Survivalist Loadouts

[BunBun]

Leveling up pre-prestige I used a Flamethrower, any shotgun and a medi pistol/molotov. Had a good time with lighting things on fire and aa12

Post-prestige I went Grenade Launcher, Double Barrel, medi pistol/grenade. Blowing stuff up as a surv is more fun, plus medinades for choke points and turning around to blow stuff up elsewhere. and a double barrel shotgun for big zeds, either raw damage or stagger chance.

But what do you use?

 

[Tony]

katana+max level crossbow

 

[infntnub]

Seeker Six and Med shottie.

I used to like Katana, Med Pistol, RPG... but then TWI went and edited the katana weight for no reason (thanks TWI ).

 

[PurpleFanta]

I play demo knight, Pulverizer and RPG.
the AoE with pulverizer is really satisfying.

being able to hit and run with the RPG against bosses is also satisfying.

 

[Eight Foot Robot]

always use the M16M203 with the survivalist and fill out the free space with any weapon of your choice. because the M16M203 is a confused, inefficient weapon for a confused, inefficient perk. perfect for eachother.

 

[BunBun]

always use the M16M203

Ever since your post (and the oct patch) I changed my loadout
M16
Double Barrel (upgraded)
Medi pistol/nade

Its been even more fun.

 

[Shy Bell]

I like this thread.
I recommend to try my build:

Crovel
M16 (fully upgraded)
M4 (fully upgraded)
medic pistol (optional and you need to drop one of the upgrades)

Now why:

1. Crovel:
Escape tool for movement speed bonus, and parry tool for raging fleshpounds. This is part of all my builds only for parrying and for times of low ammunition.
2. M16:
Actually the M16 is one of the best weapons for the survivalist, because he gets additional bullet damage + additional grenade damage + additional area of effect.
It is effective at killing single trash with headshots, huge groups of zeds and qps and fps with grenades. With the recent buff the grenades got a lot stronger, which makes him act like a semi demolition.
Last but not least he gets quick reloading and quick grenade shots through his reloading perk.
3. M4:
I have done a lot of dps calculation around all weapons and this one is by far the best, if you reload correctly (with one shell remaining).

Why did I choose these weapons and not other commando or swat weapons?
Basically all swat weapons are not that good because they only get got in the hands of their perks. E.g. Kriss or FNAL are super strong but they benefit the most from the reduced recoil of the commando and the increased mag size of the swat. So that left me looking for demo, sniper and support weapons. In the end I choose the m4 because of dps with almost no recoil and the m16 because it fulfills so many roles and still has benefits from the fast reloading as it is a demo weapon.
With all the passive bonus of the survivalist this is by far my favorite setup and perk. my second favorite is zerk, but only because it is still to strong in my opinion.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Buzzkillinton]

I like this thread.
I recommend to try my build:

Crovel
M16 (fully upgraded)
M4 (fully upgraded)
medic pistol (optional and you need to drop one of the upgrades)

Now why:

1. Crovel:
Escape tool for movement speed bonus, and parry tool for raging fleshpounds. This is part of all my builds only for parrying and for times of low ammunition.
2. M16:
Actually the M16 is one of the best weapons for the survivalist, because he gets additional bullet damage + additional grenade damage + additional area of effect.
It is effective at killing single trash with headshots, huge groups of zeds and qps and fps with grenades. With the recent buff the grenades got a lot stronger, which makes him act like a semi demolition.
Last but not least he gets quick reloading and quick grenade shots through his reloading perk.
3. M4:
I have done a lot of dps calculation around all weapons and this one is by far the best, if you reload correctly (with one shell remaining).

Why did I choose these weapons and not other commando or swat weapons?
Basically all swat weapons are not that good because they only get got in the hands of their perks. E.g. Kriss or FNAL are super strong but they benefit the most from the reduced recoil of the commando and the increased mag size of the swat. So that left me looking for demo, sniper and support weapons. In the end I choose the m4 because of dps with almost no recoil and the m16 because it fulfills so many roles and still has benefits from the fast reloading as it is a demo weapon.
With all the passive bonus of the survivalist this is by far my favorite setup and perk. my second favorite is zerk, but only because it is still to strong in my opinion.

Let me know your thoughts.

hhmm...interesting. ive not messed with surv in FOREVER..i may have to give it another shot. that sounds like a pretty balanced loadout actually.

what skill selection do you use?

