Boathouse Finale

The Boathouse Finale is the fifth and final chapter of the second campaign, Death Toll. The Survivors must fight their way from the safe house to a boathouse on the riverside to call on the radio for a boat that is circling outside the city to come and pick them up. When they call for pickup, the Infected attack, as with every finale. The Survivors must stay alive until the boat comes to rescue them, fighting off multiple hordes and several Special Infected, including two or three Tanks. When the boat arrives, they must run on to the boat and board it, upon which the credits begin to roll.

Safe Room Method
Have everyone run to the boathouse and load up on pipe bombs and med kits. Once you are healed to max with a med kit and pain pills if possible, call in for the boat. Once the boat is called in everyone runs back to the start of the map right outside of the safe house door. If two people stand in the back with two crouching in front of the door you can kill all of the Common Infected before they even get inside. Continue this until you hear the boat horn, and your characters say rescue has arrived. Special Infected do not have time to use their attack when running in the door, and tanks can only put one player down. Everyone can kill them before the player dies and then revive them. Sometimes the tank bugs at this point, and completely fails to appear—the Tank's theme will play, Infected will stop coming, but the Tank itself will never show up.

Once the boat arrives have everyone stay together and run back to the docks. This is where you will need the pipe bombs. There will be about 4 hordes of Common Infected as you run back. Pick an order to have everyone throw the pipe bomb if you feel you will be overwhelmed. If a Tank attacks again, have the person it attacks stray away from the group and try to outrun/dodge it using trees and houses. This usually results in 3 players always making it to safety with no ammunition or health problems. Sometimes you can get All 4 Back if you avoid the final Tank.
 * This data is based on a game played in expert mode, so all four players should be able to make it back to the boat on other difficulties.

Balcony Method
Have everyone arm up with their weapons (Auto shotgun and Dual Pistols). One Survivor handles the minigun while another covers him. The other two take the bottom floor until it cannot be protected further or is overrun, in which case they cover the stairs.

The cabin outside can be run to for resources but it is not advised to do so in the middle of the Horde. If you must, wait for the Tank to spawn and make a run for the cabin.

Wait For The Infected to calm when the boat comes, making sure the Special Infected are dead before running to the boat.

Dock Method
Have everyone stock up, then once the rescue has been called, run out to the dock where the boat arrives. The vast majority of the Infected will come from the front, with a few running around to the sides climbing up, but these are easy to deal with. For the Tanks, staying on the dock isn't advised due to a lack of room to run, and an abundance of water, rendering your Molotovs useless. When the Tank is present, have everyone move back onto the mainland to deal with it (this is also a good time to restock), and move back onto the dock as soon as it's been dispatched. Another obvious advantage to this tactic is at the very end, where you will hardly have to move to reach the boat, as it picks you up right where you've been holding out. There is also occasionally a Propane tank or Gas can on the dock that can be used.

Rock Method
To the left of the house there is a group of two rocks in the water. With a bit of practice you can jump to the top of the rocks. From here, Common Infected have a difficult time getting to you as there is only one place they can jump up at and if there is a horde they will constantly be pushing each other out of position so they won't be able to climb up. Three of the Survivors are on Smoker protection while the fourth survivor melees the Infected to conserve ammunition. The Tank likewise has difficulty climbing up, but he can still toss rocks and the surrounding water makes Molotovs impractical so it is advised to fight him on the mainland. If someone is pulled off or falls of the rock, have them go as far back into the water as they can. The horde should focus mostly on the closer survivors, allowing the far off survivor to snipe in relative safety. The strategy is slightly more dangerous than the closet strategy on expert unless someone is a good shot with the hunting rifle.

Rock Method 2
Mostly the same as Tactic 4, except this one uses a glitch that causes The Director to spawn very few of the Infected until the boat comes. But make sure everyone has a pipe bomb if possible. On the way to the rock, make sure your team's flashlights are off AT ALL TIMES! If done correctly, VERY few Common Infected will come to attack your team until the boat comes. If a Tank comes, stay on the rock and gun him down. However, if using this tactic, the tank will sometimes simply die for NO reason before you can even shoot him. But, if you do have to get off the rock, get back on it immediately. Whatever you do, DO NOT TURN YOUR FLASHLIGHT ON! Eventually the boat will come and when this happens, get off the rock and into the water. Have a teammate throw a pipe bomb with your other teammates throwing their pipe bombs after each other. The only problems with this tactic are dealing with the tanks, getting to the boat, and that the tactic is EXTREMELY anticlimactic until the boat comes. (You'd be surprised at how few of the Infected will come at you doing until the boat comes.)

Glitch Rock
There is also a rock to the far right of the house which can be climbed up on. If you shine your flashlight around the rock on the front side (not any of the sides in the water), you can just about jump on a surface to get onto the rock. Hordes can very rarely climb on this rock. The only things that the team will need to be aware of are Smokers that can pull you off, a Tank throwing rocks and an occasional Common Infected. The Tank can sometimes, although very rarely, climb the rock.

Tips
Note that the water isn't exactly deadly, but should still be avoided for a number of reasons.


 * 1) Molotovs are obviously useless.
 * 2) Your movement will be partially reduced here.
 * 3) Getting incapacitated in the water will kill you, no one will be able to rescue you once you drown, if a survivor is incapacitated in the water clear the Infected surrounding him and you are still able to revive him.

Trivia

 * If you throw a Propane tank into the river, it will disappear and it can't be picked back up.
 * You can throw a Molotov from the balcony over the house and on to the dock. This can, of course, create a potentially fatal situation; imagine a panicking Survivor throwing a the grenade at the docks as another Survivor is about to climb aboard the boat. Though this will keep the Infected at bay while the flames rage, the Survivor will also be caught in the fire. This can be especially catastrophic if the Survivor, or any other Survivors trying to get on board the boat, are low on health.
 * Look in the bathroom of the protected house after crossing the street from the safe room. A first-aid kit and pain pills usually spawns there, even on Expert.
 * John Slater, the man who spoke on the radio in the boathouse, is voiced by John Patrick Lowrie, who also voiced the Sniper in Team Fortress 2 and civilians in the Half-Life 2 series.
 * If a Tank is killed in the water, it will float.
 * This is a good place to get the Man vs. Tank achievement, as it provides enough closed space to survive the horde on your own, and enough open space to easily deal with the Tank.
 * You can see the burning city of Newburg on the opposite side of the river.
 * There is a red coffee mug on a desk in a dark side room almost immediately after the beginning safehouse that says "Layoffs Anyone?"