The Sugar Mill

"Nick, you ever seen this many Witches? Ho-lee shit."

- Ellis

"Dang. Bitches must like sugar."

- Coach


 * For the actual in-game sugar mill, see Ducatel Sugar Company.

The Sugar Mill is the second chapter in the Hard Rain campaign. Once you exit the safe room, you see the Ducatel Sugar 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.

Campaign
In the saferoom, collect anything you need. There are Tier 2 weapons on the table, and a random melee weapon on the ground. Collect the health kits from the health closet first; you'll need the ones on the table and the ones in the closet will be available when you come back. Get the various grenades and temp. health items that lay on the shelves. Once you're ready, head down into the entrance of the sugar mill. If you have just started at this point, check the small room to find either Incendiary or Explosive ammo in the room. Clear off the Commons and go into the first ruined building of the sugar mill. Should a Horde come, depending on how far you've made, they will either rush from the building or attempt to climb the roadblock to your left.

It is highly advised to go to the right side to flank Infected. There usually isn't a lot of items in this building; just a couple of grenades, Pain pills/Adrenaline, and the occasional Chainsaw or Grenade launcher. Go outside and watch for your left flank; there are a few Commons that can do damage onto you. Go clear this small yard and enter the interior of the building. The small room with the power generator often has some Pain pills, but occasionally a Grenade launcher or Chainsaw also spawns here.

Clear the big, open area, watching for Smokers (who spawn at the top and try to get you up there). Go to the second ladder and you'll find a door. Enter and look for Pipe bombs, Pain pills and Adrenaline shots. Exit out another door and head for the small trailer, clearing off any Infected. Hordes will spawn from behind you, so watch your back. Once you get inside the trailer, stock up on weapons and grenades that can be found on the table. Go forward, entering a small but not too large narrow area. Clear the large amount of Infected. As stated above, if a Horde comes, they will come from behind you. Watch for Witches (two tends to spawn here) and search the sheds. There's a Propane tank and in the covered shed, grenades and temp. healing items. Go up the ramp and clear off the Infected below.

Another Rescue Closet can be found here and inside it contains melee weapons, pistols and usually a Pipe bomb, but occasionally a Bile bomb can be found in there as well. Look carefully, and watch out for two more Witches in this area. You'll notice a small office building to your right. If playing with AI's it is highly recommended to avoid this area as a Witch tends to spawn inside and the bots will invariably startle her on purpose. Check the area thoroughly; usually there's some items that players do not even notice at all.

You'll enter the main building of the sugar mill. Watch your right side as Commons can flank you from there. A Tank tends to spawn here along with a Witch or two. The Tank will charge from the building, so fall back if needed. You'll find a small trailer at the entrance of the building; it contains various items which you'll need. This is the last stop for weapon restocking; use ammo efficiently. Enter the building and get to the top. Watch out for Witches; one tends to spawn on any floor of the building. Always watch for Specials such as Smokers, Boomers or Chargers as they tend to lurk up there. Also, watch for Hordes. Not getting to the top on time will cause a Horde to spawn, surging in from the entrance you just came in.

Look out into the sugar cane field. If you have a Hunting or Sniper Rifle, try to find the Witches. Killing them saves a large amount of time and health. Usually you'll be able to find one or two Witches wandering about, but you'll rarely find none or three from your vantage point. Once you're done, start the Crescendo.

Once you finish the Crescendo, enter the elevator and go down. Please note that if anyone has died, their health will be restored to full health almost all the time as the Rescue closet's door is usually open. Look inside and loot anything you think is useful, sparing some for the return journey. Go through the cane field, watching for Commons, Witches and the Tank if it hasn't spawned yet. Once you reach 90% of the way to the gas station, regroup in the middle of a bushed area to find various items, if there are any. Go out, and watch for any Witches or Tanks that have spawned. There's usually two to three Witches around, with one of them glitched into a wrecked pile of cars. Go inside the saferoom, and close the door. Get ready for the Mill Escape and the storm.

Crescendo Options


Skipping the crescendo

This requires at least ONE bot alive (you can ask your teammate to go idle) or someone with 89 life and above. Stand next to the elevator looking out into the cane field. Take a step back, press and hold the jump button and run off the building. Try to land in the middle of the roof of the rescue closet below you. You will get incapacitated on the roof with your friends still at the elevator. You can not be limping (under 40 health) to do this or you will drop short and die. Trying to jump off will also kill you. If a bot is present it will run against the elevator to try and revive you. The game will think it is stuck and teleport it on you and it will revive you. (If you have several bots without any humans left they will teleport to you eventually). If you have four human players and no one wants to go idle, you can still incapacitate yourself on the roof of the rescue closet, and another person with at least 83 health has to jump and land on you. Directly before he lands he has to start reviving you. He will fall and take 82 damage instead of dying. The other two would then have to run off like you did. This is similar to the glitch playable on The Crane in Survival Mode in Left 4 Dead.

On Versus, this is not recommended, since if the Survivors are grouped together, the Charger will charge at all of you, killing almost all of them, and start the crescendo right away. However, the person playing as the Charger can get the Long Distance Carrier achievement this way.

Not skipping the crescendo

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. Prepositioning a Propane or Oxygen Tank (if available) at the head of the stairs opposite or down a passage way is a good idea to thin your enemy's ranks.

