Making the Jump from Hard to Suicidal/Hell on Earth

Killing Floor contains 5 separate difficulty levels: Beginner, Normal, Hard, Suicidal, and Hell on Earth. Beginner, Normal, and Hard simply alter the enemy statistics, including health, damage dealt, speed, the number of enemies spawned per wave, and the amount of cash received from each enemy. However, Suicidal and Hell on Earth difficulties add some additional rules not explained in-game, and these rules may separate a living team from a dead one. This guide aims to ease in those coming from Hard- difficulties and wish to move up to Suicidal/Hell on Earth.

Introduction

Getting a little bored with Hard difficulty and looking to move on to Suicidal/Hell on Earth? Great! However, you must be aware that these difficulties not only increase the enemy statistics further, but also have an additional set of "rules" not explained in-game. This guide will point out the added rules to these difficulties and explain how these rules can significantly change how the game is played compared to the lower difficulties.

I try not to go over technical details or in-depth tactics as there are plenty of videos/guides and such by people much more knowledgeable and articulate than myself. Most of my information will be centered around the added rules to Suicidal/Hell on Earth.

If you just want a quick list of changes, you need not read past the second or third section. Otherwise, I've included some in-depth information that I hope will be helpful.

Quick checklist

The added changes to Suicidal/Hell on Earth are as follows:

• You can no longer escape clot grabs by jumping away
  
• LV6 Berserkers no longer spawn with armor
  
• Scrakes can only be flinched once
  
• Scrakes rage after losing 25% health instead of 50%
  
• Scrakes now have a 50% resistance to crossbows
  
• Fleshpounds have a 65% resistance to crossbows, increased from 50%
  
• Fleshpound rage duration is doubled
  
• (Hell on Earth only) Sharpshooter has a reduced headshot bonus with the 9mm Pistol (LV6 Sharpshooter receives 40% increase, decreased from 140%)
  
• Field Medic loses 5% max move speed bonus (from LV0 to LV2 they have base move speed, then gain 5% per level for a max of 20% at LV6)

These additional changes translate to a significant number of things, including but not limited to:

• Even as a LV6 Sharpshooter, you must hit scrakes twice in the head with the crossbow to kill it
  
• (Hell on Earth only) Even as a LV6 Sharpshooter, headshots with your 9mm Pistol will only decapitate lower-end specimens
  
• Off-perk crossbow headshots can't stun scrakes
  
• Berserkers can no longer flinch lock a scrake with multiple primary fire katana headshots

Player behaviours to watch out for

Now that you're playing on Suicidal/Hell on Earth, expect more people to know the ins and outs of their perk. Other players may expect a high level of competence from you as well, but don't be discouraged. While some people can be quite demanding, others might be even more clueless as you are.

At any rate, there are a few things to be mindful of. You may observe the following behaviors:

Kiting/running around the map

Instead of camping in one spot in the map, players may resort to kiting enemies, which is basically running around the map and killing enemies slowly. The maximum number of enemies that can be on the map at any given time is 32, so players take advantage of this by running away until they feel that the limit has been reached. Once the zeds are capped out, they start to kill some zeds, but not all of them. Players will kill a handful of them and then resume running, allowing them to control the flow of the zeds and make sure that no dangerous or surprising spawns appear on the map.

The first indicator of this is that every player is using the Berserker (and maybe 1 Medic), taking advantage of the faster movement speed and resistance to damage. If you're about to join the server as a non-Berserker, you might be kicked from the server. Unfortunately, there's no way around this if the other players are dead set on kiting.

Kiting is not limited to Berserkers or Medics, but it definitely makes it easier. It's also a great fallback tactic if/when your camping spot gets breached and you need to escape. You may want to take a look at a Berserker guide for more details on kiting.

Leaving Scrakes and Fleshpounds for certain perks

Focus-fire may have worked on Normal/Hard, but because the enemy health and enemy damage output is drastically increased, players have to resort to cleaner and efficient methods for taking out the bigger baddies. Here's an outline of typical behaviour:

Sharpshooters: usually called to handle Scrakes. They can take out Scrakes safely at a distance with 2 Crossbow headshots. They are less likely to be the person handling Fleshpounds as it's a little riskier to do so, but Sharpshooters could be trusted to handle those as well if they prove competent to do so.

