Dwarven Slayers are the embodiment of ferocity amongst their kin, but tragedy is their purpose for diving headlong into battle. Slayers plunge themselves deep into the battlefield, without armor like a berserker, thirsting to erase past failures or personal tragedies that only a warrior’s death can redeem.
Every character in Vermintide 2 has access to three career paths and one DLC path, representing the hero’s potential path after the events of Vermintide 1. Today, we will focus on the Slayer, a melee-only career in Vermintide 2 who cuts through armored and unarmored foes like butter while having the highest attack speed in the game.
For other great builds, check out our ranked Vermintide 2 classes tier list to find other strong characters you may want to try out.
Slayer Builds Skills and Traits
Career Skill: Leap
Bardin leaps forward to stun a target and gains 30% increased attack speed for 10 seconds, staggering nearby enemies upon landing. Casting the ability directly at Bardin’s feet triggers all effects instantly without the leaping animation.
Leap is the bread and butter that ties the Slayer class and build together in Vermintide 2. Leap gives you mobility, a way to stagger enemies, and gives you a massive 30% attack speed. This attack speed steroid is the equivalent of activating a Potion of Speed every 40 seconds.
Passive Abilities
- Trophy Hunter: Hitting an enemy grants a stacking damage buff. Increasing damage dealt by 10%, stacking three times. The buff lasts 2 seconds.
Trophy Hunter is very easy to maintain. So long as you hit an enemy, you will gain 30% attack speed. Combine Trophy Hunter with Leap, and the Slayer can reach upwards of 60% attack speed in Vermintide 2, even more so with a Potion of Speed.
- Path of Carnage: Increased attack speed by 7.5%.
- Drengi Grit: Charged attacks can’t be interrupted by damage.
Related Guide: Tips on How to Get Better at Vermintide 2
All Slayer Melee Weapons
- Great Hammer
- Great Axe
- Hammer
- War Pick
- Dual Axes
- Dual Hammers (Requires Back to Ubersreik DLC)
- Throwing Axes (Requires Winds of Magic DLC)
Best Melee Weapons for Slayer Builds in Vermintide 2
The Slayer is one of three melee-only classes in Vermintide 2, but there is an exception we will discuss later. Since the Slayer is a melee-only class, they must carry two melee weapons, but unlike the Grail Knight or the Warrior Priest of Sigmar, the Slayer’s arsenal drastically affects their gameplay style thanks to their talents.
Our favorite build involves using one-handed weapons because of the Thousand Cuts talent. Even though they might not seem like it, the Dual Hammers count as one-handed. The Dual Hammers are known for fast attacks, stagger, and mobility. The only downside to the Dual Hammers is they aren’t armor piercing, making this weapon take one or two additional heavy attacks to bring down armored foes.
The Dual Hammers do significant damage and allow you to build temp health quickly. However, the Dual Axes provide the same benefit but lack stagger to build temp health and cut through armor like butter.
Honorable Mentions for Melee Weapons
The Throwing Axes are the only ranged weapon the Slayer has access to, and it one-shots Storm Vermin even by hitting them in the chest. However, the Throwing Axes do not contribute to the A Thousand Cuts or Skull-Splitter builds, making them a more hybrid choice. The Throwing Axes also require no ammunition. Simply holding the reload button will recall your axes back to your hand.
But if you wanted to run a Skull Splitter build for your Slayer in Vermintide 2 by wielding two-handed weapons in both slots, we recommend the Great Hammer for crowd control and horde clear, along with the Great Axe for killing Specialists and Elite enemies in Vermintide 2.
Or, if you want to stick to using one-handed weapons and want to activate the A Thousand Cuts talent, use the Dual Hammers and Axes.
The Best Slayer Talents
Level 5 Slayer Build Talents in Vermintide 2
| Doomseeker | Slayer’s Fury | Infectious Fortitude |
| Staggering enemies with a melee attack grants temporary health. Health gained based on stagger strength. | 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. |
For our dual-wielding Slayer build in Vermintide 2, we recommend Doomseeker if you use the Dual Hammers since they have a lot of stagger. This makes it easy to build temp health.
