New Xbox Player - Looking for Tips/Answers!

Hello All,

I’m new to the Vermintide series (big 40K nerd though), and I’ve been playing it for a couple weeks now. Enjoying the game a lot so far, although that is sometimes in spite of it’s attempts to annoy me. :slight_smile:

I’m pretty much permanently playing Quickplay on Veteran at this point, maining an Ironbreaker Bardin who I’ve leveled up to 25 (my talents are set to MMMML, in case anyone wanted to know). My overall power is up to something like 425, and my drops are around 200 power now (I’ve heard this number just increases over time, as you get more loot?). I’m rocking an Axe/Shield and dragon pistols. However, as long as I get paired with a decent group, I must say Veteran is getting pretty trivial to beat.

Anyway, I’m just trying to get better at the game, as well as getting answers to a few general questions that have been bugging me:

  1. What is the best way to use the IB Ult? I mostly use it by running into crowds and trying to get them to aggro on me, since I can take the hits. However, it doesn’t seem to affect bosses by default, and most hordes of regular enemies tend to get melted down pretty quick either way. What are the usual circumstances in which the IB Ult is most useful? I’ve heard it can interrupt bosses (like the Chaos Spawn when it grabs someone) - is that true?

  2. Is weapon+shield worth it? I’ve seen conflicting opinions here about the shields being useless, and a 2H being your best option. However, the shield bash seems really useful for crowd control, as well as clearing a path if you get surrounded. Axe+Shield feels really good to me, but admittedly I haven’t spent a ton of time using the other options.

  3. The dragon pistols - I love them. I’m a little unclear as to how the alt-fire functions though. Is it like a shotgun blast (extremely short range, high damage, high spread)? It seems useful for clearing large numbers of trash enemies in front of you, but also doesn’t seem to hit very hard. Also, does the standard projectile fire have any sort of splash damage? I’ve gotten the sense that they require a direct hit, but it can be hard to tell when you’re lobbing them into groups of trash.

Now for more general questions:

  • Is the PC version of the game more “fully featured” than the Xbox version right now? I’ve seen references to hats and cosmetics in the game, but outside of the frames and stuff you can get from the Okri challenges, I’ve not seen anything. My IB has one set of armor, and one helm - nothing else.

  • Does the game seriously not check which character you’ve chosen when matchmaking? Sometimes I have to re-matchmake 3-4 times, because it tries to match me with groups that already have a Bardin, instead of prioritizing groups that don’t. Am I missing something here?

  • What is Ranald’s Blessing? I’ve never understood what affects how “much” of it you get at the end.

  • How much of a jump in difficulty is Champion versus Veteran? The last thing I want us to be a useless boat anchor for someone else’s group, and the friendly fire stipulation has me a little “spooked”. but Veteran just feels like it’s getting a bit routine.

Answers to these questions, and/or any other tips you can give me, would be much appreciated!

Welcome!

PC Gamer here.

At Veteran IB can make things feel trivial and can actually teach you some bad habits that become really pronounced when you progress to higher levels.

IB can soak up hits that would often down another character and as such makes you less likely to use the dodge and block as properly as you might with another character, Go and play Witch Hunter Captain or Huntsman to really show up your reliance on the gromril armour.

insert IB legend player refute all my comments here

As you get higher difficulties the amount of armoured enemies increases exponentially, so weapons that are anti-armour are used far more often. I see IB playing with axe and shield at champion and higher most often though, and there are huge debates for every character and career which one is “best”. The weapons most used are usually pretty good at anti armour and pretty good a crowd control.

The Dragon Pistols are loads of fun on veteran, but playing as anyone else getting hammered in the back by someone with Drakefire Pistols on champion and getting FF is really annoying. I MEAN really annoying.

Don’t even trigger the PC crowd when it comes to Hats/cosmetics etc. PC droprates for cosmetics from commendation chests are at something like <2% with no bad luck protection and no duplicate protection. Start a new thread about cosmetics if you want to see people foaming at the mouth and chewing the edge of their desk in rage about it. You have been warned.