Demolitions: can take on Fleshpounds without too much trouble. Pipe Bombs are obviously useful, but a few well-placed hand grenades and M32 shots do the trick.

Support Specialist: can take on both Scrakes and Fleshpounds if necessary. Support Specialists aren't quite the safest class to handle these as it requires some technique to take out Scrakes/Fleshpounds without taking major damage.

For Scrakes, Support Specialists will attempt to kill it with their Hunting Shotgun. You'll see them run up to the Scrake and flinch it with a melee weapon. As the Scrake is flinched, the player will crouch in front and fire their Hunting Shotgun, killing it in one blast.

For Fleshpounds, the player will throw a grenade at it and then blast it with their Hunting Shotgun. As the Fleshpound stands in place and enters its rage animation, the player will throw 1 or 2 more grenades. As the Fleshpound finishes its rage animation and starts to charge toward the player, the first grenade will detonate and will cause the 2nd/3rd grenades to explode as well. If the Fleshpound is still alive, the player will finish it off with another Hunting Shotgun blast.

If the team trusts the Support Specialist, let him/her attempt whatever technique and try not to interfere. If it fails, be prepared to assist.

Berserker: can take on both Scrakes and Fleshpounds, usually called on for Scrakes. Their melee bonuses allow them to stun Scrakes repeatedly. Don't waste any ammo on the Scrake when a Berserker has it locked down, but do protect the Berserker from any smaller enemies that may creep up on him/her.

Against Fleshpounds, Berserkers probably won't be handling them solo if the team is camping, but if you're kiting (or there's enough space available in your camping spot), you'll need to determine whether the Berserker is handling it or not.

Fleshpounds rage if they take too much damage in a short amount of time or if they have line-of-sight of a player and haven't attacked anything during a duration of 10 or so seconds. Berserkers take advantage of this by dealing a little damage at a time so they don't trigger the damage threshold, and they get close enough to the Fleshpound so that it attacks the player but far enough that the attack misses.

This obviously takes more time to kill a Fleshpound compared to the other perks, but eventually it will die. If a Berserker is successfully kiting a Fleshpound, do not attack it unless you can tell that the Berserker won't have enough space to continue kiting, or you're a class that can handle it quickly.

Again, as you play the game more, you'll pick up on these advanced tactics for handling Scrakes and Fleshpounds. Or, you could read some more guides, up to you =)

"No firebug/commando/(other perk) plz"

Depending on the current perks in play, it might be a bad idea to join the game as a certain perk. You'll have to determine which perk will help the team the most. If you only play certain perks, this may be a problem. For example, if you mostly play Demolitions and join a game with one already present in the game; they require a lot of money for their weapons and Pipe Bombs, so it can be hard to fund for the team to fund 2 Demolitions.

However, some players are insistent that certain perks are overall less useful than others, to the point that they severely hamper the team's chance of beating the map. There are cases to be made for the overall usefulness of each perk but unfortunately if you can't fit in with the group you may be vote kicked off despite any reasoning you may have made.

How difficulty affects enemy statistics

As you've already guessed, Suicidal and Hell on Earth further increase the enemy stats, resulting in enemies that are faster, have more health, deal more damage, provide less cash, and increase the total number of enemies spawned per wave. This page from the TWI Wiki[wiki.tripwireinteractive.com] shows an overview of what you're up against in each difficulty.

A key point to note is that the number of players alive in the wave increases the health of the enemies, excluding clots, stalkers, and crawlers. This should especially be kept in mind when facing scrakes and fleshpounds. For example, on Hell on Earth if a fleshpound spawns when a full team of 6 people are alive, the fleshpound will have 5906 health. If you are the only person alive in the wave (or you're playing Solo mode), a fleshpound that spawns would only have 2625 health.

How difficulty affects starting money and penalty for dying

In addition to reducing the cash received for killing an enemy, Suicidal and Hell on Earth further reduces the amount of money when you start from wave 1 and when you join a game in progress. This makes perk spawn bonuses and scavenging weapons more appealing. In order to ease the early cash problem somewhat, you should begin with a LV5/6 perk so you spawn with a weapon.

