Perks & Classes

Fastest Perk Leveling Strategies Killing Floor

Leveling in KF1 is a grind. Going from Level 0 to 6 can take hundreds of hours if you play normally. Here are specific strategies to speed it up.

Field Medic perk art Field Medic, the healing perk.

1. Field Medic (The Bloat Strategy)

  • The Goal: Heal points.
  • Strategy: Find a Bloat (Fat zombie). Let it vomit on a teammate (preferably a Berserker who resists bile). Heal them. Repeat. Do not kill the Bloat.
  • Solo: Impossible to grind efficiently solo. You need a friend or a "Fake Players" mutator to spawn bots.

Solo method on KFO-Steamland

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, thread "Medic abuse, or how to level the medic to 6 in 2 hours", 2013.

The exception to the rule above: healing Ringmaster Lockheart in Objective Mode also counts toward Medic progress (see Field Medic levels).

  1. Solo game, map KFO-Steamland, Easy difficulty.
  2. Clear the first 2 waves with any perk.
  3. Switch to Medic and buy the MP7M (according to the author, progress only counted with this weapon).
  4. On wave 3, where you escort Ringmaster Lockheart, take him to the first stop, stand right against him and heal in a loop: the syringe twice, then the MP7M twice.
  5. The zeds surround you and the Ringmaster stops moving. According to the author, after about a minute the zeds stop hitting you.

The author reached level 5 in about half an hour and went from 5 to 6 in 56 minutes. Others in the thread pointed out that this does not teach you to heal a team that keeps moving on Hell on Earth.

With a friend and leftover zeds

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, thread "Быстрая прокачка медика" / "Fast Medic leveling", 2011.

  1. Create a server, invite a friend, set Easy difficulty and 7 or 10 waves (so you have time to earn money).
  2. After the first or second wave, buy the medic MP7.
  3. On the next wave, kill every zed except one or two (two is better, they take off more HP) and hide in a small nook. The author's example is on KF-WestLondon: the doorway above the Half-Light hospital sign.
  4. Stand still and heal your friend while the zeds hit him, regularly with both darts and the syringe, so he cannot die.

By the author's estimate, levels 1 to 5 take 1-1.5 hours, while level 6 (100,000 HP restored) takes roughly 5 to 8 hours. Along the way you can easily get the achievement for healing 200 players with MP7 darts.

  • Siren variant: leave a Siren alive and stand where she cannot come close but still screams; two medics heal each other. The closer the Siren, the more damage: up close she kills in 2-3 screams.
  • Where to do it: on public servers this usually gets you banned right away. Use your own server or empty servers at night.

2. Support Specialist (The Welding Door)

Support Specialist perk art Support Specialist, the shotgun and welding perk.

  • The Goal: Welding points + Shotgun damage.
  • Strategy:
    1. Go to a map with a door (e.g., KF-Manor).
    2. Weld the door to 100%.
    3. Unweld it to 0%.
    4. Repeat.
    5. Alternatively, let a weak Zed (Clot) hit the welded door while you repair it from the other side. This gives infinite XP.

3. Sharpshooter (Headshots)

Sharpshooter perk art Sharpshooter, the precision and headshot perk.

  • The Goal: Headshots.
  • Strategy: Use the 9mm Pistol on early waves. Every Clot is a free headshot. Do not bodyshot.
  • Map: Play "KF-Leveling" maps where Zeds walk in a straight line with heads aligned.

The West London hotel

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, thread "Прокачка Снайпера" / "Sharpshooter leveling", 2011.

  • Create a dedicated server, set Easy difficulty and add fake players (Faked Players mutator).
  • Map London: hide in the hotel where there is a small passage and shoot heads. The author got 700 headshots in 45 minutes this way.
  • Ammo is not a problem: according to the author, with 5 fake players a wave brings at most 150 zeds. Another player suggested KF-Farm, where ammo boxes are everywhere.
  • The thread argued about it: some found the method boring, others replied that collecting several thousand headshots through normal play takes a very long time.

4. Commando (Stalkers)

Commando perk art Commando, the assault rifle perk that sees cloaked Stalkers.

  • The Goal: Kill Stalkers + Damage.
  • Strategy: Stalkers are invisible. Commando sees them.
  • Map: Use a "Stalker Farm" map or mutator that spawns only Stalkers.
  • Weapon: Use the Bullpup or AK47 on semi-auto to save ammo.

5. Berserker (Damage)

Berserker perk art Berserker, the melee perk of Killing Floor.

  • The Goal: Melee damage.
  • Strategy: Play on "Beginner" or "Normal" difficulty. Zeds have less HP but you deal massive overkill damage. Use the Katana. It's just a raw damage grind.

Chainsaw on KF-DOOMed

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, thread "Берсеркер, быстрая прокачка" / "Berserker, fast leveling", 2012.

  • On the KF-DOOMed v1.3 map, after spawning go right and climb out the window: there are 2 trucks, and the chainsaw lies in the nearer one.
  • Difficulty: Hard or higher. According to the author, 100,000 damage takes roughly 400 kills on Hard, 300 on Suicidal and 200 on Hell on Earth (another player counted about 450 on Hell on Earth).
  • With the Faked Player mutator set to 99 players, the first wave has 800 Clots and Gorefasts combined.
  • Find a spot where you can just stand while zeds walk into you. The author got about 1,000,000 damage a day this way on Hell on Earth.
  • Others in the thread objected that this does not teach you to play; better to learn to survive alongside people.

Note on "Leveling Maps"

Using KF-Leveling-7 or similar maps is common. It is not considered cheating by most of the community, as the vanilla grind is excessively slow (millions of damage points).