The Tank



The Tank is a huge, muscular Infected capable of throwing large items such as cars or blocks of concrete. The tank keeps a high profile, able to be heard by the Survivors from a great distance due to its loud thrashing while running. The immense strength and toughness of the tank makes it a terrible foe in combat. Special walls on some maps will be outlined with yellow cracks (similar to the paws on climbable objects) to indicate that the player can break through the wall as a tank. To prevent the tank from camping away from the survivors for too long, a frustration timer is set when the survivors are not in sight. When the timer runs out, the tank becomes uncontrollable and begins stomping and thrashing giving away its position and becoming vulnerable to the survivors. If this happens to the human while he is playing as the tank, the computer will regain control. The tank is the toughest of the infected, and is able to withstand 4000 points of damage on Advanced, or 8000 points of damage on Expert before dying. He is the alpha male of the infected whose only competition is The Witch but even she is more easily killed or avoided than this monster.

W6H6gC0QZc8 The Tank Trailer

Tactics
Easily heard and seen, the Tank is neither easy to dodge nor kill. This beast is crazy.

The 1, 2, 3's of tank busting:
 * 1) Listen carefully for the tank, make sure you can distinguish him from a hunter/smoker/boomer. By the time the music changes, or worse the tank is in your line of sight, it is often too late to plan an effective defense. In fact, upon hearing the tank, some players may want to simply try to hide until the meter builds and then while the computer is thrashing, run from the noises
 * 2) Throw a Molotov cocktail in its path to set it on fire and slowly eat away all 8000 hitpoints (fewer hitpoints on non-expert difficulties, for example advanced Tanks have 4000 hitpoints)
 * 3) Run and shoot, the intro movie was correct on this point
 * 4) * If the tank is very close, focus entirely on running lest you run into an obstacle and become another statistic
 * 5) * Otherwise, go ahead an open up on it. Be aware that the nearest survivor that shoots the tank is the target
 * 6) * If you are lucky enough to be near a thick tree, you can lead the Tank a merry dance by keeping the trunk in between yourself and him. He can't go over a tree and he can't rip it up either.

Other things to consider:
 * Provided you have sufficient health, it is fairly easy to "kite" a tank. In other words, you can get the tank to follow you without him ever catching up, and yet still have time to put lead/grenades into him. Using this tactic, tanks can reliably be beaten with no casualties (given sufficient running room)
 * The corollary to the previous point is that if you have low heath you should refrain from shooting and just stay out of the way
 * The tank climbs obstacles much more slowly that he can run, abusing this fact will provide you with more uninterrupted firing time
 * If you are incapacitated, do not shy from using pistols on the tank since every bit counts
 * Not only do pipe-bombs not hurt tanks, you are unlikely to find a tank willing to sit on your pipe-bomb long enough for it to blow
 * If you're in an area where falling is possible, such as the Rooftop Finale, make absolutely sure that you are between something solid and the Tank, so that the massive knockback from its attacks doesn't launch you on an incredible 30 story journey to your death.

How much health is "sufficient" to out-run a tank?
 * Generally, you need 51% health (green health bar) according to the Left 4 Dead XBox manual
 * On variable terrain where you can climb up on obstacles, you may get by with less than that though

If the tank is throwing concrete at you:
 * Good news:
 * The tank can't move and throw
 * You'll know when he's doing a throw by the absence of the ground pounding noise
 * If there is a chain gun nearby, someone can shoot the concrete out of the air, rendering it harmless
 * Bad news:
 * The tank has perfect aiming accuracy
 * One shot will incapacitate you (on expert difficulty only)
 * Non-static geometry such as crates will not block his shots
 * If you do not have suitable cover, you should look at the tank and time your dodging maneuver for the moment he throws the rock. Otherwise the tank will compensate his aim for your dodging and you will go down
 * You may be unable to dodge a rock if you are limping too badly (i.e.: when your health bar is red or yellow)

If a teammate goes down (and you are suicidally brave):
 * 1) Melee the tank to get its attention (it will re-target on you)
 * 2) Immediately pull a "Forest Gump" maneuver (i.e.: run!)

Playing as the tank

Even though the tank was made to charge through seas of lead, a strong survivor team can chew him up and spit him back out with no damage taken. To avoid this unhappy outcome:
 * Avoid attacking in the open if at all possible (or you will end up on the wrong side of a molotov and much concentrated fire)
 * Use alternative routes where possible to "sneak up" on the survivors
 * Use the awesome power of concrete projectiles to knock down pesky marathon survivors
 * Co-ordinate with the other infected, nothing is more effective than a tank herding survivors to their doom (i.e.: hunter/smoker/boomer ambush)
 * If you incapacitate a survivor, immediately re-target on another. Wait a few seconds, then go back to the first incapacitated survivor to knock-down the foolish medic helping the first survivor back up
 * If playing on a rooftop level, do everything you can to knock survivors off the building, as this will kill them instantly
 * If a hunter or smoker is nailing a survivor, be a good monster and share the carnage. Killing your fellow infected will mean one more gun is trained on you
 * If you are on fire, water will put it out (where available)

Survivors
Towering Inferno Light a Tank with a Molotov.

Man vs Tank Single-handedly kill a Tank.

Tankbusters Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.

Infected
All 4 Dead Kill all four Survivors in one life while playing as a Tank.