However, if you prefer the Dual Axes instead, we recommend using Slayer’s Fury, but it’s significantly harder to gain temp health with Slayer’s Fury.
Level 10 Talents
| A Thousand Cuts | Skull-Splitter | Hack and Slash |
| Wielding one-handed weapons in both slots increases attack speed by 10%. Dual weapons count as one-handed. (Throwing Axes don’t count as one-handed) | Wielding two-handed weapons in both slots increases power by 15%.(Throwing Axes don’t count as two-handed) | Increases critical hit chance by 5%. |
The 10th-level talent row is more important for the Slayer than the level-30 upgrades. A Thousand Cuts gives you 10% more attack speed for having one-handed weapons in both slots. In contrast, Skull-Splitter makes you use two-handed weapons in both slots.
Either option is viable for your Slayer build and has its advantages and playstyles in Vermintide 2. If you enjoy hacking your foes to bits, try the A Thousand Cuts build, or if you enjoy madly swinging gigantic weapons, use the Skull-Splitter talent.
However, if you wish to use the Throwing Axes, you must take the Hack and Slash talent since the throwing weapon doesn’t count as a one-handed weapon. You will know if either A Thousand Cuts or Skull-Splitter is active from your buffs in the lower left of your HUD.
Related Guide: Is Vermintide 2 Cross Platform?
Level 15 Talents
| Smiter | Mainstay | 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 40% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 60% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect. | Increases total Power Level by 7.5%. |
For our Thousand Cuts build, we recommend Smiter since our primary weapon is the Dual Hammers. However, if you choose the Skull-Splitter build, Mainstay is viable, but overall, Smiter is better.
Level 20 Talents for Your Slayer Vermintide 2 Build
| Impatience | High Tally | Adrenaline Surge |
| Each stack of Trophy Hunter increases movement speed by 10%. | Increases maximum stacks of Trophy Hunter by 1. | On max stacks, Trophy Hunter grants cooldown reduction for Leap. |
Adrenaline Surge is hands down the best option in this row. When Trophy Hunter is at max stacks, your Leap’s cooldown recharges ridiculously quickly. You can maintain a 100% uptime on Leaps attack speed buff using the Dual Hammers or Axes.
Level 25 Talents
| Oblivious to Pain | Grumnir’s Focus | Barge |
| Damage taken from Elite enemies or Monsters is reduced to 10 damage or half of its original value whichever is highest. | Hitting an enemy with a charged attack reduces damage taken by 40% for 5 seconds. | Effective dodges push nearby small enemies out of the way. |
The defensive talent row comes down to personal preference for your Slayer build. We prefer using Oblivious to Pain since it lowers the damage you take from all Elites and monsters. But, if you are using the Skull-Splitter build, Grimnir’s Focus might be better since two-handed weapons rely more on heavy attacks.
Level 30 Talents for Your Slayer Build in Vermintide 2
| Crunch | Dawi-Drop | No Escape |
| Increases stagger effect when landing on enemies using Leap by 100% | Increases attack damage while airborne during Leap by 150%. | Leap’s attack speed buff also increases movement speed by 25% for the duration. |
Lastly, the level 30 talents upgrade your career skill but less significantly than other Vermintide 2 characters. Crunch provides more crowd control. Dawi-Drop lets you one-shot a Chaos Warrior if you headshot them mid-air. No Escape is our favorite since Adrenaline Surge provides you with a 100% uptime of Leaps buff; you also gain 25% more movement speed for using Leap off cooldown.
Conclusion to Our Vermintide 2 Slayer Build & Guide
That’s our build and guide for Bardin Goreksson’s Slayer career in Vermintide 2. The Slayer is one of our favorite classes in Vermintide 2 for how simplistic yet brutal their gameplay is. Hacking and bashing hordes of enemies or entire Patrols single-handedly while having the highest attack speed in the game is something only the Slayer can achieve in Vermintide 2.
If you enjoyed our guide and want to learn more about the game, check out our in-depth guide to the Witch Hunter Captain, a powerful duelist who controls the battlefield through leadership and lots of critical hits.
For now, Good Hunting!
