Support in Vermintide can take the form of Talents, Passives, Buffs, Item drops, Weapon Traits, and positioning.
It’s sometimes difficult to tell what impact you’re having, due to there being no green circle for things like ‘THP generated for the team’, so hopefully this guide makes the value of these builds a bit clearer.
This guide will help people who want to play a more Support focused build, and people who don’t - by helping you understand what Support each Career can bring. This allows you to ask for certain Talents that will benefit you or the team more.
Builds will be posted below this post.
General Support
General Support
Healing
If you go down, and then heal SOMEONE ELSE with a Bandage, your Wounds will be cleared. If you’re a Career that generates a lot of THP, heal someone who doesn’t.
Zealot should ALWAYS have prio on Bandages because of this.
On Cata+, Health Pots are better to carry, due to Bandages requiring some gap in fighting to use. You also don’t have to heal anyone carrying a Tome anymore.
Temporary Health generation
If anyone is low THP, you should consider how to help them build it up quickly, so you can contnue playing safely.
On-Kill THP requires you to land Elite/Boss/Special melee kills to gain THP. If someone is playing this Talent and they’re low HP, slow down your DPS, so they can get kills - while a little frustrating, Careers who SHOULD use On-Kill usually sit at near 100% HP anyway
On-Stagger/Cleave/Headshot requires those types of attacks. Slow down DPS on Hordes, and let those people go for body attack (head for headshots obvs), to maximize the amount of hits they can land on enemies, before they die.
Melee
Shield Weapons can be used to protect high DPS Careers, and give them space to do their jobs.
Ranged
Ranged Weapons can be used to peel infantry enemies that are behind your allies, Staggering or killing them.
Pulling roamers that are ahead in the next area is also very useful, as it means they won’t be alerted after you’ve already passed them, leading to them attacking you from behind. Just be careful to only pull at opportune times, and not too many.
You can also pull Bosses aggro, by shooting them while the other person stops damaging the Boss.
Who gets the Bomb?
If you have no RV or OE, generally the Bomb should go to the person who has the most Power (E.g. Zealot with low HP), this is because that Power is applied to Bomb damage.
Battle Wizards should always have priority on Fire Bombs, not Boom Bombs, after RV/OE.
Item Traits
Heroic Intervention:
- This Trait is just not worth using as it works so rarely
Inspirational Shots:
- Worthwhile on some high fire rate Ranged Weapons, which go for headshots
Proxy (Charm Trait):
- Very good for Potion share
Hand of Shallya (Necklace Trait):
- Good if you have high THP generation, but a little too RNG, as it depends on you holding a Bandage
- Can be combined with the level 5 Row far right Talent for healing 20% of everyone’s health with great effect, but it’s heavily reliant on you having some other way of generating THP
Talents
Bulwark:
- Offers a small damage bonus, which is good when playing with other damage bonus mechanics, such as SoTT’s poisons
Kruber
Kruber
Weapons:
Both Spear Weapons have long ranges, and lots of CC, they can be used to peel smaller enemies away from people.
Mercenary
Merc’s Career Skill is one of the best Support abilities in the game. He’s mostly played as a DPS, but using a Shield Weapon or Greathammer to offer even more Support is completely viable.
The Talent Strike Together gives 10% Attack Speed to all party members, no matter how far they are. It is a high value Talent, and can be triggered by Shield slams.
The choice of Career Skill Talent depends on your team composition, and the difficulty you’ll be facing. Make sure you’re stacking with teammates, before using it, for maximum effect.
Walk It Off:
- Useful if you already have another Career that can generate lots of THP for the team
- Can help teammates face tank larger enemies, once their Barkskin procs providing huge amounts of Damage Reduction
Ready For Action:
- Combine with a Stamina/10% CDR Trinket
- Provides lots of THP for your team
- Best to use if your team has low THP generation, or you have Sienna in the team
On Yer Feet, Mates!:
- Can come in clutch on extremely high density modifiers, where there’s too many enemies to go for a Revive
- Trade-off between how useful this is compared to straight up DMGR or more THP from the other two
How to support this Career:
- Merc mostly needs help if he’s using Exe Sword or Halberd
- Consider Conc Pots as an AoE heal for him if the entire team is low
Support synergy:
- Sienna, SoTT, Zealot and BH all for THP reasons
- Any melee clear for Strike Together
Huntsman
Huntsman is somewhat lacking in Support options, but can make use of high Stagger Kruber Weapons when needed, and use his high ammo reserves to pull far away enemies.
