The Hunter

The Hunter is an agile Infected who can leap from walls and jump over rooftops, similar to Half-Life 2 ' s Fast Zombie. The Hunter always wears a dark hoodie, and has his outfit entirely taped down to prevent air from getting trapped in the legs and arms, and slowing him down in mid air. Hunters are primarily identified by a distinctive growl, or the screams they emit when pouncing or when they have sighted a Survivor. This Special Infected has two attacks: a claw attack which does about 10 damage (due to a recent update, though it is still a viable tactic to use in the right situations), and a pouncing attack, which pins down a helpless Survivor while the Hunter claws at them. The Hunter will not stop until finished, killed, or knocked off. Also, the actual pounce will cause damage from the impact with a comment coming up telling how much damage was caused by the impact. The maximum pounce damage that can be caused is 25, which makes it arguably the most powerful attack in the game when used correctly. However, the Hunter is very weak, and it can only take a few bullets before dying. Up to three Hunters are allowed on the Infected team while playing, Versus, however, there is a very slim chance of a team getting four Hunters.

When a player takes control of the Hunter in Versus mode, the Hunter's pounce ability is measured by a meter that is started when the player crouches down. This was chosen instead of the Hunter becoming invisible once backed up against a wall or a similar piece of cover, more than likely to balance gameplay. The Hunter's power should not be underestimated, however. Two Hunters can incapacitate a Survivor with full health in about five seconds, though they should stay behind the Survivor so they don't take any damage themselves.

Extent of Mutations
The Hunter has been heavily mutated under a strain of the Infection. It has gained an increase in strength that, while not creating massive muscles as in the case of the Tank, has granted it the ability to jump long distances and rapidly scale the sides of buildings with ease. It has developed far sharper senses than typical Infected, allowing it to hunt with far greater efficiency. This makes It one of the most deadly infected, a single Hunter can catch a straggler falling behind slowing the survivors down allowing other infected to carry out an attack. Though its mentality is similar to that of the typical Infected, it's not distracted by such things as the flashing lights of pipe bombs nor is it apparently attracted by such things as car alarms going off, much like the other special Infected. It should be noted that the Infection enhanced the Hunter's lung capacity for its trademark screech, as well as oxygen intake, to prevent it from becoming exhausted whilst pouncing.

As seen after 0:50 here, it appears that the Hunter emits a black cloud of smoke when shot at in Left 4 Dead 2. This may, however, just be stray bullet impacts from the Submachine Gun.

According to Valve, the Hunter will have a slight re-design and new look in Left 4 Dead 2, as "Hoodies in the south are less common."

Tactics
Fast and agile like the Hunters of Resident Evil, this Boss-Infected will whisper dark phrases and growl to alert you of his presence. The Hunter is often used as a distraction by both AI and human Infected. Solo players fare especially badly against Hunters since their attack is often much harder to avoid than the tongue of a Smoker or the bile of a Boomer. Without timely intervention, Hunters kill very quickly. While Hunters are hurt by being on fire and will eventually die, any Survivor pounced on by a flaming Hunter will suffer much more damage from the attack (as of the last game update, only dynamic fire sources such as those created by molotov and gas cans add to the damage bonus). It is best to wait until a survivor falls behind because they are wounded or just generally falling behind so you can pounce them and deal out max damage.



Survivors
General strategy:
 * Always have at least one buddy close at hand.
 * Listen for the distinctive growl the Hunter makes when crouched and ready to pounce. Once you hear the cues remind the other Survivors of the Hunter's presence to keep everyone on their toes. This may sound useless but it often prevents Survivors from taking unnecessary damage from Hunters.
 * Remember that the Hunter won't usually pounce as soon as he sees a Survivor, be it an AI controlled one or a player controlled one. Even the AI waits and bides its time. The cry does show you it is close by, though.
 * On expert the Hunter AI seems to be much smarter than the other difficulties and will often claw Survivors rather than pouncing on them. This does an extremely deadly amount of damage and should be avoided at all costs. Be careful as the Hunter will also sometimes try to blend into the Horde and claw Survivors instead of pouncing.

