KF2 DLC Weapons Guide: Cheapest Ways to Unlock and Perk-by-Perk Review

This page rewrites a Japanese beginner-written guide to the paid (DLC) weapons of Killing Floor 2: how to obtain the right to use them and what each is like. Shop prices change often, so check the store page before buying, and note that the guide quotes sale prices from 2023 and May 2024. On a related note see KF2 Ultimate Edition.

Seven ways to get DLC weapons

Ordered from cheapest to most expensive in the author's view.

1. Buy nothing. If someone in the same server owns the right to use a DLC weapon, everybody can buy that weapon from the trader. It disappears from the shop when that player leaves.
2. Ultimate Edition (for people who do not own KF2 yet). It contains both weapon season passes (all DLC weapons apart from the exceptions below), plus outfits, accessories, characters and weapon skin sets. At the May 2024 sale it was discounted by 87%, and buying it is cheaper than buying the base game and the upgrade separately.
3. Ultimate Edition Upgrade (for people who already own the base game). It gives exactly the same content as the Ultimate Edition. At list price it costs about the same as the two weapon passes, and reviews say that buying a pass first and the upgrade later does not refund the overlap. From the May 2024 sale both weapon passes and the upgrade were -75%.
4. Weapon season passes. "Armory Season Pass" (weapon pass 1) unlocks DLC weapons up to 2021, and "Season Pass 2022" (weapon pass 2) the ones released from 2022 onward. The "Cosmetic Season Pass" is only outfits and contains no weapons. Buy single passes if you only want one set.
5. In-game store. Weapon bundles can be bought with real money, but since every DLC weapon is in a pass, buying individually is the most expensive route. Use it only when you want one weapon.
6. Other games. Owning "Chivalry: Medieval Warfare" unlocks the Berserker's Zweihander, and owning "Road Redemption" unlocks the Berserker's Road Redeemer, both shared with teammates in the same way.
7. Digital Deluxe Edition (or Digital Deluxe Edition Upgrade). It also unlocks the Zweihander (the same weapon as in the Chivalry link) and adds a character, accessories, a digital art book, the soundtrack and a copy of the original Killing Floor. The Deluxe and Ultimate editions do not share items, so having both upgrades gives no duplicates.

Using a DLC weapon in game needs nothing more than dosh: if you or someone in the room has the right, buy it at the trader like any other weapon.

Berserker DLC weapons

• Piranha pistol (dual-capable): fires spin cutters (slash damage) that pierce and ricochet, stick in walls for about 3 minutes and can be picked up and reused. Has a bladed bash, guard/parry on alt fire, and unlike the Eviscerator it can aim down sights. Smash headshot damage and stumble bonuses apply, but light/heavy attack skills do not. Magazine 6 per gun, low reserve; dual upgrade adds only +1 weight.
• Road Redeemer: a spiked bat; like a Katana changed from slash/pierce to blunt damage, with a bash that also has stumble power.
• Zweihander: a slow two-handed sword with the second highest heavy attack damage after the Battle Axe and good DPS; strong against Scrakes, weak against Fleshpounds.
• Blood scythe: reload toggles between a fast axe mode (close range) and a long scythe mode (1 m more reach than most perk weapons); heavy attack is a two-hit slash, and landing both can beat the Battle Axe.
• Ion Thruster: a lightsaber-like sword that sets enemies on fire and builds an energy gauge from attacks and blocks; at 100% reload does a strong sweep. It cannot reflect bullets, it sheathes slowly and burning enemies flail, which can disturb teammates' headshots. Good with Demolitionist and Firebug teammates, and it has the longest parry window among perk weapons.
• Frost Fang: a lever-action freezing shotgun with an axe blade (also in the Support section). Freezes large Zeds in a few shots (hit Fleshpound-type arms then head to freeze before they rage), the axe bash does bonus damage to frozen enemies, and alt fire guards/parries.

Commando DLC weapons

• Sentinel: a thrown, deployable drone (one at a time) that auto-targets approaching enemies with a 150-round machine gun aimed at the torso; weaker than a 9mm pistol per shot. It does not enrage large Zeds on its own damage but any stray shot after that does. Best placed under a vent out of the team's sight; Zed Time does not trigger from it.
• FAMAS Masterkey: a burst rifle with an underbarrel pump shotgun; fixed 3-round burst wastes ammo, so treat it as a 10-round marksman rifle. The shotgun has a box magazine and low spread, and the weapon helps against Gorefiends. Price 1100.
• Minigun: very high fire rate and magazine, pierces, but has 0.7 s spin-up, forced zoom that slows movement, huge recoil, slow reload (about 5 s without tactical reload) and weight 10, which leaves few partner weapon choices. A fun suppressive weapon for corridors.
• MG3 Shredder: an improved Stoner (+500 dosh, about +15% damage) with a horizontal spread alt fire that fires 5 weak bullets for three rounds of ammo; the spread mode is worse than normal DPS, so the weapon is mainly for those with spare money in Endless mode.

