Be Polite:
Be respectful, and by that I also mean dont be ruin it for others, low levels joining a mode above Normal, it ruins the game, skill is important but so is your perk level, you wont be able to deal enough damage, you wont be able to contribute effectively and you being there increases zed health scale. There is minescule difference in XP gain in the higher modes, except for large zeds, the XP gain is irrelavant if you keep dieing, you will gain more from the lower modes and staying alive.

Listen to your teams suggestions, your idea for team survival will most likely get your team killed, talk with your team, ask where they aim to setup camp. Calling names, wingeing and whining will cause your team to split up and you will die.

These are guidelines from experience, falling outside of these guidlines and joining servers will get you a lot of stig, although since the kick feature was introduced you might find you get kicked a lot.

Levels 0 to 10: Normal mode
Level 10+: Hard mode
Level 15+: Suicidal mode - Recommended 20
Level 20+: Hell on Earth (HoE) Mode - Recommended 25

HoE modes shouldnt have anyone under 20, the level perks at 20 make a big difference. Ideally you want to be level 25, especially Demos and Firebugs, as your zed time damage ability is drastically increased. Have a low level perk, dont ruin it for others, and don't join a HoE match.

If you are unable to take out a Fleshpound and Scrake quickly and without taking significant damage regardless of whether you have a 25 perk, you're not ready for Suicidal and above, exception to that guideline is being a Medic with only Medic weapons, simple. As a side note, your medics, zerker, and gunslinger have a higher chance of out running both of those zeds, this is called kiting, avoidance running with periodic damage dealing, its a necassary skill in the higher modes especially on public servers.

Generally there is usually an experienced player who knows some strategy, if it looks like they are holding up somewhere, be polite, follow them, they might be on to something, otherwise your team will split up and you will die.

Don't weld doors randomly, especially don't weld doors that could be used as an escape route in an emergency, for example a Fleshpound just took out your Beserker and you're running for your life, that welded door will split up your team and you will die.

Don't weld doors without consulting your team, that welded door will change the spawns and re-route some zeds, your team might not be expecting this, your team will split up and you will die.

Did I mention about splitting up, yeh never do that, you're not a Mcclane, you're a squishy walking meat bag, and zeds love that, stick as a group, pick a spot, and stay there, if your team moves, follow them.

If you're going to weld doors, consult your team and do it for later waves i.e waves 9-10 or waves 6-7 respectively based on wave modes.

If you pick up a weapon from a perished player, don't sell it, give it them back.

If you absolutely have to kick, do it in the first 2 or 3 waves, and weigh up how much of an asset the player is to your survival, if the player in question is at the top of your leader board with insane kills, and you're below them, good chance they will save your life, and probably already have numerous times.
Never kick for the following:

• Stop stealing my kills. They were not yours to begin with, competitiveness like that will split your team up and you will die.
  
  
• Stop getting in my way. If the player thats getting in the way is a Beserker, chances are its you that is sat in the wrong place.
  
  
• They got me killed. Chances are you were in the wrong place, if someone didnt react to a fleshpound or a scrake, chances are your team didnt call it out, ill get on to well known simple chat text you and everyone else should use later on.
  
  
• They keep stealing ammo crates. Don't dibs ammo crates, they are free for all, but also don't take them if you don't need them, a team member might need them should they end up being the last one alive.
  
  
• They sold my weapon. Simply put, don't die and your weapon wont get sold, most players will drop it for you, but some don't know to do that, just politely tell them they should drop it not sell it for personal gain.

Bottom line, if you're gona kick or getting kicked and its for any of the reasons ive outlined above you should be ashamed of yourself.

Feed your medic, your medic is important. During the first few waves you want to be giving your medic your surplus cash to get them loaded out as fast as possible, yes you can do without your aa12, AK12, SCAR-H, and microwave for a couple more waves, you will be fine, plus your medic will keep you alive. The exception to this is your Demo player, as there kills will be relatively small in the first few waves and thus will have fewer cash, there main and only useful weapon is the rpg which they need to save for if they are to be useful by wave 6, well accustomed demos will be efficient with c4, if they laid out a c4 patch be sure to guide fleshpounds to it, thats what they are counting on, crafty demos will stick c4 on them.

Your medic wants to be fully loaded out by the end of wave 5 or at least have the rifle, if they do not, then you're in trouble, players panic when they are hurt, you will end up splitting up and you will die.

Medic if you have a firebug on your team, hopefully they know there role, they should know how to conserve ammo using the tap method, and should also be fighting scrakes and fleshpounds head on, keep them alive while they do so, pair them with a Beserker player and you're golden.