 

[RuneVivi]

With the new update I've been running P90+1 and 501 Medic Grenade Rifle. It works surprisingly well if you use the grenades for their poison and crowd controlling. The Rifle becomes the most expensive trash killer weapon.

 

[Shy Bell]

hhmm...interesting. ive not messed with surv in FOREVER..i may have to give it another shot. that sounds like a pretty balanced loadout actually.

what skill selection do you use?

Ye, its actually very fun to play. In some matches you can exchange the M16 with the M79, but you you need good positioning for it, as you cannot kill single zeds with the M4 all wave long (due to low ammo).

regarding your question:
There are not many options to skill obviously.

5: 2
10: 2
15: 2
20: 2
25: 1

5 and 10 are mandatory, as the other options are either useless or very weak.
15: Can be exchanged for 1 early in the game, as long as you do not need the 5 extra carrying weight. Also if you fight the boss wave with the eviscerator I prefer option 1 as I do not need the extra weight. Yet I only fight the boss wave for leveling as the berzerker is better in almost every aspect while fighting bosses (more damage and passive self healing are the main arguments)
20: This is one of the options that I find arguable, because the disable of 1 is quite useful when it triggers. On the other hand 2 makes a huge impact on the M16 (or M79) which makes them a lot stronger
25: Take the one you like. In theory option 1 is better, but the weapons are often getting inaccurate so quickly that you do not have much use from it. Also the M4 needs to be reloaded quite often. As the reloading bonus of the survivalist is somehow only working in the end (is it me or a bug I am not sure), you often spend the zed time reloading instead of shooting at 3x time. Anyway if you have a full M4 and the zed time triggers you are often able to take out a big zed on you own.

Edit:
I just noted that the reloading during zed time is fixed now. Which makes the grenade shoot quite fast and also the M4 is stronger then I thought. I do not know when Tripwire fixed this, but I like it. So basically you can shot and reload quickly during zed time, so that is huge.

Also why no gunslinger weapons:
They only get strong because of the reduced recoil and the sick head shot damage of the gunslinger. So also no good option for survivalist

 

[infntnub]

Ya know... for as much time as I have spent on Surivivalist (it's either my top played perk or at least in the top 3) it never occured to me to even try using that gun...

2. M16:
Actually the M16 is one of the best weapons for the survivalist, because he gets additional bullet damage + additional grenade damage + additional area of effect.
It is effective at killing single trash with headshots, huge groups of zeds and qps and fps with grenades. With the recent buff the grenades got a lot stronger, which makes him act like a semi demolition.
Last but not least he gets quick reloading and quick grenade shots through his reloading perk.

You have me intrigued.

 

[Shy Bell]

I am glad to hear that you like it as well.
Actually the reason why I thought so much about optimizing this perk (like I do for all perks) is that it has so much potential with his skills, but in the beginning the perk felt like it is just a composition of random bad passives that do not fit to each other + damage resistance. Yet with this combination of weapons you make use of all his skills, and through this combination you achieve something that most other perks cannot. Yes, the M4 of the support is still better, and the M16 grenades of the demolition are also better in most cases, but the survivalist has a lot of advantages, that these two perks do not have (heavy armor, damage resistance, huge movement speed while running with crovel/knife, support does not have strong explosive weapons, demolition can not run another backup weapon with high dps, ...).

If tripwire will ever rework the survivalist, which many people are looking forward to (me not so much to be honest), I hope they will not remove this strong combination, or at least allow other strong combinations instead. Right now this perk is very underestimated in my opinion, because many players do not make use of his strengths.

 

[infntnub]

Good call on the M16, my friend. The nade is surprisingly good for the packs of QP's once upgraded.

I used that (upgraded x2) and the crovel (upgraded x3) for pretty much my entire 4 day weekend enjoying the Halloween event.

It's very nice.. and when I run low on ammo I just go melee for the weaker zeds to help conserve.

 

[MrRogersBestNeighbor]

I like this thread.
I recommend to try my build:

Crovel
M16 (fully upgraded)
M4 (fully upgraded)
medic pistol (optional and you need to drop one of the upgrades)

This is definitely a build I'll have to try.
People should also list what skills they use too. I'm curious about that.

As for me, ever since someone turned me on to the upgraded SPX Centerfire for Gunslinger, that has become my go-to for Survivalist. The thing shreds the faces off of scrakes/fleshpounds, it's downright OP. Though it's definitely not nearly as OP/good for Survivalist as GS. I might be replacing it for the M4 with that build. Didn't consider using it, though I have more fun with SS weapons, so I might keep it the way it is, even if it is worse.

