So Killing Floor 2's officially released, while it isn't a very popular game I still enjoy it from time to time and so I thought it will be best to compile a list of essential tips to aid beginners in playing the game properly and make the game fun for everyone. I understand the struggles new players may face so fret not, as this guide will bestow the necessary knowledge a beginner should know to kick-start your adventure.

If this guide is helpful please help rate it so new players will be able to find it easily :D You can also favorite it to find it easily later.

TLDR; A little about me

I was once a beginner in killing floor 2 and started playing during it's pre release phase probably the time when I created this guide; when there was only 2 bosses and albino crawlers / Edars wasn't a thing. Clocked in 800 Hours like a no life and Went on hiatus for a few years so here I am trying to update this guide again as I play. I would say that most things are still relevant till now so keep calm and read on.

I'll just say that like most games, Practice is key. And the fun of this game is on Hell On Earth difficulty with a team that knows what they are doing.

Well its a guide? I am trying my best to summarize everything in simple sentences whilst not excluding the important details. I'm sorry if the guide is too lengthy, i've tried my best. Well, you can just read a few lines everyday in the morning when you're taking a dump or when you're outside waiting for your food. I'm not forcing you to read everything in 1 hour.

I also highlighted important points so you can just focus on walls of text that is bold and underlined if you don't want to read my long craps.

It's important to start from the lowest difficulty and propel yourself as you level. I often see new players less than level 10 joining a Suicidal or a Hell On Earth server in the game moreover they don't know what they are doing. If you know what you are doing, joining suicidal at < 10 is feasible. I've seen a few players in the past who handled themselves well even though they are < 10.

TL;DR I'm someone who hates being a liability to the team, therefore when I was a beginner, I always played hard while avoiding suicidal or HOE because I know I am not ready.

The reason level is important is due to perk bonuses you gain at each level:

*Almost every Perk will grant additional damage per level. They seem like small bonuses from the start but when you reach level 15+ it's actually pretty gamechanging.

• To Summarise Killing Floor 2's difficulty in a simple flow diagram:

Amount of Spawns in a wave & Zed Health is determined by the amount of players in the Server therefore if you join a high difficulty game when you are low level, not only are you being a liability to the team with your low damage moreover, you are making things harder for other players. Which may be good or bad depending on the player.

*Difference Between Normal and hard isn’t noticeable but the transition from Hard to Suicidal is quite unforgiving

• Normal - 0 to 4
  
• Hard - 5 to 14
  
• Suicidal - 15 to 25
  
• HOE - > 20

This is just a rough gauge on each difficulty. If you are experienced enough, you can join earlier than the recommended levels.

Killing Floor 2 has a really strong emphasis in a number of awareness types namely Map, Spatial , Team, Health and Running for your life. To play well awareness is key.

Feel the map, know the map inside out to the back of your head. This way, you will learn the effective spots to camp and kite enemies effectively should the need arises. Always run knowing where you end up next so that you will be able to effectively run for your life/lives.

Sometimes Situation will go out of hand and you will be forced to kite be it yourself or with the team. Kiting is a tactic where you constantly move forward and slowly but safely dispatching zeds. When you kite always remember to look forward 90% of the time (ESPECIALLY when approaching a door or a corner turn. You don't want a bloat to block you at the doorway nor a husk or siren to suddenly surprise buttsex you when you are looking behind.)

To summarise, always prioritise what's infront of you whilst occasionally turning back to pick off a few zeds.REMEMBER Don't get too focused on the rear, its more important to kill what's infront of you to secure a straight and safe path than shooting what is behind only to get killed by a surprise corner Husk/Siren/Scrake.

Kiting routes are important, you always want to choose a route that will:

• not lead to a cramped space
  
• not be in a situation where you will be trapped if a bloat or large zed appears in front of you.
  
• present at least an alternative route

The picture beneath is a common place to run in Paris when you are kiting. The 3 routes are present to you. Which route will you take? The best route in my opinion is always route 2, as it is the only route the fulfills all 3 critierias. Route 3 is the most risky route as zeds may come from both directions at the same time cockblocking you. I've died there a few times when I used it in the past.



