Berserker (Killing Floor 2)

Killing Floor 2 perk
Berserker
General Information
XP Objectives
• Dealing Berserker weapon damage.
• Killing ZEDs near a player.
Starting Loadout
Crovel Survival Tool			9mm Pistol
Lawn Mower Blade			EMP Grenade
Perk Information
Role
• Close Combat
• Front Line Position
• Defend Squad Mates
• {{{Role_3}}}
• {{{Role_4}}}
Strength
• Survivability
• Speed or Toughness
• Never Run Out of Ammo
• EMP Grenades
• {{{Strength_4}}}
Weakness
• Easily Surrounded
• Must Parry to Survive
• {{{Weakness_2}}}
• {{{Weakness_3}}}
• {{{Weakness_4}}}
Target Priority
					HIGH
					MEDIUM
					LOW
SURVIVALIST EFFECTIVENESS AGAINST ZEDS IS DETERMINED BY THEIR SKILL AND WEAPON CHOICES
Technical Information
Related Achievements
Reach Level 5 Berserker Reach Level 10 Berserker Reach Level 15 Berserker Reach Level 20 Berserker Reach Level 25 Berserker Normal Berserker Hard Berserker Suicidal Berserker Hellish Berserker Perked Up Mr. Perky 5 Mr. Perky 10 Mr. Perky 15 Mr. Perky 20 Mr. Perky 25
Console Achievements / Trophies
Mr Perky 5 Mr Perky 10 Mr Perky 15 Mr Perky 20 Mr Perky 25 Platinum

I shall cleave you asunder!

— Tom Banner, boasting with his Zweihander, a weapon more than capable of doing just that.

The Berserker is the shield that blocks ZEDs trying to get through to fragile teammates; the meatgrinder that shreds any and all of them to pieces; the battering ram that breaks through the horde when an opening presents itself.

All Berserkers specialize in close combat weaponry, but their skill choices let them focus on either being a damage-resistant dreadnaught who refuses to go down no matter what's thrown at them, or a fleet-footed skirmisher who will dish out violence and damage as fast as they can move. Though all perks can block and parry, Berserkers use this to great advantage, as they get many perks that grant them faster melee swinging, and can potentially strengthen themselves even further when they parry.

General Information

Focus on Scrakes, Fleshpounds, and ZEDs at a small-enough checkpoint you can bodyblock with. Your tankiness and high damage potential will carry you over them as they fruitlessly attempt to whittle your high health down.

Parrying is essential to keeping your health high enough to stay in the fight longer, and outright mandatory with the level 15 Parry skill, as its bonus damage reduction and damage increase will make bringing ZEDs down much easier.

Avoid Bloats, Sirens, and Husks if you can: Bloats have high health and their bile will make effectively hitting and blocking near impossible, Sirens are difficult to approach without them screaming and bypassing your parries, and Husks can use a devastating kamikaze attack when low on health.

Though your main forte is melee weapons, you are not entirely useless against long-ranged ZEDs. The VLAD-1000 Nailgun gives Berserkers a lightweight, inexpensive option to combat long-range threats and soften larger groups of lesser ZEDs, the HRG Teslauncher offers on-demand EMP damage, and the Eviscerator acts as a hybrid of both melee and a gun, with the ability to block and dole out ranged damage.

Utilize bash- and block-cancelling as they can interrupt any action, including melee swings; you can increase how fast you swing by bashing in the middle of an attack, barring specific weapons such as the Pulverizer or the Hemoclobber, which need to "pump" after a loaded heavy attack. Block-cancelling will also reduce the damage you take in the middle of swings, keeping you alive much longer when surrounded.

