There are four actions you can perform with every melee weapon:

Normal Attack: this is the quicker of the weapon's attacks, and is performed by tapping the 'attack' key. If you perform a number of normal attacks in rapid succession, you can see there is a
combo of different swings, typically comprising 2-4 swings depending on the weapon. Each swing in the combo may have different properties (damage, speed, etc. as described below). Attacks can be chained; hitting the attack key again before the current attack is complete will queue the next attack in the combo to execute as soon as possible.

Charged Attack: this is a slower attack which is performed by holding down the attack key for a minimum duration, which may be different for different weapons. The swing begins when the key is released – you can hold back the swing for a certain amount of time by continuing to hold the key. As with normal attacks, swings can be chained. It's important to learn the exact timings of the weapon you're using, so that you can chain your swings together as quickly as possible.

Block: holding down the 'block' key will protect you from trash rat attacks. IMPORTANT: blocking has 360 degree coverage – it protects you from attacks from behind as well as those you can see. Blocking a trash rat attack costs you 1 'Stamina,' which is a weapon property displayed as little shield icons on screen while you're blocking. A full shield represents 2 Stamina, and a 'broken' shield represents 1 Stamina. Stamina regenerates over time, but if you run out of Stamina and are hit while blocking, you will be stunned briefly.

Push: tapping the attack key while blocking will execute a 'push' action, which doesn't damage rats but interrupts their attacks and may also knock them back (some weapons have more powerful pushes than others). Like blocking, pushing works in a 360 degree arc and is dependent on Stamina. A push costs 2 Stamina (1 “shield”) on all weapons except the Dual Daggers, where it costs 1 Stamina. Weapons with shields have the most powerful pushes, and the most Stamina.

In the game's inventory screen, a number of weapon properties are displayed as bar graphs to the right of the selected weapon. It's important to understand that these graphs are only indicative and don't give complete information – the properties they describe are too complex to be defined by a single value, partly because each swing in a combo may have different properties.

More detailed information about each weapon's properties can be found in this spreadsheet[docs.google.com]. Unfortunately, this only covers weapons of exotic (orange) rarity, but damage is the only statistic that changes with rarity, and even there the spreadsheet will give you a sense of the relative damage between weapons of lower rarities. (The spreadsheet contains values taken from the current PC version, and may be out-of-date for the console version.)

Note that the same weapon may be available to multiple characters, possibly under different names. For example, the Witch Hunter's Axe is the same as the Dwarf Ranger's Axe, and the Dwarf Ranger's Hammer is identical to the Empire Soldier's Mace. (However, the Waywatcher's Sword is different to the Empire Soldier's Sword.)

Damage: the amount of damage done to trash rats hit by the weapon. For this property, the bar graph is especially inadequate – not only can the damage differ for each swing in the combo, but each rat hit by a single swing may take different damage. For example, the charged attack of the orange 2-handed Hammer does 5 damage to the first rat, 3.5 to the second, and 0 to any other rats hit.

Targets: this describes the number of rats hit by a single swing of the weapon. Most swings hit a limited number of targets, and once that number has been exceeded the swing will pass through any other rats with no effect (or on some weapons, the swing may visibly 'stick' on the last target). This is another property which may vary with each swing in a combo, for example with the normal attack of the Waywatcher's Sword, the first two swings each hit 4 targets while the third swing hits just 1 target. It's important to note the difference between hitting for 0 damage and not hitting at all – hitting for 0 damage will still stagger the rat.

Speed: fairly self-explanatory, this is how quickly the swings can be performed, although once again the speed of each swing in a combo may be different.

Knockback: the extent to which rats are staggered when hit. Any hit will stun a rat to some degree and interrupt its attack if it is currently performing one. Swings with more knockback will stun rats for a longer period of time, and may knock the rats away from you or even off their feet. As far as I'm aware, knockback is the same for all swings in a combo.

Stamina: the maximum Stamina of the weapon.

Traits: common (white) weapons have no traits, they only appear on weapons of higher rarities. They provide beneficial effects and are assigned randomly to a weapon when it is created. This guide does not cover traits in detail, but that information is available elsewhere on the Web, e.g. http://verminguide.com.

Reach: this is not displayed anywhere in-game, but some weapons can hit rats from slightly further away. I'm not aware of any hard data on this, but the charged attacks of 2-handed weapons and weapons with shields seem to have the longest reach.