Medic Your job is not to kill, you're a medic, heal heal heal, buff buff buff, you kill when you're saving a player. Medics, make sure to mind your players backs, particularly the backs of your Beserker and Demolitionist. When they are working on large zeds simple trash can break there posture and they will die, keep small stuff away from them and heal heal heal. Beserkers should always be the one you watch the most, keep them well healed, Beserkers should have the siren resistance perk and the medic should use the vaccinate perk. You should be continuously spamming the darts out. [Ammended: Medic No longer heals shields].

If your team is lacking players or there isnt a firebug or commando, you're going to want to keep this player alive, they're likely doing all the damage control, taking out massive swarms of zeds before you even knew they were there, they've probably already saved your life countless times.

The Demo has a slow reloading RPG and other slow but incredibly powerful weaponry against large hords of zeds. When a Fleshpound spawns keep those zeds away from them whilst they are reloading so they can rocket that Fleshpound in the ass, before it does equally devistating damage to your ass. From many successful games the Commando's Leadership perk is useful, the increase in reloading makes a big difference combined with your whole team.

If there is more than one Demo in a match, one of you should switch to supplier, that extra grenade is a lot of firepower combined with the rest of your team, plus your medic and your teamates will thank you, and it might just be that extra medic grenade that saves you.

If a player dies, feed them your surplus cash, you want to get them back to a full loadout and fast, that cash is meaningless in your pocket so give it away. It is in your best interest to sort them out, otherwise they are dead weight, they will get hurt, and draw too much of your medics attention; keep all team members useful.

Chat Text:
These are well known chat acronyms used by a lot of players, your veteran players have been using these since the early days of Killing Floor 1, when it was but a simple mod.

chat when you see big zeds to alert your team, never attack them alone, unless you're the last one standing, then go nuts:

sc = scrake (the big thing with the chainsaw for an arm)
fp = fleshpound (the other bigger thing that glows yellow and red, with two drills for arms)
fpr = fleshpound coming from the right [rarely used]
fpl = fleshpound coming from the left [rarely used]
scr = scrake coming from the right [rarely used]
scl = scrake coming from the left [rarely used]
The rarely used chats tend to be used by teams with a strategy in mind, usually camping a spot and each player has a position to hold.

If you don't know your zeds I advise you to look them up, google them and so on. Check my other guides for a "How to" on custom chat keybinds.

Those with microphones, you should be calling out large zeds too as well as location, this gives you and your team a significant advantage.

Zeds to watch out for
Long range fire-cannon, they do a lot of damage to a lot of team members at once, take it out fast. This is more important from Suicidal mode and above as they begin to use a flamethrower and suicide taking out your team on there own.

Don't let these things get too close, take them out quickly, preferably at long range, these are unusually difficult to take down once they are close as they spawn with groups of other smaller zeds which will get in your way, meanwhile the siren is screaming her head off and draining your life.

In a 10 Wave game, they will spawn from Wave 5 onwards, and have a distinctive sound cue. Yes, they are going to rage. It is never a good strategy to leave scrakes until last, any unraged scrakes will rage when near to another raged scrake, they can also set off idle fleshpounds trust me, you don't want any scrakes around when a fleshpound spawns, so take them out as they spawn. AI observation: Towards the end of a wave any unraged scrakes will automatically rage once the zed count hits 5 [28-Mar-2016: TW have said there next update will remove scrake auto-rage (Confirmed)].

Demolitionists, Sharpshooters and Beserkers want to be hot on these and scrakes straight away, don't wait, take them out fast, medics keep them healed as they do so. Gunslingers with duel Magnums and sharpshooters with the railgun can deal a significant amount of damage, aim for the head [28-Mar-2016: TW have said there next update will remove Fleshpound perma-rage (Confirmed)].

Note: Gunslinger is a difficult perk to play, you will want to train a lot, I recommend Normal Mode for practicing headshot lining, followed by Hard Mode before moving on to the higher tier modes, again if you cant take out a scrake / fleshpound on your own and in good time without taking significant damage, you're not ready for Suicidal and above.

The Trader:
Towards the end of each wave, leave something small alive and run towards the trader, take it out once you are there, this will give you the maximum time to use the trader, and also helps you sort out any perished players from the previous wave, this is especially important in later waves including the BOSS wave, every second counts.

Because there is a 50/50 chance of either Boss spawning, you are going to want to prepare for both as best as you can.

