KF2 Survivalist Build Guide (2023): Skills, Weapons and Grenades

This long Russian-language guide, rewritten as a "new meta" in 2022 and updated in 2023, argues that the Survivalist is a strong perk on Hell on Earth if you build it around skills with control and damage-over-time weapons. The original is written in a heavily meme-laden style; this page keeps only the useful content: skill picks, passives, weapon notes and grenade choices. Numbers come from the author's testing at that time.

The Survivalist skill choices as shown in the guide.

Active skills

On each wave and the boss wave there are two choices per tier, so swap them as the situation demands.

• Tier 5: left side speeds up reloading with the matching class weapons; right side does too, depending on class. Pick according to your weapon type.
• Tier 10: left for holding positions and healing yourself and allies; right for all builds with melee weapons and on the boss wave.
• Tier 15: left when using a healing grenade (ammunition is always short on Hell on Earth); right for a three gun loadout or a melee build, otherwise you will run out of ammo.
• Tier 20: left almost always, since the explosions control ZEDs and stun everything; right on the boss wave. The 50 percent explosion resistance plus the base 25 percent helps against Patriarch rockets, Hans grenades and the King Fleshpound's ground blast, but in an explosive weapon build it tends to hurt by drawing aggro from large ZEDs.
• Tier 25: left only against the boss, because stunning it usually fails; right for any ZED during ZED Time. The stun works on all mutants, except those in an uninterruptible attack animation (a raging Fleshpound will stop, a ZED already swinging will not).

Passive bonuses

The Survivalist perk bonus screen at level 25.

• 25 percent resistance to all damage.
• 15 percent bonus to all damage, including damage over time (EMP microwave, fire, bleed, poison).
• 25 extra armor points and the same as a free gift at spawn.
• Instant reload bonus in ZED Time. With a good Commando extending ZED Time (and no Rioters on his line) the perk's value grows greatly; start the reload during ZED Time, not before.
• Fast weapon swap for quick combo kills with two or more guns.

Weapon notes

1. Killer-watt (EMP rifle): single fire does ballistic damage and stacks EMP, which cancels some ZED abilities (sprint, special attacks); alt-fire does microwave damage.
2. Freezethrower: fire in pulses to save ammo (the beam keeps working about 0.35 seconds after you release the trigger). Make the beam pass through the ZED to stack freezing and create a cold zone on the ground. Alt-fire shoots ballistic projectiles and a cold zone behind the target. Raging Fleshpounds, Hans and shielded Matriarchs resist freezing by 75 percent, so freeze them before they rage by shooting the ground in front.
3. Hemogoblin: bleed DOT for 5 seconds (refresh it), 120 ballistic damage and 150 DOT per tick; it slows movement and reduces attack damage by 30 percent, attack animation by 25 percent. Great on large targets and with big knockback up close.
4. Ice Fang: with the right tier 10 skill gives +40 percent melee damage plus the class bonus; shoot a Fleshpound's iron stumps to freeze it without enraging it; adds movement speed.
5. Hemoclobber: alt-fire clouds heal one target per use and poison small ZEDs after one blow and large ones after two; a charged blow can distract Hans in the last phase.
6. Rail Gun: disable auto-aim (middle mouse) to avoid a 50 percent damage penalty; use the tier 5 right skill for faster reload; shoot Fleshpounds only in the head because of their 50 percent resistance.
7. Dart weapon (listed under a Russian name meaning "Dissection"): darts knock large ZEDs down and kill small ones; auto-targeting works only when aiming; one shot can calm a raging Fleshpound for 3 seconds if no player is in melee range; 400 damage per shot versus 700 for the Rail Gun.
8. Eviscerator-type melee weapon: gets all tier 10 right skill bonuses, blocks 60 percent and parries 70 percent, and can kill a Scrake in the head within one magazine on 6-player Hell on Earth.
9. Tesla gun: alt-fire applies EMP stun; microwave ammo has no resistance on Scrakes or Fleshpounds and Sirens and robots are extra sensitive; normal shots stack afterburn boosted by the class 15 percent.
10. Dragon's Breath and trench shovel: good for farming on waves 1 to 3 of a Long game thanks to ballistic pellets and burn DOT; the shovel saves on ammo.
11. Crossbow: very high stun chance for controlling large ZEDs; high penetration clears trash in corridors.
12. Reducto Ray: EMP damage, no resistances; the beam continues 0.35 seconds after release. Stack the shrink effect up to 10 (death on non-bosses): each stack increases the incoming damage the target takes, so use it on large ZEDs and bosses.
13. Discharge generator: alt-fire launches an energy ball that cleans narrow corridors and stuns large targets; EMP damage; interrupt the beam to save ammo.
14. Head Hunter (HRG): normal shots stack a larger head hitbox (up to 3 stacks, 10 seconds); alt-fire sends a wave that triggers EMP effects on stacked ZEDs (150, 300, 500 base damage) and stuns, even bosses.
15. Boomstick or Kaboomstick: clears trash and pushes large mutants away at close range; a double shot can save you from a raging Fleshpound, and with skill you can jump on its head and stun it.
16. C4: useful on the boss fight if there is no Commando and spare weight, for finishing and detecting invisible bosses. Wait 3 seconds between charges or the damage to the boss is reduced by 25 to 100 percent per use.
17. HRG Locust: fires faster with less recoil when locking on; bleed DOT for 3 seconds (50 per second) that does not stack but spreads to neighbors; missiles deal lingering explosive damage; locks up to 6 targets.
18. Piranha dual pistols: weigh only 6, benefit from tier 10 skill damage and speed, penetrate, and kill large ZEDs once upgraded; parry 60 percent and block 50 percent; 115 slashing damage per projectile with a high stun chance.
19. HRG Boom Brawl: in melee it adds 200 crush damage on top of 5 pellets of 39 ballistic damage per shot (48 and 250 upgraded); alt-attack clears small ZEDs without ammo. Sprayer: high knockdown chance; light attack 80, power attack 145 plus 383 explosive in a cone.

Grenades

The class bonus applies to grenades, and the tier 10 right skill raises all grenade damage by 75 percent while you hold a melee weapon.

• Medical: 50 poison plus 33 per tick; lots of control but little healing.
• High-explosive: 300 explosive damage, radius 6.5 m, very effective on single bosses and crowds.
• Fragmentation: 200 explosive damage; the high-explosive one is a better pick.
• Nail bomb: 100 damage, radius 10 m, may or may not stun large targets; not recommended.
• Molotov: useless compared to the rest and dangerous to you.
• Stun grenade: 120 explosive damage, guarantees stuns on calm large ZEDs; take it if you lack control weapons or the team lacks control.

Builds

The original ends with complete loadouts and stresses that while farming dosh you can mix skills and weapons early. A classic example uses a Hemogoblin-type healing weapon plus the Rail Gun with the stun grenade.

See also KF2 best perks and perk and weapon mechanics primer.