Sharpshooter Guide | Hell on Earth

A guide centered around optimal Sharpshooter loadouts, large zed takedown demonstrations and useful tips for playing Sharpshooter seriously.

Disclaimer

ATTENTION !

This guide is quite long. I do not expect anyone to read it in one sitting and strictly from top to bottom. It has a modular structure which makes it possible to read it in whatever order you desire and skip sections you have no interest in. However, I would still recommend reading the topmost things first, as the most important aspects of playing Sharpshooter have been placed above the secondary content.

Numbers, loadouts and strategies provided in this guide are oriented at fully populated (6-player) "Hell On Earth" difficulty matches and level 6 Sharpshooters unless otherwise noted. "Hell on Earth" is the highest standard difficulty in the game. The maximum standard player (at which all the enemies get the highest health pools) count is 6. Level 6 means that the perk is fully levelled and its full potential is unlocked.

This guide is not concerned with:

• Various methods of levelling the perk.
  
• Optimization of the loadouts and strategies for difficulties below Hell on Earth (Beginner, Normal, Hard, Suicidal)
  
• Obtaining achievements related to the perk, its weapons and various official maps this game has to offer.
  
• Zed health levels pushing over those that are provided for the standard limit of 6 players per server.
  
• Custom modifications which fundamentally alter the base gameplay and/or mechanics of the Sharpshooter perk.
  
• Meme loadouts and strategies unacceptable for players who are both informed and trying to win (the opposite of fooling around).

Feel free to point out typos and inaccuracies in the comment section.

Introduction

Sharpshooter is an aim-intensive, headshot-oriented perk which can effectively deal with every single zed the game throws at them.

With most of the optimal loadouts listed in this guide Sharpshooter becomes a generalist - a player properly equipped to deal with lower trash zeds (Clots, Stalkers, Crawlers, Gorefasts), medium trash zeds (Bloats, Sirens, and Husks), as well as large zeds (Scrakes and Fleshpounds). Generalist Sharpshooters can be stacked fine - having multiple Sharpshooters in the team does not hurt the team's trash cleaning or large zed killing potential (this is not the case with stacking Commandos, Medics and M99 Sharpshooters, for instance).

The only exception from this pattern is the loadout centered around M99 which turns the Sharpshooter into a designated large zed specialist.

Sharpshooter is also one of the most effective perks for the Boss Wave thanks to spike damage weapons and long effective range.

Sharpshooter has the longest effective range out of all perks, as well as consistent access to the best incapacitation mechanic in the game - stun - which can completely immobilize Scrakes and interrupt Husk's attacks.

Many Sharpshooters start their journey with the Crossbow because of its ease of access to newcomers, low recoil, strong damage per shot, ability to stun Scrakes earlier than other weapons, huge zooming capabilities and effectiveness at lower difficulties. Unfortunately, this is where some of them stop and assume that Crossbow-oriented weapon combinations are the best Sharpshooter can offer (especially when the maximum perk level spawns them with a Crossbow). Some of them may or may not transition to M99 to make the game a walk in the park.

I strongly encourage you not to commit these mistakes. Do not consider ease of use the determining factor for the playstyle and loadout choice. Sharpshooter has a great loadout diversity, and nearly every single weapon has its place in the optimal loadouts. There exist loadouts and strategies with a higher skill ceiling and challenging risk/reward combinations. Spend some time playing the perk and exploring the depth it has to offer.

Sharpshooter training

1. Large zed takedowns

In multiplayer matches, Sharpshooters are expected to deal with large zeds (Scrakes and Fleshpounds) quickly and efficiently. The concept of killing large zeds is referred to as "large zed takedowns" or, alternatively, "large zed speedkills". Unless Sharpshooters use loadouts centered around Crossbow or M99, large zeds cannot be killed as trivially as Clots, Crawlers, and Gorefasts. Sharpshooter's takedowns typically require a high degree of accuracy, timing, and leave little room for error.

Proficiency in large zed takedowns can be achieved by training in maps designed specifically for this purpose - Test Maps such as:

• SteamyTestMapV3 by Skell
  
• SteamyTestMapV3RodeoMod by Gladius
  
• TheTestmap-2 by Mutant

These and other KF 1 training areas can be obtained from KF Story Gametypes and Maps[insultingpros.github.io] (the "Testing Mode" section) - a repository of maps for custom game types created by NikC-.

SteamyTestMapV3

The map's page in the above-mentioned resource:

https://insultingpros.github.io/KFStory/#/TestingMode?id=steamy-test-map

Direct download link (MediaFire):

https://www.mediafire .com/file/5y6j4dckbs9bnx7/KF-SteamyTestMapV3.zip/file (remove the space between "mediafire" and ".com")

Steam's link filter hides MediaFire links, so they have to be listed like that in guides.

SteamyTestMapV3RodeoMod

Can be found in the same place as SteamyTestMapV3:

https://insultingpros.github.io/KFStory/#/TestingMode?id=steamy-test-map-rodeo-mod

Direct download link:

https://www.mediafire .com/file/65pjdgww109c4dl/KF-SteamyTestMapV3RodeoMod.zip/file

TheTestmap-2

Steam Workshop Link.

This map's page in the repository by NikC-:

https://insultingpros.github.io/KFStory/#/TestingMode?id=the-test-map-v2

Tweak the zed health levels by adjusting the amount of faked players. SteamyTestMap variations usually start at full 6-player health levels, and TheTestMap-2 starts at 1-player health levels (+0 faked). After that select the perk and adjust its level.

Sharpshooting, however, doesn't end here.

2. Lane holding

In multiplayer matches, Sharpshooters usually hold lanes on designated holdout spots with teammates or by themselves. In order to successfully hold a lane, it's necessary to kill all the zeds that attempt to enter the area before they're able to deal damage. This requires proper target prioritization and shooting things in the head (the smallest hitzone).

2.1 Head hitbox placement

Head hitbox placement in this game may be counterintuitive at times. For instance, on dedicated servers a stunned Scrake's hitbox does not immediately align with its head model and remains above the head for some time. In order to see where exactly the hitboxes are located and study their behavior when the zed is hit or is under a certain affliction, use the Test Maps linked above.

SteamyTestMapV3 and SteamyTestMapV3RodeoMod

ESC -> Commands -> Misc. options -> Check "Draw head hitboxes".

The color of the hitboxes can be customized in the "Display" tab ("Head Hitboxes").

TheTestMap-2

ESC -> Testmap -> Generic -> Check "Display headzones" (head hitboxes) and "Display Hitboxes" (other hitboxes).

ATTENTION !

Hitboxes in Solo mode and on Listen servers are going to be different from the ones on Dedicated servers. If you're going to play multiplayer matches at some point, chances are they're going to take place on dedicated servers, and not all hitbox-related habits you acquire on other kinds of servers will be transferrable. For this reason, I recommend getting adjusted to hitboxes the right way from the start by using dedicated servers for everything, even solo games.

The process of setting up a dedicated server is pretty straightforward. It's described in the respective TWI Wiki page[wiki.tripwireinteractive.com]. However, I'd like to note the following:

• You should use the following SteamCMD download link for Windows (instead of the one the Wiki suggests): http://media.steampowered.com/installer/steamcmd.zip .
  
• If you're running the server from the same PC you're playing on, make sure to start the server after starting the game.
  
• If you're not planning to invite players located outside of your home network, you don't need to forward any ports.

2.2 Single-lane solo maps

A good way to practice lane holding is to play solo matches on single-lane maps without a retreat path. For the sake of convenience, I collected all of such maps available in the Steam Workshop here, in one place.

The Faked Plus mutator by NikC- makes it possible to add more zeds in solo games by faking the player count. It also provides an option to boost their health levels.

Another useful tool for solo training is the KFSkipWaves mutator by sm-YuzutaKun. Its lets you skip the tedious early waves and get to the heavy action faster.

3. Working on the raw aim

Games like KovaaK's FPS Aim Trainer, Aim Lab, AimBeast, Aim Hero, and osu![osu.ppy.sh] are a great way to improve the raw aiming skills applicable to not only Killing Floor 1, but other first-person shooters as well.

Loadouts | Summary

Note: { £ } means that paid content is required to obtain certain weapons.

EBR StunSharp

• M14 EBR
  
• Single Piston Long Musket { £ } or Lever-action rifle

Gunslinger { £ }

• MK23 or Dual MK23
  
• Dual Handcannons or Dual .44 Magnums
  
• Single Piston Long Musket { £ }

Alternatively, if you need the largest ammo pool for trash zeds, this loadout will cover your needs:

• MK23
  
• Handcannon
  
• Dual .44 Magnums
  
• Single Piston Long Musket { £ }

BowSharp

• Crossbow
  
• MK23
  
• Handcannon

EBR FlinchSharp

• MK23
  
• Dual Handcannons or Dual .44 Magnums
  
• M14 EBR

Dual Stun { £ }

• Single Piston Long Musket { £ }
  
• Lever-action rifle
  
• MK23

MedGun Sharp { £ }

• Schneidzekk Medic Gun
  
• MP5M Medic Gun or Handcannon
  
• MK23
  
• Single Piston Long Musket { £ }

Large zed trivializer

• M99 AMR
  
• Machete

Boss Fighter

• Crossbow
  
• Dual Handcannons

Loadouts | EBR StunSharp

Prerequisites

If you're planning to use the (M14 EBR + Single Piston Long Musket) loadout, Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC is required to unlock the Single Piston Long Musket outside of Test Maps and servers that run the Weapon DLC Unlocker.

Description

The EBR StunSharp playstyle makes use of M14 EBR and a secondary rifle which is capable of stunning Scrakes - Lever-action rifle (LAR) or Single Piston Long Musket (Musket).

This playstyle is effective enough for all purposes, but its strongest side is the large zed killing potential.

Both of the loadouts include the on-perk weapon with the second best Fleshpound burst kill speed (M14, the first one is M99) and an option to safely deal with Scrakes thanks to the stun affliction. (M14 + Musket) takes it to the next level and combines two weapons which make it possible to kill a 6p HoE Fleshpound before its rage animation finishes in the same weapon set.

Both of the loadouts offer the largest effective ammo pools for dealing with large zeds before running dry.

Stat-wise, Musket is a more optimal choice than LAR in nearly every away (apart from the price and the ability to throw grenades at the fastest rate possible), but it's locked behind a paywall - the Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC. If you don't own the DLC or are not willing to use Musket for ethical reasons (it's often considered borderline overpowered), LAR is a perfectly fine substitute. However, the implications for weapon usage are going to differ depending on the secondary rifle carried with M14 EBR. For this reason, (M14 + LAR) and (M14 + Musket) are listed separately.

M14 + LAR

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
LAR	Scrakes (primary option). Sirens and Husks (1 headshot). Singular Gorefasts and Bloats. Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers (1 shot in any part of the Crawler's body kills it).
M14	Fleshpounds (primary option). A fallback option for Scrakes when there's no time to reload LAR. Multiple Gorefasts and Bloats. Heavy traffic of trash zeds which doesn't allow you to reload LAR in a timely manner or makes switching the weapons undesirable.

The rules regarding weapon usage for this loadout are not set in stone. Depending on the holdout spot, spawn intensity and team / lane composition, one of the rifles might get used more often than the other one (either M14 or LAR). For instance, if too many hectic situations occurred in the lane and you found yourself using M14 too often, its ammo pool is going to be drained more than LAR's ammo pool, and you might need to make extensive use of LAR in order to save M14 ammo whenever the situation permits.

To put it simply, if one of the rifles starts getting low on ammo, start using the other rifle. It's fine to start large zed takedowns with one rifle and finish them with the other one in order to save ammo, too.

M14 + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
Musket	The primary weapon for all large zeds. Sirens and Husks (1 headshot). Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers and Stalkers (1 shot in any part of the body kills them).
M14	Gorefasts and Bloats. Heavy traffic of trash zeds. A fallback option for large zed takedowns when there's no time to reload Musket or when it's running low on ammo.

The implications of weapon usage for this loadout are more straightforward. 9mm is reserved for lower trash zeds, Musket - for large zeds, and M14 is meant to be used for all other purposes or as a fallback option for either 9mm or Musket. Each of the rifles allows you to kill 2 Fleshpounds before reloading given that all shots hit the target.

I should also note that in situations where both of the rifles start running low on ammo, you have an option to use 9mm for decapitating Gorefasts, Bloats and killing Sirens. However, do this with caution and make sure that your decapitated targets are not going to cause problems for both yourself and your teammates (such as blocking a Siren, a Husk or, worse, a large zed).

Loadouts | Gunslinger

Prerequisites

Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC is required to unlock the Single Piston Long Musket outside of Test Maps and servers that run the Weapon DLC Unlocker.

Description

This is a good all-around loadout that covers both trash killing and large zed killing. While the playstyles of EBR StunSharp and Dual Stun are geared towards large zed killing, the Gunslinger loadout offers stronger trash killing potential while providing sufficient large zed killing capabilities. I decided to name it that way because it is centered around pistols and resembles the KF 2 Gunslinger's v1064 SPX Meta (Deagle(s) + Magnum Revolvers + SPX).

Gunslinger-style loadouts make extensive use of strong handguns for trash cleaning. Unlike rifles (with M99 being the only exception), MK23, Handcannon, and .44 Magnum penetrate the targets and make it possible to kill more than 1 zed per shot given that their heads are lined up. Any combination of these handguns in their single-wielded or dual-wielded editions (e.g., Dual MK23 + Dual Handcannons or MK23 + Dual Handcannons) allows a level 6 Sharpshooter to kill more trash zeds than M14 EBR before running out of ammo (Sirens and Husks are exceptions from this pattern, but they should ideally be killed with a Musket anyway).

The main drawback of this loadout is inconvenient weapon switching with the default keybindings. The pistol slot is going to contain 3 weapons, meaning that selecting the necessary weapon in 1 tap is not always going to be possible. This can be partially mitigated by the "Switch To Last Weapon" keybind. For instance, if you're currently using MK23, pressing the "Slot 2" key will switch the weapon to 9mm, and pressing "Switch To Last Weapon" will change MK23 to Dual Handcannons. An alternative way to mitigate the issue is to use optimized weapon switching keybindings (described in the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching").

Another drawback is the fact that this loadout only offers 1 effective Fleshpound killing weapon.

The base form of this loadout is (MK23 + Dual Handcannons + Musket).

A single MK23 can be complemented with another MK23. This will provide better cumulative kills per magazine ratio (24 bullets in 2 magazines instead of 12 in 1) at the cost of slower reloading animation and slight inconvenience when aiming at longer ranges.

Dual Handcannons may be substituted with Dual .44 Magnums if the goal is to increase the ammo pool, but it comes at the cost of a slower reloading animation, iron sights not being horizontally aligned with the center of the screen (demonstrated in the section "Tips | Aiming"), as well as less room for error when it comes to Scrake takedowns.

All implications for weapon usage remain the same regardless of the core loadout modifications (the only exception is described further, below the table).

MK23 + Dual Handcannons + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo.
Musket	The primary weapon for Fleshpounds. Can be used for Sirens and Husks (1 headshot). Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers and Stalkers (1 shot in any part of the body kills them).
Dual Handcannons	Primary weapon for finishing off Scrakes stunned with Musket (this conserves Musket's ammo). A fallback weapon for situations when MK23 is running low on ammo or when the trash pressure starts getting extra high.

Note: this is the only optimal loadout that has room for 2 pairs of strong dual handguns.

There also exists a rather esoteric version of this loadout which will be described separately - (MK23 + Handcannon + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket). Dual Handcannons in the base loadout get substituted with Dual .44 Magnums, and a single MK23 gets complemented with a single Handcannon.

Much like its counterpart in Killing Floor 2 v1064 (1911 + Deagle + Dual Magnums + SPX), it provides the single largest ammo pool for dealing with trash zeds. You can literally pretend that the 9mm doesn't exist - all the trash cleaning handguns will (most likely) provide you with more ammo than you'll ever need for a vanilla game.

You will absolutely need to use custom optimized weapon switching keybindings to avoid wasting time cycling through 4 weapons in the same slot. This is the single biggest drawback of this weapon combination.