My main build is basically:
Skills- RRLLL, though the first two tiers I'll switch up occasionally based on team makeup.
3x Upgraded SPX Centerfire (2x for med pistol if the team is struggling/no Medic)
Boomstick
Desert Eagle

I use the SPX for big zeds and to one shot sirens, gorefiends, bloats, etc..
Boomstick I use for groups of trash and the jump alt fire to kite fleshpounds endlessly if I'm low health/to get out of bad situations. The boomstick alt fire is also good for controlling scrakes by knocking them back/stumbling them, you can almost keep them in place, especially when they're charging after a teammate/the team is flooded with trash and no one can focus on the scrake.
Desert Eagle primarily for trash.

Sometimes I'll grab a freezethrower instead of the boomstick/deagle for fun, but really difficult to use if people are raging fleshpounds/scrakes as soon as they show up.

And then my s@!%s and giggles builds-
Skills- LRRLL
Upgraded Medic Rifle
M99

Or I'll go with skills RRRLL with an upgraded railgun (for the rapid shots with reload cancel) to replace the M99.
Sometimes I'll go with a microwave gun, just to control quarter pounders/scrakes/large groups of trash.

And with the FN Fal, I'll probably be playing with it and the AK12 a lot. Definitely not an ideal build, but I love playing with those weapons to practice my recoil control. That and switching between auto and burst fire with the AK.

The reason I usually go with the 2nd tier R for my perk skills is because I often find the increased knife run speed gives me more survivability than the buffed syringe/heals. But I often go back and forth with that, which usually depends on how tight the map is. Can't really rely on knife running to get out of situations when you're likely to run into zeds in tight hallways.

 

[Shy Bell]

If you want to go for more melee damage, then I would probably go for katana (same weight) or the other zerker weapons (eviscerator or pulverizer). I have not done much calculations on that, as I only use 4 weight for melee weapon, but if I would focus more on melee then I would probably go for the eviscerator.

The SPX is quite ok on Survivalist, although it is not nearly as good as it is for Gunslinger or Sharpshooter. I pick it sometimes if I do not have enough dosh for m4 and m16 but it is not worth spending the dosh on upgrading in my opinion.

 

[MrRogersBestNeighbor]

I did some testing and the M4's damage drops off pretty heavily after 5m. At 5m away, it does the same damage as the SPX (even centering my shots), give or take more or less from shot spread. At 10m it does half as much damage (though you won't really be 10m away from zeds often, certainly not firing with the M4 at that range). And while it does more damage right in the face of a fleshpound/scrake (3m or less), I don't like the idea of getting right in their face to blast them every time. Maybe while a fleshpound is going through the rage animation/when a scrake is stumbling. Although that's where having a crovel would be useful. I'll probably try it out with your complete build, instead of just replacing the SPX with an M4. But then I gotta give up medic grenades.

I tested them by using console commands in a solo game (spawnzed fleshpound, spawnzed scrake)
I'll play around with it a bit more (I didn't test 6man scrake/fleshpound, for some reason "spawnhumanpawn" wasn't giving them 6man health), but for now it's lookin' like I'll probably stick with the SPX for the consistent damage and not having to risk getting right in the face of big guys.

HOWEVER, the M4 paired with a freezethrower could be a potentially devastating combo. If people haven't played with it a whole lot, it actually does pretty well at taking out trash (including gorefiends, sirens, bloats) if you use alt fire blasts to the head. So you don't have to worry about using too much M4 ammo. And the range of the freezethrower is a lot further than you'd think it would be. It's at least 5m, so you don't have to get blasted with bloat bile/siren screams while doing it.

 

[Bluntman420]

For me it's always a DB + whatever I feel like playing with. The one loadout I do most often is: DB + Rail gun. I upgrade the DB since I get a decent amount of damage with the rail already. Use the heavy weapons training, medic training, ammo vest, zed splosion and madman perks.

 

[Shy Bell]

Freezethrower plus M4 is a nice idea. Clear trash with Freezethrower and kill the big zeds with the M4 while there are frozen. That could also work.

Regarding the M4 without freezing enemies:
You are right, that it is a bit risky. There are some tricks that help you to reduce the risk.

