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Tactics How do you rank the perks in hell on earth?

burglar

FNG / Fresh Meat
Dec 5, 2011
4
1
Im finding that at this difficulty the sharpshooter is at his best, medic is almost a necessity, SS is not so effective and demolitions is a support class.
So this is how Id rank them:
Sharpshooter
Medic
Commando
Berserker
Firebug
Support
Demolitions
Since I have little experience playing berserker - Is this a good class to level for hell on earth?
 
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This post is astonishing to me.

Firstly, you cannot, CANNOT, generalize and then classify the effectiveness of each class simply by the HOE difficulty. There are so many variables to consider, including map and topography, number of players, strategy, weapon choices, and personal class proficiencies.

A support specialist is absolutely phenomenal in camping small, enclosed space in HOE. I've beaten every map with two exceptions as a solo support specialist, just by finding a great spot to hold. However a berserker or a sharpshooter would more than likely prefer to move and run around a map, both being very effective regardless of difficulty but both needing a lot of breathing room. A medic is a class built around supporting, therefore in a solo game would find much greater difficulty than if with a high dps team. Commando is also far more effective at supporting a team, as their dps isn't sufficient in higher waves relative to stronger classes. The demo, while having a huge vulnerability in closer ranges, is extremely effective in crowd control and fleshpound elimination. More so than any other class in large games.

It is evident to me that you have little experience playing more than just berserker. I'd recommend playing more hoe games both by yourself and with groups.
 
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The best class to play on HOE comes down to a variety of factors; namely, your play style, your teams needs and the map you are on. There is no single 'best' class in Killing Floor as a good player can perform really well with any of them.

That being said, it is generally agreed by most of the community that you should avoid playing Demolitions at all cost on HOE. While no one will argue against the logic of explosives being fun, they don't do enough damage on HOE and tend to create a smokescreen that prevents other teammates from being able to see incoming ZEDs. I would also recommend avoiding Firebugs for similar reasons.

I would recommend leveling, Beserker, Commando, and Sharpshooter. Beserkers are great at surviving and kiting, Commando is great at killing small critters, and SS great at killing large... Between the 3 you will be set in most all situations. See below for more specifics.

Sharpshooters (w/XBow): Heavy lifter of the team. Snipes stronger ZEDs from a distance.
Strength:
-Great for sniping Husks, Sirens and Scrakes before they can get close enough to cause damage to your team.
-Piercing attack lets them hit multiple Zeds at once
-If you have a pair of SS on your team you could even 3x headshot Fleshpounds before they get close.

Weakness:
-Slow RoF
-Horrible against smaller ZEDs. The XBow takes up so much weight they are stuck with handcannons or a katana for up close work. They don't have much ammo for this and headshots are a must to survive.

Sharpshooters (w/M14 & LAR): A close range alternative to the XBow.
Strength:
-Chain-stunning Scarkes with the LAR.
-Good for cleaning up weaker ZEDs from far away.

Weakness:
-Ammo tends to be a problem on HOE. Headshots are a requirement so spam-firing the M14 at the body will leave you without ammo about 1/2 way through the later waves.

Commando: Focuses on weaker ZEDs. to prevent teammates from being swarmed, and allows Sharpshooters clear shots at bigger ZEDs.
Strength:
-Great for cleaning up weaker ZEDs and protecting Xbow users while they snipe stronger ZEDs.
-More Ammo then SS w/M14.
-Quick reloads

Weakness:
-Little damage against stronger ZEDs. (SCAR is decent when headshotting but still weak)

Support: Basically a close range alternative to Commando.
Strength:
-Amazing damage during CQC.
-Piercing attack lets them hit multiple Zeds.
-They are a must have on smaller maps with lots of corridors.

Weakness:
-Must get close to deal damage.
-Ammo limitations on certain weapons.
-Have to pick your shots and wait for clusters of enemies to be effective.
-Husks are hard to kill.

Medic: Heals people
Strength:
-Heals people
-Runs fast
-Awesome Body Armor

Weakness:
-Poor offensively.