MK23 + Handcannon + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
MK23	The primary weapon for all trash zeds that are not Sirens and Husks. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo.
Musket	The primary weapon for Fleshpounds. Can be used for Sirens and Husks (1 headshot). Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers and Stalkers (1 shot in any part of the body kills them).
Dual .44 Magnums	Primary weapon for finishing off Scrakes stunned with Musket (this conserves Musket's ammo). A fallback weapon for situations when both MK23 and Deagle are running low on ammo or when the trash pressure starts getting extra high.
Handcannon	A fallback option for situations when either MK23 or Dual .44 Magnums are dry or low on ammo.
9mm	Use it for individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots) if you want to (but you most likely won't have to). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.

Loadouts | BowSharp

WARNING !

Over the course of multiple years this playstyle has earned a noticeably negative reputation on higher difficulties (Suicidal and Hell on Earth) for the following reasons:

• The ability to trivialize Scrake takedowns. Large zed takedowns which require skill and mastery are what makes this game fun on higher difficulties. Crossbow can make Scrakes as threatening as Clots which, in turn, is liable to ruin the fun for other players on the same server.
  
• Ease of access to complete newcomers.
  
• Lower skill ceiling (peak effectiveness in the hands of an experienced player) than what many other optimal Sharpshooter's loadouts offer.
  
• The ability to easily rage large zeds which shouldn't be raged thanks to the high scope zoom level and penetration.
  
• It is often a sign of an inexperienced Sharpshooter who has just transitioned from lower difficulties where Scrakes and Fleshpounds don't get universal resistance to the Crossbow bolts.

If more experienced players spot you using the Crossbow during non-Boss waves, they might be inclined to start a kick vote against you. In public games with players you don't know, use Crossbow-based loadouts with caution. When in doubt, ask the team if they're fine with your playstyle.

Description

This loadout revolves around a weapon every level 6 Sharpshooter spawns with - the Crossbow. Its strong damage per bolt, low recoil and penetration power makes it a rather easy to use weapon for large zed killing. Crossbow is complemented with two pistols - MK23 as a trash cleaning option and a Handcannon for conserving Crossbow bolts.

It is important to use single-wielded pistols rather than their dual-wielded editions outside of the Boss Wave because dual-wielding handguns doesn't increase their total ammo pool and leaves no room for a secondary strong handgun. With Dual MK23 and Dual Handcannons you might run into ammo issues in terms of trash cleaning, large zed killing or, worse, both.

This loadout has 3 weapons in the pistol slot. Optimizing the weapon switching using custom key bindings or at least the "Switch To Last Weapon" key is strongly encouraged. Detailed information on the topic of weapon switching optimization is available in the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching".

Crossbow + MK23 + Handcannon

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo. Even though most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon, it's recommended to use 9mm whenever the situation permits, as the main purpose of the other handgun - Handcannon - is to conserve Crossbow ammo.
Crossbow	The primary weapon for Scrakes and Fleshpounds. Can be used to kill Husks and Sirens with a single headshot if the remaining ammo reserve is large enough for the rest of the wave.
Handcannon	Primary weapon for finishing off Scrakes stunned with Crossbow (this conserves its bolts). A fallback weapon for situations when MK23 is running low on ammo.

While killing Scrakes and Fleshpounds with Crossbow exclusively may be intuitively appealing, 2 bolts per Scrake and 4 bolts per Fleshpound is a huge ammo waste which will backfire hard enough on later waves, especially when Scrakes are spawned together with Fleshpounds and large volumes of trash zeds. Make a habit of spending 1 Crossbow bolt per Scrake and 3 bolts per Fleshpound in 6p HoE scenarios. Which way exactly this should be done is demonstrated in the sections of this guide dedicated to large zed takedowns.

Remember: Crossbow is your only Fleshpound killing option. Scrakes can be killed fast enough with 3 weapons from your loadout - Crossbow, single MK23 and a single Handcannon (takedowns with handguns make use of mini-flinching). This is another reason why not wasting 2 bolts per Scrake is a good practice.

Only kill large zeds exclusively with Crossbow if you absolutely must.

Loadouts | EBR FlinchSharp

The key principle of this loadout is combining M14 with handguns. It is quite similar to what Gunslinger offers, but M14 takes the Musket's place, and MK23 is only available in its single-wielded edition.

This loadout excels at cleaning intensive traffic of trash zeds and provides weapons with high kill speed for each task. The downside, however, is that you won't be able to stun Scrakes and will have to mini-flinch them instead. Another drawback is the fact that this loadout only offers 1 effective Fleshpound killing weapon.

Nevertheless, it's one of the best options for laning with another Sharpshooter who has the capabilities of stunning Scrakes. A StunSharp partner can mitigate the main weakness of a flinch-only Sharpshooter. A flinch-only Sharpshooter with the suggested loadout can use the excellent trash cleaning performance and extensive ammo pools to deal with the vast majority of trash zeds in the lane, thus saving the partner's ammo and letting them focus on Scrakes, Husks and Sirens.

This loadout also has 3 weapons in the pistol slot. Optimizing the weapon switching using custom key bindings or at least the "Switch To Last Weapon" key is strongly encouraged. Detailed information on the topic of weapon switching optimization is available in the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching".

MK23 + Dual Handcannons + M14

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo.
M14	The primary weapon for killing Fleshpounds, Husks and Sirens. A combo starter for Scrake takedowns (the finishing weapon should be Dual Handcannons).
Dual Handcannons	Primary weapon for finishing off Scrakes predamaged or strategically raged with M14. A fallback weapon for situations when MK23 is running low on ammo or when the trash pressure starts getting extra high.

Loadouts | Dual Stun

Prerequisites

Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC is required to unlock the Single Piston Long Musket outside of Test Maps and servers that run the Weapon DLC Unlocker.

Description

This playstyle combines two rifles capable of stunning Scrakes in the same loadout. One of those rifles - Single Piston Long Musket - makes it possible to kill a 6p HoE Fleshpound before its rage animation finishes. This is one of the cheapest end-game loadouts for dealing with large zeds (only surpassed by the BowSharp if the player spawns with a Crossbow). It also provides sufficient trash cleaning capabilities.

MK23 + LAR + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo.
LAR	The primary weapon for Scrakes, Husks, and Sirens. Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers (1 shot in any part of the Crawler's body kills it).
Musket	The primary weapon for Fleshpounds. A fallback option for situations when the LAR runs dry.

This loadout places trash killing weapons in Slot 2, and the large zed killing weapons - in Slot 3. Optimizing the weapon switching is not required, as 9mm and LAR can be accessed by tapping their respective slots twice. If you're willing to optimize, however, the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching" describes how this can be done.

Loadouts | MedGun Sharp

Prerequisites

Community Weapon Pack 2 DLC is required to unlock the Single Piston Long Musket outside of Test Maps and servers that run the Weapon DLC Unlocker.

Description

This is a rather niche playstyle the purpose of which is getting 1 or 2 Medic weapons (depending on how much healing power you'll need) while still having access to effective options for both trash cleaning and large zed killing. Schneidzekk Medic Gun (Schneidzekk) and MP5M Medic Gun (MP5M) regenerate the healing darts faster than any other Medic weapon.

Schneidzekk + MK23 + Handcannon + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo.
Musket	The primary weapon for Fleshpounds. Can be used for Sirens and Husks (1 headshot). Also suitable for bodyshotting Crawlers and Stalkers (1 shot in any part of the body kills them).
Handcannon	Primary weapon for finishing off Scrakes stunned with Musket (this conserves Musket's ammo). A fallback weapon for situations when MK23 is running low on ammo.
Schneidzekk	Healing the teammates.

It's possible to use Schneidzekk for cleaning trash zeds, but it's not recommended to do so unless both of the pistols run out of ammo. The low magazine size combined with bullet slippage and low damage per bullet might result in frequent and undesirable reloads.

If you're low on dosh, MP5M is a perfectly fine substitute for Schneidzekk.

This loadout has 3 weapons in the pistol slot and also places the Medic Gun in the Musket's slot. Optimizing the weapon switching using custom key bindings (preferred) or at least the "Switch To Last Weapon" key is strongly encouraged. Detailed information on the topic of weapon switching optimization is available in the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching".

Schneidzekk + MP5M + MK23 + Musket

Weapon	Recommended usage
9mm	Individual Clots, Crawlers and Stalkers (headshots). In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot.
MK23	Gorefasts, Bloats, as well as multiple lower trash zeds aligned for headshots and crowds of trash zeds in general. Lining up the heads for penetration saves the ammo. Even though most of the time this is going to be the primary trash cleaning weapon, it's recommended to use 9mm whenever the situation permits, since using the MedGuns for this purpose might result in frequent and undesirable reloads.
Musket	The primary weapon for large zeds. Can be used for Sirens and Husks (1 headshot).
Schneidzekk	Healing the teammates. A fallback option for trash cleaning when MK23 is getting low on ammo.
MP5M	Healing the teammates. A fallback option for trash cleaning when MK23 is getting low on ammo.

With this loadout it is acceptable to use Schneidzekk and MP5M as secondary trash cleaning weapons when MK23 starts getting low on ammo. However, be wary of the lengthy reloads. Schneidzekk's reloading time is comparable to that of M79. MP5M's reloading animation takes even longer.

This loadout places both of the Medic Guns in the Musket's slot. Optimizing the weapon switching using custom key bindings (preferred) or at least the "Switch To Last Weapon" key is strongly encouraged. Detailed information on the topic of weapon switching optimization is available in the section "Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching".

Loadouts | Large zed trivializer

WARNING !

Over the course of multiple years this playstyle has earned a noticeably negative reputation on higher difficulties (Suicidal and Hell on Earth) for the following reasons:

• The ability to trivialize all large zed takedowns. Large zed takedowns which require skill and mastery are what makes this game fun on higher difficulties. M99 can make both Scrakes and Fleshpounds as threatening as Clots which, in turn, is liable to ruin the fun for other players on the same server.
  
• Ease of access to complete newcomers.
  
• Lower skill ceiling (peak effectiveness in the hands of an experienced player) than what other optimal Sharpshooter's loadouts offer. The only trash cleaning weapons which can be carried with M99 are the 9mm and Machete. This loadout offers hands down the worst self-defense capabilities and makes the Sharpshooter vulnerable to the tankier trash zeds (Gorefasts, Bloats, Husks, Sirens).
  
• The ability to easily rage large zeds which shouldn't be raged thanks to the high scope zoom level and penetration.
  
• It is often a sign of an inexperienced Sharpshooter who simply wants to poop on large zeds with no effort.
  
• This playstyle is a money sink. The large cost of M99 ammo may cause inexperienced players who don't manage their dosh reserves properly to constantly beg for dosh.

If more experienced players spot you using the M99 during non-Boss waves, they might be inclined to start a kickvote against you. In public games with players you don't know, use M99 with caution. When in doubt, ask the team if they're fine with your playstyle.

Description

There's not much to say about this playstyle. The only weapons you can carry are M99, 9mm and Machete. It takes no skill to use, and the only things it excels at is deleting large zeds with no effort put in the process.

Weapon	Recommended usage
M99	1 headshot to kill a Scrake. 2 headshots to kill a Fleshpound. You may also use it for Husks and other trash zeds if you absolutely must.
9mm	The primary trash cleaning option. In HoE matches 1 9mm headshot decapitates the Clot. You can either wait until it bleeds out or finish it off with another 9mm shot. Use the 9mm for decapitating Gorefasts, Bloats and killing Sirens if you absolutely must. However, do this with caution and make sure that your decapitated targets are not going to cause problems for both yourself and your teammates (such as blocking a Siren, a Husk or, worse, a large zed).
Machete	Use it for solitary Clots, Stalkers, Crawlers and Gorefasts which don't present a huge threat. This will conserve the 9mm ammo.

This loadout makes it possible to be a solitary large zed killer for the entire team. One or two M99 Sharpshooters, call-outs, and the zeds will not really be a large threat any longer.

M99 can also be used during the Boss Wave.

Loadouts | Boss Fighter

WARNING !

This loadout is not meant to be used outside of the Boss Wave. If you are willing to use Crossbow during the regular waves, consider the BowSharp loadout instead.

Description

This loadout is intended to be used during the Boss Wave only. It combines a spike damage weapon (Crossbow) and dual handguns with the highest sustained DPS potential (Dual Handcannons) in the same loadout.

Crossbow + Dual Handcannons

Weapon	Recommended usage
Crossbow	The primary weapon for draining the health pool of the Boss with headshots.
Dual Handcannons	The primary trash cleaning option. A burst damage option for finishing off the Patriarch when he is low enough on health.
9mm	A fallback option for trash cleaning when reloading the Dual Handcannons may be too risky or when the Dual Handcannons are running low on ammo.

In the event that you need to melee/Crossbow lock the Boss as a Sharpshooter, you may drop one of the Handcannons nearby to reduce the weight of carried equipment and increase the running speed. Pick the dropped Handcannon up as soon as you finish the locking process.

Suboptimal weapons | Preface

Just like many other first-person shooters, Killing Floor 1 has limitations with regard to how many and what kind of weapons a player can carry.

All perks with the exception of Support Specialist only have 15 blocks of weight with 14 blocks to spare (because one of them is always occupied with a 9mm).

Every loadout is built around a certain "core" weapon (or a set of such weapons) which occupies X blocks and "filler" weapons which occupy the remaining slots (14 - X). In this kind of environment, there will always be a "competition" for the weight blocks between weapons. If one weapon doesn't offer a good distinctive advantage over another one (which truly matters to the current task) or, alternatively, has some sort of a critical weakness, it is bound to become suboptimal.

While Sharpshooter has a good loadout diversity, its weapon selection still has a couple of suboptimal weapons which should not be used in end-game loadouts when playing seriously and doing your best to win:

• Single .44 Magnum
  
• Dual 9mms

Suboptimal weapons | .44 Magnum (Pt. 1)

Single .44 Magnum

A single .44 Magnum will always be competing with either a single MK23 or a single Handcannon in all of the optimal loadouts listed in this guide. Their raw stats, such as damage per shot, magazine size, total ammo pool, time to reload, price, etc., do not matter themselves. What truly matters is how these stats translate into effectiveness at the given task.

Weapon data

Metric	MK23	Handcannon	.44 Magnum
Damage per shot	82	115	105
Head damage per shot	216	302	276
Magazine size	12	8	6
Time to reload, s	1.63	1.38	1.58
Ammo pool	144	96	128
Firing interval, s	0.18	0.25	0.15

Headshots to kill / decapitate

Zed	MK23	Handcannon	.44 Magnum
Crawler	1	1	1
Stalker	1	1	1
Clot	1	1	1
Gorefast	1	1	1
Bloat	1	1	1
Siren	3	2	2
Husk	3	2	2
Scrake	14	10	11
Fleshpound	29 [DC]	21 [DC]	23 [DC]

Kills before reloading

Zed	MK23	Handcannon	.44 Magnum
Crawler	12	8	6
Stalker	12	8	6
Clot	12	8	6
Gorefast	12	8	6
Bloat	12	8	6
Siren	4	4	3
Husk	4	4	3
Scrake	0.86	0.8	0.55
Fleshpound	0.52	0.38	0.26

Kills per ammo pool

Zed	MK23	Handcannon	.44 Magnum
Crawler	144	96	128
Stalker	144	96	128
Clot	144	96	128
Gorefast	144	96	128
Bloat	144	96	128
Siren	48	48	64
Husk	48	48	64
Scrake	10.29	9.6	11.64
Fleshpound	4.97	4.57	5.57

As will be elaborated on further, .44 Magnum's main issue which causes it to be a suboptimal weapon is its critically low cylinder size.

.44 Magnum vs MK23

In all of the loadouts listed in this guide, MK23 is intended to be used for killing trash zeds. The metrics that matter most in trash killing are Kills Before Reloading (Kills Per Magazine), Time To Reload and Kills Per Ammo Pool.