Weapon List

200	4	Crovel Survival Tool
600	3	Piranha Pistol (DLC)
750	5	VLAD-1000 Nailgun
850	4	Katana
850	5	Road Redeemer (DLC)
850	5	Fire Axe
1200	4	Hemoclobber
1200	6	Dual Piranha Pistols (DLC)
1300	7	Zweihander (DLC)
1300	6	Pulverizer
1500	7	HRG Teslauncher
1500	7	Blood Sickle (DLC)
1600	9	Eviscerator
1600	8	Bone Crusher
1600	7	Static Strikers
2000	10	Battleaxe
2000	8	Ion Thruster (DLC)
1300	7	Frost Fang (DLC)
---	---	Lawn Mower Blade
40	---	EMP Grenade
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{{{WeaponPricing_25}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_25}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_25}}}|{{{WeaponName_25}}}]]
{{{WeaponPricing_26}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_26}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_26}}}|{{{WeaponName_26}}}]]
{{{WeaponPricing_27}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_27}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_27}}}|{{{WeaponName_27}}}]]
{{{WeaponPricing_28}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_28}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_28}}}|{{{WeaponName_28}}}]]
{{{WeaponPricing_29}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_29}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_29}}}|{{{WeaponName_29}}}]]
{{{WeaponPricing_30}}}	{{{WeaponWeight_30}}}	[[{{{WeaponLink_30}}}|{{{WeaponName_30}}}]]

Bonus Experience

Berserkers receive bonus XP for killing any ZED that is within 2 meters of a teammate.

	Normal	Hard	Suicidal	Hell on Earth
Bonus Experience	6	8	10	14

Perk Bonuses

This table represents the passive stat bonuses the Berserker receives.

Berserker Damage	max. 25%
( Perk weapon damage increases 1% per level. )
Damage Resistance	max. 10%
( Damage resistance increases 2% every 5 levels. )
Duration of all forms of DOT.	max. -20%
( perk feature (not listed in UI). )
+Night Vision capability
( Night Vision Goggles for better vision in dark areas. )
+Clots cannot grab you
( Clots can't hold on to a Berserker. )

Perk Skills

This table represents the active abilities the Berserker has access to. You have the option of choosing one per tier.

Survival
Dreadnaught		5	Skirmisher
Increase total Health by 100%.				Move 20% faster and sprint 25% faster when using a perk melee weapon. You also regenerate 1 point of health every second.
Combat
Vampire		10	Butcher
Heal yourself 3 points of Health for every ZED you kill with perk weapons. Attack 20% faster with Berserker weapons.				Attack 20% faster and do 20% more damage with perk weapons.
Close Combat
Resistance		15	Parry
Gain 15% resistance to all damage. Gain an additional 15% resistance to Poison and Sonic Damage.				Parrying an attack 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		20	Massacre
Heavy attacks with Berserker melee weapons do 50% more damage do 25% more damage on head hits, and have 200% more stumble power.				Light attacks with Berserker melee weapons do 30% more damage and are 5% faster.
Advanced Training
ZED TIME - Berserker Rage		25	ZED TIME - Spartan
Whenever Zed time activates or refreshes, heal 50% Health and immobilize all nearby Zeds.				During Zed time, you attack with perk weapons and move in real-time.

Actual Stats

Berserker Rage (health added, per ZED time chain)	+50%
Berserker Rage (nearby ZEDs have their AI paused)	yes
Butcher (extra damage)	20%
Butcher (melee duration, diminution)	-20%
Dreadnaught (player HP multiplier)	x2
Massacre (extra damage, light attacks)	30%
Masscare (melee duration, diminution, light attacks)	-5%
Parry (damage reduction, all sources, when active)	-30%
Parry (duration)	8s
Parry (extra damage)	35%
Parry (melee duration, diminution)	-5%
Resistance (additional diminution for sonic and toxic damage)	-15%
Resistance (damage diminution)	-15%
Resistance (less distractive camera vfx for toxic damage)	yes
Resistance (strength of sonic damage camera vfx)	-20%
Skirmisher (HP restoring, at portions of)	1
Skirmisher (interval to restore HP)	1s
Skirmisher (sprint speed multiplier)	x1.25
Skirmisher (walk speed multiplier)	x1.2
Smash (extra damage, heavy attacks)	50%
Smash (extra damage, only on headshots, on-perk weapons)	25%
Smash (stumble power multiplier, on-perk weapons)	x3
Spartan (player attacks resistant to slow-mo)	yes
Spartan (player movement resistant to slow-mo)	yes
Vampire (HP added, per kill)	+3
Vampire (melee duration, diminution)	-20%

