Victor Saltzpyre is a man of the Order, disciplined and unyielding in his faith for Sigmar. Witch Hunter Captains serve the Empire to hunt witches or silence heretics and Chaos worshippers. These duties also involve foolishly denying the existence of Skaven; however, in the End Times, that’s impossible to uphold while the Old World drowns in Vermintide.
He is a man born and raised by the Order. Viktor was promoted to the rank of Witch Hunter Captain in Vermintide 2, despite his belief in the existence of Skaven. During the events of Vermintide 1, he was the jailer of Sienna Fuegonasus, who eventually became an ally and worked with the Ubersreik Five to rid the Reikland of the Skaven invaders.
This guide will share the best Witch Hunter Captain build in Vermintide 2, along with a few alternate selections for some varied gameplay. If you’re searching for other fantastic builds, take a peek at our ranked Vermintide 2 classes tier list to uncover other great characters that are worth exploring.
Witch Hunter Captain Skills and Traits in Vermintide 2
Career Skill: Animosity
Victor pushes nearby enemies back and boosts nearby allies’ critical hit chance by 25% for six seconds.
Animosity is immensely powerful, not only for the temporary increase in critical chance, but also for the knockback that staggers all enemies, even bosses. Abilities that create space for your team are always strong and can save you from plenty of situations.
Passive Abilities Available to the Witch Hunter Captain in Vermintide 2
- Witch Hunt: Tagged enemies take 20% additional damage.
Any ally can apply this debuff simply by tagging enemies. Regardless of who marks the enemy, they will take increased damage from all sources.
Not only is tagging any Elite enemies or Specialists extremely important in order to provide information for your teammates, but if a Witch Hunter Captain is in your game, tagging will also buff your damage. Furthermore, tagging works on Bosses or monsters as well, making all dangerous enemies take 20% more damage simply because there is a Witch Hunter Captain in your Vermintide 2 match.
- Eternal Guard: Saltspyre may block all light attacks from the front for no Stamina cost. (Any attack which would deal less than two Stamina damage before modifiers instead deals zero damage.)
This passive is also extremely strong. Any light attack from any cannon fodder enemies or some Elites, like Storm Vermin, won’t take away any Stamina to block, meaning you only need to worry about heavy attacks.
- Killing Shot: Critical Hit headshots instantly slay Man-Sized enemies.
- Power of Sigmar: Increases headshot bonus damage by 25%.
- Sigmar’s Charm: Increases critical strike chance by 5%.
All Witch Hunter Captain Melee Weapons:
- Rapier
- Falchion
- Axe
- Greatsword
- Flail
- Axe and Falchion (Requires Back to Ubersreik DLC)
- Bill Hook (Requires Winds of Magic DLC)
The Best Melee Weapon for Your Witch Hunter Captain Build in Vermintide 2
Saltzpyre has a handful of great options that help to excel the Witch Hunter Captain’s career as a highly versatile damaging class. Our favorite melee weapon for a Witch Hunter Captain build in Vermintide 2 a is the default Rapier. We enjoy its fast sweeping light attacks, fantastic push attacks, and precise heavy strikes, making it easy to land headshots.
The Rapier has a swift, light attack combo which you can easily execute by spamming the light attack button three times and following it up with a block and then a push attack. This simple combo will easily clear hordes while using the Eternal Guard passive.
Additionally, the Rapier is one of the few weapons in Vermintide 2 that has a special action which allows you to shoot one bullet from your pistol without consuming any ammo.
Other Melee Weapons Wroth an Honorable Mention for your Vermintide 2 Witch Captain Build
If you are looking for something that is up close and personal, with the ability to cut your foe in two, we recommend the Axe and Falchion. This devastating dual wield weapon combines the moveset of the standalone Falchion and Axe.
The Axe and Falchion feature an amazing horde clear from the Falchion and wonderful single-target damage from the Axe, with an amazing push attack that makes both weapons strike simultaneously.
All Ranged Weapons Availble to the Witch Hunter Captain
- Brace of Pistols
- Volley Crossbow
- Repeater Pistol
- Crossbow
The Best Ranged Weapon for the Witch Hunter Captain in Vermintide 2
Like our choice for the best melee weapon for your Witch Hunter Captain build, we found the Brace of Pistols to be our favorite ranged weapon, despite its being the default option in Vermintide 2. The Brace of Pistols is a unique weapon that fuels the Witch Hunter Captain fantasy, aside from making one feel like a common soldier from the Empire.
