Commando

The Commando generally serves as the eyes of the squad. His ability to see the specimens' health bars and detect cloaked enemies at range makes him effective at preventing foes from sneaking up on the team, especially in dark areas. By reading the specimens' health bars, the Commando can gauge the best time for the team to coordinate its attacks on more dangerous targets.

The primary role of the Commando is providing covering fire for the rest of their squad, and should typically focus on taking out the weaker foes: Stalkers, Crawlers, Clots, and Gorefasts. Although all perks can be effective at combating these specimens, the Commando has large ammunition reserves for his assault rifles, and with his rapid fire rate, he can easily beat down large groups of weak specimens in quick succession. The four weapons with which he specialises are the high-capacity Bullpup, the versatile AK-47, the accurate M4, and last but not least, the powerful SCARMK17. The Commando receives a damage bonus, larger magazine, and less recoil for these weapons, as well as a faster reloading speed for all weapons.

The ability to spot cloaked foes and see enemy health bars makes the Commando the ideal squad member for eliminating the faster and stealthier specimens, specifically the Stalker and Crawler. Stalkers can easily sneak up on distracted or inattentive players, and block or blind them with their scratch attacks. Crawlers tend to attack in swarms and can easily surround a player, especially in darker maps. These smaller foes create big problems for the other squad members by interfering while they focus on the more dangerous specimens like the Fleshpound, Scrake and Siren. The Commando should therefore focus their attention on killing the enemies around larger specimens rather than the large specimens themselves. On the final wave, the Commando can see the Patriarch while he is cloaked, and gauge his current health. He should communicate with his team when the Patriarch is invisible to attempt to hunt him down and prevent him from healing.

Despite having large ammunition reserves and an extensive list of abilities, the Commando struggles when pitted against larger specimens. Even in fully automatic firing mode, the damage output of his assault rifles is mediocre. His best option in these situations is to carefully monitor the specimen's health and coordinate with his team as to when is the best moment to strike. He should only attempt to finish off a wounded foe where he is confident he can drop them before they can close in and attack him. Learning the behaviour of the larger specimens is especially useful for the Commando, and will give him good trigger discipline to ensure he does not unnecessarily cause a specimen to charge when it would otherwise be of little harm to the team.

An alternative option for the Commando is to make use of his improved reload ability with other weapons in the game. The Commando can take a more powerful weapon like a Grenade launcher or Shotgun to supplement his assault rifle – preferably by means of a team-mate's discount. Since these weapons pack a substantial punch even without a damage bonus, the faster reload can maintain a formidable DPS for the Commando, greatly expanding his available options in the field. He can even take a Field medic's MP7M Medic gun to help heal his team while suffering less from its long reloading time. The damage factor does however come into play against the larger specimens on later waves, and much like before the Commando should coordinate with his team on the best forms of action to take. Finally taking a SCARMK17 together with a Crossbow allows to pick off lesser foes with the former and headshot bigger ones with the latter.

Contents 1 Levelling tactics 2 Helping the Commando 3 Tactics 4 Perk ladder

[edit] Levelling tactics

• Killing Stalkers with an assault rifle will count towards levelling the Commando perk regardless of the perk with which you are currently playing, so carry an assault rifle whenever possible and use it upon an encounter with a Stalker. This also helps towards getting the general damage requirement, when any kind of specimen is shot. The field medic, berserker and demolitions expert are all classes that can make good use of an assault rifle as a backup weapon.

• Try playing Farm on hard or suicidal (whichever you can handle best), a long game with no specimen replacement mutators active. Farm is an extremely spacious map, allowing you to run if things take a turn for the worse, and the higher the difficulty level, the more Stalkers that spawn.

[edit] Helping the Commando

Try not to shoot stalkers, unless they’re actually tearing your face off. If the Commando is any good, he or she will be aware of them, and will be happy to kill them for you.

Recognise that the Commando doesn’t have any really powerful weapons, and can’t take on the ‘big stuff’ solo. (It’s not cowardice to flee from a fleshpound, when all you have is an AK-47.)

Levelling up a Commando is a slow process, so keep your commando friend entertained, and bung him a few quid to make sure he gets his SCAR as quickly as possible.

[edit] Tactics

• On the first wave, if the player's Commando level is not high enough to get a weapon at the start, they can run and gun around to see if they can find a Bullpup, Shotgun or LaR. In case you can't find a Bullpup, you can at least sell one of the other weapons to go towards buying an assault rifle.
• The Commando shines when the team is holed up. The Commando can hold groups of Crawlers and Stalkers with ease, and pin down spawn points of these specimens. Mostly, this will allow his teammates to keep focused on larger targets and aim undisturbed. Most of the perks appreciate not having to deal with weaker specimens, so the Commando shouldn't be underestimated on any difficulty or map.
• When Fleshpound appears it's advised to take cover properly, keeping yourself calm and killing pest around is the key for getting ZED time and helping the team even more.
• As an off perk side-arm the Commando can get a Crossbow or powerful M32, as these weapons can deal huge amount of DPS due to the Commando's faster reload ability. Keep in mind that the player shouldn't focus on weaker specimens with any of these weapons, and it's recommended that the Commando should prefer to carry 2 assault rifles until late waves.
• When a big target approaches, simply ignore it - there will be other classes who can take them out safely. Don't enrage Fleshpounds, and don't risk yourself when they're enraged; let a Berserker or Medic be the damage sponge. Tossing one or two grenades at the feet of an enraged Scrake or Fleshpound would draw him away from his current target. When a big specimen breaks into the group, the Commando should remain calm and keep killing weaker specimens behind the larger specimen, so that the group can easily recover afterwards without fear of being overrun.
• Commando can take on the horde even in the darkest places and lead the team to another safe spot. The Commando is invaluable when team is cornered, and one or more team members have been slain and the group needs escape.

[edit] Perk ladder

Rank	Requirements		Weapon Bonuses †			Reload Speed	Weapon Discount †	Spawn	Detection		Zed-time Extensions
	Damage	Stalkers	Damage	Recoil	Mag Size				Cloak	Health
			5%	5%		5%	10%		4m
★	25,000	30	10%	10%	10%	10%	20%		8m	4m
★★	100,000	100	20%	15%	20%	15%	30%		10m	7m
★★★	500,000	350	30%	20%	25%	20%	40%		12m	10m	1
★★★★	1,500,000	1,200	40%	30%		25%	50%		14m	13m	2
★★★★★	3,500,000	2,400	50%			30%	60%	Bullpup	16m	16m	3
☆	5,500,000	3,600		40%		35%	70%	AK-47			4
† With the Bullpup, AK-47, M4 and SCARMK17.

Equipment by perk
Field medic	Medical syringe • Combat armour • MP7M • MP5M
Support specialist	Welder • Shotguns (Shotgun • Combat shotgun • Hunting shotgun • AA12)
Sharpshooter	Pistols (9mm • .44 Magnum • Handcannon) • Rifles (Lever-action • Crossbow • M14 EBR)
Commando	Grenade • Assault rifles (Bullpup • AK-47 • M4 • SCARMK17)
Berserker	Knife • Machete • Fire axe • Katana • Claymore • Chainsaw
Firebug	MAC-10 • Flamethrower • Husk fireball launcher
Demolition	Pipe bomb • Grenade launchers (M79 • M32 • M4 203) • L.A.W
Weapon damage table

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