KF2 Item Drops Explained: 12-Hour Timer, Crates and Events

This page paraphrases a Russian community guide that collects what players know about the item drop system in Killing Floor 2: crates, weapon skins, cosmetics and similar items. It is similar to the drop system in CS:GO, but with its own differences. For the general overview of the economy see Killing Floor 2 item drop system.

An item drop received after a match.

The short version

• One drop every 12 hours, i.e. two items per day.
• A drop is either a crate or a cosmetic item.
• It works on any map, official or community.
• Both active players and spectators can receive it.
• The item appears only after the match ends, when the player statistics table is shown.
• Difficulty and the number of waves do not change the chance.
• Victory or defeat does not change the chance.
• Solo games can drop items too.

Drops are awarded when the end-of-match table is shown.

Details

The cooldown. If you received a drop after a match at 14:30, the next one is only possible 12 hours later. The author tried repeatedly to get a drop 8 to 11 hours after the previous one and never did; after the full 12 hours a drop usually came after 1 to 3 finished matches (occasionally 5 or more).

Crate or item. The chance is roughly 50/50 for each, though some players see mostly crates and others mostly cosmetics. The author notes that for several days he only received weapon skins worth a few dozen rubles, so selling drops on the Steam Market can bring a small income.

Examples of received items.

Spectating counts. Because the drop is given at the end of a game regardless of participation, you can log in once the cooldown has expired, join a server in its last waves (9/10, 10/10, 11/11) and simply finish or watch the game. An even faster way: start a solo game on Hell on Earth, drop grenades at your feet, die and receive the drop after the match.

Waiting for the 12-hour timer.

Joining the final waves to claim a quick drop.

2XP and 2X Drop events

The developers occasionally run week-long events with double XP and a doubled drop chance. The guide author believed (before the summer update, as an assumption) that the cooldown also shortens from 12 to 6 hours during these events. Event announcements appear in the game news.

Double XP and double drop event.

Update (August 2017)

• A summer update changed the system again: drops arrive every 12 hours (probably every 6 during x2 events).
• During the summer event, event items (holiday tickets) dropped every 4 hours, while ordinary items still dropped every 12 hours.

Closing illustration from the guide.

The comments mostly ask whether event tickets and normal items stack, why crates from the Vault do not appear in the inventory and why some players receive very cheap items; the guide has no confirmed answers for these, so check in-game news and the Steam inventory if something is missing.