Weapons

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

- Coach

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

- Zoey

The primary weapons in Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 are divided into two classes or tiers. First-tier weapons (also called Tier 1 weapons) are restricted in choice, and available to all players at the start of any campaign. Second tier weapons (also called Tier 2 weapons) are relatively superior in combat effectiveness to Tier 1 weapons and are usually only found once players have partly or fully completed a Chapter.

Melee combat differs between Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. In the former, melee is a simple violent "shove" on an Infected at arm's length distance using whatever Tier 1 or 2 weapon the player happens to be wielding at the time. Melee attacks can also be done using a Gas can or Propane tank if a player is carrying one of these items. Left 4 Dead 2 melee combat is greatly enriched because it carries over Left 4 Dead Tier 1 and 2 "shove-back" and introduces a wide range of new melee-specific weaponry such as the Katana, Chainsaw, and Crowbar. Melee shoves and attacks can be made on any class of Infected although their effectiveness is nonexistent in the case of Tanks, Chargers, and Witches (except when stumbling the Witch).

There is no way to distribute weapons or ammunition among teammates without picking up another weapon to replace the dropped (donated) weapon's slot in the donor's inventory. All weapons have an attached Flashlight powered by a battery with unlimited life.

Picking up a new weapon from a table or other location (but not from a dead Survivor) provides a full ammo refill for that weapon and equates to restocking from an ammo pile. This is useful since a player can fire off a large volume of ammo from one weapon and then simply pick up a fresh weapon to get a full ammo resupply. This avoids having to waste time reloading the original weapon or visiting an ammo pile to restock. If all Survivors select the same weapon from a pile or arrive at an arms pile identically armed with the same weapon, that weapon type will not appear at a subsequent arms pile. To fix this, a player can trade that weapon out for another type of weapon in the pile whereupon the absent weapon will reappear. Ammo piles can resupply any type of weapon aside from the Grenade Launcher, Chainsaw and the M60 Machine Gun in Left 4 Dead 2.

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.

All bullet-based weapons have bullet penetration which means a player can shoot targets through thin walls and various in-game game objects (desks, chairs, etc.). This also means that if two Infected are positioned one behind another, shooting at the first one will also damage the one behind it. Bullet shot through surface or other infected will not count as friendly fire (shotguns is an exception if the remaining pellet did not hit the Infected/surface first). There are three exceptions to the penetration rule:
 * Shotguns have infinite character penetration up to 300 game units (roughly five meters)
 * Hunting rifles/sniper rifles have infinite penetration no matter the distance.
 * Weapons utilizing Incendiary or Explosive ammo cannot penetrate walls.

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, renamed and have a new reload animation.

Other Tier
There are only two weapons that don't qualify as a Tier 1 or Tier 2 that can be found in Left 4 Dead 2. These are sometimes classified as Special Tier or Tier 3 weapons.

Sidearms
Other than primary weapons, Survivors are provided with a sidearm weapon at all times in case their primary runs low on ammo. Sidearms are unique in that they have unlimited ammo, and in the case of firearms, the magazine is not depleted to 0 when reloading, giving the user the ability to switch to and from the sidearm easily.

Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead only features one sidearm, the M1911 Pistol, which can be dual-wielded.

Left 4 Dead 2
Unlike Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2 features two functional firearms and thirteen melee weapons (with two being exclusive to the PC version) under the sidearms section for use. There is a third firearm, the Glock, which only appears when dual-wielding the P220 Pistol, therefore sharing their performance.

Melee Weapons
Other than handguns, Survivors can also use close combat weapons and improvised items they find throughout the campaigns to deal with Infected on close range.

These melee weapons are highly effective, dealing varying maximum health percentage-based damage to various Infected. The following is the amount of melee weapon hits required to kill certain types of Infected and their corresponding damage values in Versus, assuming maximum health.
 * Common & Uncommon infected: 1 hit (damage equal to health)
 * Jockey, Spitter: 1 hit (damage equal to health)
 * Hunter, Smoker, Boomer: 5 hits to the legs (x0.75 multiplier damage), 1 hit everywhere else (damage equal to health)
 * Charger: 1 hit to the head (damage equal to health), 2 hits everywhere else (500 damage each)
 * Witch: 4 hits (250 damage each)
 * The Tank: 20 hits (5% of full health - damage per hit depends on difficulty or gamemode)

Special Melee
Unlike most other melee weapons, the Chainsaw does a static 100 damage 10 times every second.

