Cyst

Base Statistics

Speed

Resistances and Weaknesses

Behavior

Miscellaneous Information

Extermination Tactics

Attacks

XP Notes

Sprint Conditions

Damage Resistance

Ballistic Resistance

Hitzones

Incapacitation Resistance

The Cyst is a common specimen in Killing Floor 2. It is classified as a lesser enemy, and therefore, cannon fodder. Cysts are generally considered to be the weakest specimens in the game, whose only purpose is to populate the level.

	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.

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.

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.

Cysts move slowly when docile, and sprint when enraged.
On higher difficulties, Cysts have a chance to enrage upon sighting 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.

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.

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.

Cysts have little to no weaknesses, and have a few crippling resistances.

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

Cysts have no resistances to ballistic weaponry and are extremely vulnerable to sub-machine guns.

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

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

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

	Damage Multiplier
Head	x1.1
All other	x1

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

Cysts are the weakest ZEDs in the game, being extremely slow to move and attack.
Upon spawning, it will walk or sprint towards the nearest player and attempt to scratch them, or grab and bite them, immobilizing their target.
Cysts behavior does not change drastically between the difficulties.

Teleportation:

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.

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

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

Being cannon fodder, just about any form of weaponry will take them out very quickly.
Ammunition can be saved in early waves by switching to the knife and cutting their heads off.
In later waves, Cysts are there to populate the waves and distract players from larger threats. Try to take them out quickly so you can focus on the real threats sooner.
Extremely weak to Sub-machine guns, making the SWAT the best perk for quickly exterminating huge groups of Cysts.
Beware of their grabs, as Cysts can end games by catching the last surviving player off-guard and immobilizing them, giving the larger enemies enough time to catch up and kill them.