Warhammer: Vermintide 2 News

“Rat-beast! Looks angry, darlings!” - Sienna

The Grudge Mark Update will be released this week on October 28, and today we are taking you on a deep dive into the update to look at the different attributes and more.

"With the End Times approaching, Okri's grown concerned that a number of long-held grudges might go unfulfilled. Accordingly, he's taken the unusual step of asking the Ubersreik Five to settle accounts (as drengbarazi, they're as near to being honourary dwarfs as makes no difference) for families wiped out by war."

Want to know more about the message from Okri to Lohner? You can read the Lohner’s Chronicle by clicking here.


[h2]A New Challenge[/h2]
Encountering a monster with two spears poking out through its back will provide an extra challenge in the Chaos Wastes. A Grudge Marked monster spawns at the end of an expedition in an arena, or from a Chest of Trials.

[h3]Attributes [/h3]
“Remember your training, mates.” - Kruber

Attributes change the flow of battle. Learn the attributes and learn them well (by heart is our advice). You will rarely encounter a monster with the same attributes twice.

Depending on the difficulty and progress in an expedition, the number of attributes a Grudge Marked monster can spawn with varies. The minimum amount is 0, and the maximum is 3. Even a monster with no attributes is a little tougher than its unmarked counterpart.

[h3]ATTRIBUTES PER DIFFICULTY:[/h3]



[h3]LIST OF ATTRIBUTES[/h3]

• Shadow-Step
  Mark has a chance to warp to random locations near the player when hit.
  
• Illusionist
  Mark periodically summons 3 mirror images of itself.
  
• Relentless
  Mark cannot be staggered.
  
• Mighty
  Mark periodically deals more damage.
  
• Vampiric
  Mark heals from the damage it deals to players (and bots!).
  
• Rampart
  Mark is immune to ranged damage.
  
• Invincible
  Mark periodically becomes immune to damage.
  
• Crippling
  Mark severely cripples players it deals damage to.
  
• Shield-Shatter
  Mark breaks blocks and briefly prevents stamina regeneration.
  
• Regenerating
  Mark regenerates health over time.

[h2]Now It’s Personal[/h2]
Another feature that helps distinguish a Grudge Marked monster from a run-of-the-mill boss is their names. Each Grudge Marked enemy will have a name to set it apart from the others.

[h2]Challenges & New rewards[/h2]
Okri is providing more challenges to complete in the Grudge Marks update. In total 60 new challenges will be added together with new rewards: 15 new character skin color variations. You can track the progress of these challenges in Okri’s Book from within the Keep.

*Owners of a Premium Career(s) will receive 4 extra challenges per career to unlock an extra skin color variation per owned career.

An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.



It’s turning into a bit of a crossroads, hereabouts. No mean feat when you’re halfway up a mountain and shrouded in seething shadow magic. And that’s before you get into the fact that my lads are watching the roads and Kerillian’s … well, trees, I guess … are watching the rest.

Blessed Sigmar, but you wouldn’t catch me straying through the nearby woods at night. Then again, I’ve seen what happens to those what do. Parts and pieces everywhere and some very pleased-looking ash-trees lining a suspiciously welcoming-looking path. The trees are bloodstained too, of course, but folk do still try. They probably don’t stop to think that the trees ain’t the worst of it.

Case in point, I saw one of the spites kicking an eyeball around the cellar yesterday. Pretty little thing she was, at least at first blush. No bigger than my hand, with gossamer wings, moth antennae and a sugar-sweet smile. Then she took a big old bite out of the eyeball with a mouthful of jagged teeth. Part of me wants to lock my bedchamber door at night. Most of me knows that’ll not stop the spites getting in, if they’ve the mind. Still, I’ve not seen a rat about the place since the spites moved in, and it’s a poor heart that never rejoices.

Anyway, arboreal accidents notwithstanding, we’ve had a fair few guests of late.

First there was my old vampire acquaintance – still can’t remember her blessed name, and I didn’t dare ask – who had a few choice things to say about old Balthasar Gelt. Seems our esteemed patriarch of the colleges is venturing into new horizons. I’m sure it’ll end well.

No sooner had she cleared off into the night than Gorin Baldor shows up with a few more bits and bobs for my old Emporium and a promise of aid in my – as yet fruitless – search for Hedda Bardinsdottir. He drives a hard bargain, does that dwarf, but he’s a terrible card player, so I managed to finagle him down with a bit of careful dealing, if you take my meaning. Not strictly ethical, but Gorin had it coming. You don’t get to amass his sort of wealth without pulling the odd swindle of the unsuspecting. In fact, now I think on it he hasn’t been welcome in Nuln for some years now. Then again, that countess they have down there knows how to hold a grudge.

Last up was a fellow claiming to be an old mate of Kruber’s – one Grullman Grosz, onetime mercenary captain. Had a fearful look in his eye, he did, and a tall tale about how some old debt was coming due on those who held the line at Grossebad. No idea what he meant by that, and I didn’t have chance to ask. Went haring off into the night, he did, rags, unkempt beard and all.

Probably ought to tell Kruber about it, when he gets back. Might do a bit of digging on my lonesome as well, just in case he’s not forthcoming.

On October 28th there will be new Premium Cosmetics available in Lohner’s Emporium of Wonders on all platforms. There will be one all-new character skin and hat for each hero, totaling up to 10 new premium cosmetics.

Each of the cosmetics will be available in bundles and as separate items on Steam.

Previews of the items follow below, but for a closer look at each piece, check out the Dev Blog over on the Official Vermintide Website

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[h2]TAAL’S HUNTSMAN[/h2]

Embrace your inner beast and roam the Stirland wilderness as a champion of King Taal.

