For the record, Killing Floor a decently balanced game. For the most part. That said, in my opinion, there's some glaring issues with certain classes that needs to be adressed before it really shines gameplay wise.
Perks
Commando - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Bullpup
- 30% less recoil with Bullpup
- 20% faster reload with all weapons
- 60% discount on Bullpup|Spawn with a Bullpup
- Can see cloaked Stalkers from 16m
- Can see enemy health from 16m|Up to 3 Zed-Time Extensions
Requirements:
Kill 4,000 Stalkers with Bullpup.
Deal 3,500,000 damage with Bullpup.
Balance Level: Needs some work
Problems with the Perk
#1 - Levelling. The Commando is the hardest class to level bar none, due to the fact that it relies on targetting a SPECIFIC enemy, which compared to most other enemies is spawned quite infrequently. This needs to be adressed. My suggestion: Remove this mechanic entirely.
#2 - Lack of a Power Weapon. When the Fleshpounder comes, what do commandos do? Their only hopes are either to continuously bait the Fleshpounder with the Bullpup, or pick up a weapon outside of its perk, such as the Hunting Shotgun. This is a big flaw. My Suggestion: Make the LAW a part of this Perk, giving Commandos enough carrying capacity to carry both the LAW and the Bullpup.
#3 - 20% Faster Reload Time - This ability is misleading. If you're not using this 20% faster reload time with the Bullpup, what would you be using it on? If you are using another class' weapon, why aren't you simply playing that class and getting a damage bonus instead?
#4 - Seeing health bars. This ability is 99.9% Useless save for one situation. Fleshpounders. Even then it's a tossup simply because of one reason. Either way, you absolutely must kill your target. There is no timer countdown where you can ignore a ZED eventually. Furthermore, on anything but a Scrake and up, health bars don't even matter! They're dead in seconds! My suggestion - Get rid of this mechanic and replace it with something else. Possibly more ammo capacity for the Bullpup.
#5 - Their unique ability barely counts for jack ****. Being able to see cloaked stalkers is slighlty beneficial, but over time you can easily identify a stalker at range from the shadow on the ground and the visible outline that a stalker still has. The other arguement that can be made in support of this ability is the Patriarch. While true, you're better off having a firebug in this situation to simply light him on fire, because you can see the flames still, allowing for more damage and tracking even easier, because now the whole group can see it. My suggestion: Change this ability to a fixed radius where stalkers getting near the commando are seen by everyone instead of just the commando.
Medic - Level 5
- 150% faster Syringe recharge
- 50% more potent medical injections
- 75% less damage from Bloat Bile
- 30% faster movement speed
- 50% better Body Armor
- 60% discount on Body Armor
- Spawn with body armor
Requirements:
Heal 25,000 HP on your teammates.
Balance Level - Perfect. It's my opinion that the medic is a shining example of balance in this game. While the perk has no true bonus to offense, its defenses allow it to excel in an offensive role still, allowing for a Healing class that can both help and do well in a fight. My suggestion - Leave as is.
Sharpshooter - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 75% less recoil with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 50% faster reload with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 50% extra headshot damage
- 60% discount on Handcannon
- Spawn with Dual Handcannons
Requirements:
Get 5,500 headshot kills with Handcannon, Rifle or Crossbow
Balance Level - Questionable. Near perfect? The main problem with this Perk is the fact that headshots in this game are slightly wonky. Anything but surgical precision results in a shoulder shot in most cases, leading to frustrated Sharpshooters not getting their damage bonuses in.
Problems with the Perk
#1 Wonky hit detection on the Head. I don't know if this is intended to be more hard than other games, or if decreasing the difficulty in attaining a headshot would create an imbalance with this class. That said, to a truly skilled player, the handicap against headshots that the game gives can be overcome.
Bugs
#1 Dual Handcannons count as Shotgun damage. I'm not sure if this also causes it to not give a Sharpshooter his damage bonus on them, and I'm quite sure this causes headshots to be discounted. This absolutely needs to be adressed.
Firebug - Level 5
- 50% extra Flamethrower damage
- 100% resistance to fire
- 100% extra Flamethrower range
- Grenades set enemies on fire
- 60% discount on the FlameThrower
- Spawn with a FlameThrower
Requirements:
Deal 3,500,000 damage with the Flamethrower.
Level of Balance - Needs some work. Seemingly, the Firebug is there to put out stupid amounts of damage in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, this class is completely dwarfed by anything that the Support Specialist can do, but that's for another section.
Problems with the Perk
#1 Flamethrower ammo concerns - Although one fireball can often fry A clot or Crawler, the Flamethrower absolutely chews through ammo for smaller benefit than most guns it seems. Against a Scrake or Fleshpound, it absolutely blows through ammo, and the Firebug has no weapon to fall back on with a damage bonus. I'm also rather sure that headshots don't count at all with this gun, further causing problems.
#2 Flamethrower DoT - Honestly, this needs to be increased by the perk, in my opinion.
Berserker - Level 5
- 100% extra melee damage
- 20% faster melee attacks
- 15% faster melee movement
- 75% less damage from Bloat Bile
- 20% resistance to all damage
- 60% discount on Chainsaw
- Spawn with a Chainsaw
- Can't be grabbed by Clots
- Up to 4 Zed-Time Extensions
Requirements:
Deal 3,500,000 damage with melee weapons.
Balance Level - Near perfect. The Berserker is a perk that can handle almost anything in the game, with the exception of The Patriarch, Flesh Pounds, and Crawlers (En masse). While I don't think that these shortcomings make the class entirely weak, there are some aspects that need to be adressed.
Problems with the Perk
#1 - The Chainsaw. While it is the "Ultimate Weapon" of the class, there's a massive problem with it. It destroys your run speed! I'm not sure if this is a case of the Chainsaw not getting the 15% melee speed boost that all other melee weapons get, but it's a big problem in in one specific case. Fleshpounds. When that fleshpound is red and hauling *** through your ranks to smash your pal's face in, logically you get over to him and start ripping into him with a chainsaw. But there's a problem. He's so much faster than you while you have the chainsaw out that you're going to get 2 hits in before he's a mile ahead of you. Allow the chainsaw to keep its runspeed bonus. I'm not sure if its a bug or not.
#2 - Fleshpounds. On Normal and Below, a berserker can walk up to a Fleshpound and rip its head off. On hard and Suicidal, the berseker will be reduced to pulp in moments. Berserkers need some way of dealing with Fleshpounds, besides SLOOOOOOOWLY handcannoning him into oblivion. Firebugs can light him up, Medics can outrun one, Support can just hunting shotgun him, Sharpshooters nail him with a crossbow from a mile away. Leaving Berserkers and to some extent Commandos out of the loop of people who can trivialize Fleshpounds. My Suggestion - Increase the runspeed so we can BARELY outpace a raging Fleshpound.
Support Specialist - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Shotguns
- 100% better Shotgun penetration
- 25% extra shotgun ammo
- 40% more damage with Grenades
- 100% increase in grenade capacity
- 50% increased carry weight
- 150% faster welding/unwelding
- 60% discount on Shotguns
- Spawn with a Shotgun
Requirements:
Weld 250,000 door hitpoints
Deal 3,500,000 damage with shotguns.
Balance Level - Needs to be brought in line with the other classes. The Support Specialist has absolutely no reason being called support. He does more damage than anything else in the game, and can mass kill enemies fast enough to make a Firebug weep, while using less ammo.
Problems with the Perk
#1 - It's just too damn good. Here's why.
A) This class benefits from getting a bonus from the best weapon group in the game.
B) This class is the only class that actually gets MORE ammo for their gun.
C) The Piercing Attribute Increase makes them excel in AoE damage!
D) They have more grenades than anyone else! And they do more damage!
E) Their increase in carrying capacity allows them to carry both the Shotgun and the Hunting shotgun, which use independant ammo pools, which gives them their ammo bonus twice!
F) A shotgun's effective range is just too far to be balanced correctly. It practically functions as a rifle.
BIG 'OL SUPPORT SPECIALIST BUG
The LAW counts as a Shotgun for Support Specialists. While they do not get a discount on the weapon, They can carry more LAW rockets than anyone else, and do more Damage with it than anyone else.
Frankly, the Support Specialist is just the best class in the game. Something needs to be done about this. Remove the piercing increase and their Ammo increase for Shotguns, and it should be brought significantly back into line.
