Mutations

"Each week one new Mutation is featured and the previous Mutation retired."

- Valve

Mutations is the name for a new set of gameplay modes scheduled to appear alongside the new campaign, The Passing in Left 4 Dead 2. The Mutations are special game modes that run for one week before it is retired, and replaced by a new Mutation each week as they become announced on the in-game Blog Post every Thursday. Presumably after all the Mutations have been revealed, a poll will be conducted once a month for players to vote for their favorite Mutation, which will return the following week. It is only available to those who have downloaded The Passing.

Revealed Mutations
There are over 20 different Mutations planned, and playable on all Left 4 Dead 2 Campaigns.

So far, the following have been revealed on Valve's blog in the scheduled order along with their taglines:

Unrevealed Mutations
The following were found in a Steam-Group annoucement and have not been seen in a schedule as of yet. As they have not been announced by Valve yet, they may still be subject to changes or removal.

There are four more Mutations, but nothing more is known about them. The mode that they will be used in, however, has been confirmed. There are:


 * 2 More Mutations for Campaign Mode.
 * 1 More Mutation for Versus Mode.
 * 1 More Mutation for Scavenge Mode.

Realism Versus
As Survivors

In general, as Survivors, you're going to have a hard time. If possible, try to plan out your route through the level before you leave the safe house. The fewer decisions you have to make on the fly, the better you will do. Also be aware that the pistols will be ineffective unless you constantly headshot, so bear that in mind when deciding between a pistol and a melee weapon. However, the magnum is still one-shot kill on commons on any part of their body, and also a decent ranged shooter. Once you are on the move, keep moving. Always be aware of whether or not the infected are spawned, and which ones are spawned. Use bacteria sounds to your advantage. While saving a downed survivor is extremely risky, always judge whether you should do it based on what infected are spawned. You can't afford to lose a second player trying to save the first. This game has a lot to do with who knows how to keep on the move while still employing proper team tactics, and not separating. Stay together, move quick. Using microphones is a good idea, as even Valve suggested in the in-game Blog Post for Survivors of Realism Versus to use them to communicate faster. Typing in Realism Versus is almost suicidal. If you are pinned anywhere, QUICKLY communicate to your team where you are and any other infected that are near you. A great way to do this is using an aerial position marker where possible, because it means even people who don't know the map can find you based on visuals. (An example would be "Help! I'm pounced under the Jazz sign up the stairs, and there's a smoker nearby me.") If this is not possible, either because you are indoors or there are actually no landmarks around you, try your best to direct your team to you by saying either "behind, left, right, or infront". Assume they're facing forwards unless you can visibly see them looking a different direction.

As Infected

Going in, realize that you have an immense advantage, especially if all players are human, however for competitive play you still want to disable the enemy team as quickly as possible to give yourself an easier time as survivors. Even more so than in a typical versus game, separating the Survivors is key. To do this you want to use each of the infected to the best of their ability while remaining out of sight of the survivors where possible. Always keep in mind that you don't need to survive, the survivors do. Working with your team to do a huge hit and then dying is significantly more effective than surviving for a long period of time and making the odd attack on your own. The following list is a slightly modified variation of how to best play each infected, fit for Realism Versus.

The Jockey

The Jockey is one of the most powerful infected in Realism Versus. Using the Jockey's capabilities to steer people away from the pack is an extremely simple thing to do, too. Get a teammate to provide a distraction, then grab the survivor furthest to the back and haul them backwards, keeping in mind as soon as you get out of visible range of the Survivors your job will be much simpler. A distraction should be something that puts the Survivors in a sense of overwhelming urgency. A hunter pouncing someone does this job, especially if the pounce was a high damage pounce. A smoker pull into a car alarm is another great example, and as always there's the reliable boomer horde. Use them to your advantage. A lone jockey is a dead jockey.

The Smoker

The Smoker is another extremely powerful weapon in Realism Versus, as it also has the ability to get survivors off their planned course and out of sight. The Smoker should also attempt to use any distraction to pull a survivor out of sight. Also, as Smoker, use ledges, alarmed cars, and witches to your advantage. If you are working together with a Jockey, you should realize that since you can both do higher damage and can attack from further away, you should be attacking first, providing a distraction for the Jockey to get in and get out. Try not to pull directly into the path of where the Jockey should go, and as always, NEVER pull the survivors forwards (unless it is over a ledge, into an alarmed car, or a witch.)

The Hunter

The Hunter, in Realism Versus, wants to be as stealthy as possible. While you have ridiculously loud screams, you can still pounce from far away essentially muting them. With no warnings to the Survivors other than each other, they don't need to know you are in the midst of them. Not necessarily going for extremely high damage pounces, but going for mid-damage pounces (in the 10-20 range) and landing on the rear-most survivor in a group is a great way to do damage. The reason you shouldn't always go for extremely high damage pounces is because they are both predictable, and if you miss it's very obvious that there's a hunter in the midst of the survivors. You are a distracting infected. Not in the same sense a boomer is, but you are extremely powerful and one of the most urgent infected to kill. As such, combine your attacks with the Jockey, Smoker, and Charger for maximum effectiveness.

The Charger

The Charger, as always, is an extremely dangerous infected. Your ability to do mass amounts of damage, send the team flying, and go off ledges with survivors is something that is unrivaled by all the other infected. You should attack mostly as you normally would, but bear in mind that you are a massive distraction and stealth won't really be an option. Destruction is the name of the game as a Charger, and you should keep that in mind. Attack first where possible, providing a separated, confused, and damaged Survivor team, so the other members of the Infected team have an easy time picking people off.

The Boomer

The Boomer, as always, is here to distract. Covering survivors in bile is extremely effective in Realism Versus, for two reasons. Firstly, it's hard to see if your teammates are covered or not, and secondly when survivors already lost all outlines, the ability to blind them further is a much needed hinderance when you're destroying the team. Use it as you always would, around corners, jumping off roofs, basically get into the middle of the survivors and go for as many as you can.

The Spitter

The Spitter is a high damage, low mercy infected individual. Your job doesn't change a whole lot, get survivors out of corners (which they will be in, in this game mode.) and add extra damage to a confusion filled mess. Spitting on a pounced, smoked, or charged Survivor is a great way to do some extra damage and slow down the Survivor recovery process. Your job will not change dramatically due to the new game mode, so just use the Spitter intelligently and it will do wonders for you.

The Tank

The Tank, in Realism Versus, means the end. Very rarely will you face a team that can take down your entire team and a tank while in Realism Versus mode. However, due to Infected error, it can be somewhat common that a team may survive past the Tank. Your team must attack with you. If you need to wait and throw rocks until your entire team is ready to spawn, do so. Do not rush in alone, unless you're completely confident that waiting a maximum of 25 seconds would put the Survivors in too good a position for you to allow. (For example, if they're currently inside and if you wait 25 seconds they will get into a flat, open parking lot.) Use your team to slow down the Survivors, and then get in there and attack the Survivors. As always, use cars and other objects to your advantage where ever possible. You are not the lone warrior that can destroy the Survivor team. Do not think you are. You are an extremely powerful teammate, as tank, and you need to treat yourself like an equal member of the team for your tank attack to be successful. More than anything, never attack a teammate in an attempt to do more damage as tank, and never hit a pinning infected off a survivor, as more often than not you send the survivor flying as well, which can cause them to be able to escape what they wouldn'tve been able to originally.