Tactics Berserker tactics for the new update.

[xyrz]

Since I have been playing berserker for a long time.

I logged on the game finding out I am level 6 as a zerker.

anyway here are some tips for playing out as a zerker.

Clots:
-They got buffed in the attack department with the new patch but still you can take them on. Use the knife when dealing with them. AIM FOR THE HEAD.
-Katana and/or chainsaw = Clot buster mode. AIM FOR THE HEAD.

Gorefasts:
-They are fast and they can still attack you after being decaped so be careful with them.
-Try to shoot them from afar with the 9mm. But if they get close, an alt-fire with the knife will take care of 'em
-Chainsaw/katana is overkill for these. AIM FOR THE HEAD

Sirens:
-As much as possible use RANGED attacks for these specimens.
-If they get close, an alt-fire with the chainsaw/katana will kill them.

Stalkers:
-see clots
-they can creep up on you but you can still kill em.

Crawlers:
-Range is the primary weapon for these specimens.
-The katana can catch them in mid jump.
-You can try the crouch-attack sequence for them but I dont recommend that because the specimens can catch up with you while you are crouched.
-A lever action rifle 1HKO's these.

Husk:
-See scrake
-Keep moving while facing these guys as they are ranged attackers.


Scrakes:
-Katanas/Chainsaws alt-fire stuns 'em. Continue stuning them till they die.
-They are slow moving specimens. So try picking of the specimens surrounding the scrake before actually attacking the scrake.

Fleshpound:
-No more fleshpound decap trick.
-Katanas/Chainsaws are the best weapons for these. I recommend the alt-fire for the chainsaw. You can use any attack with the katana.

Patriarch:
-WTF?! you are melee-ing the Patriarch?!?!
-You can surround the patriarch with 3+ people and kill him while using the katana/chainsaw.


MORE TIPS TO COME SOON!

 

[Evilsod]

Are you sure your an experienced Berserker... suggesting Knife or 9mm for Gorefasts? Wtf? Ok the Chainsaws primary fire is gimped and un-usable but the secondary fire and the Katana in general sure as hell aren't. You also sure as hell don't treat Scrakes and Husks the same. Scrakes give you plenty of time to kill everything nearby, the Husk just shoots you instead and its a pain to avoid.

 

[Nanostrike]

Gorefasts:
-They are fast and they can still attack you after being decaped so be careful with them.
-Try to shoot them from afar with the 9mm. But if they get close, an alt-fire with the knife will take care of 'em
-Chainsaw/katana is overkill for these. AIM FOR THE HEAD

Yeah...have fun getting killed by chainsaw-decapitated Gorefasts who still hit you... And using the Knife on them is a just plain bad idea if there's more than one...

The Katana works if you pop the head off. The Lever Action Rifle for headshots downs 'em in one bullet. Those two are your best (And pretty much only) bets...

The 9mm, sadly, does work better than the Chainsaw, though.

 

[9_6]

You forgot to mention to throw the chainsaw away and get a katana asap.
Hell even the machete is better than the chainsaw cause bodyshots kill clots in 1 hit.

 

[xyrz]

Yeah...have fun getting killed by chainsaw-decapitated Gorefasts who still hit you... And using the Knife on them is a just plain bad idea if there's more than one...

The Katana works if you pop the head off. The Lever Action Rifle for headshots downs 'em in one bullet. Those two are your best (And pretty much only) bets...

The 9mm, sadly, does work better than the Chainsaw, though.

Keep in mind that once you behead the specimen, you have to move away from them quickly.

I was never a fan of the tank zerk. I Use the zerk for hit and run attacks

 

[Nanostrike]

The best "Tactic" for Berserker since this update is to switch to a perk that doesn't currently SUCK...

 

[Contrivance]

Crawlers - If you're using a Katana, and have room to back up, these are not that hard to kill. If you back up just as they jump, they'll miss and land in front of you, which gives you the opportunity to move in and kill them before they start moving again. It takes a little bit of practice. The Chainsaw slows you down a bit too much to do this consistently, and the Knife and Machete have too short a reach.
The other trick is to use another specimen to block their jump. They'll jump at you as soon as they're in range, even if a specimen is in the way, and then they'll sit on the ground for a couple seconds before moving again. If the crawler jumps and hits a clot, you can sometimes kill both the clot and the crawler before it starts moving again.

Husks - Up close these guys are very easy to kill. Just stun them with the alt-fire of the Katana and Chainsaw. They have less hitpoints than the Skrake, and on Normal you can sometimes decap them in one hit. At a distance, use cover or move around a lot. Your non-berserker team mates should be shooting at these anyways.

Bloats - Switch to pistol and pop their head off with a single well-placed shot. Berserkers take very little damage from Bloat bile, but it makes it really hard to see what's going on when it covers your screen. The alternative is to alt-fire them with Katana or Chainsaw if they're not paying attention to you. Just be sure to back off after hitting them, so you're not covered in bile.

