Last Updated on by Samuel Franklin
Killing Floor 2 SWAT Guide – Best Build, Perks & Weapons Loadout
This Killing Floor 2 SWAT guide provides the necessary knowledge for players to create their best build for this low tier ZED specialist that is a useful addition to any team to manage the large enemy waves in KF2. The SWAT is a popular option for those that like to spam traditional weapons with this class focused on the submachine gun weapon variant and not afraid to get up close to ZEDs in a fight. While your individual bullet damage power is low compared to all other class perk choices the firing speed of your weapons and the ammo capacity is basically unmatched.
The SWAT has all the necessary perk tools to support this playstyle with the class able to acquire improved damage, bullet resistance, enhanced magazine size and weapon switching speed passively with level up that pairs nicely with your active perk skills. These customisable perk skills provide durability, speed, damage, reload boosts and improvements to your ammo economy depending on your needs. With all of this diversity the SWAT perk is also a reasonable solo fighter given the lower health pools of large ZEDs when playing alone still allows your weapons to be moderately effective. In multiplayer games though you’ll quickly find even the Killing Floor 2 SWAT best weapons outclassed against larger ZEDs as this is not intended to be your core SWAT role.
This KF2 SWAT guide details the basics of building an optimal SWAT character for solo and Killing Floor 2 multiplayer gameplay with tips, strategy, perks and weapon loadouts discussed in detail. Given the class is relatively flexible players can tweak this foundational build guide to their preferences, map, number and composition of teammates. As Killing Floor 2 has many factors players should always consider their own circumstances and team needs to maximise your effectiveness and chance of victory. If you’re still unsure what the best class perk for your playstyle is then visit our Killing Floor 2 tier list article before reading further.
Killing Floor 2 SWAT Strategy and Tips
To play the SWAT class perk at the highest level you will want to keep these beginner and intermediate tips in mind:
- The SWAT is a deadly class when utilising crouching and aiming down sights which gives you plenty of accuracy buffs while your perks remove the debuffs of these actions that other classes experience. This is important as your low damage per bullet often needs to be offset by going for as many headshots as possible.
- A good SWAT partner will also stay close to the large ZED hunting focused classes to protect them from the various individual threats and swarms of lower tier ZEDs that can disrupt their ability to perform their own role. Depending on the team the SWAT can even go beyond this to offer flashbang utility in a pinch and hard hitting weapons like the Kriss and Nailgun.
- The SWAT is unique class in that your wave one perks are completely different to the perks that you’ll have activated for the rest of the ZED waves. This is because your left hand side perks provide high initial starting armour and an extra 9mm pistol that gives you a strong starting position to build from while improving your initial dosh potential. At the other end of the spectrum you may even consider swapping away form the SWAT class entirely for the boss wave given this is your weakest point.
- Choosing when to play the SWAT is often just as important as how you play the SWAT class. Selecting this class when you already have some hard hitting head hunters (like Gunslinger or Sharpshooter), a Commando to give you plenty of ZED time and an absence of characters that can efficiently handle lower tier ZED enemies is the ideal time to play as SWAT.
- With our ammo related perk skill of Ammo Vest the SWAT can easily perform the Killing Floor 2 advanced tactic of over capping. By doing this players can acquire extra ammunition for their SMGs which requires you to perform a series of steps during the trader window. These steps include buying the gun(s) that you want, activating the Ammo Vest perk to buy your ammo, dropping your weapons on the ground, switching perks back to Suppression Round and then picking up your weapons from the ground.
Killing Floor 2 SWAT Perks Build
The SWAT has the following perk bonuses at maximum level:
- 25% perk weapon damage (1% per level)
- 30% bullet resistance (5% base and 1% per level)
- 100% increased magazine size (4% per level)
- 25% weapon switch speed (1% per level)
The SWAT has the following active perk skills to select from:
| Perk Category | Left (L) Option | Right (R) Option |
|---|---|---|
| Specialisation | Heavy Armour Training: While you have body armour, you only take Health damage from sonic attacks and clots can’t grab you. You begin each game with 50% Armor. | Tactical Movement: Move and sprint faster. No movement penalty for using iron sights or crouch movement with perk weapon. |
| Assault Techniques | Close Combat Training: Increase damage with your 9mm pistol, your knife and your bash attacks 100%. You begin each game with dual 9mm pistols. | Tactical Reload: Increase reload speed with perk weapons. |
| Equipment | Suppression Rounds: Increase stumble power 100% with all perk weapons. | Ammo Vest: Carry up to 30% more ammo for each perk weapon |
| Defensive Techniques | Assault Armour: Maximum Armor increases by 50%. You begin each game with 50% Armor, which stacks with Armor gained from Heavy Armor Training. | Cripple: Multiple hits with Perk weapons will slow Zeds down by 30%. Head and weak spot shots apply it twice as fast. |
| Specialist Training | ZED TIME – Battering Ram: During ZED time, you move fast in real-time and deal massive damage and knockdown to any ZED that touches you. | ZED Time – Rapid Assault: During ZED Time, when using perk weapons you have unlimited ammo, shoot in near real-time, and increase stumble power by 100%. |
Notable active perk skills when playing as the SWAT are:
- Specialisation: Our first perk tier as the SWAT this allows us to start the game with a base level of armour that makes it a powerful choice when entering the game and should always be your default option as a result. For new players you might consider holding onto the left side beyond the first wave for the benefit of clots being unable to grab you but ultimately you want to work towards transitioning to the right hand side as it fits perfectly into our goals when playing as SWAT. This is because it gives us speed to stay safe when in the frontlines while being able to aim down our sights and even crouch with no movement penalty that helps us hit more bullets with our high fire weapons.
