The Waystalker is a very fun character in Vermintide 2, with exceptional archery skills and the ability to navigate the battlefield with agility and precision. Whether you’re a seasoned player looking to up your game or a newcomer trying to find your footing, this build guide will give you an in-depth look at everything you need to know about Waystalker gameplay in Vermintide 2.
From skill and talent choices to equipment loadouts and combat strategies, we’ve got you covered. So grab your bow, and let’s dive into the world of the Waystalker together.
Who Are Waystalkers in Vermintide 2?
Trespassing on sacred Elven lands is a crime that carries a heavy price, often resulting in a swift arrow to the neck from over a mile away. Waystalkers, otherwise known as Waywatchers, guard the hidden paths of Athel Loren, remaining vigilant against all kinds of intruders. These Forest Guardians are gifted sharpshooters among the Wood Elves, and Kerillian constantly brags about it to her “mortal” allies.
Waystalker Skills and Traits
Career Skill: Trueshot Volley
- Kerillian shoots a volley of arrows that seek out enemies in her path.
Trueshot Volley is one of the easiest skills to use in Vermintide 2, but it has a bit to be mastered. People often refer to Trueshot Volley as “the free kill button,” because the volley Kerillian fires homes in on targets. The volley of arrows will seek out and travel through as many targets as possible, prioritizing headshots.
If you aim the Volley at one target, all arrows will prioritize that target, allowing you to one-shot Chaos Warriors, or tapping the button will kill half a horde.
Passive Abilities
- Amaranthe: Kerillian regenerates 3 health every 10 seconds when below half health.
Amaranthe doesn’t drastically impact your Waystalker build in Vermintide 2. However, it does provide a lot of survivability over time, and some talents do increase this passive’s potency.
- Arrow-storm: Increases ammo capacity by 100%
- Waywatcher’s Bow: Double effective range for ranged weapons
- Asrai Vigil: Gain a zoom feature on ranged weapons. Bound to weapon special by default.
All Melee Weapons for Your Waystalker Build in Vermintide 2
- Sword
- Dual Daggers
- Dual Swords
- Sword and Dagger
- Glaive
- Greatsword
- Elven Spear
- Elven Axe (Requires Back to Ubersreik DLC)
Best Melee Weapons for Waystalker
There are a lot of great melee weapon options for Waystalker, but since they are focused on ranged combat, we use the Sword and Dagger. The Sword and Dagger combination offers the best of both worlds, combining the move sets of Dual Swords and Daggers.
This weapon combination provides a very solid moveset, with great light attacks for horde clear and a powerful X-slash and downward stab attack that is amazing for dealing with armor. The sword and dagger have benefits for every situation but do not outperform other options.
Related Article: Vermintide 2 Grail Knight Build and Guide
Honorable Mentions for Melee Weapons
If you want an amazing weapon for horde clearing, take the Dual Swords; however, its moveset is a bit lacking in precision strikes for armored targets. Alternatively, use the Dual Daggers if you need even more armor-piercing power. These daggers are incredibly fast and have an excellent moveset for piercing armored foes but they have a very short range and low stamina.
Between the dual swords and daggers, it depends on if you need to clear hordes faster or eliminate elites or specials quicker. However, take the sword and dagger if you want a good all-around weapon.
All Ranged Weapons for Waystalker
- Swiftbow
- Longbow
- Hagbane Shortbow
- Moonfire Bow (Requires Forgotten Relics DLC)
- Briar Javelin (Requires Sister of the Thorn DLC)
The Best Ranged Weapon for Waystalker
The Waystalker is Vermintide 2’s equivalent of a sniper build. Even when choosing a close-ranged Bow, the Waystalker doesn’t suffer from fall-out damage as significantly as other careers. Still, the Longbow is the Waystalker’s best tool. It has a good amount of ammo thanks to Kerillian’s passive, and it’s great up close, but it performs even better when picking off priority targets at a distance.
The Longbow is easily the best option for all ranges, damage, and versatility. This weapon is also remarkable against armored targets, and its lack of ammo is offset by the Waystalker’s passive. It is a suitable weapon for a Wood Elf.
Honorable Mentions for Ranged Weapons
Although the Briar Javelin is better suited for the Handmaiden, we cannot deny that it is an extremely powerful weapon. The Briar Javelin has almost everything one needs in a ranged weapon: great damage, armor-piercing capabilities, the ability to penetrate multiple enemies, and unlimited ammunition; however, its range is limited if not carefully aimed.
The Briar Javelin is exceptionally strong but does not synergize well with many Waytalker talents. Furthermore, the extra ammo passive only gives one additional spear, which is better suited for other bows.