Make ‘Em Bleed can offer 20% damage increase on enemies you Crit for the entire party. This makes dealing with Bosses and Chaos Warriors easier, even if you have no dedicated Boss killer (which Huntsman usually is anyway).
His Passive Call Out Weakness, gives 5% Crit Chance to people in his proximity, this makes defending him beneficial.
How to support this Career:
- Create a frontline for him, and defend his back from enemies
- Create space during Elite density
- Stagger enemies around him when Specials arrive
Support synergy:
- WHC, due to being able to stack during dencity and give him 5% Crit%
Foot Knight
As FK, you can support your team by Staggering as many enemies as possible, saving them with your Career Skill and timing it, so they can escape difficult situations, with It’s Hero Time helping you do that best.
Inspiring Blow can be good for Elite dense modifiers, such as high Weaves or Deeds.
Foot Knight’s Passive Support comes in the form of his Passive Damage Reduction aura ‘Protective Presence’ and the level 20 Row Talent you choose to go with it:
Rock of The Reikland:
- Very useful Talent that benefits Stamina usage for everyone in the group, while they’re within range of you
- Especially useful if the other Careers in your group are low Stamina Careers, and are using 60% BCR, taking them to 80% BCR
That’s Bloody Teamwork:
- Useful if people build around it and take DMGR builds. E.g. Ranger Veteran may run Ales to give people more Damage Reduction
- Very good for helping to avoid AoE damage, like Gas
Comrades In Arms:
- This Talent, sometimes referred to as ‘bodyguard’ allows you to stack with one person and give them a huge buff to DMR and 10% Power
- Also the Talent you use to play FK as more of a DPS
- Optimal for true duo runs (2 players)
How to support this Career:
- Give him Conc Pots vs Chaos Patrols
- Let him help you by Staggering
Support synergy:
- Shade for saving her while she backstabs, or CC Patrols for her
- Anything for duos, due to Comrades In Arms
- Sienna with BCR Talent
- DMGR stacking Careers
Grail Knight
You can play GK with a Shield Weapon, as a Tank/Support, using his Movement Speed to reach teammates in need. Also knowing when to switch to your Shield Weapon vs Patrols and high Elite density, or to protect a Special Killer, is the sign of a good GK.
Grail Knight’s Passive Quests offer lots of support for the team. Although they are RNG, they still offer useful bonuses, especially since all 4 people get them.
GK with Warrior Priest and Waystalker’s Health Regens is a solid combo.
Your choices on the level 20 Row determine how supportive they are. While STR Pots are considered meta, due to their guaranteed bonus, the other Talents aren’t bad either, and can offer a lot more sustained bonus, which likely ends up generating more damage or healing/CDR over all:
Virtue of Duty:
- Can be used to give more bonuses and avoid CDR from Bosses, which is a little RNG at times
Virtue of Purity:
- Increases the amount of two Quest rewards, which can make runs much easier. Especially if you get Health Regen or Power from killing Elites
Virtue of the Penitent:
- Drink yellow hit hard
- Remember to keep an eye on the amount of kills, and trade STR Pots if needed
- Makes Patrols and Bosses easier to deal with
How to support this Career:
- Let him land Elite/Boss kills if he’s On-Kill THP
- Focus Gunners/Flamers that are attacking him
- Focus Hordes, while he deals with Bosses
- Give him Conc Pots vs Chaos Patrols/Bosses
Support synergy:
- Any high AoE build, Flamethrowers, etc - because you can give them STR Pots
- Virtue of the Knightly Temper with Crit stacking WHC
- WS, WPoS, due to Health Regen
Bardin
Bardin
Ranger Veteran
Ranger Veteran is one of the most supportive Careers in the game, offering Ammo, Pots, Ales, THP and Attack Speed, Bombs and healing. As him, I like to stay on top of item management, calling who should carry what, and rushing to items to make sure I have first say.