For Suicidal, your starting cash from wave 1 is reduced from 250 to 200. If you die, you'll lose 25% of your current cash, increased from Hard difficulty's 20% loss. If you join a game in progress or if the cash penalty drops you too far, the minimum respawn cash amount is 150 pounds.

For Hell on Earth, both your starting cash from wave 1 and mid-game/minimum respawn cash amount is 100 pounds. The penalty for dying is also further increased to 35% of your current cash.

Recovering from death is even more problematic on the higher difficulties. It is still possible to recover, but if your team uses the more expensive perks and their weapons are unrecoverable, too many deaths on the later waves may force the team into kiting due to the inability to fund everyone with necessary gear.

Scavenging weapons that spawn on the ground is also a good source of income, but remember that if you pick up a weapon that your perk uses, your perk's discount will immediately apply and you'll get a reduced selling price. For example, if you are a LV6 Berserker and you pick up a Machete, you'll only be able to sell it for 112 pounds instead of 375 pounds. On the Icebreaker map, the Katana and Handcannon spawns are a great source of money should you decide to use them. The same goes for the M79 spawns in Aperture.

Clot grabs can't be escaped by jumping away

The cause of many wave 1 wipes on unsuspecting teams stems from the inability to break a clot's grab by jumping. Now, you must break the grab by dealing damage and hope the clot lets go, or outright kill the clot to get away. Clots may have been a nuisance in Hard- but they can spell doom on harder difficulties as it's easier to be surrounded, especially with the further increased enemy speed. Berserkers retain their resistance to clot grabs.

LV6 Berserkers no longer spawn with armor

This change can be quite annoying to Berserkers as it pretty much reduces their spawning bonus by a potential 300 pounds, which leaves them with 225 if they sell their axe at the trader. I do not know the exact reason why this was implemented, but it was obviously done in an attempt to balance the game. My guess is that it was too easy for Berserkers to get all the equipment they needed, even if they died. At any rate, this makes spawning as a Berserker much less profitable than usual.

All spawning items except pipe bombs for the Demolition class are worth a fixed amount of money, with LV5 items worth 200 and LV6 worth 225. However, the Medic and Firebug still spawn with armor (although the Firebug loses out by 25 pounds as the Flamethrower is a LV5 spawn item compared to the Medic's LV6 MP7).

Scrakes can only be flinched once

This change mostly affects how Berserkers take down scrakes. On Suicidal/Hell on Earth, you can no longer use multiple primary fire katana headshots in order to lock a scrake in place, preventing it from attacking you. On the higher difficulties, Berserkers must lock down scrakes by stunning them.

To stun a scrake as a Berserker, you must be at least level 5, and you have to connect with alt fire headshots with an axe (either one), claymore, or scythe. With the scythe, you can stun scrakes at level 4. You can also stun scrakes with alt fire attacks from the back (katana included), although the level requirement for each weapon varies.

Something to note is the concept of flinches and mini-flinches. This explains why you can still lock down scrakes with continuous M14 headshots or close-range M32 grenade bodyshots; they cause mini-flinches which aren't restricted like regular flinches. However, if a scrake is stunned or flinched, mini-flinches will no longer work.

More information about stunning and flinching mechanics can be found here: http://wiki.tripwireinteractive.com/index.php?title=Specimen_Mechanics

More information about weapon level requirements for Berserker stunning can be found here: http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=49922 (scroll down to scrakes)

Regarding back attacks for stunning SCs, the level requirements vary for each weapon. The above post outlines the stunning mechanics, which is basically to deal 667 damage in a single shot. However, since recent updates, I think the Claymore is different, plus it doesn't include the Scythe or Dwarf Axe. So I did some testmap stuff/numbers, and it looks like:

• Katana: LV4 back alt-fire attack with no headshot, LV3 with back alt-fire headshot
  
• Fire Axe: LV2 with no headshot, any perk with headshot
  
• Scythe/Claymore/Dwarf Axe: Any LV zerk with no headshot, any perk with headshot

I must also note that you can flinch a scrake multiple times with the katana as long as you stay at a distance and keep moving backward...at least until the scrake rages. You can still kill the scrake unscathed, but you'll need a fair amount of empty space to do so, which may not be possible depending on your position. Watch and read: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5oiatTTda0

Scrakes rage after losing 25% health instead of 50%

This change emphasizes the need for cleaner scrake kills. This usually involves stunning them to prevent it from attacking. You may have been able to get away with your team focus firing on scrakes, but with the reduced amount of health loss to trigger the rage, scrakes will be in your face sooner than usual, and will most likely get a hit off before dying.