Beserker: Mobile melee fighter.
Strength:
-Mobility.
-No ammo needs.
-Damage reduction.
-Good damage (and the ability to stun scrakes)
-Can kite Fleshpounds allowing them to solo kill them.

Weakness:
-Poor ranged damage.
-Must get close to do good damage
 
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Well, for skilled players I would probaly rank them:

Berserker
Support Specialist / Commando
Sharpshooter / Demolitions
Medic / Firebug

For your general pub hero:

Berserker
Support Specialist
Commando
Medic
Sharpshooter
Firebug
Demolitions


Berserkers are overpowered since they are way too hard to kill, and one who has any rough idea what he is doing can easily survive on his own. In fact it isn't uncommon for the Berserker(s) to deliberately bait and abandon their teammates so they die, leaving them to kite around the map more easily. Generally disliked by seasoned players.

Support Specialist is extremely versatile and is a hard class to really botch up with. Most players like to see a good support specialist in the team, and so they are a pretty popular class.

Commando is a great all rounder, a fantastically well balanced class, widely respected by all. Everyone loves a good Mando :)

Medics are again respected if they actually do the job of a Medic, rather than try and do another classes role.

Sharpshooters are great if people know how to use them and are disciplined with their shots. Most Sharpies are competant, but fewer can really be a destructive force. Generally respected, but only as long as they do their job.

Firebugs are generally frowned upon by most players, not surprising given the spray for your life and stock pile ammo styles of alot of players. The general public Firebug is usually an embaressment to the class, so although a good firebug can be helpful, the player really needs to know what they are doing.

Demolitions are the pinultimate, don't play unless you know how class. A bad demoman will get the team killed everytime, whereas a good demoman will be a rock that that the team holds their back up against. Sadly in public very few players know how to play demo, so generally they are hated even more than the Firebug.

Hope this helps you in your decision :)
 
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Berserker is the strongest individual perk. He has the best survivability (resistances, speed, etc) and the game is all about surviving. Medic probably second.

Support is the strongest perk in a group, since it can take on the role of just about every other perk. It can kill trash, take out the big zeds, has eleven perked grenades, 24kg carrying capacity, welding increase, unofficial speed boost, etc. It isn't as good as other perks at their roles but makes up for it by doing a little bit of everything. Having 3-4 supports in a squad is currently the quickest and probably easiest way to win on HoE (zerker kiting is also easy but takes way longer).

Medic, demolitions, commando and sharpshooter are for the most part very well balanced. I'd personally make a few small changes but if they're never touched again I'd be happy. Firebug is a bit lacking at this time but the husk cannon might change that (my early impressions is that it doesn't).
 
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That being said, it is generally agreed by most of the community that you should avoid playing Demolitions at all cost on HOE. While no one will argue against the logic of explosives being fun, they don't do enough damage on HOE and tend to create a smokescreen that prevents other teammates from being able to see incoming ZEDs.

Wait...what? Maybe you should try having one demo on a Hell on Earth game. It makes taking down Fleshpounds quite a bit easier. I understand the smoke being an issue if you're blowing things up at close range for some reason, but could you elaborate on explosives not doing enough damage?


That is of course, assuming that I misread you and you meant that inexperienced players shouldn't play demo on HoE.
 
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That being said, it is generally agreed by most of the community that you should avoid playing Demolitions at all cost on HOE. While no one will argue against the logic of explosives being fun, they don't do enough damage on HOE and tend to create a smokescreen that prevents other teammates from being able to see incoming ZEDs. I would also recommend avoiding Firebugs for similar reasons.

What? Demolitions are slow when it comes down to killing Scrakes, no need to remind that they have the "largest" health pool in the game without any weakness. Fleshpound being the second also he has weakness against explosives.
Rest of the horde just becomes chunk of meat against a good demo. Just team needs to deal with Sirens and Scrakes then a demo could shine very well. Demolition can slim down the horde pretty fast with MGL shots and retaliate with his M4 M203 from up close quickly.

A good demo can lay pipebombs to certain points and slim down the horde with ease. He can clog up Patriarch's escape routes with pipes as well. Explosives don't create any problems for other players as long as Demo has a good controlled iron sight aim and destroys the possibility of a surprise attack through the smoke.

