The Barns

"Final evacuation is in the stadium."

- Nick

"Through the farm exhibits."

- Coach

The Barns is the fourth chapter in the Dark Carnival campaign of Left 4 Dead 2. After getting through the roller coaster, the Survivors must now make their way through some more of the park's grounds and across the rooftops of the barns before finding a way to get into The Peach Pit stadium.

Walkthrough
Thanks to its Gauntlet Crescendo event, this chapter is widely regarded as one of the most difficult levels in the game. The importance of keeping at least one Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar in reserve for this event cannot be over-emphasized: refer the following walk through narrative.



Start off by making your way with the generated path given to the team. Occasionally the fence near the two stalls will be omitted, allowing players a shortcut through a small section of the map. Teams should still search the picnic area as it contains various supplies. The area also contains the level's only two Rescue Closets.

The high striker game Stronger than Moustachio can be found here. Hitting the pad with a melee weapon causes the game to activate. Should a player hit the pad while under the effects of adrenaline, the game will be broken and send out an alarm to cause a Horde to descend down on the team.

Make your way to the bumper car area and leave through a door at the corner, leading to an employee-only area and the second appearance of the rescue vehicle seen from before. The Director is often fond of spawning Tanks and Witches here, so players should eliminate them if they appear.



The Whac-A-Mole game Stache Whacker can be found in this area. Players obtain points by hitting the small Moustachio figures that pop up from the holes. Games last for 30 seconds and players can "chain" their score if they continue within 10 seconds of the game ending. Once 42 points have been obtained, the game breaks, sends out an alarm and calls a Horde down much like Stronger than Moustachio.

Head into the barns and make your way across. The last segment of the barn contains two lines of tables containing various items and two one-spawn only weapons in the event that the team is running low on ammo. Only grab them if necessary, since an ammo pile can be found in the upcoming Gauntlet Crescendo.



Make your way up the rooftops and run back across to the gauntlet crescendo area. Players should be careful at all times, as the Charger and Smoker can often cause the team to backtrack should they manage to pin a Survivor. Once players jump off the rooftop at the final area, players cannot get back up to rescue anyone if they are incapacitated crossing it.

Clear the surrounding area; the Director is often fond of placing a few gas cans, healing kits or both here, along with an ammo pile on the scaffolding. Head to the lever and push it to start the Gauntlet Crescendo.



This Gauntlet Crescendo Event is one of the most difficult Crescendo Events in Left 4 Dead 2, namely for the following reasons:


 * Unlike the other Gauntlet Crescendos, the alarm for this particular event rings for the remainder of this level, meaning that hordes will continually spawn and there is no way to stop it.
 * The Director places hordes based on the lead player's location; it is often notorious for spawning large hordes right outside the saferoom.
 * The Director often sends them almost immediately as soon as the previous horde is killed.
 * Special Infected can still harass the players as they move to the safe room.
 * This event is notorious for spawning two Smokers or two Hunters at the same time.

During the first stage of the gauntlet crescendo, teams can glitch jump onto the normally inaccessible second tier of scaffolding by standing on the metal bars and waiting for a Common Infected to strike. Jump on top of it and quickly jump onto the scaffolding. This is particularly useful for solo runs as the Common Infected are unable to climb up to the second level, making the Special Infected the only threat during this stage.

Once the gates open, quickly move your way down the alleyway. Resistance here is typically mild since the horde is funneled into a single entrance. However, it gradually increases as the team moves around the bend, with incessant hordes spawning, often with very little delay between them.

For this reason, a player should be prepared to have multiple throwables on hand to deal with the horde. They should only be used when the team reaches the stadium entrance, since resistance is the most fierce there. A Molotov should be thrown at the furthest entrance along with a pipe bomb if possible to burn the spawning Common Infected as soon as they appear. Once a Survivor is right in front of the safe room door, the Director replaces the horde spawn to the area surrounding the stadium, making it much more manageable for any straggling Survivors.


 * If the Survivors are lucky enough to have a Bile Bomb saved from the first chapter, the one with the bomb should throw it at the wide area that the Survivors have previously passed. This will lure all the spawned Common Infected away from the narrow path, leaving only Special Infected to deal with.

Be warned that if the Director decides to spawn a Tank inside the saferoom, the first Survivor to reach the safe room should close the door immediately and inform everyone to wait for the Tank to die of frustration while fending off endless hordes. In case of a Witch, the Survivors should close the door and kill her by shooting through the door as she still poses a threat during the event.



Survivors
Things get harder for you as the Special Infected are now controlled by players. However they are unable to spawn until you exit the safe room. Here are some basic tips:


 * Look around and explore the area(s) off the main path while moving as there may be supplies such as grenades or healing items that will help you progress through the map easily.
 * Listen to the sounds; the Infected might be behind the obstructions.
 * Turn on subtitles if you have a problem with listening to some sounds. Captions such as [Incoming Attack] will help you anticipate the hazards.
 * After killing multiple Special Infected in a short time, take the advantage of the Infected spawn timer by rushing or healing yourself.

