Specimens & Bosses

Killing Floor Monsters (Specimens) - Complete Bestiary & Takedown Guide

In Killing Floor, knowing your enemy is the difference between survival and a squad wipe. The specimens (Zeds) come in waves, ranging from trash mobs to high-threat elites. This guide covers every monster, their abilities, and how to kill them efficiently.

Firing into a crowd of specimens in a Horzine lab A typical Killing Floor wave: specimens pour down a Horzine lab corridor.

The "Trash" Zeds (Crowd Control)

These monsters rely on numbers to overwhelm you. They are dangerous if they surround you or trap you for bigger Zeds.

Clot

Clot The Clot, the most common specimen: weak alone, dangerous when it grabs you.

One of the weakest monsters in the game. The most common specimen. They are slow, weak, but dangerous in groups.

  • Appearance: Found on every wave, starting from the very first, in large numbers, most often near Bloats or in company with Gorefasts.
  • Characteristics: Move slowly, have low health, deal little damage. Their weakest spot is the head.
  • Ability: Grapple. If a Clot gets close, it grabs you, preventing movement and messing up your aim. Alone they are not dangerous, but an inexperienced player caught in their circle can take serious damage, as Clots have the ability to grab and hold until killed or seriously injured, while dealing damage. An immobilized player most often takes damage from stronger monsters.
  • Strategy: Aim for the head. Any weapon works. Jump to break the grab if caught (or have a Berserker/teammate help).
  • Weakness: Headshots.
  • Mutator: The standard game package includes a whitelisted mutator that allows only this type to remain in the game — «Clot Buster».

Crawler

Crawler The Crawler, a spider-like specimen that leaps at players.

Spider-like mutants that move low to the ground and can jump.

  • Appearance: Crawls out of dark corners and ventilation shafts at the beginning of middle waves.
  • Ability: Leap. They jump at you from distance and are hard to hit due to their low profile.
  • Strategy: Aim low. Shotguns and assault rifles work best. Don't let them sneak up behind you. Watch for ventilation shafts.
  • Weakness: Very low health. Bodyshots with a shotgun are usually enough.

Stalker

Stalker The Stalker, a cloaked specimen that is hard to see until it attacks.

Invisible female specimens.

  • Ability: Cloak. They are nearly invisible until they attack or are spotted by a Commando.
  • Strategy: Listen for their whispering sounds. Commandos can see them cloaked and reveal them to the team.
  • Weakness: Assault rifles. Commando perk is their hard counter.
  • From the killingfloor.ru forum ("The Stalker" thread, 2010):
    • She most often attacks from behind. Her damage is small, but she distracts and gets in the way, and a group of Stalkers can block your retreat.
    • Her silhouette can be spotted at a distance, and her lines are heard as a quiet whisper. She is hardest to see in rain, for example on the KF-Office roof, and on dark maps like the subway or Bedlam.
    • A Firebug sets Stalkers on fire, and the whole team can see the burning ones.
    • Dangerous for Demolitions: a Stalker runs unseen ahead of the crowd, and the Demolitions player blows her up right next to himself.
    • There is an achievement for killing 20 Stalkers with explosives; Stalkers often blow themselves up on pipe bombs.

Gorefast

Gorefast The Gorefast, a fast specimen with a blade grafted to its arm.

Red-skinned, blade-wielding runners.

  • Appearance: Appears on initial waves in small groups. Considered a weak monster.
  • Characteristics: Has a blade attached with straps instead of a hand.
  • Ability: Charge. Can accelerate for a short time if the player is close enough and attack on the move. They run fast when close and deal high damage with their blade. Most often finishes off wounded players.
  • Strategy: Prioritize them over Clots. Shoot the head before they get into melee range.
  • Weakness: Headshots. They have slightly more health than Clots but go down quickly to concentrated fire.
  • Mutator: The standard game package includes a whitelisted mutator that allows only this type to remain in the game — «Gored Fast».

Bloat

Bloat The Bloat, which vomits corrosive bile at close range.

Large, fat bile-spewers.

  • Appearance: Appears from the first wave, often in company with four Clots. Moves slowly.
  • Ability: Bile Vomit. Can douse players with their poisonous bile, which can also hit other monsters. If this happens and the damage level for the monster is sufficient, it will immediately switch to it to take revenge. Players often use this with Fleshpounds, luring and exposing them to the Bloat's bile spray, and while both monsters are busy with each other, players kill the strongest one. The Bloat also has a kitchen cleaver with which it deals small damage. They vomit corrosive acid that blinds you and deals damage over time. Explodes on death if body-shot.
  • Strategy: Decapitate them. Do NOT shoot the body unless you want them to explode and damage nearby players. Let them bleed out after removing the head. You can use their bile against other monsters by exposing them to the spray.
  • Weakness: Headshots. Firebug weapons can also cause them to panic.
  • Mutator: The standard game package includes a whitelisted mutator that allows only this type to remain in the game — «Bloat-ed».

The Specialists (Mid-Tier Threats)

These Zeds require prioritization and specific counters.

Siren

Siren The Siren, whose scream damages players and destroys incoming projectiles.

Screaming female specimen bound in metal.