Before pounce: After a Hunter has pounced your fellow Survivor:
 * Be warned, when on expert, even if you have full health it takes about 9 seconds to kill you.
 * If the Hunter is outside pounce range, open fire. Head-shots are particularly effective.
 * Otherwise, throw a melee attack just as the Hunter starts his pounce. This will knock it back, stunning it, and you can finish it off with your choice of two additional melee attacks or weapon fire.
 * If you manage to stop the Hunter mid-pounce keep hitting him as this keeps him from doing anything. Definitely use this tactic when he is close to other Survivors to avoid friendly-fire.
 * You will receive a visual notification that a fellow Survivor has been pounced on.
 * Shoot at the Hunter if you are far away and melee if you are close to it, friendly fire does not hurt a player while they are pinned down (although once the Hunter is off, they are then vulnerable to such).
 * If too far away and there is no Survivor closer than you are, go ahead and shoot.
 * A head shot with a shotgun or a sniper-type rifle will kill a Hunter in one shot.
 * Don't let walls stop you. If the only way to save a fellow Survivor is to shoot through a wall or ceiling, do it. The hunting rifle is particularly effective at this, although even pistols can punch through.

Infected

 * In Versus, you will spend more time as a Hunter than any other Infected. Coincidentally, the Hunter is also the hardest Special Infected to master, so the extra time spent pouncing pays off.
 * Hunters have few hit points, so never attack a group of two or more Survivors on your own (unless they are distracted, such as by a horde of Infected).
 * Lone wolves are the bread-and-butter of the Hunter; pounce them first.
 * Do however, as stated in the Boomer section, pounce over Survivors covered in Bile, huddled in a corner "spamming melee". You will land on their head and this will count as a pounce. Furthermore, if they are huddled tight, you will not be affected by their melee Spamming.
 * A Hunter's pounce in Versus mode will knock back close-by Survivors, thus breaking up their formation. This can also push Survivors off of ledges and leave them helpless. Utilize this!
 * Hunters only make noise when crouched, and so if you are near survivors and don't want to get shot, stand up and you remain silent. You also move faster when standing. Instead of pouncing, try to do hit and run tactic. Simply run up to a Survivors' back, claw, and run away. This is especially effective when a Survivor is low on health! If a Survivor has gone down twice, a simple claw will kill them instantly. It's best to save pounces for when you are on high ledges to try and gain the extra pounce damage.
 * The Hunter bonus pounce damage is based on the distance between your launch-point and the point where you hit the Survivor, therefore launching straight up or down is not the most effective pounce. Instead, climb on top of a roof or chimney a bit away from the Survivors (such as on a rooftop on the other side of the street), and propel yourself up and forward at a 45 degree angle. You have some limited control in the air and can somewhat guide yourself to your target once airborne. Twenty plus damage pounces are not as hard as they seem once you become better acquainted with the pounce mechanic, 25 extra damage is the maximum.
 * A pounce that deals damage is a good way to instantly "incapacitate on pounce" a Survivor who has less health than the damage dealt, even before he begins his ripping attack.
 * Look for Survivors outlined in red. The red indicates that their health is low, making them easy targets.
 * Instead of pouncing on a weak Survivor, try clawing it. Once it quickly goes down, pounce on another Survivor to be even more effective.
 * "Hiding" behind or standing in front of cars with alarms and Witches is as malicious as it is effective and trick's the AI or "Genuis" players into shoot both you and/or the hazard.
 * As most average Survivor groups end up slightly splitting into pairs always try to team up with the other Hunter player to pin two Survivors at once with normally a gap between those pinned and the other pair that are normally distracted by something else giving a few more vital seconds for the Hunters to do extra damage. Also with the Hunters working in pairs this should ensure that if a group has fell to two Survivors that they wont get much further without them being incapacitated.
 * So long as you hold down the crouch key, you can pounce continuously.
 * To pounce continuously, all you need to do is make sure that as you hit a surface, you're facing into open space.
 * The "surface" can be a wall. In fact you can climb up to a roof by bouncing off walls (jump off walls by placing your back against the wall in your jump, and jump again).
 * If you mess up (i.e.: pounce forward while facing a wall), the pounce meter charges up quickly as long as you keep holding the crouch key.
 * On levels with miniguns, you can quickly teach the Survivors why manning the Mini-gun is a bad idea, especially if they are alone.
 * After getting knocked off your victim, immediately run for cover.
 * If the Survivors are distracted, you'll get away with it and gain a valuable second opportunity for pouncing on them.
 * If instead you stick around and try using the claw attack, you'll discover that it's actually quite effective, except on groups of Survivors who have no distractions.