Counter-Strike Weapons
These weapons were originally exclusive to the German copies of Left 4 Dead 2 to make up for the censorship. Since the Last Stand Update however, non-German version players can now find them in a normal, unmodified playthrough.

Weapon Upgrades
Special items lay scattered across maps to boost a weapon's abilities. Only found in Left 4 Dead 2.

Grenades
Each of the Survivors can carry at any time one of the following grenades.

Usable Items
These items are found throughout campaigns, all portable save for the explosive barrel. While carrying one, shoving is the only avaliable action. They contain volatile substances and will often detonate if hit by bullets, explosions or incendiary attacks, releasing their payload in a certain area. Area denial provided by them are often valuable during Crescendos or Finales.

Special Items
These items, like the items above, take over all of the Survivor's abilities to use weapons, and can be used to knock back Infected. However, these are special in that they are only found in specific places and are used to complete specific tasks. Only found in Left 4 Dead 2.

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.

Damage modifiers
Weapon damage to the Infected is subject to hit location, damage drop-off over distance and the game's difficulty.

Common & Uncommon Infected
Instantly die from:


 * Any damage to the head;
 * Any damage from scoped rifles (except on Realism), Magnum pistols and M60 Machine Guns;
 * Being hit directly or by splash damage of Explosive Ammo and the Grenade Launcher.

Within 100 game units (1.91m or 6.27 ft), shotguns deal 5 times their normal damage to any Common Infected, and received body damage is modified by the game's difficulty:


 * Easy: × 2 — Realism: × 0.5
 * Normal: × 1 — Realism: × 0.375
 * Hard: × 0.75 — Realism: × 0.25
 * Expert: × 0.5 — Realism: × 0.25

Special Infected
Original (Hunter, Smoker, Boomer):


 * Head: × 4 from bullets, × 1.25 from shotgun pellets
 * Torso: × 1.25
 * Arms: × 1
 * Legs: × 0.75

New (Charger, Jockey, Spitter):


 * Head: × 4 from bullets, × 1.25 from shotgun pellets
 * Right arm: × 1.25
 * Rest of the body: × 1

Computer-controlled Chargers take × 0.66 less damage while charging. This does not affect player-controlled Chargers in Versus.

The Witch receives 5 times damage from shotguns at point blank range (except on Realism), and received body damage is modified by the game's difficulty:


 * Easy:
 * Head: × 1
 * Body: × 2 — Realism: × 0.5
 * Normal:
 * Head: × 1
 * Body: × 1 — Realism: × 0.375
 * Hard:
 * Head: × 1
 * Body: × 0.75 — Realism: × 0.25
 * Expert:
 * Head: × 1
 * Body: × 0.5 — Realism: × 0.25

The Tank receives same damage everywhere, takes only × 0.85 damage from automatic shotguns in L4D2 (x 0.75 in L4D1) and × 3 damage from the Grenade Launcher.

Explosive ammo and the Grenade Launcher are not affected by body part multipliers against any Special Infected except for the Witch. Explosive ammo inflicts a weapon's normal damage (affected by damage drop-off) on direct hits and reduced damage on hits by the splash. Weapon damage inflicted with Incendiary ammo is affected by body part multipliers.

Melee weapons require the same amount of hits anywhere they hit with a few exception: to kill the Charger it takes two strikes to the body, but only one to the head (unless the Charger is computer-controlled and is charging, in which case more hits are required). Hits to the legs of Boomers, Smokers and Hunters will do damage equal to 75 % of their current health.

Damage drop-off
Different weapons have different damage drop-off over distance characteristics, most obviously linked to the caliber of the weapon. Of note: (excluding shotguns) pistols have the highest damage drop-off (up to 25 %), scoped rifles and the Grenade Launcher's projectile have no damage drop-off. Splash damage suffers damage drop-off relative to the center of the explosion.

Weapon Characteristics
The following are common characteristics shared by most weapons.

Reload
Reloading (default "R" on PC and "B" on the Xbox 360) is the in-game action of moving ammo from the reserve ammo count to usable loaded ammo.

