Vermintide can be a tough game to learn. Maybe you're already 100 hours in with full exotic gear, but you need to remember that you didn't start with that kind of gear or experience when you're playing with newer people. This guide is all about making the most of playing with the newbies.

Before we continue, here's a couple things to keep in mind:

1- There will be a certain amount of frustration- These players will likely make decisions that, in retrospect, were terrible ideas. Someone is going to hog all the potions. Someone is going to break off from the group and get downed by a Gutter Runner in a position you can't help them from. Someone is going to waste their ammo and not have it for a major fight. It's going to happen, and that's how they'll learn to do better next time. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to invite them to your Cataclysm Tomes & Grimoires run of the Horn Of Magnus. If they arrive in such lobbies, feel free to explain that you don't feel they're ready, and kick them if they don't have any better counter-argument than "nuh-uh!"

2- You are not going to magically make all the newbies you play with into ratslaying-gods- While the average newbie will pick up at least some of the advice you dole out, some are only going to listen once they've been ratstomped, and some not even then. And if you talk so much that your chat/voice becomes so much white noise to your teammates, that's even worse. So choose carefully when to speak up.

3- You are not going to be able to salvage every situation- Some runs are still going to fail. That's okay. If you only manage to scrape by, that's still likely better than they'd have done otherwise.

If you find yourself in a lobby full of level 1s, the first place to deviate from your normal playstyle is in the equipment you use. There are a couple situations that newbies will often encounter:

1- Someone aggro'd the Stormvermin Patrol

2- Someone ran into a Pack Master or Gutter Runner while separated from the team

3- The team got bogged down and overwhelmed during a pack rush.

As such, you want to put heavy emphasis on crowd control and sniping weapons. I personally perfer playing the Soldier, and using the Rifle and Warhammer. The Warhammer charge attack helps keep packs manageable (and the default attack is handy for Stormvermin patrols), and the rifle is great for picking off special enemies at long range, ideally before they get close enough to your teammates to become an issue.

Note- You can still use your usual gear if you wish. Just make sure you have some sort of plan for when these scenarios inevitably take place.

- Don't get tunnel vision- Alternate between which teammates you walk with/cover as needed. A lot of newbies get blindsided by rats coming down from walls or out of the sewer grates, so be ready to help with that.

- Don't be afraid to be pragmatic- If you're stuck deciding which of two teammates to help, there's nothing wrong with choosing the one that's actually been contributing to the team's survival. And don't neglect your own health just so the Leeroy Jenkins of the group can heal up for the third time.

- Mark everything important, and encourage your teammates to do the same (It's 'T')- You'd be surprised how often a bomb or healing draught goes unused because the person who discovered it didn't need it and walked off without further comment. Marking Special enemies ASAP is also handy, so your teammates will actually notice when a Gutter Runner has pinned you can take some potshots at them as they approach.