The Long Guide to Killing Floor 2: Early Access Basics

This is a long community walkthrough written during Killing Floor 2 early access. The author marked it OUTDATED after later updates, so treat specific numbers and skill lists as a historical snapshot. The reasoning about movement, teamwork and target priority is still useful. The guide has no screenshots by design; it avoids statistics dumps and focuses on habits.

A full game on Normal with six players is manageable even at perk level 0, but any harder difficulty needs perk levels (a level 0 Support lacks the punch of a level 10 one) or a coordinated team.

Movement basics

• Jumping barely helps: it clears small overhangs and mounts cars, and gives no speed boost.
• You can sprint in any direction, but not while reloading, firing or doing actions. Walking or sprinting backwards lets you shoot while opening distance.
• Stay mobile unless you are taking a shot. Every second spent standing still lets the specimens close in.
• You cannot outrun everything. If something fast rushes you, turn, back up and fire accurately.
• Teammates and trash ZEDs block movement. If the only way out is into the ZEDs, tell your team in chat.
• When you stop sprinting you must deal with whatever is in front of you using the weapon you were holding.

Combat and money basics

• Make every bullet count. Ammo pools are generous and spare ammo lies around, but money is tight in early waves.
• Time your reloads. Do not reload against dangerous enemies; reload when you can maneuver away.
• Learn what alt-fire does on each weapon. It is critical for Support. Not every gun has a flashlight; toggling it on a weapon without one switches you to another gun.
• Use the sights for precision. Hip fire suits shotguns and automatic weapons.
• Recoil is heavy. If enemies are more than about five meters away and you are not mobbed, use single shots.

Money. You earn dosh for joining late, killing ZEDs, healing teammates and at the end of a round. All ZED kills give experience. Starter weapons are worth 100 and full armor costs 300. Other guns cost the same for everyone (unlike the first game). Lend money to teammates who are short; use TAB to see the team's cash. The boss wave is where everyone should be fully equipped.

Teamwork basics

• A dead teammate wastes money and removes a gun. Do not let people die, and do not wander away from the team yourself.
• Use a basic setup when covering a doorway; one or two shooters per angle are enough.
• Do not block teammates or steal kills. Assists pay.
• Call out threats even without a mic. FP means a Fleshpound, SC a Scrake.
• Think about where to set up; do not linger at the Trader.

The four launch perks

Berserker

Bonuses per level: +1 percent melee damage (+25 at level 25), higher attack speed and movement speed, 25 percent resistance to Bloat bile and Siren screams, and 5 percent resistance to all damage.

Skills: Bulk Ammo or Night Vision (5); Frenzy or Fake Out (10); Furious Defender or Formidable (15); Take Cover or Intimidate (20); Menace or Attack Strength (25).

Tips: ignore single trash ZEDs and strike groups (line up swings to cut multiple heads); learn to block and parry, especially against bosses; use combos and directional attacks; get a Medic and armor; stay on the move because you are the only class that can outrun specimens; do not neglect the ranged perk weapons such as the Eviscerator.

Commando

Bonuses per level: +1 percent weapon damage, detection of cloaked ZEDs and specimen health out to 50 meters at level 25, longer ZED Time (up to +6 seconds), +2 percent max health (+50 at level 25).

Skills: Night Vision or Call Out (5); Large Mags or Backup (10); Single Fire or Tactical Reload (15); Impact or Autofire (20); Rapid Fire or Professional (25).

Tips: pick trash ZEDs and nothing else; shoot calm Scrakes only to bring them just above half health for a teammate to finish; use the fire-rate skills correctly (single fire needs the weapon set to single); aim for the head from behind the group; rifle ammo is cheap, so keep firing; do not abandon your team to hunt alone.

Support

Bonuses per level: +2 percent welding proficiency, +1 percent shotgun damage, +25 percent shotgun penetration, +2 percent grenade damage.

Skills: Ammo or Supplier (5); Fortitude or Regeneration (10); Bombard or Tactical Reload (15); Strength or Tenacity (20); Safeguard or Barrage (25).

Tips: line up shots because shotguns hit several ZEDs; alt-fire the sawn-off to empty both barrels on a strong trash ZED; automatic shotguns clear swarms quickly; the AA-12 is very efficient against bosses once a Commando brings a Scrake to half health; weld doors to funnel ZEDs; combine the automatic shotgun and double barrel on bosses.

Field Medic

Bonuses per level: faster syringe recharge (up to +200 percent), potency, Bloat bile resistance, movement speed and armor bonus.

