The Witch



The Witch is the only special Infected that is not controllable by players.

It is passive upon discovery by the Survivors, but reacts with hostility to flashlight beams, physical contact, nearby Survivors, and gunfire in the vicinity. The Witch is able to down a Survivor in one hit, making them one of the most dangerous of the infected.

A Witch has a resemblance to an average female Infected, but is found slumped on the ground and sobbing instead of standing or wandering around. Its crying can be heard long before it can be seen, which gives the players a chance to avoid or attack it. If it detects a Survivor, it screams wildly and attempts to attack the player who disturbed her first. After an initial knockdown punch, it will resort to regular attacks until the knockdown punch is recharged. During these attacks it slashes so viciously that the Survivor's blood spatters all over the adjacent area.

The Witch appears in all difficulty levels, but will only down a player before slashing at them on the ground on easy to advanced difficulty. The Witch is able to kill a player in one hit on expert.

After killing a player, the Witch begins to run around and scream. It still attacks any players in her way and cause Survivors to stumble if it runs into them. It can get away from Survivors, at which point she disappears.

It is a widely-held belief that it is never, ever worth it to start a fight with a witch. That said, everyone has fought one. The Director seems to like putting them in the way, particularly at the bottoms of ladders, or in front of an invitingly open door to a safe house, and realistically every group of Survivors finds they absolutely must come into conflict with the Witch.

Extent of Mutations
The Witch has been heavily mutated by this strain of the infection. Though resembling a typical female infected, it has gained a massive increase in strength, though this is not visible via muscle growth. Its fingers have developed sharp claws, making its hits even more deadly. It is known to cry when not aware of the survivors, though it is unknown whether this is due to emotions or as a trap to attract them. Though its mentality is similar to that of the typical infected, it's not distracted by such things as the flashing lights of pipe bombs nor is it apparently attracted by such things as car alarms going off, although such things as these will cause it to become aware of the survivors' presence.

Survivors
Avoid confrontations with Witches whenever possible, especially on expert difficulty. If sobbing is heard, it means a Witch is around, but this does not mean you should switch off your flashlights yet. Only until you hear the distinct Witch music does it mean she is very nearby, and this music will louden the closer you get to her. You should alert your team once you hear crying, then again when you hear the music, so turn up your volume. If seen, tell the other Survivors exactly where it is. It helps a great deal to know they cast a red glow on their surroundings. If there are ordinary Infected blocking your alternate path, try to snipe them from a distance or move through quickly using melee attacks, and avoid landing rounds anywhere near the Witch. Should the Witch be inside a room, the best solution is to shut the door and notify your teammates to not open that door.

Inevitably, though, Witches will be provoked. The Director loves to put a Witch at choke points, such as outside the doorway of a safe house or underneath a Panic Event triger, and it often places them in areas where hordes arrive due to Panic Events. If the Witch is obstructing a choke point and must be startled, set up a defensive line and throw explosives before opening fire. If the Witch is accidentally startled (for instance, when a Smoker is choking an ally and you must shoot, or during a Horde attack), backpedal away from it while firing. The Witch pursues and may incapacitate (kill on expert difficulty) the Survivor who startled it.

The Witch cannot break through the safe house door like a Tank. One tactic if the Witch is close to the beginning of the level would be for 3 survivors to hide in the safe house with the door open and for the survivor with the most health to startle the Witch and get inside the safe house before the Witch incaps/kills them and close the door. The Witch will run away after a few seconds, and as soon as she does, it is safe (relatively) to leave the safe house again.

One strategy for defeating the Witch relies on her established tendency to attack ONLY the person who startled her. Have a designated runner to disturb the Witch from afar while the other Survivors form a defensive line between the runner and the Witch. The runner should attack the Witch, preferably with a Molotov cocktail or a gas can detonated by gunfire to ignite the Witch. While the runner is being chased, all the other Survivors must concentrate fire on the Witch, who generally moves in a straight line towards her target. If the runner is sufficiently far away and the other Survivors are sufficiently competent at aiming, then the Witch would be unable to inflict any damage.

On easy difficulty, the Witch can be killed with one headshot from an auto shotgun from close range or a hunting rifle. The witch will also succumb to a point blank shotgun headshot on any difficulty. Another viable option is to have at least one Survivor armed with an auto shotgun to sneak up behind her. The initial shot startles the Witch but also pushes her back, making her a fairly easy kill. Also, The Witch will not take damage until startled, so don't think a rifle shot to the head will kill her at first.

Other witch killing tactics:
 * Running up directly behind the witch will cause her to glitch, and she will not be able to hit you. (Xbox 360 only)
 * Use obstacles like subway cars, escalator ramps, office partitions, etc. to slow her down such that she never catches up with you
 * One survivor with a hunting rifle at a suitable distance empties their clip at the witch's head.
 * All four survivors get in "firing squad" positions, then open fire simultaneously at the end of a countdown (requires suitable distance from the witch)
 * In close quarters, consider throwing a pipe-bomb and then making a run for it. The witch is only startled when the pipe-bomb goes off, so if the other survivors kill it while you bravely bravely run away, you live to see another day
 * On Expert difficulty, it is possible to avoid the Witch's instant-kill attack by being incapacitated by a teammate. The Witch will try to shred the incapacitated survivor, allowing the others a chance to kill her before she kills someone. Only attempt this if the Witch has already been startled.

Non-violent tactics:
 * Without touching the Witch, survivors file past her one-by-one, each waiting for her to go from growling back to the "safe" crying state before making their move
 * Startle the Witch then run behind a safe-room door and shut it tight
 * Alternatively, you can simply abandon the poor soul who startled the Witch to his fate. A very viable solution, particularly when the team is near the end of the level on Expert.

Witch tactics that fail:
 * Melee not only fails against a witch, it either gets you seriously injured/killed (if you are the witch's target) or melee'd yourself
 * Startling a Witch from several roof tops away (such as on the Dead Air campaign) and expecting the Witch to have difficulty reaching you

What startles the witch?
 * Medium proximity with a flashlight pointed at the Witch
 * According to in-game cvars, see console wiki for details, one discovers that z_witch_personal_space 100 and z_witch_flashlight_range 400
 * In other words, a flashlight will startle the witch at exactly 4 times the distance mere proximity would
 * Staying within the Witch's proximity too long
 * Being within the Witch's "anger" proximity. In other words, if one survivor makes the Witch start growling, another survivor standing stock still and outside the Witch's usual personal space (read: totally innocent) may startle her
 * Touching the Witch (too close!)
 * Shooting/burning the Witch (if you don't actually hit the Witch, shots can land quite close to her without disturbing her)
 * Dropping any item near the Witch (such as a propane tank)
 * Loud gunshots just around her personal space

Infected
Although you cannot play as the Witch, you can "use" her:
 * Smokers can drag survivors to the Witch
 * Hunters/Boomers can crouch in front of the Witch, obscuring her from the survivors sight

If you attack a witch as infected, and survivors are in the immediate area, she will wake up, and attack you. Quickly flee and she will re-target the nearest survivor. This is good when the survivors are sneaking past her or can avoid her all together.

If you hurt the witch and no survivors are around she will just stay in her place.

Survivors

 * Cr0wnd
 * Kill a Witch with a single headshot.


 * Do Not Disturb
 * Sneak past all Witches in a campaign without disturbing one.


 * Witch Hunter
 * Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.


 * Burn the Witch
 * Light a Witch on fire with a Molotov. (Fuel bottles do not work)

Infected
None

Trivia

 * You can kill a Witch by closing a door on her.
 * It's possible that the Witch was once a little girl who became Infected, as her cries sound much like that of a child crying.