A single MK23 has the same shots to kill as a single .44 Magnum for every trash zed below Siren and Husk but offers twice the kills before having to reload. Speaking of Husks and Sirens, .44 Magnum offers 1 less shot to kill and 1 less kill per magazine in 6p HoE scenarios. It is also important to note that in 5p HoE and below MK23 requires exactly the same number of headshots to kill Husks / Sirens as .44 Magnum.

A single .44 Magnum is reloaded 0.05 seconds faster than a single MK23. This advantage is so low that it may as well be negligible if there is an important difference when it comes to other metrics.

A single .44 Magnum offers 16 more kills per ammo pool than MK23 when it comes to Sirens and Husks. However, it offers 16 less kills per ammo pool for every other trash zed.

Any advantage a .44 Magnum may have over MK23 in terms of killing Husks / Sirens (as well as large zeds) becomes meaningless when every optimal loadout pairs these handguns with a rifle or secondary handgun(s) exactly for this purpose (for the sake of ammo efficiency, lower time to kill and lower shots to kill). Even if the loadouts didn't have a rifle or a secondary weapon for this purpose, these advantages do not make the .44 Magnum worth taking instead of MK23 at the cost of gimping the performance against lower trash zeds, which spawn in much larger quantities than Husks and Sirens.

This is also a textbook example of why increased damage does not matter if it does not produce meaningful results (a .44 Magnum has more damage per bullet than MK23). This concept is often referred to as the damage fallacy.

This weapon comparison may also be extended to the Handcannon vs MK23 comparison (although it's not explicitly elaborated on in this guide). If it comes to a choice between the two, MK23 is always going to be better for trash cleaning when playing Sharpshooter.

Suboptimal weapons | .44 Magnum (Pt. 2)

.44 Magnum vs Handcannon

When it comes to trash zeds, the only two things at which .44 Magnum is better than a Handcannon are kills per ammo pool and the firing interval.

The interval between 2 Handcannon shots is 0.03 seconds longer than the interval between .44 Magnum shots. This advantage is so low that it may as well be negligible if there is an important difference when it comes to other metrics.

.44 Magnum offers 16 more kills per ammo pool than Handcannon when it comes to Husks and 32 - when it comes to other trash zeds. While this is good, the ammo pool advantage comes at the cost of lower kills before reloading and, as a result, more frequent reloads. A single .44 Magnum reloads slower than a single Handcannon.

When it comes to large zeds, Time To Kill, Shots To Kill, Room For Error, Kills Before Reloading (Kills Per Magazine) and Kills Per Ammo Pool are important. The only large zed a Sharpshooter should be trying to take down or finish off with a single .44 Magnum or Handcannon is a Scrake.

Scrake killing

Metric	.44 Magnum	Handcannon
Time To Kill, s	2.93	3.38
Time To Kill After Reloading, s	4.51	4.75
Headshots to kill	11	10
Room For Error	1 [Reload] 0	3 [Reload] 3
Kills Before Reloading	0.55	0.8
Kills Per Ammo Pool	11.64	9.6

A single .44 Magnum revolver could have been a good handgun for dealing with Scrakes if it hadn't been a victim of the following critical flaw: low room for error (which originates from its critically low cylinder size). The Room For Error is relevant for the following main reasons:

• It has a direct impact on how often the weapon has to be reloaded before a large zed takedown.
  
• It has a direct impact on how many trash zeds you can afford to kill before starting a large zed takedown or during it (the pre-damage phase), without having to reload. Even if the Sharpshooter does not miss any shots, low room for error necessitates a reload in the event that you've spent some portion of the magazine / cylinder on trash zeds.
  
• It reflects the number of shots you can afford to miss during a large zed takedown without having to reload before the zed is dead.

.44 Magnum beats Handcannon in terms of TTK a Scrake (both TTK and TTK Before Reloading), but only in nearly ideal circumstances: if the Sharpshooter has no less than 5 bullets in the cylinder prior to the takedown. Less than 5 bullets will result in not just 1, but 2 reload cycles, which will prolong the TTK.

It is also important to note that in 6p HoE scenarios 6 .44 Magnum headshots rage the Scrake, so the pre-damage phase should make use of 5 headshots at most. After this pre-damage stage, however, the Scrake will need to be put down using a full cylinder of 6 bullets.

Because of this critical flaw, it is not desirable to take .44 Magnum instead of the Handcannon for Scrake takedowns.

Finally, it is also important to note that in many of the optimal loadouts Handcannon is used as a fallback trash cleaning option. When the above mentioned critical flaw of a .44 Magnum is combined with its poor trash cleaning capabilities, it turns into a horrible mix of weaknesses which are not desirable to have. Even though a Handcannon is slightly weaker than .44 Magnum at Scrake takedowns (in ideal circumstances), Handcannon's TTK values are still acceptable.

Suboptimal weapons | Dual 9mms

The 2nd 9mm pistol would be a nice complementary option to the 1st 9mm pistol ... if the Dual 9mm pistols didn't occupy 4 blocks of weight.

Every single pair of handguns occupies 4 blocks. Having Dual 9mm pistols in the loadout prevents you from equipping yourself with better handgun combinations, such as Dual MK23 (if you're looking for a large kills per magazine potential), Dual Handcannons, Dual .44 Magnums, and MK 23 + Handcannon.

As such, the Dual 9mms are never an optimal choice in any end-game loadout (but they can be used to obtain free 9mm ammo, as described in the section "Tips | Full 9mm ammo for 38 dosh").

Takedowns | Scrake | Part 1

LAR Only | Hipfiring

5 LAR headshots.

1. 3 LAR headshots while the head hitbox is still up.
2. 2 LAR headshots when the head hitbox goes down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY6AWI8gFO0

LAR Only | Quickscoping

Same as above, but quickscoping is done to reassert the center of the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOc1bXTks3o

M14 predamage into LAR stun

1. 3 M14 headshots (predamage).
2. 3 LAR headshots while the head hitbox is up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G3bXe0wmmc

M14 rage into LAR stun

1. 4 M14 headshots (rage).
2. 2 LAR headshots while the head hitbox is still up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMePVjlRkPQ

LAR stun into M14

1. 1 LAR headshot (stun).
2. 2 M14 headshots while the head hitbox is still up.
3. 4 M14 headshots when the head hitbox goes down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43ruAgre5FM

Musket only | Hipfiring

4 Musket headshots.

1. 3 Musket headshots while the head hitbox is still up.
2. 1 Musket headshot when the head hitbox goes down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aP06uvd7pYo

Musket only | Quickscoping

Same as above, but quickscoping is done to reassert the center of the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9hPoANlFzM

M14 predamage into Musket stun

1. 3 M14 headshots (predamage).
2. 2 Musket headshots while the head hitbox is still up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2yjTxF6fdM

M14 rage into Musket stun

1. 4 M14 headshots (rage).
2. 2 Musket headshots while the head hitbox is up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBfE8Hs4q68

Musket stun into M14

1. 1 Musket headshot (stun).
2. 2 M14 headshots while the head hitbox is still up.
3. 3 M14 headshots when the head hitbox goes down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L00TpU0KLGY

Takedowns | Scrake | Part 2

Musket only | Long Range

At longer ranges it's recommended to zoom in.

Aim with the center of the chevron, not its tip. The section "Aiming | Musket's reticle" shows what part of the reticle exactly to aim with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AoR-2_v5fo

M14 rage into LAR stun | Long Range

Sometimes (lanes with a long line of sight, for instance) it might be convenient to drag the Scrake closer by raging it and finishing it off with a stun weapon (LAR or Musket) when it gets closer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoqDs4ODkl0

Crossbow only

2 Crossbow headshots.

To land the 2nd headshot aim at the spot where Scrake's head model was before the 1st headshot. Don't wait for the hitbox to match the model - fire right away, this allows you to kill the Scrake faster.

Even killing a Husk with a Handcannon is harder than this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2uLMeBSEfk

Crossbow stun into Handcannon finisher

1. 1 Crossbow headshot (stun).
2. 1 Handcannon headshot (when the head hitbox is still up).
3. 4 Handcannon headshots (when the head hitbox goes down).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJZDxrozNew

Crossbow stun into MK23 finisher

1. 1 Crossbow headshot (stun).
2. 1 MK23 headshot (when the head hitbox is still up).
3. 6 MK23 headshots (when the head hitbox goes down).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apMkJRjQULE

Handcannon predamage into Crossbow finisher

1. 5 Handcannon headshots (predamage).
2. 1 Crossbow headshot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C36GH3cqpo8

Handcannon rage into Crossbow finisher

1. 6 Handcannon headshots (rage).
2. 1 Crossbow headshot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbPndtyEPVo

Takedowns | Scrake | Part 3

M14 | Mini-flinching

7 M14 headshots.

Come close to the Scrake and perform a headshot from M14 right as you "walk into" it. Land the rest of the headshots in quick succession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f9VjP_496w

Dual Handcannons | Mini-flinching

10 headshots from Dual Handcannons.

Come close to the Scrake and perform a headshot from Dual Handcannons right as you "walk into" it. Land the rest of the headshots in quick succession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nUJ9AsZ8Vs

Dual MK23 | Mini-flinching

14 headshots from Dual MK23.

Come close to the Scrake and perform a headshot from Dual MK23s right as you "walk into" it. Land the rest of the headshots in quick succession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl5GufWshmY

Dual .44 Magnums | Mini-flinching

11 headshots from Dual .44 Magnums.

Come close to the Scrake and perform a headshot from Dual .44 Magnums right as you "walk into" it. Land the rest of the headshots in quick succession.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX8Zjj3fStQ

M14 rage into Dual Handcannons finisher

1. 4 M14 headshots (predamage without raging the Scrake). Ideally, you should start backpedaling during the 4th headshot (which rages the Scrake) or earlier.
2. 4 headshots from Dual Handcannons fired quickly while backpedaling. It's recommended not to aim down the sights or quickscope at all, as the Scrake is going to approach you extremely quickly if you slow down even for a moment.

If done quickly enough and/or there's sufficient distance between the Sharpshooter and the Scrake, the Scrake should be killed before there's even a need to mini-flinch it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU3nYP_hJLM

Single Handcannon | Mini-flinching

The key principle is the same as demonstrated in the version of this takedown involving Dual Handcannons. However, the magazine capacity of a single Handcannon doesn't allow you to kill the Scrake without reloading mid-takedown.

1. 5 Handcannon headshots (predamage).
2. Reload Handcannon.
3. 5 Handcannon headshots (mini-flinching).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CDiX2L4Qjs

Single MK23 | Mini-flinching

The key principle is the same as demonstrated in the version of this takedown involving Dual MK23. However, the magazine capacity of a single MK23 doesn't allow you to kill the Scrake without reloading mid-takedown.

1. 7 MK23 headshots (predamage).
2. Reload MK23.
3. 7 MK23 headshots (mini-flinching).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmmncGK2NV8

M99

Do I really need to demonstrate Clot takedowns, huehuehue? If you can kill a Clot with 1 headshot from MK23, you can do this as well. The only major difference is that both the zed and the gun become bigger.

Takedowns | Fleshpound | Part 1

M14 | 1-3-4-2 burst pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC7KghnnDFE

M14 | 4-4-2 burst pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwIookrNxn8

M14 | 1-4-5 burst pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9cU_rq2Poo

M14 | 5-5 burst pattern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msw0QodJlOY

M14 | 5-5 burst pattern | Quickscoping

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpWatBAZf1g

M14 | All 10 shots without pauses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zawrf9VoWwA

Musket | Hipfiring

5 Musket headshots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuUVZGkINNk

Musket | Quickscoping

Same as above. 5 Musket headshots. Quickscoping is done to reassert the center of the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BOWM__7Evw

Takedowns | Fleshpound | Part 2

LAR Only

7 LAR headshots.

This takedown not only is risky but also eats a large portion of LAR's magazine. For this reason, it's recommended to predamage the Fleshpound whenever the situation permits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vldL9nHKCNw

LAR with M14 predamage

1. 1 M14 headshot.
2. Wait (2 seconds so as not to rage it).
3. 1 M14 headshot.
4. 5 LAR headshots.

If done quickly, the Fleshpound should be dead before its rage animation finishes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMfs1TtUwos

LAR with 9mm predamage | Hipfiring

1. 2 9mm headshots (predamage).
2. 6 LAR headshots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANcBdxWD7iA

LAR with 9mm predamage | Quickscoping

Same as above. Quickscoping is done to reassert the center of the screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSwInls4icc

Crossbow with Handcannon predamage

1. 1 Handcannon headshot.
2. 2 Crossbow headshots.
3. 1 Crossbow headshot shortly after the FP exits the rage animation. Take a closer look at when exactly I shoot: it's important because at this moment double penetration happens (the bolt deals damage to both the head and the body). If the bolt only hits the head, the Fleshpound is going to roam headless for some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRpIl4W_lac

Crossbow with Handcannon predamage | Reload animation skipping

Same as above. Skipping Crossbow's reload animation by quickly switching weapons provides no real benefit other than increasing visibility.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndaZbie_MH0

Crossbow with MK23 predamage

1. 1 MK23 headshot.
2. 2 Crossbow headshots.
3. 1 Crossbow headshot shortly after the FP exits the rage animation. Take a closer look at when exactly I shoot: it's important because at this moment double penetration happens (the bolt deals damage to both the head and the body). If the bolt only hits the head, the Fleshpound is going to roam headless for some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou1H18CcHmg

Crossbow with 9mm predamage

1. 2 9mm headshots.
2. 2 Crossbow headshots.
3. 1 Crossbow headshot shortly after the FP exits the rage animation. Take a closer look at when exactly I shoot: it's important because at this moment double penetration happens (the bolt deals damage to both the head and the body). If the bolt only hits the head, the Fleshpound is going to roam headless for some time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXuhthoHEoM

M99

Haha, do I really need to demonstrate Husk takedowns? If you can kill a Husk with 2 headshots from a Handcannon, you can do this as well. The only major difference is that both the zed and the gun become bigger.

Takedowns | Multiple Scrakes

M14 into LAR

1. Rage the closest Scrake with M14 (requires 4 headshots in 6p HoE scenarios).
2. Quickly switch to LAR.
3. Stun it and finish it off (2 LAR headshots).
4. Switch back to M14.
5. Pre-damage the other Scrake without raging it (requires 3 shots in 6p HoE scenarios).
6. Quickly switch to LAR.
7. Stun it and finish it off (3 LAR headshots).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpF0A3Z7rSE

Crossbow into Handcannon

1. Line up the heads of 2 Scrakes.
2. Quickly land 2 Crossbow headshots.
3. The 1st Scrake should be dead by now. Switch to Handcannon and finish off the last one with 2 headshots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qA-fJX5gZY

M99

1. Line up the heads of 2 Scrakes.
2. Land 1 headshot from M99.
3. Feel better than you really should for making the Scrakes as threatening as Clots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrgvVxwivWY

Takedowns | Multiple Fleshpounds

M14 only

Taking down 2 Fleshpounds in a row with M14 (a weapon not capable of penetration) requires lining them up to ensure that the 1st Fleshpound (closest to the player) bodyblocks the 2nd Fleshpound, cuts his line of sight and prevents him from entering the raged state while the player is dealing with the first Fleshpound.

Unfortunately, when 2 Fleshpounds are lined up, the 1st Fleshpound will start walking backwards (which will make the takedown slightly difficult). Do not panic-fire and simply space out your shots.

M14 itself and Sharpshooter's loadouts that have this weapon work best for taking down multiple Fleshpounds. M14 has one of the fastest burst killspeed values, allows a Sharpshooter to kill 2 Fleshpounds before reloading, and provides the best room for error to kill 1 Fleshpounds in case some shots are missed. It also has no penetration (unlike M99 and Crossbow), which ensures that the 2nd Fleshpound is not accidentally raged during the 1st FP takedown.

Personally, I perform the following steps to deal with double Fleshpounds to ensure the safety of the takedown. Your methods may vary.

