Heavy Machine Gun

The Heavy Machine Gun is a mounted weapon in Left 4 Dead 2. It is new in the sense that it replaces the minigun from Left 4 Dead. It fires extremely powerful bullets accurately and operates with a slower rate of fire relative to the minigun. Ammunition is unlimited. Unlike the minigun, there is no wind-up time and it fires the instant the trigger is operated.

The heavy machine gun takes a long time (around a minute) to cool down if overheated through continuous fire. It should thus be operated only in short bursts.

There is no "heat meter", so watch the barrel to determine if it's about to overheat or not.

Tactics

 * Firing short bursts (rather than holding the trigger down) gives a steady rate of fire and will delay, if not prevent, overheating. Short bursts on demand are possible because there is no wind-up time like the minigun found in Left 4 Dead.
 * The heavy machine gun uses the crosshair of whatever weapon (melee, gun, or items) the operator was using previously. In gameplay, this seamless transition makes aiming the heavy machine gun easy and instinctive. The weapon's crosshair expands and contracts infinitely and automatically thus coping perfectly with targets at all ranges.
 * AI Tanks are programmed to attack the player operating the heavy machine gun. This feature can be used to the Survivors' advantage in two ways: Firstly, AI Tanks can be drawn into a "killing zone" whereby they are overwhelmed by concentrated interlocking fire from the gun and other teammates. Secondly, AI Tanks can be drawn away from threatened teammates by mounting the heavy machine gun.
 * The heavy machine gun is in a favorable position in the finale of The Sacrifice. It is placed on the bridge, allowing the gunner to cover the entire intersection plus the generator area, possibly allowing a Survivor to live long enough to restart the generator. The gun's location is also out of reach for most Infected.
 * In The Port, the heavy machine gun manned by Louis, is the most helpful when trying to achieve KITE LIKE A MAN.
 * In The Plantation, the gun is on a balcony overlooking a hedged garden. However, very few (if any) Common Infected attack from that direction and from angles covered by the gun. Players choosing to defend from this position can try to improve their chances by throwing bile bombs down into the area covered by the gun and hope that the Tanks will spawn in the same area.
 * In The Bridge, the gun appears once the Survivors have accessed the bridge and the end-of-finale phase has begun, the only other instance in which it may prove useful is during a Survival game.

Locations

 * The Plantation ― Located at the center of the top floor overlooking the garden at the rear of the plantation house.
 * The Bridge ― Just before the drop-off to the helipad, the heavy machine gun is located on a truck directly opposite the drop down.
 * The Port ― Used by Louis on the bridge during the finale. It can only be used by glitching or modding.
 * Port Finale ― Located on the bridge during the finale. It is usable in both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.
 * Runway Finale (Left 4 Dead 2) - Located near the radio by the fuel tanker.