Sharpshooters have to make sure that they hit their mark. One crossbow head shot from a LV6 Sharpshooter drains more than 25% health on Suicidal/Hell on Earth (an exception is a Hell on Earth scrake with 6 person health, it is just shy of 25%). If scrakes leave the stun state, they're sure to charge the team.

Scrakes now have a 50% resistance to crossbows

This change makes it so that even LV6 Sharpshooters are unable to kill scrakes with a single crossbow headshot, with the exception of 2-person health or below on Suicidal and 1-person health on Hell on Earth. Further, off-perk crossbow headshots will no longer stun scrakes; you must be at least a LV1 Sharpshooter to do so. And what's more, this makes the M14/Lever-action rifle loadout to be more appealing in the higher difficulties.

It is critical for Sharpshooters to kill the scrake with the 2nd shot before it has a chance to charge the team. Unfortunately, in multiplayer games, you must overcome an animation bug in order to hit the 2nd shot consistently.

In short, when the scrake is stunned, it has a chance to play 1 of 2 animations: one with its head hanging down, and one where it looks to its left and right. Despite the animation played, the scrake's head hitbox will always move in the same place, as if it is hanging its head down. This means that you have to compensate for the hitbox if the left/right animation is played instead of the head hanging down animation.

The easiest way to overcome this bug is to take advantage of the Sharpshooter's reload bonus with the Crossbow by firing 2 quick shots at the scrake's initial head position. After the first shot connects, don't move your mouse but immediately fire the next bolt as soon as possible. Even with the proper head hanging down animation played, the scrake's hitbox is still upright for a brief moment.

Watch this video and read the description for a better explanation (although it doesn't include the 2 quick shots at the scrake's initial head position): www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsDaK5FRq4g

Fleshpounds have a 65% resistance to crossbows, increased from 50%

An additional 15% resistance to crossbow damage pretty much amounts to requiring a 3rd headshot to take out a fleshpound, even as a LV6 sharpshooter. This also further discourages use of off-perk crossbows, especially when considering the further increased health to enemies on Suicidal/Hell on Earth. You may want to lean towards having a Demolitions player to deal with fleshpounds and have the Sharpshooter save crossbow bolts for scrakes and husks.

For a LV6 Sharpshooter and 6-person health, 3 headshots to a fleshpound on Suicidal will only decapitate it; you still need to finish off the body. On Hell on Earth, 3 headshots will bring the fleshpound's head health just shy of decapitation. A 4th headshot will kill it outright, or you can switch to a pistol to knock off the head and finish off the body.

Fleshpound rage duration is doubled

I believe the doubled rage duration of fleshpounds doesn't really affect much. One significant thing I can think of is if you play on Farm or Mountainpass, and rage fleshpounds from across the map. The doubled duration will probably lead to the team getting hit. If you are in a position to use medic grenades to keep fleshpounds from closing in, you'll most likely need all of your grenades if you wanted to time out the rage.

Sharpshooter has reduced headshot bonus with 9mm Pistol (Hell on Earth only)

Even as a LV6 Sharpshooter on Hell on Earth, your 9mm Pistol will only decapitate lower-end specimens, specifically clots and gorefasts. This somewhat reduces the trash-killing power of the Sharpshooter. Clots will now have to be killed with a headshot and a bodyshot, while gorefasts will require a number of bodyshots. Stalkers and crawlers still require only a single headshot to kill.

Consider using your 9mm Pistol for clots and stalkers, and a MK23/.44 Magnum/Lever-action rifle/M14 for gorefasts and bloats. Take out crawlers with your 9mm Pistol whenever possible.

Field Medic loses 5% max move speed bonus (max 20% at L6, from 25%)

Further perk tuning on Suicidal/HoE has the Field Medic lose 5% of their total move speed bonus. A breakdown per level:

• LV 0-1: no move speed bonus
  
• LV 2: no move speed bonus, down from 5% on Normal/Hard
  
• LV 3: 5% move speed increase, down from 10%
  
• LV 4: 10% move speed increase, down from 15%
  
• LV 5: 15% move speed increase, down from 20%
  
• LV 6: 20% move speed increase, down from 25%

20% at LV6 is still good enough for kiting maps on Suicidal/HoE, just be a little more mindful of your direction/destination.