 * When a horde has surrounded and is attacking the Survivors, it is a very good idea to simply claw away at them. The Survivors might melee you once or twice, but they will have an extremely hard time identifying you as a Special Infected, and you can easily shred away quite a bit of health.
 * Go for people covered in bile. It will pin them down and leave them helpless for the horde. The horde also serves as a meat shield in this case (don't count on it too much, however, as most weapon fire penetrates multiple targets if they are lined up).
 * If three people are "slimed" it is better to pounce the clean Survivor as being "slimed" decreases vision and the Infected meat shield will prevent them from getting to you. The Boomer's victims are unable to see the aura surrounding their teammates while they're covered, so they won't be able to see the pounced victim until the initial blindness wears off.
 * If the Survivors keep knocking you off before you can deal any damage, try silently running up to a Survivor and using the Hunter's melee attack.
 * Hitting Survivors in the back does extra damage.
 * If the Survivors are in a defensible position (read: closet) and are spamming melee, claws are more effective than pouncing.
 * Before the March 11th update, flaming Hunters dealt 10 extra damage per second, unlike a non flaming Hunter which doesn't start dealing damage as soon as it pounces. With the update, the damage done is significantly reduced, and the effect is only present if the Hunter was caught on fire from a dynamic source, not a static source. However, Hunters will slowly burn to death so only set yourself alight for aggressive attacks on groups.
 * Don't melee people who are being strangled by a Smoker, as your claw will damage (and may break) the tongue.
 * Don't kill steal from Smokers (pouncing on a grabbed Survivor). Protect them by pouncing would-be rescuers.
 * If your team has microphones, there is a spot where a Hunter and Smoker can instant kill on Dead Air. On chapter one,when the Survivors exit the first building, they walk across a white roof. If the Smoker hides on the roof opposite of the building the Survivors exit from and snags one, they will hang over the edge. If the Hunter then pounces that Survivor, it will cause the Survivor to fall through the gap and die.(If by some chance it doesn't kill them and the Hunter gets shot off, leave the Survivor, because the other team will not be able to win for as long as that Survivor is alive, because the game will not end until all of the Survivors are in the safe room. Wait until your team kills all of the other Survivors first, then go back and finish the Survivor trapped down the gap.)
 * In Versus, Hunters have a small knock back on their pounce. Try pouncing groups near ledges for hilarious results.
 * A good tactic when playing as the Hunter, is to position yourself behind the Witch, and then duck. A Survivor or group of Survivors will approach. They either will not notice the Witch or think they can pull off shooting you, but once they've fired one shot, the Witch will stand up and attack the Survivor who shot you, and you can pounce on the other which is shooting the Witch.
 * Due to an update on January 14th, Hunters can no longer anger the Witch into attacking by pouncing at her, however, they can keep her at her maximum anger level by swiping at her.
 * If you hold off on attacking players, they may become more spread out and placid, possibly enough to pounce and do more damage before their friends can assist.
 * Generally, there is usually a loose cannon in all Survivor teams, the person that runs ahead of the group and triggers a panic event or a Tank to spawn. Take advantage of this to either pounce on the loner or attempt to attack the 3 members left farther back as they attempt to rush up ahead.
 * The same rule applies to players that take their time or get lost. Or have to back track to get a First-aid kit or another useful item back at either a weapon cache or the safe room. Teach them the hard lesson of why going solo is not a bright idea.
 * It is faster to continually pounce up climbable surfaces, rather than climbing normally.
 * Pick your battles, wait for one or more Survivors to run off by themselves or accidentally get separated. Don't waste your life on attacking when they're in a tight group.
 * Ask for backup from your fellow Infected. This will often allow you to do massive damage while the Survivors are preoccupied with your teammates. Pouncing is best while your fellow Infected are alive.
 * If you are alone and your teammates are respawning, simply pouncing wildly in front of the survivors can prove to be an ample distraction, as you will be difficult to hit if constantly moving. This should give your teammates time to spawn and organize a coordinated strike.
 * There are situations where a Smoker and Hunter team can kill off a survivor instantly. For instance, in Dead Air on the Greenhouse level, there is a place where a Smoker can pull a survivor off of one of the rooftops. This is effective alone, but if a Survivor manages to melee the helpless Survivor or kill the Smoker, the smoked Survivor will live. However, if a Hunter manages to pounce the Survivor currently smoked over the long fall gap, the Survivor will die upon contact with the ground. This is because there is no place for the Survivor to climb back up to his or her fellow teammates. Finding and utilizing these hidden instant-kill spots can highly increase the chance of Infected victory!

Survivors
Jump Shot

Headshot a Hunter while he's leaping.