Best Waystalker Talents for Your Build
Level 5 Talents to Use in Your Waystalker Build in Vermintide 2
| Weavebond | Dryad’s Thirst | Ariel’s Boon |
| Melee critical strikes and headshots grant 2 Temporary Health. Critical headshots restores twice as much. | Striking multiple enemies in one swing grants temporary health based on the number of targets hit. Max 5 enemies. | 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 build, we use Weavebond since the Sword and Dagger and the Longbow are easy to land headshots with. If you want to use the Dual Swords or another weapon like the Glaive, use Dryad’s Thirst instead.
Level 10 Talents
| Blood Shot | Serrated Shots | Drakira’s Alacrity |
| After killing an enemy with a melee attack Kerillian fires an additional arrow with her next ranged attack made within 10 seconds. (The second arrow does not consume ammo.) | Enemies hit by non-poisonous ranged attacks bleed for extra damage. (Instances of this bleed do stack) | Ranged headshots increase attack speed by 15% for 5 seconds. |
Blood Shot is the best talent for Waystalkers who love to blend melee with ranged attacks. After killing a single enemy, Blood Shot gives fires an extra arrow on your next bow shot, doubling your damage.
This blends a wonderful gameplay loop of picking off a few enemies in melee, then switching to your Bow to land a double headshot on an Elite or Special.
Related Guide: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Handmaiden Build and Guide
Level 15 Talents
| Mainstay | Assassin | Enhanced Power |
| 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. | Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger.Headshots and critical hits instead inflict 40% bonus damage, as do strikes against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect. | Increases total Power Level by 7.5%. |
Assassin is our favorite option for this row since it synergizes with headshots and critical hits. Plus, Assassin provides extra damage for hitting staggered targets, and it’s normally the best option for any class that can pick this talent.
However, because Waytalker is a ranged class, taking Enhanced Power is also common. If you enjoy ranged and melee combat, take Assassin, but if you want to focus more on ranged, take Enhanced Power.
Level 20 Talents
| Isha’s Embrace | Spirit Arrows | Rejuvenating Locus |
| Increases Kerillian’s health gained from Amaranthe by 50%. | Amaranthe reduces the cooldown of Trueshot Volley by 5% every tick, but no longer restores health. | Amaranthe also affects the other members of the party. |
Spirit Arrows is hands down the best talent for your Vermintide 2 Waystalker build in this row. Spirit Arrows converts your healing passive into giving you cooldown reduction for your Trueshot Volley. Having your career skill off cooldown as much as possible will significantly increase your damage in all stages of the game.
Level 25 Talents
| Fervent Huntress | Ricochet | Asrai Focus |
| Killing a special or elite increases movement speed by 15% for 10 seconds. | Kerillians arrows now ricochet, bouncing up to 3 times or until it hits an enemy. | Reduces the cooldown of Trueshot Volley by 20%. |
Asrai Focus is the best talent in this row. Combining with Spirit Arrows and Asrai Focus drastically lowers the cooldown of Trueshot Volley. It’s important to prioritize picking talents that enhance your career skill since it has the power to kill an entire Patrol of Elites single-handedly. There is a reason why this ability is called “the free kill button.”
Level 30 Talents for Your Vermintide 2 Waystalker Build
| Piercing Shot | Loaded Bow | Kurnous’ Reward |
| Trueflight Volley fires one piercing shot dealing heavy damage. Headshot refunds 100% cooldown. | Trueshot Volley fires an additional arrow. | Killing a special or elite enemy with Trueflight Volley restores 30% ammunition. |
Lastly, take Loaded Bow. This talent gives you an extra arrow for your Trueshot Volley, resulting in more kills and damage. Loaded Bow doesn’t seem like it adds much on paper, but in practice, it does significantly impact your killing power.
Alternatively, we do see Waytalker players take Kurnous’ Reward, and it’s a good secondary option, but it becomes useless once you know how to manage your ammo. Plus, the Conservative Shooter weapon Trait offsets the need for Kurnous’ Reward once you get into the late game, so Loaded Bow is the best choice.
Conclusion for our Vermintide 2 Waystalker Build & Guide
That’s our build and guide for the Waystalker in Vermintide 2. Outside of the immensely powerful Trueshot Volley, the Waystalker is an excellent class for those who enjoy the Elf aesthetic or thrive in long ranged combat.
If you enjoyed our list and want to learn more about the many classes in Vermintide 2, check out our guide on how to play the Bounty Hunter or how to build a Battle Wizard in Vermintide 2.
For now, Good Hunting!