1. Line up both of the Fleshpounds.
2. Wait until the 1st Fleshpound (closest to you) starts walking normally and turns his face to you instead of walking backwards. If you intend to start the takedown with M14, you can pre-damage the Fleshpound while you're waiting - one shot per 2 seconds will not deal enough damage to rage it. Do not do this with Musket or LAR - these weapons will rage it on the 1st headshot.
3. As soon as the 1st Fleshpound starts walking normally, start the takedown by firing some shots into its head. I usually perform 3 quick M14 headshots.
4. When it starts walking backwards again, aim for the back of its head or neck and land as many shots as you can afford to. I usually land 4 M14 headshots.
5. If the Fleshpound is not dead by now, land the remaining headshot(s) whenever you see fit, but do it quickly. In this case, I only had to land 1 M14 headshot.
6. Reload your current weapon or switch to another one if the magazine does not have enough shots for the next FP takedown. You may also keep shooting the next Fleshpound with your current weapon if you're confident enough and/or ready to perform a quick weapon swap in case you miss some headshots.
7. Take down the other Fleshpound using a reasonable method of your choice. I used the 4-5-1 burst pattern for M14.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRQ540ppUo4

Musket only

The process of taking down 2 Fleshpounds in a row with Musket if similar to doing the same thing with M14, but has 2 key differences:

• Just one Musket headshot is sufficient to rage the Fleshpound. Pre-damaging the Fleshpound with Musket is not going to be possible. If you wish to do that, switch to another weapon (e.g., M14 or Dual Desert Eagles) that requires more than 1 headshot per 2 seconds to reach the rage threshold.
  
• Higher firing interval between shots makes Musket a less forgiving weapon in the event that some shots are missed.

Personally, I perform the following steps to deal with double Fleshpounds to ensure the safety of the takedown. Your methods may vary.

1. Line up both of the Fleshpounds.
2. Wait until the 1st Fleshpound (closest to you) starts walking normally and turns his face to you instead of walking backwards.
3. As soon as the 1st Fleshpound starts walking normally, start the takedown by firing some shots into its head. I usually perform 2 quick Musket headshots.
4. When it starts walking backwards again, aim for the back of its head or neck and land as many shots as you can afford to. I usually land 2-3 Musket headshots.
5. If the Fleshpound is not dead by now, land the remaining headshot(s) whenever you see fit, but do it quickly.
6. Reload Musket or switch to another weapon if the magazine does not have enough shots for the next FP takedown. You may also keep shooting the next Fleshpound with your current weapon if you're confident enough and/or ready to perform a quick weapon swap in case you miss some headshots.
7. Take down the other Fleshpound using a reasonable method of your choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap5NpGjYBww

Aiming | General

Avoid aiming down the sights

Even though aiming with iron sights and using the scopes may seem intuitively appealing, it is counterproductive and completely redundant in most situations. Sharpshooter's weapons are accurate when fired from the hip, and their spread in "full spam" mode is not wide enough to justify the usage of iron sights / scopes.

When firing from the hip is sufficiently effective, the following disadvantages of aiming with the iron sights / scopes outweigh the benefits of doing so.

Reduced visibility and, as a result, worse situational awareness

You may miss a zed approaching from a spot completely obstructed by your character's hand or the weapon model. This is especially bad when those zeds are Crawlers, Stalkers, Sirens or Husks.

Hard time staying on target during large zed takedowns

Large zeds should be killed as quickly as possible, and in order to accomplish this, their weak spots (most of the time they're heads) should be clearly visible. Weapons with strong recoil (M14 EBR, for instance) and/or weapons with wobbling animations in ADS mode (Musket and LAR, for instance) will be severely obstructing the vision and, as a result, may force you to shoot slower.

Reduced movement speed

There might be situations when you might need to kill Scrakes without stun-triggering weapons (LAR, Musket, Crossbow). While they can be mini-flinched at point-blank range, backpedalling and shooting will give you an opportunity to kill the Scrake in question before it even gets in the melee range. Aiming down the sights is an almost guaranteed way to force yourself into mini-flinching or taking a hit if it fails.

Sometimes there might be situations when a Fleshpound has been ignored for too long and transitioned into the raged state before anyone has landed a single shot. In such situations hipfiring while backpedalling may prevent you from getting hit. Aiming down the sights, on the other hand, will force you to move slightly faster than a turtle.

Hipfire or quickscope instead

The correct way to aim is to use the center of the screen as a point of reference and pretend that the weapon's view model doesn't exist. Use any of the Test Maps linked in the section "Sharpshooter training", enable the crosshair, select the "Sharpshooter" perk and level 6. Focus exclusively on the point of reference the test environment provides (crosshair or the dot in the center of the screen). Try shooting some zeds, performing large zed takedowns or simply shooting at various objects in the map. See how effective that is for yourself.

The only exceptions from this rule are:

• Long-range engagement. It is acceptable to use the zooming capabilities of iron sights / scopes for killing zeds from distances long enough to make firing from the hip inconvenient.
  
• Prolonged automatic fire (or single-fire spamming) with weapons that have horrible bullet spread when hipfired at max rate of fire.
  
• Precisely identifying the center of the screen when the weapon's view model is not obstructive and/or doesn't have good quickscoping capabilities. It is also acceptable when the zed pressue is not high enough in the given lane.
  
• Quickscoping to find the center of the screen. However, this technique involves spending as little time using the ADS mode as possible and is not similar to simply aiming down the sights.

The problem is that outside of the test environments the crosshair is not going to be available. This, however, should not discourage you from not using the sights / scopes - the center of the screen is still there, it's just not clearly visible.

The center of the screen can be found using the technique known as "quickscoping".

Quickscope to find the center of the screen

Note: quickscoping is not possible with Crossbow and M99.

"Quick Iron Sights" is the optimal key bind for quickscoping. Do not use "Toggle Iron Sights".

Quickscoping in the Killing Floor series is slightly different than in the Counter-Strike and Call Of Duty series where scoped weapons may have poor accuracy when hipfired. You do not need to wait until the ADS animation is fully over, as all the bonuses related to aiming down the sights are applied immediately after pressing the respective key.

Finding the center of the screen with the quickscoping technique is done as follows:

1. Press and hold the "Quick Iron Sights" key.
   
2. Find the center of the screen.
   
3. Shoot.
   
4. Release the key.

Steps 1 and 2 should take fractions of a second when done correctly.

Speaking of step 2, the best way to tell where the center of the screen is located after quickscoping is to practice quickscoping on zeds enough and get a feel for it. This is how I would put it in words:

When you press and hold the "Quick Iron Sights" key, your weapon should start zooming in. The longer you hold it, the more it zooms in.

As it zooms in, what you see on the screen will start moving. The most noticeable movement is going to happen in the corners of the screen - they are the farthest portions of the screen from the center. The central area of the screen should have the least amount of movement. Look at the central location and focus on the area which either doesn't move at all or moves very little. This is where the center of the screen is.

The weapons that provide the best quickscoping capabilities are the ones with a high zoom level in ADS mode. Try quickscoping with Musket, M14, MK23, and 9mm. You'll most likely find quickscoping with Musket and M14 much easier than with 9mm. MK23 is going to be somewhere between the rifles and 9mm in terms of quickscoping convenience.

Use M14's laser sight to find the center of the screen

If you're using M14, you can use its laser sight to locate the center of the screen. However, do not trust it 100% of the time - there may be occasions where the laser dot might go horribly off tangent due to debris / uneven map geometry or a zed that decided to overextend in front of another zed. When in doubt, reassert the center of the screen by quickscoping or aiming down the sights if you absolutely must.

Aiming | Finding CoS with the scoreboard

Using scoreboard to find the center of the screen

It is possible to identify the center of the screen by its position in relation to the scoreboard's elements. In order to find out where it is, perform the following steps:

1. Make sure that your "Scope Detail" is set to "Textured" (see section "Aiming | Set "Scope Detail" to "Textured" " for more details).

2. Load Mutant's TheTestmap-2 (mentioned in the section "Sharpshooter training") and add 5 faked players. Alternatively, simply have enough players on the server (5-6).

3. Obtain a Crossbow.

4. Select the crossbow, aim down the sights until its the texture of its scope shows up, and hold the key if you're using the "Quick Iron Sights" aiming method (you should, as it is superior to "Toggle Iron Sights").

5. Toggle the scoreboard.

6. The intersection of the two main axis lines will be the center of the screen. Pay attention to the scoreboard elements located close to it. Its exact position is going to depend on the resolution and the type of scoreboard. When it comes to the standard scoreboard, the center of the screen is usually located inside the "Kills" column.

In my case (1920 x 1080), center of the screen is located right on top of the 5th player's kill count.


Please note that this method of reasserting the center of the screen is rather situational and, as such, you shouldn't make a habit of relying on it. It will not work if the player count is lower than what it needs to be. You will also have to find a different "sweet spot" if you happen to play on a server with a custom scoreboard.

Credit goes to Immortal Nub for suggesting this aiming method.

Aiming | Mouse settings

Consistent aim is extremely important not only for playing Sharpshooter in Killing Floor 1, but for playing any first-person shooter in general. Every obstacle preventing you from achieving 1:1 in-game mouse input must be taken care of. This includes but is not limited to:

• Completely disabling the mouse acceleration.
  
• Completely disabling the mouse smoothing.
  
• Getting rid of in-game X and Y axis multipliers for mouse movement.
  
• Disabling any option which automatically switches your center of the screen to a particular target, shakes the screen or takes away full control of the mouse movement in other ways (unless there is an exceptionally good reason to use it).

Killing Floor 1 has a number of settings which, if enabled, will be detrimental in the process of developing consistent aim in one way or another. These settings should be either toggled off or set to 0.

• Mouse Accel. Threshold: 0.00
  
• Mouse Smoothing: Off
  
• Mouse Smoothing Strength: 0.00
  
• Reduce Mouse Lag: Off
  
• Auto Slope: Off

An additional step is to make sure that the polling rate of your mouse is correctly reflected in the configuration file (this parameter cannot be altered via the in-game menu).

Open the following file:

<YourSteamDir>\SteamApps\common\KillingFloor\System\User.ini

Find the line that starts with MouseSamplingTime.

Divide 1 by the polling rate of your mouse. Make sure that the number you've just obtained matches the value of MouseSamplingTime. If it doesn't, back up this line and save it in an external file which the game will never be able to edit. After that, replace the value in the configuration file with your newly calculated value.

Other tweaks not directly related to the in-game's mouse settings which may help to polish the mouse movement are listed in the following guide.

Mouse Sensitivity

A universal metric for determining the desired mouse sensitivity which is not tied to particular mouse DPI (Dots Per Inch) settings and in-game sensitivity values is centimeters (or inches) per 360-degree turn. Depending on the mouse size, preferred mouse grip style, in-game playstyle, and simply personal preference, each player's sensitivity is going to vary. While you should pick whatever is comfortable for you, there're several things to keep in mind.

The lower your sensitivity is, the more surface area you will be able to use for aiming. You will, however, need to have that area in the first place. A book, a notepad, arm caps of a chair not optimized for gaming purposes will most likely not provide you with the necessary amount of space. Make sure to have enough space on your desk for the desired sensitivity and, preferably, a mousepad with the corresponding size.

Lower sensitivity allows you to aim with a higher degree of precision than higher sensitivity.

For a game like KF 1 you should ideally be able to aim precisely and consistently within a 135-degree angle (when holding a lane) while still being able to comfortably do a 180-degree turn (in case you'll need to replace / help a teammate on another lane or transition into kiting).

If you're not sure which sensitivity you should pick and have to choose between lower and higher sensitivity, make the choice in favour of the lower sensitivity. Ideally, when both you and the teammates are doing their jobs well on higher difficulties, you should be able to hold the designated spot without retreating and running around the map. Holding is more important than kiting, and the sensitivity choice should be made accordingly.

Sensitivity which requires less than 15 cm (~5.9 inches) per 360-degree turn is not reasonable. There is very little surface area to work with, and this is a great recipe for aiming inconsistencies, overcompensation for the recoil, as well as missing the target when attempting to aim quickly. Intensive aiming sessions with this sensitivity (whether they're matches where you have to hold a heavy traffic lane or a simple aim training session) are likely to cause wrist ache.

Sensitivity which requires more than 90 cm (~35.43 inches) per 360-degree turn is also not reasonable. While you'll have a lot of surface area to work with, you're most likely going to have problems during kiting, lane switching and panic situations in general.

Aiming | Musket's reticle

Single Pistol Long Musket - Scope

If you have to use the Musket's scope, be aware of the fact the center of the screen (CoS) is not located where you might expect it to be:

• Vertical alignment: CoS is slightly above the center of the chevron.
  
• Horizontal alignment: CoS is located a few pixels to the right of the chevron's tip.

To put it simply, aim with the center of the chevron, not with its tip. For ranges where every pixel counts (very rare occasions), perform precise vertical and horizontal compensation by aiming with an imaginary dot (the green dot in the picture represents the center of the screen. Enlarge the image to see it better).

Aiming | Dualies

Aiming with dual-wielded handguns

When it comes to using the ADS mode with dual handguns, it's better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times.

To put it in words simply, when you use the ADS mode, the center of the screen is going to be located between the front sights for dual pistols.

Dual Handcannons


Dual MK23s


Dual 9mms


Dual .44 Magnums

Speaking of Dual .44 Magnum Revolvers, the center of the screen is located slightly above the rear sights (vertically). Aim between the rear sights and slightly above them.

Using 9mm to aim with dual handguns

The principle behind this trick is to use a single-wielded handgun to pinpoint the center of the screen. A single 9mm pistol should be available in every loadout. If you have an easily accessible key / button to spare, you can use the following keybind:

set input <key> GetWeapon Single | OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon

Hold this key / button, use your "Quick Iron Sights" keybind to find the center of the screen precisely, release both keys.

If this command is bound to a key on the keyboard, it should be located not far from the WSAD keys. If it's bound to a mouse button, make sure that you will be able to shoot and aim down the sights while holding it.

Quickscoping

Finally, always remember that quickscoping to reassert the center of the screen works with dual handguns, too. The "quickscoping" technique is described in the section "Aiming | General".

Aiming | Set "Scope Detail" to "Textured"

Settings -> Display -> Options (the rightmost section) -> Scope Detail -> Textured.


This setting affects what happens when you aim down the sights with a Crossbow and M99 (which way the scope is rendered). "Textured" covers the screen with a scope in the form of a texture. The alternative option ("Model") changes the perspective of a weapon model and applies a zoomed-in image to the scope's ocular lens.

"Textured" scope detail is always a better choice because the full zoomed-in image gets applied faster. As a result, the player gets to aim and reassert the center of the screen faster as well.

Laning w/ other perks | General

Killing Floor 1 is a team game where actions of an individual player affect the performance and enjoyment of the teammates. There exist both positive and negative interactions between the perks and players in general. Some actions are severely detrimental to the team functionality and may cause a wipe. This section elaborates on the most important general principles of sharing a lane with other players which are not tied to specific perk choices.

Do not cause problems for other players

What is good for the team comes first. What is good for an individual player comes after that. If you're going to act in a way that the teammates find disruptive, they will complain and have every right to do so, regardless of the fact that you may find it "fun".

Do not share a lane with perks you don't synergize well with

For instance, if you are a Sharpshooter, it's recommended to avoid laning with Berserkers and Firebugs. Their close-ranged and chaotic nature will cause too many problems for a ranged perk with a heavy focus on headshot damage.

Try to address the weaknesses of other players

If you're sharing a lane with a perk that is going to have problems with taking down Fleshpounds, become the designated Fleshpound killer (Commando & Sharpshooter combination, for instance). If your partner has issues with trash zeds in one way or another, assist them with trash cleaning (Sharpshooter & Demolitionist combination, for instance).

Get the aggro if you are a large zed killer

Unless you are a Demolitionist who may benefit from not getting the aggro to have an easier time manually setting off a Pipe Bomb, it is recommended to get the attention of a large zed whenever you're expected to take it down. This will make its behavior predictable and controllable for you.

In order to do this, be close to the zed (preferably closer than other teammates) and shoot it with a weak weapon (so as not to rage it) once or twice.

If you're going to be the primary large zed killer in the lane, stay slightly forward of other players. No need to cross paths with them, bodyblock or overextend too far. Just a couple of small steps (while remaining in the same portion of the lane) will be fine to draw the large zed aggro to yourself.

