KF2 Guide to Be a Better Player: 14 Tips

This guide lists fourteen things that make you a more useful player in Killing Floor 2. Short summary at the end.

1. Know the perk roles. Every perk has a job, and kills are not everything. SWAT, Commando and Firebug clear small ZEDs in a split second, so they naturally get more kills than the DPS roles (Support, Demolitionist, Sharpshooter, Gunslinger) that focus on big ZEDs. The Medic heals first and clears trash second. The Berserker can hold a point and deal great damage. A Sharpshooter with 80 kills next to a Commando with 200 is not necessarily playing worse.
2. Stick with your team. Survival is better close to teammates, especially a Medic. The Berserker is the only perk that can solo, and Commando can stray a bit.
3. Learn useful tricks. Cancel reloading, quick heal and bashing. Bashing is great when a ZED blocks a doorway, or when you round a corner into a Siren: bash to stop her scream for a few seconds, then shoot.
4. Know when to hold a point and when to kite. Standing your ground is good, but not in places with narrow paths and few exits. Open areas are best, and know when to move. Also understand when to weld doors, since it limits your escape routes.
5. Heal teammates even if you are not a Medic. The HMTech-101 pistol is a good one-weight addition for any perk.
6. Do not get cornered. Check behind you every few seconds, learn spawn points and map layouts, and avoid narrow areas for long periods.
7. Prioritize targets. Some players enrage Scrakes (Scrakes enrage from damage and charge) instead of shooting a Fleshpound, which is a higher priority since it can rage at any time. Do not fight a Fleshpound alone unless you are a DPS perk and confident.
8. Learn ZED strengths and weaknesses. Fleshpounds are vulnerable to explosions and resistant to bullets; Scrakes are the opposite. An RPG on a Scrake still does plenty, so you need only 1 or 2 more missiles; likewise a sniper on a Fleshpound needs 1 or 2 more hits.
9. Go for headshots, with two exceptions. E.D.A.R.s (shoot the chest, the vulnerable part) and Rioters (shoot the legs; the chest is armored and the head is helmeted).
10. Share money. A teammate without dosh cannot buy better weapons or armor. If you do not need yours, give it.
11. Learn the sounds. A Husk's fireball, an E.D.A.R.'s trapper, or a Fleshpound's ground slam (which means it is now enraged). Bosses telegraph too: King Fleshpound makes a sound before the chest laser, and the Patriarch says something or you hear him pressing buttons before missiles. Run and take cover.
12. Know each boss. Crouch under King Fleshpound's laser (default key C), but crouching on stairs while he stands below still gets you hit, so avoid stairs. Run away from Hans's grenades. Do not stand in the open against the Matriarch. Do not stay close to bosses unless you are a Berserker tanking, and even then time it (not during the Matriarch's scream, King Fleshpound's slams or Hans's bombs).
13. Encourage teammates. People tend to play better when encouraged.
14. Remember it is a game. When frustrated, you think poorly. Take a break and come back cooled off.

Quick summary

Know perk roles; stay close; learn tricks like cancel reload, quick heal and bashing; know when to hold or leave; heal others; do not get cornered; prioritize targets; know weaknesses; headshot (except E.D.A.R.s and Rioters); share dosh; listen for attack sounds; learn boss fights; encourage; keep calm.

Quick heal and reload cancel

Quick heal. When you heal yourself, as soon as your screen turns blue switch to a weapon. The heal animation is shortened by a few seconds.

Reload cancel. The author links a video by "Mr Man" showing the technique.

See also /en/gamedb/killingfloor2/start/lazy-beginner-guide-skippie/ and /en/gamedb/killingfloor2/start/common-beginner-mistakes/.