Demolitionist (Killing Floor 2)

Perk Overview

The Demolitionist perk in Killing Floor 2 specialises in the use of explosives, with particular emphasis on destroying larger groups of weaker enemies alongside dealing substantial damage to fleshpounds. This perk spawns with a HX25 grenade pistol, 9mm pistol, Utility Knife and a 1/2 stick of dynamite. This perk receives bonus experience for killing fleshpounds with on-perk weapons.

Weapons List

Weapon Name																Icon
Utility Knife
9mm Pistol
Dynamite
HX25 Grenade Pistol
C4
M79 Grenade Launcher
RPG-7

Perk Stats

This perk receives passive bonuses as they level up. The bonuses are as follows:

Passive Item																Bonus Received
Perk Weapon Damage Explosive Resistance (Base 10%) Extra Explosive Ammo																+1% Per Level +2% Per Level +1 Per 5 Levels

Perk Skill Tree

Demolitionist Skills

Level	Icon	Description
Level 5		They'll love you for it: team-mates can get an extra grenade from you, once per wave.
Level 5		In your face, pal: your dynamite sticks will blow up when they make contact with a zed

Skill utilisation

Demolitionist benefits from a number of skills at they level up. Each skill conveys some kind of advantage to the player, some generally more practical than others.

Level 5 grants a choice of Grenade Supplier or On Contact. Arguably, On Contact isn't especially beneficial - unless in a tight situation - until waves where fleshpounds arrive: wave 5 on medium length games, and wave 6 on long games. Therefore in a 6 player co-operative environment, supplying 5 other players with a grenade each wave (alternatively, purchased at the trader at the price of 40 dosh each) is generally considered to be the more economically sound and team-first option. Once reaching a wave where fleshpounds make their appearance, On Contact is - particularly in conjunction with the On Perk skill at level 20 - the most effective option for a Demolitionist.

Level 10 presents a question of preference: Explosive Resistance or Reactive Armor. Explosive Resistance, on the surface, doesn't appear to be particularly helpful for Demolitionist perks. However, there are a few instances where Explosive Resistance is a boon to the team. Firstly, once a Husk reaches 15% of their total HP, they will rush towards the targeted player and attempt to use their ranged weapon in a suicide attack. This attack's damage is quite high: enough to kill a player outright. If a Demolitionist is the targeted player, or close enough to the targeted player to share their Explosive Resistance, it is more likely that they will survive the attack with an additional 30% resistance to explosives. Similarly, Hans and the Patriarch have explosive attacks that are effective and lethal; this resistance can be a lifesaver. Lastly, Explosive Resistance is extremely beneficial when applied to your own explosive attacks. It is a frequent occurrence for a Demolitionist perk to take damage from their own grenades, C4 and other explosives. Reactive Armor, on the other hand, has a poor output of damage: dealing less base damage in a smaller radius than an M79 grenade launcher's explosive attack does. It can be used only once per wave, and leaves the player vulnerable with only 5 HP. Although Reactive Armor can stun enemies, its overall benefit to the player is situational - and arguably only delaying the inevitable - requiring only 5 HP in damage before death, assuming no intervention from other players or a Field Medic.

At level 15, the choices are Siren Resistance and Door Traps. Siren Resistance allows all explosives to ignore her sonic attacks. This skill is arguably essential, particularly since most fleshpounds that spawn in-game will be accompanied by at least one siren. Demolitionist munitions are fairly limited in number, making every explosive lost to a siren a costly result, both economically and to the team's continued survival. Door Traps has an inherent limitation in that once destroyed, a door cannot be repaired: this ensures the finite utility of Door Traps in all maps, base damage, range and stun power notwithstanding.

Level 20 provides a similar style of choice to level 5. Demolitionists that opt for an RPG-7/C4 loadout will have two units of weight spare for an off-perk weapon. Statistically the most effective weapon for 2 units of weight is the Desert Eagle. It can deal fairly high levels of damage and is a reliable, advantageous weapon to have as a sidearm in the earlier waves. For this reason, it is beneficial in these waves to run Off Perk and be granted a bonus of 10% to the damage for all off-perk weapons; the onset of fleshpounds will ensure the viability of On Perk. In the case of not running an off-perk weapon in the earlier waves, On Perk would be the sound decision from the outset.

Level 25 grants Nuke and Concussive Force. Whilst Nuke arguably contains benefits to the team, it has some drawbacks. Scrakes have a threshold of HP that, once they reach, enrages them: they will continue to rage indefinitely until death. On lower difficulties, Nuke can be extremely beneficial, however as the difficulty level increases, the scrakes' rage threshold becomes more and more tenuous. On Hell on Earth difficulty, a scrake need only take 10% of its total HP in damage before it will enrage, making Nuke detonations equally as dangerous to a team as it is helpful. The selection of Concussive Force is often a case of weighing up the positives and negatives of Nuke's potential to rage enemies that might prove difficult to kill once enraged, rather than any perceived benefit from actual knockdowns.