AK-47

"An assault rifle! Man, this takes me back."

- Bill "Grabbin' the assault rifle."

- Nick

The AK-47 is an Automatic Rifle in Left 4 Dead 2. It trades off the versatility of the Assault Rifle in return for enhanced stopping power, making it an excellent weapon for handling hordes of Common Infected and Tanks. On the downside, relative to the Assault Rifle, it has a slower fire rate, a smaller magazine capacity and, most noticeably, lower accuracy.

Official Description
What this Soviet-made assault rifle lacks in accuracy, it makes up for in firepower. You can squeeze off these higher caliber rounds in single shots for ammo conservation, or room-clear with fully automatic fire.

Tactics

 * The AK-47 can kill Common Infected with one or two shots (depending on the difficulty setting) making it an incredibly useful weapon for taking down Hordes.
 * The slower firing rate on the AK-47 saves ammunition when picking off lone Common Infected.
 * The AK-47's ability to inflict a high level of damage makes it an excellent Tank-killing weapon. It cannot quite match the Tactical or Combat Shotgun in damage per second at close range, but at mid range the weapon is surpassed in effectiveness only by the M60.
 * While the AK-47 has poor accuracy when moving and a heavy recoil that causes loss of target acquisition, distant Infected can still be dispatched by taking careful aim and firing single shots or double-taps.
 * Crouching while firing greatly increases the AK-47's medium- and long-range accuracy.
 * Shooting a Witch in the head with the AK-47 will stun her momentarily in the same way that a head shot from the Sniper Rifle does. If you are close enough, the AK's damage output will be sufficient to put her down. However, if you are too far, most of your shots will miss and you will be unable to kill her before she closes in and/or your magazine is empty.
 * The Laser Sight upgrade works best with the AK-47, since it improves this weapon's accuracy tremendously, especially at medium and long ranges.
 * Note that with a Laser Sight fitted, crouching does not improve accuracy over a standing position unless a player is shooting while moving.
 * Explosive and Incendiary Ammo upgrades do not complement the AK-47 as well as they do for the Assault Rifle.
 * The AK-47's already high damage mostly nullifies the one shot, one kill capabilities of both types of special ammunition.
 * The decreased magazine size of the AK-47 as compared to other automatic rifles further dilutes the effectiveness of the ammunition upgrades.
 * However, the decreased fire rate of the AK-47 provides better control for those who wish to attempt to use single bullets against each Infected, which can improve the total number of kills achieved with the augmented ammo.
 * This benefit is slightly negated, however, by the AK-47's reduced accuracy, which can easily cause the bullets to miss their target, forcing the player to use more than one shot to kill an Infected, despite the improved control.
 * The Magnum pistol is a good secondary weapon to use with the AK-47 because the heavy pistol is an effective long-range weapon that compensates for the AK-47's poor accuracy. However, if you can master firing it in semi-auto, the Magnum will be rendered redundant, though a useful backup.
 * An exception to this is Realism, where the Magnum's superiority is unquestionable.
 * Ordinary Pistols are not as effective in a pistol-sniping role, but they are still more accurate than the AK-47 and so are good secondary weapons to consider when choosing the AK-47 as a primary weapon.
 * Melee weapons work well with the AK-47 in chapters featuring short ranges and confined spaces. This tactic is best applied with the Katana due to its long range and wide swing arc as well as its notably fast swing speed.
 * The AK-47's ability to fire single and double taps (by gently pressing the primary fire button) is one of its most useful features. When crouching to improve accuracy, its fine trigger control and heavy bullet makes the AK-47 a decent ranged weapon (even without a Laser Sight) meaning distant Smokers and Hunters can be taken down with the expenditure of only 3 or 4 cartridges. Crouching, using the double-tapping technique and aiming at the central body mass is enough to kill a Common Infected on Expert mode.

Pros

 * Excellent close range damage capabilities that can easily kill any kind of Infected.
 * Highest damage per second of all assault rifles.
 * Highest mid-range damage per second of any weapon except the M60.
 * A player who crouches before firing can easily hit targets at medium-long range without sights.
 * Makes the task of killing a Tank almost trivially easy on lower difficulties. On Expert difficulty, a Tank can be killed with a meager four magazines (one from each player, taking just over 5.2 seconds if firing full-auto), taking into account damage drop-off and imperfect accuracy.
 * Able to fire single shots easily due to the slower rate of fire, and the power of individual shots is very high, greatly conserving ammo.
 * Attaching a Laser Sight will make the AK-47 one of the best weapons in the game, as it transforms the AK-47 into an accurate and hard-hitting weapon.
 * Only rifle that keeps the flashlight pointing forward during reloads.
 * Works well with a Magnum because this pistol can compensate for the AK-47's poor accuracy at long ranges, while the AK can compensate for the Magnum's lack of crowd-clearing power at close range.
 * Works well if another Survivor is holding an Auto Shotgun, especially when facing a random Horde or a Tank on Advanced or Expert, although this combination lacks effectiveness against distant targets (if a teammate is using a Sniper or Hunting Rifle, this weakness is rectified).
 * Has a large bullet spread when firing on full automatic, which is a distinct benefit at short ranges when being mobbed by a Horde.
 * Works very well with some melee weapons, although players should take care when pairing this with slow-swinging weapons such as the Crowbar.
 * Relatively short reload time.

Cons

 * Frequent ammunition shortages will be experienced if controlled burst fire is not used.
 * Explosive Ammo and Incendiary Ammo are less effective compared to the same ammunition fired from shotguns and the Assault Rifle.
 * It has a relatively slow rate of fire and its high recoil makes it difficult to retain target acquisition; crouching helps but not enough to completely defeat the problem.
 * Has the poorest accuracy of any weapon except the shotguns and the M60.
 * When ensnared by a Smoker, a slow rate of fire and wide bullet dispersion makes it difficult to kill him before being immobilized and dragged away.
 * In the absence of a Laser Sight, even when using burst shots, it is quite inaccurate at medium and long ranges.
 * The Director may have a biased tendency to deny this weapon entirely in a single campaign, especially in Hard Rain.
 * Has the lowest magazine size and rate of fire of all automatic rifles.
 * Crouching to fire constantly can hamper mobility and ability to position effectively in high-pressure scenarios, but choosing not to will significantly reduce mid and long ranged effectiveness.