Since the Summer 2018 update, i feel like the Berserker's weapon balance is a bit... off, especially with the Katana's nerfing to the ground and the Road Redeemer's introduction. Maybe this would help?
Katana
- Weight reduced to 3 blocks
- Price decreased to $750
Reason: With the Katana's damage numbers and price, it's really hard to justify purchasing this weapon since it is an extremely marginal upgrade from the Crovel Survival Tool. I think it would be best to bring its weight down to 3 so as to restore its off-perk utility. Depending on the Zerker's playstyle, a 3 block Katana would also allow him to carry heavier things
Fire Axe
- "Switch from" time reduced to 0.55 (was 0.93)
- Is now a lower priority than the Crovel but higher priority than the Perk Knife
Reason: The Fire Axe proves to be a necessary stopgap between the Crovel and whatever Tier 3 or Tier 4 weapon you decide to use, as you would otherwise be naked when dealing with Scrakes and Quarter Pounds. However, the freakishly slow swinging speed ensures that you want to keep your Crovel around for clots, crawlers, Stalkers, Sirens and Gorefasts. Because you want to have a Crovel alongside the Fire Axe, I REALLY don't think it's appropriate for the Fire Axe to take as long as it currently does to put away. Additionally, putting the Crovel at a higher priority than the Fire Axe would further emphasize the weapon's role in targeting higher priority targets.
VLAD-1000 Nail Gun
- No longer a Berserker weapon
Reason: In the hands of the Zerker, the VLAD-1000 feels pretty bad to be honest. Yes, i understand that it benefits from Smash, Vampire and Spartan. In spite of this, the weapon's utility is pretty much nonexistent in the hands of the Berserker. I think the best course of action is to make it purely a Support weapon, as he would still have what's essentially a decently powerful semi-automatic assault rifle with a shotgun secondary.
New Weapon: M1 Garand w/ Bayonet
- Proposed replacement for VLAD-1000
- Price: $650
- Weight: 5 Blocks
- Damage: 67 Ballistic_Rifle
- Melee Bash: 68 Piercing
- Magazine size: 8
- Penetration: 3
- Rate of Fire: 343 RPM (Semi-auto only)
- Alt-fire: Parry (Strength 3)
- Also a Sharpshooter weapon
Reason: Because my suggestion for the VLAD-1000 is to not make it a Zerker weapon, i think it would be appropriate for Zerker to still have a ranged weapon because Killing Floor 2 is still focused primarily around ranged combat. Because we are talking about a semi-automatic rifle with the same rate of fire as the HMTECH-101 Medic Pistol and 9mm, it is probably for the best that the Garand only deals more damage than the Commando's SCAR-H, but less than the M14 and Winchester 1894.
Despite the modest damage value I have suggested, the Garand should still prove to be a powerful Tier 2 with its high penetration, rate of fire and en-bloc clip (which in turn should provide a much faster dry reload than most weapons currently in the game). Additionally, the fact that it's a semi-auto rifle for the Zerker means that it can be made even more powerful with Parry's damage bonus and Vampire's self-healing capabilities. With the Zerker's skills in consideration, an M1 Garand with the stats i suggested would deal...
83.75 (Level 25 Zerker, bodyshots)
100.5 (Level 25 Zerker, headshot damage)
107.2 (Level 25 Zerker, bodyshots after parrying)
123.95 (Level 25 Zerker, headshots after parrying)
As for its utility on Sharpshooter, it probably won't seem like too much compared to the Centerfire damage-wise, though it should still be able to deal a significant amount of damage to medium zeds while also providing him a dedicated parrying tool in case the game's aggro system (literally just an RNG) decides that a Fleshpound should hug the Sharpshooter.
Road Redeemer
- Added knockdown power of 70
- Weight reduced to 4
- Price Reduced to $800
Reason: Despite weighing an extra weight block, It's literally just a reskin of the Katana, and the Katana already feels like a downgrade from the Crovel Survival Tool. I think the best course of action would be to give it a knockdown mechanic, so as to enable the Road Redeemer to ragdoll more powerful enemies, which is pretty important when you want to buy your team some more time to kill a zed. With that said though, I don't think it would be fair to give it the same knockdown power as the Pulverizer but the ability to even ragdoll zeds in the first place is powerful in its own right, so perhaps it would be fair for the Road Redeemer to still weigh and cost more than the Katana?
