KF2 Berserker: Rip and Tear Skill Picks and Tips

This is a paraphrase of a Suicidal-focused guide by a player who had not reached level 25 but had practiced the Berserker a lot. The Berserker mainly tanks and takes on the big ZEDs while the team destroys them from range, and he is also a good trash cleaner. Survivability is very high and can handle almost any situation. The author notes a separate guide covers a speedy rather than tanky setup. For the modern perk reference see Berserker.

Skill choices

Level	Pick	Reason
5	Skirmisher	Health regeneration (2 per second) and movement speed; the extra 75 health makes you less wary of your HP
10	Vampire	Obvious choice; 4 health from any kill is a lot on Hell on Earth and synergizes with trash cleaning
15	Parry or Resistance	Parry if you prefer consistent parrying, Resistance if you prefer the offensive
20	Massacre	Light attacks give higher DPS
25	Spartan	Take out trash and distract big ZEDs; Berserker Rage only regenerates part of health and every ZED flees, while Spartan lets you regenerate more with Vampire

Arsenal presets

• Zweihander or Katana plus Pulverizer, with a medic pistol.
• Eviscerator plus Katana, with a medic pistol.

Tips and tricks

• The Berserker is more complicated than other perks and much weaker at lower levels, but patience is rewarded.
• Flee if you are not confident you will survive, or use the Eviscerator in an emergency.
• Use the Eviscerator or Pulverizer to take down Scrakes and Fleshpounds. A Katana can do it too, but you will likely have something stronger by the time Fleshpounds arrive.
• Aim for the face always. Headshots count with melee weapons and you may decapitate a ZED. With the Eviscerator, one blade to the face can take down a Scrake on Suicidal.
• Pressing the reload key with blood on your weapon plays an animation that cleans it (excluding the Eviscerator).
• Use heavy attacks against medium (Husks, Sirens) and large (Scrakes, Fleshpounds) ZEDs; you can stunlock them.
• Do not use the Vlad nailgun except on Normal or Hard; it is not ammo efficient and is costly.
• The Eviscerator does little damage on a body shot, but a headshot does far more than the small multiplier.
• Use any guns you have when you flee a fight at low health, until you regenerate to at least 80 health.