Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Handmaiden Build Guide (2024)

Quick Links

Career Overview

Weapons

Talents

The Handmaiden is Kerillian's second unlockable Career path in Warhammer: Vermintide 2. This melee-focused class is the opposite of Kerillian's Waystalker, instead fighting on the frontlines and dashing around the battlefield to assist allies.

Related: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Slayer Build Guide

The Handmaiden's seemingly simple abilities are actually extremely powerful in practice, providing just the right tools Kerillian needs to slice through waves of enemies while remaining safe from attacks thanks to the class's increased dodge range. Below, we'll take a look at each of Kerillian's abilities, weapons, and talents, and some tips for building this Career.

Career Overview

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Handmaiden Build Guide (1)

Ability	Description
Career Skill - Dash	Dash forward, moving through enemies and inflicting a slight bleed effect against unarmored foes.
Passive Ability - The Dance of Seasons	Increases dodge distance by 15%.
Perk - Renewal	Grants an Aura that increases nearby allies' stamina regeneration by 100%.
Perk - Ariel's Benison	Kerillian revives allies 50% faster, and heals revived allies for 20 health.
Perk - Oak Guard	Increases stamina by 1.

General Gameplay

The Handmaiden is a melee-oriented Career that can dash around the battlefield to rush to an ally's aid, or cleave through groups of enemies while dodging around them, remaining safe from their attacks. Through the Career's level 30 Talent, the Handmaiden can turn invisible while dashing, allowing her to safely eliminate key special and elite enemies.

As the Handmaiden, your general objective is to clear waves of enemies and special enemies, and revive allies if they go down. Typically, with this playstyle, you won't be hitting monsters unless there are no other enemies to kill, due to the Career's generally low single-target damage.

Thanks to the Handmaiden's extremely short cooldown Career Skill, this class can move quickly around the battlefield to help at key locations or get close to special enemies. Ultimately, this is how the Career is meant to be played, but through various Talents, other playstyle options can emerge, which we will take a look at below in the Talents section.

Weapons

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Handmaiden Build Guide (2)

Melee Weapons

Handmaiden has access to the following melee weapons.

Sword and Dagger
Dual Daggers
Glaive
Sword
Elven Spear
Dual Swords
Two-Handed Sword
Elven Axe (Back to Ubersreik DLC)
Spear and Shield (Winds of Magic DLC)

Ultimately, the melee weapon you choose for Handmaiden depends on which one is your favorite to play. Sword and Dagger, Elven Spear, Spear and Shield, and Glaive are standouts here, with powerful staggering, blocking, or cleave damage.

Ranged Weapons

The Handmaiden can use the following ranged weapons.

Hagbane Shortbow
Swift Bow
Longbow
Moonfire Bow (Forgotten Relics DLC)
Briar Javelin (Sister of the Thorn DLC)

The Moonfire Bow is, by far, the strongest ranged weapon for Handmaiden, and one of the strongest ranged weapons in the game. This Moonfire Bow has infinite ammo, allowing you to take out specials and elites from afar without needing to worry about your ammunition. However, you won't be able to use this weapon without the Forgotten Relics DLC, making it inaccessible for players who don't want to purchase this content.

For non-DLC weapons, the Longbow is good for sniping specials and elites, and the Hagbane Shortbow is great for hordes and groups of enemies, due to its slight AoE effect. Similar to your melee weapon, choose a bow that feels the best for you.

Talents

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Handmaiden Build Guide (3)

An example Handmaiden build using Gift of Ladrielle.

Level 5 Talents

Spirit Echo	Martial Blessing	Eternal Blossom
Striking multiple enemies with a single hit generates temporary health.	Killing an enemy generates temporary health, proportional to the health of the slain enemy.	Healing yourself with medical supplies also restores the health of nearby allies equal to 20% of their max health.

For Handmaiden's first talent choice, Spirit Echo is an easy pick. Not only does this talent provide more temporary health than Martial Blessing, but it can also be used to generate temporary health by repeatedly striking monsters and bosses. Paired with Handmaiden's several options for cleave-based weapons, and Spirit Echo becomes one of the best ways to restore health.

