The Lighthouse

The Lighthouse is a map featured exclusively in Survival Mode. It is the only map in The Last Stand campaign. The layout of the map is centered around a small group of connected buildings, with the largest being a two-story lighthouse. The buildings consist of a small storage shed, behind which is the first of the two rooms of the main lighthouse building. A stairwell in the larger room allows the players to reach the top level of the lighthouse, which can also be accessed through a system of ladders around the buildings. The machine used to start the map is located in a separate garage-type room, and is a large fuel pump. There is an obscenely large number of gas cans and propane tanks on this map. The ammo pile and other weapons are inconveniently located on the outside of the house which means you may not have a chance to change weapons or grab ammo when the horde attacks.

Tactics

 * Since the map is placed in a forest area, use the various fuel and propane tanks given to you to create a perimeter around the buildings. You won't last long anyway, but it should help keep a large amount of the horde off of your backs.
 * The stairwell, while being a cramped location, can give the advantage of a sort of choke point, and the high ground defense tactic. Infected can jump through the windows above the stairwell, negating some of the high ground advantage, it is also less maneuverable for Special Infected.
 * It is ill-advised to stay within the rooms during a Tank attack, as that allows it to kill your team with ease. Alternatively, staying bunched up may work to your advantage, as you may be able to kill the tank without it doing much damage.
 * Be careful about how close you are to the edge at the top of the lighthouse when there is a tank or smoker; survivors can easily be knocked off.
 * Smokers are especially dangerous to the Survivors if they plan on using the roof as a defensible position. Because the Survivors are exposed, the Smokers can drag them out of reach of the other Survivors, and they can be killed quite quickly.
 * Along with gas cans scattered around the house, there are also propane tanks that you can use to blow up a horde.
 * A good place to set up is in the generator room. Set up several gas cans around the room for the initial few minutes, have two molotovs and two pipebombs, and have all four survivors have auto-shotguns. Using the bump on the water heater, get two survivors in each space between the pipes. Start the horde, and use only pistols until the tank music starts. When the tank begins to climb the water heater, unload on him, he should die before being able to do any damage. Pull the pistols out again and repeat. A good time to get ammo is at about 9 minutes. This is at a time when there is a break of spawns. Just beware of Special Infected hiding around. Good Luck!
 * Another great spot to fight is the chimney on the lighthouse. You must be all humans, this does not work with bots. All four Survivors either grab a rifle or an hunting rifle. Then, trigger the swarms and go to the chimney. All four Survivors must be on the chimney, or else it won't work. Now that you are on the chimney, Infected will just stand and they will never try to attack your team. This is because this spot isn't "nav marked", so AI think it's outside the world. The Tank, normal Infected and Boomers won't get you. Rarely, a Smoker or a Hunter will attack. That's why you should be ready.
 * An alternative to an all-human team would be to kill the AI bots prior to starting the lighthouse generator.

Trivia

 * If you look off the cliffs that overlook the ocean, you'll notice a boat similar to the one in Death Toll. The terrain also seems similar to the one of Riverside, possibly hinting that the lighthouse is someplace near the town—which would be logical, in light of the docks.
 * Many people believe that this is the same boat from the Death Toll finale. This implies that the boat sank, and the survivors swam to shore. Meaning the lighthouse is used to summon another boat for rescue.
 * There is writing on one of the inside walls that just refers to the date 10/30/09. Left 4 Dead was nominated for the 27th annual Golden Joystick, the results of which will be released October 30th, 2009. The exact date on the wall.
 * On the 360 version of Left 4 Dead, the chapter description for the Lighthouse is a file name, called L4D_HOLDOUT_LIGHTHOUSE
 * If you run to the end of the road where the car is, there will be a fence. Jump in the very corner where the fence meets rock. Doing this right means you will float in mid air for a few seconds, hear your character scream, hear a loud crack and die instantly. This is a glitch in the map.
 * If a player falls off the cliff onto the beach he will either die, or he may survive and sit there staring into the sun (he will still be unplayable and registered dead), most likely incapacitated with broken legs. If this happens other players can see zombies running around on the shore, likely consuming the survivor.
 * Very rarely, The last stand will appear in the offline co-op list. When you play the level you appear on the other side of the fence at the car. The map keeps going until it reaches a sheer drop. It is speculated that The Last Stand was meant to be a finale a for a DLC version and this glitch takes you to the start of it.