AK-47

"This rifle right here got my name all over it."

- Ellis

The AK-47 is an Assault Rifle variant that made its debut in Left 4 Dead 2. It trades the versatility of the Assault Rifle for incredible stopping power, making it an excellent weapon for handling hordes of Common Infected and Tanks. However, it also has a slower fire rate, a smaller magazine, and poor accuracy.

Pros

 * Excellent close range weapon that can easily kill any Common Infected as well as Special Infected.
 * Best Assault rifle in terms of damage per second.
 * Extremely useful to attach a laser sight as it will help with range greatly.
 * Great against a Tank and is the best at taking out a Tank in wide open spaces which the Combat Shotgun has more difficulty doing.
 * Works well with a Magnum because it can help shoot targets that are far away.
 * Works well if your friend (or AI) is holding an Auto Shotgun, especially from a random horde or a tank on Advanced or Expert.

Cons

 * Not that effective against far ranged targets such as Smokers or Spitters
 * If you do not use burst fire you may find yourself running low on ammo quite often.
 * Does not work as well with Explosive ammo and Incendiary ammo as the Shotguns or the M-16 Assault Rifle does.
 * Not recommended to use against a Witch because it cannot Cr0wn her and it is close ranged, meaning it is too dangerous to fire at it just with the AK-47.
 * It has a quite slow rate of fire and it has high recoil if you are not crouching.
 * Very inaccurate when standing or running without the use of a laser sight.

Tactics

 * The AK-47 can kill Common Infected with one or two shots based on difficulty, making it an incredibly useful weapon for taking down hordes.
 * The slower firing rate on the AK-47 means that you can save ammunition easily when picking off lone Common Infected.
 * The AK-47's high damage makes it an excellent Tank busting weapon. It can't quite match the auto shotguns in damage per second, but the weapon's range makes it the better weapon for killing Tanks in open spaces.
 * While the AK-47 has poor accuracy when moving and high kickback, you can still pull off fairly accurate bursts to kill distant Special Infected with.
 * Shooting a Witch in the head with the AK-47 will stun her as if you headshot her with a Sniper Rifle. This isn't recommended, however, unless your team has enough firepower to kill her before she can reach you.
 * The Laser Sight upgrade works best with the AK-47, patching up the weapon's main drawback and making it a much more effective weapon for distance shots.
 * Explosive and Incendiary ammo upgrades don't complement the AK-47 as well as they do the Assault Rifle, although they still work well with it given the easily controllable rate of fire.
 * The Magnum is a good secondary to use with the AK-47, as it gives you a longer-distance weapon while you save your AK-47 for close range. The Pistols, however, aren't as effective.
 * Melee weapons work great with the AK-47 due to the weapon's versatility and ability to quickly kill Tanks, but leave you vulnerable in open spaces.
 * A useful method for the AK-47 is to repeatedly tap the primary fire button (but not fast enough for full-auto) while crouching. This fires single bullets which are extremely accurate, and given the time between shots, the AK-47 can be made into a decent ranged weapon without the use of a Laser Sight. The power of the bullets mean it would only take 3-4 shots to down a Smoker or Hunter in the distance, and this method can also conserve ammo.