New Weapon: Obligatory Riot Shield for SWAT
- Price: $1200 ($800 for Pistol*, $400 for Riot Shield)
- Weight: 3+5
- Damage: 30 Ballistic_Pistol
- Melee Bash: 68 Bludgeon
- Rate of fire: 500 RPM (full auto only)
- Magazine Size: 20
- Alt Fire: Parry (Strength 5, can parry projectiles)
- Also a SWAT weapon
Reason: Because people will always want the SWAT perk to have a riot shield, I feel like the most realistic scenario would be a fully automatic Varmint Rifle with parrying bound to the middle mouse button, rather than have the ability to change firing modes. Because Parrying is a thing relating to the Berserker perk, i think it would be logical to make a Riot Shield weapon for SWAT also a Berserker weapon.
Despite the relatively low damage and magazine size, i can still see this as an upgrade from the Garand due to the ability to parry Husk fireballs whilst also being able to return fire. On top of this, it's an automatic weapon that benefits from Vampire.
*Pistol by itself would be a SWAT+Gunslinger weapon, rather than SWAT+Zerker
Bone Crusher
- Left Arm opacity decreased to 80% (was 100%)
- Blocking with the Bone Crusher further decreases opacity to 50%
- Viewmodel FOV slightly increased
- Can parry bloat bile
Reason: I'd like to see what's trying to kill me, thank you very much. I'm sure so do most people playing the game. Additionally, the ability to parry bloat bile should give the Berserker some much needed utility against the Abomination.
Eviscerator
- Damage increased to 480
- Price increased to $2250
Reason: It's kinda sad to see the Eviscerator's performance in 2019. Even when you spend dosh to upgrade it, it's still a shell of its former self. I think the best course of action would be bring back its initial damage value, but also make it a Tier V weapon priced somewhere between the Demo's M32 and the Sharpshooter's M99 AMR
Katana
- Weight reduced to 3 blocks
- Price decreased to $750
Reason: With the Katana's damage numbers and price, it's really hard to justify purchasing this weapon since it is an extremely marginal upgrade from the Crovel Survival Tool. I think it would be best to bring its weight down to 3 so as to restore its off-perk utility. Depending on the Zerker's playstyle, a 3 block Katana would also allow him to carry heavier things
Fire Axe
- "Switch from" time reduced to 0.55 (was 0.93)
- Is now a lower priority than the Crovel but higher priority than the Perk Knife
Reason: The Fire Axe proves to be a necessary stopgap between the Crovel and whatever Tier 3 or Tier 4 weapon you decide to use, as you would otherwise be naked when dealing with Scrakes and Quarter Pounds. However, the freakishly slow swinging speed ensures that you want to keep your Crovel around for clots, crawlers, Stalkers, Sirens and Gorefasts. Because you want to have a Crovel alongside the Fire Axe, I REALLY don't think it's appropriate for the Fire Axe to take as long as it currently does to put away. Additionally, putting the Crovel at a higher priority than the Fire Axe would further emphasize the weapon's role in targeting higher priority targets.
VLAD-1000 Nail Gun
- No longer a Berserker weapon
Reason: In the hands of the Zerker, the VLAD-1000 feels pretty bad to be honest. Yes, i understand that it benefits from Smash, Vampire and Spartan. In spite of this, the weapon's utility is pretty much nonexistent in the hands of the Berserker. I think the best course of action is to make it purely a Support weapon, as he would still have what's essentially a decently powerful semi-automatic assault rifle with a shotgun secondary.