  • Ability: Scream. Her scream ignores armor directly damaging health and destroys explosives (grenades, pipe bombs, rockets) in mid-air.
  • Strategy: Kill on sight. She is a high-priority target. Do not throw grenades at her while she is screaming.
  • Weakness: Headshots. Sharpshooters and Commandos should take her out from range.
  • From the killingfloor.ru forum ("The Siren" thread, 2011):
    • On her own she is not that dangerous. She is dangerous behind a "tank" (Fleshpound, Scrake, Bloat) or a big crowd and in open areas; in corridors you can hide around a corner.
    • While you are inside her scream it is hard to hit her, especially with spread weapons like the double barrel.
    • Up close she bites, and keeps biting until you back off. The screen shake from her scream makes it look as if she pushes you back.
    • A Firebug burns her down in seconds. A Berserker hacking at her, even with the axe, rarely lets her open her mouth.

Husk

Husk The Husk, a specimen with a fireball cannon for an arm.

Fireball-launching cannon wielder.

  • Ability: Fireball. Shoots fireballs that lead targets and deal burn damage.
  • Strategy: Strafe to dodge fireballs. Close the distance or snipe him.
  • Weakness: Headshots. The backpack tank is NOT a weak point in KF1 (unlike KF2). Just shoot the head.
  • From the killingfloor.ru forum ("The Husk" thread, 2010):
    • He was originally planned as the Firebug's antagonist. He moves slowly, about as fast as a Clot or Bloat; up close he hits in melee.
    • He fires not where you are, but where you will be a second later. Before firing he makes a distinct sound: that is your cue to dodge, and up close to jump at the moment he fires.
    • Kill him from range and as a priority. He can be stunned with a grenade launcher or crossbow, then shot in the head.
    • The Firebug has full fire resistance, so the fireballs do not hurt him. Setting the Husk himself on fire is pointless: he is fire resistant too.

The Big Zeds (High Threat)

These require teamwork and heavy weapons. Uncoordinated fire will enrage them and cause wipes.

Scrake

Scrake The Scrake, the chainsaw-wielding heavy that rages when hurt.

The chainsaw-wielding maniac.

  • Behavior: Walks slowly until he takes significant damage, then rages and charges with the chainsaw.
  • Strategy: Do not shoot him unless you can kill him. "Chipping" damage will just enrage him and get a teammate killed.
  • Takedown: Sharpshooters (Crossbow/M99/M14), Support (Hunting Shotgun uppercut), or Berserkers (stun-lock).
  • Weakness: Crossbow headshot (classic stun), Axes (stun).

Fleshpound (FP)

Fleshpound The Fleshpound, the grinder-armed brute whose chest light turns red when it rages.

The giant with glowing chest lights and grinders.

  • Behavior: Calm (yellow light) for a short time, then Rages (red light) if he takes damage or after a set timer sees a player. Rages until he hits someone.
  • Strategy: Focus fire. Do not enrage him if you can't finish him.
  • Takedown: Demolitions (Pipe Bombs/M79/M32), Sharpshooters (M99/Crossbow headshots), Support (Hunting Shotgun).
  • Weakness: Explosives (1.5x damage from grenades/pipes in KF1).

The Boss: Patriarch

The Patriarch The Patriarch, the final boss of Killing Floor.

The creator of the Zeds.

  • Abilities: Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, Cloak, Heal.
  • Behavior: Attacks, then cloaks and runs away to heal when health gets low (3 times).
  • Strategy: Cover is essential against his chaingun/rockets. Weld doors to trap him or slow him down. Lay pipe bomb traps for his healing phase retreat.
  • Weakness: Pipe bombs (c4), concentrated fire.

Specimen voice lines

The specimens in Killing Floor talk. These lines were collected in the "Фразы мобов" ("Mob phrases") thread on the killingfloor.ru forum. You can listen to them yourself: open KF Editor, then the Sound Browser, pick the specimen's package in the first list (for example KF_BaseFleshpound), pick Speech in the second, and play the list entries.

  • Bloat: "What is that smell?", "I'm fat", "I'm so hungry", "It needs more salt".
  • Fleshpound: "Merging process.. complete", "Tenderize", "Flesh... pound...", "(laugh) Fear me", "Level of agression - eleven", "I'm going to fix you", "Kill.. all.. humans.. Kill".
  • Husk: "I know where you are", "Consume", "Acquired", "There you are".
  • Scrake: "That was nice", "April fool", "You are all so flawed", "I like trousers".
  • Siren: "I'm going to sing! They love it when I sing", "(whimper) Everything's black.. everything", "Why did they have to take my eyes?", "Get me out of this.. jacket!".
  • Stalker: "I'm here somewhere", "Come on, give us a kiss", "Probably just your imagination".
  • Patriarch (as translated in the thread, rendered back into English): "You have nowhere to run", "I will catch you in the end", "I always told her I would become perfect, but she never listened", "It's all very simple when you have a loaded grenade launcher", "I am genetically perfect", "What have you done to my children?", "Expect no mercy", "You will pay for what you have done".

Knowing these enemies is step one. Step two is choosing the right perk to counter them. Check out our Perk Guides for more details.