KF2 High-Level Berserker Guide - Zweihander, VLAD, Evisc

This is a long, opinionated guide to playing Berserker in Killing Floor 2 at high difficulty, written by a veteran player who knows the weapon stats and mechanics (Hell on Earth, six players, Controlled Difficulty). It focuses on weapon-by-weapon technique, skill choices, builds and buy order. For a shorter overview see Berserker build.

Should you even play Berserker?

Berserker has high durability and mediocre damage, and no ranged kill power. He also drains the Medic because close quarters means you take damage often. Ask two questions: what is Berserker good at, and will your pick disrupt the team? If the team is built from precision perks (Gunslinger, Sharpshooter, Commando), a Berserker can body-block shots and stumble big Zeds, making precision harder. Head health is 30-50% of body health, so headshots kill at least twice as fast, and body damage is mostly a waste at high levels.

A very rough perk tier list used in the guide.

The author argues Zerk fills no niche better than others: Support stumbles raged Fleshpounds, Medic makes the whole team tanky, and Gunslinger, Sharpshooter and Support out-kill him in real time. Still, the perk is cheap, it has a decent skill ceiling and a good Zerk makes lots of money while spending little, so he can fund teammates.

The Zweihander - combo master

The Zweihander has the highest damage per minute of the Berserker weapons (about 52,000), outclassing Pulverizer and Bonecrusher.

Stat	Zweihander	Pulverizer	Bonecrusher
Price	1000	1200	1500
Weight	6 kg	6 kg	9 kg
Melee range	2 m	1.9 m	1.85-1.70 m
Alt-fire swing rate	59	55	56
Alt-fire base damage	195	145	165

It is not "slow" if used correctly: for the Zweihander the stab is the fast trash attack, light attacks give stumble power and heavy attacks are for big Zeds.

Attack	Speed	Base damage	Melee Hit incap	Stumble incap
Stab	very fast	63 piercing	100	50
Light	medium	85 slashing	100	250
Heavy	slow	195 slashing	100	100

Swing cancel

To combo big Zeds, press R (reload) as soon as a heavy swing connects and immediately swing again. Some players make a dedicated bind:

setbind [KEY] "gba_reload | gba_ironsightshold"

Combos by Zed

• Scrake: aim high on the approach swing so the tracer wraps to the head, cancel with R; for the second swing crouch and look at knee level so the earliest hitbox connects; for the last swing follow the stumble animation. Demonstrated kill time is 2.2 seconds (Heavy, Light, Heavy, stab, or Heavy and two R-canceled Heavies).
• Fleshpound: rage it with the first attack so it is forced into the rage taunt, R-cancel, overhead again, R-cancel, then a horizontal heavy once its head dips, and finish with a stab. This "combo-lock" keeps it standing for almost 2 seconds and gives a 4.5 second kill.
• Quarterpound: currently bugged with the Zweihander at the time of writing (planned combo: stab then three overheads).
• With Medic Focus, Butcher + Parry + Smash gives 660 head damage, so two hits (660 x 1.2 x 2 = 1584) match a 6-player HoE Scrake's head health and kill it in 1.2 seconds.

Trash clearing

Replace your bash key with this bind to stab as fast as needed:

setbind [YOURBASHKEY] "customstartfire 2 | customstopfire 2 | customstartfire 3 | onrelease customstopfire 3"

The stab deals Katana damage with more reach, speed and stumble. Crawlers and stalkers die to a body stab; with Butcher + Parry + Smash a body stab one-shots all Clots; Rioters and Gorefasts pop to a head stab; Gorefiends and Sirens die to one light attack; Bloats to one heavy swing; Husk backpacks pop to a stab. Use the optimal attack per Zed to save time, and Zed time.

The VLAD-1000 - Fleshpound popper

The VLAD-1000 ranks third in damage per minute (about 41,291) but has serious drawbacks: the nails are projectiles, so dodging Zeds (Stalkers, Crawlers) avoid them, and the spread forces you to face-hug. It is still a shotgun that clears packed hordes. Fleshpounds resist slashing by 50% but shotguns by only 25%, making the VLAD Zerk's best weapon against them. Quarterpounds resist slashing by 38% and shotguns by 25%, so the VLAD is slightly better there; against Scrakes (10% shotgun resistance) use the Zweihander instead.

Stumble follow technique: on a Scrake shoot, crouch and shoot, stand and shoot (4 shots to kill, 3 guaranteed); on a Quarterpound shoot, crouch shoot, stand shoot, jump shoot. Body damage is a viable way to kill Quarterpounds because their body health is low and head health is high.

The Eviscerator - double killer

Second in damage per minute (about 51,118) and with the best parry damage reduction (70%). Always run all three damage skills (Butcher, Parry, Smash), or the Railgun beats it.

Target	Off-perk Railgun	Evisc, 3 damage skills	Evisc, 2 damage skills
Scrake	2 shots	2 blades	2 blades
Quarterpound	2 shots	2 blades	3 blades
Fleshpound	3 shots	bash + 3 blades	4 blades

With the three skills it kills double Scrakes, double Quarterpounds, or Fleshpound + Scrake in one magazine. Sawblades have Melee Hit incap, so Scrakes flinch for 0.85 seconds and you get the second shot easily. Fleshpounds resist slashing by 50%, so the VLAD has better effective DPM against them. One blade stumbles and rages a Quarterpound, so use that to buy time on groups. Against trash, bash big enemies to save gas; Butcher + Smash lets a bash one-shot Sirens and elite Clots, and with Parry also Gorefiends.