Siren - They only do damage to your health, not your armour. They're only dangerous if they travel in packs of 2+, or if they're accompanied by other specimens. If they're alone, just charge them, and heal afterwards. If they've got friends, pick off the other specimens first, or kill them quickly at range.

Skrake - Stun with alt-fire of Katana or Chainsaw, but be ready to back off after swinging, as sometimes they attack just as they get stunned. If they've got friends, kill the friends first, and leave the Skrake for later. Skrake's only charge when they've taken a certain amount of damage, so you can ignore them and continuously dance around them if you've got the room. If the Skrake is going after someone else, intercept them and chop the Skrake up. Skrake's are easy money for Berserkers with Chainsaw/Katana, and you shouldn't pass up an opportunity to kill them when the situation is right.

Patriarch - Unless you gang up on the Patriarch with multiple Berserkers, you're not going to be much use. Switching to another class is suggested, or at least getting a back-up weapon (M79). However Berserker speed is really useful in avoiding him, especially if you've found a spot where you can run around in circles. He'll inevitably bump into things, or stop to shoot, giving you a chance to escape his chest mutation.



Berserker is still a good perk, but the changes to Clots and Gorefasts make them more annoying to fight now. Before you could just chop them to pieces with little chance of being hurt, but now a decap'ed specimen can still fight back and will block your path. You don't have to use a gun on them, you just have to keep moving and not get surrounded.


I've found the M79 makes a good compliment to the Katana or Chainsaw. It doesn't weigh a lot, thins out weak hordes, softens up stronger specimens, and won't detonate at point-blank range. It /will/ detonate at short range, so it can still hurt you, but not seriously. Ammunition is also pretty cheap, and before long you'll have leveled up the Demolitions perk. Since Berserkers rarely need to spend much money at the trader, you should be able to afford it after a couple waves.

 

[Nanostrike]

Berserker is still a good perk, but the changes to Clots and Gorefasts make them more annoying to fight now. Before you could just chop them to pieces with little chance of being hurt, but now a decap'ed specimen can still fight back and will block your path. You don't have to use a gun on them, you just have to keep moving and not get surrounded.

Absolutely disagree. Since the patch, anything the Berserker does can be done better by another perk. I'm dead serious. You can use the gimped Katana or the gimped Chainsaw all you want, but with the way they are now, there's no reason to get in close and "Mix it up" with the specimens without a shotgun... At least the shotgun can hit multiple specimens!

Other perks far, far outdamage the Zerker now, FROM A SAFER RANGE, and can now easily deal with the bigger specimens that used to be the Berserker's forte...

 

[KON_Air]

And you know that's just because hit boxes are fixed I don't know I rarely play berserker but it seems they can do better what they were supposed to do with medic gun...

...that is throwing themselves in front of scrakes and fleshpounds and soak damage

 

[Undedd Jester]

I realise this is dredging up a slightly dead thread, but I felt it was important to post this in somewhere without mkaing a new thread, since its been tackled alot already.

In regards to the Chainsaw I have had a few goes with it and its not as bad as people may think, just harder to use. The common complaint is the primary fire doesn't do enough damage and gets cut through by gorefasts and such. While the Katana is still more useful imo, I have managed to still find the regular chainsaw attack useful

The main weakness of the alt fire is the fact that it isn't constant, so if you miss your swing or get zeds bunching up infront of you, you are left open to attack. The primary fire is great for keeping zeds out of reach, but doesn't kill them fast enough creating the same problem.

To get around this I've noticed that if you click alt fire then immediately click primary fire, you will cancel your alt fire animation and do your regular attack. However your alt-fire attack will STILL hit the zed even though you are currently chewing them up with the primary fire. Try it, go up to a wall and hit alt-fire, then hit primary straight after it but release immediately. You will see your blade chip the wall when you hit and release primary fire, but you will see a second chip against the wall even though your chainsaw doesn't appear to be attacking.

What this allows you to do (admittedly with some practise) is attack with your alt fire, and use the primary fire to fend off Zeds while your alt-fire animation completes and recharges.

It doesn't make the Chainsaw quite as functional as the Katana (The slower move speed makes bigger specimens much more of a pain) but for those of you that love the weapon, it might at least allow you to have fun with it again.

J*

 

[Anubis_FB]

In regards to the Chainsaw I have had a few goes with it and its not as bad as people may think, just harder to use. The common complaint is the primary fire doesn't do enough damage and gets cut through by gorefasts and such. While the Katana is still more useful imo, I have managed to still find the regular chainsaw attack useful

The main weakness of the alt fire is the fact that it isn't constant, so if you miss your swing or get zeds bunching up infront of you, you are left open to attack. The primary fire is great for keeping zeds out of reach, but doesn't kill them fast enough creating the same problem.