It's a CO-OP game this goes without saying that Teamwork and being a Team player is another important factor in winning games. It's inevitable but public games are pretty cancerous sometimes but doing simple things such as buying a HMTech Pistol to heal people, tanking for a team mate when they are gonna get their ass handed to them, sharing some dosh, etc. Every little bit helps. Who knows you get a friend request and become bffs to play the game together?

Not just your health but your Team's Health. See your team mate low on health? You can heal him/her with a medi pistol or your syringe. It's important to note that healing others with your syringe recharges your syringe faster therefore it's good to heal each other for a faster heal when both of you are the only ones left in the game. If you heal your team mate and he doesn't heal you back with his syringe then well care for yourself.

Also, if you see your team mate low on health and a Scrake or Fleshpound is sending him a ticket to hell, try to stand in front of it and bring the aggro to you, they'll appreciate it and probably thank you if they see what you did. Unfortunately public players usually only care for themselves.

This is another important awareness to hone. Keep your head on the swivel and always look around you whenever you get a chance. Get used to where zeds usually spawn from and where they might spawn. As you escalate the difficulty levels, you will see surprise buttsex very often if you don't look back now and than, ESPECIALLY, in public games where people usually don't callout for Scrakes or Fleshpounds. You will also learn to really hate stalkers and crawlers in Suicidal or HOE. The Best tip for Spatial Awareness is, always never trust anyone to watch your back. If it's a friendly game, You can trust them of course.

Most of the time you will find that you lack time to Aim down sight(ADS) especially in higher difficulties. Improving Hip-firing aim is important to manage hectic situations.

To get better at hip firing, it's best to practice your aim and reflexes to zed spawns. A great way to practice is to download controlled difficulty mod and the map hillside enhanced in steam workshop and practice yourself. It's a one lane map so zeds spawn from one direction only and is perfect for improving your headshots and target prioritisation. You can turn on demi-god so that you don't die and see where you have gone wrong. Don't worry enabling cheat disables your stats so you won't get any exp from it.

For Some reason, Killing Floor 2 has mouse acceleration turned on and this can only be disabled via the kfinput.ini file. When playing a FPS game, mouse acceleration is not helpful at all and hinders your aim and flicks. To turn off mouse acceleration follow the steps in this Reddit Page.

*A little tip if you seldom play FPS or if you have abit of trouble finding the centre of the screen for hitting the heads, you can turn on the in game crosshair in gameplay options to aid you in finding the centre of the screen. Once you get used to it, you will be able to turn off the crosshair for a classic KF experience with an extra challenge.

TL;DR I personally play with crosshair when I had less than 100 hours in the game as I was struggling in dispatching zeds fast. However now I'm pretty decent at my aim to play without it.

Every Perk in this game has its strengths and weaknesses, it is crucial to understand your Perk Objective rather than choosing a perk and playing it without knowing what you are doing. This is where Teamplay and Team Composition plays a huge role, TripWire has a wiki page[wiki.killingfloor2.com] set up on each and every perk in KF2 detailing it's strengths and weaknesses.

Always purchase perk specific weapons to gain the damage boost! Killing Floor 2 has made it simple for purchasing your own weapons. The only time you buy an off perk weapon is if you know what you are doing or you are buying a medic weapon to heal your team mates.

If you truly want to be a team player and understand your perk objective, you should visit the page above and read up on your favorite perks.

For those who are lazy or cant be bothered I've summarised each classes below:

*All perks have a default role of DPS of course.

Roles
Tank - Front line players who hoard large zeds and prevent them from hitting the team keeping them occupied, while the heavy DPS roles dish out the damage to kill them.
Heavy DPS - capable of dealing extreme amounts of damage usually in tandem with large zeds
Trash Cleaner - Focus only on killing Trash Zeds and preventing them from reaching the team.
Healer - Focus on healing team members
DPS - Assist in killing trash zeds and large zeds.

Enemy Types:
Trash Zeds - Any zed that hinders a player taking on a Large Zed. (e.g Husk, Siren, Stalker, Crawler, bloat, common zeds)
Large Zeds - Scrakes and Fleshpounds

Team Composition is important to winning games and having fun. Would you rather loose everytime or win a few matches everytime? A good team will usually have a balanced composition. Depending on the map/method, a good team composition will usually consists of a Tank, Medic, 2 Trash Handlers, 2 Large Zed Handlers. Below is an example.