His Passive Ingenious Improvisation gives you 10% chance not to use the Pot/Bomb/Heal that you use. Meaning he should ALWAYS be the first one to use spare Heals.
You can easily test whether you’re a true RV by using Healers Touch on your Necklace and seeing if you can duplicate 100 heals in a row. “The chosen one”, they’ll cry. “He’s just that Dawi”, they’ll declare. “Reported”, you’ll be.
I exclusively use Healers Touch as RV, as he has Stagger THP generation, which is strong enough to maintain high THP.
His Career Skill Talent Exhilarating Vapours should be used to heal teammates, and draw a frontline in front of lots of Elites, so your teammates benefit from the AS and THP, while fighting in the same spot.
All of his level 20 Row Talents are great:
Drunken Brawler:
- To get p****d up
- Choose who should use it (melee DPS or high DMGR players)
- Combo with other DMGR mechanics or AS
Grungni’s Cunning:
- Selfish or sharing, shoot everything
- Use with Shotgun users
Scavenger:
- Combo with Proxy, and use Pots vs high density near to people who need it (WARNING: causes DPS to fall in love)
- If people aren’t seeing the items trade them
How to support this Career:
- Make space for him
- Use his items how he wants you to, rather than stealing his ammo
- If he’s Bomb/Exhilarating Vapours consider giving him Conc for Bosses/Patrols/Healing
Support synergy:
- Shotgun users with Grungni’s Cunning
- Anyone who needs THP with Exhilarating Vapours
- Melees with Drunken Brawler
Ironbreaker
Ironbreaker’s Tanking can be considered a form of Support, but he does offer a lot of actual Support beyond that.
Rune-Etched Shield, can be used to give teammates 10% Power (when fully stacked), which you can have a high uptime on vs high density. To make this work, you have to Block more than you dodge. I once thought this Talent was useless, and realised my Elgi brain had be Dodging attacks I could be Blocking. Combined with the Drengbarazi Oath gives 35% Power to teammates and yourself.
Flamethrower can be used with Inspirational Shots or Resourceful Sharpshooter for more Support.
When you Taunt should be something you plan, and not always because there’s a lot of enemies:
- Where are you going to stand? Those Elite attacks will be going towards you
- When will the enemies be bunched up enough to get the maximum effect?
- Is it better to wait a second or two for the Specials to arrive?
- Will there be more Elites in the area after this fight?
Career Skill Talents:
Drengbarazi Oath:
- Not only forces enemies to focus you, but gives your teammates more damage to kill them with
Oi! Wazzok!:
- Very good for things like Twitch and especially Chaos Wastes
Booming Taunt:
- Combine with Rune-Etched Shield
How to support this Career:
- Help him escape if his Taunt gets him too surrounded
- Frontline for him while he uses the Drakegun
- Str Pot with Drakegun is great vs Patrols
- Conc with Taunt can save matches
Support synergy:
- Shade for Backstabs
Slayer
Slayer doesn’t offer much Support outside of his Career Skill Stagger, and his high AS allowing him to clear smaller enemies from around Ranged Careers. He should instead be supported to maximize his killing power.
How to support this Career:
- Feed him Str and Speed Pots
- Help him escape if surrounded, or vs Shielders and Monks
Outcast Engineer
OE’s Passive gives 10% Ranged Power to everyone, which is great. He can also trade Bombs and Stagger Bosses/Chaos Warriors with Piston Power. Rotating Piston Power and other teammates Chaos Warrior killing abilities is useful.
Flamethrower can be used with Inspirational Shots for more Support.
How to support this Career:
- Feed him Bombs & Pots
- Make space for him in any way you can
Kerillian
Kerillian
Waystalker
Waystalker doesn’t have much supportive mechanics other than the Rejuvenating Locus Talent, which combined with Warrior Priest of Sigmar’s, From Fury, Fortitude Talent, and Grail Knights Health Regen Quest, can help to provide a lot of healing.
Another way you can be supportive is by shooting smaller enemies that are behind your teammates.
