There's a wide variety of enemy types in Killing Floor 3, and among the dozen or so variants of Zeds, there are boss monsters that always show up at the end of a mission. These guys are bigger, meaner, and much tougher than everything else, and it'll take a lot of firepower to bring one down.
Killing Floor 3 is a fairly simple game, but as you play through the higher difficulties, you can easily find yourself swarmed or overpowered by a boss in the end. In this guide, we'll be covering all bosses in KF3 as well as the most efficient ways to take them down.
Killing Floor 3: The Evolution of Zeds Explained
The Best War Games sits down with Bill Munk, the lead combat designer for Tripwire Interactive's Killing Floor 3, to discuss the evolution of Zeds.
The Queen Crawler
|
Weaknesses |
Heat, Biiological |
|
Weak Spots |
Head, Inner Mouth, Glowing Pustules |
This is arguably the easiest boss in the game so far, but that doesn't mean that it's any less lethal. The Queen Crawler will constantly chase players while spawning Crawler larvae — the amount of pressure it can lay down on one player is very high, and if you find yourself stuck in a dead end or a tight room with the queen and her babies, you're likely to get eaten.
Thankfully, the Queen Crawler is completely unarmored, which means you can shoot it anywhere and still expect to deal decent damage. More importantly, this boss has large weak spots that are easier to hit compared to the other bosses. All you really need to do when fighting the Queen Crawler is to backpedal and shoot it in the mouth until it dies.
How to Beat Queen Crawler
- You cannot outrun the Queen Crawler. Use verticality (ziplines and ledge mantling) to your advantage.
- Slide down ramps. This is much faster than sprinting, and doing so will be enough to make space between you and the queen.
- Kill it with fire. If you don't want to use Firebug weapons, you can always mod your guns in KF3 to fire Incendiary Rounds.
The Impaler
|
Weaknesses |
Acid, Force, Electric |
|
Weak Spots |
Head, Forearm Cores, Back Cores |
Much like the Queen Crawler, the Impaler likes to rush players and attack with the retractable blade on its head. This is a very agile boss that can easily catch players who are running away, so when facing an Impaler, it's often best to just stand and fight.
Impalers have obvious glowing weak spots, but these are covered in armor. Overpressured, Armor Piercing, and Acid ammo can break its metal shells more easily, and if you want the boss to jump around less, equip Electric ammo to stun it frequently.
How to Beat Impalers
- Shoot the forearms first. Breaking the Impaler's forearm cores will prevent it from firing missiles later on.
- Watch its head. The direction of the Impaler's head indicates how it's going to attack. If it moves back, dodge sideways. If it moves to the side, dodge backwards.
- Make full use of Zed Time. Hitting the Impaler's forearms will build your Zed Time meter, and when it activates, use your time in slow motion to shoot the cores on the boss' back.
The Chimera
|
Weaknesses |
Force, Cold |
|
Weak Spots |
Head, Forearm Cores, Back Cores |
The Chimera is a tricky beast to beat for any class in KF3, mainly because of how hard it is to dodge its attacks. It uses both ranged and melee attacks, and it summons Mire Cysts to swarm players throughout the fight. To make things worse, Chimeras are heavily armored, which means they'll shrug off non-AP bullets like they're nothing.
The best way to kill a Chimera is to shoot its tentacle-filled face. Unlike the rest of its body, this spot is not armored, and it will take full damage from your shots. Once the boss reaches half health, it will shed its armor and expose glowing weak spots on its arms and body,. Shoot the glowing spots when they're vulnerable, but otherwise, stick with shooting the face.
How to Beat Impalers
- Shoot down Mire Globes. When the Impaler launches yellow orbs at you, you can shoot them down to prevent Mire Cysts from spawning.
- Use Turrets. Bring a Multi-Tool and activate a sentry to help deal with Mire Cysts.
- Mind your positioning. Ideally, there should always be something between you and the Chimera, so its ranged attacks don't hit you
- Released
- July 24, 2025
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Tripwire Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- Tripwire Interactive
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
WHERE TO PLAY
- Multiplayer
- Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms
- Prequel(s)
- Killing Floor 2, Killing Floor
- Franchise
- Killing Floor
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- July 24, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- July 24, 2025
- PS5 Release Date
- July 24, 2025
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 14.55 GB
