Patch notes for the hotfixes after this patch can be found in our Hotfix 5.3.X Megathread

Heroes!

It’s time! The Sixth Anniversary event for Vermintide 2 has started and is now live on all platforms! It will run from today March 7th to March 18th, so make sure to enjoy it while it lasts!

Six years, huh? That’s quite a while! We said this before, but we really wanna hammer it home: We are SO grateful to you guys that this community is still going strong after all this time, having fun and enjoying the shenanigans of the Ubersreik Five. Here’s to many more years, here’s to all of the content coming in the future! There’s still a lot in the works, and not just the Versus Game Mode!

Developer Stream: 16:30 CET / 10:30 EST

We’ll be hosting a stream with Joakim our Design Director, and Erik our Product Owner today at 16:30 CET / 10:30 EST. Tune in to chat about Vermintide and all the years that led us up to this point, the Versus test that’s happening during these weeks, and watch developers play a round or two of Versus themselves! Link to stream.

A Quiet Drink

As always, the celebratory map of ‘A Quiet Drink’ will be re-enabled during this anniversary event, letting you go out partying with your friends as the Ubersreik Five look for another place to drink! Access it through the Weekly Event tab in Adventure Mode Matchmaking!

New Portrait Frame

Complete the anniversary map ‘A Quiet Drink’ during the event to earn a brand-new anniversary portrait frame!

Double XP

For the new players joining us, this’ll be a treat! We’ll also be doubling the XP earned from all matches for as long as the Anniversary event lasts! So, time to power level if you’re not maxed already!

The Great Versus Alpha Test

Of course, that’s not all! For the entire duration of the Anniversary event, you’ll also be able to try out Versus! Available to all owners of Warhammer: Vermintide 2, you’ll get to hop onto the Versus-specific lobby from the main menu.

We had a ton of fun (and a ton of feedback!) from the Closed Alpha Test we held early February, so we’re really excited and hopeful to see that and more during this one, where everyone gets to participate!

What is Versus?

Versus is a free new Game mode for Warhammer: Vermintide 2! It’s an asymmetrical PvP+E pitting up to 4 Heroes against our AI enemies and up to 4 special players, what we call Pactsworn. A match will take place over several rounds, with each team swapping places between playing the Heroes and the Pactsworn each round. To simplify, each round the Hero team must play a regular game akin to Adventure mode, while the Pactsworn players have to stop them.

In case you missed it, here’s a link to our latest Dev Blog, where we go over our thoughts and takeaways from the Closed Alpha Test: Developer Blog: Versus Closed Alpha Test - Lessons Learned & Takeaways.

For those of you who have participated in the Closed Alpha Test, or just those curious, we’ve compiled a list of the major changes between the previous Test and this one:

Current testing map has changed! New map is Righteous Stand.
Added a scoreboard at the end of the match.
Team scoring has been reworked a bit to be more granular.
Enabled all 5 premium careers.
Tweaked some more outliers in abilities and talents. Of note, Outcast Engineer’s bomb spam has been toned down for this round of Versus testing.
Developer’s note:
We know that Outcast Engineer currently needs looking at in the adventure mode as well, but we’re only touching him in Versus for now as a quick patchwork before giving him a proper thought out adjustment in the base game.
Increased the amount of NPC enemies.
Reduced the amount of pick ups scattered around the map (both ammo and health).

And for those who haven’t tried out Versus yet or want to know more, have a look at our Versus FAQ.

Premium Careers Complete Bundle

Now that the final Premium career has been released with the coming of Necromancer Sienna, we have added a complete package bundle that includes all of the Premium Careers together, as well as a bundle that includes all of the Premium Careers and the cosmetic upgrades. If you don’t already own all of them, this is the best way to complete your collection!
Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Careers Bundle

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Careers & Cosmetics Bundle

We hope you enjoy celebrating this new Anniversary with us, and we look forwards to hear your opinions on Versus! Without further ado…

Patch 5.3.0 Patch Notes

Features & Tweaks

Added brand new dialogue and level banter to the following levels:
- The Screaming Bell
- Righteous Stand
- Festering Ground
- Hunger in the Dark
- Into the Nest
Several improvements, fixes and optimizations for better sound performance and prioritization in high intensity combat
Improved memory optimizations across different sound categories.
Necromancer can no longer command skeletons to attack enemies behind obstacles.

