Earlier, we did a guide for Killing Floor 2‘s new Perks – the ones that weren’t in the original game – but we only had access to Gunslinger and SWAT. Now that the game is fully released, we can reveal to you the Survivalist Perk, the 10th class in Killing Floor 2.
With all the other Perks from which to choose in Killing Floor 2, what makes the Survivalist any different. In a way, it’s no different than any other perk, but in that same way, he’s different because of that.
Overview
The Survivalist is unique because his role is to be any role. He gets .6 percent base damage per level, 1 percent global damage resistance per level, 1 percent Heavy Body Armor per level and 3 percent Zed Time reload speed per level.
The Survivalist gains experience from doing damage with any and every weapon with bonuses for killing Clots with any weapon.
This makes the Survivalist the jack-of-all-trades Perk, with the ability to grab anyone’s gun and go without missing a beat. He won’t get the inherent bonuses those weapons would get with someone with the actual Perk, but he’ll do just fine.
Weapons
The Survivalist is also incredibly different because he starts with a random weapon both at the beginning of the game and on any subsequent respawns throughout the game. This will sort of decide the perk weapons on which you should focus. If you start with a Flamethrower, you should probably go Flamebug. If you start with Dual Revolvers, I guess you’re a gunslinger.
But what he really shines in is versatility. You don’t have to stick with your Perk weapons despite how the game is going. If it become abundantly clear that you guys need a medic in order to survive, you can ditch your other guns and grab some medic weapons. Or let’s say you guys almost got eaten alive by a Fleshpound, go ahead and grab a Microwave gun from the Flamebug Perk and toast that sucker.
Yes, you can always buy off-Perk weapons no matter what Perk you chose, but the Survivalist will still gain the same amount of experience from it, and will also help boost the experience of other Perks at the same time.
Skills
With the other two new Perks, and with most of the other seven, you can clearly discern a better option between the two skills available at every five levels. But for a lot of this one, it depends on what Perk weapon you get. If you get a Commando, Gunslinger or Swat, go for Tactical Reload at level 5. Heavy Weapons training, on the other hand, will boost reload speed for Demolition, Sharpshooter and Support Perks.
Just when I was starting to think that the Survivalist Perk was a lazily designed throwaway, I came across the level 15 upgrade Weapon Harness, which should be your choice every time – never go for Ammo vest. Weapon Harness finally makes this Perk’s ability to wield multiple different types of weapons worth it.
The thing is, sure you might be able to use different Perk weapons, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be able to carry them at the same time. Killing Floor 2 uses a weight system, that’s capped at 15. So you can likely get one top-tier Perk weapon of your choice and then a generic sidearm. Maybe a second tier weapon. But this upgrade will bring your carrying capacity to 20, meaning you can carry two top-tier Perk weapons from different perks with room to spare.
Moving quickly through the others, get Medical Training at level 10 (it’s good in all circumstances), get Spontaneous Zed-plosion at level 20 (this will reduce your need to purchase grenades) and get ZED TIME – Lockdown at level 25, as many different weapons have incapacitation methods.