The Hunting Rifle and Sniper Rifle take the longest to reload of all the magazine-fed weapons, but the person using them should not be engaging in close-quarters combat anyway.

Pistols have a similar reload time to the submachine guns, but have a much smaller magazine capacity with slightly higher damage. 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 one is almost out of ammo and use their melee attack while reloading. Listen closely when a teammate yells, "Reloading", and offer cover fire, especially if they are using shotguns or the Sniper or Hunting Rifles, which have longer reloads.

If players melee while reloading, this will not interrupt the action. They will continue to reload until the reload is finished, unless switching weapons or being attacked by a Special Infected using their primary attack (such as the Hunter, Tank, Smoker, Charger, or Jockey), incapacitated, or killed. This is extremely helpful against Horde attacks, as it allows players to push them away from them to finish reloading.

One thing to remember when reloading while using any gun in the first game or any pistol in the second is that weapons reload slower when the magazine is completely emptied. To bypass this slower reload, single pistols should be reloaded when they have 1 bullet remaining in the clip, while dual pistols should be reloaded before 2. This proves useful if players need a fast reload, such as being surrounded by the horde.

Flashlight
The Flashlight is an item that is always in the Survivors' inventory and is attached to every firearm the player can obtain. They cannot drop it, but 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.

The flashlight is attached onto a fixed point of a player's weapon, which means that when using the melee shove, changing weapons, or reloading, players lose the benefit of the light as the weapon moves and changes angles. This is not the case when using melee weapons in Left 4 Dead 2, as swinging them won't disturb the light source. This is a lot more useful for exploring and examining items and artwork, although it is strange that the light seems to be coming from nowhere (see more below).

In Left 4 Dead, when looking at a teammate who has their flashlight turned on, players can only see the cone of light while the light is not facing them directly. A possible reason can be seen in third-person view (PC only); the crosshair light only follows the head's facing, not the flashlight's. This is no longer the case in Left 4 Dead 2, as the character's heads no longer turn.

The flashlight is a surefire way to disturb the Witch, as demonstrated in Left 4 Dead 's 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 players should aim their crosshair away from her, or turn it off altogether. Additionally, idle Common Infected are disturbed faster when one shines their flashlight on them.

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
In Left 4 Dead, the Survivors have no special abilities other than healing, shooting, reloading, and simple melee shoving and striking — at which tasks they can function endlessly without incurring any fatigue penalties during normal gameplay. Presumably, this was a deliberate feature put into the game by Valve in order to reduce development costs, gameplay frustration and programming complexity.

However, players are now constrained by a variable called Fatigue. In close quarter combat, after four melee uses, a Survivor is obliged to wait up to three seconds until this attack can be used again. Repetitive use of a melee attack thus incurs a series of short time-out intervals to stimulate the body's need to regather its strength for the next strenuous exertion. Melee Fatigue was retrospectively introduced into the game after Valve received complaints of players who simply shoved their way to victory through Versus and Campaign matches without ever needing to fire a weapon. When the Left 4 Dead DLC known as the Survival Pack was released, Valve added the Melee Fatigue feature, but only left it out of the game's Campaign mode for unknown reasons. Later on, fatigue was then included as a universal mechanic in all Left 4 Dead 2 game modes.

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




 * All, save for the Tank, have a secondary melee attack which takes a second to cool down.
 * The Boomer has to wait 30 seconds before being able to vomit again.
 * The Hunter does not have a cooldown on pouncing, but he must charge it for 2 seconds if standing up.
 * This can be avoided by backing up into a wall, facing away from it, jumping then immediately pouncing. However, this technique does not work if the Hunter has already pounced on a Survivor.
 * The Smoker's tongue takes 15 seconds to regenerate if it bends or is destroyed by a Survivor. In Versus and Scavenge, it takes 3 seconds to rewind if it misses.
 * The Tank takes 3 seconds after a melee attack to be able to punch again; the same goes for its ranged rock throwing attack.
 * The Charger has to wait 12 seconds to be able to charge again. AI Chargers have a 66% damage resistance to all sources while charging,
 * The Spitter has to wait 20 seconds before she is able to spit again. Spitting also heavily reduces the Spitter's movement speed for several seconds.
 * The Jockey has to wait 1 second after he lunges if he misses a Survivor, 3 seconds if he makes a Survivor hang off a ledge while riding them, 7 seconds if he is shoved or knocked off of a Survivor, or 30 seconds if he incapacitates a Survivor while riding them.

