Warhammer: Vermintide 2 - Cleave and Stagger of Melee Weapons

Other Warhammer: Vermintide 2 Guides:

How to Calculate Cleave & Stagger?

All credit goes to Royale w/ Cheese!

Number of single type enemies got damaged per swing

Damage Cleave Limit * (100% + Raw Power Increase)/ Enemy Mass / Mass Modifier (Digits roundup)

Number of single type enemies got staggered per swing

Stagger Cleave Limit * (100% + Raw Power Increase)/ Enemy Mass / Mass Modifier (Digits roundup)

How to determine if the enemy unit will get staggered?

Player wise:

What’s the hero power? Increased power will increase stagger.
What type of weapon? Generally stagger power of 2h weapon > 1h/dual wield weapon. Also weapons with tank property have better stagger.
What type of attack? Generally stagger power of heavy attack > light attack.
Where did it hit? Stagger power of head shot / crit shot > body shot.
How many enemies? 1st hit enemy is more than likely got staggered than 2nd / 3rd hit enemy.

Enemy wise:

What’s the stagger resistance of the enemy? Values are available in the mod Bestiary.
What’s the armour type of the enemy? Generally monster > armour/berserker > infantry.
What’s the state of the enemy? Enemies that are performing attacks (especially charging attacks) are harder to stagger.

How to determine if the next enemy will receive damage/stagger?

If (Stagger/Damage Clave Limit* (100% + Raw Power Increase)) – (Total Mass of enemies already received damage/stagger * Mass Modifier) >= 0

What are the Coefficients in the Calculation?

Damage Cleave Limit / Stagger Cleave Limit: Variable on different weapons and attacks. Can be found in mod Armory.

Red circle shows Damage Cleave, green circle shows stagger cleave.

Raw Power Increase: Only from abilities like ‘Reikland Reaper’ (Mercenary talent), ‘Eldrazor’s Precision’ (Handmaiden talent), Barrage(trait). Power vs Race/Armour type on your weapons/charm does not work.

Enemy Mass: Can be found in mod Bestiary. Shield also adds mass to enemy units.

Shield added mass is in the brackets.

Mass Modifier: Including Linesman, Heavy Linesman, Tank. Can be found in Armory/Bestiary. Knocked down enemy mass is halved.

Linesman: Value = 60%. Only works on infantry/berserker targets.

Heavy Linesman: Value for infantry/berserker: 60% Value for armour: 50%

Tank: Value for normal horde (slave rat/fanatic): 75% Value for higher tier units: 50%

Modifiers on weapons

Modifier number on specific type of enemy.

Additional Notes

Regeneration

Cleave to heal (e.g Mercenary talent ‘Drillmaster’) counts the number of enemies got damaged by this swing, not stagger.
Stagger to heal (e.g Foot Knight talent ‘Back Off Ugly’) counts both the number of enemies got staggered by this swing and the strength of stagger, not cleave. Swing that killed an enemy do not regen.

Talents & Passives

Mercenary passive ‘Hitting the Sweet Spot’ reduce enemy mass by 25% (= 75% Mass Modifier), but it only works on Damage Cleave, not Stagger Cleave.
Slayer passive ‘Trophy Hunter’ and Unchain passive ‘Unstable Strength’ only increase damage, Damage Cleave and Stagger Cleave are not affected by it.

Special Weapon Mechanics

1. The following attacks can hit multiple armour units:

Two-Handed Hammer Heavy Attack.
Two-Handed Sword Heavy Attack.
Executioner’s Sword Light / Push Attack.
Axe & Falchion Push Attack.
Dual Swords Light / Heavy Attack.

2. The following attacks can damage through shield:

Flail, using its 3rd or 4th light attacks (the downward swings) or its charged attack.
Sword & Dagger push attack.
Sword & Shield push attack.
Dual Swords push attack.

3. The shield bashes, Sienna dagger heavy 1, flame sword heavy 1 have some special properties. They have 3 separate attacks in 1.

The first attack hits only 1 enemy under your crosshair. It takes the most damage, and highest stagger.
The second attack hits infinite enemies in the hit box. Its hitbox is a narrow cone around the crosshair. Enemies hit by this will take same damage and stagger (both less than the first attack).
The third attack hits infinite enemies in the hit box. Its hitbox is a wider cone around the crosshair. Enemies hit by this will take no damage and lowest stagger.