The Battle of Helmgart

Lore & Background

Helmgart was a formidable fortress-city carved into the Grey Mountains, its walls bristling with cannon and its gates reinforced against the worst of the mountain storms. For centuries, it had stood as a bulwark against the Greenskins and Beastmen that lurked in the peaks, but the Skaven threat was unlike any before. When the vermin tide rose, Helmgart became the lynchpin of the Empire's defense—if it fell, the path to Altdorf would lie open. The Ubersreik Five, already seasoned by their battles in Ubersreik, arrived to find the fortress under siege, its defenders stretched thin and the Skaven tunneling beneath the very foundations. The battle was not a single clash but a series of desperate engagements across the fortress's multiple layers, from the outer walls to the inner keep, as the heroes sought to stem the tide.

In Their Own Story

The air stank of warpstone and blood as Kruber slammed his hammer into a chittering Stormvermin, its armor crumpling like parchment. Beside him, Kerillian's arrows sang through the smoke, each finding a Skaven throat. 'Hold the line!' Saltzpyre's voice cut through the din, his rapier a blur of faith and steel. Above, the sky was a bruised purple, lit by the sickly green glow of the Skaven's warpstone engine—a monstrous cannon that had already punched a smoking breach through the inner wall. Sienna's flames roared, consuming a pack of ratling gunners in a shrieking pyre, while Bardin's axe cleaved through a chieftain's skull with a wet crack. 'For the Empire!' they cried, as the ground trembled and the Skaven horde surged once more—but this time, the heroes did not yield, their boots planted on the blood-slicked flagstones of a keep that would not fall that day.

Reader's Guide

The Battle of Helmgart is the final campaign of Warhammer: Vermintide 2, where players defend the fortress from the Skaven assault led by the Grey Seer Rasknitt. Key locations include the Helmgart Keep (the central stronghold), the Skittergate (a warpstone portal used by the Skaven), and the Warpstone Cannon (a massive weapon the heroes must destroy). The battle is notable for its multi-stage structure, with objectives ranging from defending gates to sabotaging Skaven tunnels. In dialogue, characters reference 'the Helmgart garrison' (the fortress's defenders) and 'the Grey Seer's scheme' (Rasknitt's plan to use the warpstone cannon). The Vermintide retelling emphasizes the heroes' personal stakes—each character has unique voice lines that reflect their history with the Skaven or the Empire—while staying true to the Warhammer Fantasy lore of Skaven using warpstone and tunnels. The battle's outcome is a temporary victory, as the Skaven threat remains, setting up future conflicts.

Did You Know?

• The Battle of Helmgart was originally conceived as the final level of Vermintide 2, but was later expanded with additional missions in the 'Winds of Magic' DLC.
• The Skaven warpstone cannon is a reference to the 'Doomsphere' from Warhammer Fantasy lore, a devastating Skaven weapon.
• Helmgart's design was inspired by real-world mountain fortresses like the Fortress of Königstein in Germany.
• The battle's victory is considered a Pyrrhic one, as the Skaven retreat only to regroup, leading to the events of the 'Chaos Wastes' expansion.