Career: Huntsman


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[h2]ELLYRIAN HANDMAIDEN[/h2]

Don the garb of a temple handmaiden of Ellyrian; stern, austere and unflinching before those who would threaten Ulthuan.

Career: Handmaiden


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[h2]LONG DRONG'S LANDLUBBER[/h2]

It's time to set sail for plunder with the famed slayer pirates. Or it would be, if there was any sign of their ship.

Career: Slayer


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[h2]MOLTEN MOTLEY[/h2]

Garb fit for the most magmatic of magicians. Unleash the fury of Aqshy in inimitable style.

Career: Battle Wizard


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[h2]ACOLYTE OF SEA & STORM[/h2]

Though the shipwreck drowned your companions, Sigmar has saved you for a higher purpose - one steeped in skaven blood.

Career: Zealot

An absent-minded man of mysteries, Franz Lohner relies on his bulging journal to keep track of occurrences, intrigues and arguments around Taal's Horn Keep. Sometimes his notes are even useful, believe it or not. The Franz Lohner Chronicles are extracts from that journal.



Well, this is one of them red letter days. Literally, I mean, because I’ve had another missive from Okri in its usual natty red envelope. At least, I think I have. It’s hard to be certain of a letter’s provenance when you’ve never seen its author. Harder still when said letter shows up in a variety of unusual ways.

Okri - and let’s assume it is Okri, for the sake of sanity and wotnot - is an inventive soul. I’ve had letters sent down the chimney. Delivered by couriers of all shapes and sizes. Although that ogre had eaten half the envelope before I wrangled it off him, price of dying it in blood, I suppose. Carrier pigeon, that was another one. Bardin ate it, as I recall. The book of challenges was dropped off by airship, or so I understand. It was a cloudy day. Endless ingenuity at work. I admire a fellow who puts in the effort, if I’m honest.

Anyhow, everyone’s totally real dwarf has a new task for our delightful Ubersreik Five. Seems that a few grudges have gone past the point of aging gracefully, and have now become urgent business. Specifically, there’s a bunch of monstrous individuals lolloping around, and Okri has marked them for death. A Grudge Mark, if you will - and I would, if I could.

Alas, the hunting of ferocious beasties is long behind this grizzled grey head of mine, but it sounds like a splendid way for the Five to keep themselves limber, doesn’t it? Everyone wins. Okri gets his grudges settled. The Ubersreik Five get a bit of much needed exercise. And me? Well, never you mind. It’s win-win. Well, not for the monsters, but I think we can count them as being acceptable casualties, all things considered. Not that they’ll be easy targets - these are the worst of the worst, with a bevy of cruel characteristics that’ll keep our heroes on their toes.

Should be fun. Worthy of song, even. Might even have another crack at poetry, if I’m stirred to it. Five Go Slaughtering Monsters. Not sure about that as a title, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

Of course, I’ll have to be a bit more circumspect about the particulars this time. I don’t want to set Kerillian off, as she’s not one to respect the bounds of poetic licence. We’ll keep it all anonymous this time around. Yes! That’s the stuff of folk tales: desperate danger, slavering monsters, plucky heroes - an unspoken whiff of romance between Cerrilian the archer and Kroober the proud knight. All carefully separated from reality, and thus old Franz safe from the doghouse.

And if it all goes wrong, I’ll just blame Okri. It’s not like anyone’s to know better, is it?

On October 28th the free update Grudge Marks will be available on all platforms together with Geheimnisnacht. Besides the new content, we have also added some Quality of Life changes, and in this dev blog you can read all about the upcoming changes.

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[h2]ENHANCED TAB MENU[/h2]
The TAB menu has gotten a make-over. The new features will show the equipped equipment of all the players and a new, more condensed layout, makes it easier to see any incoming enemies even when viewing the TAB overlay. The new overlay also shows active modifiers for the mission in progress and maintains the original functionality you’re accustomed to, such as muting players or being able to click through to their community profile on Steam.



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[h2]STEAM RICH PRESENCE[/h2]
Steam Rich Presence has been added to Vermintide 2! You can now easily spot if your fellow ratsmashers need another hero to fight alongside them, what difficulty they are playing, and which mission.



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[h2]OPENING MULTIPLE CHESTS AT ONCE[/h2]
This hardly requires much of an introduction: in the next update players will be able to open multiple chests at once! It’s possible to see the quality of the items in opened chests which aren’t the current focus, so for those just grinding out reds, a cursory scan of the dots atop the screen will let you know if a red item was pulled from an opened chest.





The border on the [OPEN 5] button indicates the last action done, so you can repeat it by just pressing spacebar.

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[h2]BATCH REWARD POPUPS[/h2]
Whilst not the most common of problems, it’s certainly an egregious one when it raises its head. Previously, when a player was awarded a bunch of items whilst not in the game (say through the purchase of a DLC), each item would be awarded one a time when they next logged in. Now, when the player logs in, they will be presented with an interface showing them all the items obtained that they can browse at their leisure or simply close off and get back to the game. No more waiting to cycle through a train of pop-ups. Nice.



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[h2]MORE INFO IN THE MISSION SELECT SCREEN[/h2]
The Mission select screen has seen some love, now showing players information about completion statistics, such as which heroes have bested the mission and how many of the total collectibles have been found within each mission.



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[h2]OKRI'S CHALLENGES QOL FEAT. A SEARCH BAR[/h2]
Gone are the days where you have to flick through pages and pages of challenges to find the status of a specific ask from Okri. A search bar has been added allowing you to easily find a specific challenge and see its completion state. You’re also able to use text-based queries, such as reward:art or completed:true in order to bring up a list of specific challenges that meet the query.

These are the currently available filters: