Last Updated on June 1, 2024 by Samuel Franklin
This Killing Floor 2 Support guide provides players with perk and weapon loadouts to create the best build possible for your preferred playstyle, difficulty and multiplayer preferences. Serving a supplementary role to any Killing Floor 2 party the Support class perk helps their teammates by being able to hold choke points through their enhanced welding proficiency, ability to pass ammunition to allies and array of penetrating shotguns that are effective against medium and large tier ZEDs.
In this Support guide I cover the necessary tips, strategies, perks and best Support weapons to mix together across different difficulties, maps and party dynamics. While there are several builds discussed below my recommended default is a perk build of RRRLR while using AA-12 Auto Shotgun and Doomstick.
Table of Contents:
– Support Strategy and Tips
– Support Perks Build
– Support Weapons Loadout
Killing Floor 2 Support Strategy and Tips
To utilise the Support at maximum effectiveness players will want to consider these strategy tips based on the situation.
- The Support is a capable damage dealer at close range but lacks survivability. As a result the best defence is truly a good offense with the Support thriving in killing ZEDs before they can kill you by stacking hard hitting weapons and positioning themselves to maximise every single shot.
- While the Support class does specialise in welding this is actually a niche mechanic based on map and party in public lobbies. With an organised group the usefulness of welding does improve and particularly when paired with Demolitionist for the potential to trap doors together.
- When levelling the Support class use any down time to weld doors for experience given this (alongside perk weapon damage) are your sources of experience.
- The Support has high penetration on their various shotgun weapons which is fantastic for handling lower strength ZEDs with a single shot and managing chokepoints. Players need to be careful though that this penetration doesn’t enrage any higher strength ZEDs hiding behind the pack.
- For early waves in particular players will want to utilise their 9mm Pistol sidearm against lone enemies to conserve ammo and reduce the need to reload given these are weaknesses of the shotgun weapon archetype in Killing Floor 2.
Killing Floor 2 Support Perks Build
The Support has the following perk bonuses at maximum level:
- 75% welding proficiency (3% per level)
- 25% shotgun damage (1% per level)
- 500% shotgun penetration (20% per level)
- 25% ammo (1% per level)
- Increased weight capacity
- Ammo backpack and door repair
The Support has the following active perk skills to select from:
Perk Category | Left (L) Option | Right (R) Option |
---|---|---|
Ammo Management | High Capacity Magazines: Increase magazine capacity of perk weapons 75%. | Tactical Reload: Increase reload speed with perk weapons. |
Training | Fortitude: Increase total Health by 50%. | Salvo: Increase damage of perk weapons 30%. |
Firepower | Armour Piercing Shot: Greatly increase penetration with perk weapons. | Tight Choke: Decrease shot spread of perk weapons by 50%. |
Logistics | Resupply Pack: Your teammates can get 30% ammo and 20% armour restored by interacting with you once per wave. You can carry up to 20% more ammo for perk weapons. | Concussion Rounds: Increase stumble power for perk weapons 150%. |
Advanced Training | ZED TIME – Penetrator: During ZED time, your perk weapons suffer no damage reduction from penetration and you penetrate through all ZEDs. | ZED Time – Barrage: During ZED Time, your perk weapons shoot in near real-time. |
Notable active perk skills when playing as the Support are:
- Ammo Management: Both of these perks are designed to assist with one of your key weaknesses as a Support class with players having the choice of additional magazine capacity or increased reload speed. Given the majority of Support weapons are slow reloading shell based weapons with small magazine sizes the additional reload speed is your better default choice due to the sheer number of reloads you’ll be performing in a match. That being said if you are only using large magazine perk weapons in your loadout like the AA-12 Auto Shotgun the left side may be better.
- Training: While it would be nice to be able to utilise the bonus health from Fortitude on the left hand side due to our close ranged nature the added damage is simply too powerful to pass up at this perk tier and vital to ensuring we can handle a large range of ZEDs and reach your damage potential.
- Firepower: This perk tier allows Support players to buff their firepower through penetration or reduced spread. Given the weapons we hold already have sufficient penetration for most of our trash ZED killing needs the decreased shot spread is the superior choice as it allows us to consistently land headshots on key targets to once again improve our damage output potential.
- Logistics: The perk tier that makes the Support class a popular addition to any team with the Resupply pack allowing your team to save money during early waves by providing free ammo and armour to reach their ideal loadout sooner. In addition it also provides the Support player some additional carry capacity to help with our shotgun ammo needs. For later waves though where there is an abundance of Dosh floating around for your team and the higher tier ZEDs start to spawn you’ll want to swap over to Concussion Rounds to build up the utility we can provide through stumble power.
- Advanced Training: Penetrator can be fun in the right chokepoint circumstances where it feels satisfying as you take out an entire line up of ZEDs in front of you. Unfortunately these situations are rare and simply don’t warrant taking this choice over the reliable right hand side of Barrage that consistently delivers an increase to damage output.
Given the above the Support best perks setup is RRRLR as your default option. This is an effective option for early waves as it allows your team to save on Dosh and reach their intended loadout sooner. Depending on party composition, map and game length you can switch to a RRRRR perk setup which restores some of your own stopping power when providing ammunition to teammates is less impactful. As a starting point you should consider this swap around wave 3 on short games, wave 4 on medium games and wave 6 on long games.
Killing Floor 2 Support Weapons Loadout Guide
The Killing Floor 2 Support loadouts below seek to maximise your damage and utility to a team and use the bonus additional weight that the Support has available through their passive perks. Built mostly around the shotgun archetype that is known for the ability to hit hard against all ZEDs the Support is also capable of selecting off perk weapons that are effective additions to shotguns either to provide additional range or further utility. As a result the Killing Floor 2 best Support weapons come from a diverse roster of potential loadouts that shift your focus across the range of ZED Specimens you encounter which means players should regularly consider any team weakness they need to fill. Most of your builds as the Support class will utilise the AA-12 Auto Shotgun or Doomstick and can generally be mixed and matched in builds such as the below based on your preferences.
- AA-12 Auto Shotgun and Doomstick: One of the core builds for the Support that commits to the shotgun archetype entirely with the AA-12 providing us a weapon with great flexibility between fire modes, solid magazine size and overall good weapon stats to clear the low to medium tier ZED encounters. Supporting this weapon is the devastating Doomstick that simply melts through the larger ZEDs like Scrakes and Pounds and is our best Support weapon for this role. With these two weapons both being heavy in terms of weight players also have the option of trading one of them for two lighter weapons that alter your ZED focus such as the HZ12 Multi-Action and Double-barrelled Boomstick.
- Doomstick, M4 Combat Shotgun and HM-Tech 101 Pistol: A loadout for the Support that has greater variety and utility which replaces the AA-12 shotgun from the first build with the M4 that is similarly effective against lower level ZED types. This also makes room for the Medic pistol for some extra anti trash ZED power and a boost of utility to provide teammates with healing if you feel your team needs the additional regeneration.
Written by
Samuel Franklin
Samuel Franklin is the founder and lead editor of the Games Finder team and enjoys video games across all genres and platforms.
Since the original Killing Floor tore through the co-op scene, Sam’s been a seasoned survivor, blasting ZEDs with friends and his favourite class perks. He appreciates the core gameplay loop of the franchise that offers endless challenging variety where he prefers to play traditional firearm classes that have support utility to help his team successfully navigate the various waves of ZEDs.