First off, yes I am going to mention things that some people are already doing. And yes, I'm going to mention things that seem obvious. I'll be updating this as I think of new hints. That being said, let's go...
I'll highlight the new additions so they will stand out
The Big Four Hints
There are four big secrets to this game; enemy prioritization, role play, reloading,
and positioning during the attack.
Enemy prioritization is the big thing to learn. Let a clot or a crawler chew on you if you HAVE to make a shot to kill an FP or scrake or something similar. Kill the mobs in their threat order. That will mean turning your back on a mob or group to kill others but still keeping that clock in your head running so you will turn back around in time. That may mean shooting past a group of clots to kill the siren. That may mean ignoring the dozen clots in front of you and killing the husks behind them. That may mean ignoring a scrake till he is right up on you. Kill the most dangerous first and work your way down. As I mentioned, that may mean taking damage, but that is ok.
Role play. Play to your class' strength and role in the team. If you are playing sharpshooter then you are responsible for the FP and scrakes. So kill whatever you like, but you have to watch out for them. If you are a demo or firebug, then you are responsible for soften up mobs away from the group. If you are a medic, then your primary responsibility is to keep everyone at 100% health. Support and commando deals with groups up close and big mobs. Melee is big stuff. So kill whatever you want, but when your primary function is needed then you have to be there for the team.
Reload. Reload often. Reload EVERY FREE SECOND. If you drop a mob with one shot, and there is a lull in the action, reload.
Continually adjusting your position while firing. Always pay attention to where you are, the target specimen is, the next specimen you will be shooting is, and where your teammates are. I was trained to keep shooting until the target drops. The same objective works in KF as well. I see too many people shoot a single shot, look to see if the shot hits, if the specimen drops, then aim again, then shoot again. That takes much, much too long. Shoot till the target drops and if you are playing correctly, your wasted shots will stay at a minimum.
So what do I mean by continually adjusting your positioning?
1) Where you are. Always pay attention to where the next threat is. Don't let yourself be backed into a corner or pushed into a tight spot. If you have to move while shooting, move to area you can maneuver. This may mean taking a hit or two from another mob, but always think where you need to be after this specimen drops.
2) Where the target is. This important with mainly the FP and Scrake. A player has to pay attention to how the rest of the mobs flow around the target and player as the player attack the target. A player may need to rotate around the target as he attacks the target to use the target as a shield.
3) Where the next specimen is. Because the player should be shooting until the specimen drops, the player will fire shots after the drops. By properly lining up the specimens, any shots that either miss the target specimen or are fired after the specimen dies will hit the specimens behind the target. This always works with my recommendation of keeping the commando's weapons on auto. By always moving to keep a line of specimens downrange, the player can continually fire rapidly knowing that any rounds that miss the intended target have a high percentage to hit another specimen.
4) Where your teammates are. Try to keep from standing between the target and your team, especially for big specimens like the FP or Scrake. Always try to fight to the side so you will not be blocking any rounds from your teammates. Let your teammates damage the target or any other specimens that are rushing your position.
General Hints
Never switch weapons without first reloading. In other words, never put an empty weapon in the holster unless you absolutely have to. Yes, there will be times when you have to switch weapons quickly to shoot immediately, but always reload before switching weapons so you will have maximum shots when you have to switch. If you have to switch before reloading, after reloading the current weapon, quickly switch to the other weapon and reload.
Use the lowest weapon available. If you are killing a group of clots, switch to the 9mm and kill them. Crawlers/gorefasts/stalkers/everything under scrake and FP switch to pistols or level 2 weapon to kill. Save the big ammo for the big mobs. This also comes into play when picking up ammo boxes. If you regularly cycle your weapons, then the ammo box will provide ammo for multiple weapons, not just one.
Use your lowest weapons first. Everyone else is using their SCAR/M14/AA12 and so forth and a mob isn't going to die from more than 100% damage, so start off the wave with your pistol or lvl 2 weapon. Near the end of the wave, when others are dead or have emptied their big weapons, you'll still have maximum firepower with plenty of ammo.
