KF2 GrooveYard Map Guide: Features, Moon Jump, Strategy and Variants

GrooveYard is a Workshop map by Tisa that the guide's author calls the best map he has played. The guide was first written in July 2016 and last updated in September 2017. It opens with a quick-start section for people who want to jump in and then explains the rooms, the special mechanics and the strategic spots. For the guitar collectibles see the room-by-room pink guitar walkthrough.

Quick start

1. Glowing triangles are interactive: step on them to ride a skateboard, fly a paper airplane, jump long distances or float up and down vents.
2. Until wave 4, avoid falling off things, because you will hurt yourself. Never fall from a great height.
3. The map is very large with a single trader, and it is not necessarily in the Rock Room. When a wave is completed, look for the glowing giant girls: they are portals to the trader.
4. Turn the game music off before entering. The Dance Floor music is excellent and should not be mixed with it.

The author warns the map can be addictive.

The map

Your start position at the beginning of a game: move fast.

Your start position if the game is already in progress.

There are many rooms to explore both horizontally and vertically.

Music room

The Music room is a frequent trader spot and a popular place to fight the boss.

Shoot the green power switch on the amp to the left of the drums (it turns red) and you will hear the song "Killing Floor", written and performed by Tisa himself.

Bar room

Bar, tables, chairs and a pool table.

Run through the table and chair legs for some cover, or climb up and snipe from above.

Dance floor

The Dance Floor with a DJ, dancers and a disco ball.

Arguably the most impressive room, with a DJ, dancers, changing colors, spinning disco ball spots and original music (including the song "Tonight", also by Tisa). The author thinks it is the best place to fight.

Upper balcony

Above the bar and dance room: a rug, couches and more paper airplanes.

Skate park, freezer and bathroom

Skate park.

• Skate park: just play.
• Freezer: a collection of frozen ZEDs, "ZEDsicles".
• Bathroom: jump into the toilet.

Moving around

Glowing triangles and vents.

• Glowing triangles: airplanes, skateboards and jump points. They are fun but also important for escaping the horde to heal or find ammo.
• Wall vents: horizontal, vertical (acting like elevators) and slanted ones connect rooms. One of them is startling when you first enter.
• Toilet: jump in and see where you come out.

Gameplay surprises

• Wave 4, Moon Jump: low gravity. If you are in the air you are safe and can reload and heal. Run at ZEDs, fire a couple of shots and jump; aim and fire in the air, for example from above a Husk to hit its tanks. Against a Scrake, shoot while running at him, jump just before he reaches you, heal and reload mid-air, twist around and land in front of him. The upper levels do not support moon jumps.
• Wave 7, Lights Out: fight in the mostly dark bar room, or on the lit Dance Floor or in the skate park, where you can even snipe while riding a board.

Stuff to play with

• Pool table: put all the balls in the pockets (shoot or knife them) for a prize, the Zweihander.
• Drum set and piano and keyboard: play them by running or jumping on them.
• Amp: shoot its power switch for Tisa's original music.
• Skateboards: step onto the glowing triangle and go (a bit tricky with moon jump on).
• Paper airplanes: walk onto the airplane's glowing triangle.

Strategy

• IVONE, the pink guitar trader: gives free weapons if you have the weight capacity. A good technique is to drop weapons until you get what you want. It is activated by finding all the hidden pink guitars; one is in the shelves behind the bar.
• Tables in the bar or dining hall: pick ZEDs off from a table (watch your back); with practice you can stand on chair backs. When a Fleshpound jumps up on the chair back, just jump straight up, let it jump off and float back down.
• Spawn central: around the dining hall and the dance floor, where the last ZEDs walk slowly.
• The glass ledge: a favorite spot where ZEDs line up for you; long enough to deal with a Scrake or even a Fleshpound while moving backwards. In trouble, moon jump to the dance floor and heal.
• Dance floor booths: perch on booth backs to snipe, then float down to heal.
• Booth hopping: moon jump from the table to the booth back, shoot a ZED and continue to the next one.
• Low gravity: as in KF1, ZEDs cannot melee at steep vertical angles, so jumping on them delays attacks. Watch for Clots that grab you and cancel your jump.
• Ramps with glowing triangles: you can enter from any angle; you are launched in the triangle's direction while keeping your orientation.
• Glasses and bottles: bullets bounce off glasses; most bottles are indestructible.

Three variants

Tisa released three additional versions of the map, each with unique gameplay:

• KF-Grooveyard Halloween: a ghostly version with Halloween party music replacing the dance floor tracks (the Killing Floor song in the Rock Room remains).
• KF-Grooveyard Xmas: adds skate-like icy surfaces that make sliding around ZEDs a different challenge, with Christmas music.
• KF-Grooveyard Valentine: you guide Valentine hearts to their destination for a free weapon reward; at least two players help, one to keep ZEDs off the person guiding the heart.

Pink guitars

The author notes that on Suicidal and Hell on Earth finding the guitars is almost essential, since the reward is free high-quality weapons. Search during wave 1 while a slow Bloat can be ignored. When enough guitars have been found you hear a message. Walk through IVONE's legs at the end of the Dance Floor (where the big pink guitar was); if you have enough weight capacity you get a random good weapon. Drop it and repeat; if you do not get a weapon, try again, and drop your current weapon first if you are too heavy.

Locations in text form:

• Beside the trader's desk.
• Behind the bar in the racks.
• On the altar in the scary vent (enter under the glass stairs).
• On the piano on the bar balcony.
• In the corner behind the couch on the bar balcony, kitty-corner from the piano.
• On a glass table on the Dance Floor balcony on the right side facing the disco.
• In the freezer.
• On the booth table on the left side of the Dance Floor bar.
• On the half table on the right side of the fish tank leading to the Dance Floor.
• Beside the beer sign in the initial entry room.
• On the dart board.
• Under the potted plant in the Music room.
• In the frozen ceiling in the freezer vent.
• In the hallway between the Music room and the bar.
• In the pool table pockets.
• In the bathroom under the gun ramp.
• In the guts of the guy in the back recording studio room.

Last word

Remember it is a game: have fun, play as a team and return weapons to fallen teammates when you can.