How to support this Career:
- Make space for her in any way you can
- Let her get Elite/Special kills with her Career Skill to gain ammo
Support synergy:
- WPoS, GK for Health Regen
Handmaiden
Handmaiden’s Passive Renewal, provides a huge amount of Stamina regeneration to people within a close proximity. This can help with Ranged Careers, who don’t have a lot of Stamina, and can help specific Weapons like Slayer’s Dual Axes and Kruber’s Sword & Mace do more Push-Attacks, providing them with safer damage output.
If you’ve run out of Stamina call for help.
If people push more when you’re in range, Hordes tend to be much safer to kill.
Handmaiden also has faster Revives on downed teammates. Running Revive Speed on Trinket sacrifices damage, but with an Opportunist - Shield and Spear build, you can still frontline for people.
Gift of Ladrielle can be used to save teammates, and do objectives.
How to support this Career:
- While she has lots of escapes, she has no DMGR, and still needs help if surrounded
Support synergy:
- Push-Attack Weapons, like Dual Axes
Shade
Shade doesn’t really have any Support mechanics, and should instead to be supported to maximize her damage.
She sometimes needs help with THP generation, or other ways of reducing the amount of damage she can take.
How to support this Career:
- Feed her THP, as she sometimes struggles
- Feed her the Pots she needs (may be Concoction)
- Create Space for her
Sister of The Thorn
SoTTs Passive, An Attendance of Munificents, is extremely strong, it provides everyone with 25% more healing, which is applied to THP generation and True HP generation. This means she has a lot of synergy with lower THP generating Careers, but especially with Sienna and Zealot (with whom she can contribute to his 115% healing increase with Holy Fortitude).
Due to AAoM, and her other Passive A Sustenance of Leechings (she is healed while other people are at max health, and generating THP), she can forego healing (unless wounder), and instead other people should heal up.
If you have an absurdly high THP generating team, you can even use Eternal Blossom, and Hand of Shallya (Necklace Trait) - as described in the ‘General Support’ section.
Blackvenom Blades:
This is essentially a better version of Bulwark, putting 12% damage increase on enemies, or 24% with the Recursive Toxin Talent. It means your entire team deals more damage to everything you hit, so keeping it up on Bosses, or Dodging about, putting it up on as many enemies as possible is good.
If you want to maximize putting Blackvenom on lots of enemies, you can either use high Cleave and AS Weapons, like Dual Swords, or 2H Sword, or play a ranged build with Lingering Blackvenom.
It also stacks with other damage increasing effects, such as WHC Tagging.
Repel:
Repel is more of a Tanking mechanic, but fits into Support too, due to being able to pocket tank for people. Breakpoints and build below.
Row 20 Talent choices:
Incandescence:
- Other than for a really specific scenario on higher difficulties, or to ledge Bosses, it’s not that useful
- On higher Difficulties, you use Thornwake more often anyway, so stacking 3 would harldy ever happen
Bonded Spirit:
- Viable CDR for secondary Thornwakes
Radiant Inheritance:
- Can be timed with Blackvenom Thicket, but a little more RNG with other choices
- The buff gives very good Stats, especially for WHC
Career Skill (Thornwake):
The Wall choices can be used to block off hight Elite density, in Corridors, or reroute them in the open. This creates choke points for high Cleave Range Weapons, such as Shotguns. It also combos well with Sienna’s Coruscation Staff, as she can place some flame geisers, and you can Wall the enemies off, forcing them to stand in the flames.
Ironbark Thicket:
- Can be used to stop Bosses for 10 seconds
- Can be used to delay high density on high difficulty modifiers
- Very situational
Tanglegrasp Thicket:
- Drags enemies towards the area you summon the Wall, this means you can make an escape route, in a line, for people, or knock enemies off ledges
- Is a lot more versatile than Ironbark Thicket, and becomes more useful on higher difficulties
Blackvenom Thicket:
- Staggers larger enemies and Bosses
- Applies Blackvenom to enemies it hits
- Is better combo’d with Briar’s Malice, due to lack of spam usage for other Talents
Deepwood Staff:
- Can be used to make Shield/Special enemies easier to kill
- Can be used with Inspirational Shots to provide Stamina Regen on headshots
- Can be used with Hunter(Crit build) or Barrage
- Can be used with Heat Sink (Crit build) to lift more enemies
- Can be used with Resourceful Sharpshooter (Crit build) for more Career Skill usage
- Can use Lingering Blackvenon and Briar’s Malice Crits to drag the shots across Hordes, causing it to apply to more of them
How to support this Career:
- Ensure you can sit at 100% THP and spam your THP generation, so she recieves THP too
- Don’t waste spare heals on her if she’s not Wounded (been downed)
Support synergy:
- Deepwood can help Special killers by lifting enemies
- THP Generation helps Sienna, BH, etc
- Blackvenom stacks with others, so WHC and Shrapnel give Bosses 60% damage increase
Saltzpyre
Saltzpyre
Witch Hunter Captain
While WHC is a great melee DPS, he actually provides a lot of Support to the team.
