The Best Perk Skills To Choose In Killing Floor 3

Killing Floor 3 significantly elevates the strategic importance of perk skill selection, demanding players carefully construct their builds for maximum effectiveness against the Zed hordes. With a blend of returning favorites and innovative additions, and each class now boasting 30 levels’ worth of skills, the customization landscape is vast and potentially overwhelming. This comprehensive guide breaks down the optimal skill choices for each of the six perks available at launch, providing a clear roadmap for building unstoppable Zed-slaying machines.

Understanding Perk Progression and Skill Upgrades

Like its predecessor, Killing Floor 3 structures perk progression around level milestones. Upon reaching specific levels, you’ll unlock new rows of skills, presenting a choice between one and three distinct options. Crucially, Killing Floor 3 introduces the ability to spend points to upgrade these skills, adding a layer of permanence to your choices. This investment makes pivoting to different builds mid-game a more significant decision, underscoring the importance of careful planning and informed skill selection from the outset. Choosing skills early on is important, but don’t be afraid to try them out!

Best Commando Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Commando excels at controlling the battlefield, offering sustained fire and tactical support. Their primary stats revolve around acidic and force damage, augmenting their gadget proficiency and throwable equipment effectiveness. During Zed Time, Commandos enjoy increased fire rate and reload speed, allowing them to unleash devastating bursts of damage.

Level 5: Tactical Reload vs. Impact Rounds

• Tactical Reload: This skill significantly accelerates your reload speed, a constant boon for maintaining continuous fire. This skill will offer the most versatility, particularly in the early levels.
• Impact Rounds: Increases stumble power. Very situational, and reload speed usually offers much more versatility.

Recommendation: Tactical Reload provides a more consistent advantage across all situations, keeping your weapon primed and ready for the next wave of Zeds. The higher reload speed will allow for better versatility in almost any situation.

Level 10: Hollow Point Rounds vs. High Capacity Magazines

• Hollow Point Rounds: Grants a damage boost against unarmored Zeds. This perk skill is more useful for early game.
• High Capacity Magazines: Increases magazine size. A larger magazine size translates to sustained fire and reduced downtime, a valuable asset for managing hordes.

Recommendation: High Capacity Magazines is essential to ensure the continuous pressure you can put on the Zeds, as the amount of ammo you have in your gun before reloading is significantly higher. The bigger capacity will win out in the late rounds against the larger, tankier Zeds.

Level 15: Concussion Rounds vs. Fragmentation Rounds

• Concussion Rounds: Chance to stun zeds.
• Fragmentation Rounds: A chance to cause an explosive effect on impact. The explosion is not too big but can damage the surrounding enemies.

Recommendation: Fragmentation Rounds are recommended. This will give you the best chance of dealing with hordes of enemies, and give you some breathing room when you need to reload, or reposition.

Level 20: Assualt Training vs. Combat Medic

• Assault Training: Increases damage of assault rifles.
• Combat Medic: Heal allies with each shot.

Recommendation: Assault Training is usually the pick here, but if your team is lacking a dedicated medic, the combat medic skill can give you an edge. However, the healing power is nowhere as close as the medic, so you will still need one.

Level 25: Prepared For Anything vs. Keep ‘Em Coming

• Prepared For Anything: Increases the amount of grenades you carry.
• Keep ‘Em Coming: Gain bonus damage for each kill in zed time.

Recommendation: Keep ‘Em Coming is the perfect skill to give you a little bit extra power in the heat of the moment, and will usually be better in the long run.

Best Berserker Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Berserker is the master of melee combat, wading into the thick of the Zed horde with unmatched resilience and raw power. Their effectiveness is tied to physical damage, critical hit chance, and movement speed. During Zed Time, Berserkers become unstoppable blenders, delivering devastating blows with incredible speed.

Level 5: Skirmisher vs. Parry

• Skirmisher: Increases movement speed.
• Parry: Reduces damage from attacks when blocking.

