Warhammer: Vermintide 2 News

Welcome to Year 2, Season 1 of the community-run Onslaught Tournament Series!

Pre-tourney show: 28th of May, 4-7pm UTC (12-3pm ET // 6-9 CEST // 5-8pm BST)
Tier 1 (Cata 1 Deathwish Onslaught) games: 29th of May, same times as above.
Tier 2 (Cata 3 Deathwish Onslaught) games: 30th of May, same times as above.

The tournament format tests consistency and skill, giving teams of four players three hours to complete four maps in a specific order with three attempts each map. Each failed attempt deducts points from a team’s overall score, with forfeited maps deducting the full amount of points for that map. There will be an optional score modifier for teams in either tier to adopt at their own discretion, which is earned by completing the same maps on Onslaught+ instead of regular Onslaught.

The map pool will be announced on May 15th in the Onslaught Series Discord.

There are two tiers to compete in: Tier 1 (Cataclysm 1 Deathwish Onslaught) and Tier 2 (Cataclysm 3 Deathwish Onslaught).

There's also a prize pool accrued by the tournament organiser and donations from FS, up for grabs by the winners and runner-ups for each respective tier:

Tier 1:

• 2 Vermintide posters
  
• 2 Warhammer 40k: Space Marine collections
  
• 2 Forgotten Relics codes
  
• 2 VT2 Collector's Edition codes

Tier 2:

• 2 VT2 hoodies or tees
  
• 4 serpent frames
  
• 2 character packs

There is a comprehensive set of rules which can be found in the Discord, but two notable rules worth mentioning here are as follows:

• All teams MUST be able to produce a recording on the same day as the tournament, or stream it and have an accessible vod to review, or risk disqualification.
  
• Shade is banned for this tournament.

On top of this, as normal there will be a shoutcast on all 3 days of the event streamed at https://www.twitch.tv/fightthetide, with shoutcasters ScareCrowClock (previously known as Rain Guy), and the original creator of Onslaught, Grimalackt.

The signups are now open! In the appropriate channel in the discord, please state your team name, the names of each of your players and which tier you'd like to compete in.

Hope to see you all there!

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.



I finally had a chance to have a natter with Sienna the other day. What with the Drachenfels business, the Citadel of Eternity and all the other nonsense that’s going on, I don’t feel like we’ve had a proper chat in absolutely ages. Haven’t seen the need, if I’m honest. For all her idiosyncrasies, Sienna’s probably the most level-headed of the lot. 

Which ain’t to say she doesn’t have her moments. She’s been a bit withdrawn of late, and some of the lads say she’s been romping around in the catacombs beneath the keep. No idea what she thinks she’s going to find down there that generations of looters haven’t. Possibly she just wants a bit of peace and quiet. Bardin’s discovered the joy of brass instruments, and if you thought “Over the Mountain” carried far and wide when sung, you don’t know the half of it.

Anyway, the thing I really wanted to ask Sienna about was her newfound worship of Myrmidia. Well, I say worship, but all told I think Sienna sees it as more of a meeting of equals – you know, one incandescent ball of light to another. I’ll be honest, Estalians always seem a bit that way: happier to walk beside the gods than to kneel before them. 

What it all comes down to, apparently, is justice. Our Sienna’s never been one to stand by and watch while inequity turns to insult. Half the items on that docket of charges Saltzpyre insists on keeping around relate to her taking a stand on behalf of the wronged. Myrmidia’s a bit the same, at least in some stories – never afraid to side with a valiant but doomed cause.

I mean, we’ve all heard the story of the Battle of Magritta, haven’t we? You know, how a handful of Knights Panther were saved from certain defeat by a plunging statue of Myrmidia? Crushed the enemy warlord and his elite guard flat as a Stirland pancake, turning the tide of the battle. Now, you and I might think that was just a convenient tremor did the work, but those knights didn’t think so. Founded the Order of the Blazing Sun that very day, they did. 

There are others, too. Captain Johan Brecke. He held the bridge at Brannicksdorf alone against three hundred roaring orcs, until the wheatfields caught flame and roasted the greenskins alive and set the rest to flight. Or how about Venassa, Countess of Talabheim, who escaped execution on false charges of treason when the sun burst from behind the clouds and blinded the headsman with the reflection from his own axe? And there are hundreds more.

