KF2 Berserker in a Team: Grouping, Skills and Bosses

It is easy to play a Berserker badly. His skill tree gives high survivability, so many players confuse staying alive with being good. Solo play only teaches you how the skills work; group play is very different. A bad Berserker slows the team down and can cause a wipe, which is why the class is disliked (along with the Firebug). This guide explains how to bring something useful to the table. Compare with /en/gamedb/killingfloor2/perks/berserker-advanced-guide-deltakai/ and /en/gamedb/killingfloor2/perks/best-berserker-tank-guide/.

Your job

• Your job is not to kill big ZEDs. Whacking them stops DPS perks from getting a clear shot, so the ZEDs live longer and you become a heal sponge.
• Your job is not to rack up kills. A high Berserker kill count means the team's DPS is too low or you are getting in the way. In an ideal team you finish at the bottom of the scoreboard, right after the Medic.
• Your job is to protect the team and keep big ZEDs under control. You set things up for the DPS perks.

Movement

Movement is the key to survival. ZED attacks are slow and often miss a moving target, so a moving Berserker takes less than half the damage of one trading blows toe to toe.

• Strafe along a curve, like the edge of a flower petal, stepping in and out of melee range while chipping away.
• Use hit stun. After a hit a ZED pauses for about half a second, then is immune to hit stun for about 3 seconds. This is especially useful against Scrakes and works best with blunt weapons.
• Against a small group, circle around them to keep them bunched for your teammates.
• Do not get surrounded. Once you stop moving you lose the movement and hit stun benefits, and your health drops fast.
• Learn when to back off and how to corner. A well timed run around a corner makes big ZEDs and bosses miss their melee attacks.

Parry

Block up to one second before the incoming blow and you will see a green flash. Parrying used to be essential, but after the 2021 changes it is only nice to have. It gives the best damage reduction and causes parry stun on some ZEDs, especially Quarter Pounds and Scrakes (Fleshpounds are almost immune). When parrying a raged Fleshpound, jumping helps push you out of range of his multi-hit combo. A decent Berserker can hold off ten raged Fleshpounds in a run and gun situation on high level HoE Poundemonium waves.

Skill tree (after 2021)

Tier	Recommended	Comment
1	Dreadnaught	Doubles max health; now essential. Skirmisher is no longer the better pick.
2	Vampire	20% faster attacks and 4 health per kill. Butcher is for DPS perks.
3	Resistance	25% resist, 50% for poison and sonic damage, less bile blur. Parry perk is often wasted in groups.
4	Smash	Heavy attack damage, head damage and stumble power on any on-perk weapon. Massacre gives little extra if you hit heads.
5	Berserker Rage	Stuns all ZEDs around you and heals 100 on zed time. Spartan is less epic than it was.

Weapons

• Crovel: surprisingly good starter. Keep it for the first two waves. A well placed hard head hit with Smash goes through Rioter helmets.
• Vlad-1000 Nailgun: decent ranged option with a single-shot mode.
• Katana: fastest, good for small and medium ZEDs, poor stumble.
• Road Redeemer: medium speed and damage, good stumble.
• Hemoclobber: the "god weapon". Its heavy attack releases a healing nova that heals you and allies in range and deals a lot of poison damage to ZEDs, putting them in the dance of death (even Scrakes). Upgrade it only once.
• HRG Teslauncher: the second god weapon. Microwave damage hurts Husks, Sirens, Scrakes, Fleshpounds and bosses extra and decaps Bloats fast. Aim for weak spots.
• Eviscerator: the old favorite with strong ranged damage and a slow fire rate.
• Bone Crusher: huge stumble, stun and knockdown, and it can block some ranged attacks. Constant knockdowns can confuse other perks.
• Battleaxe: the weapon for Smash players, with very high stun and damage.
• Ion Thruster, Frost Fang, Static Strikers, Zweihander: situational picks; Ion Thruster sets ZEDs on fire which makes them harder for teammates to hit.
• EMP grenade: one of the most useful grenades. Do not drop more than one at a time. Use one on a Husk and then melee for an easy kill.

ZEDs

• Clot, Slasher, Crawler, Gorefast: just kill them. Ignore Crawler poison clouds.
• Stalker: watch for the shimmer so they do not surround you.
• Rioter: upgrade your melee weapon until one head hit breaks the helmet.
• Bloat: leave to headshot perks if present; otherwise decap with side swipes. The Teslauncher decaps from range with 2-3 bullets.
• Gorefiend: too many hit points to one-shot; slow or block them and let the team finish them.
• Siren: forward head hits for one, side swipes for groups. Microwave and EMP damage stop screams. When she is right next to you she bites instead of screaming.
• Husk: the one ZED you must not trade blows with. A suicide attack can one-shot you. Use Teslauncher bullets or an EMP grenade, shoot 3-4 bullets, then switch back to melee.
• E.D.A.R.: use side swipes on the belly weak spot; they melt from Teslauncher fire.
• Fleshpound: parry and lead them away from the group. Do not try to kill them unless DPS is too low.
• Scrake: do not enrage them. Lead them in a straight line so DPS perks can hit heads. An EMP grenade temporarily de-rages them.

Bosses

You should tank bosses unless there is no Medic.

• Abomination: stay at his back, circle as he turns. You need a good Medic.
• King Fleshpound: stay close, parry his rages. When his shield goes up, stay in contact with him so he cannot use the plasma beam, and crouch during the beam. Make sure you are not on higher ground than him.
• Patriarch: stay close and parry. Next to his minigun the bullets cannot hit you. Block his path when he runs to heal.
• Matriarch: stay at her back until the plasma cannon is destroyed. Parrying her tentacle staggers her. The Teslauncher cuts through E.D.A.R.s.
• Hans: needs a good Medic; bone crusher blocks his guns. Spin around him to reduce his damage to you.

Group styles

• Run and gun: keep the way forward clear, intercept big ZEDs, and take hits meant for squishier teammates. An EMP grenade in a narrow passage makes ZEDs dance and lets the team slip through. Agree on a direction.
• Camping: guard your side, lead big ZEDs in small circles away from the party, and leave small ZEDs alone during zed time if a Commando is farming extensions.

Be a team player

• Get a medic pistol and use it.
• Do not take ammo boxes for a grenade.
• Do not weld doors.
• Do not ruin headshot setups by knocking ZEDs around. This is the number one reason Berserkers and Firebugs are disliked.
• Do not be a heal sponge, and do not aggro big ZEDs unless needed. Let DPS perks decide when to kill them.

Do not use trainer maps

Trainer maps teach bad habits. Rule of thumb for your first run: levels 0-4 Normal, 5+ Hard, 15+ Suicidal, 20+ Hell on Earth, and level 25 with lots of group experience for Tamari HoE.