Recommendation: Skirmisher is typically the superior choice, granting enhanced mobility to quickly close gaps, evade attacks, and reposition for maximum carnage.

Level 10: Dreadnought vs. Massacre

• Dreadnought: Increases maximum health.
• Massacre: Increases attack speed.

Recommendation: Massacre allows for much faster damage output, thus killing enemies quicker. This is usually the ideal choice.

Level 15: Bloodlust vs. Vampire

• Bloodlust: Gain damage the lower your health.
• Vampire: Gain health back when attacking.

Recommendation: Vampire is great for sustainability, allowing you to stay in the fight longer. It is also generally considered the more reliable and powerful pick.

Level 20: Eviscerate vs. Smash

• Eviscerate: Increased damage for heavy attacks.
• Smash: Chance to knock enemies down on attacks.

Recommendation: Eviscerate is preferred in most situations, providing a consistent damage boost to your heavy attacks, which are crucial for dispatching tougher Zeds.

Level 25: Relaliation vs. Resistance

• Relaliation: Increased damage when damaged.
• Resistance: Increased damage resistance.

Recommendation: Resistance is generally more effective, providing a consistent damage reduction that allows you to withstand more punishment, making you a more reliable front-line fighter.

Best Support Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Support perk focuses on providing crucial assistance to the team, reinforcing defenses, and keeping everyone supplied with ammunition. They excel in ballistic damage and supply efficiency. During Zed Time, Supports can rapidly reload weapons for themselves and their allies, ensuring a constant barrage of firepower.

Level 5: Armor Piercing Rounds vs. Penetrator

• Armor Piercing Rounds: Increased damage on armored enemies.
• Penetrator: Rounds go through enemies.

Recommendation: Penetrator provides increased crowd control, allowing you to damage multiple enemies with a single shot.

Level 10: Tactical Reload vs. Advanced Logistics

• Tactical Reload: Increases reload speed.
• Advanced Logistics: Increase carry capacity of ammo.

Recommendation: Tactical Reload allows for faster and more reliable reloading, increasing your overall damage output.

Level 15: Barricade vs. Fortitude

• Barricade: Set up temporary barricades.
• Fortitude: Reduced damage.

Recommendation: Fortitude offers a consistent damage reduction, making you more durable and able to withstand more attacks, especially useful when defending a position.

Level 20: Concussion Rounds vs. Stunner

• Concussion Rounds: Chance to stun with shotguns.
• Stunner: Increase stun time.

Recommendation: Stunner improves your crowd control abilities, allowing you to keep enemies stunned for longer periods, giving you and your team more time to eliminate them.

Level 25: Salvo vs. Resupply Pack

• Salvo: Increases damage output during ZED Time.
• Resupply Pack: Throw down a pack that contains ammo.

Recommendation: Resupply Pack is generally more useful, providing a reliable source of ammunition for yourself and your team, ensuring everyone can keep firing.

Best Field Medic Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Field Medic is the team’s lifeline, specializing in healing and support. Their primary stats revolve around healing efficiency, medicine capacity, and poison damage. During Zed Time, Medics can rapidly heal their allies, turning the tide of battle and keeping the team alive.

Level 5: Combatant Doctor vs. Quick Healer

• Combatant Doctor: Able to use weapons while healing.
• Quick Healer: Increased healing speed.

Recommendation: Quick Healer is better, as being able to heal faster offers more versatility. You are able to heal more people, quicker.

Level 10: Adrenaline Shot vs. Focus Injection

• Adrenaline Shot: Able to move faster when healing.
• Focus Injection: Decrease recoil when healing.

Recommendation: Adrenaline Shot is better in most situations, allowing you to move around and heal more efficiently, which is crucial for keeping up with the team and dodging attacks.

Level 15: Medic Training vs. Antibiotics

• Medic Training: Increases amount you can heal at once.
• Antibiotics: Chance to poison enemies when shooting them with medic gun.

