Weapons

"Long as we still got guns, we gonna' fight."

- Coach

"Guys! Big, badass, nasty weapons over here!!!"

- Zoey

The main weapons in Left 4 Dead are divided into two tiers. The first is the kind available to any Survivor when the scenario starts. Second-tier weapons can only be found later on throughout the maps such as at the end of the campaign just before or at the finale, as they are considered upgrades from Tier-1-weapons. Melee (shove-back, default "right-click (mouse2)") can be used while holding any weapon, on Infected (excluding the Tank, the Charger, and the Witch (except in some situations)) within close combat, pushing them back and delaying a threat.

There is currently no way to distribute weapons or ammunition among teammates without picking up another weapon to replace the slot of the weapon you wish to give. All weapons have an attached flashlight with an unlimited battery; however, the light emitted from the flashlight is only visible to player wielding it.

Picking up a weapon from a table or other location holding new weapons (not from a dead Survivor) provides a full ammo refill (as well as the magazine) of that weapon, equivalent to interaction with an ammo pile. This is useful for unloading an entire magazine, then picking up a new one so as to avoid having to reload the weapon.

Weapons will continue reloading despite the lack of reloading animation during melee attacks, provided that reloading starts before the melee attacks. This is extremely useful if out of ammo, or both primary and pistol need to be reloaded as it allows the player to shove back attacking Infected while their weapon reloads in the background. When it is fully reloaded (after 2-3 melees' time) it can be used to kill the staggering Infected.

Tier 1
Each of the Survivors has the choice of starting with one of either of the first tier weapons, but they can switch or restock ammo on checkpoints.

Tier 2
Each of the Survivors have the choice of switching their first tier weapons to one of these on later checkpoints. Picking a Tier 2 weapon up will automatically fill the reserve ammo.

Left 4 Dead 2
The following weapons are found in Left 4 Dead 2. The original Left 4 Dead weapons also make an appearance in Left 4 Dead 2, although some of them appear to be slightly tweaked and have a new reload animation.

Sidearms
Each of the Survivors starts with a pistol.

Counter-Strike:Source Weapons
Due to the censorship of the German version of the game, Valve has decided to port some weapons from Counter-Strike into the game exclusively for German players to make up for the censorship. Though this is exclusive to those who own the German version of the game, anyone who plays with someone who owns the German version will encounter these weapons as well.

Grenades
Each of the Survivors can carry either one molotov cocktail, one pipe bomb, or one bile bomb.
 * Molotov cocktail
 * Pipe bomb
 * Bile bomb (Left 4 Dead 2 only)

Melee Weapons
Melee weapons, are a new class of weapon introduced in Left 4 Dead 2. They're found in some safe rooms and along the chapters of each campaign. Melee weapons do not have their own inventory slot; instead, they replace the pistol if they are picked up. However, when incapacitated, a Survivor draws a pistol to defend themselves until they're helped back up. They can kill Common Infected in range with one swing, and are capable of killing several in one swing. They can also instantly kill most Special Infected and deal heavy damage to the others, although due to the abilities of the special Infected, it's usually best to just shoot them. All melee weapons can be used indefinitely save for the Chainsaw, which is dropped once its gas tank is empty. Melee weapons also have different rates of swings and accumulate blood as they are used against the Infected.
 * Axe
 * Baseball Bat
 * Chainsaw
 * Cricket Bat
 * Crowbar
 * Electric Guitar
 * Frying Pan
 * Katana
 * Machete
 * Nightstick

Usable Items
These items are found throughout campaigns, and when picked up, you can't use any weapon until you throw them or drop them. You can shove with them, however. When shot, burned, or otherwise detonated, these items blow up or spread flames, making good tools for defending areas during Crescendos or Finales.
 * Gas can
 * Oxygen tank
 * Propane tank
 * Fireworks (Left 4 Dead 2 only)

Special Items
These items are special and are found at specific locations in specific maps. Although these weapons have no damage capabilities, they do pose useful at one point or the other in Left 4 Dead 2.
 * Gnome Chompski (you can win it from the carnival in Dark Carnival, and if you get to the rescue vehicle with Gnome Chompski still with you, you win an Achievement.)
 * Cola
 * Scavenge gas cans used in the mall atrium Dead Center finale, as well as in Scavenge mode. Can be set on fire by bullets or Spitter goo, Survivors must pour these into a generator or car to score in either game mode. See Scavenge Mode.

Fixed Weapons
Over the course of the campaigns, the Survivors find fixed gun emplacements left behind by the military in their failed attempt to contain the Infection. They appear at certain finales and crescendo events and have an infinite supply of ammo. However they are prone to overheating, which renders them temporarily unusable. When a Survivor uses a mounted gun, they cannot move and can only fire in a fixed arc.
 * Minigun (Left 4 Dead)
 * Heavy Machine Gun (Left 4 Dead 2)

Reload
Reloading (default "R" on PC and "B" on the Xbox360) is the in-game action of moving ammo from your reserve ammo count to your usable loaded ammo. When complements their high magazine capacities to make reloading nearly trivial.

The hunting rifle takes longer to reload than the other two magazine-fed weapons, but the person using it should have the least close quarters contact of all other Survivors anyway.

Pistols have a similar reload time to the submachine gun, but have a much smaller magazine capacity. Dual pistols make reloading take slightly longer, and incapacitated players take twice as long as normal to reload their pistols.

It is best to always reload before a finale or when a Tank is drawing near. While reloading in the heat of battle, it is best to run away when you are almost out of ammo and use your melee attack while reloading. Listen closely when a teammate yells "Reloading," and offer cover fire, especially if they are using shotguns.