If you don't have Demolition at HoE, it means you can't hole up well. A good demo can take the burden off from Support Specialists shoulders. Alas a bad demo can only get the team killed.

Sharpshooters (w/M14 & LAR): A close range alternative to the XBow.
Strength:
-Chain-stunning Scarkes with the LAR.
-Good for cleaning up weaker ZEDs from far away.

Weakness:
-Ammo tends to be a problem on HOE. Headshots are a requirement so spam-firing the M14 at the body will leave you without ammo about 1/2 way through the later waves.

if you run out of ammo as a LaR+M14 sharp you sure doing something wrong.
M14+LaR sharpie's "major" weakness is not ammunition, he has a very large ammo pool and nice damage spikes to single targets. His problem is mobility, he can't really do well against little crowds who snuck upon him. When he managed to deal with them it either costs him armor or a whole magazine, in worst case both with a little bit health gone. They require trash cleaning classes to be around to be effective.
 
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It seems that firebug is very underrepresented among us HOE players. Firebug is a phenomenal support class that should never be underestimated for its utility in a large group. Period. It's rather annoying to see such rash generalizations of the usefulness of classes, seeing as they all have their key roles. Typically the incompetency and stupidity of pubs and noobs give classes the bad names they receive. That doesn't mean they aren't more than capable in the right hands. Hence this thread is futile. At the end of the day, every class will still have its own niche that it excels at more so than any other.
 
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My general impression of Suicidal/HoE was that Berserker/Medic were the best classes to play for their low upkeep, resistances, and uber-speed. Once enough money has been piled up, people start choosing their perks to take the battle to the zombies instead of running around and kiting stuff. If this seems wrong, feel free to correct it as I have never played on HoE and dabbled a bit on Suicidal.
 
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My general impression of Suicidal/HoE was that Berserker/Medic were the best classes to play for their low upkeep, resistances, and uber-speed. Once enough money has been piled up, people start choosing their perks to take the battle to the zombies instead of running around and kiting stuff. If this seems wrong, feel free to correct it as I have never played on HoE and dabbled a bit on Suicidal.

They are but the strategy is looked down upon (the part where you go beserker) because it's so easy for some people.
 
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Berserker is the strongest individual perk. He has the best survivability (resistances, speed, etc) and the game is all about surviving. Medic probably second.

Support is the strongest perk in a group, since it can take on the role of just about every other perk. It can kill trash, take out the big zeds, has eleven perked grenades, 24kg carrying capacity, welding increase, unofficial speed boost, etc. It isn't as good as other perks at their roles but makes up for it by doing a little bit of everything. Having 3-4 supports in a squad is currently the quickest and probably easiest way to win on HoE (zerker kiting is also easy but takes way longer).

Medic, demolitions, commando and sharpshooter are for the most part very well balanced. I'd personally make a few small changes but if they're never touched again I'd be happy. Firebug is a bit lacking at this time but the husk cannon might change that (my early impressions is that it doesn't).
Un-official speed boost?
 
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Un-official speed boost?

Yeah, support speed scales differently than the other perks because of the extra carrying capacity. So a support's speed at 24/24kg = commando, firebug, sharpshooter & demo's speed at 15/15kg. A support carrying 15kg worth of equipment is faster than any non-medic or zerker perk with that amount.

I've been suggesting for some time now that support's speed should scale the same as the other four perks so there is a downside to carrying two shotguns, a katana and a revolver. I believe this - along with unperking the grenades - will make the perk a lot more balanced than it is now.
 
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Originally Posted by CynicalCyn
That being said, it is generally agreed by most of the community that you should avoid playing Demolitions at all cost on HOE. While no one will argue against the logic of explosives being fun, they don't do enough damage on HOE and tend to create a smokescreen that prevents other teammates from being able to see incoming ZEDs.
I'm quite surprised. We usually played 2 supports, 1 sharp and 1 demo. We had a very good demo, who was very aware, and patient, he wasn't a frag whore, and he did excellent job with crowds and BIG GUYS, he didnt waste ammo - man, he is a real asset - all maps we played toghether we beat on hoe. Good class, You just have to know how to use it.