As a Zerk, your job is to take on large zeds and keep them occupied while your team kill it. Do not constantly attack the large zeds, your job is to Tank their damage. Block and Parry is crucial as a Zerk, attack occasionally but never go full on rambo. Trash mobs are the least of your worries, unless the dedicated trash cleaner isn't doing their job. Zerker's EMP Grenade can disorientate all zed's special attack and cool down raging Scrakes and Fleshpounds. Raging Fleshpounds need 2 EMP Grenades.

Dedicated Trash Cleaner, execellent in assisting large zed takedowns and cleaning up trash zeds however, unless no one is watching large zeds, you should always prioritize and keep trash zeds at bay while your team deals with the large zeds. Always return to your post quickly if a large zed is pushing you back. Try to bring the aggro to your large zed handlers. Commando's grenades deals the highest explosive damage among other grenades and can easily takedown 1 Fleshpound with all 5 of their grenades.

Simple Job that anyone can do, Heal, Heal, Heal, Heal. Occasionally help to clear smaller trash mobs such as crawlers and stalkers. Combat medic is fine but just PRIORITISE HEALING. Medic Grenades releases a healing cloud and buffs anyone standing in the cloud, therefore if you see a couple of large zeds approaching, it's good to pop the grenade close to the group. Medic grenades can also damage zeds through welded doors, which makes them an excellent pair with a Support. If you see a Large Zed through a welded door, pop a grenade to kill the trash around it.

Support has a really insane shotgun penetration power. Their job is normally to hold one lane camp spots as they can kill multiple zeds with 1 click. Supports also have a heavy dps with the AA12 to assist in taking down large zeds.

Dedicated Large Zed Handler, Their job is simple, annhilate large zeds. Demolitionist has dynamites and can stun large zeds therefore are excellent in taking down Fleshpounds swiftly as they appear. Throw the Dynamite towards a Fleshpound's feet to stun it, throwing it to the head or chest may induce rage immediately. It's best to utilize reload cancelling for a swift kill.

Dedicated Trash Cleaner, Excellent in cleaning Trash mobs swiftly and with ease, large zeds are the least of your worries as firebugs do not have the ability to solo large zeds. Their job lies only in trash cleaning, never flame a Fleshpound or scrake that is not raged. As a firebug it is important to watch where you are flaming when there is a large zed in the group as their fire can easily induce a rage on multiple scrakes or Fleshpounds. Molotov's serves as an excellent placeholder if you are pushed back from where you are supposed to keep trash zeds at bay.

Dedicated Large Zed Handler, Excellent mobility and firepower to take care of large zeds on their own without help from anyone. It's better not to disturb the gunslinger when he is trying to kill a large zed so as to not mess with their aim. Trash cleaners should try to keep trash off of the Gunslinger. The Nail bomb can also stun zeds and clear out groups of zeds.

Dedicated Large Zed Handler, Somewhat Similar to the Gunslinger but lacks the ability to effectively clean up trash zeds. Railgun can 2 shot a Fleshpound's head as well as 1 hit a scrake's head. Sharpshooter can utilize their freeze grenades to freeze a Scrake or Fleshpounds, letting your team members unload on them. Large Zeds need 2 Freeze Grenades to successfully freeze them.

Originally posted by ImmortalNub:

At lv 25, the sharpshooter has a 5% chance to trigger zed-time per headshot, validating their existence in the presence of a demo or gunslinger.Additionally, the shot that triggered zed-time will benefit from the lv 25 skill bonus.

Dedicated Trash Cleaner, Excellent in mobility and cleaning up trash mobs as well as having the ability to stun large zeds with their flashbang. It's always better to throw your flashbang when the zed is not raged as it always require only 1 to stun. So if a fleshpound spawns, throw a flashbang, have your team unload on his head and it should take less than 5 seconds to kill it. Raged Scrakes can still be stunned however a raged Fleshpound requires at lest 3. Make sure to aim your flashbang as close to the large zed as possible for maximum effect.

