Real Survivalist Guide

Survivalist is more than capable of pulling his weight and contributing in unique ways. There's alot of misinformation spread by people who never played this class which is understandable, it requires alot of knowledge and gamesense to perform optimally. At the time of writing this I've been maining him for the past 1200 hours of my playtime (out of 1450) and my teammates reception was overwhelmingly positive. In this guide i hope to shorten the time gap needed to start getting results.

Read first!

Survivalist is NOT a game beginner friendly perk. Out of the entire rooster it relies on knowledge the most. Familiarize yourself first with the other perks, game mechanics and zed behaviors before you attempt to tackle this beast.

Consider Survivalist like you would New Game+ in other games.

Your kit at lvl 25

Passives:
- Weapon Damage +15%
- Global Damage Resistance +25%
- Heavy Body Armor +25%
Your armor goes up to 125 and if you have it you won't take hp damage (with the exception of siren scream which penetrates armor). Nobody cares in the early game but later it becomes a useful resource worth preserving.
- ZED Time Reload Speed +75%
- Weapon Switch Speed +35%
35% might not sound like much but it applies to both the put down animation of your current weapon and to the pull out animation of the weapon being equipped which translates to approximately 54% faster switch.

Active Skills:

1. Tactical Reload | Heavy Weapons Training
   You'll switch between these based on the weapons you use.
   
   
2. Medic Training | Melee Expert
   Melee Expert all the way. Speed is very beneficial in this game and so are berserker weapons for survivalist. With M.E. you can safely rely on your knife to carry you through the first round.
   Don't bother trying to be a medic.
   
   
3. Ammo Vest | Weapon Harness
   You'll switch between these based on the weapons you use.
   
   
4. Spontaneous Zed-plosion | Make Things go Boom
   Zed-plosion is survivalists best skill. It massively increases your trash killing capabilities, it often kills crawlers and clots with the explosion and the rest gets stunned for easy kills. Raged scrakes and calm fleshpounds can get stunned as well, this will buy you time and open up for quick take-downs. 30% doesn't sound like much but it props very often considering you'll be killing ~500 zeds each game.
   
   
5. ZED TIME - Madman | ZED TIME - Lockdown
   Lockdown is great as a general team support perk, it lets you stun raged fleshpounds with your starting pistol and it allowed me to save teammates from rough situations multiple times.
   

Grenade selection

With the Tidal Terror Update survivalist received the option to use flashbangs and nailbomb. They're not tied to any skill which means that you can have a useful grenade with weapon harness. I have no idea what prompted this change, flashbang is one of the strongest grandes in the game, stun on demand can have higher impact in extreme situations than even medic grenades.

What i recommend you do is keep medic grenades for the first two waves and after that stick to flashbangs.

Melee weapons

Melee weapons as primary weapons and utility:
When playing this perk past wave 3 you should always have a melee weapon. Survivalist can quite effectively use melee weapons as primary sources of trash killing. With that being said it's a playstyle that i suggest you distance yourself from. In close combat you'll take damage that should be avoided, in later rounds where you'll be investing into armor you should do your best to keep it for emergencies. Using melee as primary weapons also makes you incompatible with precision perk and (in my opinion) stagnates your growth as a player. Survivalist thrives on having multiple loadouts and experimentation.

• Crovel Survival Tool (200$, 4kg):
  Cheap and light parry tool. Not bad as a combat weapon in waves 1 and 2.
  - blocking reduces damage taken by 40%, parries reduce it by 50%
  - heavy attack will one-shot rioters with a headshot (with melee expert skill)
  
  If you spawned with it then keep it until you're upgrading. Buy if it's wave 3 and you still don't have a parry tool.
  
  
• Hemoclobber (1200$, 4kg):
  Hemoclobber is the best weapon to use as a purely offensive melee tool. In my opinion it's a crutch that should be avoided, hemoclobber teaches you to play with brute force, healing the damage you're taking unnecessarily. It's much better to learn how to avoid damage entirely and spend your precious HP wisely.
  
