This is probably the last major character update–and possibly one of the last major updates for Warhammer: Vermintide 2. This four player co-op game was the best of its kind until Darktide came around to usurp the throne. But I had a blast going back into Vermintide 2 to check out the new Necromancer career. Vermintide 2 is still an amazingly fun game.
I think we’ve been waiting just over a year for Fatshark to finally release Sienna’s final career. I was convinced for a while there that they were moving onto Darktide completely, and letting the fourth career slot for Sienna remain empty. But the Necromancer is here–and out of all of the possibilities I saw thrown around for Sienna’s final career, Necromancer definitely wasn’t one of them.
Necromancers, thanks to Diablo 2, are usually associated with magic casting characters that can potentially have a small army of undead following them around and doing their bidding. And that’s exactly how Vermintide 2’s Necromancer works. It was something I didn’t believe could fit into Vermintide 2 gameplay seamlessly the way it does. It’s really impressive how well the Necromancer and her abilities fit into the established Ubersreik 4 (or 5… it doesn’t matter).
The talent tree for Necromancer doesn’t give you much wiggle room. Your skeletons are always a part of her build, since it’s her ultimate ability. You can choose to upgrade that, or put more points into her casting abilities. I decided to go full undead army raising, and it’s surprisingly effective. Monster encounters became easier to manage with a group of skeletons putting on melee pressure while the other players can hammer away at it–or take care of other threats that pop up during the fight.
The skeletons have three modes: fight, defend, and travel. You can direct them to attack or defend. The only problem with this, is that her item that controls the skeletons is shared with the potion slot–making it easy to accidentally drink potions when you’re just trying to set your skeletons on a defensive line, or get them to attack an enemy. The skeletons you summon can also go where players can’t: if you have them attack a distant enemy, they can use the same paths the enemy takes–so that means over unclimbable ledges, etc.
The Necromancer career also comes with two unique weapons – the soul staff and the scythe, or technically the Soulstealer Staff and Ensorcelled Reaper. At first, I didn’t really like the reaper’s swing pattern–but it didn’t take me long to get used to it, and now it’s one of my favorite weapons. The Soulstealer Staff is one of Sienna’s most unique weapons, and allows you to fire bolts of fire. It also has a secondary mode that works a bit like the Psyker’s head pop from Darktide, it just requires you to keep line of sight of the enemy.
While I’m excited to play Sienna’s new career, it might be a little too late for my group. I know there are others out there that still primarily play Vermintide 2 and even prefer it over Darktide–but with Darktide’s new class overhaul, it’s hard to find time to get back to Vermintide 2. Which is a shame, because it scratches a different itch than Darktide, and it’s one of the best 4 player co-op games ever. And the Necromancer career is the perfect excuse to go back and kick some Skaven (and northmen) butt.
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