How would I rank classes? I don't do it - it is entirely to your team's playstyle:
if u kite then zerks+med (lol what a discovery haha)
if u camp then supports are must (sharp demo commie fbug are welcome tough) - we beat all hoe maps without medic - pure firepower. - this is opinion is based on my experience with my team, I know ppl beat maps with various classes, but we found supports to be easiest.
I am talking HOE.
 
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I'm quite surprised. We usually played 2 supports, 1 sharp and 1 demo. We had a very good demo, who was very aware, and patient, he wasn't a frag whore, and he did excellent job with crowds and BIG GUYS, he didnt waste ammo - man, he is a real asset - all maps we played toghether we beat on hoe. Good class, You just have to know how to use it.

How would I rank classes? I don't do it - it is entirely to your team's playstyle:
if u kite then zerks+med (lol what a discovery haha)
if u camp then supports are must (sharp demo commie fbug are welcome tough) - we beat all hoe maps without medic - pure firepower. - this is opinion is based on my experience with my team, I know ppl beat maps with various classes, but we found supports to be easiest.
I am talking HOE.

Amen brother, finally a intelligent post regarding the ranking of classes. The majority of the rest of you are completely incompetent for even attempting to rank out of context.

And for those of you who consider support overpowered--what other jokes do you have? Support, just like any other class, has its pros and cons. There are plenty of scenarios where support is rendered obsolete due to the versatility or range/ammo capacities of other classes (of which support direly lacks). Play the game, learn the game. Then if you still feel so compelled to complain, do so about actual balance issues.
 
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I'm quite surprised. We usually played 2 supports, 1 sharp and 1 demo. We had a very good demo, who was very aware, and patient, he wasn't a frag whore, and he did excellent job with crowds and BIG GUYS, he didnt waste ammo - man, he is a real asset - all maps we played toghether we beat on hoe. Good class, You just have to know how to use it.

How would I rank classes? I don't do it - it is entirely to your team's playstyle:
if u kite then zerks+med (lol what a discovery haha)
if u camp then supports are must (sharp demo commie fbug are welcome tough) - we beat all hoe maps without medic - pure firepower. - this is opinion is based on my experience with my team, I know ppl beat maps with various classes, but we found supports to be easiest.
I am talking HOE.

Pretty much. Just do whatever works for your team. Last week I was with a group on Farm, Hell on Earth. We went Firebug with 1 medic as a joke and made it to 60 specimens left on wave 10. Shame we didn't finish but we expected to wipe much earlier.

As long as your team (whatever combination of perks) doesn't get overrun by trash and has some kind of solution to controlling scrakes and fleshpounds you're good to go. Play so it's fun. :]
 
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We had a very good demo, who was very aware, and patient, he wasn't a frag whore, and he did excellent job with crowds and BIG GUYS, he didn't waste ammo - man, he is a real asset - all maps we played together we beat on hoe. Good class, You just have to know how to use it.
I keep seeing people saying that you need to know how to play a demoman for him to be useful, but no one really says what that is.

Aside from putting down pipebombs and not standing on top of them and shooting his grenade launcher from long enough range to not take damage, what does a good demoman do?
 
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I keep seeing people saying that you need to know how to play a demoman for him to be useful, but no one really says what that is.

Aside from putting down pipebombs and not standing on top of them and shooting his grenade launcher from long enough range to not take damage, what does a good demoman do?

Knowing when and where to put a pipe down makes a demo better than average. Being able to kill a FP with a single drum of M32 or nades+someM32 makes a good demo. Knowing when to shoot and what to shoot makes a great demo. Demo isn't so much about skill but rather a test of your judgment skills.

On a separate note, I'm finding that A LOT of teams on HoE kite. (Still need more practice) I can't seem to find a team that likes camping or a successful team that camps. It either boils down to elites who think camping is too easy or camping with ppl who can't handle themselves. Kinda frustrated since all I need at the moment is HoE.
 
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