  - by far longest reach from all melee weapons
  - low weight
  - heavy attack, while you have the weapon reloaded, will cause an AOE gas explosion which heals yourself and teammates for 15hp in a radius, light attack will heal teammates by 30hp, the gas explosion will damage nearby zeds and is best used against crowds of trash.
  Note: you need to hit a player or zed for the explosion to occur
  - blocking reduces damage taken by 40%, parries reduce it by 50%
  
  In short, effective in combat while also being one of the very few sources of self-healing.
  
  
• Pulverizer (1300$, 6kg):
  This i think is the best utility melee which makes it best for a range-based build.
  - explosive heavy attack that deletes Quarterpounds in two hits (very important) and clears crowds in a 150 degrees radius in front of you
  - blocking reduces damage taken by 50%, parries reduce it by 60%
  - light attacks can knockdown targets, extremely usefull if something is blocking your kiting path
  - let's you assist perks that use body damage to takedown big zeds
  
  Best weapon for a smart survivalist, you'll get more value out of it than hemoclobber, it rewards careful play.
  
  
• Bone Crusher (1600$, 8kg):
  This one is used purely for tanking.
  - blocking reduces damage taken by 70%, parries reduce it by 70%
  
  It has nothing special about except the high damage reduction values and the fact that it doesn't use ammo for heavy attacks so you're free to use them. One downside it has is that it covers a big portion of the screen.
  
  
• Eviscerator (1600$, 9kg):
  Ranged bone crusher.
  - blocking reduces damage taken by 60%, parries reduce it by 70%
  - has a ranged attack
  - weaker as a melee tool
  
  Should be used for bosses, otherwise bone crusher is a better pick.
  
  
• The Katana, Road Redeemer and Fire Axe problem
  These three weapons share the same cost and applicabilty. They have the same damage reduction as Crovel while also being stronger offensively and having better parry strength. I would recommend them if not for one big issue they all share.
  
  All melee weapons have simillar equip time of around half a second. All with 4 exceptions. Battle Axe, Katana, Road Redeemer and Fire Axe take ~twice as long to equip which means it takes twice as long for speed from melee expert to kick in, twice as long before you can sprint and worst of all - twice as long before you can parry. In the late game melee weapons are mostly used as parry tools so you'll be switching to them occasionaly instead of having them out constantly which means that crovel is effectively a better pick than these three weapons.
  
  It's especially sad on the Fire Axe, it's one of the 10 weapons (not counting grenades) that have stun power. 9 of those weapons belong to the sharpshooter so FA is quite unique. Sadly, it's unusable because of the equip speed.

Weapons for lesser and medium zeds (1/2)

When you're tasked with keeping a lane clear you'll need a good anti-trash weapons, here are some of those weapons.

Note: i will be discussing these weapons with the assumption that you know the basics of how these guns act and perform. If however your memory of a weapon seems fuzzy to you then check out the weapon list here[wiki.killingfloor2.com]

• .50 Desert Eagle (550$, 2kg)(Tier 4 for 700$, 3kg):
  One of the best weapons on survivalist. Cheap, light with a quick reload. One body shot will take out crawlers, clots and stalkers. It has penetration which in combination with zed-plosion will often take out many low tier zeds with a single bullet. Very important weapon to learn the usage of. At tier 4 it can kill rioters with a headshot. You can reliably use it the whole game.
  
  
• HMTech-201 SMG (650$, 3kg):
  Lightweight headpoper that can heal. Useful if your aim is good.
  
  
  
• SCAR-H Assault Rifle (1500$, 6 kg):
  Truly a gem of a weapon, 55 base damage which hits important 50 damage breakpoints such as: one bodyshot kills crawlers, 1 headshot kills gorefasts, 2 headshots kill gorefiends (while gorefiends have 150 head health, they also have a 20% damage multipler against assault rifles in addition to the 15% passive). Has a single shot mode which should be used 95% of the time, accurate and ammo efficient. Even after clutching a round you'll have ammo in reserve. If you're willing to only reload when empty with a reload cancel it doesn't even need tactical reload skill.
  
