[2023] Necromancer is Out Now & Patch 5.1.0 Patch Notes

Heroes!
We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of Patch 5.1.0 and with it, the release of Sienna's new Career: the Necromancer! Just in time for Geheimnisnacht...

On top of the Necromancer, this patch introduces some bugfixes, feature tweaks, and optimization improvements, including a massive shrink to the install size of the game!



The Necromancer is a new Career for Sienna Fuegonasus. This DLC contains the new playable career with its own talent tree and abilities, two new weapons, cosmetics, and more!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2585630/Warhammer_Vermintide_2__Necromancer_Career/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2585640/Warhammer_Vermintide_2__Necromancer_Cosmetic_Upgrade/

Necromancers raise the dead to fulfill their every command. Drawn to the Dark Magic following a battle with her twin sister Sofia, Sienna now strides into battle at the head of a company of skeletons, wielding a Soulstealer Staff and Ensorcelled Reaper to bestow the gift of death upon her foes.

As a Necromancer, Sienna will be able to slay her foes with most of her existing arsenal, as well as the two new, unique weapons!

The Ensorcelled Reaper is a threatening two-handed weapon with fantastic cleave and powerful impact. Its special attack causes Sienna to slam the weapon into the ground, releasing a blast of energy around her. This weapon is useable by all of Sienna's careers.

The Soulstealer Staff is a vile conduit of Necromantic magic. The primary attack fires a cursed bolt that bounces between enemies, staggering and applying a damage over time effect. The secondary attack earns the staff its namesake, by letting you target an enemy and ripping at its soul, dealing massive damage. This weapon is only useable by Sienna's Necromancer career.



PASSIVE ABILITY: MALEDICTION OF NAGASH
Sienna’s flames now burn with a cold, unearthly light that saps enemy vigour, causing them to suffer 20% additional damage from Sienna and her Servants.

PERKS:

• Mistress of Death: Sienna can command her servants to Attack or Defend. She can also Release them to ventilate Overcharge.
  
• Lifetaker: Killing an enemy grants 2% crit for 4 seconds. Max stacks 5.
  
• Cold Flames: Sienna’s damage over time effects last 100% longer.

CAREER SKILL: RAISE DEAD
Sienna calls the dead to do her bidding, raising a company of 6 Skeleton Warriors to fight at her side. They last until destroyed, or until Sienna casts Raise Dead again.

COMMAND ITEM: ICON OF DEATH
Wielding this Icon, Sienna can issue commands to her skeletal minions! This Icon is stored in Sienna's potion slot when playing as a Necromancer. Don't worry, she still has room for a potion, as well!

• Attack Command: Orders your skeletons to attack target enemy and increases their damage by 60% for 8 seconds.
  
• Defend Command: Orders your skeletons to defend target area and reduces the damage they take by 80%.
  
• Death's Release: Release a Skeleton from its servitude, instantly Ventilating 70% Overcharge.

LEVEL 5

• Corpsemaker: Damaging multiple enemies in one swing with a melee weapon grants temporary health. Max 5 enemies.
  
• Deathdealer: Melee killing blows restore temporary health based on the health of the slain enemy.
  
• Life Leeching: Healing yourself with a First Aid Kit or a Healing Draught also heals your nearby allies for 20.0% of their maximum health. Clears any wounds.

LEVEL 10

• Vanhel's Danse Macabre: +12% attack speed when 4 skeletons are alive.
  
• Death Ascendent: Casting spells grants 5% ranged power for 6 seconds. Max stacks 5.
  
• Reaping: Critical attacks have +25% power and unlimited cleave.

LEVEL 15

• Mainstay: Deal 40% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 60% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
  
• Smiter: The first enemy hit always counts as staggered. Deal 20% more damage to staggered enemies. Each hit against a staggered enemy adds another count of stagger. Bonus damage is increased to 40% against enemies afflicted by more than one stagger effect.
  
• Enhanced Power: Increases total Power Level by 7.5%. This is calculated before other buffs are applied.

LEVEL 20

• Cursed Blood: Critical attacks against enemies afflicted by the Malediction of Nagash cause them to burst, damaging nearby enemies based on the damage of the attack.
  