Scavenge EVERYTHING. Don't steal other's dropped weapons but pick up everything else. After spawning, PAY ATTENTION when running to the trader. Pick up weapons, ammo, and vests along the way. Yes, it sounds basic, but I played on a suicidal map and a guy with over 600 kills ran by an xbow, lever rifle, and vest to beg for money at the trader. Pick up what you can. One of my favorite items to scavenge after spawning is a 9mm. It completely fills the 9mm ammo, and I can sell it to purchase dual cannons. A win-win.
Don't ask for money. Players who know what they are doing will donate to new players and players with the lowest scores. If no one has cash, or it is a low wave, then you are just going to piss people off. And if someone gives you cash, whether you need it or not, say "thank you" or "ty."
When there are about 6 or so mobs left, start scavenging and running to the trader.
Remember that there is a ton of ammo each wave. There is no reason to conserve ammo because you can always resupply between waves. And since you are using your ammo from the bottom (lower weapons) up, you will always have plenty of tier 2 and 3 ammo at the end of the wave.
Drop your headless mobs. Yes, it is cool to watch a headless mob meander around, but what if you or someone else has to move there? And headless mobs can still do damage. Drop the headless mobs.
Ignore grenades. Don't use them unless you are a flamer. It is dangerous to rely on them and some yahoo is always moving in front of you when you throw one. I mainly use grenades to open welded doors.
DON'T WELD DOORS. Welded doors hamper movement of the players more than it helps them. Yes, I know Support has to weld doors to progress, but other than that, welded doors hurt players more than it helps them. And welded doors teach poor habits and tunnel vision.
Rotate 360 degrees while reloading. Do a quick spin while you can't fire.
Learn to self-heal. Yes, the syringe works better on others, and you should give your medic every chance to heal you, but don't die after screaming "Medic" for 30 seconds.
Don't reload going around a corner or into an intersection.
If you have to use the stairs during a wave, reload before going up or down the stairs. If mobs are on the same level as you, on the stairs, or on the level above/below start shooting early and DO NOT STOP MOVING. If you stop on the stairs you will die. Shoot through them and keep moving off the stairs.
If you need to change floors during a wave, always look to simply jump over the side. You will take significant health damage so heal yourself first thing when you land.
Trust your teammates and don't be a douche. You have to learn to trust your teammate if he is covering a side. Say you are on the front and he is on the side. If you see a group mobs walking to him, and he can easily kill them in time, and he is firing on them, don't be a jerk and shoot the others. If you do that, a couple things will happen. One, you will piss off your teammate. Two, rather than primarily guard his area because you are taking kills, he will start to look elsewhere for kills. That means that no one will be watching that area and then a couple scrakes with a half dozen crawlers will creep up to the group. So if someone is killing mobs in their area, leave that area along.
Keep your rounds going downrange. If you are at the front line of your group and a crawler, clot, gorefast, or anything less than than a scrake or FP gets past you, LET HIM GO and let the people behind you kill the specimen. Every second you shoot behind you is another second you aren't shooting at the majority of mobs and another second they are getting closer. This is especially important for demos and firebugs. Always keep your shots going downrange.
Keep your head on a swivel. Don't develop tunnel vision. This is a big reason why I hate barricading. Barricading teaches poor play and tunnel vision. Keep checking your sides and rear. I always do a 360 check while reloading. After all, you can't fire so check your six.
Be aware when you are moving if you stop moving. If you stop moving but you are still holding the key down, immediately jump in the opposite direction, and fire in the direction you were moving. More than likely, you have bumped against a crawler or stalker.