Perk Notes

• Damage modification (passive + skills): Passive damage bonus, Butcher, Parry, and Smash's headshot bonus affect all on-perk weapons (including Knife), on-perk damage types and the damage of buttstock bash of all weapons. Massacre and Smash skills affect light and heavy attacks of on-perk melee weapons respectively. Damage ROUNDED.
• Damage resistance (passive + skills): Damage resistance bonuses are additive: e.g. -10% from the passive and -30% from the Parry skill will give total resistance of 40%. Any DOT on this perk lasts for 20% less time.
• Attack speed modification (skills): All melee attack speed bonuses do not affect speed directly but rather change the duration of melee animation, the duration gets shorter by skill value hence speed gets faster by (1 / ( 1 - 1 x skill value)) times. The bonuses are additive, each next bonus decreases the duration of animation by its value multiplied with the weapon's default duration variable. For example: Butcher, Parry and Massacre together will reduce the duration of melee animation to 1 - 1 x 0.2 - 1 x 0.05 - 1 x 0.05 = 0.7 which will increase attack speed by 1 / 0.7 = 1.43 times.
• Passive (Nightvision): Nightvision drains battery as fast as flashlight.
• Perk (Berserker Rage): Effective radius - 10 meters, AI pause duration - 5 seconds.
• Perk (Butcher): Extra damage applied on all on-perk weapons or damage types. Melee speed applied on all melee weapons.
• Perk (Dreadnaught): At full health with just few points of passive damage resistance it is possible to survive after falling from any height.
• Perk (Massacre): 30% extra damage applied on light attacks of all melee weapons (excluding Pulverizer's explosion and HRG Blast Brawlers). For this skill's damage calculation order refer to step 5 of "ZEDs - Damage To Take" mechanic.
• Perk (Parry): Extra damage applied on all on-perk weapons (not only on melee) or damage types. Melee speed applied on all melee weapons. Damage resistance is also applied at the same attack that triggers Parry.
• Perk (Resistance): Better (cleaner) camera effects when taking damage from Bloat's bile or Siren's scream attacks.
• Perk (Skirmisher): Perk (Skirmisher): Movement speed modified while holding on-perk weapons. Technically HP regeneration is not a healing so it does not affect damage and duration of the fire DOT.
• Perk (Smash): 25% extra headshot damage applied on all on-perk weapons or damage types. 50% extra damage applied on heavy attacks of all melee weapons (excluding Pulverizer's explosion and HRG Blast Brawlers). Stumble power multiplier applied on all on-perk weapons. For this skill's heavy attack damage calculation refer to step 5 of "ZEDs - Damage To Take" mechanic.
• Damage type: Berserker gets damage bonuses for "Bludgeon_RifleButt" damage type which is used for bashing with all non-melee weapons.

On-perk Weapons

Following weapons and damage types are associated with the Berserker. They are getting damage bonuses and buffs to their attributes from the respective skills:

