AK-47

The AK-47 is an Assault Rifle in Left 4 Dead 2. It can be found mostly in the location of the SCAR in areas where the assault rifle spawns.

Differences
Compared to the M16, the AK-47 has a much smaller magazine, but makes up for this by doing more damage per bullet. However, it seems that it's accuracy is worse than the other rifles, as it's crosshair is wide compared to the other rifles.

Tactics
The assault rifle is a weapon that is mostly effective in medium-range combat, as opposed to the short-range and the long-range. It is a very flexible weapon, however, adept at picking off from a distance and piercing multiple. It has quite a high piercing power, but not quite as high as the hunting rifle. Its high piercing power makes it is a useful weapon for clearing rooms full of Infected or destroying oncoming. With 's recent update reducing auto shotgun damage against a and the assault rifle's high medium-range accuracy, the assault rifle has overtaken the auto shotgun as a weapon of choice for killing a Tank. The auto shotgun is still just as useful against nearby Infected, and in close quarters weapon choice lies to player preference. Coach holding the assault rifle Assault rifle ammo is easy to waste. The weapon trades ammo capacity for accuracy and damage, and this must be used to full advantage to be effective. The assault rifle generally needs only two or three shots to do its job, and any more hampers its accuracy at mid to long range. Thus, burst firing or "headhunting" is highly recommended at medium to long ranges as this not only helps to improve accuracy, but this also has the benefit of conserving precious ammo. A technique that seems to work pretty well on Xbox 360 to conserve ammo is to do a quick full trigger squeeze, which will fire 2 rounds. This can be useful when shooting long range and is effective on most difficulty settings except for expert.

While this weapon may be useful on higher difficulties because of its tighter cone of fire being safer when firing near other Survivors, this weapon struggles to keep up with the increased health of the Common Infected, requiring 4 bullets to kill one on expert, whereas a single shot from the other two weapons is still a kill. Additionally, the mid-range effectiveness of the assault rifle is shared with the pistols, meaning that taking the assault rifle sacrifices some flexibility.

In a group of four on finales, it's a good idea to have two people with auto shotguns and two people with assault rifles, get in a closet or similar point which causes the Infected to file in slowly, the two people with the shotguns crouch and shoot or use melee, while the two people with the assault rifles stand behind them and fire rounds into the Infected as they approach. Be careful to note when the Tank comes, however—a Tank can easily destroy a group of four Survivors hiding in the same closet. It's best to run out and kill it in open ground, and return to the former spot when the horde has come back.