KF2 Berserker Guide: Skills, Melee Weapons, Parry and Bosses

This page translates and condenses a long Spanish guide by TioRast, written in late 2018. It walks through the Berserker skills, goes weapon by weapon, explains parry and then gives matchup advice against ZEDs and bosses. Treat balance numbers as of that time, and verify them in the game, since the perk has been rebalanced since. Comments added useful corrections, which are included at the end.

Introduction

At first the Berserker feels like an easy target and a punching bag. In truth it is one of those classes that looks useless at the start and proves powerful at the end.

Skills

Level 5

• Dreadnaught: +75% maximum health.
• Skirmisher: +20% move speed, +25% sprint, and regenerate health while holding perk weapons. The 20 and 25 do not add up, you only reach the 25% sprint.

Skirmisher is the usual advice because speed helps you arrive sooner or dodge attacks, and it helps when your Medic is bad or absent. But when you have a Medic, Dreadnaught lets you take riskier plays and tank: you can keep up with giants, even survive a Husk suicide or its flamethrower, and endure more hordes if surrounded.

Level 10

• Vampire: heal 4 HP for each ZED killed with perk weapons, +20% melee attack speed.
• Butcher: +20% attack speed and +25% damage.

The author thinks Butcher beats Vampire. Vampire helps at very low health and against trash, but later it matters less. Butcher raises damage, and with Skirmisher plus Berserker Rage you already regenerate well, while Dreadnaught also does fine if a Medic or a healing teammate is around.

Level 15

• Resistance: +20% resistance to all damage, +20% extra against poison and sonic.
• Parry: parrying reduces damage by 40% and gives +5% attack speed and +35% damage for 10 seconds.

Resistance is a basic skill for new Berserkers who are not used to parrying. Parry is for the experienced: the 10 seconds refresh when you parry again, and it is clearly better since it gives more reduction plus extra damage and speed.

Level 20

• Smash: heavy attacks +50% damage and +25% on head hits.
• Massacre: light attacks +30% damage, all melee 5% faster.

Smash should be the priority: if you aim your blows you take down medium and large ZEDs faster, and most weapons are strong with heavy attacks. Massacre is for those who have trouble hitting, or for the Katana.

Level 25

• Berserker Rage: recover 25% health (25 points) and ZEDs try to flee in ZED Time.
• Spartan: move and hit in real time during ZED Time.

The author finds Spartan very useful, but Berserker Rage has two benefits: survival (each Commando extension heals 25 points) and holding position, since small, medium and even large ZEDs flee from you for the 3 seconds or more.

Weapons

• Survival Shovel (starter): good once mastered, and Massacre suits it. Light blows are not too slow and slash, heavy ones are blunt and push enemies away.
• Katana: a favourite. It has the fastest block, hits fastest in its class and works very well with Massacre since it is built for light attacks.
• Road Redeemer: the author did not own it and could not describe it.
• Fire Axe: the opposite of the Katana, with strong blows and good damage. It is the only Berserker weapon that can stun ZEDs (not Fleshpounds, since they rage before being stunned).
• VLAD-1000: a crossperk weapon that is ineffective with Berserker, because melee damage only applies with the push (butt strike).
• Pulverizer: a hammer with strong knockback on every light hit (or the heavy hit if it has no charge) that easily knocks enemies down. Its heavy attack with 5 charges causes an explosion that is very good against Fleshpounds.
• Zweihander: a knight's longsword. Slow light attack but very fast thrust, an alternate push like the Katana and the War Axe, and a heavy blow strong enough to kill Scrakes and several enemies in one swing.
• Static Shockers: electric gloves with short reach on light attacks, but a unique heavy hit that applies electricity, perfect for calming Scrakes and Fleshpounds for a few seconds.
• Eviscerator: good, but it changes the Berserker's role from tank to a ranged class that shoots and reloads, which changes the mindset of absorbing blows.
• Bone Crusher: the favourite of players who tank. It has a block with 70% less damage received and can block projectiles (bullets, rockets, and fire such as a Husk's flamethrower).
• War Axe: the most expensive Berserker weapon, with the highest slashing damage that drops giants easily, but the slowest in the arsenal.

Block and parry

Blocking is available to every class with a melee weapon (like the starting knife) but improved on the Berserker. A block reduces part of the damage, while a parry blocks more or a little less, depending on the weapon, and pushes the attackers back. You can press the alternate button (the block key) together with R to spam the block.

You know you parried correctly by looking for a green glow and hexagons. With Parry active, your colours change and your light and heavy attacks turn to red slashes (blue for heavy with Smash).

A successful parry shows a green glow and hexagons.

Playing it

With a Medic you are a wall. In a closed position you are a door that deals damage. When there is no Medic or teammates are selfish and nobody carries healing, rely on your own skills and self-preservation while still helping against large ZEDs. Berserker is the class that saves the most money, so give some to allies from time to time.

Against ZEDs

• Trash and medium ZEDs go down with a few light blows.
• Scrakes: attack and defend at the same time, and a push with some weapons stuns them for about a second. With the Bone Crusher two shield bashes to the head send a Scrake flying or down. Do not spam pushes, there is a cooldown.
• Fleshpounds in a team: stay on defence and parry or block, while your team attacks. Solo, do as with Scrakes.

Against bosses

• You should be the distraction while allies shoot.
• Patriarch: stay close, watch his rockets and minigun; throw grenades if he tries to escape or turns invisible.
• Hans: the easiest boss for you, though his continuous bayonet attack is dangerous. When his shield is up and you carry melee it is hard to avoid his health drain.
• King Fleshpound: also simple. Watch for his 75% health point when he creates explosive waves that push you away and cost a lot of health, and crouch to avoid lasers below half health.
• Abomination: the hardest. Its vomit cannot be blocked even with the Bone Crusher, and it fights with an axe and belly pushes. New Berserkers should use Resistance. Experienced ones can use Parry and spam block until a parry lands, retreating when health gets low.

Comment corrections

• One reader notes that Resistance is not necessarily worse than Parry: it lets you hold areas with Sirens, which can destroy a Berserker. If three Sirens are behind a Fleshpound, health drops very fast without Resistance.
• Another points out the guide lacks synergy loadouts: for example Zweihander plus Fire Axe is pointless since they serve the same function, and some off-perk weapons like the Crossbow pair well since you can run in circles with near-infinite ammo.
• A third says the Vlad is reported as practical for killing Fleshpounds.

See also Berserker perk and Berserker skills best setups.