Use mob behavior pauses to your advantage. When the zerker hits a scrake, the scrake pauses his attack. Use this pause to attack another specimen if you have to. I've only gotten to lvl 4 berzerker yet I fought 2 scrakes and a half dozen crawlers at the same time. Hit one scrake (he pauses), hit the other (he pauses), kill a crawler or two. Rinse. Repeat. Berzerkers who are more adept can juggle even more mobs simultaneously. This also works with firearms as well. Gorefasts will "do the limbo" (lean back) when a headshot is close. Use his lean to target other specimens while the gorefast is stationary. Husks are another. A good shot will cause him to lean forward and pause for a couple seconds. So if you see a husks a distance away, fire a quick shot to make him lean forward and the prevent him from shooting. Use the extra time to aim and kill him or kill closer mobs.
In Aikido, we have a concept; "Give the man a target, take it away." Works the same way in KF. If you need to buy some time and a mob is close, depending on the mob, you can move closer to the mob (give him a target) and then back up (take it away) after triggering the mob's behavior. The gorefast swings his blade. The crawler jumps. The bloat stops and vomits. The stalker turns visible and attacks. This maneuver buys valuable time and separation. This is best used while reloading or switching weapons.
Jump. If you need to avoid something, jump while moving. Clot grab you? Keep jumping as you move away. Crawler leaping at you? Jump as you move away. Gorefast sneak up on you? Jump away. Same thing with bloat. Same ting with Husk except you want to wait until he is just about to fire then jump over the shot. Jumping is incredibly effective when combined with a quick move away
Firing
Shoot mobs as far away as you can. Dropping a clot with 4 bullets from the 9mm across the map is easily worth using a single shot of big ammo when the mob is close and maybe part of a group.
If mobs are close, you can back up so they line up and then it is a nice headshot fest with the 9mm, xbow, bullpup, or any other weapon.
If a crawler is close, let him get closer so you shoot him mid-jump. This is so your shots, if you miss the crawler, will hit something behind him. The idea is to get the crawler's body on the same plane as the other mobs.
Shoot quickly. Don't do the single shot. Look to see if something dropped. Shoot once again. Look to see if something drops. Shot once more. Shoot quickly.
Line up mobs. Never shoot at a single mob unless you have to. Always wait until mobs are stacked in front of you so any misses or extra shots will still do damage.
Shoot until the mob drops. Yes, you will use extra bullets but if you line your mobs up correctly, then you will do damage to other mobs with the extra shots. Think of it this way, "Would you rather have that bullet back or the 20 armor/health?"
Learn to headshot without using sights.
You will get away from threats faster if you turn around and shoot while moving backwards than just running forward. I've seen many players die from a single gorefast or crawler chasing them when they simply could have run backwards, killed the immediate threat, and put distance between them and the larger group of mobs.
If you have to kill a medium strength mob, shoot "through" the smaller mobs in front. Say you have a husk, siren, bloat, or something similar with a group of crawlers, gorefasts, or clots in front. Bring up a lvl 2 or 3 weapon and focus on the big mob since that is the priority and continually shoot through the small mobs till the med mob drops. It is sorta like driving. People subconsciously drive where they look. If they look at a tree while driving, they will subconsciously steer towards the tree. So focus on the important mob as you shoot and not the individual small mobs in front.
If multiple sirens spawn on you, tap heal immediately. You want to avoid the insta-kill of their scream. If you are close enough to touch them within a second, then close in and break out your fastest weapon and go for headshots. If you can't close the distance immediately, then draw your fastest weapon and go for headshots while backpedalling.
The 9mm is a great weapon to "pull" mobs. See a group of gorefasts entering a stairwell across the map? Firing a couple shots close to them will get their attention and they will walk to you. This is also great for scrakes and sirens as well.
Learn when to do a "smart" reload. For example, a scrake is closing in on you and it will take more than a single magazine of ammo to kill him. Shoot him enough until you've done enough damage that a full magazine of ammo will kill him then do a reload and kill him. You want to do the reload before he charges.
