What Weapons Are Available in Killing Floor?
The first thing you need to know is that weapons vary based on perks. That means that if you are a field medic, your arsenal will differ from that of the sharpshooter, as you all have different roles to play in the field. But that said, we will give you a breakdown of all the weapon categories, and you can refer to the one that suits you best.
Crowd Control
When the pressure builds up on the field such that the zeds start closing in, players turn to crowd control weapons, which utilize fire and chemicals to keep the zeds at bay. The options include the Flamethrower, Caulk n' Burn, Microwave Gun, and Hemogoblin. With these weapons, the goal is not to have a direct hit. Instead, it is to create enough chaos and a barrier so that the rest of your team can attack the smaller zeds as they scamper for safety. And might we say, it is quite the sight!
However, these weapons are very dangerous when used around the bigger zeds, such as the Scrakes and Fleshpounds. If you set these zeds on fire and your team is unable to take them out at the same time, then they can get so enraged that they can attack your entire team quite aggressively. And you could all die.
So, just like you would handle fires and chemicals in real life, you have to be strategic with these weapons, no matter how satisfying it feels to watch the zeds panic.
Point-Blank Impact
The Double-Barrel Boomstick, AA-12 Auto Shotgun, HZ12 Multi-Action, and Doomstick all fall into this category, which mainly features shotguns. Thanks to their power, they are perfect for instances when you want to get zeds off your back. The Boomstick, for example, comes in handy when a Scrake is coming at you with a chainsaw. Once you set it off, it fires both barrels into the zed and pushes you back so that you can have some breathing room. The only problem with these weapons is that they have long reload times, and you must work with your team to have your back as you wait.
Precision and Balistics
Do you want to know one of the most effective ways to neutralize a zed? A headshot! And with weapons like the M14 EBR, Railgun, Dual Desert Eagles, .500 Magnums, and FN FAL available to you, this seems quite doable. After all, they take out the zeds' heads long before their body health hits 0, and that solves the problem. But here is the thing. We use the term precision here because you have to be very accurate with your shots. If you miss the head and hit the chest, not only do you make the zed more aggressive, but you also end up wasting ammo. And in KF, ammo is not a resource that your team can afford to waste.
Rapid Fire and Suppression
The Kriss Vector, P90, AK-12, SCAR-H, and Stoner 63A LMG are some of the favorites in this category, especially when it comes to stalling zeds. You see, when you hold down your trigger and fire continuous bullets into zeds, this keeps them from moving forward and gives your team time to come up with a plan and execute it. But you have to know how to balance this stalling with saving ammo. If you are not careful, you can get to the mid waves and realize that you no longer have bullets and are thus exposed, and so is your team!
Heavy Ordinance
Whenever you are dealing with large zeds or a huge group of smaller ones, what you need is a weapon that can take them out. And how better to do this than blow up the zeds? The heavy ordinance category boasts weapons such as RPG-7, M79 Grenade Launcher, C4, and M32 Grenade Launcher, which cause such severe damage that they often kill the zeds. The RPG-7 even has a special effect where its rocket can cause damage to zeds even before it explodes. But like we have covered with the other categories, even this one has a downside. If you fire these weapons when you are too close to the zeds, they do not always work. The grenade, for example, just bumps the zeds and does not go off, which makes things quite awkward and dangerous. So, you have to gauge distances before launching these weapons.
Melee
While some people love ammo, others prefer going the bladed and blunt weapons route. And if your perk allows you access to these weapons, you are looking at options like the Katana, Bone Crusher (Shield/Mace), Pulverizer, and Battle Axe. Your edge, in this case, lies in the parry system. Each time you block an attack from a zed, you avoid damage by up to 90% while also causing the zed to fall back. And if you and your teammates can pounce on these chances, then you can counter the attacks with a lot of force. Unfortunately, with melee weapons, you are almost always in danger. Take the final wave against the Boss, for example. If you make a mistake, the hit you take can kill you. And this means that you always have to be aware of your surroundings and be ready to block.