Using the Brace of Pistols causes Saltspyre to extract and fire one pistol after another, dealing significant damage with each shot. However, if you use the weapon’s secondary fire, he fires and discards his pistols rapidly at the cost of accuracy. Due to its slow and fast firing modes, this ranged weapon is perfect for any encounter.
Related Guide: The Best Ranged Battle Wizard Class Build in Vermintide 2
Honorable Mentions for Ranged Weapons
If the Brace of Pistols isn’t your cup of tea, then definitely give the Repeater Pistol a shot. Its primary fire is accurate yet speedy – perfect for sniping heads from afar! With its secondary fire however, it unleashes all bullets in one go: just like Kruger’s weapon but with an extra punch.
The shotgun is a great last resort if an Elite or monster gets too close, but mainly using the secondary fire will rapidly deplete your ammo. Also, remember that tagging enemies with the Witch Hunt passive increases the damage they take from all sources, including this weapon’s shotgun blast.
The Best Witch Hunter Captain Talents in Vermintide 2
Level 5 Talents
| Hunter’s Ardour | Walking Judgement | Disciplinarian |
| Melee critical strikes and headshots grant two temporary health. Critical headshots restores twice as much. | Striking multiple enemies in one swing grants temporary health based on the number of targets. Max five targets. | 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. |
Walking Judgement is our preferred talent of choice because it pairs better with the Rapier’s sweeping light attacks. However, taking Hunter’s Adour is also a great alternative, but you will only gain a lot of temporary health by landing melee or ranged headshots.
Level 10 Talents
| Riposte | Deathknell | Flense |
| Parrying an enemy attack causes your next melee attack to be a guaranteed critical hit. | Increases headshot damage bounds by 50%. | Enemies hit by melee attacks bleed for extra damage. (This bleed does not stack.) |
If you choose our previous recommendation, Walking Judgement, Flense pairs exceptionally well with a melee-focused build. However, if you have chosen Hunter’s Ardour, we recommend Deathknell for a hybrid build that prioritizes headshots.
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%. |
We always recommend using Assassin in a Witch Hunter Captain build in Vermintide 2. Dealing more damage to staggered enemies and headshots or criticals which inflict 40% more damage is too good to ignore, plus it synergizes with Victor’s Animosity ability. Not every career in Vermintide 2 has access to the Assassin talent, but it is always the best choice in this section.
Level 20 Talents
| Templar’s Knowledge | Heretic Sighted | Wild Fervour |
| Witch Hunt causes enemies to take an additional 5% damage. | Tagging an enemy increases attack speed by 10% for 15 seconds. | Witch-Hunt grants 5% increased critical chance to the entire party for 5 seconds when tagged enemies die. |
All three options for this talent row are good choices; however, we recommend Heretic Sighted because gaining 10% attack speed each time you tag an enemy is better for more situations than gaining 5% crit or buffing Witch Hunt’s bonus damage.
Level 25 Talents
| Charmed Life | Cast Away | Always Prepared |
| Increases dodge range by 20%. | Pushing an enemy increases stamina regeneration by 40% for 2 seconds. | Increases max ammunition by 30% |
For this talent row, we recommend either Cast Away or Charmed Life. Both are great defensive options; it’s a matter of preference. If you are a newer Vermintide 2 player, we recommend Cast Away for your Witch Hunter Captain build. Yet, if you have some experience under your belt, take Charmed Life instead.
Level 30 Talents
| I Shall Judge You All! | Fervency | The Unending Hunt |
| Applies Witch Hunt to enemies hit by Animosity. | Animosity grants Victor guaranteed melee critical strikes for the duration. (However, allies no longer receive the critical chance bonus & Victor no longer receives the critical chance bonus on ranged attacks.) | Hitting 10 or more enemies with Animosity refunds 40% cooldown. |
Lastly, for the final talent, we recommend Fervency. Fervency is a fantastic talent, giving Saltspyre guaranteed melee crits for six seconds at the cost of removing crit chance for your allies and bonus crit chance from your ranged attacks. It is immensely powerful and worth the downsides of taking this talent.
However, if you still wish to provide buffs for your team, we recommend using The Unending Hunt. If you hit ten or more enemies with the abilities’ knockback, you will be refunded 40% of the cooldown immediately.
Conclusion for our Vermintide 2 Witch Hunter Captain Build & Guide
That’s our build guide for the Witch Hunter Captain in Vermintide 2. Cut down any heretic, mutant, or any taint of Chaos in your path, in the name of Sigmar. If you enjoyed our look into Victor Saltzpyre’s Witch Hunter Captain Career and want to learn more about Vermintide 2, check out our guide for his brother-in-arms: Markus Kruber’s Grail Knight class build.
For now, Good Hunting!
