The Empire is full of Bounty Hunters, with people from all walks of life taking up this title in order to bring justice to the guilty – or at least those on wanted posters. This profession is commonly chosen by scoundrels or thrill seekers, and Victor Saltzpyre is one such man who has lived through the Bounty Hunter life, driven by his faith in Sigmar despite his scoundrel lifestyle.
Every character in Vermintide 2 has access to three career paths and one DLC path, representing the potential path of the hero after the events of Vermintide 1. Today, we will focus on the Bounty Hunter, a ranged-focused career in Vermintide 2, who brings devastating firepower to the battlefield by showering their enemies with crits and black powder.
If you are interested in how the Bounty Hunter class stacks up against others in the game, check out our Vermintide 2 classes tier list.
Bounty Hunter Skills and Traits
Career Skill: Locked and Loaded
- Saltzpyre fires a powerful shot that pierces through enemies.
“Locked and Loaded” is one of the most dangerous career skills in Vermintide 2. Pulling out this small pistol and unloading this devastating shot has enough power to one-shot Chaos Warriors, deal over 15% of a monster’s HP, and even one-shot your teammates.
This ability always does upwards of 150 damage. You can land even more if it’s a critical hit or a headshot.
Passive Abilities
- Blessed Shots: Gain a guaranteed ranged critical hit every 10 seconds
Blessed Shots is what makes the Bounty Hunter stand out from the rest of the ranged classes in Vermintide 2. Blessed Shots gives you a guaranteed ranged critical hit every 10 seconds, and this damage not only scales up if you land a headshot but also synergizes with “Locked and Loaded,” resulting in at least 300 damage from a single shot.
Additionally, remember that ranged crits have no fall-off damage, allowing you to one-shot a Blightstormer from across the map.
- Ammo Pouches: Increases ammo capacity by 50%
- Quick Release: Increases reload speed by 15%.
All Bounty Hunter Melee Weapons
- Rapier
- Falchion
- Axe
- Greatsword
- Flail
- Axe and Falchion (Requires Back to Ubersreik DLC)
- Bill Hook (RequiresWinds of Magic DLC)
Best Melee Weapons for Your Bounty Hunter Build in Vermintide 2
The Bounty Hunter does not have a different variety of weapons than the Witch Hunter Captain, so you can make a similar build as we previously covered. As we had discussed in our Witch Hunter Captain build and guide, we preferred the Rapier for that build. While it also works well on the Bounty Hunter, we prefer using different weapons to make our favorite Vermintide 2 classes feel unique.
The Axe and Falchion have the best of both worlds, with fast swings, great damage, and armor-piercing heavy strikes. The second heavy and push attacks also swing both weapons, allowing for double headshots or chopping through hordes. Thus, aside from using the Rapier, the Axe and Falchion are the best weapons for Bounty Hunter.
The axe and falchion lack the range that the rapier has, but they offer more reliable horde clear and ensure that the bounty hunter isn’t weakened when enemies get close enough to engage in melee range.
Honorable Mentions for Melee Weapons
Despite initially stating that we liked the weapon variety between the various classes in Vermintide 2, the Rapier is still a fantastic weapon for its range, precise heavy thrust attacks, and amazing push attack combos.
Additionally, the Flail is another great option for dealing with hordes and supports fantastic heavy attacks for Elites, but it is best suited for Saltzpyre’s Zealot class.
If melee weapons are your favorite, then you may also want to check out our best Vermintide 2 Slayer build guide. He’s a terrifically fun dwarf that loves to get right into the thick of any battle.
All Ranged Weapons for Bounty Hunter in Vermintide 2
- Crossbow
- Brace of Pistols
- Volley Crossbow
- Repeater Pistol
The Best Ranged Weapon for a Bounty Hunter Build in Vermintide 2
As we previously mentioned, we prefer to give each class different weapons to provide a better feeling rather than confining them to a similar playstyle. Although the Brace of Pistols is another good weapon for the Bounty Hunter, we prefer the Crossbow instead.
We prefer the Crossbow for many reasons, and it starts with the Quick Release passive, which makes Saltzpyre reload all ranged weapons faster. Due to this passive, the Bounty Hunter bypasses the main downside of the Crossbow: its lengthy reload. The extra ammo passive also fixes the lack of ammunition that the Crossbow brings.
Finally, the Blessed Shots passive gives your high-damaging Crossbow a guaranteed critical hit every ten seconds, which is powerful enough to one or two shot Chaos Warriors or one-shot Stormvermin by hitting them in the chest. Several talents enhance the Crossbow’s power, which we will discuss in further detail later in this guide.
If you are really looking for a ranged specialist loadout, then you may want to also check out our best Vermintide 2 Battle Wizard build. They are the best ranged class in the game’s current meta.
Honorable Mentions for Ranged Weapons
However, if you are not convinced, you can take the brace of pistols instead since they are excellent weapons for both close and long-range combat. The Repeater Pistol is also a great option in Vermintide 2 for your Bounty Hunter build. It allows them to make the most out of the secondary shotgun fire due to the extra ammunition and Blessed Shots.