- The easiest way to do this is in the large ladder in the Sewers. Camp at the top of the ladder and wait for the hunter to try to pounce you. When he leaps open fire and you should get the achievement. Although, it is easier to get it while not even trying. Hunters will often hide behind corners in stages such as the sewers, and aiming down while checking around corners can allow you to get this achievement. it is NOT required to kill the Hunter with the headshot, however. NOTE: All it needs is one bullet to contact with the Hunters head so spraying with the Assault Rifle is definitely a good idea.

Dead Stop

Punch a Hunter as he is pouncing.

- Again in Dead Air, at the escalators, kill all Common Infected and camp at the top. AI Hunters who pounce from the bottom of the escalator will land right in front of you, so just spam punch, they usually won't hit you.

Hunter Punter

Shove a Hunter off of a pinned and helpless Survivor.

- Simple enough, melee a Hunter who has pinned one of your friends.

NOTE: Jump Shot and Dead Stop can be achieved together if you head shot the Hunter while he is pouncing.

Infected
Double Jump

Pounce two different Survivors on one life as a Hunter.

- You'll generally earn this achievement when a foolish Survivor shoves you off instead of shooting you, then forgets to finish you off. That's how most people earn it, just by the Survivors being in a panic attack and thinking too fast.

Trivia

 * The hood on the Hunter always hides its face.
 * The Hunter vaguely resembles the main protagonists from the games Assassin's Creed, Thief, and Prototype.
 * It is widely considered that the Hunter is the hardest Special Infected to learn, but the most enjoyable to play as.
 * People love to mod the Hunter, mostly by giving it a superman costume, as the Hunter "flies" through the air with his arms open.
 * The Hunter bears a slight resemblance to the Resident Evil series' Hunters. They are both fast, agile, and emit loud screeches before attacking.
 * When you are pounced by a Hunter, you are still able to pick up objects if you are close enough. For instance, if you are pounced near an ammo cache, you can pick up ammo.
 * Inspiration for the Hunter's design may have come from the Parkour culture, a type of martial arts that allows its practitioners to move fluidly and effortlessly through an environment, often overcoming seemingly impossible obstacles. Some traceurs are seen with the sleeves and hems of clothing taped down to prevent air resistance.
 * The Hunter is the most human-looking Special Infected.
 * How the Hunter managed to tape down his outfit is unknown, as it is unlikely that he maintains the sufficient intelligence to do it himself after being infected.
 * The Hunter's face is visible, you just need one to die and fall at the right angle to see dim outlines of its eyes. If however you happen to get it angled to make it lay on a table facing upwards and head hanging over the end, You can look into his hood by crouching and getting as close as possible that you can see through the hood. It reveals that he has empty eye sockets, all you are able to see is the exposed meat and whats left of the skin around it. Which indicates that his other senses may have hyperdeveloped, especially his sense of hearing and smelling (possibly into a form of echolocation, which explains why the hunter screams all the time,) as Versus demonstrates that the Hunter has some ability to see. Hunter face.png
 * The Hunter may be someone that got the special strain of the infection from a dog, leading to its growling, pounce, its jumping ability, and "crawl" when it is crouching
 * The Hunter lets out a pained scream when he falls from a very high place.
 * If he falls for too much time from a very high place he also screams.
 * Strangely, Survivors can still heal someone that is being pounced by an Hunter. If proceeded, the pounced Survivor will get some health. This may be a glitch.
 * Some of the Hunter's growls are very similar to those of the Headcrab zombies from the Half Life series, and possibly are recycled.
 * The Hunter, in Single-player, can throw himself out of harm's way when attacked from a distance. This ability does not require him to crouch. In Versus mode This ability is not normally available to player zombies. However through manipulation of Console commands,(Entering "mp_gamemode versus" then changing to the infected team and finally resetting mp_gamemode to "coop") This ability becomes available in Single player - defaulting to the "Fire" key while standing. The jump appears identical to The Hunter's Pounce attack, with different(Pained) sounds, and results in Survivors being pushed as if hit by a Survivor's melee attack. This becomes an effective tactic in areas of No Mercy where falls from high places can incapacitate or even kill Survivors.
 * As with the other playable Special Infected, human-controlled Infected can revive incapacitated Survivors through use of the same button that a Survivor would use. (This glitch was removed in an early DLC update for pcs)
 * In Versus mode, playing as a Hunter on the Boathouse Finale in the water, crouch down, and pounce; you will reach the top of the water, and fall back. If you pounce someone, and get knocked off, without being killed, you will have a difficult time getting away.
 * In some instances the Hunter will do a roll when knocked off a Survivor rather than stumbling. It is a rare occurrence and it is unknown how it is achieved.