Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – Weaves for Newcomers

This guide will make weaves easier to level through and give you an idea of what you are getting into.

Why Would You Want to Play Weaves?

Note: Credit goes to Bathrobe Rat

The gameplay experience is different from the normal gamemode. Think of it as an extended end-event that lasts up to 20 minutes long.

The action is much more exaggerated and intense.

Mutators exist to create a different battlefield. This includes:

• Thorn bushes created from blood in Green Weaves.
• Super-armor on armored enemies in Yellow Weaves, also a blade shield buff for yourself.
• Thunder strikes on a regular interval in Blue Weaves.
• Curse increases over time in White Weaves, also zones exist that can reverse the effect.
• Dead enemies release a spirit bomb that follows you in Purple Weaves.
• Totems around the map increase enemy power and health in Brown Weaves.
• Enemies are invisible and almost invulnerable while outside of melee range in Grey Weaves.
• Any attack, yours or the enemy’s, has a fire DoT in Red Weaves.

They look cool, and there are cool skins.

Nifty.

Many are set up as puzzles, requiring certain builds to complete.

An example: One weave involves invisible/invulnerable enemies with many Gunners on Against the Grain. Playing this normally, you will lose every time. So, what kind of builds will get past this?

You get unique encounters, such as:

• Bomb rats.
• Boss Gauntlets.
• 3 Bosses at once.
• 40 Chaos Warriors.
• Bigger, more complex hordes with all types of enemies.

Things You Should Immediately Know

Do weave 1 ASAP. Completing it triggers the collection of Essence in the normal game mode. This makes leveling your first gear so much easier.

Essence gains scale according to the weave you are on, even in the normal game mode. If you are on Weave 1 or 20, you will get more essence from the normal game mode if you are on 20.

For some reason, Athanor (Cauldron) level caps at 23 or 24. There is no reason to level the Athanor past that (even though you can).

Enchantments use a 10 slot system. Some enchantments take 5 slots, while others take 2 or even one. This means you can make slightly stronger gear than in the normal game.

Power cap is 900 in Weaves. Enemy damage increases a little per weave. Every 10 weaves, the difficulty increases one tier.

• 1-10 Recruit
• 11-20 Veteran
• 21-30 Champion
• 31-40 Legend
• 41-50 Cataclysm 1
• I’m not sure how it progresses beyond this.

Essence Costs

This is your gear screen. The Necklace in the center is your character level. The top right is your Athanor level. Then you have your two items on the sides.

If memory serves, Athanor, character, and gear all share the same Essence cost to max out. Character level is shared between all characters and classes, so leveling your character (the necklace) is your first priority.

Leveling the Athanor simply unlocks enchantments. It does not directly make you stronger. I would level this last, after you do character and two desired equipments.

Use the normal game-mode to level up quickly.

The higher weaves you have completed, up to 40, the more Essence you get from each run. Also the difficulty played affects how much you get, too. For me, being past 40, Legend has a cap of about 2400 Essence per run.

The gains are also based on time. So, if you speedrun, you will get a much lower value, according to the minutes you played. It’s a time grind. You do get essence regardless of winning or losing, though.

The value it takes to level one item fully is 21750.

If memory serves, after beating Weave 1, the essence gain of a 20 minute normal gamemode run is about 1000. From a completely fresh perspective, you will need 88000 essence to reach max power.

This means you will need to play about 88 normal gamemode runs if you want to go straight for max power. It’s a great time to farm an achievement helmet, eh?

Don’t grind this way! There is a better way.

Essence Rewards from Weaves

The Essence in weaves you get is completely different. Failure rewards almost nothing. Winning grants you a certain amount, 250 * number of weave. It caps out at 7500 as a reward.

So, if you are on weave 8, winning will grant you 2000 Essence. Repeating the weave grants you about 10% of the reward, so it’s not worth it.

In other words, it is generally just better to play the normal gamemode for Essence.

Should I grind to max power level first?

Truthfully, no. That’s a very boring way to play the game. It’s also not that effective.

Weaves 1-10 are Recruit, 11-20 Veteran. You don’t need power level 900 for this.

Weave Rewards are like this: 250 * Number of Weave. So the higher you are, the more you are getting.

Completing Weaves 2-20 will grant you about 51250 Essence. That is more than half of that 88000 Essence you need to reach maximum power level.

Effective and Fast Grind Strategy:

• Complete Weave 1.
• Play 10 normal gamemodes in order to get some starter’s Essence.
• Level your character up.
• Start playing Weaves and progressing. Weaves 2-20.
• If too difficult, do 10 more normal gamemode runs.

The point is, you only need to do a few normal runs to get yourself started. After that, you should level with Weaves, since they are relatively easy.

Also, weave 21 is when things get difficult. That’s probably when you will want to officially be full power.

What Will Be Reset?

There is only one thing that resets. Any weaves past 40 will be erased, shuffled, and you will be set back to 41 at the start of the new season.

You get to keep all your levels and gear. I also think that season achievements remain available.

How to Make Good Gear

This is your enchantment screen. The big semi-circle in the middle represent your talents. The three other circles represent your necklace, charm, and trinket.

You will notice that there are 10 slots for each circle, along with a middle circle. The middle circle is your trait, like Boon of Shallya and Decanter. The other 10 represent the properties, which you can mix and match freely.

Not all enchantments take 5 slots, which means you can mix three enchantments sometimes.

For example, I always take +5% move speed, because it only takes up 1 slot.

This means my trinket here is like this:

• 5% Move Speed
• 10% Cooldown Reduction
• 24% Stamina Recovery
• Bomb Dupe

Can’t make a trinket like that in the normal game-mode, eh?

• 2 Stamina
• 5% Crit Chance
• 3% Attack Speed
• Swift Slaying

This is another favorite of mine.

Inside the Weave

The rules are simple.

• You have 15 minutes to reach your goal (top center screen). Your goal is the white symbol on the purple meter (top right of screen).
• You reach that goal by killing and/or doing the objectives.
• After reaching the goal, you gain 5 minutes to your timer, and a purple portal opens up somewhere. Reach it, nothing else matters.
• After going through the portal, all players will be revived. You will face the “boss” encounter. It is not always a boss, though.
• After killing everything, you win.

There are items hidden about the level. When Weaves get harder, you will probably start with exploratory runs to find out where everything is. Nothing in the weave changes.

However, the weaves can be different. The path you choose seems to have different enemy spawns.

There are 4 different non-killing objectives in the Weaves.

• Throw an explosive barrel into a spiky pit.
• Carry a gem and throw it into a contraption.
• Destroy all Shards.
• Stand in a circle for a set amount of time. The meter goes faster if more players are in the circle.