Don't get too focused on killing Small zeds, Medium zeds such as Husks, Sirens, Bloats can pose a bigger problem in higher difficulties if they are not taken out fast. In higher difficulties you want to make sure they are taken care of as soon as you see them in your screen. Scrakes are friendly on spawn so try to be friends and walk with him don't rage it if you don't have a clear space to kill him fast. As a trash cleaner it's important to take care of medium zeds rather than small zeds if they are getting too close to your team.

For example, if a siren or husk is in a group of clots, prioritise the medium zed.

Unless you can solo a scrake or you know that your team mate's are behind to back you up, you should NEVER EVER EVER Shoot a Scrake and Rage it intentionally. I've seen alot of players especially Demolitionists using the M79 Grenade Launcher to shoot Scrakes. That is a classic example of a demo who doesn't know what he is doing. Another Classic example is a firebug flaming an unraged Scrake or Fleshpound. You can immediately tell that he doesn't know what he is doing.

Stay calm and type in the chat SC(Scrake) or FP(Fleshpound) to warn your team that they are close. You could also use the quick commands to request help but they probably arn't so effective. A good team member will respond to your call and go to you, he will most likely be someone who has a priority to kill large zeds(refer to perk objectives) when he starts to shoot, you can assist him in taking it down.

Types of zeds in the game if you still don't know their names or how to identify them.
Tripwire Wiki [wiki.killingfloor2.com]

It's always better to know their weaknesses. Yes, usually its the head. As a Beginner, you don't need to know all the weaknesses of all zeds but at least you need to know large zed's weakness in order to take it down fast.

Tripwire wiki page[wiki.killingfloor2.com]

For now, I'll only post some primary weakness that you need to know so as to not rage scrakes or Fleshpound and annoying whoever is best at handling them in the team(If there is one, well it's usually the Demo that needs to know these since they are the most capable of taking them down quickly.)

For other classess, when dealing with Fleshpound or Scrake, usually you just need to aim for the heads if possible for a quicker takedown; body shot is always okay but headshot is always faster since zeds usually have lesser head health than the body.

Scrakes

Originally posted by Tripwire Wiki:

The Scrake has a unique weakness to the RPG-7's ballistic impact damage. The Scrake will take 400% damage when directly hit by an RPG.

So you know it, just aim the rpg directly at it's head and make sure it connects to him for maximum effectiveness. Other players can help finish it off with a few hits to the head.

Fleshpound - Fleshpound take 50% more explosive damage, making Demolitionists their best friend. It only takes 3 shot from their rpg to kill a Fleshpound. If there is a demolitionist in the team, you can shoot the Fleshpound's body instead to aid the demo for a quicker takedown. Remember to always make sure the rpg lands on the Fleshpound to maximise damage, don't shoot the ground or the wall thinking its the same.

* Use Dynamite & 3 Direct Hits Rockets to quickly take down a fleshpound. You can see how reload cancelling is such a big gamechanger from this gif. Reload Cancelling is explained in the miscellaneous tip section.

Many beginners seem to be afraid of large zeds and run if they get too close. Don't belittle bashing. Don't be afraid if things get too close, bashing any zeds in the game can interrupt them for a brief period, giving you chance to either act or put some distance in between. This is especially useful when you are kiting but a husk/siren/scrake appears in front of you attempting to block your path. Just hit the bash key (Default: V)

A few key things to take note for bashing:

*However some large zed's attack cannot be interrupted and of course DON'T bash the bosses

*Other zeds can be bashed almost indefinitely

Beginners may think that it's faster to level up by joining higher difficulties, that's true but the xp difference is not very huge if you compare Hard to Suicidal, much less difference if you compared Suicidal to HOE. So take your time and level your perks slowly from Normal all the Way to Suicidal.

*You can see above that the common zeds are mostly similar and large zeds arn't really very rewarding either.

Small Tip for Medic Perk: Buy a medic pistol for any perks you play. You can earn Medic EXP through healing team members with the healing pistol or syringe.

Table above is taken from Tripwire Interactive Wiki's Google Sheet: Google Sheet[docs.google.com]

Just Don't do it, Don't weld doors unless you have a purpose in mind such as:

*The only time I weld doors is if a Fleshpound is looking to play with me.

