cooldown.

A Waystalker build is a great choice if you want to fit into the ranger playstyle instead of wielding guns like the other characters. Along with being paired with tons of great melee and bow options, she’s versatile at taking out any foe but doesn’t specialize in one role. Her Trueshot Volley is her greatest strength, equivalent to a “free kill button.” When the Waystalker’s ultimate is down, she mainly relies on being a ranged character, while still performing well in melee.

A Tier – Powerful Heroes that Make the Game Fun to Play

13. Shade

Shade is Kerillian’s melee-focused career which turns her into a stalking assassin capable of slaying bosses or elites faster than any other career in Vermintide 2. Shade’s passive is Assassin’s Blade, allowing her to deal double damage when striking enemies from behind with melee attacks. Shade’s career skill causes her to vanish for five seconds, can pass through enemies, and deals greatly increased melee damage.

Shade is a very slippery melee carry who specializes in slaying any foe that’s facing away. She gains a 5% extra crit chance, alongside gaining stealth for a short period after parrying and dodging. While playing as the Shade, all backstabs are critical hits, and all backstabs instantly slay man-sized enemies.

Shade is an extremely strong pick but has a very high skill ceiling and requires some teamwork to allow her to sneak around. This added complexity hampered her position on our Vermintide 2 classes tier list.

When paired with a tank, she can slaughter dozens of armored elites with her daggers or take chunks out of many bosses’ HP. Shade also does have access to ranged weaponry, unlike other melee-heavy careers, but she struggles to kill hordes of enemies unless performing well-timed melee cancels with her daggers.

12. Slayer

Slayer is Bardin’s third career and turns the dwarf into an unstoppable berserker. The Slayer’s passive is Trophy Hunter; hitting an enemy grants a stacking damage buff from 10% up to 30%. His career skill is Leap, allowing him to jump forward, stunning nearby targets, and gaining 30% increased attack speed for 10 seconds. He also gains 7.5% extra attack speed as a perk, and charged melee attacks can’t be interrupted by damage.

Slayer is a high-damaging melee carry that can chop through hordes, armor, and bosses with an insane amount of attack speed. Slayer has two build options, dual wielding or two-handed. Wielding one-handed weapons in both slots increases his attack speed further by another 10%. Using two-handed weapons increases his power by 15%. Combined with Adrenaline Surge, which allows him to rapidly recharge his Leap while at max Trophy Hunter stacks, it allows Slayer to have over 40% attack speed so long as there’s an enemy to strike.

However, Slayer’s only ranged option is a powerful throwing axe, taking some time to recall the axe to your hand. Slayer has few defensive options and can sometimes struggle to gain temporary HP, making him simplistic but difficult to play.

11. Zealot

Zealot is Saltzpyre’s third class in Vermintide 2. It turns the servant of Sigmar into a hyper-carry that grows stronger the lower their HP gets. Zealot’s passive is Fiery Faith, which increases Satlzpyre’s power by 5% for every 25 HP missing. Zealot’s career Skill is Holy Fervor which causes him to dash forward and gain 25% increased attack speed for five seconds. Zealot’s heavy attacks can’t be interrupted like Slayer, and he can block lethal damage once every two minutes.

Zealot’s playstyle involves weakening yourself to 20% of your HP but gaining massive benefits. With the right talent build, he can gain 20% extra attack speed while below 20%, gains damage reduction with each stack of Fiery Faith, and reduces his career skill’s cooldown by going on a rampage during the five-second berzerk buff. Zealot’s talents are primarily melee-focused, but Fiery Faith buffs total power, increasing both melee and ranged damage.

However, Zealot provides no benefits to his team and can be relatively difficult to play because of the need to lower your HP for your buffs to activate. Yet, they still remain a very strong hyper carry that excels in both melee and ranged combat but can easily falter if you cannot manage your HP.

10. Sister of the Thorn

Sister of the Thorn is Kerillian’s fourth career and gives the elf a ranged/melee hybrid support class that excels in damage and crowd control. Its passive is A Cluster of Radiants, which gives her a free use of her career skill every 60 seconds. Her career skill is Thornwake, which conjures a thorn wall that blocks enemy movement. Sister of the Thorn’s perks focuses on supporting her team as well.