Dodge Effectiveness: this is another undisplayed property. Since patch 1.5, the weapon you're wielding affects how well you can dodge. Dodging with "lighter" weapons (one-handed or dual-wielded) moves you a larger distance than with "heavier" weapons (two-handed or weapon-and-shield). In addition, with most weapons there is a dodge distance penalty for dodging continuously - when you keep dodging as quickly as you can, each successive dodge gets smaller. This penalty is less severe for lighter weapons, and the lightest have no penalty at all.

Trash rats have 3 different kinds of attack, but all of them hit only a single target. Also, all of them have some degree of “phantom reach” - you can be hit even if it looks like you're too far away. Their actual reach is apparently slightly longer than that of any weapon of yours. It's possible for a rat with a knife to hit you while still being outside the reach of your 2-handed sword.

Standing attack: this is the trash rat's standard attack, which is relatively slow and predictable - it has a long and clearly visible wind-up.

Running attack: when you move away from a rat, it may use a running attack against you. This is a much more dangerous attack, since it is faster and seems to have an especially ridiculous phantom reach. If the rat is approaching from some distance, you can see the attack coming because it will run with its weapon raised, but the actual swing is very fast and can still take you by surprise. If the rat is nearby, the entire attack can be startlingly quick – a running attack can occur even if the rat is quite close, if you happen to move slightly away from it.

Vertical attacks: these are used against you when the rat is far enough above or below you that its standing attack can't hit you. There is a crouching attack it uses when above you, and a jumping attack it uses when below. They seem to be slightly quicker than the standing attack, and can be more difficult to spot. Also, the crouching attack can cause the rat to duck under your own weapon's swing.

Melee combat in Vermintide is all about not getting hit. This isn't really obvious on the easier difficulties, because you can take a lot of trash rat hits and keep fighting, but at the highest difficulty just a couple of hits can knock you down. You should try not to develop bad habits while playing on the easier difficulties; instead, pay attention to how often you get hit and try to keep improving. At first, melee can seem completely chaotic with rats swarming everywhere and randomly hitting you, but over time you will develop a sense of what's going on. Vermintide is a game where experience really matters.

Exactly how you kill rats without taking damage depends on the weapon you're using. The game developers have done a good job of making each weapon unique, but personally I choose to divide them into 3 categories.


(WH Rapier, WH/DR Axe, all WW weapons, BW Mace, DR Hammer/ES Mace)

These weapons have the quickest swings and provide good average damage per second (DPS), but hit the fewest targets and so provide limited 'crowd control' (CC). Their fast attacks allow you to more easily hit rats before they can hit you – as long as the number of rats doesn't exceed the number you can hit.

Essentially, with a fast weapon you keep hitting the rats that are attacking you until you can no longer keep them all stun-locked. Then you need to either block, push, dodge, or some combination of those things, until you get the chance to attack again. It sounds simple but is difficult to master, and requires practice and experience. Even then it's only feasible against a relatively small number of rats. One of the trickiest things is dealing with running attacks, which will happen as you move around to position yourself for attacks. Again, this is something that only comes with experience.

I generally rely most on pushing. Blocking requires you to wait for the rat to hit you, during which time another rat might initiate an attack, which you then have to wait for as well, and so on. A few rats attacking out of sync can leave you with no opening to attack if you rely solely on blocking. I generally only block an incoming attack out of desperation, if my own attack has missed a rat I expected it to hit or if I'm surprised by a running attack..

Pushing staggers every rat within reach, buying you time to safely execute attacks, but has its own limitations. It requires and consumes Stamina, so you can't keep pushing indefinitely. And it has a shorter reach than the rats' attacks, so you need to watch carefully for rats that weren't affected and are close enough to hit you. Note that the 'Devastating Blow' weapon trait increases the knockback of pushes – I regard this trait as essential for some fast weapons, which otherwise have weak pushes.

Dodging is also useful, especially since you don't have to stop attacking while you do it, but can be unreliable. Relatively small irregularities on the ground can stop your dodge, so unless you're standing on a perfectly flat surface, you need to be ready to cope with a failed dodge. And of course, you can't dodge through enemies. Like normal movement, a dodge can provoke a running attack. Finally, when dodging continuously your Stamina does not regenerate, and as noted above with most weapons each dodge becomes smaller.

