Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
This Killing Floor 2 Firebug guide provides the perks and weapons to empower your flame based playstyle. Serving as a chaotic class perk the Firebug utilises flamethrower weapons, a range of incendiary ammo weapons and unique hard hitting options that can dramatically alter your ZED priority based on your selection.
This guide to Firebug gameplay provides comprehensive tips, perks and weapon loadouts to navigate the multiple potential playstyles of the best Firebug weapons regardless of teammates, the current map and difficulty. While there are several builds discussed below my recommended default is a perk build of LRRLL while using the Flamethrower and Helios Rifle for weapon loadout.
Table of Contents:
– Firebug Strategy and Tips
– Firebug Perks Build
– Firebug Weapons Loadout
Killing Floor 2 Firebug Strategy and Tips
To maximise your potential when playing as the Firebug use the following tips and strategies which include beginner to advanced tactics:
- Be Careful: When using your flame abilities on larger ZEDs be careful that you do not trigger fire panic as this cna disrupt your teammates taking these down.
- Set ZED Feet On Fire: For flame weapons players should be looking to aim at enemy feet as this deals damage and ensures you are triggering ground flames directly under the enemy for maximum flame damage potential. When done correctly you’ll be able to double your damage output and ensure your ammo economy goes much further.
- Select Your Partner: The Firebug should not be paired with SWAT or Commando classes where possible in the same map lane as you both focus on fighting weak ZEDs.
- Damage From Perks: While the low base damage of your flame weapons might make you think that they need to focus on upgrades to deal damage your perks already provide you the damage needed and upgrades are actually not a priority for the small damage bonus they provide.
- Control The Map: Chokepoints are a speciality of the Firebug as they allow you to claim a narrow corridor as your own as you spread flames rapidly.
Killing Floor 2 Firebug Perks Build
The Firebug has the following perk bonuses at maximum level:
- 20% weapon damage (0.8% per level)
- 20% weapon reload (0.8% per level)
- 80% ZED fire damage resistance (30% base and 2% per level)
- 100% own fire damage resistance (25% base and 3% per level)
- 50% starting ammunition (10% per 5 levels)
The Firebug has the following active perk skills to select from:
| Perk Category | Left (L) Option | Right (R) Option |
|---|---|---|
| Supplies | Bring The Heat: Increase damage with fire weapons 35%. | High Capacity Fuel Tank: Increase fuel tank capacity and magazines for all perk weapons 100%. |
| Spicy | Barbecue: Perk weapons’ burn effect lasts 150% longer, increasing damage over time. | Ground Fire: Ground fires deal 3x the damage and reduce Zed movement speed 30%. |
| Burn | Napalm: Burning ZEDs that make contact with other ZEDs will light them on fire and the burn effect lasts 150% longer. | ZEDÂ Shrapnel: ZEDs you kill with fire have a 30% chance to explode, damaging and stunning nearby Zeds. |
| Flame | Heat Wave: ZED struck at point blank range with fire will stumble back. | Firestorm: Increase range of the Caulk n’ Burn, Flamethrower, and Microwave Gun. |
| Advanced Training | ZED Time – Pyromaniac: During ZED Time, you attack with perk weapons in close to real time and never run out of ammo. | ZED Time – Inferno: During ZED time, your fire damage over time spreads to all surrounding ZEDs. |
Notable active perk skills when playing as the Firebug are:
- Supplies: With a large boost to damage (35%) on the left hand side this will be your default perk choice as it simply overshadows the right hand side which doesn’t increase overall ammo available and only reduces how often you’ll need to reload which simply isn’t inconvenient enough to offset the damage boost.
- Spicy: The second tier offers other damage focused options for the Firebug, on one hand players have Barbeque that buffs your burn effect for greater damage over time and the other appropriately named Ground Fire provides a similar effect although is based on floor fire, has a stronger effect and limits ZED movement speed. Given how much value you obtain from the right side this should be your default choice the vast majority of the time unless you are opting for a weapon that doesn’t create ground fire.
- Burn: Both of the perk options in this tier are focused on boosting your crowd control potential when playing as the Firebug and building on the weapons you have to literally set the map on fire. With the left side the Firebug acquires an easy source to spread fire through the enemy ranks and while this originally caused some issues with triggering fire panic on larger ZEDs that could actually hurt your team the threshold for this has been changed to make this less of a risk. On the right side you have an explosive alternative that will turn all the low tier trash ZEDs that we focus on into potential small bombs. Players really can’t go wrong with either choice here and will be influenced by your map and teammates although personally I find the potential for a stun from ZED Shrapnel the better default choice.
- Flame: Giving players the choice between a safety mechanic through stumble or additional range on several of the Firebug weapons this perk tier is an easier decision than the previous tier. The left hand side offers the Firebug a great source of defensive utility for our close ranged playstyle that helps to keep ZEDs away from us or teammates. In comparison the added weapon range on 3 of our core guns is tempting on paper but simply doesn’t do enough to win out.
- Advanced Training: The left hand side at this perk level is once again favoured given it lets us burn everything around us with great speed without risk of running out of ammunition. While Inferno isn’t terrible it only has situational uses given you need the right setup of ZEDs for it to be effective that is far from guaranteed when ZED time activates.
Given the above the Firebug best perks setup is LRRLL as your default option. Players can tweak this slightly to a LRLLL variant if you would rather the fire spreading Napalm effects over explosive stuns. If you are leaning towards ranged weapon options over the flame based choices of the Firebug perk weapons players can instead use a LLLLL or LLRLL perk setup given these setups will lack ground fire generation.
Killing Floor 2 Firebug Weapons Loadout Guide
The Firebug has some distinct weapon options that push players towards the flame based weapons or the ranged weapons that still have incendiary elements and both allow the Firebug to fill their role of trash ZED clearance specialist. These pathways are closely linked to the flame weapons, Microwave Gun and Husk Cannon that each have their own strengths that can alter your ZED target priorities. Note that generally flame based weapons do not need upgrades as the benefits are minimal with your Dosh best saved for upgrades on your ranged weapons instead. The Firebug is a highly flexible class in terms of weapons with the following being the Killing Floor 2 Firebug best weapons for final loadout combinations:
- Flamethrower and Helios Rifle: A deadly combo and popular choice by the community which mixes one of the notable flame weapons with the hard hitting assault rifle that fires plasma. With the Flamethrower players will have a fantastic weapon for dealing with weak ZEDs and triggering ground fire effects that is then paired with an equally deadly Helios Rifle that has a large ammunition pool to assist with the durable ZED variants. Both of these options are also effective in terms of cost as they don’t need upgrades so you can save money for the rest of your team.
- Caulk n Burn, Microwave Gun and HMTech-101 Pistol: A fantastic all around weapon loadout option that uses your starting weapon (which is surprisingly effective) and pairs it with the flexible Microwave Gun. Like the above build the Caulk n Burn is for your low tier ZEDs and can apply your flame based perks with ease while the Microwave Gun supports the team for medium to large ZED options. This combination also saves some weight to give you the potential to bring a medic pistol for extra team utility with the Microwave Gun swappable for a Flamethrower, Helios Rifle or Husk Cannon that further frees up some weight to upgrade to a medic SMG based on your tastes.
- Dual Spitfires and Dragonsbreath: This is a weapon build for the Firebug that leans harder on the ranged weapon options available and then upgrading them to become extremely deadly to ZEDs. From the dual Spitfires to the Dragonsbreath (previously known as the Incendiary Trench Gun) players can stand a little further back from the front line while still dealing fire based damage if that is your playstyle preference.
