The Sugar Mill

The Sugar Mill is the second chapter in the Hard Rain campaign. Once you exit the safe room you see the Ducatel Mill right in front of you. You go in and head through a mill full of Witches. The abundance of Witches is due to the fact that the Witch has a strong attraction to the smell of sugar. Also, according to a recent online poll, it's one of the most difficult levels, and one of the most common places to use health kits and pain pills.

The Crescendo event in this chapter is calling the elevator to take you down to a sugar cane field (similar to the corn fields in Blood Harvest of Left 4 Dead).

Campaign
In the safe room, there are some Tier 2 weapons sitting on the table, along with health packs and pills scattered around the room, and most of the time, defibrillators. Grab what you fancy, and head down the stairs and out of the safe room. Follow the hallway and turn outside in the parking lot. Deal with any Common Infected here and head into the outskirts of the sugar mill. Keep on heading around the scaffolding, avoiding any Witches that may be around. It is not uncommon for several Special Infected, including Tanks to spawn here, so stay on your toes. Keep on going, and soon there will be a small trailer in front of you that houses Tier 1 weapons and usually pills. Advance farther past that, and there will be a larger trailer, which contains first aid kits, Tier 2 weapons, and on occasion, defibrillators. This is also a possible spawn location for a Tank, so if you haven't encountered one so far, be ready if one does come.

Next you will head into the sugar mill itself. Enter on the ground floor, and simply head up the stairs. Watch out though-Hunters and Chargers like to camp at the top of the staircases and wait for you. Head up to the top level, be sure to clear the area before you activate the elevator.

After you call the horde, the overall most effective way to fight it is in an "L" shape. One person covers the small left passage, another one is in the corner behind them with a long range weapon (the Combat Rifle works very well for this) taking care of any Infected coming at long range from the right side, another (preferably with a shotgun or melee weapon) occupies the right flank from close range, and the last one (also with a ranged weapon) covers the far side of the floor, to make sure no Smokers pull anyone away.

Good job, you have survived the Crescendo Event. After you exit the elevator and before you enter the cane field, turn right. There will be a small shed that houses medkits, pills, oxygen tanks, and pipe bombs. Continue through the field-but be careful not to run into any Witches-and the gas station will be right in front of you. Head into the safe room, regroup, and prepare for the Mill Escape.

Achievements

 * Note that the achievement says without killing any Witches. It is possible to earn the achievement if a player startles a Witch and then escapes or is killed by her, as long as the Witch is not killed.
 * You only need to make it into the safe room in the gas station, not nescesarily close the door.
 * The best way to try to get this achievement is to not startle her at all, of course.
 * Since this part of the campaign takes place in the day, the Witches will be walking around the Sugar Mill. This makes it much harder to sneak past them.
 * Expect that you or your ally will die a lot if you want to get this achievement, especially if you play with AI Survivors since the AI usually fails miserably at trying to sneak past them, often opening fire when she becomes agitated.
 * For that reason, it's probably easier to get this achievement in Expert, since the Witch instantly kills any survivor that startles her. Be careful not to startle her, however.
 * You can also kill some or all of the AI survivors before encountering Witches, just leaving you and a possible live partner.
 * It is possible to get the achievement if you join the game part way through the level, making it much easier to get.
 * If you try being a pacifist with her, she can push you back to the beginning of the level or next to another Witch, so be careful.
 * Take ladders, stairs, or other shortcuts to avoid Witches.
 * Faster isn't always better.
 * Ladies first! Let the Witch take her time walking, then you walk into the area.
 * Avoid rooms with one exit (with the exception of safe closets), EVEN if they contain objects, because a Witch would likely spawn in the room. Also, avoid camping in those rooms because a Witch may wander into the room and you would most likely have no choice but to fight her.
 * When inside the Sugar Mill, it would be wise to use melee weapons to deal with Common Infected so that way you don't risk missing and hitting a distant Witch.
 * Avoid molotovs and incendiary ammo packs because Witches can be set on fire, not only will that eat away her health but the person who set her on fire will startle the Witch, even if she's chasing after another Survivor.
 * Record every area where you find a Witch. Sometimes, obstacles like tanks or other Witches can push you to another Witch.
 * If you startle a Witch, try not to startle another Witch, because most likely a Survivor(especially AI) would try to fire on both Witches, which could ruin your chance of getting the achievement.
 * Be careful there is a rare chance that a witch will appear at the bottom of the elevator on The Sugar Mill chapter ruining your chance of your achievement;Also in the next chapter Mill Escape there will be a stationary witch on the top floor of the elevator right where the elevator door is at.
 * If you are unsure of where the witch is, while having to fend off multiple infected, aim for the feet of your targets. This may inflict less damage, but ensures that the bullets will not pass through the infected and into a witch. This is especially effective while using the shotgun.

Trivia

 * The button you press to get the elevator started is the same model used for an elevator in Half-Life 2: Episode Two, Another Valve game.
 * The Witch Bacteria music that lets you know that she's nearby usually gets glitched in this level, because the only way you can hear the bacteria is if you are too close to her, rather than hearing the music that you are getting close to her and then hearing the intense music when you're too close. This is probably because the Witch music would be playing constantly otherwise.
 * On the Survival map of this level, an exploit can be used to reach the ending safe room. If all players use the exploit to get to the safe room, the level will, oddly, end, as if it were in Campaign mode. The next level will start, all dead players will be brought back with the supplies that one would start off with in a regualr Survival map, and you can actually go through part of the level. Your team can go through the sugar cane field, go up in the elevator, and get to the Survival grounds. There, you can start the round, and have a Survival round in an alternate map, which is at night when it is storming. Storms will actually start at random points during the round. The main difference between the maps, however, is that the night map has larger pools of water.
 * For balancing reasons, there are fewer Witches (4 to 5) in Versus mode. However Sob Story cannot be obtained in versus.