A full Crit Chance build is most beneficial to the team, and can generate huge amounts of damage. Even though the selfish option is good for the WHC himself, the CDR Crit build likely outdoes the total damage generation.
His Passive Ability, Witch Hunt, also benefits teammates. Here’s how the Talent options for it benefit your team - Level 20 Row:
Templar’s Knowledge:
- Increasing damage taken by 25% is greatly undervalued, when it comes to high Chaos Warrior Density, Bosses and Lords
- Also beneficial for when Specials take damage from multiple sources
- Stacks with his Career Skill Talent, I Shall Judge You All!
Heretic Sighted:
- No benefit - only benefits the WHC
Wild Fervour:
- Offers one of the only reliable Crit Buffs from other players, 5% on every player is great for Swiftslaying and other things
- On higher difficulties, this will have a high uptime, due to Elite density
- Can help with any Crit mechanics from other Careers
Career Skill choices:
I Shall Judge You All!:
- Likely benefits Careers with lots of AoE damage more than Crit, such as Battle Wizard
- Comboing this with Bombs on Chaos Warrior density would generate a huge amount of damage
Fervency:
- Only applies to the WHC himself, no longer gives teammates any Crit%
The Unending Hunt:
- Use a Stamina/CDR Trinket or Crit/Stamina (Cast Away) for 40% CDR
- Generates a huge amount of Crit% throughout the match, and more damage than Fervency over all
How to support this Career:
- Spam Tag enemies
- Get him out of trouble
- Feed him Pots of all kinds, depending on the situation
Support synergy:
- SoTT for damage increase, as it stacks
- When playing Crit% build, Sienna with Blazing Echo, GK with Virtue of The Knightly Temper, Huntsman, SoTT with Lingering Blackvenom and Necromancer with Reaping or Cursed Blood
- Tagging has good synergy in general
Bounty Hunter
Open Wounds gives 20% damage increase to everything he Crits for everyone. This makes Bosses easier to kill for the team.
Combining it with Griffon-foot is extremely strong on higher difficulties and Cata+.
How to support this Career:
- Generate as much THP for him as possible, you really should have a Merc/SoTT/RV/Unchained with THP Career Skills, when playing BH - he struggles greatly with THP generation
- Make space for him
- Feed him Str or Conc Pots (he may also be Conc)
Zealot
Offers no support to the team, outside of raw melee clear.
When he takes damage at the start of the match pocket tank for him, pushing enemies and CCing them (not killing them), so he can generate THP.
How to support this Career:
- Shoot him at the start of the match, or if he needs a bit off the top for 6 Stacks (ask him)
- ALWAYS let him carry a Bandage
- Help him generate THP, when he’s low
- Feed him Speed pots, and sometimes STR Pots
Support synergy:
- SoTT, due to his THP generation with Holy Fortitude (it heals her)
Warrior Priest of Sigmar
Warrior Priest is another great Support/Tank, who has plenty of Passive and Active Support options.
To start with, his ability to carry Grimoires without becoming cursed, already makes him great for the team.
His Talent From Fury, Fortitude, can generate incredible amounts of True HP throughout the match. Comboing this with Waystalkers AoE Regen and Grail Knights Quest Regen is strong.