Could be these are all embellishments or straight up delusions. Of course it could. But Sienna believes them, and I confess I’m tempted to myself. Got a bit of a mind to be a folk hero, does our Bright Wizard, turning back the unrighteous tide of an unhappy world. Can’t argue with that – I’m not made of stone – but it has got me wondering what happens when it dawns on her that you can only hold back the tide so long.

I mean, drowning aside, obviously.

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.



One of the benefits of our little forays into the Chaos Wastes is that I’m learning all sorts of interesting things. Take the notorious Count Mordrek the Damned. It’s a name I’ve heard scores of times over the years, and always in connection with the bloodiest of battles. Sometimes he wins, sometimes he loses, but he’s always back again after the curtain call, ready to give it the full Brass Keep beatdown all over again.

You see, Mordrek – if that’s really his name – is the recipient of a nasty little gift that scholars call “Living Damnation”. Catchy little name, ain’t it? The Chaos Gods just won’t let him die, it seems, though they’re certainly ready and willing to make his life miserable. Plenty of Chaos worshippers find themselves accumulating all manner of grisly mutations over time, be they useful – if unsightly – things like horns, tails, wings etc. or simple blemishes, goitres or revolting cosmetic accessories, like fur, scales or translucent skin.

I knew a fellow with translucent skin once, back in my mercenary days. Terrible card player. Every time he bluffed, you could see right through him. But I digress.

Mordrek’s not only functionally unkillable – it’s not so much a series of deaths and resurrections he experiences as it is a succession of pauses – he’s in a state of constant physical and mental flux, poor bugger, always teetering on the edge of becoming a Chaos Spawn. It’s a wonder he can make conversation at all, though I’m told he does. Erudite speaker, in fact – which most northlanders ain’t – with a flair for dramatic, purple prose … if in a maudlin, self-loathing kind of way.

I’ve lost my thread. Why did I start talking about this? That’s right! The Chaos Wastes.

So it turns out we’ve actually found the bugger’s fortress! I’ve been hearing rumours for years, but it’s not as though you get a lot of reliable witnesses passing south through the Chaos Wastes. Not ones you’d trust with a knife, or even a spoon. But yes, the legendary fortress of Count Mordrek the Damned is still out there … and like him, it’ll probably be around until the end of the world, which by my reckoning could be any time now.

I couldn’t tell you how, or why, but Mordrek’s fortress is every bit as resolute as its master. Knock it down, and it grows right up again, ready to face the next assault. We could do with a few of those in the Empire, I can tell you. Save a lot on building costs, it would, especially when the greenskins start tromping around and looking to cause mischief.

An immortal castle up in the northlands is simply asking for trouble … and at the moment, that trouble comes in the form of our conniving little ratman friends. Right now, they’ve got the whole area locked down in an endless siege. Either the skaven can’t take a hint, or they’ve seen opportunity in those cursed ruins. Maybe it’s the spoor of magic, or maybe that they can’t resist the challenge of casting it down. Doesn’t matter much to me. Every ratman that dies in the siege lines is one less ratman for us to kill.

I wonder if Mordrek knows his fortress is taking a beating? I must ask the Five to keep an eye out for him.

REVERTED THIS HOTFIX DUE TO CAUSING A 100% CRASH

Hotfix 4.3.0.7

- 10 May 2021

• Fixed an issue where some Pilgrim’s Coins would not carry over between runs since 4.3.0.6. ​

REVERTED THIS HOTFIX DUE TO CAUSING A 100% CRASH

- 05 May 2021

• Fixed various miscellaneous crashes.
  
• Fixed some issues where Skaven spawners weren't functioning as expected.
  
• Blueprint illusions for Forgotten Relic weapons should now be named correctly.
  
• Made Blessing of Isha trigger when an assassin, Life Leach or Packmaster grabs the last player
  
• Allowed Shade to gain critbuff from ult even when hidden from stealth on backstabs.
  
• Engineer procing extra shot will no longer consume extra ability power.
  
• Mask of the Shadow-Slayer hood now shows Kerillian's neck as expected, instead of a void.
  
• Naggarond Backstabber no longer has a green emissive on certain settings.
  
• Re-introduced the Winds of Magic soundtrack for players playing Weaves.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Engineer procing extra shot will no longer consume extra ability power.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Fixed talent boons not being granted properly in map shrines.
  
