KF2 Hit-and-Run Tactics for Solo and Small Teams on Hell on Earth

This guide, originally in Russian, is by a player with about 300 hours in Killing Floor 2. It mainly helps newcomers and people who play solo or in small teams on Hell on Earth, though it also covers team problems. Its core idea is "movement is life". See also KF2 beginner basics and the Russian newbie guide on classes and bestiary.

Hit and run

Taking a good position and shooting all approaches as a team looks easier, but it really only works on low difficulties. On high ones a different approach helps:

• Do not sit in one place; keep moving around the map.
• Move in a loop rather than randomly.
• Look at the enemies ahead and keep moving. Now and then turn for a few seconds and shoot the closest ZEDs that can catch you.
• Do not corner yourself; keep room to maneuver and retreat.
• Avoid tight passages, since enemies can appear in front and trap you.
• If a large monster is ahead, or you are not sure you can kill it quickly, run around it.
• When you spot a crowd ahead, turn off the route, or as a last resort reverse if the ZEDs behind are easier to get past.
• Always kill Bloats with headshots.

If you are new and do not know the maps, start on low difficulties to learn the locations. You do not need to know them fully; just identify a few routes so you do not run into a dead end. On low difficulties ZEDs move like a worker heading to a hated job on Monday, while on Hell on Earth they run like it is Friday evening and you are the best snack for the beer.

How to kill ZEDs properly

"Always shoot the head" is bad advice. Not every ZED is vulnerable there, so you need to know their specifics, your perk and your weapon.

• Robots (E.D.A.R.): headshots waste ammo; the weak point is the center of the chest.
• Rioters: armored on the head and chest. You can shoot the head if your weapon kills in one or two hits, but they appear in the first rounds on high difficulties when you will not have such a weapon. Hitting a leg is easier, and they move slowly.
• Large ZEDs (Scrake, Fleshpound, Quarter Pound): vulnerable to head hits, but one or two are not enough. Sustained head fire is hard because they become very active when damaged. Aim slightly below the head so fewer bullets miss.

By class

• Gunslinger and Sharpshooter: accuracy matters a lot.
• Commando and SWAT: automatic weapons, but holding the trigger on a crowd wastes all your ammo for little value. Accuracy matters for them too.
• Support: good for those with weaker aim; a strong standalone unit with big damage, where most enemies die in one to three shots. Well balanced against weak and large ZEDs.
• Demolitionist and Firebug: accuracy is not important, and you shoot at legs. The Demolitionist is good against large ZEDs, the Firebug against weak ones in numbers. Rioters and Bloats are inefficient to kill with them.
• For solo: Support, Firebug, Gunslinger, Sharpshooter and Commando fit best. A Demolitionist struggles at close range and against lone ZEDs. The Medic is playable solo even on Hell on Earth, but it takes work.
• Berserker: the least suitable on high difficulties. Although it dishes out punishment on low ones, its effectiveness drops sharply as difficulty grows.

Stretching your ammo

On Hell on Earth the first thing you notice is that ZEDs are very fast, the second is that you run out of ammo in the first round while the ZEDs have not run out.

1. Your pistol and knife stop being last-resort weapons and become real killing tools. In early rounds use the main weapon minimally: pistol or knife on weak ZEDs, the main weapon on tougher ones. By mid-game you will have enough main weapon ammo.
2. Always run forward and shoot individual ZEDs. Your aim is not to kill the most and fastest, but to trade ammo for ZEDs efficiently without dying. Emptying everything at them is the natural reaction and burns your ammo quickly.
3. Choose weapons carefully. "Take the biggest gun" will not work. Upgrade weapons: even a weak one with upgrades is a serious tool. Decide ahead which suits you best.
4. Buying order: first enough ammo, then a good weapon or upgrades for what you have, and last armor and grenades.

The author's preferred pairs:

Perk	Weapons
Support	M4 Combat Shotgun and AA-12
Gunslinger	dual 1858 Revolver and dual .500 Magnum
Sharpshooter	Winchester 1894 and SPX 464
Commando	AK-12 and SCAR-H
Demolitionist	HX25 and M79; the RPG against the boss
Firebug	Flamethrower and Microwave Gun

As a solo Firebug against the Abomination boss, Firebug weapons are ineffective while it has armor. Before the fight you can buy extra Demolitionist weapons (leaving your own on the ground), knock off the armor with them, then burn the exposed Abomination.

If you run out anyway

When you are out of main weapon ammo and a Scrake comes round the corner, do not despair; you still have good chances. If there are many ZEDs, switch to the knife and keep running around the map looking for ammo boxes, picking off the weakest ones individually.

Fighting the bosses

There are four.

1. Abomination. The easiest boss (unless you are a Firebug). Run from it in a big circle. It has three kinds of armor: head, torso and limbs. Knock off the head and torso armor, leave the limbs, and shoot the exposed parts. If you knock off all three, it becomes very fast.
2. King Fleshpound. Run in a very small circle around obstacles, with stairs and places to jump down as a plus. That keeps it from hitting you often. When it loses most of its health it gets a shield and uses a beam; do not fear the beam.
3. Dr. Hans Volter. His weak spots are narrow passages. When he turns on his shield he first runs away from you, then at you, and heals if he catches someone. In that time knock down the shield and keep damaging him while he is on the ground. With a team, focus fire on Hans and do not let him grab anyone.
4. Patriarch. Keep your distance and obstacles (pillars or trucks) between you. Fighting in an enclosed room helps because he cannot fire missiles into the air. He retreats to heal several times; use that time to heal yourself.

Against all bosses keep your distance. In a team stay together and do not surround the boss.

Team play

What not to do:

• Weld doors. A very dubious mechanic: leave it to experienced players. At best the door blocks a shortcut; at worst it kills a teammate.
• Take a dead teammate's weapon. You can pick it up to hand it back at the start of the next round, but if you do not know whose it is, leave it so the owner can return to where they died.
• Pick up every ammo box. A Berserker should not take them at all, yet often grabs the last pistol magazine from under your nose.
• Not sharing money with the Medic. Their weapons are expensive and hard to earn for; a well-equipped Medic is more likely to save your life.
• Run through others' sectors chasing kills. Hold the sector given or taken when the team defends.

If the team falls apart, everyone running between entrances for kills, you can go off alone and use hit and run around the map. It may save you if the team fails, and it draws some ZEDs, especially large ones, away.

P.S. If you are collecting collectibles, leave one Bloat alive in the first round and run around looking for them. The first one is hardest if you do not know what it looks like.