Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
This Killing Floor 2 Berserker build guide includes the best weapon, perk and overall loadout to survive in melee range. Focusing on unique melee weapons and survivability the Berseker is a durable front line class perk choice with options to sepcialise in a tanky focused character (dreadnaught) or melee damage (skirmisher).
This Berserker guide below details both of these playstyles with tips, strategies and initial perk loadouts regardless of map, difficulty and party dynamics. While there are several builds discussed below my recommended default is a perk build of RRRLR while using the VLAD-1000 Nailgun and Hemoclobber for weapon loadout.
Table of Contents:
– Berserker Strategy and Tips
– Berserker Perks Build
– Berserker Weapons Loadout
Killing Floor 2 Berserker Strategy and Tips
These tips and strategies optimise tiye effectiveness in solo and Killing Floor 2 multiplayer lobbies:
- Maximum Survivability: The Berserker has survivability far above other classes but they are still susceptible when surrounded by many ZEDs. Players still need to monitor their health and unless playing a full tank build skirt around the edges of the wave while dealing damage for your sources of healing to take effect.
- Money Maker: Share Dosh with your allies as the Berserker is one of the best money generating classes in Killing Floor 2. Combined with a relatively affordable core layout it’s not uncommon to have spare money available.
- Don’t Kill Everything: Sometimes it can be beneficial to keep smaller enemies alive particularly ones you feel comfortable with their attack patterns. This is useful when fighting a larger threat to provide a potential source of activating parry bonuses for survivability and damage output.
- Weapon Choice: Consider using a ranged weapon as the Berserker while this is not your bread and butter certain party compositions will benefit from having one of your unique options equipped.
Killing Floor 2 Berserker Perks Build
The Berserker has the following perk bonuses at maximum level:
- 25% perk weapon damage (1% per level)
- 10% damage resistance (2% per 5 levels)
- Night vision capability
- Clots cannot grab you
The Berserker has the following active perk skills to select from:
| Perk Category | Left (L) Option | Right (R) Option |
|---|---|---|
| Survival | Dreadnought: Increase total Health 100%. | Skirmisher: Move 20% faster and sprint 25% faster when using a perk weapon. You also regenerate 1 point of Health every second. |
| Combat | Vampire: Heal 3 points of Health for every ZED you kill with perk weapons. Attack 20% faster with perk melee weapons. | Butcher: Attack 20% faster and do 20% more damage with perk weapons. |
| Close Combat | Resistance: Gain 15% resistance to all damage. Gain an additional 15% resistance to Poison and Sonic Damage. | Parry: Parrying with a perk melee weapon reduces incoming damage by 30% and increases both melee attack speed 5% and melee damage 35% for 8 seconds. |
| Power | Smash: Hard attacks with Berserker melee weapons do 50% more damage do 25% more damage on head hits, and have 200% more stumble power. | Massacre: Light attacks with perk melee weapons do 30% more damage and all attacks with perk melee weapons are 5% faster. |
| Advanced Training | ZED TIME – Berserker Rage: Whenever ZED time activates or refreshes, heal 50% Health and immobilise all nearby Zeds. | ZED Time – Spartan: During ZED time, you attack with perk weapons and move in real-time. |
Notable active perk skills when playing as the Berserker are:
- Survival: The first tier defines how players will build their Berserker with the left hand side directing you towards a durable fighter while the right hand side lets you move in and out of battle while slowly regenerating. Dreadnought allows you to reach high maximum health values although the lack of regeneration compared to Skirmisher requires you to obtain a healing source from elsewhere (such as a Field Medic) to survive.
- Combat: Vampire can be a useful source of healing when playing a Dreadnought build given you lack regeneration although you do lose damage for this that will impact your breakpoints on ZED kills. For this reason you will often want to take Butcher regardless of your tier one perk choice because the damage (further empowered with Parry below) is simply too valuable. As you are levelling your Berserker though Vampire can provide quality of life o help you focus on learning the class and experimenting without regularly being at risk of dying.
- Close Combat: As you become a proficient Berserker player and can constantly parry attacks with little effort the Parry perk will be the superior choice. Even before this point it is still important to select as it allows you to practice this critical Berserker skill. Resistance has niche uses in boss wavesthough if players want to min-max their perk selection.
- Power: This tier gives the Berserker strong team utility through the Smash perk to empower damage, headshot damage and improves your ability to stumble ZEDs with heavy attacks. In comparison the right side which is focused on our light attacks is lacking a significant damage boost or utility that makes it worth using.
- Advanced Training: The left hand side perk of Berserker Rage has some utility when playing a tanking role in the team given the massive heal and ability to control ZEDs that it provides. For a Skirmisher focused Berserker though the right hand side provides significant benefit when in ZED time through the damage output boost.
The best Berserker setup will be RRRLR as your default option. For players that want a durability focused build for a team composition you can swap to a LRRLL setup or a LLRLL that uses Vampire for additional sustainability.
Killing Floor 2 Berserker Weapons Loadout Guide
The Berserker has limited weapon options compared to other classes and the best weapon loadouts are:
- VLAD-1000 Nailgun and Hemoclobber (or Bone Crusher / Static Strikers / Zweihander): The core Berserker loadout provides effective burst damage for large ZEDs with the short ranged Nailgun. This is then paired with a preferred melee weapon of choice which is somewhat impacted by your teams ability to handle the lower tier ZEDs. The Hemoclobber is often your best default choice given it’s healing potential adds key utility but the Bone Crusher, Static Strikers or Zweihander (DLC) are still capable weapons if you prefer them for playstyle or aesthetic reasons provided the team has a Field Medic.
- Hemoclobber and Bone Crusher: When your team already has a wealth of damage focused class perks players can use the tank focused perks described above and then pair that with two effective melee weapons to create a literal Berserker wall in certain map lanes.
