Cyst

The Cyst is a common specimen in Killing Floor 2. They appear as emaciated males, lacking muscles, hair, genitals, and even eyes. They slowly shamble towards survivors in large groups alongside their more developed brethren, the Alpha Clot and the Slasher.

It is classified as a lesser enemy, its main role being to distract players from more dangerous specimen. Cysts are the weakest specimens in the game, but don't let their status fool you; they are still capable of grabbing players, allowing ZEDs to swarm, surround, and eventually kill them.

Base Statistics

	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on earth
Kill Reward	7	7	7	7
XP	8	11	11	11
Health (body)	75	100	100	100
Health (head)	15	20	20	20

For kill reward calculations read Dosh Mechanics.

Attacks

Grab attack (odds, instead of regular attack)				0.8
Melee (base damage)				6
Melee (damage multipliers vs. doors)				3/6/8
Melee (damage multipliers vs. players)				0.2/0.4/0.5/0.6/1
Melee (range)				172

The base damage value further modified by the difficulty-specific multipliers.

XP Notes

• Killing with weapons other than your current perk grants the XP to the perk that weapons belongs to.
• Damaging with on-perk weapons and then finishing it off with an off-perk weapon divides the XP and grants it to both perks.
• Assist kills grants full XP.

Speed

Cysts move slowly when docile, and will sprint when enraged.
On higher difficulties, Cysts have a chance to enrage upon seeing the players, and have a chance to enrage when shot.
Once enraged, Cysts will never stop sprinting until they are killed.
Movement speed is randomized within ± 10% range and further modified by a multiplier based on difficulty.

Walking speed (per difficulty)	(171 - 209) x (0.9 / 0.95 / 0.95 / 0.95) x (1 / 1 / 1 / 1)
Running speed (per difficulty)	(360 - 440) x (0.9 / 0.95 / 0.95 / 0.95) x (1 / 1 / 1 / 1)
Hidden speed	600
Sprint chance	Normal - 0 / Hard - 0 / Suicidal - 0.5 / HOE - 0.85
Sprint chance (when damaged)	Normal - 0 / Hard - 0.7 / Suicidal - 1 / HOE - 1

1 unit = 1 centimeter.

For comparison, by default a healthy player character with the minimal weight walks at speed of 383 units/s, and sprints at speed of 460 units/s.

Sprint Conditions

Should sprint if can sprint OR (if can sprint when damaged AND damaged) (i.e. if sprint chance met its value). Should sprint when frustrated.

Resistances and Weaknesses

Damage Resistance

Cysts have few resistances to most damages, except for Microwave, which they moderately resist.

	Piercing	Slashing	Bludgeon	Toxic	Fire	Microwave	Explosives	Slashing - Knife	Freeze	Shells	Bleeding	EMP
Damage Multipler	x1	x0.85	x0.9	x1	x1	x0.25	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1	x1

Ballistic Resistance

Cysts have no resistances to ballistic weaponry, and are extremely vulnerable to SMGs and assault rifles.

	Sub-machine Gun	Assault Rifle	Shotgun	Handgun	Rifle
Damage Multiplier	x1.5	x1.5	x1	x1.01	x1

Cysts, unlike alpha clots, have a 1.5x vulnerability against assault rifles. Tested results with testmap.

Hitzones

Cysts only have one weak spot, which is their head.

	Damage Multiplier
Head	x1.1
All other	x1

Incapacitation Resistance

Affliction:	Stun	Knockdown	Stumble	Gun hit	Melee hit	Snare
Torso vulnerability:	x2	x1	x1.3	x2	x2	x10
Head vulnerability:	x2	x1	x1.3	x2	x2	x10
Legs vulnerability:	x1	x1	x1.3	x2	x2	x10
Arms vulnerability:	x1	x1	x1.3	x2	x2	x10
Special zone vulnerability:	x1	x1	x1.3	x2	x2	x10
- Incap cooldown	3s	1s	0.2s	0.2s	0s	5.5s
- Incap duration	3s	---	---	---	---	4s
- Dissipation rate	-20/s	-20/s	-20/s	-20/s	-20/s	-20/s
- Incap threshold	100
Affliction:	Poison	Microwave	Fire panic	EMP	Freeze	Bleed
- Vulnerability	x5	x0.5	x1.5	x2.5	x2.5	x2
- Incap cooldown	6s	8s	7s	5s	1.5s	---
- Incap duration	4.5s	4.5s	5s	5s	5s	---
- Dissipation rate	-10/s	-20/s	-10/s	-50/s	-20/s	-20/s
- Incap threshold	100 (EMP Disrupt - 25, Bleed - 65)
Knockdown (getup duration)	2.47s
Stun (time + wakeup duration)	3s + 1.47s
Freeze (time + thaw duration)	5s + 1.47s
Stumble (duration)	Between (1.06-2)s
Parry (duration)	Between (1.06-1.33)s

Behavior

Cysts are the weakest ZEDs in the game, being extremely slow to move and attack, and their only tactic being to swarm players faster than they can die.

Upon spawning, it will walk or sprint towards the nearest player and attempt to scratch them, or grab and bite them, immobilizing their target and allowing other ZEDs to catch up.

Their behavior does not change drastically between difficulties.

Miscellaneous Information

Teleportation:

Frustration delay	Random (2.5-5)s
Disabled, when total AI remains	12
Cooldown	7s
When hidden, can use after	5s
When spawned, can use after	10s

Miscellaneous:

Penetration resistance	1
Parry resistance	0
AI pause, on gun / melee hit	0.85s

Various information:

• (PvP) Rally boost: forces AI Cysts to sprint.
• Distance to perform grab = 1.88m.
• Maximum grab range = 2.1m.
• Grab attack can be interrupted.
• Damage to doors (possible values) = 18 / 36 / 48.
• ZED mass = 50.
• Should sprint if can sprint OR (if can sprint when damaged AND damaged) (i.e. if sprint chance met its value). Should sprint when frustrated.
• Cyst cannot grab the player for 1 second after grenade throw. Cyst cannot grab the player for 0.5 seconds after shooting the healing dart.
• This ZED can be knocked down when jumped on.
• Cyst has a chance to evade certain damage sources.

Extermination Tactics

Being the weakest form of lesser ZEDs, any form of weaponry will take them out very quickly. Ammunition can be saved in earlier waves by switching to the knife and aiming for their heads.
In later waves, Cysts are there to populate the map and to distract players from larger threats. Try to take them out quickly so you can focus on the real threats sooner.

Any Perk can handily deal with Cysts, but they are particularly vulnerable to SMGs and assault rifles, making SWATs and Commandos ideal to deal with hordes of clots, especially given their higher magazine capacities and faster reloads.

Beware of their grabs, as Cysts can easily be responsible for causing the death of solo or inattentive players, as their grabs will immobilize them and give other specimen enough time to catch up and kill them.

Gallery

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  The Cyst

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  Another image

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  Halloween Horrors event variant

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  Artbook concept

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  Artbook renders