To get around this I've noticed that if you click alt fire then immediately click primary fire, you will cancel your alt fire animation and do your regular attack. However your alt-fire attack will STILL hit the zed even though you are currently chewing them up with the primary fire. Try it, go up to a wall and hit alt-fire, then hit primary straight after it but release immediately. You will see your blade chip the wall when you hit and release primary fire, but you will see a second chip against the wall even though your chainsaw doesn't appear to be attacking.
J*

Ive done this with my zerker, and its what I did to quickly decap scrakes and Fleshies (pre-patch). I still find now that the Zerkers only use is on pat. Its all zerker ownage. Using 6, lvl 6 zekers with saws circling him (body blocking so he can't run and heal) attacking with altfire. Fastest time we had on killing him was about 5 sec. He had enough time to get one chest flower attack, dropped to his knee, then died.

Could just be me tho. I am more of a Kitana user when it comes to the zerker, but the saw appears to do more body damage then the kitana and its easier to aim

 

[SMIFF]

To get around this I've noticed that if you click alt fire then immediately click primary fire, you will cancel your alt fire animation and do your regular attack. However your alt-fire attack will STILL hit the zed even though you are currently chewing them up with the primary fire. Try it, go up to a wall and hit alt-fire, then hit primary straight after it but release immediately. You will see your blade chip the wall when you hit and release primary fire, but you will see a second chip against the wall even though your chainsaw doesn't appear to be attacking.

What this allows you to do (admittedly with some practise) is attack with your alt fire, and use the primary fire to fend off Zeds while your alt-fire animation completes and recharges.

It doesn't make the Chainsaw quite as functional as the Katana (The slower move speed makes bigger specimens much more of a pain) but for those of you that love the weapon, it might at least allow you to have fun with it again.

J*

This is quite a good tactic, and iv found personally...that tapping the primary fire seems to work better than holding it, im probly wrong but....i dno, just seems to be more effective.

And berserker is nowhere near as broken and useless as people say.

It can take care of anything quite easily up to a fleshpound, and its very fun to use instead of just sitting somewhere spamming M14 rounds.

 

[Marls]

You forgot to mention to throw the chainsaw away and get a katana asap.
Hell even the machete is better than the chainsaw cause bodyshots kill clots in 1 hit.

Just so noone gets the wrong idea.... you *sell* it to the trader

 

[BEEEEEES]

Berserker tactic: Buy Katana & Crossbow; switch to Medic.

 

[Skalli]

Best tactic: Never use alt fire with Katana (who wrote this ****?).

Siren: Wait for her scream, then run with knife infront of her and take the katana. You'll only have problems with fps alone (you know in 90% of the games you'll find a ss).

 

[Anubis_FB]

I know there are probly alot of ppl who have played zerker more than me, but I still like using the Saw with the zerker

I carry the Saw, and alt fire and just body shot everything. Only thing to worry about is a FP, everything goes down fast. Katana is good for Decaps, but the Saw does huge body damage, and the alt fire just adds to it. Katana is a decap weapon, but the saw imo is a faster attack with the same result on a larger target zone (center mass)

 

[Melon_Reaper]

To get around this I've noticed that if you click alt fire then immediately click primary fire, you will cancel your alt fire animation and do your regular attack. However your alt-fire attack will STILL hit the zed even though you are currently chewing them up with the primary fire.

Of course the Berserker class needs to take advantage of an exploit to be good. CHEATING lol.

It doesn't make the Chainsaw quite as functional as the Katana (The slower move speed makes bigger specimens much more of a pain) but for those of you that love the weapon, it might at least allow you to have fun with it again.

J*

Yup, have fun. If your conscience allows it.

 

[HaTeMe]

Siren: Wait for her scream, then run with knife infront of her and take the katana. You'll only have problems with fps alone (you know in 90% of the games you'll find a ss).

Why run with knife? Running with katana is just as fast.

 

[Aze]

The Chainsaw is crap if you attack the head, as it only deals 25% of it's damage to the head, which is why the specimen gets decapped and still walk and attack, so IF you are using the Chainsaw, aim for the body. (I really hope this gets fixed in the next patch). But using the Chainsaw in the first place is just crap. If you are level 5/6, use the knife on the first wave, then sell the Chainsaw and buy the Katana...

As for the Secondary attack, like on the Katana, don't spam it, just time it as an initial hit when you run up to something. Then if the target still lives, or if there are more specimen closeby, use the primary one.
The Katana is by far the best weapon for the Zerker, not only cuz of the great damage and range, but also because of the runspeed. Do not underestimate the runspeed!
I also recommend a X-bow along with it (and later get Pipebombs) With that you CAN actually manage by yourself, at least on more big and open maps like Farm and Westlondon

 

[SMIFF]

Why run with knife? Running with katana is just as fast.

is it?

the knife feels a tiny little bit faster