Nightstick

"♪ Gonna beat me a zombie to death with a nightstick~♪"

- Ellis The Nightstick is a new close-combat weapon introduced in Left 4 Dead 2. The nightstick takes the slot of the pistols, and kills Common Infected in one hit. It's usually found in certain safe rooms or randomly throughout levels, but the Nightstick can also be dropped by a Riot Infected when killed, if there's one around his waist. The Nightstick isn't really supposed to be used against Special Infected. Against Boomers, Spitters, and Witches, it isn't very effective, while against Hunters, Smokers, and Jockeys it's better to shoot them, and it takes two hits to kill a Charger while putting you at high risk of taking high damage from the Charger's melee attack. However, any melee weapon (excluding the Chainsaw) can be marginally effective against a Tank who is pounding another player due to the special ability of melee weapons to deal 10% of the Tank's total health in damage.

Trivia

 * In the original Left 4 Dead, many Infected police officers have nightsticks hanging from their belts, though they cannot be picked up upon their death.
 * Nightsticks derive from the tonfa, a Okinawan weapon of very similar shape usually made from red oak.
 * The weapon is or strongly resembles a Monadnock PR-24 police baton, commonly associated with law enforcement officers. It can be distinguished from a true tonfa in that it is not made of wood and is used alone rather than in a pair.
 * The Nightstick is the only campaign exclusive melee weapon, appearing only in The Parish.
 * The nightstick, along with the frying pan, are the only melee weapons that can't cause any physical deformities to Common Infected, meaning no decapitations or dismemberment.
 * It is the fastest blunt-object melee weapon in the game.
 * Strangely, due to its speed, the nightstick, with 10 continuous swings, can kill the Tank faster than any other weapon. However, the requirement to get close enough to use it diminishes its effectiveness greatly.
 * The nightstick is yet another weapon looked down upon in Max Brook's "Zombie Survival Guide", as nightsticks are designed to be non-lethal. Most of the melee weapons in Left 4 Dead are looked down upon in the book, ironically.
 * In the Left 4 Dead 2 Demo, the Nightstick's shove animation was grabbing the opposite end with the Survivor's free hand and pushing it forward. In the full version, the Nightstick's shove animation is the same as the Machete's.