And that's my thoughts on Balance in Killing Floor. Let the flaming start.... now.
Perks
Commando - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Bullpup
- 30% less recoil with Bullpup
- 20% faster reload with all weapons
- 60% discount on Bullpup|Spawn with a Bullpup
- Can see cloaked Stalkers from 16m
- Can see enemy health from 16m|Up to 3 Zed-Time Extensions
Requirements:
Kill 4,000 Stalkers with Bullpup.
Deal 3,500,000 damage with Bullpup.
Balance Level: Needs some work
Problems with the Perk
#1 - Levelling. The Commando is the hardest class to level bar none, due to the fact that it relies on targetting a SPECIFIC enemy, which compared to most other enemies is spawned quite infrequently. This needs to be adressed. My suggestion: Remove this mechanic entirely.
#2 - Lack of a Power Weapon. When the Fleshpounder comes, what do commandos do? Their only hopes are either to continuously bait the Fleshpounder with the Bullpup, or pick up a weapon outside of its perk, such as the Hunting Shotgun. This is a big flaw. My Suggestion: Make the LAW a part of this Perk, giving Commandos enough carrying capacity to carry both the LAW and the Bullpup.
#3 - 20% Faster Reload Time - This ability is misleading. If you're not using this 20% faster reload time with the Bullpup, what would you be using it on? If you are using another class' weapon, why aren't you simply playing that class and getting a damage bonus instead?
#4 - Seeing health bars. This ability is 99.9% Useless save for one situation. Fleshpounders. Even then it's a tossup simply because of one reason. Either way, you absolutely must kill your target. There is no timer countdown where you can ignore a ZED eventually. Furthermore, on anything but a Scrake and up, health bars don't even matter! They're dead in seconds! My suggestion - Get rid of this mechanic and replace it with something else. Possibly more ammo capacity for the Bullpup.
#5 - Their unique ability barely counts for jack ****. Being able to see cloaked stalkers is slighlty beneficial, but over time you can easily identify a stalker at range from the shadow on the ground and the visible outline that a stalker still has. The other arguement that can be made in support of this ability is the Patriarch. While true, you're better off having a firebug in this situation to simply light him on fire, because you can see the flames still, allowing for more damage and tracking even easier, because now the whole group can see it. My suggestion: Change this ability to a fixed radius where stalkers getting near the commando are seen by everyone instead of just the commando.
Medic - Level 5
- 150% faster Syringe recharge
- 50% more potent medical injections
- 75% less damage from Bloat Bile
- 30% faster movement speed
- 50% better Body Armor
- 60% discount on Body Armor
- Spawn with body armor
Requirements:
Heal 25,000 HP on your teammates.
Balance Level - Perfect. It's my opinion that the medic is a shining example of balance in this game. While the perk has no true bonus to offense, its defenses allow it to excel in an offensive role still, allowing for a Healing class that can both help and do well in a fight. My suggestion - Leave as is.
Sharpshooter - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 75% less recoil with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 50% faster reload with Handcannon, Rifle, and Crossbow
- 50% extra headshot damage
- 60% discount on Handcannon
- Spawn with Dual Handcannons
Requirements:
Get 5,500 headshot kills with Handcannon, Rifle or Crossbow
Balance Level - Questionable. Near perfect? The main problem with this Perk is the fact that headshots in this game are slightly wonky. Anything but surgical precision results in a shoulder shot in most cases, leading to frustrated Sharpshooters not getting their damage bonuses in.
Problems with the Perk
#1 Wonky hit detection on the Head. I don't know if this is intended to be more hard than other games, or if decreasing the difficulty in attaining a headshot would create an imbalance with this class. That said, to a truly skilled player, the handicap against headshots that the game gives can be overcome.
Bugs
#1 Dual Handcannons count as Shotgun damage. I'm not sure if this also causes it to not give a Sharpshooter his damage bonus on them, and I'm quite sure this causes headshots to be discounted. This absolutely needs to be adressed.
Firebug - Level 5
- 50% extra Flamethrower damage
- 100% resistance to fire
- 100% extra Flamethrower range
- Grenades set enemies on fire
- 60% discount on the FlameThrower
- Spawn with a FlameThrower
Requirements:
Deal 3,500,000 damage with the Flamethrower.
