Gnome Chompski

Gnome Chompski is a garden gnome and improvised weapon exclusive to the "Dark Carnival" campaign. He made his debut in Valve's Half-Life 2: Episode Two as the Garden Gnome and is infamous for earning players the achievement "Little Rocket Man".

Description
In Left 4 Dead 2, he can be picked up by scoring over 750 points in the shooting gallery minigame at "The Fairgrounds" and must be taken all the way to the Rescue vehicle in "The Concert" to unlock the "GUARDIN' GNOME" achievement. All players within the entire "Dark Carnival" campaign play-through will attain the achievement, dead or alive, so long as one Survivor makes it into the rescue chopper with Gnome Chompski in hand. He also has his own mutation, known as "Last Gnome on Earth", where players start off with the Gnome in the beginning, bringing him to every safe house and eventually the rescue vehicle.

Gnome Chompski also makes a non-canon appearance in the "Suicide Blitz 2" campaign. By bringing him from the first chapter all the way to the end, he can be used to unlock a special Easter Egg.

Tactics

 * Like with the Cola, players cannot shoot while holding Gnome Chompski but can still melee. However, the fatigue timer will still act regularly whenever they push too many times; in addition, the shove is very weak, requiring four hits to bring down Infected.
 * When held, the Gnome takes up around 35% of the screen, blocking the holder's right side in near-entirety. The player can somewhat circumvent this via the "thirdpersonshoulder" console command.
 * Gnome Chompski is affected by weapon knock-back. If he is dropped under a ramp or on top of a roof and cannot be reached (for example, on the merry-go-round), Survivors may shoot him at an angle to push him back. A Grenade Launcher is effective for this.
 * Gnome Chompski is not a lethal weapon when thrown. Players should not throw him with the intent to kill with him; he'll simply pass straight through Infected.
 * However, like a Molotov, a proper throw can break a rock thrown by a Tank, if necessary.
 * A useful tactic when carrying Gnome Chompski is to throw (primary fire, MOUSE1 or RT button by default) him during hectic moments, allowing use of the players' guns, and then pick him up after. Just be especially careful not to lose him in the fight, or toss him somewhere unreachable. To help keep track of Chompski, players can drop him at their feet (use key, E or X button by default) instead of throwing him if needed.
 * There are three spots where having Gnome Chompski could be the Survivors' downfall: the Crescendo event at the carousel, the Crescendo event at the roller coaster, and the Crescendo event at the barns.
 * To make things easier, throw Gnome Chompski over the fence of the carousel to get through the event as usual, and he will be close to the safe room.
 * On the coaster, one should also throw Chompski over the fence so one can cover half the coaster without him blocking their view, and should they drop him, it is a shorter trip to getting him than if he was back at the entrance.
 * In the barns, as soon as one sees the stadium, simply throw him over the railing so he can wait lying just outside the safe room door.
 * Survivors can pass Gnome Chompski back and forth between each other and take turns shooting. The free-handed teammates can then guard the carrier.
 * In Versus, Special Infected can hit Gnome Chompski out of his box without playing the shooting gallery game. Survivors can then pick it up and carry it to the end of the level, but will not get the achievement because it's impossible to keep it until the finale.
 * Similarly, on any online campaign (Campaign, Realism) if the player has poor connection, they may be able to walk straight up to the closed box containing Gnome Chompski and grab it without playing the minigame.
 * In very rare cases, if players hit the heart-shaped hole on the box with an Axe, Gnome Chompski will have a clipping glitch and may fall through the bottom of the box to be easily obtained.
 * Gnome Chompski can be used to kill Infected, but is ill-advised; it takes roughly 4 hits to kill Common Infected on the easiest setting and fatigues the Survivor. It is more advisable to drop him and pick back up when done.
 * Make sure to actually hold Gnome Chompski while entering the helicopter at the finale. Just dropping it will end up with no achievement, therefore having to start all over again.
 * If the Survivor holding the Gnome presses the elevator button on the first chapter of "Dead Center" with the "Last Gnome on Earth" mutation, the Gnome will disappear through the elevator and out of sight, effectively making the level unbeatable. If this happens, you must restart the level.
 * Similarly, if the Gnome falls to an unreachable area, such as off a ledge on "Dead Center", the level will be unbeatable.
 * Once players have gotten Gnome Chompski to a safe room, if they restart from that safe room after dying, he'll be with them. So if they lose him somehow while progressing between chapters, they may be better off letting everyone die and respawn rather than restarting the whole campaign.

Behind the Scenes
Gabe Newell partnered up with Weta Workshop and Rocket Lab to send 3D printed Gnome Chompski into space for charity. The Gnome was launched on 20 November 2020. Newell planned on donating $1 for every person who watched the video within 24 hours of the launch to the Starship children's hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. The space mission was followed by adding new auto-unlocking achievements named "Gnome Alone" to Left 4 Dead 2, Half-Life: Episode 2 and Half-Life: Alyx games on Steam.