For perks, she has black venom blades that cause her melee strikes to apply a poison that causes enemies to take 12% increased damage from all sources. She increases all healing received by the party by 25%, and if another party member receives temporary HP while at full health, she gains that temporary health instead. Sister of the Thorn also unlocks the Deepwood Staff, which functions like one of Sienna’s staffs; it gives her the ability to fire a flurry of thorns, or lift her enemies into the air, leaving them defenseless.

This DLC also comes with the Briar Javelin, a regenerating throwing spear that can be used on all Kerillian’s careers. The diversity in Sister of the Thorn makes her extremely strong, but choosing one build over another can deprive her of some advantages. Her talents allow her to lean into a DPS role or more into a support position, shifting from extra bleeds and poisons, upgrading her career skill to spread her Blackvenom, or helping shove entire hordes away from her team.

9. Ranger Veteran

Ranger Veteran is Bardin’s first career, focusing on ranged damage and providing ammunition for his team. This Vermintide 2 class’ passive is Survivalist; whenever a special is killed, Bardin drops an ammo pouch which restores 10% of the player’s max ammo.

His career Skill is Disengage; Bardin throws a smoke bomb and conceals himself for 10 seconds. During Disengage, he also gains increased ranged attack power. He also has 50% more ammo capacity, increased reload speed, and a small chance of not consuming a potion, grenade, or healing supplies after using them.

Ranger Veteran is extremely strong and excels at eliminating specials, elites, and shredding monsters. Ranger Veteran’s strengths revolve around sniping specials and elites with the Handgun or melting patrols and bosses with the Masterwork Pistol (obtained from the Outcast Engineer DLC).

He pairs well with other ranged characters, providing extra ammunition or talents to drop bottles that buff your stats or provide potions and bombs. His career skill can be buffed to increase his allies’ attack speed and grant them temporary HP.

Ranger Veteran also takes what Huntsman tries to bring to the team but amplifies it with far more weapons to choose from. The only downside to playing Ranger Veteran is that their Disengage has a very long cooldown, despite its amazing utilities.

8. Warrior Priest of Sigmar

The Warrior Priest of Sigmar is Saltzpyre’s fourth career, turning him into a melee-only frontline supporting his allies with blessings. The Warrior Priest of Sigmar’s passive is Righteous Fury; Saltzpyre gains Fury when nearby enemies die. On reaching 100% Fury, his weapons glow golden, and his powerful attacks Smite enemies for an extra 20% of the weapon’s damage.

His career skill is Shield Of Faith; using this ability causes Saltzpyre to shield himself or an ally, rendering them immune to damage for five seconds. When the shield expires, it explodes and inflicts damage to nearby enemies.

He also has 30% extra power against Chaos Warriors and Beastmen Standard Bearers (They are both the strongest elites in the game). He has 100% curse resistance, and all damage dealt to Saltzpyre is reduced by 20%. An additional 20% of incoming damage is converted into damage over time, but the DOT can’t kill him. Warrior Priest of Sigmar is also a melee-only career, giving him two melee options instead of one.

This allows Saltspyre to wield hammers for crowd control or a Flail and Shield to push back hordes while ignoring shielded enemies. His talents allow him to gain extra heavy attack damage and heal his teammate with the bonus damage from Righteous Fury. He also blesses the party with permanent buffs that increase health, critical strike damage or stagger power. Lastly, Shield of Faith can be upgraded to revive teammates and heals an amount equal to all damage suffered in the last three seconds.

Warrior Priest of Sigmar is incredibly strong and one of the most impactful support classes in Vermintide 2, ranking high on our tier list. His only drawback is being a melee-only class, and he needs an ally to provide ranged firepower against Ratling Gunners or Warpfire Throwers.

S Tier– The Very Best Vermintide 2 Classes on Our Tier List

7. Bounty Hunter

Bounty Hunter is Saltspyre’s second class, turning him into a ranged gunslinger. This class’ passive is Blessed Shots, giving Saltspyre a guaranteed ranged crit every ten seconds. His career skill is Locked and Loaded; Saltspyre draws a pistol and fires a powerful shot that pierces through enemies. For perks, he has 50% ammo capacity and increased reload speed.

Bounty Hunter is a fragile ranged powerhouse who can eliminate any specials or bosses before they get close to your team. His talents allow him to make enemies become vulnerable after taking a critical hit, lowering the cooldown of his Blessed Shots, and causing headshots or critical hits to inflict 40% bonus damage.

On top of all of these talents, the Bounty Hunter can pick Job Well Done, which gives him 1% damage reduction stacking up to 30% for every elite or special enemy he kills. Normally ranged careers don’t have damage reduction options, but this talent option allows Saltspyre to stay in the thick of the fight with other melee classes the longer the mission goes on.