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 first-aid kits, pills, oxygen tanks, and pipe bombs. This also counts as a Rescue Closet, so if anyone died before the crescendo, they will end up there. Continue through the field― but be careful not to run into any Witches―and the gas station will be right in front of you. A tip is to jump up on the pipe extending into the cane field to speed up your journey whilst giving you improved lines of sight. Beware that the roadway and gas station will be heavily infested with loitering Infected of various kinds. Head into the safe room, regroup, and prepare for the Mill Escape.

Tactics

 * Be aware that "full of Witches" does not mean 3-4 Witches. The level can contain up to 20 Witches, often more than one in a single area and even lurking around in the sugar cane fields where you can't see them until you've spooked them. However, the Wandering Witch's music and crying increases as you get closer to her.
 * It is highly recommended that at least one person has a shotgun; that way, if a Witch is causing problems for the Survivors, they have a way of killing her (cr0wning).
 * Unfortunately, the Witch music usually gets glitched in this level if you are not in a Versus match, making it a lot harder to tell the location of the witch easily, unless one human player has a Hunting or Sniper Rifle.
 * Commonly, it is possible to encounter 2 Witches in a specific spot, or rarely 3 of them in a key place.
 * Since this chapter takes place during the day, you will have to try your best to sneak around the Witches as they wander around instead of being stationary. Bots do a terrible job of this, however, meaning it may be necessary to wait for it to pass before moving on or a Bot may startle her.
 * One tactic you can use to get across the sugar fields is to head all the way to the right or left of the field where the water levels are lower than in the middle so you don't slow down through the field. Another method is to jump constantly through the field looking for any nearby Witches, but be wary, as you may hit a Witch or two by touching, and startle them, unless you can hear the intensity of the music.
 * Another tactic is to walk on the large pipe going through the field; there aren't many sugar canes near it and it gives you a higher ground, two useful things that can help you spot a Witch.
 * Because you should focus on the Witches, it is VERY easy to forget a Tank may spawn in the area. A good idea is to turn the subtitles on to full captions, and wander through the sugar mill carefully. This is why if needed, you should kill the Witches so as you're running away from the Tank, you won't startle one on the way back.
 * Melee weapons are highly advised in case a Horde attack comes; this is because the when the Worker and Commons hit you, you have reduced aim, and if near a Witch, a bullet from the pistol will startle her, so fast weapons like Katanas are advised also if someone has startled a Witch.
 * A riskier method is just to walk as fast as possible through the campaign. If a Witch is in the way, let it pass and keep moving, though if a Charger/Jockey/Smoker gets you will get attacked by the Witch if you hit them.
 * If you want to kill the Witches, it is recommended that you have plenty of cr0wning skills. Hunting and Sniper rifles are also good if nobody on your team can cr0wn a Witch, as you can shoot her far away before she'll be able to get you. Headshotting is not advised, as this will not stun her and is hard to do so from a distance.
 * Because of all the Witches in this chapter, it is not worth throwing a pipe bomb into the distance to clear out common infected or shooting with a grenade launcher, as the chances are that you will inadvertently startle one, and this can prove to be a problem, particularly on Expert or Realism.
 * The sugar cane field can contain around 5-10 witches. It would be wise to avoid using Molotovs and pipe bombs here. However, when at the Sugar Mill, you can only see 2 Witches.
 * Witches in the cane field can climb up to where you must start the elevator to finish the level. Throwing a Molotov and just letting them die, won't work. However, you can block them by knowing which path the Witch will take to climb up, and just wait there, which will prevent the Witch from climbing up and will die from the flames. If two Witches are startled though, it's recommended to run from the Sugar Mill, though this will cause a Horde attack to come.
 * Ladders in this area could be useful, the one who startled the witch can stay at the middle of the ladder (needs to be beyond her attack range ), while the rest of teammates can shoot her. Just be careful to avoid nasty friendly fire if using shotguns (other weapons/pistols can do)
 * On Realism or Expert, it is a good idea to have at least one Survivor with a Defibrillator just in the case the Witches manage to kill someone.
 * Killing Witches on this level does not affect the number of Witches on the next stage.
 * If you want to get the achievement Sob Story, it is recommended to play with other players as bots may kill the Witch before she can incapacitate or kill her incapacitated victim. If a player should startle her, let her kill the player and make sure someone has a Defibrillator or have them spawn in a nearby Rescue Closet, as Witches run away after killing a Survivor, though the "running away" makes her spawn somewhere else where she wouldn't want you to be in (like near the ruined building near the elevator that causes you to panic and melee her)
 * The main problem in getting Sob Story is the amount of Witches and their programmed paths. Since every Witch is a Wandering Witch, hiding in spots such as the trailer right before the Crescendo can cause a Witch to enter and forcing you to kill it. Along with that, going up the stairs to call the elevator sometimes has a Witch, or having a Witch on the Crescendo floor can cause problems.
 * Bots are not recommended in this level for getting the achievement, since if a Boomer gets close to the Witch, the bots will shoot the Boomer, causing the Witch to attack the bot who killed the Boomer, making it impossible to get the Sob Story Achievement. However, under certain circumstances, it is possible to get it, just very difficult and annoying to do so.
 * Try not to use short-cuts if using bots; the bots will not know how to use them, and attempt to follow you, and will invariably startle a Witch or two.

Achievements

 * See Main Article: Achievements