If you are in a group where another player is "the big mob guy" (sharpshooter or melee) to attack scrakes and flesh pounds your job is to keep the other mobs off him when he is occupied with the big mobs. If you see him attacking or aiming at a scrake, then
do not attack that mob, but kill the crawlers, clots, gorefasts, and such that are around him. While the big mob guy is occupied, he is effectively defenseless. Don't let him die.
Have a scavenging path when spawning into a level. Every map has certain spots on the map where ammo and weapons automatically spawn. Know where these points are so you can hit as many of these as possible when you are running to the trader. A perfect example is on the 'Foundry' map. When I spawn in Foundry, I run forward and to the right. There is a weapon spawn point in the far corner and on the left. If the trader is anywhere except at the very back of the map, I run up the steps and run to the end. That is another spawn point. Take a left and run to the open area. There is a span point in the right corner and if you run to the railing you can see another spawn point on the floor below. Jump down and there is a spawn point by the stairs. If you stay on the second floor you can run to the end and there is another spawn point to the left. There is plenty of time to check out these spawn points, make it to the trader, buy and sell, and run back with the group. You just have to know where you are going and not waste time.
Don't think you have to kill the specimen you are shooting. If you are on the run and you don't happen to kill that mob by the time you are next to him, keep running and finish off that specimen later. Keep a stopwatch running in your head and you will know you have a certain amount of time to shoot before you have to switch to knife and keep running.
Only pick up ammo boxes when you have time. Say you are alone and running for your life (and your team's game) and you need ammo. If that ammo box is in a bad place, ignore it. By a bad place, I mean in a room that you will need to enter and exit the same way. Or if the box is more than 2 or 3 seconds off your safe route through the map. Don't go for ammo if you have to backtrack to the trail of specimens
Shape the mobs' attack with the m79. Non-demo players can't always kill gorefasts or anything higher with a single fired grenade, but that grenade can delay or shape the mobs' attack. See a couple sirens walking together? Fire a shot at the ground between them and split them up. See a group of gorefasts rushing a player? Fire in front of them to stun them. I believe in targeting the ground under a specimen than the actual specimen unless it is an FP or Scrake.
Aim fired grenades at the best spot in a group of specimens. This sounds obvious but many people always target the biggest specimen in a group and this usually wastes damage. Consider a group of a single scrake and 5 crawlers. Many people will fire the grenade at the scrake. This is almost always the wrong target. That scrake will absorb much of the damage. Fire behind the scrake and to the side. This will ensure the maximum damage to the entire group and will more than likely kill all of the crawlers leaving the scrake as an easy solo target. Pay attention to how you can target the group. Say a scrake pops over a wall followed by those 5 crawlers. Fire past the scrake and target the wall. Always target the grenade to do the most damage to the most targets.
Positioning and Group Tactics
In corridors, stay on the sides. Don't be a bulletproof vest for the mobs and don't block everyone else's shots.
Stay stationary as much as possible. Fire high quality shots. Lots of moving around is counter productive and completely unnecessary. It is much faster to simply kill the mobs than moving around and dodging. Yes, dodging is important, but killing the threat is better.
Stack your commands. The game will "remember" a keystroke while your character is doing something else. For example, while you are reloading (the animation is playing) you can hit a key (changing weapons for example) and your weapons will change after the reload. Or if you are running and reloading, you can hit your heal key and you will heal after the reloading.
Cheat healing. When you self heal, you can type another key, changing to a weapon for example, right when the healing animation starts and the animation will immediately stop but you will get the heal.
When you move within a group, move up and back. Don't move sideways. Moving sideways turns you into a very effective bulletproof vest for the mobs. If you have to move, forward and back. Not side to side.
Stay out of stairwells.
Stay out of barricades. Learn to use open areas. Open areas means the team can move if they need. Barricades box the group in and eliminate avenues of escape.
Don't fight in front of a spawn point. People want to fight in front of them and 30 seconds into the wave their armor is gone.