Behind the Scenes

 * All of the weapons in Left 4 Dead are based on the programming used for Counter-Strike: Source 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 Beretta 96 Dual Elites, 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 in Left 4 Dead 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 needs to cock the gun in order to load a new round. These animations were removed from the game due to community request, but can still be seen in the Left 4 Dead Authoring Tools (in either 1 or 2; 2 has the M1911 Pistol view model unused but still having empty reload animations). The only weapons that still use their empty reload animations are the pump and auto shotgun. In Left 4 Dead 2, only the Pistol and Magnum Pistol use this, as well as the Hunting Rifle showing a cocking animation after throwing a pickup-able object, such as a Gas Can or Propane Tank. Also, a cut dual pistols animation in Left 4 Dead can be seen by using a rare glitch (by emptying 14 bullets of a magazine, then picking up the second pistol).
 * It appears that the animations relating to the other three weapons (Submachine Gun, 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


 * 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.
 * However, the old flashlight behavior is still in both games; it can be seen by turning on the flashlight when holding a melee weapon, throwable item, or healing item.
 * Laser Sights were originally set to be an upgrade for Left 4 Dead, but the concept of upgrades were cut. They were then put into Left 4 Dead 2 as a lone upgrade.

Cut Weapons
In the original Left 4 Dead game_sounds_weapons.txt file, listings for a flare gun and a LAW rocket launcher can be found. They are all commented out. It is likely that these weapons were scrapped early in development, as none of the pre-release footage shows either of these weapons. Also there, one can find mentions of some upgrades to firearms, such as a bayonet/knife and a blinding flash.

In Left 4 Dead 2, there were originally going to be a riot shield and didgeridoo as usable melee weapons in the game.; however, they were cut for unknown reasons. The riot shield was fully modeled, animated and textured and can still be spawned in-game, both via the console and during custom campaigns, while the didgeridoo has a low-poly model, but no textures or animations.

In "Hard Rain", there was also supposed to be a flare gun, but was cut during early development. It was meant to be found somewhere near the end of the level, with the possible ability to help Survivors see in the rain. A clue that there was a flare gun originally is reflected in an occasional conversation at the start of Hard Rain where Nick wonders how they can signal Virgil, to which Ellis replies, "Oh, there's flares in the gun bag." Nick then admits to forgetting the gun bag on Virgil's ship.

Ammo Packs were also set to be an alternative to the health kit. When deployed, it would let all Survivors be able to restock on ammo. It was cut because players found it less valuable than the medkit and expected to find an ammo pile further on.

In early development, Coach was seen with a compound bow which was never put into game, as seen here.

Achievements
Sidearms

Melee Weapons

Special Weapons

Ammo Upgrades

Combined

 * On each Survivor model, the pistol is the only weapon that actually has a reasonable excuse to stay attached to you, as Survivors have one pistol holster and pockets. Weapons and health kits/defibrillator/ammo packs put on their back don't have a strap keeping them on; and Bile bombs/Pipe bombs/Molotovs and pills/adrenaline also seem to float on the player's waist.
 * When picking up ammo from a pile in Left 4 Dead, it would only fill the reserve ammunition to its maximum allowed capacity — not accounting if there is missing ammo in the primary weapon; meaning that players are required to reload their primary weapons before replenishing ammo to reach full ammo capacity. In Left 4 Dead 2, picking up ammo from a pile would fill the reserve up entirely including the ammo missing from the primary weapon.
 * You can still somehow use the flashlight even when wielding items such as pills, Melee Weapons, and gas cans, even when they do not have one attached to them.
 * Even though the common tactic is to switch off the flashlight when a Witch is nearby, it is usually unnecessary as the Witch is only disturbed by the light when it is aimed directly at her.
 * While players cannot see the light made by another Survivor's flashlight, they can tell if others have their light on or off by looking at the bottom of their gun. If the flashlight is on, there will be a cone of light there.
 * The flashlight is not shown on the HUD icons for the weapons in the PC version of Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, but it is shown on the Xbox 360 version.
 * No matter the apparent weight, weapons in both games have no effect on a Survivor's running speed.