1. If you unload the M4 quick enough the scrakes will stumble, which gives you more time to reload if you did not hit the head correctly.
2. You only unload your M4 to FPs if they are unraged. When they are raged, you crovelparry them first, unload the M4, crovelparry again, unload the M4 and so on... Thereby you only receive a small part of the FP damage while being able to hit their heads during their raging animation. Besides if the FPs or QPs are far away I recommend to use the M16 grenades instead, especially if the M16 is upgraded you can take them out before they reach you (QPs die in one or two shots in most cases, Fps are more tanky obviously).

 

[MrRogersBestNeighbor]

Yeah, I played with it a lot more and I'm finding a lot more situations where the SPX Centerfire is working for me a bit more.
The problem I have primarily is that it's hard to get in the face of big zeds when there's trash all around them, in which case having the SPX is far more useful. Especially since when it's fully loaded, you get 10 shots to the M4's 8. Though often tossing a grenade, then going up to blast their face helps. As long as it doesn't cause the scrake to go into a panic from the fire.

Where the M4 excels though is when you're having trouble getting headshots, either because the FP or Scrake is focused on a player running away from you. In which case firing at the center of their body will get the full spread. It's also better at clearing large groups of zeds with the penetration. I mean SPX has penetration too, but you gotta be more precise with it.

And yeah, those tips are really helpful. At first I felt like it was ridiculous trying to get scrakes in the face with it, but found out after like 3-5 shots, the scrake stumbles. It's pretty intimidating at first thinking you'll eat a hit, but if you stick to firing at his face he'll stumble and you'll be fine.

I think I still much prefer the SPX over the M4 though. Maybe on tight maps the M4 might be better.
As long as you can reliably get headshots with it, the SPX is pretty amazing. It's kind of hard to get consistent headshots when trying to fire as fast as possible, as the red dot moves to the left after each shot, so you gotta aim it so the red dot is to the left of the head to hit rapid consecutive shots.

I also tried out the freezethrower with the M4 and it's an insane combo as long as your team isn't consistently raging everything before you get a chance to freeze it. It's 2 alt-fire blasts to the face to freeze scrakes, then switch to the M4 as you walk up to blast their faces off. Also gotta avoid getting in range of the scrake as it takes longer to freeze it as it's swinging. With fleshpounds, the alt fire blasts are likely to rage them, especially if your team starts firing at them as you try to, so I think alt fire to freeze them doesn't work for the most part (if at all?). Best to freeze them with primary fire and time it right to switch so you can get 7 shots in their face before they thaw.
It's also pretty great at holding off an FP or scrake when you're team is being flooded with them. Often don't get a chance to blast their faces off, but can still freeze one of them, then switch to the other one and blast it with the M4.

The M16 is a monster with Survivalist. After playing with it a lot, it's probably going to be my go-to trash clear weapon. Especially good when you have a lot of fleshpounds/quarterpounds for the AOE explosive damage. Not to mention that an alt fire to the face will stumble a scrake (and scrakes take 4x impact damage to the face), so you can often combo that into headshots with the M4/SPX. Definitely including this in most of my builds now.
So my main build will probably be a copy of yours (Shy Bell), except with the upgraded SPX over the M4 for the most part.
No idea why I didn't consider using it before for a build (maybe I just love the boomstick jump alt fire too much). May replace the crovel and an upgrade on the M16 with a boomstick though. Definitely going with a crovel on tighter maps.

I also like the AK12 with the SPX. For those who don't know, the AK12's burst fire gives it a fire rate of 1000 RPM (the Scar has a fire rate of 625, AK/FN Fal full auto 600 for comparison), which gives it the highest DPS of all the rifles (even with the upgraded AK nerf). So it works pretty well if you're down to one shot on the SPX to switch to the AK burst fire to finish them off. If you switch your skills to the faster reload with COM/SWAT/GS weapons, the SPX benefits from the faster reload being also a GS weapon.
If you have trouble controlling the recoil (it jumps way up occasionally while standing), crouching makes it very easy to deal with.

I just wish the FN Fal did more damage. The recoil on it is crazy (and I like the challenge of controlling it), but it's not nearly as good as the AK12. At the very least, I wish the single fire had a higher fire rate. I keep wanting to use it, but it's absolutely terrible for Survivalist.

 

[MrRogersBestNeighbor]

katana+max level crossbow

The fully upgraded crossbow is pretty great. Worth bringing up again for the stun on scrakes. The reload speed is pretty fast too.
Probably going to play around with this a lot more.

Hard to get headshots often as you gotta make prediction shots (aiming right in front of where their head is going to be in a split second). If you're pretty good with getting prediction headshots on this, it definitely works great.