FATSHARK ANNOUNCES FIRST PAID DLC CLASS FOR WARHAMMER 40,000: DARKTIDE & RELEASES FREE LEVEL FOR WARHAMMER: VERMINTIDE 2
May 22, 2025
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STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, May 22, 2025. The Emperor’s justice arrives in Tertium with Darktide’s first paid DLC: the Arbites Class, launching on June 23 across all platforms - alongside a free update that introduces an improved onboarding and narrative experience as well as changes to difficulty selection and progression. Meanwhile, the Final Chapter of the Verminous Dreams free campaign launches today, May 22, for all Vermintide 2 players - with our heroes joining the fray via Xbox Game Pass. In addition, Vermintide 2 will be receiving a quality of life update and a few balancing changes. To mark the Skulls celebration, both games will feature limited-time in-game events.
Judgment Is Coming to Darktide: The Arbites Class
The Adeptus Arbites enforce the Lex Imperialis - the Emperor’s Law. Utterly unforgiving, they pursue heretics and traitors with relentless precision. As an Arbitrator, players will deliver the Emperor’s justice with zealous discipline, supported by brutal new weaponry and a cybernetic companion.
- Command your Cyber-Mastiff:
- A cybernetically-enhanced attack hound never far from your side.
- Send your kill-dog to disable priority targets, maul enemies, and provide vital support to your strike team.
- Your judgment. How will you enforce it?
- Craft your unique Arbitrator by mixing freely between 80+ talent nodes…
- … or choose one of the three distinct combat styles found in Darktide’s branching talent trees.
- Crowd Control & Command:
- Control the battlefield with suppressive fire and barked orders.
- Deploy the Nuncio Aquila: an anti-gravity vox platform that barks imperial propaganda and suppresses the will of the enemy.
- Exact punishment with extreme prejudice
- Arbites Shotgun: packs a righteous punch with Special Issue shells.
- Assault Shield + Arbites Shotpistol: Darktide’s first hybrid defense/range combo weapons.
- Dominator Maul: Crush dissent with every swing.
- Sanction wears many faces, no two enforcers are alike:
- Customise your Arbitrator, choose from six voices across three personalities,
- Cosmetics for your Cyber-Mastiff, character, and weapons.
Players will be able to purchase the Arbites Class on all platforms on June 23 for the price of $11.99 / €11.99
Free Update: Improved Narrative Experience & Changes to Difficulty
Launching alongside the Arbites Class DLC on June 23, Darktide will receive a free update designed to offer a more structured narrative experience for new players as well as a rework on difficulty progression and selection
- Improved onboarding and narrative experience:
- A curated mission path will guide new players through Tertium, introducing key characters, locations, and threats across escalating difficulty tiers.
- Missions will feature increased story context, with debriefs showcasing the impact of strike teams across Tertium.
- Seasoned players will be offered the option to re-experience the improved story of Darktide from the start.
- Changes to difficulty progression and selection:
- Introducing a reworked difficulty progression system: players will now unlock higher difficulties by demonstrating skills, not just by leveling up. Progression will be tied to completing a number of missions at your current difficulty, rewarding mastery over time played.
- Mission board changes: all missions currently in rotation will now be available at every difficulty level. This update significantly broadens the mission selection for players at any tier, offering greater variety and more meaningful choice when deciding how (and where) to fight.
Special Event to Celebrate Skulls 2025!
Starting May 22, to celebrate Skulls, the forces of Nurgle will be stirring in Darktide. During this time-limited event, players will encounter Nurgle totems across missions. Destroying them will summon Chaos Spawns, but beware: these totems also buff nearby enemies, making every encounter more dangerous.
Skulls will also be celebrated in the Mourningstar, with skull decorations, shrines, and event-themed banners transforming the hub into a fitting tribute to the Imperium’s most grimdark traditions.
Restock of Fan-Favorite Regiments in The Commodore’s Vestures
As part of the Skulls celebration, several fan-favorite premium cosmetics will return to the Commodore’s Vestures for a limited time, offering players a chance to represent iconic forces from across the Imperium:
- Magistratum Enforcers: Street-level justice in Tertium's most dangerous districts. With their precinct-style armor and uniforms, the Mags stand as grim sentinels of order amidst rising chaos, even as their own ranks grow uncertain.
- Heroes of Armageddon (Steel Legion): Battle-hardened veterans who stood against the Ork menace. Their black banners of vengeance now fly over Tertium’s war-torn streets.
- Death Korps of Krieg: Stoic, gas-masked, and relentless. These trench warfare specialists embody the harsh discipline and sacrifice the Imperium demands.
- Elysian Drop Troopers: Precision-deployed from orbit, the Elysians strike fast and hard, bypassing enemy lines to hit high-value targets with surgical force.
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Vermintide 2 Now on Xbox Game Pass
As of May 13, Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is available on Xbox Game Pass, opening the gates of Ubersreik to an even wider audience of players.
This critically acclaimed 1-4 player co-op action game delivers brutal, best-in-class melee combat set in the dark and gritty Warhammer Fantasy universe. Whether you're diving in solo or rallying friends for the fight, there's never been a better time to experience the End Times.
The Well of Dreams Concludes the Verminous Dreams Saga
The final mission in Vermintide 2’s Verminous Dreams campaign, The Well of Dreams, is out now, free for all players on all platforms! Journey into high security Skaven tunnels beneath the Elven temple of Athel Lithri to stop a warp bomb from dropping through the Well of Dreams!
Skulls In-Game Event Returns
Back for another year, the fan-favorite Skulls event lets players rack up kills and collect daemon skulls to earn seasonal rewards:
- New Portrait Frame
- New Weapon Illusions in Skulls event colors
- Past years’ rewards available in the Emporium
Quality of Life and Balancing Changes
This update also brings a range of quality of life and balance improvements, including (but not limited to):
- A new Hero Parade Screen after completing missions in Adventure mode, Chaos Wastes, or unranked Weaves.
- Temporary Health talents reworked across all careers.
- Chaos Wastes improvements: added an option to remove boons at shrines and from the expedition map.
- Tweaks to Versus Mode affecting both Heroes and Pactsworn.
About Fatshark®
Fatshark is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and was established in 2007. More than 100 experienced game developers are part of the independent developer, and we strive to create compelling interactive experiences. Apart from Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, the team has previously developed titles including Warhammer: Vermintide 2, Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, Lead and Gold, Krater, and War of the Roses. For more information, visit www.fatsharkgames.com
About Games Workshop®
Games Workshop® Group PLC (LSE:GAW.L), based in Nottingham, UK, produces the best fantasy miniatures in the world. Games Workshop designs, manufactures, retails, and distributes its range of Warhammer®: Age of Sigmar® and Warhammer® 40,000® games, miniatures, novels, and model kits through more than 553 of its own stores (branded Games Workshop® or Warhammer®), the www.games-workshop.com web store and independent retail channels in more than 50 countries worldwide. More information about Games Workshop and its other, related, brands and product ranges (including our publishing division ‘Black Library’ and our special resin miniatures studio ‘Forge World’) can be found at www.games-workshop.com.
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2025. Darktide, the Darktide logo, GW, Games Workshop, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likeness thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world, and used under licence. © Fatshark AB 2025. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
