KF2 Shots to Kill, DPS and Damage Formulas (6 Player HoE)

This community reference explains how to calculate Killing Floor 2 damage, DPS and "shots to kill" for the hardest setting, Hell on Earth with six players. It is a data guide: the author keeps spreadsheets and formulas, and the original also shows large in-game tables of shots to kill that are not reproduced here. The text below keeps the method, rounding rules, spawn codes and the worked examples, so you can recompute numbers after any balance patch.

The author notes that weapon and balance changes since the Winter 2021 Chop Til' You Drop update are not always included. Updates listed include Deep Blue Z (Summer 2023, HRG Bombardier and S12 Shockgun), Polar Distress (Winter 2022), Blood and Bonfires (Fall 2022), Tidal Terror (Summer 2022) and several quality-of-life patches. The tables referenced are the author's own online spreadsheets, kept separately for current numbers and for reload speeds.

Testing scenes in Burning Paris are used to confirm the formulas in game.

DPS formulas

The DPS calculator compares weapons on a 1:1 scale. It excludes weapon resistance, hit zones and whether a perk's final damage is rounded or rounded up.

• Any perk (non-melee): ROUNDDOWN((INT(Base*Upgrade)MagSizePassive&Skills) / (ReloadSpeed + MagSize/(RoFPM/60)), 0)
• Commando with passive reload speed (-10 percent): same, with ReloadSpeed multiplied by 0.9.
• Firebug with passive reload speed (-20 percent): same, with ReloadSpeed multiplied by 0.8.
• Sharpshooter with Stability reload speed (-20 percent) and Marksman rate of fire: ReloadSpeed times 0.8, and the magazine divided by the boosted rate of fire.

Examples from the guide (all "dry", no reload buffer): Tier 5 .500 Magnum Revolver as a Gunslinger comes to about 649, as a Sharpshooter about 800. A Tier 5 FN-FAL gives about 951 for a Commando and about 1,390 for a Sharpshooter. The Helios Rifle for a Firebug is about 502 with the extra magazine size skill and 559 with the +35 percent damage skill.

Damage formulas

The wiki's ZED damage mechanics are the base. Two disclaimers matter:

• The Berserker's Smash (x1.5 heavy swing) and Massacre (x1.3 light swing) are applied before Passive plus Skills, so the "wiki way" can be one point off in game.
• Simplified formulas must round correctly. For example, a Tier 2 Fire Axe or Tier 5 Crovel or Tier 5 Bone Crusher light attack does 203 damage to a Scrake head in game, but a plain ROUND in a spreadsheet can produce 202.

Basic structure (resistance and hit zone included):

• Berserker: INT(INT(ROUND(ROUND(INT(Base*Upgrade)*Smash/Mass)*Passive+Skills)*Hitzone)*Resist)
• Support, Field Medic, Demolitionist, Firebug, SWAT, Survivalist: INT(INT(ROUND(INT(Base*Upgrade)*Passive+Skills)*Hitzone)*Resist)
• Commando, Gunslinger, Sharpshooter: same but with ROUNDUP.

If the target has been darted by a Medic with Focus Injection (up to 20 percent, 5 percent per dart), the buff multiplier is applied with ROUNDUP before hit zone and resistance.

Examples against a Scrake head (hit zone 1.1, neutral resistance):

• A Tier 5 Zweihander heavy swing as a level 25 Berserker with RRRLR skills does 723, and 869 with four Focus Injection buffs.
• A Zweihander light swing with RRRRR skills does 239, and 288 with four buffs.
• An HMT-501 as a Medic with Battle Surgeon does 61; as a level 25 Commando with the high-power skill it does 80.
• A Tier 5 SPX as a Gunslinger with five Rack 'em Up stacks does 460; as a Sharpshooter with LLLLR skills it does 631.
• Multiple pellets multiply the per-pellet value, for example Doomstick alt-fire at 24 pellets.

Spawn codes for testing

Spawning a Scrake in a test session.

Use spawnzed sc for an inactive Scrake, or spawnai sc for an active one. Codes:

Code	ZED
clotc, clots, clota, ealp	Cyst, Slasher, Alpha Clot, Rioter
cr, ecra	Crawler, Elite Crawler
g, gf2	Gorefast, Gorefiend
st, si, b, hu, fhu	Stalker, Siren, Bloat, Husk, Friendly Husk
minif, sc, f	Quarter Pounder, Scrake, Fleshpound
emp, laser, rock	E.D.A.R Trapper, Blaster, Bomber
ha, fha, p	Hans Volter, Friendly Hans, Patriarch
kingf, kingb, poop, m	King Fleshpound, Abomination, Abomination Spawn, Matriarch

One-shot examples: Quarter Pounder head (1,228 HP)

Testing against a large ZED.

• Support with Salvo: a Tier 5 Doomstick alt-fire does 1,392; a Tier 4 Doomstick with one Focus Injection buff does 1,296.
• Demolitionist (LLRLR, 1,725 body HP kills): Tier 5 RPG-7 with one buff does 1,729; Tier 4 with four buffs does 1,796.
• Demolitionist with the ZED Time bonus: Tier 4 RPG-7 does 2,059 and C4 does 1,845.
• Sharpshooter (LLLLR): Tier 5 M99 does 1,683, Tier 5 Rail Gun 1,386, Tier 4 Rail Gun with three buffs 1,275 and Tier 5 Crossbow with three buffs 1,275.
• Sharpshooter with ZED Time bonus: M99 1,928, Rail Gun 1,587, Compound Bow fully drawn with two buffs 1,248.

One-shot examples: Scrake head (1,584 HP)

Testing damage on a boss ZED.

• Support with Salvo: Tier 5 Doomstick alt-fire 1,680; Tier 4 with two buffs 1,608.
• Demolitionist: Tier 5 RPG-7 does 1,632; Tier 4 with two buffs does 1,636.
• Sharpshooter (LLLLR): Tier 5 M99 does 2,244, Tier 5 Rail Gun 1,848 and Tier 4 Rail Gun with two buffs 1,626.
• Sharpshooter with ZED Time bonus: M99 2,571 and Rail Gun 2,117.

Use these as templates: swap in the current base damage, upgrade multiplier and skill bonuses for your weapon, check rounding against the in-game number, and then compare to the ZED's head or body health on 6 player Hell on Earth.

See also Damage calculation and KF2 weapons tier list.