Skills: Healing Surge or Enforcer (5); Combatant or Armament (10); Regeneration or Lacerate (15); Vaccination or Acidic Compound (20); Airborne Agent or Sedative (25).

Tips: heal constantly and shoot what hunts your teammates; do not neglect your own safety; prioritize armor; darts home in on teammates; the gas grenade is the strongest area buff in the game; focus healing on the Berserker, who tanks with his own health.

Trash ZEDs

• Clot: grabs players, pop the head and let it bleed out.
• Cyst: weak, slow cousin of the Clot; the best ZED to keep alive to farm map drops.
• Slasher: fast and aggressive; on higher difficulties treat it like a Gorefast.
• Gorefast: blade arm, rushes when close; a headshot clears it, often in groups of 3 or 4.
• Bloat: vomits corrosive bile; armor blocks most of it. Pop the head and let it bleed out rather than exploding it near teammates.
• Crawler: low, spawns in odd places and blends into dark areas; a priority for trash hunters.
• Stalker: the only cloaked enemy; Commandos see it in red outline.
• Siren: her scream muffles sound and damages; the head is tough, so aim for the chest with strong weapons. Appears from wave 3 on Long.
• Husk: only trash ZED with a ranged attack (arm cannon with knockback and afterburn); shoot the head.

Boss ZEDs

Their health scales with difficulty and team size, and their spawn is announced by a distant scream. Both have calm and rage states.

• Scrake: chainsaw arm. Calm, he is slow; he rages below 50 percent health (up to 70 percent on Suicidal) and sprints. Ignore him when you cannot safely pick him off, avoid corners, kite him and use parries. Pick Fleshpounds before Scrakes.
• Fleshpound: meat grinders for arms, glowing chest device (yellow calm, red rage). He rages at random intervals or when hit, deals huge area damage and is hard to calm. Fire on him at once when he comes in raging. Dual Fleshpounds can show up even on Solo Normal at wave 10.

Hans Volter

The boss wave (wave 5, 8 or 11 on Short, Normal, Long) has only Hans Volter, with health scaled by difficulty and team size.

• Set up in an open area with cover; cramped spaces help his gas and explosives.
• Weld sensibly; he will not run away, but you might.
• Stay at a distance unless you are Support. Berserkers should hit and return to cover.
• Save the heavy ammo for the later stages.
• At 35 percent health he drains a player to heal and gets 80 percent damage resistance while rushing around. Do not hit him while draining or running; fire right after his taunt and heal the drained player.
• Trash ZEDs spawn as distractions.

Stages:

1. Green: slow strolling with dual STG44s.
2. Orange: chest glows, he heals, gains melee slash and explosive grenades, and throws three grenades of each type.
3. Red: he goes close up on survivors and spams four grenades per volley.

Advanced movement and strategy

Drops around the map give a lot of money, especially on the first wave. Basic strategies:

• Camping: fortify a position, identify all entrances and weld to funnel ZEDs. Focused firepower is the upside; being overrun and wiped is the downside.
• Roaming: never stand still except to shoot. You dilute ZEDs and find drops, but Medics are less effective and the group can be sandwiched.
• Kiting: one player drags a boss or a chunk of ZEDs away while the rest deal with the remainder. Vital on higher difficulties and against bosses.
• Tactical retreat: when things go badly, drop what you do and run. Sprint backwards, stop to shoot, and always turn to check new areas. ZEDs respawn aggressively.

Advanced combat and money

• Bash with any gun (bind the key). On melee weapons, alt-fire blocks, and blocking just before a hit reduces damage greatly or parries. The Pulverizer's secondary is a costly but powerful stagger.
• Circle-strafing helps against close-range bosses.
• Buy the Medic Pistol (200 dosh); it fits most loadouts.
• Darkness is dangerous without Night Vision; flashlights light only a small area.
• Collect random drops: ammo packs, starter weapons and cash. Do not refill ammo needlessly. Dropping and picking up weapons was reported to add 50 dosh, probably an oversight.

Advanced teamwork and solo

• No friendly fire; Support shots penetrate teammates.
• Coordinate grenades: Support frag, Medic heal gas, Berserker stun.
• Duck under teammates' fire.
• Head to the Trader when only a few ZEDs remain.

Solo is harsher: short brutal waves, ZEDs spawn nearly instantly and respawn aggressively. Support levels best, and kiting the last Cyst for drops matters on higher difficulties. Solo is the best way to train personal skill.

For more on today's game see KF2 beginner basics and Kiting guide.