  
• Heckler & Koch UMP (1200$, 5kg):
  Cheaper, lighter scar. Hits the same 50 dmg breakpoint but gorefiends take 3 headshots to put down now. Smaller ammo pool, no single fire mode and kicks quite heavily so bursts are needed. Decent weapon if you can't afford the scar. Runs out quick though.
  
  
• SA80 L85A2 Bullpup (650$, 5kg)(Tier 3 for 600$, 6kg):
  This thing got buffed pretty nicely in the 2021 spring update: slightly better damage, starting ammo and cheaper ammo cost. None of that matters as much as the weight buff which has been lowered to 5kg. In order for this thing to perfom well (one shooting crawlers in the body and gorefasts in the head) you have to upgrade it once. Before the buff that meant raising it's weight to 7 which limited your options and it lost to other guns on this list. Now a +1 bullpup is a standard 6 weight.
  
  Currently it's a side-grade to the UMP more than to the SCAR. It can't 2 shot gorefiends but has slightly cheaper ammo and the godly single fire mode which makes it a good contender for your go-to ranged trash killer compared even to the scar if you're a good shot. Full-auto spread is pretty compareable to the UMP. Oh, if you're not running tactical reload then bullpup has better empty reload while the UMP has better non-empty reload.
  
  
• Mkb.42(H) Carbine Rifle (1100$, 7kg):
  Less accurate, heavier scar. While it's cheaper, ammo is expensive, has a single fire mode, smaller ammo pool than even the UMP and requires Tactical Reload skill.
  
  
• M4 Combat Shotgun (1100$, 6kg):
  Hits hard, fast, has a tight spread and can be used to takedown a big zed in a pinch. Ammo will be an issue if you use it exclusively.
  
  
• HMTech-301 Shotgun (1100$, 6kg):
  Side-grade to the m4. Has more ammo, is mag-fed and can heal teammates but it's weaker with less pellets and lower fire rate so it won't kill as fast. Not recommended against bigger zeds.
  
  
• Dual HRG Buckshots (1100$, 4kg):
  Side-grade to the 301 shotgun. Slightly higher damage with a larger spread but the only real benefit is that it weights 4 blocks.
  
  
• Dragonsbreath (650$, 5kg):
  Great weapon for crowds, the residual flames it leaves easly kill lesser zeds but it's struggles a bit against mediums. It's especially important on maps like containment station where you can keep it all the way to wave 10 but it can be used anywhere where you can funnel a group of zeds. Avoid it like fire if you're holding a lane with precision perks.
  
  
• Boomstick (750$, 5kg):
  It shouldn't be used for sustained fire but rather when it's getting too busy and you need to clear out a group. Thanks to the lightning fast reload it shreds small and medium zeds. Can be used for scrake takedowns.
  
  
• M79 Grenade Launcher (650$, 6kg):
  Decent when holding a lane with a berserker. Effective for the price.
  
  
• M32 Grenade Launcher (2000$, 9kg):
  Rapid fire m79 with more ammo.
  
  
• Blunderbuss (1500$, 7kg):
  M32 with a lightning fast reload and a much higher impact damage which makes it decent at killing big zed but it's inconistent due to sometimes knocking zeds on their asses. Good weapon.
  
  
• SPX 464 Centerfire (650$, 5kg):
  The more i used the SPX the more it became my favorite weapon on survivalist. Somewhat of a quintessential survivalist weapon, a multi-tool. Cheap, lightweight, dead accurate, innate stun power and tube-fed (which is what you're looking for in a support weapon).
  First of all, kills medium zeds with a headshot (bloat and husks being an exception). Ammo is kinda pricey but the starting 30 rounds should be enough in the early game.
  