Level of Balance - Needs some work. Seemingly, the Firebug is there to put out stupid amounts of damage in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, this class is completely dwarfed by anything that the Support Specialist can do, but that's for another section.
Problems with the Perk
#1 Flamethrower ammo concerns - Although one fireball can often fry A clot or Crawler, the Flamethrower absolutely chews through ammo for smaller benefit than most guns it seems. Against a Scrake or Fleshpound, it absolutely blows through ammo, and the Firebug has no weapon to fall back on with a damage bonus. I'm also rather sure that headshots don't count at all with this gun, further causing problems.
#2 Flamethrower DoT - Honestly, this needs to be increased by the perk, in my opinion.
Berserker - Level 5
- 100% extra melee damage
- 20% faster melee attacks
- 15% faster melee movement
- 75% less damage from Bloat Bile
- 20% resistance to all damage
- 60% discount on Chainsaw
- Spawn with a Chainsaw
- Can't be grabbed by Clots
- Up to 4 Zed-Time Extensions
Requirements:
Deal 3,500,000 damage with melee weapons.
Balance Level - Near perfect. The Berserker is a perk that can handle almost anything in the game, with the exception of The Patriarch, Flesh Pounds, and Crawlers (En masse). While I don't think that these shortcomings make the class entirely weak, there are some aspects that need to be adressed.
Problems with the Perk
#1 - The Chainsaw. While it is the "Ultimate Weapon" of the class, there's a massive problem with it. It destroys your run speed! I'm not sure if this is a case of the Chainsaw not getting the 15% melee speed boost that all other melee weapons get, but it's a big problem in in one specific case. Fleshpounds. When that fleshpound is red and hauling *** through your ranks to smash your pal's face in, logically you get over to him and start ripping into him with a chainsaw. But there's a problem. He's so much faster than you while you have the chainsaw out that you're going to get 2 hits in before he's a mile ahead of you. Allow the chainsaw to keep its runspeed bonus. I'm not sure if its a bug or not.
#2 - Fleshpounds. On Normal and Below, a berserker can walk up to a Fleshpound and rip its head off. On hard and Suicidal, the berseker will be reduced to pulp in moments. Berserkers need some way of dealing with Fleshpounds, besides SLOOOOOOOWLY handcannoning him into oblivion. Firebugs can light him up, Medics can outrun one, Support can just hunting shotgun him, Sharpshooters nail him with a crossbow from a mile away. Leaving Berserkers and to some extent Commandos out of the loop of people who can trivialize Fleshpounds. My Suggestion - Increase the runspeed so we can BARELY outpace a raging Fleshpound.
Support Specialist - Level 5
- 50% more damage with Shotguns
- 100% better Shotgun penetration
- 25% extra shotgun ammo
- 40% more damage with Grenades
- 100% increase in grenade capacity
- 50% increased carry weight
- 150% faster welding/unwelding
- 60% discount on Shotguns
- Spawn with a Shotgun
Requirements:
Weld 250,000 door hitpoints
Deal 3,500,000 damage with shotguns.
Balance Level - Needs to be brought in line with the other classes. The Support Specialist has absolutely no reason being called support. He does more damage than anything else in the game, and can mass kill enemies fast enough to make a Firebug weep, while using less ammo.
Problems with the Perk
#1 - It's just too damn good. Here's why.
A) This class benefits from getting a bonus from the best weapon group in the game.
B) This class is the only class that actually gets MORE ammo for their gun.
C) The Piercing Attribute Increase makes them excel in AoE damage!
D) They have more grenades than anyone else! And they do more damage!
E) Their increase in carrying capacity allows them to carry both the Shotgun and the Hunting shotgun, which use independant ammo pools, which gives them their ammo bonus twice!
F) A shotgun's effective range is just too far to be balanced correctly. It practically functions as a rifle.
BIG 'OL SUPPORT SPECIALIST BUG
The LAW counts as a Shotgun for Support Specialists. While they do not get a discount on the weapon, They can carry more LAW rockets than anyone else, and do more Damage with it than anyone else.
Frankly, the Support Specialist is just the best class in the game. Something needs to be done about this. Remove the piercing increase and their Ammo increase for Shotguns, and it should be brought significantly back into line.
And that's my thoughts on Balance in Killing Floor. Let the flaming start.... now.
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