Door Kickers 2 - Door Kicking For Dummies

Door Kicking For Dummies

Learn about the various ways to open doors and how to plan them in sequence.

Why this guide?

Door opening is a surprisingly complex maneuver never explored in depth, leading to possibly thousands of Dead on Arrivals.

After clumsily dragging my squaddies directly through the doors (by default, kicking them down) and watching them get mowed down by heavily armed hostiles 1 too many times, I decided to take a more thoughtful approach.
https://youtu.be/beUUMwSZekY

Hopefully this guide will help you, the reader, better understand Door Kickers 2 and how to plan, execute, and play better.

Opening a Door vs. Kicking a Door.

It boils down to a few things:

Opening a door:
+ Squaddie aims their gun a split second faster after opening.
+ Required for stealth entries.
- Not what the game is about

Kicking a door
+ Stuns baddies near the door, creating an opening for your squaddies to take them down.
+ Kicking a door down is what the game dynamic is about.
- Not so useful when clearing a bigger room, baddies get a free shot at your door kicking squaddie if they're out of the stun range.

What is behind this door?

An obvious question!


A. Unknown, Door Kickers offers enough "randomness" that it's nearly impossible to get the same enemies in the same positions every time.

You can always use the nifty Spy Camera during real time game play to find out, time permitting.

On missions where time is limited (Bomb defusing, Hostage Rescue), you will not have this luxury and must plan and execute with your best available methods...

To use the the spy cam:
https://youtu.be/zZZH5aVG3kE

1. Equip it on one of your squaddies.

2. Position the camera equipped squaddie near a door where the door kicking icon is visible.

3. Mouse Right Click, Use Spy Camera

4. The spy cam cone, drag the big arrow to rotate

5. Rotate the cam as needed to see what's behind the door.

6. To stop using the spy cam, right click the squaddie and click 'Delete waypoint'

Covering your door kicker

Depending on the angle of your target door, it may be necessary to have a squaddie overwatch them.



The overwatching squaddie will immediately open fire as soon as the path is open.

https://youtu.be/xGNjaOO2t50

Please note it is important you AVOID positioning your door kicker directly facing the door when kicking or opening, always open the door from an angle or side.

My squaddie can't open the door?

Surprise! This also took me a bit to learn as well.

When your squaddie "aims" (right mouse drag to a direction) their actions become limited and can't open doors!
https://youtu.be/BCfSzcP6ShY

To replicate the above:

1. Right mouse button drag a squaddie in any direction

2. Right click squaddie, no more door opening!

3. To have the options of opening the door again, right click the squaddie and 'Delete waypoint'.

Perhaps a future update will address this, but be aware of this particular quirk when you find your squaddie unable to open the door.

How do I get my squaddie to open AND throw a grenade?

https://youtu.be/L9AtrNfha2w

1. Position your squaddie near an unlocked door while NOT aiming (meaning the opening door icon is visible.

2. Right Click your squaddie, select throw grenade.

3. Drag and drop the grenade star as you see fit (red circle for death, yellow-orange circle for stun).


NOTE:
Grenades will drop and land before its intended destination if a person (hostile or friendly) is in its path.

Meaning if a grenade is tossed, but a person blocks its path, it could potentially drop in front of your squaddie, killing said squaddie and everyone caught in the blast radius.

Advance Door Opening: Flimsy Doors and Grenades

Flimsy doors can be blown open by grenades!

It's actually a great way to open doors this way if you suspect suicide bombers or many baddies are behind the said doors.

Opening a door this way actually allows you to "slice the pie" from a distance and safely out of the bomber's reach.

Here is an example of blowing open flimsy doors with frag grenades.
https://youtu.be/MjcwGMImeDo

Advance Door Opening: Dynamic Hammer

Dynamic hammer is best used in a plan, with go codes to time room-clearing grenades.

NOTE: Dynamic hammer leaves your squaddie defenseless while taking the hammer out and holding the hammer.



NEVER leave your hammer wielding squaddie uncovered (if you can help it).

https://youtu.be/cPBjxO710MM

It is now possible to use Dynamic Hammer in a stealth run under very specific circumstances. As of the live release today (04/16/2025), lock picks are no longer available for rangers.
https://youtu.be/OTtL9yxWNpE

Advance Door Opening: Sync Door Actions

Yes, planned path preview shows a grenade landing in front of the door that will (likely) fail the mission.

However, this is actually what happens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtnQkEVuHoM

There are 2 action lists as of June 2021 (Introducing the shotgun).

The first list is "Path Options"

You are looking at path options if the top button says "Show target options"

The other list is "Target Options"

You are looking at target options if the top button says "Show path options"

Essentially, the door opening squaddie uses the "Target Options".
All other squddie syncing on the same action uses "Path Options".

Target Options
- Squaddie opens the door on go code or as ordered.

Path Options
- Squaddie acts on the go code or along the drawn path.

Be aware this will cause a confusion if you are not careful, as a planned "Path Option" may override a planned "Target option" action.

Video showing "Path Options" and "Target Options" in the planning phase.
https://youtu.be/YNzTxqTH0Dc

Pay attention to the squaddie action icon, a black filled icon means the action event will only take place after after a conditional event takes place (which can be VERY bad).


https://youtu.be/fI3wHmZ3NNE

[Fabio_The_Unseen]

it's also best to open the door from the handle side when possible. The door will give you a brief moment of concealment while you're dude can get his weapon up. Opening the door from the hinge side will immediately expose you to whatever is on the other side.

[octy1432]

you don't have to be right in front of the door to kick the door.
Just have you guy hug the wall and he we will do a horse kick which keeps him covered

[lunch]

Door and wall charges when, also their SWAT variations, lockpicking and the lockpick machine when

[Your average Gamer]

If you struggle with the issue of not having the option to open doors after aiming with your team member, using the secondary action menu closeby a door allows you to open doors after aiming and without the need of removing the path thing. It's the three dots over the default action menu.

[Zefflin]

as a DK1 vet this is totally the wrong way to enter a room, see you should get the grenadier and blow open all the walls then enter the building. tsk tsk, using doors. (joke)

[E-Rex]

Awesome guide, I'm 30 hours in and did not know about the nades opening flimsy doors

[ace]

Is there a way to tell if a door is boobytrapped either before you open the door or after you open the door but early enough before the bomb explodes to prevent your soldiers from being killed?

What is the best way to deal with boobytrapped doors?

[I Am The Law †]

Not that I found anything new for me here, but thank you, I read with interest! This topic has been undeservedly neglected, although this knowledge is very useful for beginners.

[jztemple]

Very good guide, thanks for posting it!

Some of your videos don't run, I see this message instead;

"An error occurred. Please try again later. (Playback ID: F_AEiP4I1wkIfrwr)"

[{5LINE}Cows with Guns]

I'll think about adding charges later... since it goes beyond door kicking into literal demolition.

For now I am looking at how to explain "path options" and "target options" when multiple squaddies are at a door.