Hard Rain - 2/5: 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 safe room, 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 temporary 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, along with the occasional Laser Sight. 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, if inside the building they will come in from where you just came. If you're on the street when this happens, they'll surge in from the roadblock to the 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 shots, 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 usually attack from above. Watch the area carefully as there are Witches and usually a Tank that spawn in this area. Hordes will swarm you if you are at the generator from both sides. Go to the second ladder and search it for any items, as you don't want to be there when you come back.

Go up the first ladder. When you go left, you head back to the building you went through. Go right and jump onto the railing, and then jump on the sugar tank. Then jump on the large pipe (if you jump onto the small you'll fall off and get instantly incapitated/killed depending on # of incaps). Jump onto the platforms. This will be helpful when dealing with the Witch from a safe location, as they never reach you up there. Watch out for Special Infected and Common Infected, who can still reach you there. Once all enemies are dead, go into the small trailer and grab the items found in there. Then go to the narrow passageway near it to proceed. A Tank may spawn here.

Shortcut: Go to the brick wall with the pipe, and jump on the wall. Jump to the top of the wall, and jump onto the pipe. If you jump inbetween you will get pushed off, but will not die. This pipe will skip past the sheds, and is the path you take when you get back. It is useful for taking out Witches and Common Infected, as they will be forced to climb up to get you. Witches tend to get confused and get stuck under the large pipe while getting you, sometimes ignoring the ladders that are provided for them.

Clear the large amount of Infected. As stated above, if a Horde comes, they will come from behind you. Watch for Witches (two tend to spawn here) and search the sheds. There's a Propane tank and in the covered shed, grenades and healing items in both areas. 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 Bots 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 location is also a prime spot for a Tank spawn, so be careful when proceeding. 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. You will also need to be vary of Tanks, as they can spawn here, espically on the top floor where a punch leads to instant death wherever he sends you flying from.

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 if you haven't encountered him yet. There's usually two to three Witches around, with one of them glitched into a wrecked pile of cars. Go inside the safe room, and close the door. Get ready for the Mill Escape and the storm.

Crescendo


After you call the horde, the 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. Pre-positioning 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. Most Special Infected will climb up the pipe, providing that you are not staying in front of the pipe, because Special Infected cannot spawn there if someone is looking at their spawn point.

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 while 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. Depending on what you play on (Xbox or PC), using the buttons for interactions will be helpful if a Witch is in your direction, so you can avoid 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, unless one human player has a Hunting or Sniper Rifle.
 * Commonly, it is possible to encounter two Witches in a specific spot, or rarely three 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 canefield 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 that 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, as four hits from any melee weapon will kill her.
 * 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 3-10 Witches. It would be wise to avoid using Molotovs and Pipe bombs here. However, when at the Sugar Mill, you can usually see two 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, you will either need another partner or just run as the other Witch will climb up another ladder instead and incapitate/kill you.
 * The Tank may also spawn in the area, and you cannot use the method above to block the Tank; while he climbs he will just push you aside and he will climb up and cause problems. If playing on Easy or Normal, you can kill him before he manages to get up and send you flying to your death.
 * 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 friendly fire.
 * 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 running away makes her spawn somewhere else where she wouldn't want you to be (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 force 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 using bots, just very difficult 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