  It has stun power so if you're dumping shots into a scrake fast enough 5th or 6th shot will stun him. At tier 4 kills scrakes in 6 heashots. Fleshpounds are a bit of an issue unless you can head-track well.
  
  Reloads rounds one by one which means you can interupt it without losing progress, healpful in a situation where trash zed or two are hanging around a big zed you're planning to take out and the reload doesn't obstruct the center of your vision. Worth putting the time in to practice with it.
  
  
• .500 Magnum Revolver (750$, 3kg):
  Basically a lighter SPX with half the clip size, 25 more rounds and way more recoil. Clunky compared to Centerfire for taking out scrakes and fleshpounds but you can make do. Almost always worth taking if you have free 3 weight blocks leftover.
  
  
  
• Rhino (550$, 2kg):
  Definitely an underrated gun. It has really good handling and cheap ammo so it makes for a good early game side-arm. Someone that learns how to use this gun and harness the power of the shrapnel could make this thing pretty deadly. Each shrapnel does 80 damage and each shot fires 3 shrapnels (240 dmg total). From my so far short experience with it i had easy time clearing tight spaces with it and making short work of quarter-pounds. I'll update info on this gun when i get more time with it.
  
  
• Winchester 1894 (200$, (free), 2kg)(Tier 2 for 600$, 3kg):
  Not worth using without upgrades. Only consider upgrading if you spawned with this thing. At tier 2 it serves the same purpose as the SPX in the early game (supporting your other weapon meant for trash clearing by killing mediums). Performs really poorly against big zeds compared to the SPX though.
  

Weapons for lesser and medium zeds (2/2)

• VLAD-1000 Nailgun (750$, 5kg)(Tier3 for 600$, 6kg):
  With base stats it decaps gorefasts with a headshot and gorefiends with two due to their 60% dmg increase from shotguns, crawlers don't have such weaknesses though so i recommend upgrading it once. It has a shotgun mode where it fires 7 nails at once and a single fire mode which fires a single nail. At tier 3 it rivals the scar with double the mag size and more total ammo and rivals the M4 with firepower. There's always a "but" though. It's primarly a shotgun with a huge spread and the single fire mode is a victim to it aswell. Treat it like an extended melee weapon.
  
  
• HMTech-501 Grenade Rifle (2000$, 8kg):
  It hits the 50 damage breakpoint but it only should be used in a situation where you have a support that welds and repairs a door every wave or you're playing on biolapse. Healing grenades penetrate doors so you can blow through quite a chunk of the wave. Otherwise, clobber is (usually) better for healing and the weight is quite an investment.

These of course are not the only viable weapons for general utility. You should experiment with whatever you're willing to get your hands on.

Weapons for big zeds

There's a whole bunch of possibilities if you utilize freezing (HRG Winterbites, Freezethrower and now Frostfang). Your imagination is your limit but that's something you should discover on your own based on your ability. Here i'll cover the most basic ways that don't involve complexity. Elaborate take-downs often take time to setup and an isolated big zed which is not always possible.

Note: i will be discussing these weapons with the assumption that you know the basics of how these guns act and perform. If however your memory of a weapon seems fuzzy to you then check out the weapon list here[wiki.killingfloor2.com]

• Frostfang (DLC) (1300$, 7kg):
  This thing is currently the best big zed take-down tool which pains me to say because it is paid content. Both shotgun part and the axe gets bonuses from melee expert which coupled with it's freezing effect can without much effort end a scrake or a fleshpound in seconds. Axe gets a big damage multipler on frozen targets (keep in mind that it doesn't matter with what or how the freeze was appplied) Hitting a frozen target with the melee expert bonus the axe does around 324 damage which is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ nuts. This thing is actually good against anything, small and medium zeds included. In viability it stands next to the hemoclobber but it's not necessary quite like the clobber.
  