If you are on the floor, don't fight under a ledge. Don't fight where the mobs can drop directly on top.
Fight as far away from the mobs as you can. Better to fight in the middle of several spawn points than directly in front of one and away from the others.
If there is an xbow in the group, and the xbow wielder knows that he is supposed to pop FPs and scrakes, don't shoot the FP or scrake. Let the scrake or FP walk right up to you and only start shooting if he attacks you. Give that xbow a good shot and don't rage the mob.
If you can't kill a mob, don't be the first to shoot it.
Keep an path clear. That may mean ignoring the main group of mobs to kill that clot, but always keep one path clear in case you need it.
Use cover to prioritize husks and sirens. For example, if a husk or siren spawns in front of you but you have many mobs in between you and him, duck around a corner to keep him from shooting you while you kill the other mobs. Another example is foundry. If some husk is shooting from the 2nd or 3rd floor, duck behind one of those wheels on the floor. That keeps him from shooting you yet you are still free to shoot other mobs. As mentioned by Nath2009uk in this thread, use barrels for cover.
If you have to move within the team, and you have a choice, move behind others. This keeps people on target and doesn't block their shots.
Don't stand directly behind someone. When you move to heal them, heal them from the side so they can always back up. Few things are as annoying as someone trying to help yet they are always blocking movement.
Work with your medic. When you need healing and the medic is firing the darts at you, stand still. When you are at a distance from the medic and your health is dropping, if you see little green explosions that means the medic is trying to heal you. If you can, stand still. Just stand there and shoot. The medic will hit you. If you are on the same plane as the medic, call out that you need healing and run directly to the medic or stand still. Always thank the medic for paying attention to you.
Sharpshooter Hints
Maximize the SS perk first. There are many reasons for this.
a) SS perk will give you bonus with the pistol which you will ALWAYS spawn with.
b) Learn to headshot without using sights.
c) The 9mm will turn out to be your best friend in the game. Learn it early.
d) Pistol ammo is dirt cheap which means you will earn tons of cash.
e) Once you get lvl 6 SS, you can spawn with a decent weapon and earn a couple thousand in a few rounds, change classes, and immediate purchase high-level weapons to level up other perks very quickly.
f) Using the xbow will also teach you to line up multiple mobs before shooting.
Dual handcannons are wonderful in making a hole for a quick exit or fixing the "6 mobs just spawned on me" problem. A quick rotation while firing quickly drops everything.
The M14 is a girl's weapon. Don't use it.
Don't underestimate the power of the Lever Action Rifle or LAR. It is very accurate, has the best iron sights in the game, and can drop an FP with 3 headshots by a lvl 6 SS. Cheap effective firepower that can be scavenged.
Firebug Hints
Here is a link to how to play the Firebug
http://forums.tripwireinteractive.com/showthread.php?t=43503
Stay behind other players and shoot over them to the farthest mobs you can hit. The firebug's main attack is DoT so use it.
Use your incendiary grenades.
Do not shoot mobs in front of the group unless you have to. When firebugs shoot, they limit visibility. Limiting visibility means limiting reaction time and limiting the entire's teams effective range.
Fire 1 to 2 ammo shots every second or even quicker. Firing small amounts quickly allows the firebug to effective keep a continuous fire stream during the entire wave. Shooting very short bursts allows the player to aim between bursts as well.
Don't flame husks. Their flame resistance is too high and a firebug will waste a ton of ammo for a single kill that takes much too long. Bring out the pistol and save your fuel.
Set every mob, except FP and Husk (and scrake unless you are lvl 6), on fire. Don't try to kill them unless they are about to kill someone. Set them on fire. Move to next. Your job is to damage as many mobs as possible as far away as possible. Firebug is a "damage multiplier" for the entire team. Firebug makes everyone else more deadly and every other weapon more lethal. Don't worry about kills. If you do your job, mobs die fast. Really fast.
