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What's up with the 'zerker nerf?

Arono1290

Member
May 15, 2009
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I've played this game since launch with my buds, we play rather consistently but we aren't all 5-6 perk leveled monsters.. most of us have 1 level 6 perk and everything else is 3+. We've always played together, and I've played a bit of each class - my friends have played all as well.

Anyway, I'll break down in my mind how I saw the power levels of the classes:

Launch:
Support Specialist = Medic > Commando >> Firebug >>>> Berserker >>>>>>> Sharpshooter

Heavy Metal:
Commando > Support Specialist = Medic > Berserker > Firebug > Sharpshooter

Level Up:
Demolitions = Commando >> Support Specialist = Sharpshooter > Medic >>> Firebug >>>>> Berserker

Berserker to me was never powerful. I often hear tales of how on Hard-Suicidal (the only difficulties I ever play on) that they can decap everything and solo everything in the game. Every since Heavy Metal I could do that as a Commando and SS rather easily, and even as Medic sometimes. Firebug and Sharpshooter were by far the weakest. And SS never had issues with the FP in any patch ever.

But Berserker seemed very useless. Melee range is deadly, ever since the Gorefast strength increase.. and that was in Heavy Metal. The damage resistance never seemed high enough for the good ol' 'zerker. And what he can do I can do just as easily (and safer) as a Commando. The Katana was a great step in the right direction, but they are so heavily reliant on Medic support and constantly dancing around compared to other classes that sit back and shoot and take enemies down.

Now, with the Level Up patch, Commando is too easy to play.. I have zero ammo issues with the SCAR, and often keep it in semi-auto mode and it's literally 1 shot 1 kill for a lot of the specimens. Husks get dropped fast, and semi-auto headshots from a distance drop a Scrake easily. FP is only a touch rough if they manage to get up on me quick, but otherwise they go down without much fanfare. Sharpshooter is now a lot better because of that sniper rifle, and the autoshotgun is great. And demolitions is simply a monster. Which brings me to another point - if I do have issues with FPs, by the time they come around I can just buy some pipebombs and lay them down. Since they don't appear to take up any room/weight...

Berserker has never been a good perk in my book.. and with this hard nerf I can't see myself even bothering to play with it. And Firebug needs some kind of alternative gun or alternative fire - they lack stopping power. Otherwise, every other class is powerful and rather fun to play.
 
Zerker got nerfed? Cause from what i've found it's the most powerful class in the game. Only thing it has trouble with are FPs. Can down a scrake with 0 damage, can down everything else but a bloat with 0 damage. And that's because you sometimes take puke damage...
If anything, zerker is still overpowered. On top of that, it has a huge run speed and high damage resistance.
 
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The katana's damage/speed got nerfed, and so did chainsaw damage.. but I'm not talking about that really - I'm talking about the fact you have to repeatedly click to swing now. Just an annoyance, really.

The thing about it having trouble with FPs and the zero damage and such.. every other class can do the same thing. As a commando, I can go entire rounds with no damage - FPs be damned.

Run speed is I guess a boon, but really.. on certain maps I don't even have to go to the trader, because I still have a full AK and half of my SCAR ammo left. I don't think Berserker was ever the most powerful class, and it definitely was overblown in how strong some claimed it to be.
 
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The katana's damage/speed got nerfed, and so did chainsaw damage.. but I'm not talking about that really - I'm talking about the fact you have to repeatedly click to swing now. Just an annoyance, really.

There's a lot of complaining about that now. I wasn't around to see how it was before Level Up, but the katana and chainsaw are still incredibly awesome.
And the fact that you now have to click with the katana isn't a nerf. I'd imagine it's just to stop retards from sitting in doorways holding Mouse 1 and owning everything. If you want W+M1 then there's always the chainsaw, which still does considerable damage, but not quite as fast as the Katana. The Melee weapons have just been balaced is all. If you want speed and quick kills, it's katana. If you want lazyness and easier kills, it's chainsaw. I mena how hard is it to press the mouse button? It's just like using a pistol or other semi auto weapon. ;)
 
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There's a lot of complaining about that now. I wasn't around to see how it was before Level Up, but the katana and chainsaw are still incredibly awesome.
And the fact that you now have to click with the katana isn't a nerf. I'd imagine it's just to stop retards from sitting in doorways holding Mouse 1 and owning everything. If you want W+M1 then there's always the chainsaw, which still does considerable damage, but not quite as fast as the Katana. The Melee weapons have just been balaced is all. If you want speed and quick kills, it's katana. If you want lazyness and easier kills, it's chainsaw. I mena how hard is it to press the mouse button? It's just like using a pistol or other semi auto weapon. ;)

What are you talking about? The chainsaw is now utterly useless. The only good weapon for berserker now is the lame katana which was made even more lame.
 