  Before this thing was in the game survivalist had to pay some serious cash for this sort of power, now he's a reliable big zed killer as early as wave 3.
  
  
• Railgun (1500$, 9kg) (Upgraded to tier 5 for additional 1500$ which raises weight to 10kg):
  While upgraded this baby can take out a fleshpound in around 2 seconds, before he can even finish his raging animation. While unupgraded it takes 4 shots instead of 3 which leaves more chances for errors but it's still really good and effective. It's not that simple of course. Not only you have to be accurate, you need to manualy hit the reload button after a shot, perform a reload cancel all while the weapon viewmodel obstructs your target. It takes time to take used to but it's worth it.
  PS: combined with the frost frang freeze you can forget about all the difficulty of aiming.
  
  
• RPG-7 (1500$, 9kg):
  I often see this thing used by survivalist and while understandable you shouldn't use it too often. While it's true that it makes for an easy fleshpound kill, it takes 4 rockets. if you're not using the Ammo Vest perk that leaves you with 16 total shots which translates to 4 FPs dead if you don't miss a shot. That's not good enough for what the later waves can send at you with quarter-pounds introduced to the game. It's should only be used if you're holding a lane with a berserker.
  
  
• HRG Incision (1500$, 8kg):
  Takes 5 shots to kill a fleshpound (4 at tier 5)but the emp makes for an easy scrake kill. Only take on fleshpounds if you have someone assisting, FP is incapacitated orr you have some space to run back. The trade off from the railgun is that you get 7 more shots and healing darts worth 40hp.
  
  
• HRG Kaboomstick (1100$, 6kg):
  Shreds quarter-pounds, 2 alt-fires to kill one and less if they're bunched up. Can kill a fleshpound fast but cannot guarantee you won't take some damage in the mean time. Weak against scrakes. has the advantage that it doesn't give a ♥♥♥♥ whenever your target is isolated or not, infact it's beneficial if some small zeds are hanging around due to zed-plosion dealing additional damage. Can be used to delete a crowd if needed.
  
  
• Killerwatt (2000$, 8kg):
  It works simillar to the Incision where the emp let's you easly kill a scrake but forget about fleshpounds.
  Edit: the charged shot actually makes short work of Quarterpounds even in groups.

This about does it for the simple stuff, like i said there's a whole world of take-downs for you to explore with various sources of freezing but their viabilty varies greatly on the situation, finances and your own ability. Survivalist is all about experimentation and exploration.

Early game

With the Tidal Terror Update survivalist can select his starting weapon, the selection is:

• Crovel Survival Tool
  
• AR-15 Varmint Rifle
  
• SG 500 Pump-Action
  
• HMTech-101 Pistol
  
• HX25 Grenade Pistol
  
• Caulk n' Burn
  
• Dual 1858 Revolvers
  
• Winchester 1894
  
• MP7 SMG

You have two options, crovel or 101 medic pistol. That's becasue they are both useful past wave 1, potentially even until wave 10.

So then, wave 2 comes. What to do? If you spawned with a crovel you can keep playing with it if you feel confident. If you didn't, you can buy the mp7 with full ammo. MP7 is cheap to fill fully and should carry you through the second wave. If that's not your cup of tea you have a few options:

• .50 Desert Eagle (550$, 2kg):
  Cheap and strong, it'll provide strong trash killing from wave 1 to wave 10 thanks to it's penetration combined with zed-plosion.
  
  
• Dragonsbreath (650$, 5kg):
  If the map is suitable then the trench gun is a great choice. Remember that you most likely won't be able to max out the ammo.
  
  
• HZ12 Multi-Action (750$, 5kg):
  16 shells mag with decent damage? What's the catch? Well, the spread is pretty rough and with 10, 20dmg pellets you'll need to get quite a few of them in there.
  
  
• SA80 L85A2 Bullpup (650$, 5kg):
  Accurate with a single fire mode. Lacks in starting ammo compared to the next two options. As i said before in the guide it got buffed to the point where it's a capable trash killer when upgraded so there's more incentive to buy this one if you want to keep it.
  