Weapons	Damage Types
AssaultRifle_HRGTeslauncher Proj_Grenade_HRGTeslauncher	Ballistic_Frost_Shotgun_Axe, Slashing_Frost_Shotgun_Axe
Blunt_ChainBat	Ballistic_HRGTeslauncher (child of Microwave), Ballistic_HRGTeslauncherGrenadeImpact (child of Ballistic_Shell), Fire_HRGTeslauncherDoT
Blunt_Crovel	Ballistic_NailShotgun
Blunt_MedicBat	Bludgeon_BladedPistol, Slashing_BladedPistol
Blunt_MaceAndShield	Bludgeon_ChainBat
Blunt_PowerGloves	Bludgeon_Crovel, Slashing_Crovel
Blunt_Pulverizer	Bludgeon_MedicBatLight, Bludgeon_MedicBatBash, Bludgeon_MedicBatHeavy, Toxic_MedicBatGas
Edged_AbominationAxe	Bludgeon_MaceAndShield, Bludgeon_MaceAndShield_Bash, Bludgeon_MaceAndShield_MaceHeavy, MaceAndShield_ShieldHeavy, MaceAndShield_ShieldLight
Edged_FireAxe	Bludgeon_PowerGloves, Bludgeon_PowerGlovesBash, Bludgeon_PowerGlovesHeavy
Edged_IonThruster	Bludgeon_Pulverizer, Bludgeon_PulverizerBash, Bludgeon_PulverizerHeavy, Explosive_Pulverizer
Edged_Katana	Bludgeon_RifleButt
Edged_Scythe	Slashing_AbominationAxe, Slashing_AbominationAxeHeavy, Piercing_AbominationAxeStab
Edged_Zweihander	Slashing_Eviscerator, Slashing_EvisceratorProj
EMPGrenade	Slashing_FireAxe, Slashing_FireAxeHeavy, Bludgeon_FireAxeBash
Eviscerator	Slashing_IonThruster, Slashing_IonThrusterHeavy, Slashing_IonThrusterSpecial, Piercing_IonThrusterStab
Knife_Berserker	Slashing_Katana, Slashing_KatanaHeavy, Piercing_KatanaStab
Pistol_Bladed, Pistol_DualBladed	Slashing_Knife_Berserker, Piercing_KnifeStab_Berserker
Rifle_FrostShotgunAxe	Slashing_ScytheLong, Slashing_ScytheLongAlt, Slashing_ScytheShort, Slashing_ScytheShortAlt, Piercing_ScytheStab, Piercing_ScytheStabFolded
Shotgun_Nailgun	Slashing_Zweihander, Slashing_ZweihanderHeavy, Piercing_ZweihanderStab

Note that Berserker gains the damage bonuses for bashing with buttstocks of all weapons, even off-perk. Bash damage affected by passive bonus, Butcher and Parry skills.

Strategy

First in the fight: as a close range specialist be the one who protects your team from the horde of ZEDs. Having a frontman Berserker with a Field Medic's support is a common strategy if your team decides to defend the dedicated area of the map.

Hit and Run: if your team has no dedicated medic you only have to rely on your own skills, there is no need to tank big ZEDs or to take unnecessary damage from a horde of small ZEDs, but if you has to then pick up Dreadnaught, Vampire, Resistance and Berserker Rage to improve your vitality.

For a big ZEDs takedowns use Eviscerator + Smash combo and aim for the head. Alternatively you can use Pulverizer + Zweihander + Medic Pistol / C4 combo.

Use the block advantage of the Bone Crusher to tank the big ZEDs and even bosses - blocking with this weapon significantly mitigates incoming damage.

With the addition of HRG Teslauncher Berserker players can now heal themself via Vampire skill while maintaining distance from the ZEDs.

Perk Utilization

The Berserker has two broad roles that it can fill in the context of a survival team. The first role involves operating as the spearhead of the team, engaging ZEDs in melee combat whilst their team provides supporting fire and healing. The second role is one of being a supportive perk whilst ranged perks pick off targets as they path towards the players. Although the Crovel, Katana, Zweihander, Pulverizer and Bone Crusher are specifically melee weapons, the Vlad-1000 and the Eviscerator have ranged elements to them. Both broad roles have their advantages and disadvantages, subject to the composition and playstyle preferences of the team.