Some people use dodging as the core of their technique and rarely push or block, especially since it was buffed for fast weapons in patch 1.5, but it's a good idea to be fluent with all three mechanisms. You'll develop your own style and preferences as you play the game.

(If you want to see these techniques in action, I've posted some videos on YouTube.)

The number of rats you can manage alone without being hit varies from weapon to weapon (the Waywatcher's Dual Swords or Sword and Dagger are probably the best), but generally if you're facing more than 4 or 5 at once you're in trouble, because they will flank and surround you. In that case, you should kite your way over to your allies so they can assist you.

In summary, a fast weapon is good for taking out a few rats quickly, but doesn't really allow you to hold off a rat horde. When the horde comes, you need to stay near someone with a CC weapon – let him keep the rats at bay while you provide DPS.


(DR/ES 2-handed Hammer, BW/ES Sword, BW Flaming Sword, DR/ES weapons with shields)

These are weapons with charged attacks that hit unlimited targets. An experienced player in a good defensive position can hold off an entire horde single-handedly with one of these (well, maybe not with the Hammer and Shield/Mace and Shield).

Generally the normal attack of CC weapons can be useful against a small number of rats, but their real selling point is the charged attack. This can be simply be used continuously against the rats, unlike the mix of attacking/pushing etc. that's required with fast weapons. However, because rats can hit you from outside your weapon's reach, you can't just stand and swing. A certain amount of moving around while attacking is required, which of course can provoke running attacks against you. Doing this well requires (you guessed it) experience.

A simple technique that I find works well (with 2H Hammer/Sword/Flaming Sword) is moving from side to side in time with the weapon's swing. That is, move left when swinging right-to-left, and right when swinging left-to-right. Because you're moving with the swing, this extends the area covered by the swing slightly. When you've become proficient at this, you can try throwing in a sideways dodge with each swing as well – if you time it right, the dodge will occur mid-swing, extending the area of the swing further. (You can see a brief video of me doing this here, and a longer video showing a whole level with the 2-handed hammer here, but note that the dodge distance for the 2-handed hammer has been reduced since these videos were made.)

In a narrow corridor where you don't have room to move sideways, an alternate technique is to advance forward then dodge backwards. With the 2H Hammer, for example, I will typically dodge back every second swing – start moving forward while charging up the first swing, dodge back just as the second swing finishes, repeat. I use the Axe and Shield in a similar fashion, since it doesn't have a side-to-side swing, but due to its faster attack I'm more likely to get in three swings for every dodge.

Note that you still sometimes need to use pushing and blocking with these weapons. Since the charged attack on a 2-handed Hammer or Sword is relatively slow, you may need to push the rats near you to buy enough time to charge up your first swing. Or if a rat is going to hit you from outside your reach, you may need to interrupt your attacks to block it.


(WH/ES 2-handed Sword, DR Greataxe)

There are only a couple of these weapons. They have a charged attack that is very slow, but hits a relatively high number of targets (6 for the 2-handed Sword, 4 for the Greataxe) for a lot of damage.

Against hordes, the charged attack can achieve superb DPS, but the limited number of targets means that (like a fast weapon) it requires the assistance of someone with a CC weapon to prevent you from taking hits. In the case of the 2-handed Sword, the normal attack has a medium speed and hits up to 4 targets, allowing the weapon to be wielded much like a fast weapon when necessary. It's an excellent weapon and a popular choice, but possibly requires more experience than other weapons to wield effectively. Prior to patch 1.5, the Greataxe was generally considered inferior to the 2-handed Sword, but it was buffed in that patch and in my opinion it's now at least as good.

All the weapons are viable, and I find nearly all of them fun to use. In the long term, I really encourage you to use a number of different weapons – you're not getting the full Vermintide experience if you only ever use the same one. But if you're just starting out, you probably want to find one you like and stick with it for a while.

The best weapon is very much a matter of opinion and preference, especially since weapons that were considered weaker were buffed in patch 1.5. But if you want to know my personal favourites, I guess they would be:

WH: Axe, Rapier
WW: Dual Swords, Glaive
BW: Sword
DR: Axe and Shield, Greataxe
ES: Mace, 2-handed Hammer, 2-handed Sword

If you want a more in-depth evaluation of each weapon, I recommend this guide as further reading.