Pipe Bomb

The Pipe Bomb is a powerful canister-like grenade that emits a small beeping sound if thrown and draws normal Infected to and after quick beeping it explodes, killing the Infected drawn into it. The pipe bomb may also hit survivors if caught in its explosion radius. The pipe bomb is extremely handy for defending vomited survivors, clearing an area of infected, not using up ammo at finales, and saving your team from a Horde rush. It is much rarer than the Molotov, due to much better use than it in the proper situation.

According to the game's developer commentary, as it was originally conceived, the Pipe Bomb did not have the LED feature. Instead, it served as a conventional grenade. Because the zombies were prone to rushing at close quarters, this led to the Pipe Bomb being much less useful than the molotov, which could damage enemies that rushed through the flames. Valve fixed the problem by giving it the ability to attract zombies, making it useful for diverting large amounts of zombies.

Tactics

 * Hold on to pipe bombs until attacked by a large horde, the effectiveness of the pipe bomb is proportional to the number of infected nearby.


 * If there is going to be more common infected than the pipe bomb is going to be able to handle, shoot as they are running by towards the pipe bomb. Large groups can be thinned out quickly this way.  A pipe bomb can be combined with a molotov cocktail for a similar effect.


 * Multiple pipe bombs are less effective, as horde tend to run towards the first one. Take care to stagger pipe bombs for maximum effect.


 * When in a showdown or event, be sure to time throwing the bomb so that most of the horde are on the ground. If a common infected is already climbing up a wall or object, they will finish climbing before they run towards the pipe bomb, reducing its effectiveness.


 * Zombies hate pipe bombs for some reason, actually preferring to stomp on them rather than chase Survivors. For this reason pipe bombs are often used as much as a diversion as an attack.


 * Pipe bombs commonly don't "get" all the Infected they attract, but the ones that remain are left stunned by the blast, and vulnerable to assault rifle or hunting rifle fire.