Best Bounty Hunter Talents to Include In Your Build
Level 5 Talents
| Blood for Money | Tithetaker | Paymaster |
| Melee critical strikes and headshots grant 2 Temporary Health. Critical headshots restores twice as much. | Melee killing blows grants temporary health based on the health of the slain enemy. | Healing yourself with a First Aid Kit or a Healing Draught also heals nearby allies for 20% of their maximum health, also removing any Wounds. |
Building temp health on Bounty Hunter ultimately depends on whether you want a hybrid playstyle, range, and melee or a more ranged focus. If you like hybrid combat, we recommend Tithetaker. Otherwise, take Blood for Money.
Level 10 Talents
| Open Wounds | Steel Crescendo | Weight of Fire |
| Critical hits cause enemies to take 20% increased damage for 15 seconds. Does not stack with similar effects. | Upon firing the last shot, gain 15% attack speed and 15% power for 15 seconds. | Ranged weapon magazine size increases ranged power level by 1% for each Ammunition available. |
For our Crossbow, we take Open Wounds since Blessed Shots will make any target that survives a bolt to the head take extra damage from all sources. This talent works with any gun, but we take it for the Crossbow because Weight of Fire is better suited for the Brace of Pistols or the Repeater Pistol.
Open Wounds also works with Locked and Loaded, increasing your team’s overall DPS on bosses.
Level 15 Talents
| Smiter | Assassin | Enhanced Power |
| The first enemy hit always counts as Staggered. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect. | Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count to the stagger. Headshots and critical hits inflict 40% bonus damage, as do strikes against enemies affected by more than one stagger effect. | Increases total Power Level by 7.5%. |
Very few careers in Vermintide 2 have access to the Assassin talent, and those who do should always take it. Assassin synergizes perfectly with the Bounty Hunter’s Blessed Shots and playstyle. It is the best talent, and Smiter or Enhanced Power cannot compare.
Level 20 Talents Choices for Your Vermintide 2 Bounty Hunter Build
| Blessed Combat | Cruel Fortune | Prize Bounty |
| Melee strikes make the next 6 ranged shots deal 15% more damage. Ranged hits make the next 6 melee strikes deal 15% more damage. Melee kills reset the cooldown of Blessed Shots. | Reduces cooldown on Blessed Shots to 6 seconds. | Shots affected by Blessed Shots consume no ammunition. |
For our Bounty Hunter build in Vermintide 2, we take Cruel Fortune since lowering the cooldown of Blessed Shots from ten to six seconds significantly affects our damage. With Cruel Fortune, we can achieve a highly bursty playstyle of meleeing cannon fodder enemies, quickly switching to our Crossbow, firing at priority targets, reloading, and then returning to melee.
Blessed Combat works well with a hybrid playstyle, but it works better with the Repeater Pistol or the Brace of Pistols since you will, on average, fire more shots compared to the Crossbow.
Level 25 Talents
| Rile the Mob | Dual Action | Job Well Done |
| Ranged critical hits grants Saltzpyre and his allies 10% movement speed for 10 seconds. | Killing an elite while out of ammunition restores 20% of max ammunition. Melee kills reloads one shot in Saltzpyre’s ranged weapon | Killing an elite or special enemy grants 1% damage reduction buff. Stacks up to 30 times. This buff lasts until the end of the mission or death. |
Job Well Done is easily the best talent in this row. For every Elite or Special you kill, you gain a 1% damage reduction, stacking up to 30 times. At the end of a mission, you can have a maximum of 30% damage reduction as a ranged career, which is insane. Riling the Mob and Dual Action don’t come close to the power of Job Well Done.
Level 30 Talents for Your Bounty Hunter Build in Vermintide 2
| Just Reward | Double-shotted | Return on Investment |
| Ranged critical hits reduce cooldown of Locked and Loaded by 20%. Can only trigger once every 10 seconds. | Modifies Saltzpyre’s sidearm to fire two powerful bullets in a straight line. Scoring a headshot with this attack reduces the cooldown of Locked and Loaded by 40%. | Modifies Saltzpyre’s sidearm to fire two blasts of shield penetrating pellets in a cone. Each kill with the blast increases the amount of pellets in the next blast. (Max 20 additional pellets) |
Lastly, we take Double-Shotted. This talent gives your Locked and Loaded double damage when firing two bullets instead of one, plus hitting a headshot refunds 40% of the cooldown. Double-Shotted is fantastic for killing monsters and bosses or wiping out half a patrol.
Overall, Double-shotted is the superior choice, but Return on Investment is fun in certain situations. Some prefer the Return on Investment talent because they can eliminate an entire patrol of Shield Vermin in the blink of an eye. Still, its power relies on horde clear instead of high single-target damage.
Related Article: 10 Tips for Vermintide 2 Beginners to Get Better Quickly
Conclusion for our Vermintide 2 Bounty Hunter Build & Guide
That’s our build and guide for the Bounty Hunter class in Vermintide 2. The Bounty Hunter focuses on crits and devastating firepower from Locked and Loaded, making it one of the most enjoyable damage careers to play. Sadly, this class doesn’t bring any utility to your team, but sometimes you don’t need to support your team if everything has been defeated.
If you enjoyed our look into Vermintide 2’s classes and want to learn more about them, check out Saltzpyre’s other careers, such as our Warrior Priest of Sigmar build guide or his brother-in-arms, Kruber’s Grail Knight class in Vermintide 2.
For now, Good Hunting!
