Heroes & Careers

Summary
Heroes are any of the five playable characters in Vermintide 2. Each one has 3 to 4 careers available with the first being available from the start, while the second and third unlock by leveling the hero up to level 7 and 12 respectively or buying them in the case of the Premium Careers.

Careers
Careers are a new feature for Vermintide 2, bringing variety, flavor, and more viable build options into the game.

Each hero has 3 careers, which represent potential paths for that hero after the events of Vermintide 1. Each Hero has a progression career (staying true to their style: ie Saltzpyre as the Witch Hunter Captain, Bardin as the Ranger Veteran, etc), a more “tanky” career (Kerillian as a Handmaiden, Bardin as an Ironbreaker, etc), and a "dark" career (Kruber as Huntsman, Sienna as Unchained, etc).

Each career has a few Passive Abilities and one Active Ability, which do different things for the team and that hero. Passive abilities are static bonuses to the character and sometimes the team. Active abilities have a cooldown between uses that varies by career. The purple bar at the bottom of the screen shows whether or not this ability is ready to be used.

Different careers also have different Equipment options, for example a Waystalker cannot use a Crossbow, while a Shade can.

In addition to having different abilities and Weapons, careers also have different Hit Points. Most have only 100. The Mercenary, Slayer, Handmaiden and Witch Hunter Captain have 125, while the Foot Knight, Grail Knight, Ironbreaker, Zealot, and Unchained all have 150.

Talents
While careers already give a variety of options, Talents allow the player to customize their hero even more.

On a hero, for every 5 levels gained up to level 30, a new tier of talents is unlocked. There are 3 talents at each tier, and only one talent from a given tier may be selected at a time. These talent choices can be changed at any time at the Keep.

Passive Abilities
Each career has its own unique set of powerful perks that give them distinct playstyles and advantages. These passive abilities can be statistical boosts, unique mechanics, or aura buffs. Most of these abilities can be found on the talents page of the in-game inventory accessible at the keep. To see all of these abilities as well as ones not listed in the game, refer to their respective career page from the table above.

Career Abilities
Each career has a powerful career ability that can turn the tide of battle. These abilities can be activated by pressing F (by default). Each ability has a base cooldown time, listed below. The remaining cooldown time is indicated by the purple bar of the player's health bar.

Hitting Enemies or receiving damage reduces the cooldown by the number of seconds listed below. Damage is per 1 damage received. Click on each career page to see that career's ability.