Zombicidal

These tactics are meant to keep you alive. Early on in your zombicidal career, keep them well in mind and try to consciously practice them. Later on, you may abandon these tactics for more refined ones.

To-Do List

Stay Together

The other three Survivors are all that is left of humanity. Elsewhere, unending hordes of snarling, mindless abominations hunger for your blood. Always move as a group and communicate about where you want to go. Be careful about looking away from the others for too long, as you may be left behind. You should always try to be close enough that another teammate can reach you within a few seconds.

The best way to make sure you’re staying together is to use a buddy system. Group into pairs. Each person in the pair is responsible for staying close to his buddy, and additionally, for paying attention to the movement of the other pair. It seems like an overly simple suggestion, but it can be very helpful when you first start.

While near your friends, avoid (un)friendly fire. Don’t aim shotguns too close to teammates, and be careful about reflexively turning and shooting when you see that you’re being flanked. When you are in front, help your friends by crouching so they can shoot over your head. Note that if you become incapacitated and a Survivor is reviving you, you cannot hit that Survivor with friendly fire. Don’t be afraid to shoot.

Pay Attention! Watch Above and Behind

Always pay attention to your surroundings! Many beginning players are far too focused on what’s right ahead, but usually, the biggest dangers come from the sides and especially from above. In urban areas, Special Infected will often be on the roof, around the corner, lurking behind bushes, etc. Also, Common Infected can be attracted to you by proximity, so they may not attack until they are to the side.

Your first priority is to protect your immediate personal space. Listen for nearby sounds and watch that red damage indicator! If you see your screen shaking and flashing red, it means you’re being hit. Check the damage indicator and turn towards the attacker. Bash him away before shooting. After your personal space is clear, you can shoot distant targets. The only exception to this is when you see a nearby teammate disabled (e.g. by a Hunter or Jockey).

Listen Carefully

Like most first-person shooters, L4D’s directional audio can allow you to quickly identify the locations of gunfire, enemies, environmental elements, etc. However, L4D is unique in that the music is dynamically generated by the AI Director based on gameplay. Some of the music and sounds will warn you about impending danger. When a Special Infected spawns, its arrival will coincide with one of a specific set of music sequences. In addition, as it nears, you will start hearing its sound effect in a specific direction. For instance, the Boomer gurgles and burps, while the Hunter snarls.

Some Special Infected, like Witches, have very obvious audio correlates. The Witch music overwhelms all other sound. Other audio clues are more subtle. You should consider turning on Full Captions in Audio Settings, which will give you a better chance of memorizing which sounds correspond to what. You may also see our Infected section for more information.

Bash Like a Pro

Your PUSH (bash) is your best friend, and you should learn to use it correctly. In Left 4 Dead 2 and in Versus of L4D1, melee bashing is subject to fatigue that prevents you from bashing too many times in a row. Because of this, you have to avoid the mindset that bashing is a reliable form of defense. Bashing can only help you so much. There are three main situations where you should bash:

1. Pushing back adjacent Infected (before shooting them).

Make it a habit to bash first whenever you’re at melee range with an Infected. Your aim is significantly worsened by being hit. Even with coarse-accuracy weapons like shotguns, it is a good idea to bash before shooting. This will help immensely in Expert and Versus modes. If there are a few Infected hitting you, you should bash them instead of wildly shooting at them. Bashing first saves ammo and generally reduces damage taken.

2. Disrupting Hunters, Jockeys, Smokers, Boomers, and Spitters.

Bashing disorients the aforementioned SI, causing them to release disabled Survivors. Enough bashes will kill them. Hunters can also be bashed out of midair during a pounce attempt. The bash can interrupt Boomers and Spitters and prevent them from unleashing their dangerous attacks. It’s best to bash and then back up before killing these two.

Note that bashing against Witches, Tanks, and Chargers is ill-advised. If it has any effect at all, it won’t be one you’ll want to deal with.

3. When reloading while under attack.

You can bash while reloading! Press RELOAD first, then start bashing. This is extremely useful.

