KF2 Berserker: Pros, Cons, Perk Picks and Weapon Notes

This Russian-language guide summarizes the Berserker in Killing Floor 2: why it is the team's frontman, the pros and cons, which skills the author picks and why, and notes on each weapon. For a stat-heavy reference see Berserker perk weapon stats.

The Berserker.

Overview

The Berserker is the team's frontman, always on the front line: the main striking force and last hope when everyone is out of ammo. It can cover teammates as a tank, fits into any team and is the best option for solo play on any map and difficulty.

Cons:

• Melee limits movement.
• Grenades only slow ZEDs and deal almost no damage.
• Weakest at long range.
• Most weapons are not effective enough against large ZEDs.
• Most effective against only one boss, the Abomination (Big Fatty, aka Krampus).

Pros:

• Saves the team's ammo and can do without ammo.
• Toughest and most mobile class.
• Huge speed and a big Zed Time advantage.
• With the right weapon you can give all your money to the team.

Skills

• Dreadnaught or Skirmisher: left adds 75 max health, right adds movement speed and regeneration with perk weapons. Right is picked because together with the next skills it strengthens regeneration and makes you independent of the Medic.
• Vampire or Butcher: left gives regeneration and faster attacks, right more damage and faster attacks. Both speed attacks equally, but Vampire's regeneration can save your life, especially without a Medic.
• Resistance or Parry: left gives resistance to all damage, right strengthens parry bonuses. Resistance makes you immune to Bloat vomit, Elite Crawler gas and Hans' grenades. Parry is only worth it for fun: you can only parry one ZED at a time, and you are usually surrounded.
• Smash or Massacre: left strengthens heavy attacks, headshots and stun; right strengthens light attacks and speeds up all attacks. Smash lets you one-shot most ZEDs with a two-handed weapon, saving time; Massacre only makes sense if you had taken all speed boosts earlier.
• Berserker Rage or Spartan: left restores part of health and can scare nearby ZEDs; right means Zed Time slowdown does not affect you. The author considers Rage dubious (what use is a health bonus if you are at full health?) and calls Spartan like Quicksilver from X-Men: you can kill many slow enemies in seconds or flee from encirclement.

Weapons

Half the perk's weapons need no ammo and have no sights, but they demand skilled handling and accurate strikes. Two ranged weapons allow damage from afar.

The strangest knife: the reforged lawn mower blade, with an EMP grenade.

Knife: nothing special beyond looks. The EMP grenades make unaggroed ZEDs mill in place and deal a little damage, a good way to break away from pursuit and nearly impossible to hurt yourself with.

Crovel Survival Tool.

Crovel Survival Tool (shovel): the unremarkable starter, to be replaced at the first chance. It takes heads off large ZEDs well if you strike while jumping.

Katana.

Katana: not much stronger than the shovel but with higher attack speed, letting you deal huge damage quickly, especially with attack-speed skills.

VLAD-1000 Nailgun.

VLAD-1000 Nailgun: first ranged weapon, with single and 7-nail modes. The author sees little point: low damage and accuracy and ammo runs out fast. It is the only perk weapon you cannot block with.

Zweihander.

Zweihander: requires owning Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, which also gives you the character Tom Banner. Powerful but slow, great for strong strikes against single targets and stabs to the head; an accurate hit kills anything weaker than a Fleshpound-class butcher.

Pulverizer.

Pulverizer (sledgehammer): fairly strong. Light attacks can stun on headshots, and strong attacks cause an explosion that scatters nearby ZEDs. Good against clusters of small ZEDs or Fleshpounds.

Bone Crusher.

Bone Crusher: effectively a two-hander with Katana attack speed, in the author's view the second best weapon of the perk. The stab is exceptionally strong: it tears small ZEDs to shreds with one hit and stuns and throws back big ones. With good parrying and combos you can beat a Fleshpound or Scrake-class enemy with almost no health lost. The shield partly blocks ranged attacks, though dodging is more reliable.

Eviscerator.

Eviscerator: the strongest and best of the Berserker. It fires small saw discs that cut through crowds, killing 5 to 7 small ZEDs at once, and take a Scrake or Fleshpound's head off in one hit; a disc that did not ricochet out of reach can be picked up again. Alt fire spins the big saw, letting you literally cut through crowds. The stab kills every small enemy in one hit, and several stabs kill even medium ZEDs, but stabs have reload delay, so keep a Katana in case ammo runs out.

Role and advice

The class exists to take the main damage, kill small enemies and distract big ones, saving the team's ammo. Be careful with Husks and Bloats: perhaps leave them to teammates who shoot heads well. Do not get carried away with melee on bosses: they have more health and you will not last long without healing, or take the Eviscerator and shoot them with discs.