Non-Sharpshooter perks require 2 9mm Pistol headshots to decapitate lower-end specimens

This isn't an added rule to Suicidal/Hell on Earth, but worth mentioning. Perhaps the first thing you'll notice early on is that it if you're not a Sharpshooter, you will need 2 9mm Pistol headshots to decapitate the lower-end specimens due to the further increased health of Suicidal/Hell on Earth. This includes clots, gorefasts, bloats, stalkers, and crawlers. If you don't have a spawn bonus to start off with in wave 1, you're better off by selecting Sharpshooter or Berserker as your starting perk.

Handcannon no longer kills crawlers with a bodyshot (Hell on Earth only)

This isn't an added rule to Hell on Earth difficulty, but this is simply made possible due to the further increased health of enemies. If you're used to the Handcannon killing crawlers in one shot on Suicidal difficulty or below, you may become thrown off if/when you make the jump from Suicidal to Hell on Earth.

You may want to consider using the other pistols if you can't quite headshot crawlers. 2 bodyshots with either the Handcannon, MK23, and .44 Magnum will kill crawlers, although the MK23 and .44 Magnum hold more ammo. The Lever-action rifle or Flare Revolver still kills crawlers with 1 bodyshot.

An M14 headshot requires extra damage to kill husks/sirens with LV6 Sharpshooter (Hell on Earth 6-person health)

Also not a rule, but another effect due to the further increased health to each specimen. I find this both hilarious and annoying as an M14 headshot is 6 damage points away from decapitating the head. This forces you to either land a 2nd headshot with your M14, use your 9mm Pistol to deal the last bit of damage (this will kill sirens but only decapitate husks), or use your Lever-action rifle to kill husks/sirens with one headshot instead (assuming your loadout is M14/Lever-action rifle).

With 5-person health and below, you don't have to worry about this.

What level do I have to be to start playing on Suicidal/Hell on Earth?

*** This section is more of a rant/theorycraft than anything else. Feel free to skip it! I may end up removing this section altogether if it proves to be useless. ***

This question comes up from time to time, so I've decided to write a little section about it. Depending on who you ask, you'll get a variety of answers. But since I'm writing this guide, I guess I get to give mine heh:

Perhaps the primary problem your team may face with lower level perks is discounts provided by higher level perks. Because the amount of cash you get is reduced per specimen, you'll need to make good use of your perk discounts. I believe that if you start from wave 1, LV3/4 discounts are good enough to get your higher tier weapons before scrakes and fleshpounds start showing up, but you'll most likely need to scavenge for weapon spawns to survive the early waves. And of course this doesn't include dying; hopefully you've dropped your main weapon! But not counting the cash problem, the "minimum" level requirement to be "effective" on the higher difficulties varies from perk to perk.

A LV3 Commando gets the maximum ammo capacity of 25% and at least 1 ZED time extension to help out the team. The damage bonus is enough to take out trash specimens without too much trouble, although you might use most of a magazine clip thingy on bloats.

A LV4 Firebug begins to be completely resistant to husk fireball attacks, and can deal decent amount of damage to trash specimens, especially if you use the Flare Revolvers from the weapons DLC.

Any level of Field Medic is useful, not counting the cash problem of course. If the Field Medic just concentrates on healing and the occasional aid with clearing trash, the Field Medic's level requirement will only determine how well the team recovers from a highly damaging situation. Unfortunately, a lower level Field Medic won't be able to tank hits as effectively.

LV3 Support Specialists get just enough carry space to hold a 10-weight shotgun (Hunting Shotgun or AA12) and an 8-weight (Combat) Shotgun. Or, you can hold a 10-weight and the 6-weight HSG-1 Shotgun and get a Sharpshooter or Firebug to buy a 2-weight revolver for you. This'll give you all the ammo you need to deal with trash specimens. Unfortunately, the reduced damage output, weight capacity, and grenade capacity severely limits your ability to solo scrakes and fleshpounds. Also, camping spots that require constant welding may not be possible with the reduced welding bonus.