Utility and Support
Tasked with the job of keeping the team alive, field medics handle weapons such as the HMTech-201 (SMG), HMTech-401 (Rifle), and Hemoclobber. Now, these weapons serve more than one role. On one hand, they help you keep the team alive by hitting them with healing darts. And on the other hand, they allow you to play your part in taking down the zeds even as you wait for the darts to recharge. It is important to note that these weapons often have less power than those of other perks, and you thus have to avoid exposing yourself to attacks too much and instead focus on staying alive long enough for the darts to recharge. This way, you keep your team alive, and they return the favor.
Making the Right Weapon Choice
The good news is that each perk has access to at least 10 weapons. Take the sharpshooter, for example. They have 13 weapons. SWAT has access to 12, while the berserker has 15 options. It all sounds great. However, given the KF game design, you cannot carry all the weapons from your perk and must instead make the tough decision of what to carry and what to leave behind. So, what factors play into this critical choice?
The Weight
All players have a maximum carrying capacity of 15 kilograms, though Support can upgrade this to 20 kilograms at some point. Now, this is where it gets tricky. Basic weapons, such as pistols, often weigh anything from 2 to 4 kilograms, while the more powerful options, like the RPG-7s, can weigh as much as 10 kilograms. That means that if you choose to carry a very powerful weapon, you can end up with almost no kilograms left for other weapons, such that you can handle the bigger zeds but not the smaller ones.
But what happens if you take a chance and go over the carrying limit? Well, take this from us. The minute you try to cheat the system by even a kilogram, you are unable to buy or pick up the weapon. So, while you may have all these beautiful weapons at your disposal, you can't show them off to the zeds at the same time.
The Team Strategy
Teams work together to determine the best move for every player. And they can take on two approaches in this case:
Self-Sufficiency
In many cases, you find that players pick their weapons to cover the small and large zeds. This way, they have one powerful weapon (a tier 4 option) and one basic one (a tier 2 option). For example, a demolitionist may carry a 9-kilogram RPG-7 to deal with the Fleshpounds and have a grenade launcher that weighs 6 kilograms to handle the smaller zeds, like crawlers.
The thinking here lies in the concept of self-sufficiency, which ensures that every player can handle zeds of all sizes. Unfortunately, this puts players at a high risk of running out of ammo because they are filling different shoes simultaneously. We highly advise against this option.
Specialization
We are biased in favor of this type of weapon selection, as we also use the same in our games, and this has helped us level up very fast. Unlike in self-sufficiency, where you rely on yourself, specialization requires you to choose one perk and go all in, such that you delegate the other roles to your team.
For example, a sharpshooter can carry an M99 AMR that weighs 12 kilograms as well as a pistol of about 2 kilograms. While this allows them to take out big targets like Scrakes, it leaves them exposed to smaller zeds, like Clots. But if they know that SWAT is well-armed, then they know they never have to worry about getting swarmed, and they can focus on what they need to do for the team.
But this approach also has a downside because it only works if the team works together and stays alive. The minute one member of the team dies, it puts everyone else at a disadvantage, and this can cause the death of the entire team. As such, everyone has to play their part.
The Money
Players must earn their weapons because they actually cost money, which we refer to as dosh in KF. So, how do you get enough of it to buy good weapons? In some cases, other players will toss it to you if you are running low. But to be an effective member of the team, you also have to earn your own to have a better chance at the best weapons. You can do this by killing zeds and mastering the art of selling your weapons mid-wave to buy better ones before the final waves. Also, do not die mid-waves. Even though your team can help you out by guarding your weapons, this is not always a guarantee, and you can re-spawn with a massive downgrade.
Effects of Weapon Choices on Combat
Your choice of weapon does not just affect how well you can take down the zeds. Instead, it also plays a role in the following factors:
Mobility
Having been chased by raging Fleshpounds, we can tell you that the last thing you want is to be lugging a heavy weapon in the face of death. But that is exactly what happens when you choose tier 4 and tier 5 weapons, because they slow you down. If you know your role will require sprinting, go for light weapons, as they will help you move faster and create distance between you and the zeds.
Breakpoints
Every weapon has a set number of shots required in order to kill a zed. Now, your ability to stay alive will depend on how fast you need to kill the zeds and whether your weapon can keep up. For example, if you are facing Gorefasts and have a Tier 2 SMG, it could take up to 3 headshots to take one down, whereas a Tier 3 assault rifle can achieve the same result with 1 shot. On that note, reload styles also matter, such that if you are cornered, you are better off with a tube-fed weapon than a magazine-fed one.