Killing Floor 2 Commando Guide – Best Build, Perks & Weapons Loadout

Last Updated on July 21, 2023 by Samuel Franklin

Killing Floor 2 Commando Guide – Best Build, Perks & Weapons Loadout

Our Killing Floor 2 Commando guide will set you up with a build that contains the best perks and weapons loadout for you to be an effective solo or co-operative class against the endless of waves of ZEDs that you will face. The Commando is a popular class for many new players with their simple core formula which is focused on dealing damage with assault rifle weapons while ignoring precision in the process. This class of weapons is the pinnacle of reliable damage against weak and medium tier ZED Specimens with their moderate magazine sizes allowing you to spray and pray with the right ammo perks.

With the assault rifle as your foundation the Commando brings some flexibility to the table and can manipulate their selection of weapons and available perk skills to push themselves towards damage, support or some light tanking. Your unique abilities when playing as this perk class are the ability to detect cloaked ZEDs for your teammates and also display health bars which can significantly improve your teams ability to focus fire if used correctly. Commando’s also have night vision available and have the potential for a large number of ZED time resets which increase as you level up this perk class to max level.

This guide to the Commando is intended to provide you a starting point for your Commando journey by detailing the strategy, tips, perks and best weapons that combine into a build that offers you the best chance of success. Given Killing Floor 2 (KF2) has many variables in each match such as difficulty, map and party members though it cannot account for every possibility so players should always adjust as they feel is appropriate when you become an experienced Commando player. To help decide whether or not the Commando is the Killing Floor 2 perk for you visit our perk guide tier list article.

Table of Contents:
– Commando Strategy and Tips
– Commando Perks Build
– Commando Weapons Loadout

Killing Floor 2 Commando Strategy and Tips

To utilise the Commando at maximum effectiveness players will want to consider these strategy tips based on the situation.

• While it can be tempting to spray and pray when playing the Commando you need to be efficient with your ammunition if you are going to contribute from start to finish. One tapping ZEDs with headshots where possible should be your focus with full automatic bursts only used on the larger enemies for raw DPS power.
• As a Commando you should look to fill roles in your team where they are lacking given you have flexibility to change your focus. While you can’t reach the effectiveness of a specialised class you can utilise your weapon options to push your damage from trash ZED clearer to a backup large ZED fighter when required.
• When your team doesn’t need you to step into one of your sub roles the Commando should focus solely on low tier ZEDs and controlling the middle tier ones even during the bosses to ensure the hard hitters in your team have free ability to focus.
• Extending ZED Time is a core functionally of the Commando and can make the difference between an average and master Commando perk player. Carefully extending this by going against your instinct to pace your shots every 2 to 2.5 seconds given the ZED timer of 3 seconds will allow you to consistently get the maximum number of refreshes based on your level.
• While it can sometimes be beneficial to have two of the same class perks in Killing Floor 2 it is rare that you’ll want two Commandos on the same team for optimal effectiveness. Consider swapping way from Commando if your KF2 lobby already has one.
• Don’t underestimate your ability to see health bar information, relaying this information to your team to focus fire when there are many durable ZEDs in the area can be the difference between survival and game over at times. Similarly you should always be on the hunt for invisible ZEDs as they can quickly disrupt your team plans.

Killing Floor 2 Commando Perks Build

The Commando has the following perk bonuses at maximum level:

• 25% perk weapon damage (1% per level)
• 60m cloaked enemy and health bar detection (10m base and 2m per level)
• 6 Zed Time refreshes (1 per 5 levels)
• 10% reload speed (2% per 5 levels)
• 50% recoil reduction (2% per level)
• Call out cloaked ZEDs

The Commando has the following active perk skills to select from:

Notable active perk skills when playing as the Commando are:

• Ammo Management: Your choices here are focused on helping you manage your ammo as the Commando with perk choices related to reloading. As you become an advanced Killing Floor 2 master the ability to reload cancel your left choice here can quickly become redundant and even before then you’ll likely prefer high capacity mags to reach some magazine ZED kill breakpoints and help you during ZED Time.
• Tactics: Providing some tactical bonuses this perk category lets you push the Commando towards further damage potential with increases to your pistol and knife that will occasionally see use and is particularly useful in early wave rounds. In addition you’ll have the weapon swap speed that can be a nice quality of life to help you switch in desperate times or once again help the Commander keep a ZED Time going. On the other hand impact rounds boosts your utility to the team with some additional stumble power on your assault rifle weapons although is not always required depending on team composition.
• Survival: In this perk tier you’ll find options to increase your longevity through either health and armour bonuses to additional ammo carry capacity for your specific weapons. Generally the added survivability from health and armour is a superior default option as damage is likely when playing Killing Floor 2 and we only give up some carry capacity which is more than we need.
• Weapon Specialist: When you reach level 20 as the Commando players have the opportunity to become a further weapon specialist with raw damage boost or larger magazine capacity. Given you’ve already taken some magazine capacity from the ammo management tier this is a good opportunity to increase your damage with a huge 30% boost which inherently means less ammo used as you’ll be dealing more damage per shoot.
• Advanced Training: Based on the description both of these seem like they contribute to your core goal of extending ZED time for as long as possible. However, with the Commandos solid starting magazine sizes on weapons and additional magazine size already through perks the ability to shoot faster for trash clearance works out better. This also allows your ZED time to be a backup damage source against the highest tier of ZEDs when required by boosting DPS and a slight damage buff in the perk of 3%.

Given the above the Commando best perks setup is RLLLR as your default option. You can swap Tactics to R where the stumble utility is important to your team crowd control efforts to create a RRLLR variant of the standard Commando perk build.

Killing Floor 2 Commando Weapons Loadout Guide

The Commando’s weapons are assault rifle focused and the vast majority of your weapon options although you also have some slower rifles and light machine guns with several of these also being perk weapons for other classes which still deal respectable damage. While your initial AR-15 in your starting loadout is an effective weapon during the early waves players will want to aim towards the notable end game weapon combinations below that serve as your best commando weapon choices:

• HMTech-401 and FN FAL (or SCAR/AK-12): The default choice this meta Commando build gives you an incredible amount of utility and damage in a single loadout and ensures you can slot into any team composition. The HMTech-401 (401) is a powerful meta weapon by itself and fits perfectly into our goals as the Commando with a high effectiveness against trash ZEDs and good magazine size while also providing potential healing utility to your Killing Floor 2 multiplayer team. Pairing this with the FN FAL gives the Commando plenty of damage and stopping power and serves as a harder hitting weapon in our arsenal to ensure we are equipped to deal with anything that comes our way. Potential alternatives to the FN FAL for where we don’t need the extra firepower based on our party are the SCAR and AK-12 which offer less damage but provide larger magazine capacity and overall more ammunition to dispatch lower tier enemies or empower our ZED time refreshes.
• FN FAL and SCAR/AK-12: Similar to the above loadout this trades the utility of the HMTech-401 and pushes the Commando towards a damage role which can be useful when running solo as the effectiveness of the HMTech-401 drops off in this game mode. These weapons ensure you have a consistent weapon across the spectrum of Specimens you can encounter in Killing Floor 2 for the solo focused Commando player.

Written by

Samuel Franklin

Samuel Franklin is the founder and lead editor of the Games Finder team and enjoys video games across all genres and platforms.

Sam’s played Killing Floor with his friends since the original game in the franchise was released and enjoys the simple core gameplay loop that offers endless challenging variety. He prefers to play traditional firearm or supporting classes to help his team successfully navigate the various waves of ZEDs.