Since it launched in March of 2018, Vermintide 2 has continued to change and evolve as new and interesting content gets added to its familiar Skaven stomping formula. From map packs, new skins and callbacks to the original, to the sadly unfulfilling Winds of Magic DLC which added the Beastmen and a new mode.
Now with the Chaos Wastes Update, the series developer Fatshark has pretty much outdone themselves in terms of revitalizing the game. This free update is a refreshing take on the familiar Vermintide experience and provides a unique, almost D&D Oneshot-Esque adventure option to this popular co-op hack-n-slasher in the form of Expeditions. Here are a few things the patch brings and what you can expect when you set out on your own Expedition into the ever-changing Chaos Wastes.
10 15 Unique Levels To Explore
The main part of the Expedition in the new Chaos Wastes Update is the addition of a new long-running Roguelike campaign that’s set across 15 unique levels. Although you don’t visit all of them in one adventure, the game instead lets you pick and choose your route through them and their order is constantly changing.
Each Expedition never follows the same route twice, so no two adventures into the Wastes are the same. Each new area is pretty massive and will take a while to get through, like the constantly changing lands themselves. Plus, the levels are all interestingly designed with strange and logic-defying architecture commonplace throughout.
9 Pilgrim Coins
Another new feature of Expeditions comes in the form of a temporary currency called Pilgrim Coins. According to the in-game lore, these coins will decay and disappear when they’re taken out of the realm of Chaos, so you’re encouraged to spend them on your adventures.
Pilgrim Coins can be spent on new weapons, upgrades and Boons from the various shrines scattered throughout the levels or at key points along your expedition route. A good tip is to save your coins at first and then spend them on powerful upgrades a level or two later as the initial shrines you’ll encounter can be a little expensive or not give much of a power level bump.
8 Weapon Shrines
One of the most interesting features added to Vermintide 2 through the Expeditions is the introduction of weapon shrines. Unusually, instead of crafting your own gear in Vermintide 2 and improving it, these glowing obelisks provide a random new weapon at varying power levels to use and these can then be upgraded further or swapped at other shrines for a different set of gear.
These weapons are also class restricted so don’t expect to walk around as the Battle Wizard with a Grail Knight Broadsword. When you initially encounter these shrines they provide a small power bump of usually 50 or 100 depending on the level of difficulty you’re playing on, but as you progress this number can jump up to 500. So it’s often worth hanging onto something weak temporarily until you can swap it for a stronger weapon later on.
7 Boons
Boons are by far one of the best features added through this new Update. These are essentially buffs that can be picked up throughout an Expedition that can either drastically improve a character or kneecap you for the rest of the run.
They provide a nice risk and reward system as you always could be just one Boon away from a broken overpowered build or a complete disaster. Boons can be picked up from shrines in the levels, on your Expedition route at specific safe stops, from Chests of Trials, or as a reward for beating a level.
6 Map Modifiers
Alongside the new levels, each area in an Expedition comes with modifiers that can add an extra challenge for your party or increase the rewards. These new rules for each level can vary per Expedition and they range from things like more hordes, less or stronger specials, or an increase in the amount of Pilgrim Coins.
Plus, beating each area also rewards you with a boon as a nice added little benefit. So plan your route accordingly to make the most of each stop along the way to the Citadel of Eternity.
5 New Forgotten Relic Weapons
Since the Chaos Wastes Update has landed Fatshark has become quite active in the number of skins and new cosmetics being released in their in-game store. Whilst the majority of which offer no pay-to-win incentive, they can still be pretty strong in the right hands.
For example, Bardin gets a new Troll Torpedo launcher that is basically a steampunk RPG that can blow up chunks of units or just decimate one particularly strong lad. Whilst Kerillian gets a bow that conjures arrows from thin air. However, it’s not required to have any of this new gear to beat the expeditions they can make things a little bit more interesting and chaotic. There’s also a couple of keep paintings to add more Warhammer grimness to your HUB.
4 The Citadel Of Eternity
The end goal of the Expeditions is to reach the Citadel of Eternity. This aptly named and dark Gothic-inspired level is an eerie churchlike zone filled with floating spires and stairs leading in various directions to odd cathedrals.
It’s an interestingly designed area that players explore, fighting off hordes of monsters until they reach the end where to unlock the gates to the Citadel you have to survive a pretty tough arena fight. Emerging as the victor from this battle nets a large amount of XP as well as two Loot Chests. It’s a refreshingly fun and very Warhammer-themed area that disappointingly only appears once or twice at the end of your Expeditions.
3 Gaze Of The Chaos Gods
Alongside the map modifiers, there’s also a possibility that one of the four Chaos Gods might be gazing in your direction during your Expedition.
When this happens an extra level of challenge is added to the area in the form of a map-wide modifier. This can be anything from a Life Leech that constantly hassles players, a curse that spawns two random monsters when one is killed, cryptic Crystal Eggs or a map-wide poison effect that can only be negated with a portable safe zone carried by players.
2 New Portraits
A number of new portraits have been added to Vermintide 2 as part of the new Chaos Wastes Update. Each one of them is themed after a particular Chaos God and can be unlocked by beating all of the Expeditions at various difficulties and with different characters.
Each one is well designed and it’s a great way to keep you playing as you try to unlock the extra cosmetic rewards that you can then show off the next time you play with a group of friends.
1 Map Missions
One final fun feature of the Expeditions comes in the form of missions to break up the gameplay. Each one needs to be complete to progress and they add an extra layer of challenge and a nice little break between corridors of jabbering Ratmen or Goats and Minotaurs if you have the Winds of Magic DLC installed.
These interesting events can take the form of holding an area until a cleansing spell is finished, protecting a winch that opens a gate, or the classic explosive barrel collecting. Although thankfully the areas for carrying the barrels are small, so it keeps the sections between gameplay quick and brief.
NEXT: 10 Games To Play If You Like Warhammer: Vermintide 2