Use the call-outs

If you need help with a large zed or simply need to warn other players about their presence in your lane, you can use the following text chat keybinds:

set input <key> say Scrake | speech auto 14

set input <key> say Fleshpound | speech auto 12

set input <key> say 2x Fleshpound | speech auto 12

set input <key> say Multiple Fleshpounds | speech auto 12

If your lane is getting pushed, make sure to let other players know about it so that they can either send someone to help you or get ready to transition into kiting:

set input <key> say Getting Pushed!

If you are low on health, you can request healing with the following keybind:

set input <key> teamsay Medic! I have %H! | speech support 0

All the keybinds listed above are commands which can be entered in the in-game console (opened by the ` key by default). Replace <key> with the key of your choice in each command (<> characters are not needed, they're only used for the sake of convenience).

Credit goes to Immortal Nub for providing these keybinds in his guide.

Kill count on the scoreboard does not matter

Many "Don'ts" mentioned in this section originate from the obsession with the kill count and attempting to steal kills from the teammates.

Kills on the scoreboard without additional context mean nothing. How many kills a player will get on the given holdout spot usually depends on the following factors:

• How many zeds the lane offers. The more, the better.
  
• What percentage of those zeds is easy to kill trash. The higher, the better.
  
• How many players share the lane with you. The less, the better. If you're holding it solo, you will likely have more kills than others.
  
• How much total ammunition the current perk / weapon combination offers. The more, the better. Some perks (e.g. Demolitionist or Medic), depending on the loadout, may not offer a sufficient amount of ammunition for dealing with all zeds solo.
  
• The shots to kill certain zeds, kills before reloading, time to reload, penetration and other factors are also important and affect the ammo consumption.

Primary trash cleaners holding heavy-traffic lanes are usually going to be topping the scoreboard. Generalists (such as a Sharpshooter or a Support Specialist) holding busy lanes solo are likely to have high kill counts as well. Demolitionists who play smart and do not spam explosives are usually going to be well below others. The same goes for Medics who have a central location in the team and assist all lanes from time to time. Additionally, a Commando or a generalist Sharpshooter may not get high kill counts when holding low-traffic lanes.

The kill count becomes an even less impressive metric when you realize that most of the zeds spawned during the game are easy to kill trash even a Medic or a Flamethrower Firebug can deal with. Kill count does not reflect interactions with the teammates, decision-making, positioning in the lane, target prioritization, performance at large zed takedowns (or form of assistance if it was a cooperative takedown), usage of call-outs, the loadout choice, proper weapon usage, and many other important things that do not have their place on the scoreboard.

The less an individual player is obsessed over their kill count, the fewer problems will be caused for players who share a lane with them.

Do not float around the holdout spot / map

Pick your lane, position within it and stick to it. Unless you're a solitary Demolitionist, Medic or an M99 Sharpshooter in the entire team, you should prioritize covering the direction designated to you so that other players do not get overrun as soon as your lane becomes abandoned.

Do not overextend in front of others to get action

Running in front of other players causes the zeds to switch their attention (making their behavior less predictable), walk in random directions, and/or make their weak zones less accessible. Not to mention that the bodyblocking caused in the process obscures the vision, completely absorbs bullets fired from weapons with no penetration and reduces the damage dealt by weapons capable of penetrating other players. It may also stop grenades in their path and get the player who threw / launched them killed.

Do not walk / jump in front of large zed killers

Perks that are going to be dealing with large zeds in the given lane need their attention (aggro). Dealing with a target that walks in a straight line is fairly less difficult than with a target that walks diagonally or turns their back to the player. It also lets the player who started a takedown reliably pull a finishing move without causing the zed to attack other players if it's part of the takedown or something went wrong.

Laning w/ other perks | Support

Trash cleaning

When you share a lane with a Support Specialist, the trash cleaning duties will primarily be on you. Even though Support is another generalist perk capable of killing all the zeds on its own, it is restricted by range, limited ammo pools of shotguns and slow reloads, which makes frequently shooting individual trash zeds undesirable if another perk is equipped for this purpose much better.

Out of all trash zeds Husks, Sirens, Bloats and Gorefasts should be the Sharpshooter's top priority.

Husks and Sirens are capable of dealing damage before they get into the effective range of Support's shotguns. Off-perked strong handguns (MK23 or Handcannon) are way less effective against these zeds than nearly all weapons from the Sharpshooter's arsenal.

In order to deal with Bloats and Gorefasts, a Support Specialist will either have to leave them wandering headless after decapitation with off-perked weapons or waste the already limited shotgun ammunition. Sharpshooter, on the other hand, can instantly delete these zeds with every weapon other than the 9mm pistol(s).

Dealing with large zeds

When it comes to large zeds, both perks can deal with them just fine.

Scrakes

If the Sharpshooter is carrying a weapon that is capable of stunning Scrakes, it is possible to set up a rather convenient takedown by shooting the Scrake in the head and letting the Support Specialist finish it off with spike damage from the Hunting Shotgun or quick bursts from another shotgun suitable for dealing with large zeds.

If you see a Support Specialist running up to a Scrake with a melee weapon or carefully positioning themselves for a jumpshot / no-flinch uppercut, it's better to not intervene and let the Support initiate the takedown so that the Scrake's movement and hitboxes stay as predictable as possible. If there are no threatening individual zeds or massive hordes of trash zeds nearby, you can watch how the Support's takedown goes and get ready to stun the Scrake in case if problems arise.

Fleshpounds

Fleshpounds can be taken down effectively by both the Sharpshooter and the Support Specialist. However, if you attempt to perform the Fleshpound takedowns together, you will most likely cause problems for each other.

Support's canonical grenade combos deplete the body health pool, and Sharpshooter's takedowns are targetting the separate head health pool. Grenades also cause screenshake and obfuscate the vision with smoke / particle effects.

Sharpshooter's sustained headshots may redirect the aggro from the Support, which, in turn, may fail the takedown initiation or the finishing move.

Communicate with each other and decide who's doing the takedown. In situations when you can't afford to communicate, you can get closer to a Fleshpound and shoot it with a 9mm or another pistol without raging it to get its attention. This should indicate that you are willing to do the takedown. Alternatively, if you see a Support running up to a calm Fleshpound, do not intervene and let them take care of it.

Buying a handgun for a Support

Support Specialist's optimal loadouts usually include an off-perked handgun for dealing with individual trash zeds and conserving the shotgun ammunition. If a Support Specialist asks a Sharpshooter to buy MK23 or Handcannon and is willing to pay for it, do it - these handguns are going to cost only 150 dosh instead of 500.

Laning w/ other perks | Commando

Commando has a natural synergy with the Sharpshooter. Both perks have a heavy focus on head damage and make use of precise ballistic weapons. The Commando is usually going to be responsible for dealing with lower trash zeds (Clots, Stalkers, and Crawlers) - this perk has access to weapons with superior [kills per magazine] ratios, automatic fire modes and deeper ammunition reserves for trash cleaning.

Commandos are typically going to have more problems with bullet sponges (Bloats, Husks, Sirens, Gorefasts) than Sharpshooters due to the low damage per bullet.

With on-perk weapons they cannot instantly kill Bloats and Gorefasts. Instead, those zeds are going to roam headless for some time if the Commando doesn't put more lead into them after decapitation. While this is possible, this also may cause ammo waste in the long run. The principle of ammo waste applies to Husks and Sirens as well.

Ideally, Sharpshooters should take care of those zeds when sharing a lane with Commando.

Large zed killing

When laning with a Commando, you're usually expected to be the designated large zed killer. Position yourself slightly forward of the Commando so that you get the large zed aggro.

Scrakes

While Commandos can deal with Scrakes fine if they are properly equipped (a melee weapon to cause flinches plus a high DPS assault rifle - FAL or SCAR - or, alternatively, a good off-perk weapon like Crossbow or M14), Sharpshooters are usually expected to deal with all large zeds if they're laning with Commandos. If you see a Commando shooting a calm Scrake, either they know what they're doing or they're completely clueless.

In the former case, they're usually going to do pre-damage the Scrake with short bursts and flinch the Scrake with a melee weapon / M14 / whatever or trigger what is known as "slow rage" with Crossbow. If you see this, it's better to let the Commando initiate the takedown so that the Scrake's movement and hitboxes stay as predictable as possible.

In the latter case, politely tell them not to shoot large zeds if they survive after raging a Scrake. If your request gets ignored, let them die to their mistakes the next time they do this - with most Sharpshooter builds you should be capable of holding a lane alone and cleaning up the mess once the disruptive Commando is dead.

Fleshpounds

Unless your Commando partner is using a variation of the (M32 + Assault Rifle) loadout, they are ill-equipped to deal with Fleshpounds by themselves. If they don't have M32 in 6p HoE matches, they're only capable of killing 1 Fleshpound per wave within a reasonable time frame, and even if they do take M32, proper takedowns require using at least 1-2 hand grenades. This means that the Fleshpound killing duty is on you or another large zed killer if they happen to be in your lane.

ZED Time

Commandos also have the ability to extend Zed Time by resetting the Zed Time counter up to 4 times. The Zed Time counter is reset by killing a zed. In case the Zed Time triggers, do not shoot the weakest trash zeds (Crawlers, Stalkers, Clots), especially the ones the Commando is aiming at. If there're more than 4 such zeds in the lane, feel free to shot the ones Commando is not very likely to target (those located far away from them, for instance).

Laning w/ other perks | Medic

When it comes to sharing a lane with a Medic, everything depends on their playstyle, loadout, and positioning relative to you. However, Sharpshooters are usually expected to be the primary large zed killers when laning with a Medic. In all of the scenarios it's recommended to position yourself slightly forward of the Medic so that you get the large zed aggro when the large zeds appear.

Heal-only Medic

If your partner is a Medic who only sticks to healing, and (maybe) is going to kill trash zeds once in a blue moon, play as if you were holding a lane solo as a Sharpshooter.

Trash cleaning Medic

If your partner regularly kills trash zeds as a Medic (and only trash), treat them like a weaker version of a Commando. Trash cleaning Medics can deal with lower trash zeds (Clots, Stalkers, Crawlers) fine. Prioritize killing Husks, Sirens, Bloats and Gorefasts, but always be ready to become the primary trash cleaner in case the Medic's weapons start getting low on ammo or they face issues with trash zeds. Just like when sharing a lane with a Commando, dealing with large zeds will be your responsibility.

MedBow

If the Medic has a Crossbow, they will be able to kill Sirens and Husks with just 1 headshot. In this case, it's better to focus on trash zeds with a priority on Gorefasts and Bloats. This, however, doesn't mean that you should not try to kill Husks and Sirens yourself - you are capable of doing so and should contribute to Husk / Siren kills especially if the Medic is too slow to kill them, or your lane has multiples of these zeds. Taking care of large zeds as a Sharpshooter is to be expected in this case, too.

Medic with Sharpshooter's rifles

If the Medic's loadout includes LAR, Musket or M14, they will be able to kill Gorefasts with 1 headshot and Sirens / Husks - with 2 headshots. These weapons also allow Medics to deal with Scrakes if they absolutely must or want to load-balance the large zed pressure in the lane.

If you know the Medic and can coordinate the weapon swapping, you have the opportunity to reload LAR / Musket / M14 for them, especially if you have these weapons yourself.

For instance, assume that the Medic has a LAR and has emptied it. Medic drops the LAR on the ground and lets you know about it. You drop one of your weapons to make room for the LAR (and the Medic picks it up if they have room for your weapon), pick up the Medic's LAR, quickly reload it while the Medic covers you, and give it back to the Medic when they're ready. If you happen to have a LAR yourself, you will be simply exchanging the LARs when the Medic has no time to reload.

Medic who can be a back-up large zed killer

If the Medic happens to be off-perking Hunting Shotgun, M14, Musket, LAR, Crossbow, Buzzsaw Bow or M32, they will be able to deal with Scrakes with little to no damage taken given that they can perform the takedowns with these weapons. However, this still doesn't make them primary Scrake killers. Ideally, Medic's Sharpshooter partner should be dealing with the majority of large zeds in the lane.

Buying Musket / M14 for a Medic

If a Medic is going to make use of the Musket or M14 in their end-game loadout, you can buy them for a discounted price.

Negative interactions with Medics

There is a special place in KF-Hell for Medics with a delusional messiah complex who are obsessed with "tanking" large zeds. They usually jump in front of Sharpshooters (and other large zed killers in general), divert the Scrake's / Fleshpound's attention to themselves, throw a healing grenade under their feet and not only mess up the large zed's hitboxes but also bodyblock them entirely. What is worse, however, is that they genuinely think they're helping.

If you happen to share a lane with such a Medic, politely tell them not to get between you and your targets. Emphasize that they are not helping.

In case your requests get ignored or, worse, you get told to praise the Medic for "saving" you, simply leave the large zeds to them. Step back, do not help, do not stun Scrakes and do not attempt to damage large zeds in any way. Medics who see the benefit of "tanking" large zeds (when the other player is not critically low on health) usually have no idea what constitutes a proper large zed takedown. They are, more often than not, poorly equipped to deal with large zeds and can't execute proper speedkilling techniques.

As a result, large zeds should eventually chip through their entire armour and kill them. If the Medic happens to overextend in front of you and walk past a weldable door, you can use it to your advantage as well. Healing grenades can't blow up the doors, so the Medic will have no way to return fast enough. The sooner they die, the better. You should have an easier time cleaning up the mess once that happens. All zeds that spawn after the Medic's death should have their health reduced according to the number of remaining players, and "tanking" will not be hampering your playstyle any longer.

Laning w/ other perks | Demolitionist | Preface

I will preface this section with by saying that the Demolitionist is a chaotic perk that is centered around explosive weapons. Explosions are liable to obfuscate the vision with thick walls of smoke and particle effects, cause terrible screenshake, stumble the zeds, throw the zeds around the map, rage large zeds with collateral damage and shift their head hitboxes. All of these things are detrimental to the Sharpshooter's functionality. No matter how smart anyone plays the Demolitionist and how good their loadout is, it won't make the perk's problems disappear.

This brings me to my next point. Demolitionist, at a minimum, should compensate for all the problems it causes. Demo's weapon selection has a direct impact on how effectively they will be able to do this.

Unlike Sharpshooter, Demolitionist does not have a good loadout diversity for serious gameplay on higher difficulties. All the Demolitionists may be subclassed into the following categories:

1. Those that carry M32 and Pipe Bombs.
   
2. Those that do not.

Here is the deal. In the Demolitionist's arsenal Pipe Bombs are the best means of dealing with multiple Fleshpounds (especially when they are tightly packed). M32 is the second best weapon in terms of single Fleshpound killspeed (the first one is the Pipe Bomb). M32 allows a Demolitionist to deal with Fleshpounds at point-blank range, effectively kill Scrakes if they absolutely must, set off handgrenades in the air without reloading and clean up crowds of trash zeds if it's necessary.

No other explosive weapon combination can match the (M32 + Pipe bombs) in terms of killspeed, ammo efficiency against Fleshpounds, plus utilities to both the Demolitionist and the rest of the team. Therefore, not taking these weapons throws the Demolitionist's skill ceiling in the bin.

The (M32 + Pipe Bombs) weapon combination leaves no room for the LAW and the Seeker Six Rocket Launcher. These alternative options along with the SealSqueal Harpoon Bomber, Orca Bomb Propeller, and M4 M203 have earned the reputation of troll weapons (and for a good reason). There is an exception here, however: LAW has its place during the Boss Wave.

In case the Demo you're laning with does not carry the (M32 + Pipe Bombs) and/or carries any of the above-mentioned troll weapons, simply leave them alone and find a different lane where they're not going to cause problems for you. If that doesn't work and they insist on creating explosive spam in your lane for no real benefits, start a kickvote against them.

The rest of the section is concerned with Demolitionists who play properly and have a clue about teamplay.