Beserker: For the Boss wave, carry your usual weapon of choice be it the Zweihander or Pulverizer, also carry a shotgun or a rifle such as the SCAR-H or Medic Rifle in case you get the Patriarch.

Demolitionist: Avoid using demo on modes above hard, your damage over reload / time is very low. Pair that with bosses being explosive resistance, you may as well not bother. Check with your team if you want to play as perk. Don't be that person.

Gunslinger: If you have the Hans boss fight, you can stack your REU if someone becomes captured, use your 9mm to gain super easy headshots, then switch to magnums and unload your mag; easy extra damage.

Sharp Shooter: If you're particularly good with lining up headshots from a distance, use the railgun to headshot either boss to deal a significant amount of damage. Note: Remove the auto-aim using alt-fire option as auto-aim reduces your damage output for the railgun.

(Super Basic Simple Stuff)

If you see white smoke, don't shoot Hans, you will waste ammo as he takes significantly less damage. If it grabs a player, don't shoot it, same applies again.

Medics timing is good here, you want to unleash your rifle darts just as Hans is about to let go of the player for maximum effectiveness.

Aim for the power core on his torso, his head or the backpack power core, you will deal extra damage, this is especially effective for those that choose the Commando perk for the Boss wave.

You want to lather into it as much as you can whilst its throwing gas and grenades followed by running from the gas and grenades, and when the Beserker knocks it down, lather into it again.

Ideally for Hans your team wants to consist of Firebugs, Support, Beserk and 1 or 2 medics dependant on level and team ability.

Firebug: Buy multiple microwaves
Support: Buy multiple aa12s
Beserk: Block and thrash, knock it down, watch your health, if it gets low, run, get healed, return. Beserkers below 20 on Hard mode or above shouldnt really attempt this.
Medic: Heal Heal Heal
Followed by microwave and aa12 spam from Firebugs and Support.
Repeat.

The thrashing move does insane damage, watch some videos and read some guides on what to look out for to avoid Hans when its about to do this move, ive seen entire teams wiped out in seconds by this one move from Hans, in the last Health phase i.e. when red, the thrashing move is almost a constant to players getting too close.

The new December 2015 update suggests changes to Hans damage ability and suggests being able to block it for any length of time as a thing of the past, the gas grenades are said to also have explosive damage ability whereas before they were just gas, damage from gas has also been increased.

What is known:

• Will come at you using basic attacks and scales health like Hans, keep out of the machine gun fire as it hurts significantly. Patty becomes more agressive each health phase.
  
  
• Is quoted as a huge bullet sponge with a tendancy to run away and heal, other smaller zeds will spawn during this phase, and they come in quite large numbers, watch your health and ammo consumption. [PC GAMER]
  
  
• Hideing is not an option, the patriarch will use mortars on those that hide, take one to the face and its instant death.
  
  
• The invisibility cloak is not just for when it is healing, it will also use it for surprise attacks on unsuspecting players, sounds cues are very useful at giving away Patty's position.
  
  
• The possibility of using c4 as a boss trap may suddenly become part of Killing Floor 2 again as much as it was in Killing Floor 1 with the pipe bombs, sticking c4 to Patty is a good tactic. If you know you've got him of course; playing games in succession will give you a better chance at predicting a boss, rpg's to the head similar to scrakes is an even better tactic, requires a bit of skill to pull off without getting really hurt.
  
  
• Aim for the head to deal extra damage. If your entire team aims for the head, you will win in no-time.
  
  
• Use doors and cover, when you hear patty talk of "one in the pipe" you want to run through a door and close it or run round a corner or a pillar, then return if you didnt take damage, to deal some cheeky quick damage, on open maps always look up at Patty and see where the mortars are going to land to better avoid them.
  
  
• Avoid the corners of rooms & getting too close to walls, you will get pinned. Obstacles such as pillars are good cover from machine gun fire and will stop you from getting kicked or pulled in.
  
  
• Medics and Beserkers, just like for Hans, can kite around the map dealing damage until you win, however this does take some time dependant on your level of skill, and how many players were in your game.

Run and Gun is currently a good strategy, avoiding getting too close as much as possible whilst still sticking as a team.

The aa12, SCAR-H and Microwave are very effective at dealing significant damage. Beserker thrashing is difficult, as getting close to Patty results in taking a lot of damage especially from the front, similar to KF1 Patty, some skill is needed to get behind and thrash in the back.

Run if you take a lot of damage, heal, return for some more thrashing. A good tip is to jump when you're about to get kicked, you will be thrown out of harms way, use the distance to heal and get healed.