LV3 Demolitions can take out a 6-person fleshpound on Hell on Earth with 6 M32 Launcher torso hits. Pipe Bombs are still quite damaging at LV3, but lower level Demolitions have a reduced carrying capacity. The limited number of Pipe Bombs greatly emphasizes the need for each Pipe Bomb to be effective; the team can't let those sirens or bloats remove them unnecessarily!

Berserkers have a level check of 5 to stun scrakes (4 if you use the scythe from the weapons DLC). Otherwise, they get their 20% melee movement speed increase from level 3 and it doesn't increase until level 6 with 30%. Decent enough for kiting at the very least.

Sharpshooters also get a bit of a level check when it comes to taking out scrakes and fleshpounds. A LV3 Sharpshooter requires 5 crossbow headshots to decapitate a fleshpound with 6-person health on Suicidal, 4 shots for LV4, and 3 for LV5/6. For scrakes, a LV5 can 2-shot them on Suicidal, but require a few pistol shots on Hell on Earth. If you use the M14/Lever-action rifle loadout instead, you'll have to be LV6 to stun scrakes with Lever-action rifle headshots regardless of difficulty.

Unfortunately, all of this gets thrown out the window if you play on public servers. The general opinion seems to be level 5 or 6 for Suicidal/Hell on Earth difficulties. Most of this is due to other people attempting to gauge your usefulness based on your level. It's definitely not a perfect indicator of skill or experience, but people don't have much else to go on, and usually aren't willing to spend time trying to determine if you'll be on point killing trash as a LV3 Commando or whatever.

In short, if you've got a solid team to play with, try taking on Suicidal/Hell on Earth with non-level 6 perks for a good challenge! For public games, you'll want to be LV5/6 if only to eliminate the chance of getting booted, and also to compensate for reduced co-ordination that public games usually bring.

Credits/closing

I've linked to a number of things that other people have created without their permission. I only hope that they don't mind me doing so as the material I've linked to was obviously made to help other people out. I've simply compiled it into one spot under a somewhat relevant topic. Anyway, here's a list of the people whose work I have linked to. I thank these people for contributing information to the community. If you're one of these people and don't want your stuff linked from my guide, let me know and I'll remove it:

• Benjamin for stuff on the TWI Wiki
  
• scary ghost for stuff on the TWI Wiki + forum post about specimen info
  
• becoming-insane for the youtube vid on killing scrakes with the katana
  
• karsey for the youtube vid on the scrake head hitbox

Hopefully, these added changes don't give you too much trouble. Good luck out there, maybe I'll see you on the servers!

[Michanicks]

Oh well. Thank you for making this guide even better then.

[Kyper]

wow, I don't know that medic had reduced medic speed on Suicidal/HoE when I was actively playing KF1!
I've looked up the KF1 source code and it looks like this is true:
https://github.com/InsultingPros/KillingFloor/blob/81026160dc9c2d0e4947dbb82190900f00454a3b/KFMod/Classes/KFVetFieldMedic.uc#L49

I've updated the guide to include this. I'd hoped that all the changes would be detailed on some wiki by now...

[Michanicks]

Very good guide but does medic have decreased speed on HoE as yet another perk debuff? I saw this on forums, but didn't found any mention of this in this guide.

[^NegaTiV^]

заходите на сервер Killing Floor IP: 194.61.3.105:7707
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======================================
go to Killing Floor server IP: 194.61.3.105:7707
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[Alucard]

@Reptid, if I can solo SC and FP with firebug you're doing it wrong.

[FlashyLight]

@Kyper

This guide is very helpful, unfortunately I'm still stuck to normal difficulty.
Do you have any tips to make the jump from normal to hard?

[Reptid]

also firebugs are perfect to support the team, commandos and firebugs they lack the way to solo a fleshpound and a scrake

[Reptid]

commandos are perfect to take a lot of enemies in matter of seconds, a good commando can take a entire wave of trash zeds into seconds in just matter of holding the trigger and using the zed time as an advantage

[FAB]

@Kyper
Ty. I found something similar in the end but i was searching with wrong keywords. I used "training" and found nothing now i found what i wanted thx again.

[Kyper]

@Neuro - KF-TheTestmap

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=99193018