Laning w/ other perks | Demolitionist

Trash cleaning

When you share a lane with a Demolitionist, the trash cleaning duties will primarily be on you. Weapons typically carried with (M32 + Pipe Bombs) are victims of slow and frequent reloads (M79 and LAR), lackluster damage (Medic Guns), or everything mentioned just now (Medic Guns). When the large zeds spawn, it's usually better to reserve the M32 ammo for large zed takedowns and not waste it on trash too much. A Demo is capable of effectively balancing individual zed killing (MK23, LAR or Medic Guns) and crowd killing (M79 or M32), but a Sharpshooter is usually going to be equipped for dealing with trash zeds much better than a Demo.

Out of all trash zeds Husks, Sirens, Bloats and Gorefasts should be the Sharpshooter's top priority.

As will be elaborated on further in this section, you will also be the primary Scrake killer and might have to deal with individual Fleshpounds yourself in certain situations. For all these reasons, it's recommended to position yourself slightly forward of the Demolitionist so that you get the zed aggro.

Scrakes

A Demo is capable of killing a Scrake quickly enough by heavy-flinching it with M32 or performing a slow rage combo. However, this requires spending at least 3 M32 grenades - half the drum and 1/12 of its ammo pool. Combos without pre-damage typically require from 5 to 6 grenades (almost the whole drum and about 1/6 of the ammo pool). All of those combos also require some distance for backpedaling.

For this reason, Sharpshooter will be the primary Scrake killer when laning with a Demolitionist. Not only will the Sharpshooter deal with Scrakes more efficiently in terms of ammo, but it also has access to safer means of incapacitating Scrakes - stun.

It is recommended to have a weapon capable of stunning Scrakes when laning with a Demolitionist (LAR, Musket or Crossbow). There may be situations when a single Fleshpound or multiple Fleshpounds are too close to Scrakes, and the Demo's explosives will rage a Scrake with AoE damage. In these situations, you can clean up after the Demo by stunning the Scrake(s) that the explosions have raged.

Fleshpounds

Taking down Fleshpounds is what the Demolitionist excels at. Unless otherwise specified or arranged, Demolitionist is usually expected to deal with Fleshpounds by themselves. In the event that the team faces a lot of Fleshpounds (wave 10 of HoE, for instance, or mutators like Fleshpound Party and DTF that drastically increase the large zed count), the Sharpshooter can load-balance the lane and conserve Demolitionist's ammo reserves by dealing with single Fleshpounds.

It should also be noted that Sharpshooter's and Demolitionist's takedowns fundamentally differ.

Demolitonist's grenade combos deplete the body health pool, and Sharpshooter's takedowns are targetting the separate head health pool. Grenades also cause screenshake and obfuscate the vision with smoke / particle effects.

Sharpshooter's sustained headshots may redirect the aggro from the Demolitionist, which, in turn, may fail the takedown initiation or the finishing move.

If you attempt to perform the Fleshpound takedowns together, you will most likely cause problems for each other. Let the Demolitionist initiate the takedown unless you're expected to deal with a Fleshpound yourself in the given scenario.

Do not stand on the Pipe Bombs

Do not walk over the Pipe Bombs while backpedaling

If the Demolitionist is setting up a Pipe Bomb, let them have a clear vision on it. The full damage potential of Pipe Bombs is unlocked when they're set of manually, at the right moment. Demolitionist usually sets off Pipe Bombs by shooting them with any weapon.

It's also important to note that automatic weapons with high rate of fire and low recoil / spread (Schneidzekk, MP5M, MP7M, etc.) cause Pipe Bombs to deal more damage than usual (I believe this happens if more than 1 bullet hits the bomb within a very short time frame - just before it explodes). It also works with shotguns, but much less consistently. In any case, performing the manual detonation this way makes it possible to kill a squad of double / triple Fleshpounds with just 1 Pipe Bomb in 6p HoE scenarios, something which is not otherwise possible.

This why the manual Pipe Bomb detonation is of great importance, especially during multiple FP takedowns. In case your lane has a squad of multiple Fleshpounds, Demo should place a Pipe Bomb and be ready to manually detonate it as soon as the Fleshpounds come close to it. If the Fleshpound squad happens to be aggroed on you, watch where the Demo is placing the Pipe Bomb. Lead the Fleshpounds in that direction, but do not walk right over the bomb. Walk slightly to the left or to the right of it (depending on where the Demo is) so that it's not bodyblocked by you or the Fleshpounds.

To see what exactly I mean, watch this video from [5:28] to [5:44]. Notice how the Demo places a Pipe bomb away from the Sharpshooter's half of the lane. When the triple FP squad appears, the Sharpshooter does not rage the Fleshpounds and does not run towards the Pipe Bomb. He simply steps back and walks to the right. This way, the Demo has a clear vision on the Pipe Bomb, and it doesn't get bodyblocked or set off automatically before the Demo can shoot it.

Buying a handgun for a Demo

Some of the Demolitionist's optimal loadouts usually include an off-perked handgun for dealing with individual trash zeds and conserving the shotgun ammunition. If a Demolitionist asks a Sharpshooter to buy MK23 or Handcannon and is willing to pay for it, do it - these handguns are going to cost only 150 dosh instead of 500.

Reloading the Demolitionist's LAR for them

In case the Demolitionist carries a LAR and needs to reload it, you can use your reloading bonuses to speed up the process. Demo drops the LAR on the ground and lets you know about it. You drop one of your weapons to make room for the LAR, pick up the Demo's LAR, quickly reload it while the Demo covers you, and give it back when they're ready. If you happen to have a LAR yourself, you will be simply exchanging the LARs when the Demo has no time to reload.

Laning w/ other perks | Berserker

Avoid sharing a lane with Berserkers. Sharpshooter and Berserker are fundamentally different perks which do not synergize well with each other.

Sharpshooter is a precision perk which typically eliminates targets from range with headshots.

Majority of Berserker's weapons are made with point-blank range in mind, as well as effectiveness at body damage when it comes to trash zeds. While Berserkers can carry a Buzzsaw Bow, an off-perk LAR, Crossbow, or MK23, they will not be using those weapons majority of the time due to low ammo pools or low damage against medium trash zeds (MK23).

Instead, they will constantly be overextending in front of better ranged perks in order to get action. They will be running up to other zeds, drawing their attention to themselves and bodyblocking everything so that they finally find a use for their melee weapons. When they actually get to kill zeds, they will inevitably be causing stumbles, running and jumping all over the place to dodge hits or to score hits. This will prevent Sharpshooters from spotting Husks, Sirens, as well as taking down large zeds effectively (since the Berserker will get their attention).

Either you leave, or they leave. Use your perk to its full potential, and you will leave the Berserker with next to no action. Let the Berserkers hold the lane, and your playstyle is going to be hampered.

If the Berserker insists on laning with you, politely ask them not to. Tell them to change the lane. If your request gets ignored, start a kick vote against them. In case that doesn't work, don't worry. Like I said before, Sharpshooter can greatly outrange the Berserker and leave them with no action. Do your best to eliminate zeds before they get into the Berserker's melee range while staying on the same spot. Sooner or later the Berserker will overextend and push too far where others will have a hard time rescuing them. After that, simply stop shooting and assisting them. If they happen to walk past a weldable door, feel free to weld it up to 100%. This will, hopefully, teach them a lesson.

If the Berserker is overconfident enough, they will attempt to take down Fleshpounds by themselves. Once again, don't help. Simply step back and don't let the Berserker lead the Fleshpound(s) to you.

The sooner the disruptive Berserker dies, the better. All zeds that spawn after their death should have their health reduced according to the number of remaining players, and their close-ranged, chaotic nature will not be hampering your playstyle any longer.

Laning w/ other perks | Firebug

Ew, a (Fire)bug! Someone step on it!

Avoid sharing a lane with Firebugs (especially with those who use a Flamethrower). Their on-perk weapons (and the playstyle in general) are severely detrimental to the Sharpshooter's functionality. Presence of a Firebug in the Sharpshooter's lane causes more problems then it solves.

Fire and particle effects (especially those produced by the Flamethrower and Flare Revolvers) obfuscate the vision, often making it impossible to see what's happening in the lane. Zeds that are not immediately killed by the Firebug will keep obfuscating the vision and, in addition, may also start twitching from the fire panic, which will make landing headshots much more difficult than it should be. The screenshake produced by the Flare Revolver(s), Husk Fireball Launcher and Trenchgun can throw the Sharpshooter's aim off if the Firebug uses these weapons close enough.

If you suddenly find a Firebug in your lane, politely ask them to go somewhere else. If your request gets ignored, start a kick vote against them. In case that fails, do your best to eliminate zeds before they get into the Firebug's effective range while staying on the same spot. Sooner or later the Firebug will overextend and push too far where others will have a hard time rescuing them. After that, simply stop shooting and assisting them. If they happen to walk past a weldable door, feel free to weld it up to 100%. Firebug's grenades (just like Medic's grenades) cannot blow up the doors. This will, hopefully, teach them a lesson.

If the Firebug is overconfident enough, they may attempt to take down Fleshpounds by themselves. Once again, don't help. Simply step back and don't let the Firebug lead the Fleshpound(s) to you.

The sooner the disruptive Firebug dies, the better. All zeds that spawn after their death should have their health reduced according to the number of remaining players, and their chaotic nature will not be hampering your playstyle any longer.

Issues with the Firebug's weapons

Flamethrower every level 6 Firebug spawns with has the greatest blinding potential and drains exclusively the body health pool of the zeds (Sharpshooters, on the other hand, target the separate head health pool). It's relatively slow at killing anything above a Clot, and it's going to kill the lower trash zeds (Clots, Stalkers, Crawlers) slowly as well unless it's spammed (which increases the chances of blinding the Sharpshooter).

Firebug's most accurate ranged option in the on-perk arsenal is MAC-10, an off-perked 9mm with a large magazine, fully automatic fire mode with over-the-top rate of fire and the baggage of problems caused by fire. This weapon can't even kill a Crawler (a zed with the single lowest head and base health pools) in 1 headshot, something which even the Sharpshooter's 9mm can do fine.

Trenchgun is a victim of a terrible shotgun design:

• Its damage per pellet is comparable to that of an off-perked HSG-1.
  
• Despite the fact that it fires slightly more pellets per shot than the above-mentioned HSG-1, Its spread resembles the classic pump-action Shotgun's spread.
  
• It's pump-action, and it takes longer to pump it than the classic pump-action Shotgun.
  
• It's tube-fed, and its magazine size is among the lowest - just 6 shells (the same magazine size as the Combat Shotgun and Vlad have). The only shotgun that surpasses Trenchgun in this regard is the Hunting Shotgun (just 2 shells).

Good kill speed for trash zeds with a Trenchgun can only be achieved at close range. If the Firebug tries to "snipe" with a Trenchgun, they will simply set the targets on fire instead of killing thanks to the poor spread. Landing all or most of the pellets, on the other hand, will require overextending in front of the Sharpshooter. Both of these things will cause nothing more than annoyance with no real benefits.

Speaking of Flare Gun(s) and Husk Fireball Launcher, these weapons can be used to effectively deal with medium trash zeds (Gorefasts, Bloats, Sirens and Husks). However, they both are not exactly effective at medium to long range, since they fire slow projectiles which may miss the target if it moves to the side, jumps over an obstacle or goes up/down a ramp. If the projectile hits the body instead of the head, the head health pool (which is what the Sharpshooter should be interested in depleting) will be untouched. Each missed shot is going to be an annoyance, which is worse than not helping.

Firebug's best weapon in terms of kill speed against Scrakes is A pair of Flare Guns. Scrake takedowns with these weapons require walking up to the Scrake and mini-flinching it.

While the Husk Cannon can stun a Scrake, it also has a rather poor TTK (Time To Kill).

Firebug should not under any circumstances touch Fleshpounds when there is a Sharpshooter nearby.

Cleaning trash zeds around large zeds with on-perk weapons in order to protect the Sharpshooter from trash is not as easy as it sounds. If the Firebug partner uses anything other than MAC-10, they risk setting the large zed on fire in the process, which will ruin the takedown. If they use MAC-10, they will do the trash cleaning rather poorly.

This all should make it fairly obvious that a Firebug will be worse than an AFK player when laning with a Sharpshooter.

Tips | Optimizing the weapon switching

Some of the loadouts suggested in this guide have one drawback in common: more than 1 weapon in the same slot, which makes the weapon switching quite cumbersome. Ideally, every weapon should reside in its own slot. This makes it possible to select the weapon you currently need with a single tap, without cycling through the "neighbours".

There're 2 main ways to mitigate the weapon switching issues:

• Custom key bindings which select particular weapons in a particular order.
  
• The "Switch To Last Weapon" key bind.

Custom keybindings

The weapon switching process can be optimized by overwriting the existing weapon switching keybindings with custom ones. Before overwriting them, make sure to memorize which key is tied to which slot or simply extract the bindings from the following file:

<YourSteamDir>\SteamApps\common\KillingFloor\System\User.ini

Search for lines with SwitchWeapon, copy and paste them to an external file which will never be overwritten by the game. The binds should look like this:

[Engine.Input]
...
1=SwitchWeapon 1
2=SwitchWeapon 2
3=SwitchWeapon 3
4=SwitchWeapon 4
5=SwitchWeapon 5
...

The new keybindings should be applied via the in-game console (opened by the ` key by default). All of them have the following format:

set input <key> GetWeapon <ClassName>

This command will map the specified weapon to exactly the key of your choice. However, it should also be supplemented with a fallback binding which will let you cycle through weapons in the slot your custom bind has replaced.

In case you accidentally (or intentionally) pick up a weapon which is not going to be part of your end-game loadout, switch the perk in an emergency situation or, alternatively, change the loadout, you will still have the opportunity to access all the weapons in their respective slots without restoring the default weapon switching binds.

 set input <key> SwitchWeapon <SlotNumber> | GetWeapon <ClassName>

Replace:

• <key> with the key of your choice.
  
• <ClassName> with the weapon's class name taken from the source code. This is not the weapon's name that appears in the Trader Menu.
  
• <SlotNumber> with the number of the weapon slot used as a fallback option for the key of your choice.

All the weapon class names and key names can be found in the "Setting Up Weapon Binds" guide by ggnowqq.

In this command, the weapon selection is prioritized from right to left. The weapon that will be taken out on the key press is the rightmost one. If it's not available (not carried by the player), the next "candidate" will be the 2nd weapon from the right.

If you use this command and find yourself in a situation where you need to access something other than what the GetWeapon <ClassName> command takes out, simply drop that weapon (the one <ClassName> is responsible for), do something with other weapons and pick up the dropped weapon again.

Alternatively, both the weapon class names and key names can be discovered without relying on external sources of information.

Weapon class names

All the weapon class names can be found in the game's source code. It can be obtained by downloading the Killing Floor 1 SDK (Library -> Tools -> Killing Floor SDK). The weapon classes should be located at

<YourSteamDir>\SteamApps\common\KillingFloor\KFMod\Classes\

The classes you'll need are those that extend KFWeapon. To make it clear, a code snippet extracted from the M14EBRBattleRifle.uc is provided below.

//=============================================================================
// M14 EBR Battle Rifle Inventory class
//=============================================================================
class M14EBRBattleRifle extends KFWeapon
	config(user);

The weapon class name is what follows the class keyword and precedes the extends keyword. The file name without the .uc extension is also the weapon class name.

Key names

The key names can be extracted from the following file:

<YourSteamDir>\SteamApps\common\KillingFloor\System\User.ini

All the key bindings are located in section [Engine.Input], right under the Aliases.

...
[Engine.Input]
...
Aliases[38]=(Command="ReloadMeNow",Alias="ReloadWeapon")
Aliases[39]=(Command="ThrowGrenade",Alias="ThrowNade")
Aliases[40]=(Command="QuickHeal",Alias="QuickHeal")
Aliases[41]=(Command="Use | OnRelease StopUsing",Alias="Use")
0=
1=SwitchWeapon 1
2=SwitchWeapon 2
3=SwitchWeapon 3
4=SwitchWeapon 4
5=SwitchWeapon 5
...
F1=ShowScores
F2=ToggleConditionStack
F3=
F4=ToggleBehindView
F5=ToggleFreeCam
F6=Stat Net
...

