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Berserker

Berserker
Fugitive: Brawler Tier 3
Basic (3 pt): The lower your health, the more damage you do. When your health is below 50%, you will do up to 250% more melee and saw damage.
Ace (6 pt): The lower your health, the more damage you do. When your health is below 50%, you will do up to 100% more damage with ranged weapons as well.
Note: Does not apply to grenade launchers. Entering berserker state negates third-party regeneration effects.

Mechanics[]

Berserker grants an increasingly larger boost to melee, saw, and ranged damage as the player's health decreases. The lower the player's health, the more damage will be dealt, until the maximum amount of 250% bonus melee/saw damage and 100% ranged damage is reached at 0% health. Because the player will enter bleed out mode at 0% health, the maximum benefit from this skill can only be achieved when the player is using their weapon from bleed out mode. For every percentage point of health the player has below 50%, the player will gain an extra 2% ranged damage and an extra 5% melee/saw damage.[1]

This damage bonus is applied after effects such as Pumping Iron.

Strategy[]

Berserker is an outstanding skill for enforcers seeking to maximize their damage. It is exceptionally useful on Mayhem and above difficulties, as players being revived will always be at 10% health, granting 80% berserker upon revival. In order to maintain the damage bonus offered by Berserker without going down frequently, it is recommended to wear the heaviest armor possible. It's also in effect during bleedout when Aced, allowing you to unleash a deadly last stand against nearby enemies and improve the chances of eliminating nearby hostiles quickly before going into full bleed out.

The basic version of this skill works in tandem with Bloodthirst basic and Pumping Iron aced as they heavily boost your melee's damage, capable to deal up to 53550 damage with both skills, full Bloodthirst stacks and a high damage melee weapon like the Shinsakuto Katana and Ice Pick, killing all enemies at all difficulties in one single charged melee swing.

This skill synergizes with the Yakuza perk deck, which grants armor recovery rate and movement speed bonuses under similar low-health conditions - up to 60% faster armor recovery and 20% faster movement.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Anarchist perk deck also pairs incredibly well with Berserker, as the incredibly high armor count effectively prevents health damage, such as when you're purposefully on low health or when using Frenzy.

The skill also pairs very well with Frenzy, as it puts users in Berserker state by default, without having to take damage to activate it. The Frenzy skill sets your maximum health to 30%, which will grant a 100% melee damage boost and 40% ranged damage boost when used with Berserker Aced.

On difficulties below Mayhem, the skill Combat Medic aced can be very counter-productive, as it grants 30% more health, thus disabling Berserker and forcing the carrier of the saw to re-enable the skill. This can be mitigated by the use of Frenzy.

Trivia[]

  • The word "berserker" is usually used to depict a combatant who gains a significant degree of pain resistance via an adrenaline-induced rage, often triggered after taking a large amount of physical damage; going "berserk" can sometimes interfere with the berserker's sense of reasoning and control. The "Berserker" is also a well-known character archetype and status in video games and other media, who may or may not receive damage buffs while in this state.
  • While the skill description states that being under 50% health would negate all third-party healing sources, the Hacker and Tag Team perk decks can still unintentionally heal the user through their throwables as their heals aren't considered as a form of healing and rather more of a buff.

References[]

Gameplay • Heists • Skills & Perk Decks • Weapons & Equipment • DLC
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