Commando Hints
Use the bullpup. Absolutely tons of ammo, almost seamless transition between shooting from the hip and using the sight, and a long, long firing time between reloads. Nothing better in the game to decapitate a group of clots, bloats, and gorefasts.
Don't ask people to avoid killing stalkers. Look, there are plenty of stalkers in the game and asking people to avoid shooting them makes the beggar look like a child. Kill what you can, let others kill what they can, and trust me, you'll level.
Keep your weapons on auto.
Demo Hints
Use walls and ceilings for fired grenades. If the mob is too close to safely use the fired grenade, shoot behind the mob at the wall or ceiling so you are out of the blast area but the mob isn't.
Don't shoot mobs close to the group unless you absolutely have to. Shooting mobs gives the mobs a nice smokescreen to move closer. If you don't have a shot that benefits the team, don't take it.
If the mob is right on you, fire the grenade into the mob and do the kinetic kill.
The demo, like the firebug, should be concentrating on the small stuff as far away from the group as possible.
Demos can "shoot around corners" by targeting the far wall in intersections. This puts your explosion in the other hall where no one else can shoot. This is dangerous because you can't see what you are shooting and depending on the level, scrakes and flesh pounds could get aggroed. But if you see a couple clots or crawlers bebopping around a corner on a lower wave, then you could get the entire group before the group shows.
Target the floor in front of mobs. This is for a few reasons. One, you are sure to cause damage. No missing completely. Two, this also pushes mobs backwards. You don't want to be the nimrod demo who shoots behind a siren and the siren flies 10 feet into the middle of the group. Three, fired grenades, in my experience, are not detonated by the siren's scream when they are shot at her feet. Make your shots count.
Target the middle of the mobs. This sounds obvious, but many people don't. They will target the middle at the front of the mobs. If there are a couple mobs in front, but a dozen mobs deep, then target the middle.
Medic Hints
I prefer to not purchase the MP7M medic gun. I think hitting teammates with the healing darts is iffy at best and prone to missing. I also think the 3 weight of the medic guns is better used on other weapons. It has been brought to my attention that on certain friendly fire servers (> 20%) using the medic gun is a safer choice. This makes sense.
ABH. Always Be Healing. Yes, this sounds obvious but many medics aren't looking to heal when their teammates are @ 90% or so. Carry 100% syringe doesn't help anyone.
Berserker Hints
Want to level berserker the absolute fastest way? Without cheating or grinding? Find 'Candle Smoke' on suicidal. Grab the katana behind the logs a little forward and to the right. Chop specimens up. Ungodly fast leveling.
Don't be afraid to use firearms. See a group of 6 crawlers moving towards you? Whip out the pistol and kill them. Don't throw away armor or health to a tricky situation. Use the best weapon for the job even if it doesn't specifically advance your perk
Nothing can grab the berzerker. So if you find yourself being cornered, simply start swinging and run through the crowd. You'll take some damage but you won't be pinned.
Learn how to attack from the side in mid-air. Run towards a mob and jump past them. While you are in mid-air, twist to the side, attack, twist back and keep running. This attack lets you move at full pseed where you need to go yet still attack mobs along the way.
Trader Hints
Know what you are going to do BEFORE you get there. There usually isn't much time to peruse the menu there and the menu doesn't change. KF loves to hammer people who are forcibly removed from the trader and drops lots of mobs right there. Treat the trader like a psycho ex-girlfriend; Get in, get out, and get away.
When leaving the trader, cycle through all of your weapons and reload each of them.
If you leave late and you are running to the group, don't stop running. Shoot on the run. But always keep moving to them. If you stop moving to them, KF will spawn more mobs between you and them.
Check your heath.
Run all the way into the trader. Few things are as annoying as being the last player to the trader and the other players are 2 feet in the door and you can't get in.
Don't give money to someone with less than 20 seconds left during trader activity unless that person is already at the trader. Giving someone money when they don't have time to get to the trader or if they will be trapped at the trader is just throwing it away.