The key name is positioned to the left of the equals sign.

Switch To Last Weapon

If you are not willing to touch the default key bindings for weapon switching, cycling through multiple weapons in the same slot can be made easier using the standard "Switch To Last Weapon" key bind.

For instance, assume that your loadout is (MK23 + Dual Handcannons + Musket). If you're currently using MK23, pressing the "Slot 2" key will switch the weapon to 9mm, and pressing "Switch To Last Weapon" will change MK23 to Dual Handcannons. If you need to change the weapon to Musket for a quick Fleshpound takedown, press the "Slot 3" key. When the takedown is finished, you can switch back to MK23 with the "Switch To Last Weapon" key.

This method works fine for loadouts which don't have more than 3 weapons in the same slot. If the loadout has more than 3 weapons (MK23 + Handcannon + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket is a good example of this), the weapon switching process is still going to be clunky.

Tips | Siren scream cancelling

Note: the Siren scream cancelling technique demonstrated in this section only applies to dedicated servers. It works differently on Listen servers and in Solo mode.

There may be situations when a Siren manages to get too close to players, to the point where her screams start dealing damage and destroying explosives (grenades and Pipe Bombs). Taking damage and wasting explosive ammunition can be avoided by literally shutting her up. This technique is referred to as "Siren scream cancelling".

Siren's screams are cancelled as follows:

1. Start cancelling by shooting her in any part of the body as she bends the head forward (headshots are not required).
   
2. Space out the next shots by shooting her each time she raises the head.

It is important to space out the shots and not simply spam the Siren. Dealing too much damage within a short time frame will cause her to scream.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4-SfoUGhig

If you see a teammate shooting the Siren slowly, it most likely means that they're attempting to cancel it. Do not intervene, cover them by killing other zeds (if there're any) and let the teammate finish the cancelling.

If your team's Support Specialist or a Demolitionist is about to perform a Fleshpound takedown involving grenade combos when there're Sirens nearby, cancel their screams if you cannot kill them before the grenade combo starts.

It is also important to note that the Sirens can still let out the scream if they were killed too late (after they bent the head forwards or already raised it, for instance). When in doubt, cancel the scream first and finish the Siren off after that. If they are cancelled too late, they will let out a scream, but it will deal fairly less damage than a full uninterrupted scream.

Tips | Crouch to penetrate Crawler packs

If you're using weapons with penetration against Crawlers (MK23(s), Handcannon(s), .44 Magnum(s), Crossbow, M99), you have an opportunity to crouch, aim at the head of the first Crawler in the pack and align it with other Crawlers if the situation permits. Due to the low head and body health pools of Crawlers, as well as linear zed pathing in this game, penetration utilized against Crawler packs saves ammo. Crouching ensures that the bullet hits as many of them as possible on its way.

Tips | Reload animation cancelling

Technical advantage

Cancelling the reload animation of dual handguns

It is possible to cancel the reload animation of Dual MK23, Dual Handcannons, and Dual .44 Magnums by switching to a single 9mm pistol. This will not work if you switch to Dual 9mms or any other Sharpshooter's on-perk weapon.

If you have an easily accessible key / button to spare, you can use the following keybind to make the process slightly easier:

set input <key> GetWeapon Single | OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon

It is important to hold this key until your character starts taking out a single 9mm and release it. If done correctly, you should switch to a single 9mm for a moment and get back to the dual-wielded handguns. Briefly tapping this key, on the other hand, will simply force the character to take out a single 9mm without returning to the dual-wielded handguns.

Cosmetic advantage

The animation skipping techniques listed below do not provide any technical advantages. They are purely cosmetic and do not speed up the reloading process.

Skipping reload animations of magazine-fed weapons and revolvers

It is possible to skip the reload animation for weapons other than Crossbow and M99 as you switch to them:

1. Switch to the weapon.
   
2. Reload as soon as it is possible. If you're not sure at which moment exactly you should press the "Reload" key, simply spam-tap it. The process will look like the reload animation has just briefly started but has been immediately cancelled.

This is useful for weapons that have obstructive reload animations (e.g., LAR or Musket).

Skipping reload animations of single-shot weapons

To skip the Crossbow's and M99's reloading animations, perform the following steps:

1. Quickly press the key responsible for any other weapon spot.
   
2. Immediately after that, press the key responsible for Crossbow's or M99's slot.

If done correctly, these actions should now be buffered in the "Switch To Last Weapon" command. If you wish to simplify the process, press the "Switch To Last Weapon" key each time you need to skip the reloading animation.

Tips | Free ammo for Dualies

Instead of buying Dual MK23, Dual Handcannons or Dual .44 Magnums as a set, perform the following steps:

1. Buy a single MK23 / Handcannon / .44 Magnum.
   
2. Buy the dual-wielded edition of this handgun (while keeping the single-wielded one in the inventory).

You should now have a set of dual handguns with not only completely filled ammo pool but also fully loaded magazines (no need to reload the handguns).

Credit goes to Soviet Badger for pointing out that dropping the 1st handgun on the ground is not necessary in order to perform this trick.

Tips | Full 9mm ammo for 38 dosh

It's possible to obtain full 9mm ammo for just 38 dosh. In order to perform this trick, however, you need to have at least 150 dosh in the virtual "wallet".

1. Buy Dual 9mms (150 dosh spent).
   
2. Sell Dual 9mms (112 dosh returned to you).

Your 9mm ammo should be 240/240 bullets.

Unless it costs you less than 38 dosh to refill the 9mm ammo, it's always more cost efficient to buy Dual 9mms and sell them.

This trick can be extended to other handguns with a slight modification: buy the dual-wielded edition of a particular handgun when you already have the single-wielded one in the inventory so that the 2nd handgun comes with its own ammo pool.

If you already have dual handguns in your inventory, select them and use the "Sell Weapon" feature (but only once). This will sell only one handgun, not the whole set. Buy the dual-wielded edition of this handgun again, and its ammo pool should be completely filled.

Weapon	Price	Sell Value	Dosh to fill the ammo
MK23	150	56	94
Handcannon	150	56	94
.44 Magnum	135	50	85

Tips | Quick heal speedup

This keybind allows you to heal yourself faster than usual by skipping the syringe recovery animation. In order to use this bind, hold the assigned key until you see the syringe, and then release it. If you have a melee weapon out, hold the assigned key, jump before you completely put your weapon away, then release the assigned key to heal before your character hits the ground.

The keybind is applied by opening the in-game console ( ` key by default), pasting the command and pressing "Enter".

set input <key> GetWeapon Syringe | OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon | OnRelease QuickHeal

Replace <key> with the key of your choice (the <> characters are not needed, they are only used for the sake of convenience).

If you also play on ScrN servers, use the following keybind:

set input <key> GetWeapon Syringe | GetWeapon scrnsyringe | OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon | OnRelease QuickHeal

Credit goes to Immortal Nub for providing these keybinds in his guide.

Tips | Sprint keybind

This keybind emulates the "sprinting" by automatically equipping the knife when the "sprint" key is held and switching to the last weapon as soon as the "sprint" key is released.

Equipping the knife increases the movement speed to the maximum possible value with the current loadout.

The keybind is applied by opening the in-game console ( ` key by default), pasting the command and pressing "Enter".

set input <key> GetWeapon Knife | OnRelease SwitchToLastWeapon

Replace <key> with the key of your choice (the <> characters are not needed, they are only used for the sake of convenience).

Credit goes to Immortal Nub for providing this keybind in his guide.

Tips | Spawn as a Medic (Wave 1)

If you're not planning to use the BowSharp loadout or do not need a free Crossbow in general, you can spawn as a Medic and switch to Sharpshooter later. This will give you free armour along with a weapon which can be sold for the same price as a Crossbow (the MP7M Medic Gun).

As soon as you spawn, try changing the perk to Sharpshooter. You will have a few seconds to do this before wave 1 starts. This, however, doesn't seem to work 100% of the time in multiplayer games.

If it works, you'll get the Sharpshooter's headshot bonuses for MP7M Medic Gun and will have an easier time killing Clots.

If it doesn't work, you will have to do wave 1 as a Medic and switch to Sharpshooter during the Trader Time before wave 2. This, however, is not a big deal, as wave 1 spawns slow and weak trash zeds a Medic shouldn't have problems dealing with.

Make sure to let your teammates know that you're only selecting Medic to obtain free armour and will become a Sharpshooter as soon as possible.

Note: it's also possible to obtain the free armour by spawning as a Firebug. However, if the Sharpshooter respects themselves and the teammates, they shouldn't do this outside of solo matches (where Firebug's disruptive playstyle will not annoy other players).

Credit goes to Immortal Nub for recommending to change the perk back to Sharpshooter before wave 1 starts.

Tips | Using "Favorites" to unclutter the buy menu

Utilizing the "Favorites" category in the Trader menu option has the following advantages:

• It's possible to reorder the weapon selection how you see fit.
  
  • Dual-wielded handguns can be listed right under their single-wielded edition. This simplifies the process of obtaining free ammo for them (described in the section "Tips | Free ammo for Dualies").
    
  • Weapons that are part of the same loadout are listed one under another.
    
• Removing the weapons you don't use or use very rarely from the buy menu.

To add a weapon to "Favorites", select it in the buy menu (the "Purchase weapon section") and click the "Favorite" button.

To remove a weapon from "Favorites", make sure that you're not carrying it, select it in the "Favorite" category and click "Un-favorite" button.

Each new favorite weapon is added to the bottom of the "Favorites" list.

Attachments | Headshots to kill/decapitate

Note: [DC] stands for "decapitation". The zed is still going to be killed, but it will roam headless for some time until it bleeds out.

Weapon	Crawler	Stalker	Clot	Gorefast	Bloat	Siren	Husk	Scrake	Fleshpound
9mm(s)	1	1	1 [DC]	1 [DC]	1 [DC]	9	9 [DC]	54 [DC]	123 [DC]
MK23(s)	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	14	29 [DC]
Handcannon(s)	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	10	21 [DC]
.44 Magnum(s)	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	11	23 [DC]
M14	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	7	10
LAR	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	5	7
Musket	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	4	5
Crossbow	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	4
M99	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2

Attachments | Kills Before Reloading

The "Kills Before Reloading" metric (often referred to as "Kills Per Magazine") reflects how many zeds it is possible to kill with a particular weapon before having to reload it. The weapon's magazine, cylinder or chamber is assumed to be fully loaded. All shots are assumed to be headshots.

Note: [DC] stands for "decapitation". The zed is still going to be killed, but it will roam headless for some time until it bleeds out.

Weapon	Crawler	Stalker	Clot	Gorefast	Bloat	Siren	Husk	Scrake	Fleshpound
9mm	15	15	15 [DC]	15 [DC]	15 [DC]	1.67	1.67 [DC]	0.28 [DC]	0.12 [DC]
MK23	12	12	12	12	12	4	4	0.86	0.41 [DC]
Dual MK23	24	24	24	24	24	8	8	1.71	0.83 [DC]
Handcannon	8	8	8	8	8	4	4	0.8	0.38 [DC]
Dual Handcannons	16	16	16	16	16	8	8	1.6	0.76 [DC]
.44 Magnum	6	6	6	6	6	3	3	0.55	0.26 [DC]
Dual .44 Magnums	12	12	12	12	12	6	6	1.09	0.52 [DC]
M14	20	20	20	20	20	10	10	2.86	2
LAR	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	2	1.43
Musket	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	2.5	2
Crossbow	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0.5	0.25
M99	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0.5

For each [Weapon - Target] combination the "Kills Before Reloading" metric is calculated as follows:

KillsBeforeReloading = MagazineSize / ShotsToKill 

For single-shot weapons (e.g., Crossbow or M99) MagazineSize is assumed to be 1.

Attachments | Kills Per Ammo Pool

The "Kills Per Ammo Pool" metric is used to evaluate a particular weapon's ammo efficiency against a particular target. It reflects how many instances of a particular zed it's possible to kill with the given weapon before it runs completely out of ammo. The ammo pool is assumed to be completely filled. All shots are assumed to be headshots.

Note: [DC] stands for "decapitation". The zed is still going to be killed, but it will roam headless for some time until it bleeds out.

Weapon	Crawler	Stalker	Clot	Gorefast	Bloat	Siren	Husk	Scrake	Fleshpound
9mm(s)	240	240	240 [DC]	240 [DC]	240 [DC]	26.67	26.67 [DC]	4.44 [DC]	1.95 [DC]
MK23(s)	144	144	144	144	144	48	48	10.29	4.97 [DC]
Handcannon(s)	96	96	96	96	96	48	48	9.6	4.57 [DC]
.44 Magnum(s)	128	128	128	128	128	64	64	11.64	5.57 [DC]
M14	160	160	160	160	160	80	80	22.86	16
LAR	80	80	80	80	80	80	80	16	11.43
Musket	80	80	80	80	80	80	80	20	16
Crossbow	36	36	36	36	36	36	36	18	9
M99	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	25	12.5

For each [Weapon - Target] combination the "Kills Per Ammo Pool" metric is calculated as follows:

KillsPerAmmoPool = TotalAmmoPool / ShotsToKill

Attachments | TTK (large zeds)

TTK stands for "Time To Kill". This metric is commonly used to evaluate the weapon's performance against large zeds. The lower it is, the better. Low time to kill means that the takedown is not going to occupy the player for too long and distract them from other targets.

TTK comes in 2 flavours:

• TTK (burst TTK). Measured from the moment the first shot hits the target to the moment when the target dies.
  
• TTK After Reloading (burst TTK preceded or followed by the process of loading the required number of bullets or simply changing a magazine).

Note: [DC] stands for "decapitation". The zed is still going to be killed, but it will roam headless for some time until it bleeds out.

Burst TTK

Scrake

Weapon	Time To Kill, s	Shots To Kill
M99	0	1
Dual .44 Magnums	0.75	11
Crossbow	1.13	2
Dual Handcannons	1.17	10
M14	1.50	7
Dual MK23	1.56	14
Musket	1.76	4
LAR	2.25	5
.44 Magnum	2.93	11
Handcannon	3.38	10
MK23	3.79	14
Dual 9mms [DC]	7.39	54
9mm [DC]	12.50	54

Fleshpound

Weapon	Time To Kill, s	Shots To Kill
M99	1.89	2
M14	2.25	10
Musket	2.35	5
LAR	3.38	7
Crossbow	3.38	4
Dual .44 Magnums [DC]	4.37	23
Dual Handcannons [DC]	4.66	21
Dual MK23 [DC]	6.03	29
Handcannon [DC]	7.25	21
.44 Magnum [DC]	7.58	23
MK23 [DC]	7.93	29
Dual 9mms [DC]	20.55	123
9mm [DC]	29.95	123

TTK After Reloading

Scrake

Weapon	Time To Kill, s	Shots To Kill
M99	1.89	1
Crossbow	2.25	2
Dual Handcannons	3.36	10
Dual .44 Magnums	3.54	11
Musket	3.55	4
M14	3.60	7
LAR	4.34	5
Dual MK23	4.35	14
.44 Magnum	4.51	11
Deagle	4.75	10
MK23	5.41	14
Dual 9mms [DC]	9.58	54
9mm [DC]	13.75	54

Fleshpound

Weapon	Time To Kill, s	Shots To Kill
M99	3.79	2
Musket	4.14	5
M14	4.35	10
Crossbow	4.50	4
LAR	6.31	7
Dual Handcannons [DC]	6.85	21
Dual .44 Magnums [DC]	7.16	23
Handcannon [DC]	8.63	21
Dual MK23 [DC]	8.82	29
.44 Magnum [DC]	9.16	23
MK23 [DC]	9.56	29
Dual 9mms [DC]	22.74	123
9mm [DC]	31.20	123

Attachments | Calculating TTK

Burst TTK

For Sharpshooter's weapons that are capable of killing a large zeds in a full magazine or less (without reloading) the burst TTK formula is pretty simple. It's a series of intervals between all the shots required to kill the target. For X shots to kill (without interruptions) there will be (X - 1) firing intervals.