Choose Your Weapon

You should try different primary weapons to see which suits you best. Generally, more conservative players should go with a submachine gun or assault rifle. Those who like to run in front should try the shotguns. At the beginning, avoid the hunting and sniper rifles. Why? ▼

In addition, make it a habit to use your sidearm (if you have it) whenever you’re killing idle Infected. This is a good way to conserve ammunition. Your sidearm is not just a backup or last-resort weapon! In fact, a pistol round does more damage than a Uzi, MAC-10, or M16 round!

To get the most out of your weapon, learn how it behaves. Here are basic tips for each weapon type:

Shotguns

For more information and tips, see our Firearms section.

Melee Weapons

Left 4 Dead 2 introduced melee weapons, which replace pistols when picked up. As long as you can manage your ammo well enough, melee weapons are a decent choice for beginners. They can help in close quarters, since bashing is limited by fatigue. You can bash while you have a melee weapon equipped. Just make sure to avoid hitting teammates.

Ordnance

Explosives should be picked up whenever possible. Early on, the pipe bomb will be the most effective and least hazardous explosive. If your team is unprepared for a Horde, throw the pipe bomb away from the group, preferably towards an area of higher Infected density. If you must use Molotov cocktails, use them carefully. Never throw near teammates. Throw them into choke points in front of incoming Hordes for maximum effectiveness. Remember, when you are a beginner, never throw Molotovs during chaos!

Medical Supplies

Pain pills, adrenaline, first aid kits, and defibrillators are essential, so learn how to get the most out of them. Generally, you should try to avoid healing using a first aid kit unless you’re in very bad shape or there’s an extra one lying around. First aid kits are very powerful healing compared to pills, so you should try to eke it out with temporary HP as long as you can before healing. Definitely avoid healing someone above 40 HP. To share supplies, use the PUSH button.

If you’re in critical condition (and your vision is black-and-white), you should heal. If you go down again while critical, you’ll die.

Counter-Infection Strategies

When other Survivors get disabled by Hunters and Smokers, their silhouettes turn red. In addition, you can hear them screaming bloody murder. When close, bash away the Special Infected before shooting. When far away, you should try to shoot the Special Infected. Disabled Survivors do not take friendly fire damage, so blast away. Watch out for any Survivors who are closer to the victim, as they may run in to bash.

Boomers will spray any nearby Survivors with bile if killed. If a Boomer is close, run up and bash him. He will be unable to puke as he is reeling. Bash him a couple times, then back up and shoot him when nobody else is close. He can die from too many bashes, so be careful! If he’s already far enough, shoot him!

If you become affected by Boomer bile, stay calm. Crouch and start bashing. Then, try to back up against a nearby wall. If someone near you is slimy but you’re clean, try to help by bashing Infected away. You will not be targeted by Common Infected during the swarm.

The best way to deal with Hordes of Common Infected is to practice crowd control. You can do this by staying out of the open, hiding in places that force Infected to bottleneck, and trying to keep Infected from leaking through your defenses. Close doors behind you, since Infected must bash down doors to get through.

Common Dangers

There are a number of scripted or triggered events in each campaign that are fun for the whole family.

Crescendo Events

Crescendo events are like Undead Black Friday. These are hazardous, but particularly so if you don’t know you’re triggering one. Never trigger a crescendo before everyone is ready. Here’s what you need to know:

• When in doubt, don’t touch anything or shoot anything inanimate. Buttons aren’t toys.
• There are no crescendos on first chapters or finales. All other chapters include one crescendo except Blood Harvest IV.
• When approaching a crescendo, you will see a tooltip displaying what action you need to perform to initiate the crescendo. Any objects that need to be activated are highlighted in white.
• All crescendos but one are initiated by activating some object with USE. In Dead Air III, the construction site crescendo is activated by shooting the gas cans by the barricade. Don’t hit them accidentally when you’re clearing the area!
• Crescendos are initiated on the first action (”using” or shooting). Finales require two actions to initiate, and both are always through activating objects. For instance, in No Mercy, Dead Air, and Death Toll, the finales are activated by using the radio twice. The radio must be highlighted in white before it can be activated the second time.
• In the immediate crescendo/finale area, no hordes or Special Infected will spawn until the event is initiated, so it may be a good idea to take your time and look around for useful objects.