The game checks for each game in your region (medium range?) and checks for any that have a free IB slot. If there are none in your range with a free slot it will extend the range. If there are no free IB slots in “long range” then it’ll connect you with a game and offer you another choice. I guess lots of XBOX players use IB.

Ranalds blesssing is pure luck, as ranald is the Warhammer god of tricksters it’s just up to the little sod whether he fists you or not.

The Jump to champ is quite big as your first character, as the specials spawn a lot more frequently and a lot more varied. Also the AI director in general takes another big sniff of marching powder and goes on a bit of a mental one every now and then. Hordes+boss+2 specials is not uncommon. Anti armour, highest power you can get and clever use of traits on trinkets helps here although you’re definitely going to get carried through until you get at least max power and good traits on all your stuff (have fun rerolling!)

In reality FF is negligible, as I main Sienna fireball staff and bomb the hell out of people IF it looks like they’re getting surrounded or mobbed. HOWEVER, changing my playstyle to hop onto things or climb up a little rock makes it easier to fire mobs in the distance without Kruber getting in a mood about being roasted. Also a Shade attacking a boss often gets pummeled as I can’t see the damn elf being sneaky.

If you change character and craft a weapon for them it will be similar power to the highest level IB weapon you got. So If you got a power 296 shield and axe and you swap to Witch Hunter and craft a falcion, you’ll get a power 296ish weapon. Gives you a boost when swapping to a level 1 character.

TL;DR Change characters to see how IB relies on soaking up chip hits, and try to get to level 30 so you at least got 300 hero power going in. Git Gud at sniping specials and keeping an eye on whats behind you. Learn dodge/dancing for the bosses when you can.

[edit] you can also host a game and make it private to see exactly how well you think you’ll do in Champion without hassling other players, although this might make things worse as all your bots will be level 1 and you’ll get walloped a lot as the bots go down really quickly.

That’s pretty much a personal thing, and one you will just have to learn through experimenting and experience. Blocking a corridor, taking the attention of an aggroed patrol, reviving a friend and just making space for a while are all valid uses. Just don’t use it at every available opportunity, and don’t sit on it until it’s absolutely necessary. While it is a good tool to get out of troublesome situations, it’s better used if you can prevent that troublesome situation to begin with. So don’t use it when you’re surrounded, use it when you’re about to get surrounded. Same goes for many other Career skills, really. Experience will teach you to see these situations. If you’re on voice comms, a good idea is to inform your companions of skill use in tight situations.

Axe and Shield is workable, the other Shield weapons pretty much aren’t. While the Shield gives a wider block arc, an extra Stamina shield and stronger pushes, those really aren’t enough to balance the lack of mobility, with all the block-breaking stuff that exists. Combined with atrocious armor-piercing on anything not an Axe, this makes Shields generally bad. Axe and Shield has usable combos, including a very good bash and good AP to drag it back to useable status, but you might want to try something else too. Most of Bardin’s melee weapons are quite good at both armor and hordes, just test them and find one to suit your style.

You’ve got it pretty much right. It’s a close range blast that can decimate rat swarms in front of you, and significantly harm Chaos Fanatics too. Just don’t forget your melee weapon, especially as your only defense while shooting is dodge.

I think the only significant difference is that PC has mods. Random cosmetic awards (for now, only hats) drop only from Commendation chests, and they’re rare.

There should be an option for this buried in the menus, but I’m not sure of XBox and how well it actually works. I personally play quite a lot of different stuff and very rarely do it with randoms, so no personal experience here.

It’s a random addition to your loot level, ranging from near-zero to 1.5 loot levels. Nothing you do affects it.

