Specimens & Bosses

Killing Floor Patriarch Boss Guide: How to Kill Him

The Patriarch (Kevin Clamely) is the final boss of every standard game. He has three phases, can turn invisible, and heals himself up to 3 times.

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

1. Attack Patterns

  • Chaingun: He spins up his minigun. Reaction: Take cover immediately behind a wall or pillar. Do not try to tank it.
  • Rocket Launcher: Fires a rocket. Reaction: Jump sideways or run behind cover. It has splash damage.
  • Melee: If you are close, he hits you or uses a radial "tentacle" attack. Reaction: Don't get too close unless you are a Berserker.
  • Invisibility: He cloaks to approach you or to run away and heal.

2. The Healing Phase

Patriarch introduction screen The Patriarch intro: he can cloak, flee to heal himself and fire his chaingun and rocket launcher.

When his health drops below a certain % (usually 25-30%), he will:

  1. Cloak (Turn invisible).
  2. Summon a wave of Zeds.
  3. Run away to a quiet spot to inject a healing syringe.

Strategy: You must chase him or kill him instantly before he heals. If you let him heal 3 times, the fight becomes much harder as you run out of ammo.

How much health he has

From the killingfloor.ru forum thread "здоровье патриарха - не меняется, и всего 4000хп". As Flame explained, the variable PlayerCountHealthScale controls how health grows with the number of players; the stock Patriarch has PlayerCountHealthScale=0.750000, so each additional player adds 75% of his base health. That should give (4000 + (n-1) * 4000 * 0.75) * difficulty multiplier HP, where n is the number of players. If a server's Patriarch always has 4000 HP regardless of player count, something is off: check the mutators and any ServerPerks edits. Bots, according to the thread's author, do not add health to the Patriarch.

3. How to Kill Him (Tactics)

The "Pipe Bomb" Trap (Demolitions)

  • The Strat: The Demolitionist piles 10-15 Pipe Bombs in one spot (usually a choke point or a welded door).
  • Result: The team lures the Patriarch onto the pile. BOOM. Instant kill, skipping all healing phases.

The Crossbow Stun (Sharpshooter)

  • The Strat: A high-level Sharpshooter shoots him in the head with a Crossbow.
  • Result: The Patriarch gets stunned (kneels down). The team unloads everything into his head.

Kiting (Solo Strategy)

  • The Strat: Keep a large obstacle (car, fountain, pillar) between you and him. Run in circles around it. Shoot when safe. Never run in a straight line in the open.

Tricks

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, "The Patriarch" thread, 2010.

  • The welded room: pick a room with only two closable exits. Weld one shut, and close the other without welding it: he would blow a welded door open with a rocket. A Medic or Berserker draws his aggro while the Support welds the door, and one or two players stand at the exit. The Patriarch cannot run off to heal, and with luck the boss dies in 10-15 seconds.
  • Don't stack pipe bombs in one pile: according to a thread member, in a simultaneous blast each additional bomb does 33% less damage. A thread on the official forum tested a pipe-bombs-only kill: on Suicidal it took 100 bombs.
  • Don't run at him carrying pipe bombs: a player charging the Patriarch with bombs usually eats a rocket before he gets there.
  • Katana: the riskiest way is to take his head off with a katana before he answers with a point-blank rocket.

Solo vs. the Patriarch

Source: killingfloor.ru forum, "Как убить патриарха?" thread.

  • The "sure thing" in solo: a Firebug of any level stacks two pipe bombs together and, when the Patriarch is standing right over them, sets them off with the flamethrower. According to a thread member, doing the same as a Commando with a flamethrower is "high skill".
  • A level 6 Support with the AA12 and the Hunting Shotgun, according to another member, handles it on any difficulty as long as he has taken the right position.
  • Pipe bombs with any perk: place them so the blast goes off right under him rather than next to him, then hold down fire: most likely he dies before he can run off to heal. As Demolitions, one bomb will not be enough. On Hell on Earth with level 4 perks it will be tough, according to the thread; on Hard it is fine.
  • A Demolitions player in solo, as one member described, does not meet the Patriarch in one spot but kites him, shells him from range with the LAW, and lays pipe bombs carefully.

4. Weaknesses

  • Headshots: Massive damage multiplier.
  • Explosives: Very weak to M32 / Pipe Bombs.
  • Fire: Firebug can light him up, making him visible even when cloaked.