The off-perk Railgun

Low skill but very effective, and appealing since Quarterpounds resist slashing and bludgeon strongly. It two-shots 6-player HoE Scrakes and Quarterpounds and three-shots Fleshpounds. It is hitscan, so point and click. Throw an EMP and the Fleshpound will not rage; an R-cancel can finish a Scrake mid-stumble. Smash gives 200% stumble power to bashes, so one bash stumbles anything except raged Fleshpounds and Quarterpounds. Use the bash bind above for trash.

The Katana - trash only

A popular but only decent choice: Katana + Deagle beats Crovel + HM-101, and it can one-shot anything below a Scrake. Do not bother with big Zeds, not even to parry-derage a Fleshpound; a Medic can heal the hit anyway. Tech notes:

• Ninja Husk: jump then immediately light overhead to pop the fuel tank instantly.
• Bloats: Butcher + Parry + Smash heavy can decap in one swing; head stab then heavy overhead is the standard kill (the stab interrupts and heavy overheads bypass blocks).
• Smaller Zeds: spam light attacks at the head.

The off-perk Deagle

The author calls it the way of the team-oriented Zerk. It lets you contribute to a lane without body-blocking other perks, one-shot decaps Gorefasts and lower, and during Zed time it kills at about the rate of a Spartan Zweihander. All bashes get Berserker bonuses, so a Deagle bash one-shots Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers. Use melee only to push back a lane while others reload. Do not be afraid to sit back and shoot.

Skills

Quick answer: always Skirmisher, Butcher, Parry, Smash and Spartan (Dreadnaught may replace Skirmisher).

• Damage skills: Butcher, Parry, Smash. With Zweihander + VLAD run at least two; with the Eviscerator all three.
• Sustain: Skirmisher, Vampire, Berserker's Rage. You never need more than one; the syringe is already enough given Zerk's tankiness.
• Skirmisher or Dreadnaught: Skirmisher's speed boost is active (melee must be out) and does not work with the VLAD. Dreadnaught only helps if you take huge damage in a short time.
• Resistance or Parry: Parry gives +40% damage resistance (55% total) plus swing speed and damage while active; Resistance gives 35% to all and 55% against poison and Sirens, and keeps Bloat bile from blocking vision.
• Always Smash over Massacre: Smash gives +25% headshot bonus and +200% stumble power to all attacks and +50% to heavy attacks, versus Massacre's small light-attack bonus. Only with the Bonecrusher is Massacre tolerable.
• Spartan over Berserker's Rage: Spartan lets you move, shoot, reload, swing and heal in real time during Zed time; Rage's fear effect disrupts other perks.

Builds

• Backup giant-slayer (best for clutch or solo): Railgun + Katana + Deagle (RRLLR), or Eviscerator + Katana + Deagle (RRRLR). Railgun is the best real-time large-Zed killer but weak in Zed time and for trash; Evisc has the fastest double kills and 70% parry but is the most expensive and poor against three or more big Zeds.
• Zweihander + VLAD hybrid (LRRLR): best trash clearing, fastest Fleshpound kills, most Zed-time potential, cheapest (about 1780 for both with full ammo), room for a Deagle and HM-101. Drawback is poor range.
• Bonecrusher + VLAD is weaker (slow Scrake kills, no Deagle). Pulverizer is considered a poor choice because it mostly deals body damage. Never carry two melee weapons.

Buy strategy (long HoE game)

1. Wave 1: five Swat and one Support is optimal; Swat with Close Combat sells starting weapons well and the MP7 handles Clots and Gorefasts; the Support drops his shotgun for others to fill.
2. Wave 2: switch to Berserker, buy a Crovel (and HM-101), share money. The Katana is only a side-grade early.
3. Wave 3: a Scrake may appear, so buy a Zweihander, or keep sharing money.
4. Wave 4: sell the Zweihander and buy a Railgun or Eviscerator, or go Zweihander + VLAD.
5. Wave 5 and later: Katana + Deagle, or buy the Deagle and spare VLADs (three VLADs cost less than one Evisc).
6. Boss wave: Zweihander for Patriarch, Hans and Abomination; VLAD-1000 for the King Fleshpound (carry 3-4 nailguns).

Advanced notes

• Sharing aggro: stand behind a teammate to share aggro, or lead a weakened Scrake to a teammate; with a Support's Boomstick you can team-takedown a raged Fleshpound.
• Damage boosting: jumping then parrying or tanking a hit is a useful movement tech.
• Keep Parry active: refresh it on the last Zed of an encounter, and learn to parry decapped Zeds (Bloats and Fleshpounds).
• Team synergy: Support is the best partner (penetration makes body-blocking cheap, about 16% damage loss), then Medic. Sharpshooter, Commando and Swat suffer from a Zerk in their lane; Demo and Firebug ruin your headshots.

The author also links many gameplay videos, such as Zweihander and VLAD demos, Crovel vs Katana and HoE Endless runs, in the original guide.