Level 25 Row choices:
Prayer of Vengeance:
- While it may seem like a waste if no Bosses are up, you’ll be thankful when they are. It provides enough damage to replace having a dedicated Boss killer
- Great for modifiers and things like Twitch Mode, Chaos Wastes or Weaves
Prayer of Might:
- Allows people to drop certain Stagger breakpoints or play with Weapons, which don’t have much Stagger
- This can also help you reach Stagger breakpoints with certain attacks or even Pushes
Prayer of Hardiness:
- Always use this with a Sienna in the group
- Under used, despite how good it is for Ranged Careers
Career Skill (Shield of Faith):
His Career Skill is obviously great for Support, but you shouldn’t only use it defensively. It’s good to learn when and who to shield, so here’s some examples:
- If you’re about to face high Elite density, Shielding your Slayer/Shade/GK will let them destroy everything with no risk
- Shielding Longbow Huntsman, whenever there’s any sort of difficulty spike whatsoever is always a solid choice
- Shielding Special killers, when Specials are arriving, especially if Packmasters are inside Elite density, or hiding under Bosses
- Someone is out of place or surrounded
- Someone can combo Bombs, and be traded more
- Someone can deal more damage to Bosses heads in melee, but they also have aggro
Career Skill Talent choices:
Unyielding Blessing:
- This is my favourite as it’s far more versatile, and allows you to do any of the examples I gave, which could also be done with double bubble
- Also allows time for full melee Careers to reach Gunner/Flamers/Gas before it runs out
United In Prayer:
- The safest option, and a solid choice
- Could save a lot of situations, where the density is just too high to survive in close spaces
The Comet’s Gift:
- Another great choice, you can heal a lot of Health
- Can revive people from being downed
- Downside is that it’s more reactive, but still good at it’s job
How to support this Career:
- Clear Gunners/Flamers that are attacking him
- Sometimes give him Conc Pots
- Let him land kills if people are low and he’s running heal on kill
Support synergy:
- Stagger breakpoints with Prayer of Might
- Heal Regen with WS and GK
- Monster damage increase with everyone
- Shade and Slayer for 10 Second Shields
Sienna
Sienna
Battle Wizard
Offers lots of Staggers, chips down enemies with AoE, making them easier to kill.
Lingering Flame is overkill for anything around Cata, until Cata+ or modifiers, BUT it can replace having a Special killer, if you’re something like Slayer/GK/WpoS/BW.
Flamethrower can be used with Inspirational Shots for more Support.
How to support this Career:
- Feed her THP
- Give her all kinds of Pots
Support synergy:
- When using Flame Sword, SoTT, due to THP generation
Pyromancer
Provides lots of chip damage, which makes enemies easier to kill for the team.
The Career Skill Talent Bonded Flame has really good synergy with SoTT.
How to support this Career:
- Create space for her
- Feed her Conc pots for Bosses, as Hunter Procs allow you to CC Boss while chunking it
Support synergy:
- When using Flame Sword, SoTT, due to THP generation
Unchained
Offers lots of Stagger.
Chain Reaction is a bit too RNG to be effective, and only Staggers smaller enemies.
Enfeebling Flames unfourtunately only applies while enemies are actually burning, and burn ticks last a very short time. Also, due to the amount of Power you have, enemies are usually Staggered if they’re on fire, so the DMGR debuff never even has a chance to work. Using Coruscation, or specifically using this on Bosses could make it slightly useful, but generally, just think about how much uptime this actually has, and then think about how much uptime it has AND an enemy is capable of attacking you too.
Flamethrower can be used with Inspirational Shots for more Support.
I would honestly like to see a 6-10 second timer added on to Enfeebling Flames.
Bomb Balm is obviously the most beneficial Career Skill Talent, for you and your team.
How to support this Career:
- Don’t shoot her
Support synergy:
- When using Flame Sword, SoTT, due to THP generation, and Bonded Flame THP
Necromancer
As with any ARPG, the summons soak damage, block enemies, and get enemy aggro. Using the Control Skull, you can set the Skeletons to hold a specific position, increasing the damage they can soak too.
Using Dread Seneschal also allows you to Stagger lots of enemies, when you send the Skeletons to attack a target.
Army of The Dead can give you even more Skelly’s to block and aggro enemies.
How to support this Career:
- Create Space
- Generate THP
Support synergy:
- When using Flame Sword, SoTT, due to THP generation