BurstTTK = FiringInterval * (ShotsToKill - 1)

This formula is also used for exceptional cases - Burst TTK values for Crossbow and M99.

For weapons that require one or more reloading cycles mid-takedown (apart from Crossbow and M99) the formula is a bit sophisticated. It has to take 2 separate cases into account:

1. The takedown requires N full magazines + a portion of the last magazine. There will be N reload cycles in this case.
   
2. The takedown requires exactly N full magazines. There will be (N - 1) reload cycles in this case.

Given that the number of magazines is always positive, these two cases can be mathematically combined using the following expression:

ReloadCycles = RoundUp( FullMagsSpent - 1 )

The formula itself is quite long, so I've broken it down into several smaller expressions:

// The number of full magazines spent
FullMagsSpent = ShotsToKill / MagazineCapacity  // (1)

// How many times the weapon is reloaded
ReloadCycles = RoundUp( FullMagsSpent - 1 )  // (2) 

// Time to dump all magazines except the entire last one or the portion of the last one
MagDumpingTime = ( FiringInterval * (MagazineCapacity - 1) + TimeToReload ) * ReloadCycles  // (3)

// Time to fire the remaining portion of the shots
Remainder = ( FiringInterval * (ShotsToKill - MagazineCapacity * ReloadCycles - 1) )   // (4) 

// The TTK value itself
BurstTTK = MagDumpingTime + Remainder  // (5) 

The firing interval for each weapon can be found in its respective <WeaponName>Fire.uc source file (the one that extends KFFire) if you have the Killing Floor 1 SDK installed. It should be listed in the defaultproperties as FireRate (measured in seconds).

It is important to note that LAR, Musket, Crossbow and M99 are the only weapons that have their firing intervals reduced with each level according to the following formulas:

FiringIntervalMod = 1.0 + ( 0.10 * float(PerkLevel) )
NewFiringInterval = OldFiringInterval / FiringIntervalMod

The reason for this is probably the fact that cycling LAR's / Musket's action and the intervals between 2 Crossbow / M99 shots are semantically treated as "reloading". Since the perk offers a +10% reloading bonus per level in the description, this bonus is also reflected in certain "manual" actions, such as cycling the Musket's bolt.

Firing intervals of all other weapons stay the same regardless of the level.

The time to reload for each weapon can be found in its respective <WeaponName>.uc source file (the one that extends KFWeapon). It should be listed in the defaultproperties as ReloadRate (measured in seconds).

The time to reload is reduced with each level according to the following formulas:

ReloadSpeedMod = 1.0 + ( 0.10 * float(PerkLevel) )
NewReloadRate = OldReloadRate / ReloadSpeedMod

Note: LAR's ReloadRate reflects the time to reload a single bullet.

Note: The value responsible for the duration of Crossbow / M99 reload is its firing interval (FireRate in the CrossbowFire.uc and M99Fire.uc respectively) rather than ReloadRate.

The firing intervals and reload values are listed in the table below.

Weapon	Base Firing Interval	Level 6 Firing Interval	Base Time To Reload	Level 6 Time To Reload
9mm	0.175	0.175	2	1.25
Dual 9mms	0.1	0.1	3.5	2.1875
MK23	0.18	0.18	2.6	1.625
Dual MK23	0.12	0.12	4.4667	2.7916875
Handcannon	0.25	0.25	2.2	1.375
Dual Handcannons	0.13	0.13	3.5	2.1875
.44 Magnum	0.15	0.15	2.525	1.578125
Dual .44 Magnums	0.075	0.075	4.4667	2.7916875
M14	0.25	0.25	3.366	2.10375
LAR	0.9	0.5625	0.67	0.41875
Musket	0.94	0.5875	2.866	1.79125
Crossbow	1.8	1.125	-	-
M99	3.03	1.89375	-	-

TTK After Reloading

For most of Sharpshooter's weapons the "TTK After Reloading" values can be obtained by adding the weapon's time to reload to its burst TTK against the given zed:

TTKAfterReloading = TimeToReload + BurstTTK

The calculation process of this value for LAR is slightly different. Its time to reload values in the table listed above represent the time to reload a single shell. This value needs to be multiplied by the number of shots to kill for the given zed:

// LAR only
TTKAfterReloading = TimeToReload * ShotsToKill + BurstTTK

For Crossbow and M99 the time to reload gets replaced by the firing interval.

// Crossbow and M99 only
TTKAfterReloading = FiringInterval + BurstTTK

Attachments | Loadout prices | Weapon data

On-perk weapon data

Weapon	Price	Price to buy remaining ammo	Price to buy full ammo
9mm	0	80	160
Dual 9mms	150	0	160
MK23	150	96	192
Dual MK23	300	48	192
Handcannon	150	90	180
Dual Handcannons	300	90	180
.44 Magnum	135	138	277
Dual .44 Magnums	270	138	277
M14	750	75	120
LAR	200	80	160
Musket	450	80	160
Crossbow	800	278	417
M99	1050	5000	6250

Off-perk weapon data

Weapon	Price [On-perk]	Price to buy remaining ammo [On-perk]	Price to buy full ammo [On-perk]	Price [Off-perk]	Price to buy remaining ammo [Off-perk]	Price to buy full ammo [Off-perk]
Schneidzekk	825	0	140	2750	70	140
MP5M	413	0	125	1375	62	125
Machete	150	N/A	N/A	500	N/A	N/A

Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 1

1. EBR StunSharp

1.1. M14 + LAR

Parameter	9mm	M14	LAR	Total
Weapon price	0	750	200	950
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	75	80	235
Price to buy full ammo	160	120	160	440
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	825	280	1,185
Weapon + full ammo	160	870	360	1,390

1.2. M14 + Musket

Parameter	9mm	M14	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	750	450	1,200
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	75	80	235
Price to buy full ammo	160	120	160	440
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	825	530	1,435
Weapon + full ammo	160	870	610	1,640

2. Gunslinger

2.1.1. MK23 + Dual Handcannons + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Dual Handcannons	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	300	450	900
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	80	346
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	160	692
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	390	530	1,246
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	480	610	1,592

2.1.2. Dual MK23 + Dual Handcannons + Musket

Parameter	9mm	Dual MK23	Dual Handcannons	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	300	300	450	1,050
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	48	90	80	298
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	160	692
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	348	390	530	1,348
Weapon + full ammo	160	492	480	610	1,742

2.1.3. MK23 + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Dual .44 Magnums	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	270	450	870
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	138	80	394
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	277	160	789
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	408	530	1,264
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	547	610	1,659

2.1.4. Dual MK23 + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket

Parameter	9mm	Dual MK23	Dual .44 Magnums	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	300	270	450	1,020
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	48	138	80	346
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	277	160	789
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	348	408	530	1,366
Weapon + full ammo	160	492	547	610	1,809

Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 2

2.2. MK23 + Handcannon + Dual .44 Magnums + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Handcannon	Dual .44 Magnums	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	150	270	450	1,020
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	138	80	484
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	277	160	969
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	240	408	530	1,504
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	330	547	610	1,989

3. BowSharp

3.1. Crossbow + MK23 + Handcannon

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Handcannon	Crossbow	Total
Weapon price	0	150	150	800	1,100
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	278	544
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	417	949
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	240	1,078	1,644
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	330	1,217	2,049

If the player spawns with a Crossbow, the price to buy it is assumed to be 0.

3.2. Free Crossbow + MK23 + Handcannon

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Handcannon	Free Crossbow	Total
Weapon price	0	150	150	0	300
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	278	544
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	417	949
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	240	278	844
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	330	417	1,249

4. EBR FlinchSharp

4.1. MK23 + Dual Handcannons + M14

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Dual Handcannons	M14	Total
Weapon price	0	150	300	750	1,200
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	75	341
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	120	652
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	390	825	1,541
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	480	870	1,852

4.2. MK23 + Dual .44 Magnums + M14

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Dual .44 Magnums	M14	Total
Weapon price	0	150	270	750	1,170
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	138	75	389
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	277	120	749
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	408	825	1,559
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	547	870	1,919

5. Dual Stun

MK23 + LAR + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	LAR	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	200	450	800
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	80	80	336
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	160	160	672
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	246	280	530	1,136
Weapon + full ammo	160	342	360	610	1,472

Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 3

6. MedGun Sharp

Note: "on-perk Schneidzekk", "on-perk MP5M", and "on-perk MedGuns" mean that these weapons have been purchased for a discounted price by switching the perk to a level 6 Medic. When these weapons are bought, it is assumed that the player has switched back to level 6 Sharpshooter.

6.1.1. MK23 + Handcannon + Schneidzekk + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Handcannon	Schneidzekk (on-perk)	Schneidzekk (off-perk)	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	150	825	2,750	450
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	0	70	80
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	140	140	160
Weapon + remaining ammo (on-perk Schneidzekk)	80	246	240	825	N/A	530	1,921
Weapon + full ammo (on-perk Schneidzekk)	160	342	330	965	N/A	610	2,407
Weapon + remaining ammo (off-perk Schneidzekk)	80	246	240	N/A	2,820	530	3,916
Weapon + full ammo (off-perk Schneidzekk)	160	342	330	N/A	2,890	610	4,332

6.1.2. MK23 + Handcannon + MP5M + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	Handcannon	MP5M (on-perk)	MP5M (off-perk)	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	150	413	1,375	450
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	90	0	62	80
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	180	125	125	160
Weapon + remaining ammo (on-perk MP5M)	80	246	240	413	N/A	530	1,509
Weapon + full ammo (on-perk MP5M)	160	342	330	538	N/A	610	1,980
Weapon + remaining ammo (off-perk MP5M)	80	246	240	N/A	1,437	530	2,533
Weapon + full ammo (off-perk MP5M)	160	342	330	N/A	1,500	610	2,942

6.2. MK23 + MP5M + Schneidzekk + Musket

Parameter	9mm	MK23	MP5M (on-perk)	Schneidzekk (on-perk)	MP5M (off-perk)	Schneidzekk (off-perk)	Musket	Total
Weapon price	0	150	413	825	1,375	2,750	450
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	96	0	0	62	70	80
Price to buy full ammo	160	192	125	140	125	140	160
Weapon + remaining ammo (on-perk MedGuns)	80	246	413	825	N/A	N/A	530	2,094
Weapon + full ammo (on-perk MedGuns)	160	342	538	965	N/A	N/A	610	2,615
Weapon + remaining ammo (off-perk MedGuns)	80	246	N/A	N/A	1,437	2,820	530	5,113
Weapon + full ammo (off-perk MedGuns)	160	342	N/A	N/A	1,500	2,890	610	5,502

Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 4

7. Large zed trivializer

M99 + Machete

Note: "on-perk Machete" means that it has been purchased for a discounted price by switching the perk to a level 6 Berserker. When the Machete is bought, it is assumed that the player has switched back to level 6 Sharpshooter.

Parameter	9mm	M99	Machete (On-Perk)	Machete (Off-perk)	Total
Weapon price	0	1,050	150	500
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	5,000	N/A	N/A
Price to buy full ammo	160	6,250	N/A	N/A
Weapon + remaining ammo (on-perk Machete)	80	6,050	150	N/A	6,280
Weapon + full ammo (on-perk Machete)	160	7,300	150	N/A	7,610
Weapon + remaining ammo (off-perk Machete)	80	6,050	N/A	500	6,630
Weapon + full ammo (off-perk Machete)	160	7,300	N/A	500	7,960

8. Boss Fighter

Crossbow + Dual Handcannons

Parameter	9mm	Dual Handcannons	Crossbow	Total
Weapon price	0	300	800	1,100
Price to buy remaining ammo	80	90	278	448
Price to buy full ammo	160	180	417	757
Weapon + remaining ammo	80	390	1,078	1,548
Weapon + full ammo	160	480	1,217	1,857

Changelog

May 20th, 2022

• Test maps in the "Sharpshooter training" section now have references to the "KF Story Gametypes and Maps" resource created by NikC-.
  
• Removed the link to the deprecated version of that resource ( http://killingfloor.ru/xforum/threads/raznye-game-type-i-karty-k-nim.4219 ).
  
• Added Aim Lab and AimBeast to the list of aim trainers in the "Sharpshooter training" section.

September 4th, 2021

• Fixed download links for SteamyTestMapV3 and SteamyTestMapV3RodeoMod in the "Sharpshooter training" section.
  
• Changed square braces ( '[' and ']' ) to curly braces ( '{' and '}' ) in the "Loadouts | Summary" section because the contents of square braces do not get rendered now.

April 18th, 2019

• Added the "Musket only" takedown to the section "Takedowns | Multiple Fleshpounds".
  
• Added the "Crossbow into Handcannon" and "M99 only" takedowns to the section "Takedowns | Multiple Scrakes".

April 17th, 2019

• The section "Attachments | Calculating TTK" now explicitly states how the reloading time changes depending on the perk level.
  
• Added sections "Takedowns | Multiple Scrakes" and "Takedowns | Multiple Fleshpounds". These sections are currently in progress.
  
• Shortened the names of sections related to tips and tricks from "Tips & Tricks" to "Tips".

March 19th, 2019

• Added section "Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 4".
  
• Contents of the section "Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 3" have been moved to the section "Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 4" to make room for the "MedGun Sharp" tables.
  
• Prices for the "MedGun Sharp" loadouts have been listed in the section "Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 3".

March 17th, 2019

• Added section "Tips & Tricks | Using "Favorites" to unclutter the buy menu".
  
• Added section "Tips & Tricks | Reload animation cancelling".

March 15th, 2019

• Edited the section "Tips & Tricks | Spawn as a Medic (Wave 1)". It recommends spawning as a Medic and attempting to change the perk back to Sharpshooter ASAP but also elaborates on what to do in case the game doesn't let you change the perk before wave 1.
  
• Added section "Aiming | Finding CoS with the scoreboard" which explains how to identify the center of the screen by its position relative to the scoreboard's elements.
  
• Edited sections "Tips & Tricks | Free ammo for Dualies" and "Tips & Tricks | Full 9mm ammo for 38 dosh". They no longer recommend dropping one of the handguns from a set of dualies to obtain free ammo.

March 12th, 2019

• Added 4 sections dedicated to the loadout prices:
  
  • Attachments | Loadout prices | Weapon data
    
  • Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 1
    
  • Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 2
    
  • Attachments | Loadout prices | Part 3

March 10th, 2019

• All the videos inserted via the "Insert YouTube™ Video" feature have been linked directly to reduce the loading time of sections related to large zed takedowns and Siren scream cancelling.
  
• Sections "Takedowns | Scrake" and "Takedowns | Fleshpound" have been split into several parts because Steam does not let readers preview more than 10 videos per section.

[MikiTheBerserkr]

"The ability to trivialize Scrake takedowns."
FP too

"If more experienced players spot you using the Crossbow during non-Boss waves, they might be inclined to start a kick vote against you."
Hmm never happened to me. I usually play zerk though.

[aramichi]

Thank you!

[IceBeam]

@akabouz your comment has been deleted. I have no clue what your incoherent rambling was supposed to mean, but it clearly had nothing to do with this guide. That giant wall of "your mom" jokes and other off-topic gibberish was just wasting space in the comment section.

[Retired CHICKEN (640 x 480)]

Nice I´m DEFINITELY BETTER PLAYER RIGHT NOW.


THANK YOU MR.ICEBEAM!

[Akudama]

muy buena Guia

[IceBeam]

@#NikC- The link to your custom map collection in the "Sharpshooter training" section has been updated. It points to your "KFStory" project on GitHub instead of the deprecated version on the Russian Killing Floor forum. The old MediaFire links are still valid. Sorry that it took so long, I stopped receiving comment notifications for some reason.

[IceBeam]

This guide's comment section is not the right place to advertise servers. Please do it elsewhere.

Реклама серверов в комментариях к этому руководству не приветствуется. Опубликуйте её в другом месте.

[NikC-]

Update your testmap links:
https://insultingpros.github.io/KFStory/#/TestingMode

TheTestMap v1 is there too, if someone is interested in it.

[Crazy Bird]

Great One!!!

[Queen Prangz]

Niceeeeeeeeeeee guide ~ .~