• Chaos Wastes - It's now possible to rebind the Chaos Wastes inventory key. (via 'Menus' -> 'Inventory Hotkey')
  
• Chaos Wastes - Bardin's Cog Hammer now benefits from being eligible for the correct traits in the Chaos Wastes.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Reduced bot damage to 30% for the Bolt of Change to avoid bots getting killed too easily.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Made Blessing of Isha trigger when an assassin, Life Leach or Packmaster grabs the last player.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Sorcerors will no longer spawn in Khorne arena events.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Bel'sha'ziier's Mine - Fixed some floating items and stuck enemy/bot spots and some spots where players could get stuck.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Bel'sha'ziier's Mine - Fixed an issue where the end event could be considered finished before being truly finished.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Bel'sha'ziier's Mine - Added a fail safe to avoid softlocking the events incase a player disconnects whilst holding an event barrel. If such happens, a new barrel will spawn in after a period of time.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Holseher'sTower - Fixed various performance/vista issues.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Holseher'sTower - Fixed some squiffy hang ledges, out of bounds areas, floating items and stuck enemy/bot spots.
  
• Chaos Wastes - Arena of Determination - Fixed various performance/vista issues.
  
• Adventure - Old Haunts - Fixed an issue where players further in the map would spawn back at the Church.
  
• Adventure - Old Haunts - Fixed an spot where bots would refuse to help a downed player.
  
• Adventure - Old Haunts - Fixed an spot where enemies could climb through floor gate before it had opened.
  
• Adventure - Old Haunts - Fixed an spot where players could get stuck.

For a list of previous hotfixes and the main 4.3 patch notes, see the following announcement:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/552500/view/4706800454271866592

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.


Rotbloods. It’s always those bleeding Rotbloods, ain’t it? Now, I’m not saying there’s a spy in our midst – though I wouldn’t put it beyond the bounds of possibility – but they do always seem to be snapping at our heels. Doesn’t help, of course, that they’re currently in possession of much of the territory around the Citadel of Eternity, but that don’t make it any less frustrating. Maybe they’re attracted by the smell?

(Note to self, make sure Kruber bathes more often. Or at all.)

Anyway, it’s always been a bit of a puzzle to me that anyone – Rotbloods included – would worship Nurgle. It’s not like doing so keeps you safe from plague, is it? I mean … look at them. Just a bunch of filth, corrosion and weeping sores. But Olesya set me straight – as she does so like to do. Seems for a lot of northlanders, it ain’t about preventing the plague so much as stopping it from killing you. Pestilence and the prostrate in symbio-thingy … symbiosis, that’s the word. It living off you, and making you stronger as a result.

Still gives me the shudders. I mean, if something starts feasting on your flesh, you scrape it off or cut it out, don’t you? Stands to reason. They’re a funny lot up north, and no mistake.

Speaking of funny … According to Marius Holseher’s Liber Malefic, old Nurgle’s a bit of a jolly soul. Paternal, even, with a big belly laugh and a fondness for his followers … the same followers he infects with all manner of suppurating disease. Odd kind of love, but I suppose we’re not supposed to understand the gods, are we? Probably go mad trying, which would certainly explain a few things about some of my acquaintances. Not the Ubersreik Five, of course. Which ain’t to say they’re not odd enough in their own ways.

For all that Kerillian claims to be seeking Lileath’s blessing on these pilgrimages, she does seem to be a bit more … pantheonistic than she used to be. I catch her muttering other names when she doesn’t think I’m listening. Isha. Atharti. Morai-Heg. Hekarti. Someone called the Pale Queen. A few, I’ve heard before, but the tone’s different this time. The fear’s gone. It’s almost like she’s pleading. Imagine that, our Kerillian, begging for something. I’d talk to her about it, but Sienna’s made it quite clear that I should leave her be. I’m sure it’ll work out.

Well, almost sure.

At least Saltzpyre seems to be a little more like his old self. Even called Olesya a “contemptuous purveyor of mendacious witchcraft” yesterday, so he’s definitely on the mend. Like his faith’s been tested, and come back stronger. It can happen that way. As for Catrinne, she’s even more besotted than before. The more oblivious he gets, the more determined she becomes.

Don’t ask me. I just work here.