Mini-Crescendos

While the AI Director spawns Infected randomly, there are a number of points where hordes are very common. These mini-crescendos are triggered by movement past a certain point.

• No Mercy III: Sometimes, going to the first-floor door of the warehouse or jumping down from the windows above will trigger a horde and Special Infected.
• Dead Air IV: Quite often, the AI Director will dump a horde on you when you’re in the cafeteria/atrium past the luggage processing room.
• Blood Harvest IV: When nearing the tractor in the field, the sound of crows taking flight signals the start of a large horde.

Car Alarms

In each chapter, there is usually one red car with a blinking light inside. This car has an active alarm, and if hit by bullets/bombs or touched by players, it will activate, bringing a horde. Blowing up Boomers too close to the car will also cause the alarm to activate.

• All Survivors are targeted by the horde, not just the clumsy ones.
• Chirping sounds are a warning that a Survivor is too close to a car.
• Each car’s alarm can only activate once, and is deactivated if hit by a Tank.
• Special Infected cannot set off the alarm themselves.
• Car alarms cannot be triggered from beyond a certain distance.
• Witches near the alarm will become startled and target whomever set off the alarm.

Points of No Return

Many chapters include points that are inaccessible to Survivors after they have walked passed a certain point. These are particularly dangerous because being disabled or incapacitated on these spots can mean death. Some spots are particularly dangerous because stranded Survivors may be out of line of sight. Tell me what spots to avoid! ▼

There are a number of techniques you may use to avoid being stranded.

1. Watch out for Special Infected! If you hear Smokers, Jockeys, or Hunters, try to kill them before proceeding. Smokers are the most dangerous!
2. Stay together. You can move through most of these points simultaneously. If you cannot, then the weakest Survivors should go through first. The last survivor should have a shotgun, and should be ready to blast any Special Infected that appear.
3. Try to move from a place that protects you from the risk of being disabled. If there’s a hole in the floor and a Smoker is nearby, try descending from the opposite side of the hole, so if you are grabbed, you will hang instead of being dragged out of line of sight. Also, try to jump from places that are hard for a Smoker or Hunter to exploit. For instance, in Dead Air I, you can all gather on the ledge right next to the air conditioning unit, which obscures all good Smoking angles.
4. If someone is grabbed, react quickly and try to shoot the Special Infected! You can often shoot through walls and floors.
5. At very high-risk places (like in No Mercy III), you can throw pipe bombs preemptively where Smokers might appear. This increases damage taken, but the explosion can also disrupt or kill the Smoker.
6. If someone moves past the point prematurely, don’t panic and rush to follow him. It’s much less dangerous to be attacked past the point than to be stranded before passing it.

In addition to this, there are many places that are difficult to re-access. At these places, you should consider alternate routes or have contingency plans if something happens. A good example is Death Toll II. If you take the tunnel to the right of the door and jump down onto the catwalk, you can only return to the tunnel by climbing up the rubble at the back of the platform below and going all the way around through the other tunnel. In this case, you may want to just go to the other tunnel in the first place.

Other Hazards

In Dead Air IV, just past the luggage handling room, there is a metal detector. Don’t walk through it.

Note that you can never be run over or hit by anything scripted into the environment, such as rescue vehicles or plane crashes. You will simply be pushed out of the way if you attempt to use them to garner a shiny new Darwin Award. However, scripted objects can cause physics engine issues that may stymie your escape attempts. For instance, if you get too close to the APC at the end of Blood Harvest, its gate can open on top of you and push you to the side into throes of your biggest flesh-eating fans. A more exciting thing happens if you get too close to the boat at the end of Death Toll. It can actually catapult you across the map, killing you!