- Assault Techniques: Like the tier above taking the left side for the first wave is invaluable given it provides us with an extra pistol to help defeat ZEDs early and gives us a little extra dosh when we no longer need it for a new gun or extra ammunition. Beyond the first or second wave though this perk becomes practically useless so you’ll want to shift into the right hand side for stronger reload times that improve your overall damage output.
- Equipment: One of the few actual choices that the SWAT has in their perk skill tree with both options having uses in particular situations. For a default choice you’ll want to grab the additional stopping power on the left hand side that helps particularly when playing solo or where your team needs a little extra help against controlling larger ZED Specimens. That being said large ZEDs are not often our focus in co-op games particularly where our team is already well equipped to handle them, the stumble can even be disruptive to headshot focused classes like Gunslinger or Sharpshooter. This makes the right hand side sometimes a decent alternative particularly when we are the only trash ZED killer on a team and the additional ammunition is needed. Note at advanced level of play you can have the best of both worlds through the over capping mechanic detailed in the tips section.
- Defensive Techniques: Similar to the Specialisation tier you’ll want to start with the left hand side that improves your starting durability before swapping to the right hand side for the slow utility. While you might be tempted to improve the maximum armour throughout a match with the Assault Armour option this is a dosh sink we simply don’t need with careful gameplay, leveraging our movement speed and the slow from this perk skill itself.
- Specialist Training: While the left hand side of Battering Ram can be fun to use on lower difficulties as you push ZEDs out of the way while charging through them this is not the most optimal option as you climb through the difficulty and player count ranks. For this reason the right hand side Rapid Assault should be your default choice and provides fantastic wave clearing when in ZED time through unlimited ammunition, fire rate and even stumble power utility for the medium to large ZEDs in the area.
Given the above the SWAT best perks setup is LLLLR for the first wave and then RRLRR as your default option for other ZED waves. This maximises your starting loadout for the SWAT to give you additional durability through armour and an extra 9mm pistol that is effective in early waves and then can be sold later for some dosh to invest in your loadout.
Killing Floor 2 SWAT Weapons Loadout Guide
The SWAT uses sub machine gun weapons which are known for rapid fire attacks albeit low damage and significant bullet spread that can make them hard to aim during hip fire. To support this playstyle you’ll find this weapon variant in Killing Floor 2 to have reasonable magazine sizes so that players can fire for relatively long periods of time before needing to reload. When players want to perform targeted attacks on enemy ZED heads you can switch to alternative semi auto fire modes on these weapons for greater control. Your final weapon loadout builds will utilise the Killing Floor 2 best SWAT weapons below:
- Kriss SMG, HRG Nailgun and HMTech-201: Our default loadout when playing as the SWAT that gives us everything we need to be effective. The Kriss is one of our best SMG options and a staple choice that is primarily for Scrake enemies while the Nailgun is highly effective against Quarterpounds and Fleshpounds. To finish the weapon combo we take the HMTech-201 as our trash ZED clearing tool and provide utility to the team through healing. If you need to perform higher damage against larger ZEDs you can trade some weight to upgrade the Kriss and Nailgun and use the HMTech-101 instead although that does trade some of your low tier ZED potency.
- Kriss SMG, HRG Nailgun and MP5RAS SMG: When the healing of the HMTech-201 isn’t important (such as solo) this gives the SWAT a balance of options across ZEDs and plenty of ammunition to get the job done. The weight of the MP5RAS SMG does limit the ability to upgrade your other weapons though so keep in mind you’ll have harder large ZED kills.
- Other SMG Combos: There are various similar combinations to the above weapon loadout for SWATs that want to experiment although these are generally sub-optimal at higher difficulty levels or serve niche purposes. These other loadouts generally involve the Kriss SMG as the core while pairing it with a Heckler & Koch UMP or P90 SMG and finishing with a MP5RAS SMG or Tommy Gun and focus you towards a SMG master with endless ammo. They are also a great option before players reach the higher perk levels as you might not have the necessary passive or perk skill levels to have sufficient magazine depth for the weapon loadouts above to feel effective.