KF2 is a Co-op game. Teamwork and Teamplay is the fun aspect of the game. I'd rather take down a Fleshpound with my team mates rather than soloing or going for the last hit. It doesn't matter who kills the most.... It's a game and the fun part of it is working together.

Learning how to do it is actually a pretty big gamechanger in Killing Floor 2. I'm not sure if Tripwire will attempt to fix it but it is an important mechanic to master at least for now. Firstly, take a look at how it works and the difference.


Successfully doing one can shave a few seconds of reload timings as well as cancel reloading if things suddenly appear in front of you. In the game you would want to constantly reload your weapon when you get the chance to no matter how small the chance. This is most beneficial for gunslingers or demolitionists, almost any weapon's reload animation can be cancelled.

This trick can be done any time in reload animation to cancel it so, always reload your weapons.

However, If you mess up the timing you will become severely vulnerable due to reloading again.

To do the Reload Cancel
Press Reload Key ------> When the magazine goes in and you see your ammo magazine at the bottom right rise from 0 - 30 -------> hold fire button(Default: Mouse 1) & tap the bash key (Default: V)

You can bind the whole reload cancel to a key so that everytime you press reload, you only need to tap x. To do this, open the console and paste this:

setbind x "GBA_Fire | GBA_TertiaryFire"

If you want to bind a key to inform your team of large zeds, you should visit this guide: Here [web.archive.org]
*As the guide seems to be removed from steam, have linked from web archive

Command To Bind Key To Alert For Scrake:

Bindings=(Name="L",Command="say Scrake incoming!",Control=False,Shift=False,Alt=False,bIgnoreCtrl=False,bIgnoreShift=False,bIgnoreAlt=False)

If you find a tier 2 and above weapon on the ground, chances are a player died there. It's a common etiquette to return the weapon to the person rather than taking it and selling it to the trader. If you see a weapon type in the chat, "I got your katana." So that players won't search for it when they respawn next wave, return it the the player and he'll be grateful. Selling it is what makes public game so toxic and makes you a douchbag.

This section will include small tips to fight the current 2 bosses that you should always adhere to. I'm sure no one likes to survive to wave 10 and end up loosing at the boss wave. Especially people that are levelling; loosing at the boss wave means you won't get the 1000+ exp from the boss.

I will only cover some basic and crucial things you should look out for. For his full attack patterns, strategy, weakness or any other technical details, please proceed to the tripwire KF2 wiki[wiki.tripwireinteractive.com]

Some crucial & basic tips for boss waves:

• First, use a Heavy DPS class Support, Gunslinger, Sharpshooter, Demolitionists are excellent in dealing the most damage to a boss; a Berserker and medic is a no brainer and is always good to have. Using a trash cleaner class is NOT RECOMMENDED, I understand that you want to get exp from the boss but what I generally do was to switch to either my zerk or medic and purchase the perk weapons of those I want to level and shoot the boss a few times with the weapon and get half the boss exp for that perk at the end.
  
  
• Second, Buy a HMTec-101 Pistol to heal your team mates if the going gets rough it only costs 200 dosh and only has 1 weight. Also if possible get the katana or pulverizer to parry/block the boss when he targets you.
  
  
• Third, Always ensure you have a place to fall back to when the boss throws a grenade or fire his rockets. Never fight a boss in an open area always fight with covers such as walls, cars, pillars, etc. Never shoot the boss if you don't have a cover to fall back to.
  
  
• Fourth, be aware of his attack patterns and be sure to memorize their most powerful attacks. To dodge them effectively. I'll put Gifs of some attacks you should look out for at the bottom.
  
  
• Fifth, when the boss enters his heal phase, decimate all trash zeds as fast as possible otherwise they will hinder with your fight. In higher difficulties most of the time people fail boss waves is due to the fact that no one kills trash mobs and focus too much on the boss.
  
  
• Lastly, Get C4 if you are a demo to stick them on patriarch which allows your team to see where he is. If there is no demo any other class can purchase them.

*Patriarch mostly specializes in ranged weaponry, his most powerful attacks are his minigun and rockets; he also has a few melee attacks that you should be weary of but should not be a problem if you don't get too close or parry it. If he starts to chase you, just start running away from him till his aggro changes to another player DO NOT SHOOT HIM If you are being chased, just look forward, run and stay alive.

