It’s finally time to step back into the world of Warhammer: Vermintide II, or as I like to call it, Rat Murder Simulator. The busy folks over at Fat Shark have graced us with another new career path, this time for everyone’s favorite character, Bardin Goreksson…well, he’s my favorite character, anyway.
It turns out that things haven’t been going great for Bardin lately, and he’s locked himself away in his room for weeks at a time. There’s also been a lot of loud bangs and explosions coming from within. Finally, he emerges, clad in some of the strangest armor in the world. He’s also carrying what is basically a homemade gatling gun. Time to crush some Raki skulls.
Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer – Gun Goes Brrrr
The new Outcast Engineer career features some pretty cool changes for Bardin. This career is a ranged-focused one that buffs all other players’ ranged abilities. While it’s a little light on damage protection and health, it can really boost some of the other ranged careers with its passive ability giving a bonus +10% to ranged attacks.
The other passives include an increase in ammo count for ranged weapons, but the most fun passive is the ability to hold 3 bombs rather than 1. I don’t think I’ll ever stop finding it funny to piledrive end-level bosses with 3 bombs to soften them up before one of the nuke careers finishes them off.
The major feature of the Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer is probably the massive gun he has as an ultimate ability. Unlike every other Ults in the game, the Dwarf gun can be pulled out at any time, but the Ult bar doesn’t refill itself. You have to hit reload while you have the gun equipped to get it charging. So how often you charge that Ult is down to you.
Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer – Run and Gun Fun
The most surprising thing about the Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer is the sense of flow. You might imagine that carrying around a big gun would slow you down, but not so. For whatever reason, you can run at full tilt, even while reloading your chain gun.
This basically turns playing as Bardin into a very violent dance. Whenever a swarm turns up, you pull out your meat grinder (not a euphemism) and mulch them. You switch to melee to defend yourself, then during a lull dodge backward, charging your Ult again.
Depending on how you specced it, you can even make recharging your Ult a massive advantage. One of the level 25 talents increases your attack speed while the Ult charges. When the game forces you back into melee, you’re suddenly swinging much faster. There’s nothing more satisfying than going hog wild on a group of Raki with your fancy gear hammer.
Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer – New Toys
As much as I enjoy the new career, it’s not the only part of the Vermintide II: Outcast Engineer DLC. The best part of the DLC, without a doubt, is the new weapons. Not only is there an amazing new Dwarf revolver with some crazy stopping power, but there’s also a combination axe/hammer.
The new ranged weapon packs one hell of a punch. In most of the matches I played, I was one-shotting every elite and special I came across. The only enemies that didn’t go down were Chaos Warriors, probably due to their insane armor. You will find one downside to the new revolver is that it fires incredibly slowly. At least it fires slowly if you use the main attack. Holding secondary opens you up for a rapid-fire moment, but the accuracy is all over the place. It’s basically only viable if you’re waiting for your Ult to charge and you’re facing either a swarm or a monster.
Developer: Fatshark
Publisher: Fatshark
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 19th November 2020
Gaming Respawn’s copy of Warhammer: Vermintide 2 – Outcast Engineer was provided by the publisher.
