The core experience of Warhammer Vermintide 2 is a familiar one to gamers. In the vein of Left 4 Dead and Payday, players take a group of four and try to complete various maps and missions. These games are almost impossible to play solo as the bots will frequently drop the ball or ignore objectives.
The good news for those who like solo play in this style of game is that Warhammer Vermintide 2 makes the single-player experience possible. Some will prefer this style so that they can get all of the tomes and grimoires without depending on human teammates to do their jobs. However, getting the team ready for this experience will take a lot of work.
Making Bots Carry Books
Perhaps the scariest proposition of having bots is that they won't carry the tomes and grimoires required to get the best loot in the game. Thankfully, there is a way to command them to pick up these items.
On a controller, hold the right bumper while looking at the item. Then move the right thumbstick in the direction of the desired character and let go of the bumper. On the mouse and keyboard, hold the "t" button and then select the desired character with the mouse.
With how lengthy the game is, hoping for good luck with lower-quality chests and vaults is a bad idea. Be sure to pick up all of these on each run.
Selecting The Best Bots
|
Character |
Career |
|
Victor Saltzpyre |
Witch Hunter Captain |
|
Markus Kruber |
Mercenary |
|
Kerillian |
Waystalker |
|
Bardin Goreksson |
Ironbreaker |
There will naturally be some controversy over which classes are the best. That remains true for which bots are the best, but this group is generally amazing and capable of doing the toughest runs.
Witch Hunter Captain boosts damage against tagged monsters (amazing for boss fights). The Mercenary has a group heal for his career skill. The Waystalker is usually loved for its ranged damage, but Kerillian gets multiple group healing effects in her talents. Finally, the Ironbreaker is a natural tank for the squad. If everyone goes down and he is alive, he can often revive the entire group. Sienna is left off of this list because the bosts don't do well ith casting. They don't manage Overcharge well and, while Unchained can be tanky, Bardin fills the rolls better.
To select which bots are used, note the 'Manage Bot Hero Priorities' button on the bottom of the hero selection screen. Click it and then select the ideal career for each character. Click and drag each character up or down to get the hero priority correct. The above chart is listed in order of recommended priority.
Gearing And Leveling Up Bots
Bots will use the equipment and talents of the player when they last used the character. This is where things get tedious; players who want good bots will need to play each of these characters, leveling them up and gearing them with the best equipment.
So players who want to have a "main" class but still solo will essentially need to have four "main" classes. Or, at the very least, level and gear up these bot careers until they are acceptable. For Legend or Cataclysm difficulties, this will take some time. But it is worth the investment.
Mods
It should be noted that while modding can "feel" like cheating, the "Bot Improvement - Combat" mod is heavily recommended. According to the forums, it is no longer on the "approved" list but this appears to be more to do with crashes than because of an unfair advantage.
For those who want to use the game's best mods, this one comes highly recommended.
Creating A Solo Game
- Select Mission > Custom Game > Private Game
Now that the bots are in place, all that needs to be done is play. Look over the quests for some quick Shillings and head over to the 'Select Mission' map marked with a waypoint while at the home fort.
Go to 'Custom Game' tab and then check the 'Private Game' option. Players will then only be able to play on their own or with any friends they invite. If they don't invite anyone, then the three bots will be selected.
Best Solo Career
Note that four bots have been selected in this guide even though players can only bring along three at once. The reason for this is to allow players to play whatever they want to solo with, including Markus, Victory, Kerillian, or Bradin. If players choose one of these characters, then they'll take that character's place in the party. If they use Sienna, then the bottom of the four careers will get dropped.
The group has multiple support characters, frontliners, and a mix of boss and horde damage. There isn't a single role the player won't be able to experience success with. Even so, there are a few that will be able to clear high-difficulty instances faster than others.
The Zealot, Foot Knight, Shade, Outcast Engineer, and Battle Wizard fit right in as damage dealers that can take care of both bosses and hordes alike. Player preference is obviously encouraged, but these are guaranteed to have success.
Warhammer Vermintide 2 is available now for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.