Crawler (Killing Floor 2)

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The Crawler
The Crawler

The Crawler is a common specimen in Killing Floor 2. It appears as a nearly pitch-black humanoid with arachnid features like mandibles, extra limbs, and multiple eyes, crawling on all fours.

It is classified as a lesser enemy, their main purpose being to decimate unaware players and flank distracted ones. Because of the Crawlers' small stature, their natural coloration hiding them in the dark, and their ability to spawn from unconventional areas, they can quickly speed past most players' views and tear at their lower limbs.

Base Statistics

Normal Hard Suicidal Hell on earth
Kill Reward 10 10 10 10
XP 8 10 10 10
Health (body) 41 55 55 55
Health (head) 15 20 20 20

For kill reward calculations read Dosh Mechanics.

Attacks

Explosion on death (explosion damage) 4
Explosion on death (explosion duration) 10s
Explosion on death (explosion falloff exponent) 0 (none)
Explosion on death (explosion interval) 1s
Explosion on death (radius) 450
Melee (base damage) 7
Melee (damage multipliers vs. doors) 1/5
Melee (damage multipliers vs. players) 0.5/1
Melee (range) 180
On-death explosion does the same damage at all difficulties yes

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

Crawlers move slowly when docile, and sprint when enraged.
On higher difficulties, Crawlers have a chance to enrage upon sighting the players, and have a chance to enrage when shot.
Once enraged, Crawlers 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) (360 - 440) x (0.9 / 0.95 / 0.95 / 0.95) x (1 / 1 / 1.3 / 1.4)
Running speed (per difficulty) (450 - 550) x (0.9 / 0.95 / 0.95 / 0.95) x (1 / 1 / 1.3 / 1.4)
Hidden speed 600
Sprint chance Normal - 0 / Hard - 0 / Suicidal - 0.85 / HOE - 1
Sprint chance (when damaged) Normal - 0 / Hard - 0.01 / Suicidal - 1 / HOE - 1

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

Crawlers are slightly resistant to fire and bludgeoning weapons, significantly resistant to Microwave damage type and do not have any weaknesses to non-ballistic weapons.

Piercing Slashing Bludgeon Toxic Fire Microwave Explosives Freeze Shells Bleeding EMP
Damage Multipler x1 x1 x0.9 x1 x0.9 x0.2 x1 x1 x1 x1 x1

Ballistic Resistance

Crawlers have no resistances to ballistic weaponry and are extremely vulnerable to assault rifles and sub-machine guns.

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

Hitzones

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

Damage Multiplier
Head x1.1
All other x1

Incapacitation Resistance

Affliction: Stun Knockdown Stumble Gun hit Melee hit Snare
Torso vulnerability: x2 x2 x2 x2.5 x2 x10
Head vulnerability: x2 x2 x2 x2.5 x2 x10
Legs vulnerability: x1 x2 x2 x2.5 x2 x10
Arms vulnerability: x1 x2 x2 x2.5 x2 x10
Special zone vulnerability: x1 x2 x2 x2.5 x2 x10
- Incap cooldown 5s 1s 0.2s 0.2s 0s 5.5s
- Incap duration 2.5s --- --- --- --- 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 x0.15 x0.5 x3 x2.5 x2.5 x2
- Incap cooldown 20.5s 7.5s 7s 5s 1.5s ---
- Incap duration 5s 3s 5s 5s 4.5s ---
- 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) 1.56s
Stun (time + wakeup duration) 2.5s + 1.53s, for PvP ZEDs - 2s + 1.53s
Freeze (time + thaw duration) 4.5s + 1.53s, for PvP ZEDs - 2s + 1.53s
Stumble (duration) Between (1-1.53)s
Parry (duration) Between (1-1.2)s

Behavior

The Crawler is a glass cannon; an ambushing, melee-only ZED that can deal massive amounts of damage but will quickly go down in a single burst.

Upon spawning, it will walk or sprint towards the nearest player and attempt to attack them.

Crawlers tend to spawn from unusual locations such as ventilation shafts, high ceilings or open manholes. This allows them to attack from multiple angles and slip past defenses undetected. They tend to spawn in huge groups of 4 to 8, especially on higher difficulties.

Crawlers have the ability to dodge gunfire. When shot at, Crawlers will quickly leap to the left or the right, or lunge forward at the offending player if they are within range. On Suicidal and Hell On Earth, Crawlers will always dodge when fired at, and will occasionally dodge when aimed at.

On Suicidal and Hell On Earth, Crawlers gain a huge boost in movement speed, as well as new attack animations that they will use when enraged. They easily become one of the fastest ZEDs in the game, able to quickly catch up to slow or injured players and finish them off.

On Suicidal and Hell On Earth, Crawlers will begin to stand on their hind legs to scratch with their front legs, or throw themselves at players with a spinning clothesline attack. Both attacks deal multiple, high damaging hits and are difficult to dodge in close quarters.

Elite Crawler Variant

Elite Crawlers, also known as Albino Crawlers or King Crawlers, have a chance to spawn on Hard, Suicidal, or Hell on Earth in place of a normal Crawler. They can easily be identified by their white coloration and their glowing eyes and veins, making them stand out in contrast to a group.

Elite Crawlers have the same HP values and resistances as normal Crawlers, but they have the ability to explode into a toxic gas cloud on death, making them akin to a living suicide or smoke bomb.

Spawn chance (replaces 1 regular Crawler)
Normal Hard Suicidal Hell On Earth
Chance 0% 1% 15% 20%

The gas cloud obscures vision and deals damage over time to players standing in it. It will also damage ZEDs, though the damage is negligible. However, the gas cloud benefits the ZED horde more than it hinders survivors: not only does it obscure your sight beyond it, but any nimble ZED like Stalkers or Crawlers will dodge out of it, scattering them into a wide horizontal line.

Elite Crawlers will explode when they die from any means, including afterburn from Firebug weapons, explosives, or melee attacks, but they will not explode when shot in the head, though it is extremely difficult to do so given their incredible speed, small size, and often hectic skirmishes. Damage from multiple gas clouds do not stack.

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 0.5
Parry resistance 1
AI pause, on gun / melee hit 0.75s

Various information:

  • (PvP) Rally boost: forces AI Crawlers to sprint, players do x1.2 more damage.
  • Damage to doors (possible values) = 7 / 35.
  • 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.
  • This ZED can be knocked down when jumped on.
  • Crawler has a chance to evade upon taking damage. Crawler has a chance to evade certain damage sources.

Extermination Tactics

Crawlers are extremely fragile; the 9mm Pistol can kill them in only 1 or 2 body shots. Any class that excels in crowd control like the SWAT or Firebug can easily handle them. However, Supports and Sharpshooters may have difficulty hitting Crawlers due to their weapons' slow and/or precise nature.

Ammunition can be saved in early waves by switching to the knife and cutting their heads off, though this is significantly more difficult compared to Clots, given their high damage output and small stature.

Crawlers should be disposed of as soon as they are sighted, as they are extremely easy to kill. It is also not wise to let a group of Crawlers close the distance as they deal a lot more damage than other lesser ZEDs - this is especially true on Suicidal and Hell On Earth.

Extremely weak to SMGs and Assault Rifles, making the SWAT and the Commando an excellent perk for dealing with Crawlers. The Firebug, though, excels at exterminating them thanks to the wide spread of flame weapons, especially when Firebugs use the level 15 perk Napalm, setting entire groups of Crawlers alight with a single gust of flame.

Players can also "stomp" on Crawlers by jumping on them, stunning them for a moment, though this is not recommended against large groups of Crawlers.

Gallery