As players approach the endgame in Warhammer Vermintide 2, they'll want to keep an eye out for items that have traits on them. These provided powers akin to talents or class skills; in many cases, they make entire builds functional and unleash the true power of a whole career.
Every character is looking for something different in Warhammer Vermintide 2. Obviously, tank careers will prioritize damage-based traits and blocking traits more. Players will need to judge for themselves what is right for their individual class. But for those looking for what is generally considered the best of the best, this is a good place to start.
10 Explosive Ordinance
- Increases grenade explosion radius by 50%.
Not every class is made equal in every aspect, but bombs and grenades are the great equalizers. Even a support career can toss a grenade with the Explosive Ordinance and expert to clear out every enemy in the vicinity of the landing spot.
9 Proxy
- Consuming a potion spread the effect to the nearest ally.
Getting double the effects on potions would be overpowered, but there is a way to make it happen. Proxy gives two players the same benefit for the price of one. Over the course of a long game, effectively doubling the supply of things like healing potions will save groups on tougher difficulties.
8 Thermal Equalizer
- Weapon generates 20% less overheat.
Managing overcharge is a huge problem; such a large problem that many players rule out Sienna as viable early on in their journeys. However, with a simple trait, the mechanic becomes 20% easier to manage.
Players who use the best build for Sienna will find this trait comes in handy and allows her to keep dealing damage while other builds would have to switch to an inferior weapon.
7 Barrage
- Consecutive attacks against the same targets boost attack power by 5% for 5 seconds. (This effect stacks up to 5 times.)
Players who have farmed up the best red veteran items around will still find their weapon means nothing if they can't take out monsters.
When it comes to bosses, builds designed to take out hordes will be pleased to find that Barrage turns them into a boss-killing machine after a few initial shots.
6 Natural Bond
- Passively regenerates 1 health every 5 seconds. Healing from First Aid Kits and Healing Draughts are converted to temporary health and cure any wound.
The best Kerillian build makes good use of her passive healing. While not every player can get that, they can get a fraction of that power if they find an item with the Natural Bond trait on it. Turning the other healing into temporary bonuses is well worth the tradeoff of having a steady stream of real healing during a lengthy fight.
5 Barkskin
- Taking damage reduces the damage you take from subsequent sources by 40% for 2 seconds. This effect can only trigger every 2 seconds. (This damage reduction is calculated after other effects such as career perks.)
Tanking is something that not every career will want to do but, eventually, every class will have to do it. It's too much to ask that players go through missions scratch-free. Preventing these dangerous moments from being lethal with Barkskin can make even the squishiest hero feel like the best Bardin build by shrugging off the repeated blows before getting to safety.
4 Scrounger
- Critical hits restore 5% of maximum ammunition. Can trigger once per attack.
A tasty 5% of ammunition on critical hits speaks for itself. Especially for players who use bots and go solo, running dry on ammo is a common theme regardless of which ranged physical damage class is used. With a bit of critical strike chance, gamers can turn this worry into a thing of the past.
3 Off Balance
- Blocking an attack increases the damage the attacker takes by 20% for 5 seconds.
Tanks are a welcome addition to the team but only if they can contribute to the squad. It's fine to have a great Markus build that lives forever, but unless they can turn that defense into offense teammates would rather have any other damage-dealing character.
Off Balance blocks attacks and forces the attacker to take an extra 20% damage from all sources for a few seconds. Given that stamina is not eternal, this boost to the team is a must for characters using shields.
2 Shrapnel
- Grenades cause hit enemies to take 20% increased damage for 10 seconds.
Grenades are usually thought of as weapons to use against hordes of opponents, but their effectiveness against bosses shouldn't be downplayed. An extra 2-% damage for ten seconds is a good length of the fight and it stacks with other damage increases. This usefulness against the toughest bosses is what makes an ideal Victor build functional and players can harness that strength through Shrapnel.
1 Resourceful Combatant & Resourceful Sharpshooter
- Melee critical strikes reduce the cooldown of your Career Skill by 5%. Effect can only trigger once every 4 seconds.
- Ranged critical hits reduce the cooldown of your Career Skill by 5%. Effect can only trigger once every 4 seconds.
Combining two traits into one may feel like cheating the list, but they do the same thing, the only difference is if they're on ranged or melee weapons.
Despite all the cute perks and passives, classes are defined by their career skills, usually only usable once every so often. They take a while to charge and the career, during this downtime, is truly not that special. Shortening up this downtime is huge and the Resourceful trait is the key to using these build-defining skills more often.
Warhammer Vermintide 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.