The jump is high, and you’ll likely feel a bit useless at the beginning. It doesn’t really matter, and it’ll pass. Everyone is there at some point. The most significant change is the addition of Friendly Fire, that luckily doesn’t apply to melee weapons and only does a little damage. With certain weapons and attack it still hurts and it’s distracting (and can eat up some vital defensive abilities) so you still want to be careful. If you’re routinely (and easily) completing full book runs on Veteran, I’d say you’re ready to try Champion. If you still want to build up your confidence, try doing a few Deeds if possible. Some Deeds, especially oranges, will end up being actually harder than the next difficulty up, so if you can clear those you can be pretty confident of your abilities.

Or just Ranger Veteran, as he already has abilities and weapons you’re already familiar with.

Good call with the ranger vet.

One thing about crafting the weapons, every time you craft them there’s a chance to get a -+5% based on the highest power level weapon/necklace/trinket/etc you own, if I’m not wrong. So, keep making them.
Please people double check my advice.
Also check here in the lounge there is a gooooood post about IB (git gut guide series)
not posting it because I don’t remember the cross threads rules :stuck_out_tongue:

You can only craft equal or lower power items, sadly.

how on earth do u play vermintide with a controller

I checked again, because I feel like there was something, but memory works only when I’m drunk…
According to Gampedia Wikiand to my (very bad) memory
As you level up each hero you’ll learn recipes to craft their Equipment.
Crafting an item costs 10 scrap, and the results are mostly random. The power of a crafted item is determined by the highway power the player has seen in that slot, +/-10. For example if you’ve seen a charm that was 150 power the next charm you craft or loot will be between 140 and 160 power.
and reddit - Efficient progression guide
Crafting weapons will help increase your “highest item power seen” faster. But upgrading Blues to Oranges can be a large spike in strength since Traits can be decisive. Those are the two most efficient ways to spend your scrap before you get Reds.
So, there’s something, but I went throught it a long time ago (and I’m not drunk) so I don’t remember exactly, just I have a hunch about it.
Anyway upgrading an existing weapon doesn’t affect that weapon power level. You can only change the properties and the trait.

If I played a more range-focused character, I suspect I’d be more annoyed by the limitations of a controller. I’ve largely avoided even using stuff like the crossbow with Bardin, because of it too.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I’ve decided to play Veteran difficulty until I at least get my IB to lvl 30, even though its getting really dull now, haha. I’m pretty much always the leader in just about every category by the end, unless I’ve got a group with people even more advanced than me.

Only time I seem to wipe any more, is when a Chaos Spawn spawns, and the other people in my party make the baffling decision to try and run away from it - so it chases everyone down and kills them one by one while quickly getting back to max health. Drives me bananas every time.

Ahh yeah but that kind of mindless stuff doesn’t happen (often) in champion because people know how to deal with it. Stepping up gets you with groups of a better class of player… maybe… mostly.

probably in Legend, but in Champ it still happens :expressionless:

Yeah, part of the reason I want to jump up to Champ is because I assume it comes with a higher calibre of player. Of course, then I start to worry about ME becoming the weak link, because while I’m not terrible at games and I have some common sense, I’m not really some MLG pro either.

I plan to give it a try for the first time this weekend, and see how it goes. I’ll probably focus more on not screwing up anything for everyone else, than on asserting myself - at least until I get a feel for the difficulty curve compared to Vet.

Well, I’ve now completed about a dozen rounds of Champion difficulty the past few days (I think only one with a 100% book run though). Managed to get a Veteran 2H hammer out of a daily loot box, and my IB is also now at 600 power.

Friendly fire hasn’t been too much of an issue (from my end), though it has resulted in using my drakefire pistols a lot less than I used to (people have an annoying tendency to stand or strafe in front of me when I’m managing a horde with them). Sometimes it’s easier to just pull out your melee and not have to worry about it any more.

Aside from that, just the sheer number of CWs Champion throws at you sometimes can be a little overwhelming. Everything else has been pretty manageable, unless you get a team of incompetents.

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