Crucial tips for this boss:

• Always stick with the team but not too close to each other as he has a tendancy to target lone players who are away from the team.
  
• Always fight him in places with plenty of covers to fall back to so that you can avoid his devestating mortar fire, rockets and minigun.
  
• When his aggro is on you, focus on falling back whilst trying to parry/block his melee if he gets too close to you; do not isolate yourself if he targets you. Always stick with the team but not too close otherwise his rockets may kill 3 players in 1 shot.

*Hans specializes mostly in close ranged attacks and his most powerful attacks are his melee and explosive grenades. At low health he will start to become very aggressive with his melee attacks and charge you continuously untill you are down. Therefore don't run away alone to another place if you are targeted by his charging melee since if you are seperated he will charge at you continuously untill you die; preferably run towards a healthy teamate or your berserker. Stick with your team to constantly rotate his aggro to players while the medic heals whoever is being targeted by hans.

Crucial tips for this boss:

• Get a Katana to parry/block; When he targets you with his charge, immedietely switch to your katana..
  
• Like patriarch choose a place with covers and preferably where the team can run in circles to kite his melee charge. Don't isolate yourself when he is charging you, without aggro rotation, you will feel the wrath of his full melee attacks and you will die in less than 5 seconds.
  
• His green and orange phase isn't too difficult to handle just don't get too close to hans.
  
• During his 1st and 2nd shield/drain phase he heals the most health so try to break his shield asap to hasten the boss fight. He still takes headshot multiplier in his shield phase so aim for the head to do extra damage to his shield to take it down quickly. In his last phase, he has the most shield health but lesser heal so it's not necessary to break his shield but wouldn't hurt if you could.
  
• Don't go too close to him when he is draining a team member. After draining he will release a nerve gas from his body that deals alot of damage to everyone around him.
  
• Lastly, During his red phase, he will be extremely aggressive with his HE grenades and melee charges, to make things even worst his melee hits like a truck during this phase so always be prepared to parry. Hans can run while throwing his grenades so always be aware of the HE grenades; it has a pretty huge blast radius and usually at this point in time you most likely have no more armor and 1 or 2 of them is enough to blast you into smithereens.

Taking these tips into account and the basic tips from the previous section you should have no problems in dealing with the boss.

If you reached the end of the guide, congratulations you've learned the most essential tips for Killing Floor 2 to become a decent player. Remember Don't rage that scrake!

If a veteran player is reading this guide, feel free to drop a comment if I've left out anything important. I'll credit you in the credits section as well. Happy gaming guys!

Sorry for the english/grammer am just trying to help

Contains Optimal Perk Skills, Loadouts & Other Technical Stuffs.
Fauxy's Shots To Kill HOE 6P Guide
PRICEless Class Guides
Demolitionist Guide
Berkserker Guide
Medic Guide
Berserker Advanced Techniques With Zwei
Zwei Guide

I created this guide with the sole purpose to help beginners who are willing to improve become better. This guide only contains necessary/basic and essential tips that every new player HAS to know. I may add abit of technical stuff in the future but that will probably be a seperate section in this guide.

This guide contains information about what I have learned throughout my 800 hours of playtime in KF2 from a Beginner to a Half Decent Player. I am not a professional player nor am I a veteran so there may be mistakes in the guide. I am pretty confident that I have the basics down at the back of my head. If there is any error feel free to comment below and I will credit you and change the guide accordingly as well as thank you from the bottom of my heart.

If you are from Asia and want to play together hit me up!

10 April

• Edited Introduction
  
• Added [UIP] (Update In Progress) to sections that needs to be updated
  
• Cleaned Up some dead Links / Outdated Items
  
• Added PRICEless's Class guides in Other Useful Guides section
  
• Getting back into the game so needs some time to update the guide for some sections. All in all I can say most things are still relevant in today's context

Thank you very much to these people for pointing out my mistakes, realised I missed an important point or missing out a helpful feature.

Thanks To:

• Shoukaku: Returning Weapons to players.
  
• mike5879: Disabling Mouse Acceleration
  
• Immortal Nub: Binding reload cancel to a key, medic grenade damage through welded doors, flashbang mechanic & perk objective tips.
  
• Maggotymax: Fleshpound spelling