KF2 Solo Berserker: Skill Picks, Melee Weapons, Tactics

Written in the voice of a Horzine briefing, this solo-focused guide covers the Berserker: skills, weapons and tactics for fighting alone. The Berserker needs little ammo and has huge survivability between and during fights, and it is a good perk to learn how melee works.

Passive bonuses

Berserkers get a moderate built-in damage resistance that rises with level (3 percent every 5 levels), cannot be grabbed by Clots, and carry a night vision unit and a flashlight.

Skill choices

• Juggernaut or Skirmisher. Juggernaut is a flat +75 health. Skirmisher gives passive healing per second and faster sprint with melee weapons. Skirmisher is better solo: take a few hits, retreat and regenerate.
• Vampire or Butcher. Both give the same flat melee attack speed. Vampire restores health on kills; Butcher gives a large damage increase. The author suggests Butcher on Hard and Normal and Vampire on Suicidal and Hell on Earth.
• Resistance or Parry. If you spam alt fire to parry, Parry increases damage and swing speed. If you face-tank and get screamed at, Resistance gives 20 percent damage resistance and 40 percent sonic and poison resistance. The author runs Resistance, since he runs through zeds spamming light attacks or kites with heavy attacks.
• Massacre or Smash. Smash grants headshot damage, heavy-attack damage and stumble power, while Massacre is flat damage for the basic attack with a tiny 5 percent speed gain. The author uses Smash because the headshot bonus also applies to Eviscerator sawblades.
• Spartan or Rage. Spartan is recommended: the ability to cleave through an army faster than it can react is too good to skip. Rage (+25 health and scaring zeds) is mainly an escape tool.

Starting gear and weapons

The Berserker has EMP grenades with a half-second fuse that disable the abilities of affected zeds, including invisibility. They barely kill Crawlers, so use them to shut down charging Fleshpounds, Sirens before they scream and other threats. The standard kit is two perk grenades, a 9mm pistol, the perk knife, the healing syringe, a welder and the starter weapon.

Weapon	Cost	Weight	Notes
Crovel Survival Multitool	200 Dosh	4 kg	Starter; fine until you can afford better.
Katana	600 Dosh	3 kg	Attacks faster than the Crovel; centered stab bash is good for headshots and stunlocking.
Zweihander	1000 Dosh	6 kg	Only available if you own Chivalry; wide arc, long range, more damage when walking forward.
Pulverizer	1200 Dosh	6 kg	Sledgehammer/shotgun; heavy attack is an explosive blast needing ammo; one-shots most medium and all trash zeds.
Bone Crusher	1500 Dosh	9 kg	Mace and shield; stronger blocks and bash that stuns large zeds.
Vlad-900 Nailgun	600 Dosh	6 kg	Good penetration and ricochets; better as a Support weapon, though it benefits from Smash.
Eviscerator	1600 Dosh	10 kg	Sawblade launcher; blades can be picked up, five shots before reload, best block and parry, alt fire revs the buzzsaw using fuel.

The Eviscerator's gasoline is a separate ammo type; an ammo box gives 50 percent of the maximum fuel reserve (125 out of a maximum of 250). The knife is a lawnmower blade with a jab like the Katana but far less damage, and it still gets your perk bonuses.

Tactics for solo play

• Berserker is among the more forgiving solo perks. Clear trash first, then medium zeds, then large ones.
• Use EMP on a raged Fleshpound or a Siren. If overwhelmed, run: with Skirmisher, a tactical retreat or hit-and-run is easy.
• Abuse your health regeneration, and use the syringe for a quick 50 HP over time.
• Strafe while using light attacks aimed at head level. Use forward-then-backward movement for uppercuts that send zeds flying.
• Against large zeds, parrying reduces more damage and staggers the attacker but needs timing, while blocking just needs the alt-fire held.
• Headshots are always best. Zed heads have their own health, which is why a headless zed can still stumble. Bosses have no separate head health but take extra damage from headshots.
• For the boss, the author recommends the Eviscerator, though the Bone Crusher, Pulverizer or Nailgun work too.
• Ammo boxes give a full clip to the reserve for weapons with a clip of 5 or more, plus a grenade (max 5).
• Armor is weak for Berserkers since you stay in melee range. Save Dosh, buy weapons and max ammo, and purchase armor around when Large Zeds begin to spawn.

For team-oriented Berserker builds see Berserker perk guide and the solo Hell on Earth Berserker guide.