Lastly, he can take the Double-shotted talent to give his Locked and Loaded an extra shot, plus scoring a headshot with the career skill reduces the cooldown by 40%.

Blessed Shots also pairs with Locked and Loaded, making two incredibly powerful bullets guarantee critical damage. This allows the Bounty Hunter to eliminate bosses easily or even faster if he has a Potion of Concentration. Paired with the reload speed and extra ammo that other classes in Vermintide 2 have, Bounty Hunter can snipe high-priority targets with ease or fire through hordes as no other gunslinger can. This earned him a high spot on our classes tier list.

6. Handmaiden

Handmaiden is Kerillian’s second career, turning her into an elusive tank that buffs her allies’ defenses. Handmaiden’s passive is The Dance of Seasons, which increases her dodge distance by 15%. Her carrier skill is Dash, which simply dashes her forward, and passes through enemies. She also has a passive aura like Footknight, which increases stamina regeneration by 100%. She also has a 50% faster revive speed, and allies revived are healed for 20 HP.

On paper, the Handmaiden doesn’t sound incredibly strong, but looks can be deceiving. Some of the Handmaiden’s class talents in Vermintide 2 allow her to gain extra attack speed and power after pushing or blocking. Her dodges can pass through enemies, increasing her block cost even further and allowing her Dash to turn her invisible for two seconds.

Her Agility Makes Her the Best Tank in the Game for Teamplay

Paired with the Spear and Shield, the Handmaiden can sweep through crowds of enemies, keeping them away from your team. The Spear and Shield also does great headshot damage, and paired with the Briar Javelin, she can easily take out ranged threats. However, she has some of the worst boss damage compared to other careers.

While her career skill is very underwhelming, it allows her to bypass hordes to save her allies. Handmaiden’s strengths allow her to dodge through enemies while blocking more hits than any other tank class, and she has the fastest revive in the game, allowing her to easily pick up her fallen teammates.

Handmaiden’s aura also allows her teammates to block many more attacks they otherwise couldn’t. Overall, Handmaiden is the best tank for being the last line of defense, especially if you are the last one standing.

If you play with friends, you may want to check out our article on Vermintide 2 cross platform support to see if you can support your friends with a tanky class like Handmaiden when on different platforms.

5. Mercenary

Mercenary is Kruber’s first career, and he focuses on horde clear with unrivaled cleaving capabilities. Mercenary’s passive is Paced Strikes; hitting three enemies in one swing increases attack speed. His career skill is Morale boost, which staggers nearby enemies and grants allies 25 temporary HP. Kruber’s attacks also cleave through more enemies and have a 5% increased critical chance.

Mercenary shines the brightest when clearing through crowds of cannon fodder, and the majority of his talents enhance this playstyle. Some of his talents increase his power for every nearby enemy and his power or defense when Paced Strikes is active. His career skill is also a great tool for knocking back hordes or even bosses away from your allies.

His biggest strength is also his greatest weakness, which is your melee weapon choice. When playing Mercenary, you should support his crowd-clearing abilities by picking a weapon with wide sweeps, but some weapons can lack the moveset to bring down armored foes.

We recommend the Greatsword or the Executioner Sword with the Repeater Handgun since these weapons support his strengths and help make up for his weaknesses.

4. Iron Breaker

Iron Breaker is Bardin’s second career, turning the dwarf into an unbreakable tank. This classes’ passive is Gromril Armor, which absorbs one hit every 20 seconds. His career skill is Impenetrable, which taunts all nearby man-sized enemies, granting him increased defense, and can block any attack. For perks, he has 30% damage reduction, gains an extra stamina shield, and decreases stun durations after getting hit.

Iron Breaker is the tankiest career in the game, who can shrug off hits from Chaos warriors and bosses while keeping hordes at bay. Iron Breaker is the first line of defense, a monster at crowd control, and can take blows from any foe without breaking a sweat. His talents increase his power after blocking an attack, making his Gromril Armor knock back nearby enemies, and can increase the duration and radius of his taunt.

Iron Breaker’s only downside is the lack of damage he brings unless you are willing to give up his shield for more smashing power. Overall, Iron Breakers can carry entire runs with the amount of crowd control at their disposal. Iron Breaker is the strongest tank on our Vermintide 2 tier list.

