KF2 Cyst Guide: Stats, Speed, Weak Points, Tactics

This is part two of a German-language ZED index series (translated here) built from the official Tripwire wiki. The subject is the Cyst, the small brother of the Clot and the weakest regular specimen in Killing Floor 2.

The Cyst, a lesser ZED classed as cannon fodder.

Overview

Slow and fragile, Cysts are easy to underestimate. Alone they are no threat, but they never come alone: they arrive in hordes, flank you and cling on so that bigger ZEDs can catch up and take a bite. Every perk can handle them about equally well. The Cyst is a common specimen, classified as a lesser enemy, and mostly exists to populate the map.

Base stats

	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
Dosh per kill	7	7	7	7
XP per kill	8	11	11	11
Body HP	75	100	100	100
Head HP	15	20	20	20

Attacks and XP notes

• Grab attack chance: 80 percent.
• Melee base damage: 6; melee reach: 172.
• Damage multiplier against doors: 3 / 6; against players it scales by difficulty (0.2 / 0.4 / 0.5 / 0.6 / 0.7 / 1).
• Kills with an off-perk weapon award the XP to the perk that owns that weapon.
• Hurt a Cyst with an on-perk weapon and finish it off-perk, and the XP is split evenly between both perks. Assists give full XP.

Speed

Cysts walk while calm and sprint when angry. Once enraged a Cyst never stops sprinting until it dies. On higher difficulties they may start sprinting when they see you or when you hurt them. Speed is rolled in a 10 percent band and multiplied by a difficulty factor (0.87 on Normal, 1.05 on Hell on Earth).

	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
Walk	149-181	171-209	171-209	215-219
Sprint	313-383	360-440	360-440	378-462
Sprint on sight	0%	0%	5%	40%
Sprint when hurt	0%	1%	100%	80%

For comparison, a healthy player with minimal weight walks at 383 units per second and sprints at 460.

Resistances and hit zones

Cysts have few weaknesses and a couple of minor resistances.

• Damage types: piercing x1, slashing x0.85, blunt x0.9, poison x1, fire x1, microwave x0.25, explosive x1, knife slash x1.
• Weapon classes: submachine guns x1.5, assault rifles x1.5, shotguns x1, pistols x1, rifles x1.
• Hit zones: the head is the only weak spot (x1.1); the rest of the body is x1.

Behavior

The Cyst is the weakest ZED, with very slow movement and attacks. After spawning it walks or sprints to the nearest player and tries to scratch or grab and bite, which immobilizes the victim. Its behavior barely changes between difficulties.

Killing tactics

• Any weapon kills a Cyst fast. In early waves save ammo by switching to the knife and taking heads.
• In later waves Cysts pad out the horde and distract you from bigger threats. Clear them quickly so you can focus on the dangerous specimens.
• SWAT and Commando are the best choices for mowing down large Cyst groups thanks to the x1.5 bonus.
• Watch out for grabs: if the last survivor is held by a Cyst, larger ZEDs get time to arrive and finish the job.

See also the other Cyst page on this site, the Cyst specimen file, and the sibling entries Slasher, Crawler and Stalker.