Support DLC weapons

• Frost Fang (see above).
• S12 Shock Gun: box-magazine semi-auto shotgun with an EMP wave alt fire in an 8 m radius that is high-damage, clearing small Zeds and affecting enemies behind you; with tactical reload it has the fastest reload (about 1.5 s) of box-magazine shotguns. Pair with an AA-12 or a Doomstick for large Zeds.
• FAMAS Masterkey: works at long range with scope; the Support ammo skills offset its waste, and a resupply pack skill is worth taking.
• Trumpet gun: a bomb launcher: main fire explodes on impact (hold the button to explode on release), strong knockdown, can hurt you at shotgun range; alt fire shoots ricocheting pellets (pierce damage, no self-damage) for tight spaces. Shares ammo; poor against Scrakes and Sirens; a 3-round magazine.

Field Medic DLC weapons

• Mine Reconstructor: a launcher of healing gel mines. Hold to charge (up to 6 ammo, 10 times damage and healing, double gel size), release to fire. Gel heals teammates and poisons enemies in an explosion; up to 12 mines; alt fire detonates them all. No healing darts, it uses ammo, and you cannot heal yourself with it. Place mines behind your team in advance.
• Corruptor carbine: a scoped bolt-action rifle with a corruption dart: the marked enemy (for 6 seconds) bursts when killed, creating a poison explosion and a healing gas area for allies. It acts as an attack weapon rather than a healer.

Demolitionist DLC weapons

• Trumpet gun: like an M79 with twice the direct hit damage, a slightly smaller blast and range and a 3-round magazine; alt fire is ricocheting pellets that benefit from the bonuses (not high impact rounds). Recommended.
• Gravity Imploder: the "problem child". Main fire has a very small blast and a steep drop; alt fire pulls and launches enemies including living ones, a nuisance to teammates with 1 damage; never use alt fire in multiplayer.
• ZED Mk III: full-auto microwave rounds that pierce and do not cause panic, and a free micro-missile every 6th shot. Magazine is huge but unmodified reload is nearly 5 seconds, and it is the most expensive and heavy (9) weapon.

Firebug DLC weapons

• Thermite Bore: launches a bomb that sticks to a target and explodes after 4 seconds, scattering 5 lingering fires. The explosion is fire damage (weak on large Zeds), it can hurt you, and alt fire detonates manually after about 1 second. Strong area coverage.

Gunslinger DLC weapons

• Rhino (dual-capable): fires a parent bullet that splits into three child bullets when it ends or hits terrain. Against enemies the children come out on the far side; against terrain they mirror the incoming angle and hit tightly. Highest total damage of Gunslinger weapons when all children hit.
• Glock 18C (dual-capable): full-auto pistol with SMG-level fire rate (two equal a minigun), but high spread and weight 4 each; one-gun semi-auto mode is available. Great at close range for stacking skills and slowing enraged Fleshpounds.
• Piranha pistol (dual-capable): as in the Berserker section, with a slash damage type that is weak against Fleshpounds but fine against Scrakes.

Sharpshooter DLC weapons

• Mosin-Nagant: old 5-shot bolt-action rifle with high damage per shot similar to the railgun in guided mode, bayonet bash and guard/parry.
• HV Storm Cannon: futuristic full-auto electrical sniper rifle with no pierce, whose shots bounce to up to three nearby Zed heads with fixed damage and EMP buildup. Eight-round magazine, shots behave like semi-auto; a rare area attack for Sharpshooter. Without tactical reload, reloading with a partial magazine is more than a second slower.
• Composite bow: a real bow with three damage stages by draw time (under 0.2 s weak, 0.2 to 0.5 s +50%, over 0.5 s +100% comparable to the railgun unguided). Arrows stay in walls and enemies for reuse. Alt fire switches to an ice arrow that makes a freezing blast; a full draw is basically an upgraded crossbow. The Marksman skill speeds up drawing.
• Corruptor carbine: as in the Field Medic section, with a faster reload and scope but no bayonet.

SWAT DLC weapons

• Riot shield and Glock 18: full-auto pistol (semi-auto alt fire) plus a big shield held in the left hand that blocks some of your view. Aiming holds the shield forward for -60% damage from the front, blocking even flames, EDAR missiles and lasers, boss shots and some beams. The shield bash has strong stumble power with shockwave damage. Weight 8; combine with tactical movement or heavy armor skill.
• G36C assault rifle: a compact assault rifle (assault rifle damage type, weaker than SMGs against Crawlers and Slashers, stronger against Gorefasts and Stalkers) with pierce 4 and a unique armor-piercing ability that deals 300% to detachable armor (EDAR armor, Rioter armor, Abomination and Matriarch armor parts) and 80% to the flesh underneath. Weight 7, price 1600, balanced; the author blames it for talk of pay-to-win.

Survivalist and other

• Shrink ray: an EMP beam pistol that shrinks Zeds: each hit adds 100 shrink; every 100 shrinks one level, increasing damage taken; at level 10 non-boss Zeds explode. Large Zeds and bosses resist; shrunk King Fleshpound cannot be avoided by crouching.
• Frost Fang: pairs well with the Survivalist's melee skill since the shooting part also gets +75% damage and the bash +25% speed.
• Dosh gun (Dosh Cannon): a special full-auto rifle that shoots 10 dosh notes (blunt damage with some stun). It costs money to reload (up to 200 dosh per 20-round magazine); notes can be picked up again. Many perk and skill bonuses apply to it.