KF2 Demolitionist Guide: Skills, Weapons, Loadouts, Combos

The Demolitionist specializes in explosives and is the big-Zed hunter of the team: it can kill Fleshpounds and Quarter Pounds by simply body-shooting them, and has a good chance against Scrakes with headshots. A Scrake resists explosives but is vulnerable to impact damage, the damage every demo weapon deals when it connects, a sort of better blunt damage. This guide comes from a Medic main who also plays Demolitionist on SEA Controlled Difficulty and Hell on Earth servers. See also the Demolitionist perk and the sibling Field Medic guide.

Fleshpound is vulnerable to explosives.

Quarter Pound weaknesses.

Scrake resists explosives.

Perk bonuses

• Passive 25% damage on all perk weapons (the 9mm excluded).
• Passive 60% resistance to explosives, mostly so you do not gib yourself.
• 5 extra rockets or weapon grenades (not your throwable grenade count).
• Supplies each teammate with a free grenade every wave.
• Door traps: doors you weld glow orange and explode heavily when Zeds break them.
• Reactive Armor: a lethal hit leaves you at 5 HP and explodes, killing nearby trash and hurting large Zeds; once per wave.

Skills

The right-hand skills are mostly situational, except Mad Bomber.

Tier	Choice	Why
5	Bombardier (+25% damage to on-perk explosives; not M16 bullets, except underbarrel) over Shock Trooper (about 20% faster reload)	A shot less beats a faster reload because of breakpoints
10	High Impact Rounds (+25% direct hit damage) over Extra Rounds (+5 projectiles)	You can get both with overcapping
15	Fragmentation Rounds (+50% radius) on waves 1-2 of long games; Sonic Resistant Rounds later	Sirens cannot spawn early, but later one deleting a shot is bad
20	Armor Piercing Rounds (+50% on weak points) over Concussive Rounds	Crucial for Scrakes; Pounds take 50% extra from explosives anyway
25	Destroyer of Worlds (+50% damage, nukes of 20 damage per second for 8 s and a 20 per 0.3 s DoT for 5 s, removes the C4 repeat penalty) without a Commando; Mad Bomber with a Commando who extends Zed Time	Both detonate at any range

Weapons

Weapon	Stats and use
HX-25	Magazine 1, 17 spare; 7 pellets (10 impact plus 30 explosion); no self damage; sidearm after wave 1. A maxed HX25 can kill a Fleshpound with a double dynamite combo
M79	Weight 6, 650 dosh; 150 impact plus 225 explosion; radius 850; arming distance 3.87 m; the only tier 2 trash weapon
C4	Weight 3; 820 explosion damage, radius 400; repeated C4 on a Zed within 3 s does 75% less (Destroyer of Worlds removes it); max 24 on the map; two shots kill a Quarter Pound, and two a Fleshpound during Zed Time with Destroyer
Seal Squeal	5 harpoons; 125 impact plus 250 explosion; remote detonation; tier 4 decaps a Scrake in 5 shots, tier 5 in 4 and a Fleshpound in 5; an identity-crisis weapon
HRG Kaboomstick	Weight 6; 8 pellets of 15 plus 38; 415 damage per shot; kills all trash in one shot; Quarter Pound in 4 shots; Fleshpound in 6 at tier 4; terrible against Scrakes
M16 M203	Weight 6; 33 per bullet; grenades 230 impact plus 230 explosion; Scrake in 2 duds at tier 5; good generalist when upgraded
Pulverizer	Cross-perk from the Berserker; garbage for a Demolitionist
RPG-7	Weight 9 (10 upgraded); 150 impact plus 750 explosion; 4x impact on Scrakes; 3 rockets for a Fleshpound, 2 for a Quarter Pound; T5 can one-shot a Scrake on 6-player HoE; aim at the legs first on a Fleshpound; best anti-large weapon
Seeker 6	6 missiles, 84 spare; lock-on has no recoil and a higher fire rate, always use it; kills trash in 1 shot, Quarter Pounds in 4
Blunderbuss (DLC)	3 cannonballs of 300 impact plus 250 explosion, or alt-fire shrapnel 10x50; one-shots trash; Quarter Pound in 2 body shots; best generalist, needs good aim
Husk Cannon	Charge for 5x damage; mostly a trash clearer; struggles with large Zeds
M32	Weight 9, 2000 dosh; "six M79s taped together"; not recommended
Gravity Imploder (DLC)	Weight 8; black holes 150 plus 320; alt-fire gravity grenade pulls Zeds in; Fleshpound in 6 shots (5 with dynamite); good with the Blunderbuss
Dynamite stick	300 damage; stuns on contact; aim at a Fleshpound's legs

HX-25 grenade pistol.

M79 grenade launcher.

C4 explosives.

Seal Squeal.

HRG Kaboomstick.

M16 M203.

RPG-7, the main large-Zed killer.

Seeker 6.

Blunderbuss (DLC).

Gravity Imploder (DLC).

Dynamite stick.

Loadouts

• T5 RPG + C4 + Desert Eagle: the meta large-Zed loadout.
• T5 RPG + T2 HX: large-Zed focus with self-defense.
• RPG + Kaboomstick: cheapest generalist or boss wave loadout (ammo problems).
• T5 M16 + T4 Kaboom: most versatile and very expensive.
• Blunderbuss + Imploder: pay-to-win generalist.
• T5 RPG + MP5 + T2 101 or T5 RPG + T4 201: no Medic in the team.
• RPG + M79: cowering behind a Berserker wall.

Advanced tactics

• Combos. Stick C4 on a Fleshpound, stun it with dynamite, detonate the C4 and unload your weapon. C4 + dynamite + RPG deletes a Fleshpound very fast.
• Reload cancelling. Essential, since demo weapons reload slowly.
• Overcapping. Switch to the ammo skill (Extra Rounds) in the trader, fill ammo to max, drop the weapon, switch back to High Impact Rounds, and pick the weapon up. Do not take ammo from boxes or a Support afterwards or the max resets. Do it in a corner, since others may steal your dropped weapon.

Off-perk weapons

With T5 RPG + C4 you have only 2 weight left. The Desert Eagle (2 weight, 91 damage, kills most mediums in 2 to 3 shots, one-shots stalkers) fills it; the DLC Rhino (75 damage plus three 80-damage shrapnels) is an alternative.

Desert Eagle.

Rhino (DLC).

Tips and tricks

• Explosive weapons deal impact damage at any range, so you do not have to run up to a Scrake to decap it. Only run up when multiple large Zeds are nearby so your explosives do not enrage them.
• Do not throw dynamite at a Scrake mid-attack: it is immune to stun and stumble then.
• When shopping, stand slightly back at the edge so teammates can take a grenade from you. Trader time counts as part of the previous wave, so a teammate can chain two free grenades.