The Three Best Vermintide 2 Classes

3. Witch Hunter Captain

Witch Hunter Captain is Saltzpyre’s first career, which focuses him into a melee/ranged hybrid with lots of critical damage. The Witch Hunter Captain’s passive is Witch Hunt; any tagged enemy takes 20% additional damage. His career skill is Animosity, which staggers nearby enemies and boosts his allies’ critical chance by 25%.

For perks, this Vermintide 2 class has a 5% extra crit chance. Beyond that, headshots deal 25% more damage, and critical headshots instantly slay man-sized enemies. Also, any light attack he blocks that would deal less than two stamina damage instead deals zero damage, which allows him to block nearly any light attack from common foes.

A good Witch Hunter Captain build in Vermintide 2 is extremely strong when paired with his Rapier and Brace of Pistols. This combination allows him to easily land melee or ranged headshots while slaying any man-sized foe with critical hits. His Witch Hunt passive can also be allied by any ally and boosts the damage the enemy would receive from any source.

This allows any taggable enemy to take 20% more damage so long as a Witch Hunter Captain is in their party. Their Animosity is also good crowd control and helps their allies crit chance to slay important foes swiftly.

2. Grail Knight – Runner-Up to the Best Vermintide 2 Class

Grail Knight is Kruber’s fourth career, turning him into a holy knight of Bretonnia. The Grail Knights’s passive is The Lady’s Duty, which gives his party quests to complete in exchange for mission-long buffs. His career skill is Blessed Blade which causes him to stab with a holy sword that deals heavy damage to a single target. Grail Knight is also a melee-only class like Warrior Priest of Sigmar and must use two melee weapons.

Grail Knight’s perks increase his movement speed, he deals more damage to the first enemy hit in his combo, and he can block Warpfire Thrower attacks with a shield. This class is immensely strong, especially for introducing the Bretonnian Longsword.

This weapon’s heavy attacks also allow you to block and parry while charging heavy attacks, and their arcs allow you to cut off the heads of armored foes in a single strike. Moreover, sis passive provides teamwide buffs for the mission’s duration, and his Blessed Blade will one-shot any enemy that isn’t a boss.

The Grail Knight is one of the best melee careers in Vermintide 2 and can one-shot any elite or special and take chunks out of bosses. His talents can increase his melee power, add more quests, or regenerate his health after taking damage. His most vital talents are transforming his Blessed Blade into a double stab or a cleave. This is the strongest melee career on our Vermintide 2 tier list.

For more tips and guidance, check out our dedicated Vermintide 2 Grail Knight build guide.

1. Battle Wizard – The Best of All Vermintide 2 Classes on Our Tier List

Battle Wizard is Sienna’s first career and focuses on horde clear, crowd control, and dealing heavy amounts of damage. This class’ passive is Tranquility. With it, after not casting a spell for six seconds, Sienna automatically vents her overcharge.

Her career skill is Fire Walk, which teleports her forward, leaving a fire trail and knocking back any nearby foes. Her perks include increased ranged damage, and high overcharge increases her spell charge speed.

A good Battle Wizard build in Vermintide 2 is immensely strong compared to Senna’s other carriers. Her talents allow her to increase the power of her spells by 50% for fully charging them, burning enemies to grant her damage reduction, and upgrading her Fire Walk to have a second activation.

Paired with the Fire Sword and either the Coruscation Staff for unbelievable horde clear or the Bolt Staff for sniping specials, she is a powerhouse. Her Tranquility allows her to vent naturally while she’s not casting spells, and her career skill has a variety of uses that make her power that much higher.

She lacks on-demand burst damage if she is overcharged and doesn’t offer any buffs, but her damage potential is undeniable, making her the strongest career on our Vermintide 2 tier list.

Wrapping Up Our Vermintide 2 Classes Tier List

That’s our Vermintide 2 classes tier list. Vermintide 2 will always be a blast to play with whatever character or career you choose to bring. It’s disappointing that we didn’t get to experience Senna’s fourth career before the release of Darktide. Yet, we are hopeful that she will be strong enough to compete with Battle Wizard finally.

What do you think of our top picks and rankings for each class and career in Vermintide 2? Does your favorite class rank highly on our list? Would you change anything in our rankings? Feel free to discuss this with your fellow adventurers and us in the comments section below.

For now, feel free to check out some of our other Vermintide 2 content, including our guide on all Elite Enemies in Warhammer: Vermintide 2 and how to defeat them.

For now, Happy Hunting!