Machete

The Machete is a close combat weapon introduced in Left 4 Dead 2.

Like all other melee weapons, the machete uses the slot of the pistol. It can slice, dismember and decapitate Common Infected.

It's about the same as a frying pan power-wise, but has a wider spread of damage, having the ability to level a horde of Common Infected. As a bladed weapon, the more kills you get with it, the more blood you get splashed on your screen and on your weapon. This can cause major tunnel vision and cover up your flanks from view. It can also do heavy damage to Special Infected if not killing them outright, although this isn't recommended unless they have ensnared or pinned another Survivor.

Since some Special Infected can attack you before you can kill them or are too far way to do anything with a melee weapon, and the other Special Infected have abilities and effects that make them too dangerous to consider killing with a melee attack.

When you locate the machete on your trek to the nearest safe room, you want to make sure you utilize it for the good of the Survivors. When traveling on open ground, keep the machete in its sheath, there is no need to cause friendly fire damage. When in a long passage, it is a smart idea to draw the machete, as you can level horde after horde of Common Infected as they run down the passage at you. When you're in the finale level, covering doorways with the machete is a good use. This secures that door and keeps any Survivor to your back safer.

Trivia

 * The Machete, the Baseball Bat, and the Cricket Bat all have 3 different animations compared to only 2 animations that all the other weapons have.
 * The machete is usually found in Swamp Fever and The Parish. It is not very common in Swamp Fever, but does appear. There are hardly any machetes in other campaigns.
 * The machete's shove attack shares movement with the Nightstick, although its shove is faster.
 * The way characters hold the machete in first-person view is very similar to the way the Sniper from Team Fortress 2 holds his Kukri (machete kept upright with the user's left hand in view with a rather defiant pose).
 * If the machete is used on the Riot Infected's protected area, it will not cause any damage. However, the Riot Infected will still bleed and get onto the player's screen for unknown reasons. This was probably an overlooked glitch.

Exernal Links

 * Machete gameplay