  
• Tommy Gun (650$, 6kg):
  Also posseses a single fire mode but the accuracy is really lacking during sustained fire. 50 round mag is nothing to scoff at though.
  
  
• MP5RAS SMG (650$, 4kg):
  No single fire mode but very accurate with practically no recoil even in full auto. Cheap ammo.
  
  
• Glock 18c (750$, 4kg):
  Highest base damage, lightning fast reload but you'll be lucky to hit what you're aiming at.
  
  
• M1911 Pistol (325$, 2kg):
  Cheap and hits the 50 damage bp, but it's a 8 round pistol with heavy recoil. Can be dual-wielded.
  
  
• Spitfire (325$, 2kg):
  It's an option if you want the fire spewing capabilities of dragonsbreath (not nearly as affective though) for half the price. Performance varies greatly from holding your own with no problems to getting breached multiple times.
  
  From there on, you need to use your game sense. Assess the situation (map, team composition, ammount of players) a pick what you think is the most suitable option.

Boss rounds

As always when picking weapons you have to consider your team. One of the best aspects a gun can have for a boss fight is the damage you can deal with your total ammo pool.
Let's go over some weapons you might want to take:

• Seeker Six (1500$, 9kg):
  Seeker Six is one of the best for the job, it can in theory deal 25 650 dmg if you hit every shot not factoring in damage resistances and Survivalists 15% extra damage passive perk. For reference the RPG can deal 14 400. It is an explosive weapon with a blast radius so it will also work well against groups of zeds bosses spawn. You get 12 rounds per ammo box which is an icing on the cake. Only use the tracking mode for the reduced recoil and faster fire rate.
  Don't take it if you have alot of precision perks in the team. Rocket explosions can be obstructing.
  
  
• Dual Rhinos (1100$, 4kg):
  This one shocked me. I never bothered to look into this weapon and that was a mistake. Bullets themselves don't do much damage but as stated previously, each shot fires 3 shrapnels that deal 80 damage each for a whopping 240 dmg per shot (for comparison magnum deals 160). Not only that, shrapnel deals piercing damage which is often less resisted by bosses than bullet damage types. In theory if you hit every shrapnel you can deal 28 800 damage (not factoring damage resistances and Survivalists 15% extra damage passive perk) which is insane considering the weight and pricing.
  
  
• Railgun (1500$, 9kg):
  Good option, ammo might be an issue if the fight drags.
  
  
• HRG Incision (1500$, 8kg):
  Good alternative to the railgun for the emp effect and lighter weight.
  
  
• Killerwatt (2000$, 9kg):
  Alt-fire laser beam applies the emp effect and regular fire mode shreds edars on matriarch fight.
  
  
• Hemogoblin(1100$, 7kg):
  Good supporting pick if you're on the budget. Heals teammates and debuffs enemies.
  
  
• Blunderbuss (1500$, 7kg):
  Simillar total damage to the seeker six.
  
  
• RPG(1500$, 9kg):
  Big blammo = good.
  
  Again, these are not the only viable weapons. You'll catch on what to take with experience.

Playstyle

Again, pick weapons based on the situation. Aim to to be as independent from your team as you can unless you're holding a lane with them, in that case you should arm yourself to fill their weaknesses for example:
- holding with a sharpshooter? Pick trash killing weapons. He's using m14+FN FAL? Take an incision/spx/crossbow etc.
- holding with a berserker? Pick weapons that don't require aim (demolitionist, firebug and support weapons)
Don't devote your entire loadout for that though, you have 20 blocks worth of possible equipment. It's important to consider what happens when your teammate dies or if the other lane gets breached. Keep note of whenever the perks you play with lean toward chaos or precision and pick weapons accordingly, make sure to know if you're holding a lane with a player, solo or the team wants to kite. Try to cover as many missing roles as you can but ALWAYS have a melee for parrying.