Recommendation: Medic Training offers higher potential, increasing your healing output significantly and allowing you to keep the team alive more effectively.

Level 20: Airborne Agent vs. First Response

• Airborne Agent: Heal allies from a distance.
• First Response: Heal faster on low health allies.

Recommendation: First Response provides more immediate benefit, allowing you to heal low-health allies faster, which is critical in emergency situations.

Level 25: Zedative vs. Healing Grenade

• Zedative: Throw grenades that stun enemies.
• Healing Grenade: Thrown grenade heals allies.

Recommendation: Healing Grenade is the ideal pick in most situations. Aoe heals offer you the versatility to change the tide of battle if several team mates are taking damage at once.

Best Demolitionist Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Demolitionist specializes in explosives and area-of-effect damage, decimating hordes of Zeds with overwhelming firepower. Their main damage output is from explosives. During Zed Time, Demolitionists can detonate their explosives with increased speed and power, creating devastating chain reactions.

Level 5: Bombardier vs. Fragmentation

• Bombardier: Increases grenade throwing range.
• Fragmentation: Grenade deals more damage.

Recommendation: Fragmentation is generally more useful, increasing the damage output of your grenades, which is crucial for quickly eliminating groups of enemies.

Level 10: Demolitions Training vs. Capacity

• Demolitions Training: More damage with explosive weapons.
• Capacity: Able to carry more explosives.

Recommendation: Capacity is generally better. More explosives offer more flexibility, and potential to kill Zeds

Level 15: Shock Trooper vs. Impact

• Shock Trooper: Increased speed after explosion.
• Impact: Explosions knock Zeds down.

Recommendation: Impact provides valuable crowd control, allowing you to knock down enemies with your explosions, giving you and your team more time to eliminate them safely.

Level 20: Extra Shrapnel vs. Cluster Grenades

• Extra Shrapnel: Explosions now have extra shrapnel.
• Cluster Grenades: Thrown grenades explode into a cluster.

Recommendation: Cluster Grenades offer superior area denial, allowing you to cover a larger area with explosives and deal more damage to groups of enemies.

Level 25: Direct Hit vs. Nuke

• Direct Hit: Increased direct damage.
• Nuke: Increased explosion range.

Recommendation: Nuke is better, increasing the explosion radius, making your weapons more effective at clearing out large groups of enemies.

Best Gunslinger Skills in Killing Floor 3

The Gunslinger excels at precision shooting and rapid-fire attacks, dispatching Zeds with deadly accuracy. Their primary stats revolve around ballistic damage, critical hit chance, and reload speed. During Zed Time, Gunslingers become lightning-fast marksmen, unloading a hail of bullets with pinpoint accuracy.

Level 5: Quick Draw vs. Speedloader

• Quick Draw: Increases weapon swap speed.
• Speedloader: Increases reload speed.

Recommendation: Speedloader is the ideal choice, as increased reload speed allows you to continuously fire and maintain pressure on the enemy.

Level 10: Bone Breaker vs. Penetrator

• Bone Breaker: Increased limb damage.
• Penetrator: Able to shot through enemies.

Recommendation: Penetrator is overall better, as the versatility of shooting through multiple enemies is ideal.

Level 15: Fan Fire vs. Skullcracker

• Fan Fire: Increased fire rate.
• Skullcracker: Chance to stun enemies.

Recommendation: Fan Fire is generally more effective, providing a consistent damage boost that allows you to eliminate enemies more quickly.

Level 20: Akimbo vs. Deadeye

• Akimbo: Increased hip fire accuracy.
• Deadeye: More accurate when zoomed in.

Recommendation: Deadeye is better in the long run, and will offer a more consistent and reliable gameplay.

Level 25: Rack ‘Em Up vs. Quick Hands

• Rack ‘Em Up: Increased damage per shot during zed time.
• Quick Hands: Increase reload speed.

Recommendation: Rack ‘Em Up enhances damage during zed time, this is a great perk to choose, and can change the tides of battle in a tight situation.