When exiting the safe room, look out for any Special Infected coming out of the tent area as it is infamous for being an ambush performed by Infected players. If possible, kill any Infected that are within the tent area. Through the bumper car area, if you hear a Tank music, do not pass through it as the Tank is able to bash the bumper cars, sending them flying and instantly incapacitating the Survivors. Moving to the next area, watch out for the roofs as the Smoker player tends to attack the last Survivor to slow down your team. If you hear a Smoker, kill it or let everyone in your team know to get out of Smoker's sightlines.

In the barns, be careful when moving as there may be a Boomer ready to vomit on you as soon as you enter the back area through the door. If your primary weapon is about to run out of ammo, there will be two weapons lying on a table for you to pick up, although only one Survivor can pick up each weapon. Then, on the roofs, be wary of a Charger attempting to charge you off of the roof as this forces you to run back on it. When jumping down to the Crescendo Event area, it is imperative for your team to do it altogether as it is a point of no return.

Finally, in the Crescendo Event area, the same tactics from Co-op modes should be applied in Versus (holding out on the scaffolding and waiting for the gate to open) for maximum safety. Then, run quickly to the safe room and kill any Infected coming from the front and ignore the ones behind you. If one of your team gets incapacitated, it is best to leave them behind as reviving them is a sure-fire way to get pinned by a Special Infected.

Infected
While the Survivors are impervious to infection, they are susceptible to death. Plan your attack against the Survivors before they exit the safe room as your job is to kill all the Survivors as quickly as possible. Here are some basic notes for the Infected:


 * A Survivor separated from the group is highly vulnerable to most Special Infected attacks.
 * The color of the Survivors' outlines indicate their current health. Green means they're healthy and they can run at full speed. Yellow means they're hurt and limping. Red means they're bleeding and walking sluggishly or incapacitated. Purple means they are covered in bile.
 * The Common Infected prioritize Survivors covered in bile.
 * Some actions made by the Survivors may hide their outlines, so it is important to remember their current location when you are respawning.

The Hunter: It should be noted that in Versus, the Hunter initial pounce damage is based on height and distance. There are several roofs that allow you to deal 25 points of pounce damage instantly. On the barns' roof, if they are close to the edge, try to pounce at them; the Hunter's pounce will cause the nearby Survivors to stumble and fall from the roof.

The Boomer: Boomers play a role as a support, so you should not attack the Survivors by yourself. Instead, you need to do some extra damage to the victim of another Special Infected by vomiting on their victim. There are some spots in the beginning area that provide cover from the Survivors' gunshots. In the barns, try to vomit on any Survivor coming in and have other Special Infected attack the ones not covered in bile to delay them. If they survive through the barns, hide behind the gates. After the Crescendo Event gates are opened, puke on them as soon as you see them.

The Smoker: Your general strategy is to pull the Survivor away from the group while they are in a fight against other Infected. In the first part of the map or the area between the bumper cars and the barns, if there is an intense fight such as a Tank fight, try to pull the Survivor farthest away from the group. If they manage to survive after the barns, during the Crescendo Event, after the gates are opened, pull the last Survivor; this forces them to either save your victim and deal with the hordes at the same time or leave your victim dead.

The Charger: Chargers are the only Special Infected that is capable of taking down an entire Survivor team. The tent area gives you the opportunity to deal some damage to all Survivors before the other three can save your victim. On the barns' roof, it is possible to kill the Survivor instantly if at least two of them are lined up while you perform a charge attack. During the charge, you grab the Survivor closest to you and hurl the other Survivor(s) behind your victim, sending them flying and dying instantly from fall damage. If they still manage to survive after jumping down to the Crescendo Event area, the narrow path is a great ambush spot to slow down their progress of running towards the safe room or prevent them from entering the safe room.

The Jockey: Jockey's general strategy is to steer the victim away from the group and into the danger. If the Witch spawns the area after the bumper cars, leap on them from the roof and steer your victim behind the Witch to cause them to either hold their fire or risk shooting the Witch in order to save them. On the barns' roof, try to leap on the Survivor near the edge to cause the victim to fall from the roof, forcing the Survivors to wait, buying the Infected players time to spawn and plan an attack. If the last Survivor is still on the roof, leap on them and try to steer them to an area the other Survivors are unable to see to render the victim unsaveable.

The Spitter: Like the Boomer, Spitters play a role as a support and should not attack on ones' own. The general strategy for the Spitter is to slow down the Survivors using the acid pool attack. Ideally, at any point during the match, if one of the Survivors is being caught by a Special Infected, spit on the victim to deal extra damage when they get up, eventually incapacitating them. If the Witch happens to spawn after the bumper car area, spit on the back entrance and have a Jockey player leap on the Survivor and steer into her.

The Tank: Be cautious when attacking the Survivors as one of them may have a Molotov to light you on fire, giving you less time to kill them before you die. If you happen to spawn in the bumper car area, try to bash the bumper cars to send them flying. If any of them hits the Survivor, they will be immediately incapacitated. If they retreat back to the strength test area, hit the Moustachio strength test to trigger the horde. While the Survivors deal with the horde, find the dumpster and send it flying towards the Survivors to end their turn quickly. Other than that, if you spawn in the barns, there are a few dumpsters which you can use to instantly incapacitate the Survivors.