If you melee while you are reloading, this will not interrupt your action. You will continue to reload until you are finished or attacked by a Special Infected such as the Hunter, Tank, Smoker, Charger, or Jockey. This is extremely helpful against horde attacks, as it allows you to push them away from you to finish reloading you weapon.

One thing to remember when reloading is that if you press the reload button before your gun or magazine is empty, you will reload just a little bit faster than if you empty your magazine entirely. This proves useful if you need to take down a tank, and need a fast reload. One way to bypass this is to leave exactly one or two bullets left in the gun, then press reload. You still have the fast reload, but get to empty your entire magazine.

Glitches

 * If you start to reload and then pause your game, the reload will still continue. However, when you resume the game you will have to reload again. This works best on an auto shotgun. If you use all of the shells, pause and then reload the game at the eighth shell. It will reload the other two. Resuming the game will cause it to reload all 10 shells. However, it will still say eight shells until the ninth and 10th are entered into the gun. This glitch is only effective on the PC version.

Flashlight
The Flashlight is an item that is always in the Survivors' inventory and is attached to every firearm the player can obtain. You cannot drop it, but you can turn it on and off, which makes a clicking sound. It allows the player to see in dark areas when exploring for items and weapons. It also allows the player to scout out such areas for groups of Common Infected, and spot Special Infected much easier. Also, the flashlight is attached in a fixed point on your weapon which means that when using the melee attack, changing weapon and reloading, you lose the benefit of the light as your weapon moves and changes angles.

The flashlight is a sure-fire way to disturb the Witch, as demonstrated in the introduction cutscene. The Survivors will often warn each other when they believe they hear a Witch, telling them to turn their flashlights off. Shining the light on her will disturb her more than standing near her, so you should aim your crosshair away from her, or turn it off altogether. Also, idle Common Infected are disturbed faster when you shine your flashlight on them.

Behind the Scenes
Originally, weapons did not have flashlights on them. The light came from the player's chest, like in the Half-Life series. Flashlights were attached to the guns to make it so that the player wouldn't have a light source when either reloading or using melee.

The old flashlight behavior is still in the final game; turn on the flashlight when holding a Machete, molotov, pipe bomb, medkit or pills to see it.

Cooldown
Cooldown is the minimum length of time in the Left 4 Dead series that a Survivor or an Infected needs to wait after using an ability before they can use it again.

The Survivors
Main article: Melee

In Left 4 Dead the Survivors have no special abilities and therefore do not need to wait to use their abilities other than healing, shooting and reloading. However, in all gameplay modes of Left 4 Dead 2 and Versus mode of Left 4 Dead there is an exception called Melee Fatigue. After couple of melee uses, the Survivors will need to wait 2 seconds until they can use it again, and if they will keep using it, they will have to keep waiting 2 seconds each melee attack until fully rested for couple of seconds.

Originally this was not in the game until Valve received complaints of people not actually "Firing their gun" in Versus and Campaign matches. When the Left 4 Dead DLC known as the Survival pack was released, Valve added in this new system.

The Infected
The Infected have different abilities, and therefore different cooldown times.


 * The Boomer has to wait 30 seconds before being able to vomit on the Survivors again.
 * The Hunter does not have a cooldown on Pouncing, but it must wait 2 seconds before being able to leap if it stood up.
 * The Smoker's tongue takes 15 seconds to rewind if it breaks or is removed from a Survivor. In Versus, it takes 5 seconds to rewind if it misses.
 * The Tank takes 3 seconds to swing his arm again after punching and to rip the ground to throw concrete. The Tank has no punch delay after a rock throw, meaning it can hit a Survivor twice.
 * The Charger has to wait 12 seconds to be able to charge again.
 * The Spitter has to wait 20 seconds before she is able to spit again.
 * The Jockey has to wait 1 second after he jumps if he misses a Survivor, 7 seconds if he is knocked off of a Survivor, and 30 seconds if he incapacitates a Survivor.
 * The Hunter, Boomer, Charger, Spitter, Jockey and Smoker's secondary claw attack has a 1 second cooldown.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the game_sounds_weapons.txt file, listings for a flare gun and a LAW rocket launcher can be found. It is likely that these weapons were scrapped early in development, as none of the pre-release footage shows either of these weapons.


 * All of the weapons in Left 4 Dead are based on the programming used for Counter-Strike: Source's weapons. Most of the weapons are based on either weapons usable by both teams or Counter-Terrorist-exclusive weapons, with the only exception being the Dual Pistols, which is based on the Dualies, a Terrorist-exclusive weapon.


 * Weapons originally did not have flashlights on them, as seen in pre-release pictures. In addition, their world models had blood on them.


 * All weapons originally had two reload animations; when the magazine is empty and when the magazine is not. The animation that played when the magazine was empty is longer than the other animation because the player need to cock the gun in order to load a new round. Most of the "empty" animations were removed from the game, but can still be seen in the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools. The only weapons that still use their empty reload animations are the pump and auto shotgun. In Left 4 Dead 2, most of the weapons have the empty animations (Except the Hunting rifle).


 * It appears that the animations relating to the other 3 weapons (Uzi, Assault Rifle, and Hunting Rifle) were removed shortly before release, as they can be last seen in gameplay footage dated September 2nd, 2008, but are gone by the time footage is released on October 15th, 2008


 * There was originally going to be a riot shield and a didgeridoo as a usable melee weapon in the game. However, this appears to be cut. The riot shield was fully modeled and textured and can still be spawned ingame via the console while the didgeridoo had a model, but no textures.