Regarding the first role, the advantage of this style of play is that it provides protection to the majority of the team by consistently exposing the Berserker to enemies. In theory, this protection ensures that ranged perks can operate with less risk, have more time to aim and prioritise targets. A typical loadout for a spearhead Berserker might be a Zweihander and Pulverizer, with the remaining 3 units of weight being taken up with C4, a .500 Magnum, or a lower-tier medic weapon. A drawback of this style is that the Berserker being in front of other players can detrimentally alter the pathing of enemies towards these ranged perks, making them harder to headshot. When a Berserker is moving a lot - particularly laterally - and enemies are attempting to path towards them, the difficulty in aiming for ranged perks - Commando, Gunslinger and to some extent Support and Field Medic - is ramped up substantially. This is in addition to the Berserker being a physical distraction between a ranged perk and their intended target. Moreover, Field Medics are often bogged down in repeatedly healing Berserkers that engage in this role. These healing darts are better spent on improving the armour value of other perks: a substantial benefit to the team's in-game economy and contributing to their continued survival.

The second broad role is a less-often implemented, somewhat counter-intuitive style for a melee-specialised perk. It involves either standing behind or alongside ranged perks rather than in front of them. This necessitates using ranged weapons alongside melee weapons. A typical supportive Berserker loadout would involve the Pulverizer, the Vlad-1000, with the remaining 3 units of weight being taken up with either a Gunslinger weapon, a HMTECH-101 or 201, or C4, economy permitting and depending on team needs. This supportive role allows the Berserker to take a more distanced, aware viewpoint of the team's position, get a better indication of where the highest priority threats are coming from, and where they're most needed at any point in time.

Regarding the use of ranged weapons as a Berserker, the Vlad-1000 Nailgun is a very capable weapon that has a surprising variety of applications. This weapon has an ability to cause an affliction referred to as "Gun Hit". This gun hit affliction is like a flinch-lock status that all ZEDs below Scrake level can be almost indefinitely kept in. Whilst this gun hit affliction is handy against Clot variants, Crawlers, Stalkers and Gorefasts, its most effective use is against Husks and Sirens: both the Husk's ranged attack and the Siren's sonic attack can be interrupted via incaps. In addition to interrupting special attacks, the Vlad's shotgun mode can help clear large groups of weaker enemies when they get too close for comfort. Alternatively, the Pulverizer's explosive attack can also be used to good effect for these groups of weaker enemies.

An important aspect of the Berserker's arsenal is the EMP grenade, particularly in reference to Scrakes. This perk-specific grenade functions to cancel the Scrake's ability to sprint or engage in special attacks for a few seconds. When using this grenade, it is extremely important that the team use the EMP's duration as an opportunity to headshot the Scrake, and decapitate it before the EMP effect expires. The best means of doing so are high-tier Gunslinger weapons like the Desert Eagles, the .500 Magnums, the Support AA-12 and the Commando SCAR-H or AK-12. All of these ballistic weapons have the capacity to output high levels of damage in a short period of time. Bear in mind that any damage done to a Scrake's body will not contribute towards a decapitation; only head damage will contribute. Additionally, attacking a Scrake with a Zweihander or Pulverizer after EMPing is effectively a waste of this highly valuable grenade: decapitation of Scrakes is vastly more efficient and effective with ballistic weapons than with melee weapons.

The Berserker has a prominent role to play, whether being a spearhead or a supportive player, when it comes to Fleshpounds. Their main aim is to keep the Fleshpound occupied, blocking or parrying attacks in conjunction with using the Pulverizer to counter-attack, outputting highly effective explosive damage to this enemy. If the Berserker carries C4, they can precede their Pulverizer attacks with C4 - remembering to be a safe enough distance away at the point of detonation - to ensure less explosive melee attacks are required to finish off the Fleshpound. In conjunction with perk grenades like the Nail Bomb, the HE Grenade and the Frag Grenade, a team with good co-ordination can make short work of Fleshpounds, with the Berserker playing a leading part.

Trivia

• According to the character's favourite weapon lines, Tom Banner and Hayato Tanaka are both the Berserkers of the team.