Hard Rain - 4/5: Return To Town

In Return To Town the Survivors must make their way back to the boat across rooftops and through a violent storm.

During this chapter you will have the two choices: travel by roof or in the water. Using the rooftops is generally faster; however, many of the Special Infected will try to knock you off. Going through the water may be favored, although the water slows the Survivors down significantly. This slowing effect also applies to the Infected team.

When the hurricane hits with full force, microphone chat can be severely affected due to the way the audio channels layer; this is likely an intended effect by Valve in order to maintain an aura of realism. While you can still use the mic, do not expect fellow Survivors to hear you clearly or at all sometimes. This effect is lessened indoors.

Campaign
All of the supplies needed are in the safe room. Whatever items you took on your first trip through will not be there now. There are usually two health packs in the medicine cabinet (if not taken already). You exit the safe room and down a small set of stairs. You can travel through two different routes here, take the rooftops, or stay alone the street. Both routes have advantages and disadvantages, but take whatever works for you. There are sometimes items inside the house, so feel free to check. Continue through the house with the porch light (or go around it). Go through the tag sale and past the tree house. There is a house elevated above the water near a pile of dirt and a dumpster, there are sometimes pipe bombs on top of the kitchen counter. Check inside the ambulance for a First-Aid Kit, Pain Pills, Adrenaline, or a Defibrillator. Continue past the ambulance, taking a left, and retracing your steps until you reach the playground. Your almost safe! Past the playground is the saferoom, with a porch light indicating where the room is. Get in, shut the door, and you made it.

The Survivors
Now that humans are controlling the Special Infected, things can only get harder. However, they can't spawn until you leave the safe room. That doesn't mean that you should let them have a good chance to find just the right spot, though! Hurry up and get your supplies, and get running!

Throughout the level, remember that you are playing against human players. They will not wait for you to come to them, and if they do, it's because they have an ambush location that could be deadly to you and your team. With this in mind, you need to keep moving. However, moving blindly could be your downfall - move quickly, but with caution. Also, under all circumstances: stick close to your team.

This level is relatively short, but you should still stick together. Smokers, Chargers, and Jockeys can easily seperate you and your teammates. As with all levels, when you know you're near the safe room, make sure you are with your teammates before you make a dash for it. If you make a break for it alone, it is not unlikely that a Hunter or a Smoker will be waiting for your arrival and possibly kill you before the others can reach you. No one can survive the infection alone. Teamwork is essential.

The Infected
Boomers: Use your surrounding area for camouflage. When the rain falls, it is nearly impossible for the Survivors to see 10 feet infront of them. Hide in houses, behind cars, and ontop of buildings for your opponents to walk by, then give them a good vomit. Once you vomit, try to hide and get ready to spew anew. Or, go suicidal and explode all over them. If you can manage to cover at least three Survivors with vomit, try teaming up with another teammate and let them attack the only Survivor with vision. If there is a witch, which is slight possibility, hide infront of her. If one foolish Survivor pops you, they also startle the witch behind you!

Smokers: The roofs are your bestfriend. If all the Survivors are on the roofs, try to pull one off. This will force a teammate to either jump down or try shooting you from the roof. This will slow that one Survivor down, making them a perfect pray for one of your teammates to attack! If most of the Survivors are on the ground, try smoking them from atop the roofs. The rain will make it difficult to see, causing a perfect attack. And don't forget, teammwork.

Hunters: Again, roofs are your best friends! Throughout the level, there are many tall houses, use them to pounce from. The greater the distance you pounce, the more damage dealt (25 damage the most). Try to attack the lone Survivors, for it will take a while for the Survivors to get to them due to the flood. If a teammate has a Survivor in their wraith, wait for their teammate to come help, then pounce!

Jockeys: Drag Survivors away from their teammates! Make them waste as much time as possible for your teammates to attack/spawn. Dragging them around houses and inside them can waste a lot of time. Remember, always try to ride them backwards, never forwards. This will get the enemy team more points, and make them rush ahead to try to save their teammate.

Chargers: The best thing to do is to try to seperate them team. When inside the hallways of the houses, a perfect charge could ram all of the opponents at one time! Charging them off roofs could also cause some fall damage if high enough. And of course, teammwork is always the best thing to use.

Spitters: When their are Survivors in the houses, a nice spit in a closed area can cause a lot of damage! If a foolish Survivor crawls inside the ambulance, a spit inside could render them useless due to how slow they are when crouched. Spitting infront of the Survivors is also a good idea. This causes them to have to wait for the spit to dissapear, unless they are stupid enough to run through it. As always, when there are incapacitated Survivors, spit on them!

Tanks: If you happen to be the tank, rush in and attack! If the Survivors are on the street, hitting one of them with a car will instantly incapacitate them. Don't be afraid of molotovs, the flood and rain will make little use of them, as it will also put out the flames on you. Remember to keep an eye on the pressure meter, stay with the Survivors and keep them nervous, and get a couple of good punches in their too.