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There's a lot of complaining about that now. I wasn't around to see how it was before Level Up, but the katana and chainsaw are still incredibly awesome.
And the fact that you now have to click with the katana isn't a nerf. I'd imagine it's just to stop retards from sitting in doorways holding Mouse 1 and owning everything. If you want W+M1 then there's always the chainsaw, which still does considerable damage, but not quite as fast as the Katana. The Melee weapons have just been balaced is all. If you want speed and quick kills, it's katana. If you want lazyness and easier kills, it's chainsaw. I mena how hard is it to press the mouse button? It's just like using a pistol or other semi auto weapon. ;)
Yeah, you and every other newb in the world think the chainsaw is top ****.

I can do more damage at just about the same rate of fire with my knife as I can a chainsaw. Only at least with my knife the head shots actually drop clots.
 
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While I can't claim to be very skilled with a beserker, I have found that a beserker has some serious combat ability once you get his timing right. Prior to the patch, taking down a scrake or fleshpound was remarkably easy. The scrake was easy to stun and thus kill, and with the beserker's high knife attack speed, using the fleshpound glitch was a breeze (not even I am perfect enough to play everything by the rules). Crowds were a joke with the chainsaw and katana, mowed down in seconds assisted by the nearly limitless ZED time.

Most powerful class? Almost. A very powerful class? Yes.
 
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I've played this game since launch with my buds, we play rather consistently but we aren't all 5-6 perk leveled monsters.. most of us have 1 level 6 perk and everything else is 3+. We've always played together, and I've played a bit of each class - my friends have played all as well.

Anyway, I'll break down in my mind how I saw the power levels of the classes:

Launch:
Support Specialist = Medic > Commando >> Firebug >>>> Berserker >>>>>>> Sharpshooter

Heavy Metal:
Commando > Support Specialist = Medic > Berserker > Firebug > Sharpshooter

Level Up:
Demolitions = Commando >> Support Specialist = Sharpshooter > Medic >>> Firebug >>>>> Berserker

Berserker to me was never powerful. I often hear tales of how on Hard-Suicidal (the only difficulties I ever play on) that they can decap everything and solo everything in the game. Every since Heavy Metal I could do that as a Commando and SS rather easily, and even as Medic sometimes. Firebug and Sharpshooter were by far the weakest. And SS never had issues with the FP in any patch ever.

But Berserker seemed very useless. Melee range is deadly, ever since the Gorefast strength increase.. and that was in Heavy Metal. The damage resistance never seemed high enough for the good ol' 'zerker. And what he can do I can do just as easily (and safer) as a Commando. The Katana was a great step in the right direction, but they are so heavily reliant on Medic support and constantly dancing around compared to other classes that sit back and shoot and take enemies down.

Now, with the Level Up patch, Commando is too easy to play.. I have zero ammo issues with the SCAR, and often keep it in semi-auto mode and it's literally 1 shot 1 kill for a lot of the specimens. Husks get dropped fast, and semi-auto headshots from a distance drop a Scrake easily. FP is only a touch rough if they manage to get up on me quick, but otherwise they go down without much fanfare. Sharpshooter is now a lot better because of that sniper rifle, and the autoshotgun is great. And demolitions is simply a monster. Which brings me to another point - if I do have issues with FPs, by the time they come around I can just buy some pipebombs and lay them down. Since they don't appear to take up any room/weight...

Berserker has never been a good perk in my book.. and with this hard nerf I can't see myself even bothering to play with it. And Firebug needs some kind of alternative gun or alternative fire - they lack stopping power. Otherwise, every other class is powerful and rather fun to play.

I'm really interested to know how you can "drop FPs with ease" as a Commando. It is massively difficult for me on 6 man Hard as anything other than demo or SS to take an FP by myself(without using the pipe bomb). Gauging from the clots health bars, I'd guess that the SCAR bullet does between 50-75 dmg. Since the Commando perk gives it 50% more dmg, that means you're optimistically doing around 100 damage per bullet on the FP, which has over 4k hp. It appears that the FP's small-arms fire resistance only works on his body, but even then it'd require you to reel off about 40 headshots with the SCAR on an FP that'll have enraged after the first couple of hits.

The pipe bombs however, are really sick. They've taken most of the fun out of taking on the Patriach and are easy insurance for FPs when you don't have a good SS on the team. I'd even argue that pipe bombs are the only efficient way to deal with FPs if there's no SS, given that diverting a team's firepower to taking out fleshpounds can often result in other specimens breaking through.

The much-hyped AA12 + HS combo really doesn't seem all that powerful to me, because I often see lvl 6 Supports struggle with scrakes even on 6 man Hard. The problem is mainly that hitting the big ZEDs as a support will drain far too much of your ammo whilst diverting your fire away from the onrushing Gorefasts/crawlers. It is also highly likely that the Scrake will get enraged and land a hit or two before you land the finishing blow.

I know the SS is really "broken" but as it stands right now, the only way I can consistently ensure my team's survival is through playing as SS.

From what I've seen/experienced,
SS > Demo > Commando > Support > Medic > Firebug > Berserker
 
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Zerker got nerfed? Cause from what i've found it's the most powerful class in the game. Only thing it has trouble with are FPs. Can down a scrake with 0 damage, can down everything else but a bloat with 0 damage. And that's because you sometimes take puke damage...
If anything, zerker is still overpowered. On top of that, it has a huge run speed and high damage resistance.