Fixes

Fixed more issues with geometry being invisible or visible when it shouldn't in Righteous Stand and Mission of Mercy.
Taught Sienna's skeletons how to not get stuck in the end arena event of The War Camp.
Fixed some sound issues with elevators.
Fixed some audio issues with specials that were nearby.
Tower of Treachery’s alchemy puzzle had the labels for Distillate of Shyish and Azyr swapped. Whoops...! That explains a few explosions.
Trail of Treachery: Fixed the collision on some fences so that you can't phase through them and fall to your death anticlimactically.
Fixed an issue where Sienna’s Beam Staff would sometimes lower music and ambience sounds for other players
Fixed an issue where the Bounty Hunter career ability would not trigger its sounds correctly in first person.
Fixed issues with Beastmen Wargor that made them play too many sounds sometimes.
Fixed issues with Outcast Engineer’s Piston Power talent that made it play too many sounds in some situations.
Fixed the initial cutscene sound on Dark Omens not playing if music was turned off.
Fixed some sound cues sometimes cutting out in Dark Omens’ end event in high intensity combat.
Fixed the Grudge-raker’s Weave illusion not playing any firing sound.
Fixed Saltzpyre’s Brace of Pistols triggering two shot sounds every single shot.
Fixed damage taken sound effects sometimes not playing when taking damage from globadier gas.
Fixed an issue where Keep painting Voice Over would not stop playing when switching painting or exiting the menu. Lohner gets the hint now.
Mission of Mercy: Patched a hole in the ground with rocks. Rocks always fix things.
Fixed the fog from the valve event in Mission of Mercy not always going away properly.
Fixed a bug where the barrels in the end event of Mission of Mercy could spawn outside the map. Also made them stick to the detonation points easier.
Removed an invisible wall in Khazukan Kazakit-ha! that could get players stuck.
Removed a floating test object in the background in Khazukan Kazakit-ha!
Fixed a bug where you could shoot the same bird multiple times to get more than one point of progress in the Eyes of the Crow Father challenge. You monsters.
Fixed some wonky terrain and ledge collision in A Grudge Served Cold.
Fixed a gap in the ceiling in A Grudge Served Cold.
Fixed collision for some spots in A Trail of Treachery where players could previously get stuck.
Fixed a spot where Battle Wizard could teleport out of bounds in Fortunes of War. Of course it was Battle Wizard, up to no good.
Fixed an issue where the cannonball in Fjord Brush-n-Buckle could spawn in a place that is sometimes inaccessible.
Fixed a door in A Grudge Served Cold and in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha! where enemies could phase through. Not today, Tzeentch!
Added missing spawners for Ravaged Art in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha!
Fixed a spot where players could jump off the castle in Tower of Treachery.
Fixed an exploitable spot where you could get out of bounds in The Pit.
Fixed a bug where bots would die when crossing the Skittergate. Lore accurate, really.
Fixed some spots in Festering Grounds that could result in instant death for no reason. Also lore accurate, really, that’s a nasty place.
Fixed a respawn spot in Trail of Treachery where players could respawn under the map.
Fixed a bug where the respawn in the finale of Khazukan Kazakit-Ha wouldn’t be used under some circumstances.
Adjusted a ledge in A Grudge Served Cold so it doesn’t trigger prematurely.
Fixed some flickering walls & roofs in Tower of Treachery.
Fixed some rattling skulls in the intro for Tower of Treachery that were making unnecessary noise.
Re-added Bardin's handgun missing hammer (it was clipped inside the weapon all along).
Fixed the bug where the cannon in Fort Blargula didn’t display a moving progress bar while interacting with it to aim it.
Fixed a bug where players who hotjoined into Trail of Treachery would still see the illusory village if they joined after it had disappeared. Olesya’s magic was just that strong.
Fixed Olesya not teleporting away into the night for clients at the end of Tower of Treachery.
Fixed an issue where aiming with the crossbow would play the sound twice.
Added missing sound effects to certain gates in The Pit.
Fixed bug where Packmasters kept their outline after pinning heroes on their hook.
Fixed an issue where certain light sources wouldn’t show properly behind spiderwebs or in certain lanterns.
Fixed a client crash when another player starts helping the client up from hanging on a ledge just as the client is about to fall.
Fixed an issue with the first person view of the Champion of Ubersreik Waystalker skin that would cause clipping when using the javelin.
Fixed some Tzeentchian looking noses for Slayer when using hats with built-in beards.
Tweaked the ice illusion for the Moonfire bow so that it doesn’t block the crosshair.
Fixed some localization issues.
Taught the bots how to use the ladder in Halescourge.
Fixed a bad respawn point in A Grudge Served Cold.
Moved a pickup and a bucket in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha! to prevent players from getting stuck.
Removed a leftover prototype object in the pyre for Khazukan Kazakit-Ha!
Fixed a spot where enemies could fall into the abyss and not die in Khazukan Kazakit-Ha!
Adjusted a spot where players could hang in midair, rather than from the edge of the cliff, in A Grudge Served Cold.

Vermintide 2 Six Year Anniversary, Versus Alpha Test - Now Live!