You’ll find all sorts of information here regarding the Shade Career (for Kerillian) in Vermintide 2. The Shade is as close as you would get to an “assassin class” in Vermintide 2. Kerillian’s “melee spec” is capable of doing incredible damage and is especially useful against specials and, to some extent, bosses.

Wanna check other V2 Careers?

Shade Passive Ability  

  • Murderous Prowess: Critical hit backstabs instantly slay man-sized enemies.
  • Assassin’s Blade: 50% additional damage when attacking enemies from behind

Shade Career Skill  

  • Infiltrate: Kerillian becomes undetectable and can pass through enemies for 10 seconds or until she attacks.

Shade Talent Tree Summary

I placed the whole Shade talent tree in “one chunk” so it’s easy for you to VISUALLY spot/theorize synergies versus highlighting them in-game…

Shade L5 Talents
Hukon’s Tenacity Increases stamina regeneration speed by 30%
Fury of Anth Raema Increases attack speed by 5%
Shadowstep Increases dodge range by 10%
Shade L10 Talents
Gladerunner Increases movement speed by 5%
Ellinill’s Venom Increases damage taken by enemies disabling Kerillian by 25%
Hekart’s Bounty Increased Power by 25% when the party holds at least one grimoire
Shade L15 Talents
Ereth Khial’s Herald Murderous Prowess bonus is increased to 100% increased damage
Mistress of Sacrifice Increased angle for trigerring Murderous Prowess backstab
Bloodfletcher Murderous Prowess backstabs return 1 bolt or arrow
Shade L20 Talents
Weavebond Critical hits grant temporary health
Khaine’s Thirst Kills grant temporary health
Champion of Loren When bosses die, gain health
Shade L25 Talents
Veilwalker Increases duration of Infiltrate to 15 seconds
Shadowhunter Infiltrate stealth no longer breaks when firing Kerillians ranged weapons
Shadespirit Reduces cooldown of Infiltrate by 30%

Shade Generic Build Template

This is meant to be a “General purpose” build for the Shade which focuses on the early to midgame. I will be adding more specialized builds which require more heavy item support soon.

Shade Early Game / Starter Build – Talent Summary

Level “Best“ Optional
5 Fury of Anth Raema Shadowstep
10 Hekart’s Bounty Gladerunner
15 Ereth Khial’s Herald Mistress of Sacrifice
20 Weavebond Khaine’s Thirst
25 Shadowhunter Shadespirit

Shade Early Game / Starter Build – Talent Choice Discussion

L5 Talent - Fury of Anth Raema

Fury of Anth Raema (+5% ASPD) is a generic DPS increase that is always welcome. In the early game, attack speed matters a lot.

Shadowstep (+10% Dodge Distance) this may well be the best one in this tier for some people. It’s not a bad talent, better taken for the more challenging difficulty levels.

Hukon’s Tenacity (+30% Stamina regen) well, I dislike the stamina talents but they aren’t that bad.

L10 Talent - Hekart's Bounty

Hekart’s Bounty (+25% power when party has grimoire) is pretty damn good since it’s very rare people go for zero grimoire runs. It’s straight up 25%… damn.

Gladerunner (+5% movespeed) isn’t so bad. It’s a niche talent surely… I don’t know WHEN exactly I would take it, but movespeed is an effect strong enough to merit consideration.

Ellinill’s Venom (enemies that stun Kerillian take extra damage) is pure garbage. It’s too narrow to be of any true value.

L15 Talent - Ereth Khial's Herald

Ereth Khial’s Herald (Backstab damage increases to 75%) is great.

Mistress of Sacrifice (Larger angle of backstab) it’s essentially the same as the above talent. “More backstabs” is roughly equal to “2x backstab power”. I just think that more powerful backstabs simply “matter more” in crunch time. Both are OK.

Bloodfletcher (Backstabs return ammo) meh compared to the other two, but has a decent synergy with the Shadowhunter talent at 25. I dunno… it just feels a lot worse than the other two since ammo can be obtained in many ways.

L20 Talent -Weavebond

Weavebond (THP on crit) is about as good as Khaine’s Thirst (THP on kill). Both have their ups and down but if your build can support Weavebond go for it (so you don’t have to “share” the kills). Weavebond also works DURING bossfights. Khaine’s Thirst may be better in the extreme early game.

Champion of Loren is pretty bad. Heal on boss kill is an underwhelming talent.

L25 Talent - Shadowhunter

Shadowhunter (Ranged attacks don’t break infiltrate) this one has the highest possible ceiling in yield. You can start an infiltrate, shoot a bunch then melee. That’s the dream.

Shadespirit (30% reduced Shadespirit cooldown) more infiltrates, why not! I don’t think this is too relevant, though since the opportunities to use your ult are quite spread out.

Veilwalker (Increase duration of Infiltrate) is questionable for obvious reasons. It has some implications for very niche purposes but I’d rather not delve into that. The average player would not benefit much from this.

Remember the above recommendations are primarily suited to be good for “most people”, specifically for “early to midgame” when gear drops can’t easily be tailor fit to your needs.

MORE DISCUSSION TO COME AS THE DAYS PASS!

Well that’s about it (FOR NOW) regarding Kerillian Shade Career path in Vermintide 2. While it takes a little work, the Shade can shine in the end-game where specials and bosses are a huge risk. While pretty subpar against hordes, you’ll be glade you took the dark side against the toughest of foes.

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2 COMMENTS

  2. As far as I know, Hekarti’s Bounty has gone from 25% to 15%, so that’s a bit less damage you’re gonna get out of a shade.

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