Level 10 Talents

Focused Spirit	Oak Stance	Asrai Alacrity
Increase power by 15% after not taking damage for 10 seconds.	Increases critical strike chance by 5%	Pushing or blocking grants a buff that increases the power of the next two attacks by 10% and their attack speed by 30%.

Similar to the level 5 Talent, this Talent is an easy choice. Asrai Alacrity provides a much higher and more consistent damage boost than the other two options, and is granted upon doing things you should already be doing in general: blocking and pushing.

Oak Stance may work in critical-focused builds, especially when paired with the level 30 Talent Power from Pain, but in general, it is not as useful as Asrai Alacrity.

Level 15 Talents

Smiter	Mainstay	Enhanced Power
The first enemy hit with an attack always counts as a stagger. Staggered enemies take 20% more damage from attacks, and each hit against a staggered enemy adds a count of stagger. Enemies suffering more than one stagger take 40% increased damage from attacks.	Staggered enemies take 40% increased damage. Staggering an enemy that is already suffering a stagger will increase the count, increasing the damage they take to 60%.	Increases power by 7.5%.

These Talents can be difficult to choose between, as the descriptions for Smiter and Mainstay can be hard to understand. Essentially, Smiter increases the damage of your first attack against an enemy, while Mainstay increases the damage you deal to staggered enemies. Overall, Smiter is the more consistent option, with Enhanced Power is a better choice for ranged-focused gameplay, which the Handmaiden isn't exactly specialized for.

Level 20 Talents

Willow Stance	Dance of Blades	Wraith-Walk
Dodging grants a stacking buff that increases attack speed by 5% for 6 seconds. Can be stacked up to 3 times.	Dodging while blocking increases dodge range by 20%. Dodging without blocking increases power by 10% for 2 seconds.	Allows Kerillian's dodge to pass through enemies.

All three of the Handmaiden's level 20 Talents are viable choices, and the one you use ultimately depends on your playstyle. Willow Stance provides a strong attack speed boost after dodging, which can easily be maintained in combat.

Dance of Blades is a versatile option that can either increase your dodge range or power after dodging, which can be used in a variety of situations to deal with threats.

Wraith-Walk makes Kerillian's dodge pass through enemies, allowing her to more easily maneuver through hordes and towards specials. However, Dash already has this effect, and with its low cooldown, makes Wraith-Walk a bit redundant.

Level 25 Talents

Heart of Oak	Birch Stance	Quiver of Plenty
Increases maximum health by 15%.	Reduces the cost of blocking by 30%.	Increases maximum ammo by 40%.

The Handmaiden's level 25 Talents each provide a flat boost to one of Kerillian's stats. All three of these options are good, and which one you use will depend, once again, on your playstyle. Overall, Heart of Oak and Birch Stance a great defensive boosts, while Quiver of Plenty is good if you aren't using the Moonfire Bow, as it will let you use more ranged attacks against key special enemies.

Level 30 Talents

Gift of Ladrielle	Bladedancer	Power from Pain
After using Dash, Kerillian disappears from enemy sight for 2 seconds.	Increases the effectiveness of Dash's bleed effect, causing hit enemies to take high damage over time.	Passing through enemies with Dash grants a stacking buff that increases critical strike chance by 5% for 15 seconds. Can be stacked up to 5 times.

The Handmaiden's level 30 Talent can entirely change the Career's playstyle. With Gift of Ladrielle, you can turn invisible upon using Dash, allowing you to safely get close to specials and kill them, or move around the battlefield undetected. This Talent pairs best with high single-target weapons like the Dual Daggers or Spear, so you can more quickly defeat key targets.

Bladedancer enhances the Bleed effect of Dash, turning this utility-focused skill into a damage-oriented one. Using Dash with Bladedancer will inflict all hit enemies with a high-damage Bleed effect, perfect for clearing large groups of enemies.

Power from Pain is best for general damage-based builds, enhancing the Handmaiden's overall damage. With this Talent, the Handmaiden can easily take down all types of enemies, but doesn't necessarily specialize in anything in particular.

Next: Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Warrior Priest Of Sigmar Build Guide