• Soul Harvest: The Malediction of Nagash rips the soul from targets that die. Harvesting 8 souls causes the next attack to be a guaranteed Critical Hit.
  
• Withering Touch: On releasing a Skeleton, all Sienna's attacks for the next 15 seconds ignite enemies, causing damage over time.

LEVEL 25:

• Spirit Leech: Killing an elite enemy restores 15% cooldown.
  
• Curse of the Undeath: Casting Raise Dead reduces damage inflicted on Sienna by 80% for the next 3 hits.
  
• Lost Souls: Venting 20% overcharge unleashes a soul that steals health from a nearby enemy restoring 2 temporary health.

LEVEL 30

• Army of the Dead: Raise Dead now causes Skeletons to remain for 20 seconds before decaying.
  
• Barrow Blades: Skeletons now carry two cursed blades. When raised, and when attacking, they ignite enemies, causing damage over time.
  
• Dread Seneschal: Increase Skeleton health and damage by 50%. Command Attack now orders a charge. Command Defend can be issued simultaneously.

GAME FILES REBUNDLING With this patch, we are reworking how we store assets in the game files. Previously, each level kept a copy of each asset it would use in its own file, so even if the same asset was used in different levels, each level would have its own copy. This was done to optimize loading times on HDDs, as storing assets this way would make loading into the map much faster.

However, as the game kept expanding, and specially after the addition of Chaos Wastes, the resulting install size was becoming a bit much. We've rebundled the game so that now we only store a single copy of a good chunk of our assets. The result is that we've managed to shrink the install size from 100.89 GB (pre-Necromancer install size) to 58.87 GB for this patch! Hell yes.

LOADING ALGORITHM CHANGE
The above mentioned change should mean that while the install size got smaller, the load times for HDDs might've become worse (SSDs should be unaffected). However! With the same patch we're also introducing changes to our loading algorithm (particularly in the compression part of the loading process) to improve our loading times. We're expecting a slightly longer loading screen when booting up the game, but much faster loading screens when loading into levels, overall reducing loading times.

Overall, according to our tests, this should mean that HDDs should not see any changes to load time speed despite the rebundling change, while SSDs will load faster!

PATCH REBASING
Some of you may already be familiar with this. Usually when we patch the game, we essentially add files on top of the existing files, which does mean that the game increases in size as we keep patching (even if it's just changes to existing features) and every now and then we need to re-base (we've sometimes called this a re-master). This means deleting all of the 'extra' files and updating the core files so that they contain all the changes, thus reducing the install size to the minimum possible.

Well, we've done that with this patch but ALSO, we're re-working our patching strategy so that we don't need to do the whole extra file thing again. This should mean that, moving forward, patches won't result in the game taking up more and more space.

Fair warning, though, because of this rebasing, the patch might take a while to download and install, as you're essentially downloading the entire game again.

MEMORY IMPROVEMENTS We've updated some in-game systems to consume less RAM memory while in game. While these might seem somewhat minor for players who have plenty of it, systems such as consoles or PCs with lower RAM should have a more stable experience.



We've implemented both Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR 2.2 technologies into the game's options, allowing players with lower end hardware to enable them to greatly improve performance at minimal loss of graphical fidelity. We've seen several requests to add these in the past few months so we're glad to be able to deliver there! Please note that these options are only available in the DirectX 12 version of the game.

Unfortunately, we've realized that the introduction of DLSS will mean that the game will cease to be compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. As Steam is going to cease supporting these operating systems in January, we've decided to go ahead with the implementation and cease support of these operating systems ahead of time. We're sorry if there's any fans we're disappointing with this change.





It's probably no coincidence that Sienna's spooky new outlook on (un)life coincides with the return of Morrslieb and with it, Geheimnisnacht! Our Geheimnisnacht event will be live again for all platforms, running from October 26 to November 5.

We'll have more info to reveal about the event when it drops! There will be goodies, and it will be spooky!

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We've heard a lot of comments worried that Necromancer will be the last piece of content we release for Vermintide 2. We want to take the opportunity to put you guys at ease! While we can't mention any specifics, we can confirm that there is more content being developed for this game, and we can't wait to be able to announce it to you all! But for now, enjoy Necromancer, enjoy the upcoming Geheimnisnacht, and look forwards to our next announcement!