New Weapon: M1 Garand w/ Bayonet
- Proposed replacement for VLAD-1000
- Price: $650
- Weight: 5 Blocks
- Damage: 67 Ballistic_Rifle
- Melee Bash: 68 Piercing
- Magazine size: 8
- Penetration: 3
- Rate of Fire: 343 RPM (Semi-auto only)
- Alt-fire: Parry (Strength 3)
- Also a Sharpshooter weapon
Reason: Because my suggestion for the VLAD-1000 is to not make it a Zerker weapon, i think it would be appropriate for Zerker to still have a ranged weapon because Killing Floor 2 is still focused primarily around ranged combat. Because we are talking about a semi-automatic rifle with the same rate of fire as the HMTECH-101 Medic Pistol and 9mm, it is probably for the best that the Garand only deals more damage than the Commando's SCAR-H, but less than the M14 and Winchester 1894.
Despite the modest damage value I have suggested, the Garand should still prove to be a powerful Tier 2 with its high penetration, rate of fire and en-bloc clip (which in turn should provide a much faster dry reload than most weapons currently in the game). Additionally, the fact that it's a semi-auto rifle for the Zerker means that it can be made even more powerful with Parry's damage bonus and Vampire's self-healing capabilities. With the Zerker's skills in consideration, an M1 Garand with the stats i suggested would deal...
83.75 (Level 25 Zerker, bodyshots)
100.5 (Level 25 Zerker, headshot damage)
107.2 (Level 25 Zerker, bodyshots after parrying)
123.95 (Level 25 Zerker, headshots after parrying)
As for its utility on Sharpshooter, it probably won't seem like too much compared to the Centerfire damage-wise, though it should still be able to deal a significant amount of damage to medium zeds while also providing him a dedicated parrying tool in case the game's aggro system (literally just an RNG) decides that a Fleshpound should hug the Sharpshooter.
Road Redeemer
- Added knockdown power of 70
- Weight reduced to 4
- Price Reduced to $800
Reason: Despite weighing an extra weight block, It's literally just a reskin of the Katana, and the Katana already feels like a downgrade from the Crovel Survival Tool. I think the best course of action would be to give it a knockdown mechanic, so as to enable the Road Redeemer to ragdoll more powerful enemies, which is pretty important when you want to buy your team some more time to kill a zed. With that said though, I don't think it would be fair to give it the same knockdown power as the Pulverizer but the ability to even ragdoll zeds in the first place is powerful in its own right, so perhaps it would be fair for the Road Redeemer to still weigh and cost more than the Katana?
New Weapon: Obligatory Riot Shield for SWAT
- Price: $1200 ($800 for Pistol*, $400 for Riot Shield)
- Weight: 3+5
- Damage: 30 Ballistic_Pistol
- Melee Bash: 68 Bludgeon
- Rate of fire: 500 RPM (full auto only)
- Magazine Size: 20
- Alt Fire: Parry (Strength 5, can parry projectiles)
- Also a SWAT weapon
Reason: Because people will always want the SWAT perk to have a riot shield, I feel like the most realistic scenario would be a fully automatic Varmint Rifle with parrying bound to the middle mouse button, rather than have the ability to change firing modes. Because Parrying is a thing relating to the Berserker perk, i think it would be logical to make a Riot Shield weapon for SWAT also a Berserker weapon.
Despite the relatively low damage and magazine size, i can still see this as an upgrade from the Garand due to the ability to parry Husk fireballs whilst also being able to return fire. On top of this, it's an automatic weapon that benefits from Vampire.
*Pistol by itself would be a SWAT+Gunslinger weapon, rather than SWAT+Zerker
Bone Crusher
- Left Arm opacity decreased to 80% (was 100%)
- Blocking with the Bone Crusher further decreases opacity to 50%
- Viewmodel FOV slightly increased
- Can parry bloat bile
Reason: I'd like to see what's trying to kill me, thank you very much. I'm sure so do most people playing the game. Additionally, the ability to parry bloat bile should give the Berserker some much needed utility against the Abomination.
Eviscerator
- Damage increased to 480
- Price increased to $2250
Reason: It's kinda sad to see the Eviscerator's performance in 2019. Even when you spend dosh to upgrade it, it's still a shell of its former self. I think the best course of action would be bring back its initial damage value, but also make it a Tier V weapon priced somewhere between the Demo's M32 and the Sharpshooter's M99 AMR
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