The most powerful class is the sharpshooter hands down and the chainsaw sucks now.
 
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Yeah, you and every other newb in the world think the chainsaw is top ****.

I can do more damage at just about the same rate of fire with my knife as I can a chainsaw. Only at least with my knife the head shots actually drop clots.
And you and every other whining ***** can shut their mouth. You tried that middle mouse lately? Just because you can't sit there holding a single key down with the chainsaw, doen't mean it doesn't own. So go get better at the game before you turn up here complaining that "UHHH THEY NERFED MY CLASS NOW I CANT PLAY"
 
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And you and every other whining ***** can shut their mouth. You tried that middle mouse lately? Just because you can't sit there holding a single key down with the chainsaw, doen't mean it doesn't own. So go get better at the game before you turn up here complaining that "UHHH THEY NERFED MY CLASS NOW I CANT PLAY"

Wow just wow, I wish they wouldn't have done the free weekend, people like you are really not needed in KF.


Explain to me why the knife primary should be more deadly then the chainsaw primary?

And stop with the "yeayea lolz bezerkrs lol they just sit in the corner lol and click the left mnoouse btuon lolololz"


@nath2009uk

I call BS on that one, explain to me in what way the chainsaw is better than the katana?
 
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Chainsaw is a level 5/6 Zerks small lump sum at the end of Wave 1, that's it and if you think different you're pretty ignorant.

At least prepatch it had an excellent use of Decapping FP's now it doesn't have that and combined with the Katana getting a usability nerf which it didn't need Zerk is now not needed in any meaningful way, besides just wanting to have fun hacking and slashing.
 
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Explain to me why the knife primary should be more deadly then the chainsaw primary?

And stop with the "yeayea lolz bezerkrs lol they just sit in the corner lol and click the left mnoouse btuon lolololz"
What the hell have you been smoking? Chainsaw primary is for stunning them, for when you're being overrun, which it does perfectly. Use the middlemouse for a kill, which it instantly kills most things, and in 3 hits kills a scrake at Lvl3 zerker.
Just because now you can't laze about holding mouse 1 to instantly kill everything in sight, doesn't mean zerker is ruined. Just means it takes some skill and a slight amount of knowledge if you want to survive.:eek:
 
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What the hell have you been smoking? Chainsaw primary is for stunning them, for when you're being overrun, which it does perfectly. Use the middlemouse for a kill, which it instantly kills most things, and in 3 hits kills a scrake at Lvl3 zerker.
Just because now you can't laze about holding mouse 1 to instantly kill everything in sight, doesn't mean zerker is ruined. Just means it takes some skill and a slight amount of knowledge if you want to survive.:eek:


And why need to use the chainsaw now if you have to swing it all the time? Rather just use a katana. But I haven't even played berserker anymore since they nerfed the chainsaw.
 
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Wow just wow, I wish they wouldn't have done the free weekend, people like you are really not needed in KF.


Explain to me why the knife primary should be more deadly then the chainsaw primary?

And stop with the "yeayea lolz bezerkrs lol they just sit in the corner lol and click the left mnoouse btuon lolololz"


@nath2009uk

I call BS on that one, explain to me in what way the chainsaw is better than the katana?

I never said it was.
Realisticly the Chainsaw should be 2x as good as the katana, I mean, it is a chainsaw after all.
 
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What the hell have you been smoking? Chainsaw primary is for stunning them, for when you're being overrun, which it does perfectly. Use the middlemouse for a kill, which it instantly kills most things, and in 3 hits kills a scrake at Lvl3 zerker.
Just because now you can't laze about holding mouse 1 to instantly kill everything in sight, doesn't mean zerker is ruined. Just means it takes some skill and a slight amount of knowledge if you want to survive.:eek:

Lulz stunning them?

Yea.......pretty awesome to decap a gorefast just so it can keep attacking, at least the knife kills it.

There is no reason to take the chainsaw over the katana.
 
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What the hell have you been smoking? Chainsaw primary is for stunning them, for when you're being overrun, which it does perfectly. Use the middlemouse for a kill, which it instantly kills most things, and in 3 hits kills a scrake at Lvl3 zerker.
Just because now you can't laze about holding mouse 1 to instantly kill everything in sight, doesn't mean zerker is ruined. Just means it takes some skill and a slight amount of knowledge if you want to survive.:eek:

EVERY other class except medic dishes out more damage at a safer range than Berserker. The class is useless...

Lulz stunning them?

Yea.......pretty awesome to decap a gorefast just so it can keep attacking, at least the knife kills it.

There is no reason to take the chainsaw over the katana.

And as Moratinur is pointing out, the chainsaw's low damage means it no longer stuns anything. Hence when you pop a Gorefast's head off, it immediately hits you... It's a joke weapon now that has NOTHING useful over the Katana.
 
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What the hell have you been smoking? Chainsaw primary is for stunning them...:eek:

You're mistaken: lesser zeds now will damage people in melee without even playing an attack animation- straight through any supposed stun. Decapitation, as other people have pointed out, isn't really a problem-solver with the chainsaw anymore either.

The knife is better. Really.
 
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