Pain pills

"Pills here!"

Pain pills, unlike the First aid kit, will only give the user 50 temporary points of health when taken. When carried by Survivors, it is held on the Survivors right hip, probably on the belt.

Pills can be given to teammates by pressing the melee button (right click on PC or left trigger on 360). When not facing a teammate, pressing the melee button will allow you to use your melee attack against enemies.

Since the health from Pain Pills is only temporary, it will slowly decrease over time, dropping one point every few seconds until all the temporary health is gone. The pills you take will restore your movement speed and stop you from limping for as long as your total health is above (and including) 40%.

Keep in mind that taking damage when both permanent health and temporary health exist, permanent health will be taken first. If while pain pills are active your actual health (read: permanent) drops below zero, your temporary health will continue dropping until it reaches 1%, where it will stay until you heal, take some more, etc.

Trivia



 * The Pain Pills are actually based on the real-world painkiller, Ibuprofen, with the overall model based off the Target generic brand.


 * In reality, if a person was to swallow all of the pills from the container at one time, the consumer would more than likely die of drug overdose, or choke to death on the overwhelming amount of pills taken in one gulp. However, this does not apply with the logic of the game for gameplay purposes.
 * The pain pills have gained popularity from being a seemingly standard item in Left 4 Dead to an internet sensation after a meme emerged where the survivors, mainly Louis, are addicted to them, causing very humorous situations. It has grown so popular that Valve even used "PILLS!" on an advertisement for a new campaign, saying they added new lines.
 * When taken by a player his screen will temporarily lose some colour.
 * If a survivor hands another survivor pills from a short distance (a few feet), the pill bottle looks like it is being tossed to the survivor.
 * When viewed in high resolution, the Pain Pill bottle says the following on it: "Compare to the active ingredient in Advil. Pain reliever. Zombie Medicine. Take when you need that extra boost. Be sure to share. Don't be a pill hog."