Left 4 Dead

 * The posters before each level sometimes show characters with scoped MP5s, but they are not usable in the actual game.
 * With the exception of one area each in the 3rd and 4th chapters of "Death Toll" and in "Crash Course", all tier 2 weaponry spawns in groups; allowing players to choose which weapon they want to wield against the Infected.
 * For unknown reasons, turning on your flashlight while you're aiming the minigun will cause your flashlight to rapidly turn on and off continuously until you dismount. If you actually need to shine your flashlight while mounting one, you need to turn it on on the weapon you were using before mounting the minigun.
 * If you observe a fellow Survivor reloading their gun, they will always cock their weapons regardless of the amount of ammo the magazine has left, excluding the two shotguns and dual pistols. These animations were supposed to be cut (at least in the first person view) but the Survivor can resume shooting even while cocking their gun. In addition, the sounds of the cut cocking animation will also play.
 * Melee weapons were possibly going to be in Left 4 Dead in the first place, according to the game_sounds_player.txt soundscript in specified game's files, and from the "BaseballBat.%parameter%"s.
 * A post made in the official L4D Blog confirmed that the original Left 4 Dead almost featured a baseball bat as a weapon, it was later added to the second game.

Left 4 Dead 2

 * New weapons introduced in Left 4 Dead 2 do not feature removable magazines in the world model when the character reloads in third person or when observed by other survivors. The original weapons featured in Left 4 Dead, however, retain this feature.
 * The PC-exclusive September 2020 update for Left 4 Dead 2 corrected this, so now the magazine moves during the reload animations. However, the bug is still present on the Xbox 360 version.
 * Ironically, the melee fatigue timer comes up when you shove with firearms or melee weapons, and does not apply to normal melee weapons.
 * Upon picking up a melee weapon, Survivors drop their sidearm. However, when they are incapacitated, they still pull out a Pistol, and once revived, the Pistol is no longer part of their inventory and the melee weapon is still in the sidearm slot.
 * Once the Chainsaw has run out of fuel, the Survivor will drop the Chainsaw and it will be replaced with a Pistol, despite the fact the Survivor dropped a Pistol to pick up the Chainsaw in the first place.
 * Typing "give melee" in the developer's console will give you the base for melee weapons. When taken out it appears to be glitch arms flying all over the place, and has no HUD icon. If traded for a different melee weapon or a Pistol, the world model will appear as a Hunter's arms. If you have Third Person mode active with the Hunter arms out the Survivor will do a reference pose very similar to the Civilian from Team Fortress 2.
 * Typing "give [name]_claw" in console (replacing [name] with the name of a Special Infected, will cause an apparent error. These 'weapons' are the only 'equipment' a player Infected can use. When given to a Survivor, they will drop on the ground and appear as a Pistol, due to the need for a world model "even if it will never be used".
 * Currently, the weapon smoke effect is bugged, as the smoke comes from behind the gun, rather than from the muzzle.
 * Originally the melee weapons were supposed to break after prolonged use, but the development team ultimately decided against it after testing. Break sounds for the Axe and Frying Pan weapons can still be found in the game files.
 * Every melee weapon delivers a one-hit-kill against all Common and Special Infected (apart from the Charger, Tank and Witch, the former of which takes two).
 * There is a total of fourteen melee weapons, with seven belonging to the Bludgeoning type. Four are classified as Slashing type weapons. Interestingly, the remaining three are not assigned a specific weapon type, based on the results of checking the "damage_flags" key in the melee weapons' scripts.
 * In the Left 4 Dead 2 ports of "Crash Course", "Death Toll", "Dead Air" (except "The Terminal") and "Blood Harvest", at least one melee weapon will spawn in the safe room.
 * The Heckler & Koch G3SG/1 "Sniper Rifle" and the M60 Machine Gun are the only weapons that both uses 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges. It is strange that the H&K G3SG/1 can be refilled by ammo piles and the M60 cannot, likely for balancing reasons.
 * The Chainsaw is the only melee weapon with limited usage, as it will be automatically discarded once it runs out of fuel. The Grenade Launcher can be only reloaded with incendiary or explosive ammo, whereas the M60 Machine Gun will only convert remaining ammo instead of adding more rounds.