KF2 Core Strategy Tips From Normal to Hell on Earth

This is a paraphrase of a community guide by a player with about 200 hours at the time of writing (later about 460), who had beaten every official map on Hell on Earth. It is not about individual perks or ZEDs but about general principles that apply to every perk and difficulty. The author notes that newer players benefit most and that Hell on Earth deserves its own dedicated guides. For similar advice see KF2 general tips for a good player.

Part 1: awareness and roles

Know your limits. Level and hours do not equal skill. Pick a difficulty that suits you; if you can play it solo, or it feels too easy, you are ready. Do not try multiplayer Suicidal or Hell on Earth just to see it or to farm XP. The author suggests around 50-80 hours before Suicidal and 200+ before Hell on Earth, with perks at least level 20 if possible, but skill beats levels. A high-level player may be worse than a lower-level one.

Always have an escape route. Many deaths come from being cornered or overwhelmed, even by clots and crawlers. Scan for freshly spawned ZEDs. If every route is blocked, fight through the nearest or best exit toward your team: losing some health and armor beats being sandwiched.

Avoid confined spaces. Stay in open spots with many exits. You can also loop around so ZEDs huddle into one larger group, which opens more routes.

Aim for the head. Headshots do more damage and save ammo. Automatic guns have single-shot modes that make this easier; switch back to automatic when things get hairy.

Heal yourself and others. Health can drop fast even at 100. Heal to full before engaging big ZEDs you cannot handle. Healing others recharges the healer twice as fast and earns dosh.

Play your perk's role. Do not fire an M79 at a single clot or an AA-12 at distant clots. Off-perk weapons are expensive and mostly ineffective; the one worthwhile exception is a medic pistol or other medic weapon. Let the perk best suited to a ZED handle it: a Commando has no reason to fight Fleshpounds if a Demolitionist is there.

Respect big ZEDs. Scrakes need a stun and a series of hard headshots from Sharpshooter, SWAT or Commando. Do not shoot or throw grenades at a Scrake someone is stunning, because it ignores concussion and freeze grenades and breaks their headshot streak. A Railgun headshot (without auto-aim) or a fully perked RPG can handle a Scrake.

Keep a global view. Unless a Scrake or Fleshpound demands attention, check around you; crawlers and stalkers love to flank while you focus on a Siren.

Part 2: gear, death and difficulty

Carry a medic pistol, even with a Medic present. It is cheap, weighs one block, and heals players at range. Listen for the targeting sound before firing. The author likes it on Support, SWAT, Commando, Berserker and Medic, and calls it vital on the boss wave.

Prepare for death. When you die you cannot earn more money that round, miss the round bonus, and lose all gear except your spawn gear and the weapon in your hand. If you are sure you will die, pull out your best weapon. When someone else dies, share spare cash (even 50 dosh helps) and carry their weapon to the trader, telling them you have it. Never steal and sell it. If the respawn, weapon and trader are far apart, briefly switching to Berserker with Skirmisher (20 percent speed) can help. If you die constantly, consider leaving or lowering difficulty.

Normal and Hard versus Suicidal and Hell on Earth. The big difference is ZED behavior: they walk toward you on lower difficulties but charge and use new attacks on higher ones. There are also more ZEDs with more health and damage, fewer drops and less money. Move up only when Hard feels too easy.

The knife and 9mm are fine. Use them on early waves against clots or a lone Gorefast. 9mm ammo is cheap (8 pounds per magazine) and good for Sharpshooter, Gunslinger, Commando and SWAT. With dual pistols, bash (V by default) cancels the reload animation. This works for all dual Gunslinger weapons.

Crosshair and accuracy. The author at first preferred a crosshair and later played without; it is pure preference. Crouching, standing, walking and sprinting barely change accuracy, so Commando, Gunslinger and SWAT can hold sprint and tap fire.

Match the weapon to the enemy. Do not waste .500 Magnum on Gorefasts, and do not expect 1911 pistols to take down a Scrake or Fleshpound. In a panic, using a little more power than needed is fine.

Part 3: trader time and control

• Do not get baited by distant ammo or weapons. Leaving your post risks a surprise mob; wait for the wave to calm.
• Disable Auto-Upgrade in gameplay settings. Holding E near a trader buys, sells and restocks automatically without your control. It is only useful in the last seconds of trader time.
• Parry heavy attacks. Blocking with the knife or any melee weapon reduces damage by up to 90 percent. A raging Fleshpound only calms after attacking someone, so a parry is a painless way to calm it.
• Do not spend everything on a new gun. Keep money for armor, grenades and ammo. Plan the weapon you will sell: spend its ammo first and do not restock it. For example, with a Bullpup and AK-12 before buying a SCAR, stock the AK-12 and run the Bullpup dry.
• Play the right perk at the right time. An ideal team has at least a Demolitionist, Support Specialist and Medic for ammo, grenades and heals, plus a Commando for ZED time, a Sharpshooter for big-ZED defense, and a Berserker or Firebug for trash. If two or three players share a perk, pick a missing one. Switch perk for the boss wave only when confident.
• Check your perk skills. If you forget about active skills like Dead Eye or Parry, use passive ones instead.
• Return to your spot after trading. On big maps like Containment Station and Outpost, being late means a group of ZEDs catches you. If the trader is far, leave one or two minor ZEDs alive at the end of the wave and finish them while the team trades.
• Regain control. If the team holds good positions, the wave feels like a conveyor belt. A surprise mob or 2-3 Fleshpounds plus Scrakes makes you abandon posts, ZEDs flow in, and panic wastes ammo. Kill Scrakes and Fleshpounds as soon as possible, and kite with the whole team if there is too much trash.
• When kiting, look ahead. Running and gunning backwards gets people killed when a single crawler or clot blocks the path. Keep moving, clear what is ahead, regroup, and only fortify a spot when no more ZEDs remain to spawn.