Without further ado...



IMPORTANT With the addition of DLSS, the game will cease to be compatible with Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. As Steam is going to cease supporting these operating systems in January, we've decided to go ahead with the implementation and cease support of these operating systems ahead of time. We're sorry if there's any fans we're disappointing with this change.

OPTIMIZATION IMPROVEMENTS

• Added a system to dynamically load projectiles into memory, rather than always load them, to save memory.
  
• Various tweaks to the way player animations work that saves some memory and simplifies things internally.
  
• Implemented DLSS.
  
• Implemented FSR 2.2.
  
• Rebundled the game to take up much less space.
  
• Improved our level loading algorithm.
  
• Re-based our game files and changed our patching strategy to prevent file size bloat from future patches.

FEATURES & TWEAKS

• Added visual effects for players who are on fire!
  
• Chaos Wastes: Outcast Engineer's 'Bombardier' talent now works with Morgrim's Bomb. Hehehehehe...
  
• Chaos Wastes: Potions of Endless Bombs no longer replaces a player's incendiary grenade with regular bombs.
  
• For Winds of Magic owners, Minotaurs are now an option for the Barn monster in Against the Grain. Surprise!
  
• Enemies set ablaze by a shot from the Moonfire bow now have an appropriately colored on-fire effect.
  
• Added a voice chat indicator that highlights which player is currently talking, when using ingame voice chat. This was added several updates ago, but it was missed in the patch notes so it's being mentioned here!

FIXES

• Fixed a client crash when players join a lobby while Sister of the Thorn is moving. Damn elves can't stand still, can they?
  
• Fixed rare crash that causes joining client to occasionally crash if the team transitions to another level while client is joining.
  
• Fixed a visual bug which kept the Grauber's Arms illusion from displaying the proper glow.
  
• Fixed our heroes not always being chatty enough on the start of banter of Convocation of Decay, Skittergate & Blurblebla Haylesplurge
  
• Players won't get punked on by other Heroes for healing themselves when they have low permanent health, but a lot of temporary health.
  
• Chaos Wastes: Outcast Engineer no longer loses his stacks of bombs when drinking a Potion of Endless Bombs.
  
• Fixed the following weapon illusions having the wrong icon:
  
  • Kruber Spear and Shield:
    • Grauber's Arms
    • Weave-Forged Spear and Shield
    • Dantov's Guard
    
  • Trollhammer Torpedo:
    • Grobbok
    • Bugritbok
    
  • Coruscation Staff:
    • Elvarin's Rod of Destruction
    • Aqshy's Lament
    
  • Moonfire Bow:
    • The Voice of Lileath
    • Cadai-galand
    
  • Griffon-foot:
    • Meffler's Never-Fail Crowd Controller
    • Gunner's Judgement
  
  
• The elf-thing's ricochet projectiles now ricochet properly for clients.
  
• Fixed Huntsman Kruber not complaining about a lack of ammo when using his longbow.
  
• Fixed missing voicelines for clients when gaining Overcharge.
  
• Fixed a bug where the Trollhammer Torpedo illusion "Bugritbok" left particles in the air if swapping weapons quickly back and forth.
  
• Chaos Wastes: Fixed a bug where Morgrim's Bomb would ricochet when thrown by a Waystalker with the ricochet talent.
  
• Fixed Beastmen sometimes not playing their landing sound when jumping down from a height.
  
• Fixed a purple thingie in a level that shouldn't have been visible, but was visible. Blame Tzeentch.
  
• Fixed issues with occlusion culling in the Garrison section of Righteous Stand.
  
• Fixed bug where using Disengage as Bardin Ranger Veteran with "Exhilarating Vapours" before another smoke bomb disappears would not give stealth. Bardin can now have multiple smoke screens out without losing the effects of the older ones.
  
• UI: Fixed the Input Method Editor (IME) being opened when receiving a chat message, causing the game input to freeze. Now the IME only opens when typing a message. (Thank you Iskierka for the detailed report!).
  
• Fixed perk names in the old talent menu being the career name instead of the respective perk names