Learn cheap weapons. The less money you need to do what you want to do the better. Get proficient with weapons that you can spawn with and weapons that can spawn on the floor.

Do your best to tank damage for your teammates as much as you can (unless its a zerker or you have 10 hp). If you see a raged fleshpound charging your medic take out your melee to block and step in front of him. Remember your Global Damage Resistance - at level 25 you get 25% damage reduction. Keep your eyes and ears open on what's happening to the whole team as much as you can.When kiting keep and eye to what's happening behind you at all times, zeds can spawn around corners and it's easy to get blocked and surrounded. Move through chokepoints as quick as you can, use your melee expert speed. Don't stick to a path no matter what: if 3 fleshpounds spawned on your way then assess whenever double-backing is safer.

You're a great clutcher and adapter. Do your best to pick up what's left of your team and glue it together. If your medic died take out your clobber more often to heal. Big zed killer died? Step up and use your railgun. Don't of course concede your life for others, if the situation clearly calls to haul ass and a player doesn't get the memo then assist them as long as it's save to do so.

Conlusion

If you want to seriously play this class, get yourself a test map and try diffrent combinations of loadouts. Survivalist is all about experimentation.

Don't be discouraged by steam forums or reddit posts and practice.

Updates

15.12.2020:
Added sections on VLAD-1000 Nailgun and HZ12 shotgun
Expanded "playstyle" chapter

21.12.2020
Added sections on HMTech-101 Pistol, Winchester and the Deagle

27.02.2021
Added and expanded sections on the recently buffed Bullpup
Expanded Killerwatt info

02.03.2021
Added a chapter on melee weapons

09.04.2021
Added a section on Rhino revolver

30.04.2021
Expanded SPX Centerfire info

18.05.2021
Added a sections on Pulverizer, Katana, Road Redeemer and Fire Axe

15.10.2021
Reworked melee section to hopefuly discurage melee-survivalists
Added sections on the deagle
Added some text to playstyle section
Added a section on HMTech-201 SMG

16.06.2022
Added a section on grenades

[killskill123]

It's excellent guide many people can't understand that survivalist it's a berserker.

[killskill123]

M79 also a good choice. It deal a largest impact then zeds can't break you defence.

[BombardinoCrocodildo]

no one care about M99 for big zed ?

[SKULLED]

holy fuck an actual good guide

[Barnaky]

Thanks for writing such an in-depth guide on Survivalist, its become one of my top picks ever since I started playing.

[Ho-Lee-♥♥♥]

the blast brawlers are also good melee weapons for survivalist,

[Spoke]

@=EBS= Hairy Frog Personally i'm not a big fan of the ARC Generator. I cannot justify a 9kg non-precision trash killer. I'd say hemoclobber will do a better job while also having all the bonuses that it has.
Freeze thrower is a good weapons but Frost Fang is simply better. For the same weight and extra 200$ you get a weapon that: can freeze 3 FPs with a full mag (which is the biggest fp spawn possible so anything extra is not needed), gets speed bonus from Melee Expert, can parry and also makes short work of big zeds by itself (no teammates needed).

[=EBS= Hairy Frog]

I'd be very interested in your opinion about the 2 other Survivalist weapons. Aka Freeze Thrower and Arc Generator. Both become really powerfull with upgrades and 20+ perk. The AG surprisingly efficient in crowd control, with a decent alternative dmg ( though inacurate ). Iam actually evaluating a AG/Doomstick combo in ending waves.The FT works a bit similar, less deadly, more time buying than the AG. You'll rely on your teammates to terminate the frozen zeds. So good team recommended. Its secondary works like a shottie. FT and AG have in common that their secondary is consumming a lot of ammo, so better to have a good side weapon

[Dvayne Reaze]

Will you update guide for more weapons?

[Dvayne Reaze]

Do knifes of different perk get survivalist perk bonuses?