Tactics

Assuming a certain level of basic skill and familiarity with tactical shooters, these tactics should help you and your fellow survivors get through Left 4 Dead... alive! As a start, make sure you know all of the Controls.

Above all else, no matter what team you are on, Infected or Survivors, in the end you will be depending on the people around you to survive as well as to have an overall good experience. This game requires cooperation on all sides, so be kind, treat others nicely (don't go overboard with the trash talk), do not belittle your team mates and be patient with the less experienced players. With luck, they will return the favour. If not... you might just find yourself left for dead.

Surviving a horde
Common Infected run fast, come in large numbers, and are often backed up by Special Infected. This section describes tactics you can use regardless of what your teammates are doing.

Doors
Always close doors when you find them. You can then safely kill infected through the door. If the hole in the door is big enough, go ahead and use melee through the door. This will knock the infected back, saving the door from immediate destruction, and keep you nice and safe. But also remember this can work both ways as good Smoker players will grab Survivors through the hole in the door while the rest of the group is looking in the opposite direction thinking that it's safe to be behind a door.

Closing doors behind you is also useful while you are moving through a level. The AI Director is notorious for sending infected to you from the direction you just came, and those surprise infected can really mess up your team quickly. Shutting doors that you just came through can slow down those sneaky infected and mean the difference between becoming incapacitated or dying, and survival. It is especially useful to shut doors in the finale of a campaign which can make defending them a great deal easier.

Boss infected caveats:
 * A Boomer (if detonated too close) will blow the door away and potentially slime the team of survivors pitted behind it.
 * A Hunter can pounce right through a sufficiently damaged door.
 * A Smoker can grab you with its tongue through a small hole in the door.
 * A Witch or a Tank can plough right through a door.

Corners and walls
When the room gets thick with infected, the best cover in this game can be found in a corner, or failing that a wall to your back. You can then use a melee to knock back infected and shoot when you have breathing room.

Contrary to popular belief, fire extinguishers do not damage either the Survivors or the Infected. They also do not start panic events.

Choke Points
A group of Survivors can survive the infected horde if they use a narrow opening to draw the horde to them. This creates a slower flow of infected, and allows the Survivors to concentrate fire-power all in one direction, making their defence more successful. Examples of effective choke points are:


 * A narrow hallway.
 * A secure room with only one entrance.
 * A slim rooftop with only one way to get to defending Survivors.

Effective choke point tactics include two rows of Survivors near the choke point entrance, where two Survivors are crouching up front - usually with shotguns - while the other two Survivors stand up in behind and shoot over the front survivor's heads. Crouching Survivors can either shoot or melee, and can cover each other while their partner reloads.

Choke points can be a problem when Survivors forget that a room isn't secure from all locations - this leads to surprise zombies breaking in from another point (like through a wall or a ceiling) and overwhelming the Survivors.

Choke points are harder to find in outdoor environments, but you can always use an entrance of a building while inside to fight Infected while they try take on your group.

Other issues include Special Infected taking advantage of the tactical situation. Fortunately, Boomers and Hunters can be quickly dealt with. Smokers require Survivors to be aware of their tactics, and they must prevent their teammates from being pulled away too far, or the choke point tactics fall apart rapidly. Choke points can work against survivors when dealing with Tanks as the survivors are boxed in and can't use their superior speed to their advantage.

On top of things
Sadly, being on top of a car, subway, etc. is of negligible value as cover in this game due to the climbing abilities of the infected. In fact, you'll often find yourself in a situation where you are being attacked along 360 degrees, which in most cases is fatal. However, gaining the high-ground while making sure your back is covered can buy you a good amount of time, due to the fact that it will take a few seconds for an infected to climb up. Use melee or a well placed round or two to finish off a few of the horde.

Additionally, a group of Survivors all defending a high ground point, again using melee and fire-power can really slow down Infected's ability to disrupt a staged defence. Working together is key in high-ground defensive positions. In campaign finales especially you should find the high ground and defend it until the rescue vehicle arrives.

Boss Infected
See also: The Infected

General Tank tactics:

 * Keep your distance from the Tank if at all possible. You can't expect to survive a one on one with a Tank unless you have a decent amount of health and are an experienced player, but having to go one on one with Tanks should rarely happen. Take advantage of your surroundings by climbing up and jumping off of ledges, as the Tank leaves itself open whenever it has to climb.
 * Set the Tank on fire using either a Molotov or a gas can. As of January 23, the damage the Tank received from fire is now reflected in the Tank's health. This will reduce the amount of time you require to engage and defeat the Tank.
 * Explosives such as pipe bombs, propane, or compressed air tanks are great for limited big damage, but not as effective as fire, which always does guaranteed damage over time to the Tank. The propane and compressed air tanks will also cause the Tank to reel back, like Infected after a melee attack.
 * Keep clear of cars, fallen trees, furniture, and dumpsters if the Tank is nearby. The Tank will definitely use big objects in the environment and try to punch these objects towards Survivors, which means an immediate incapacitation if said object hits a Survivor. Tanks will try to climb over burning barrels, though, setting them ablaze (usually only applies to AI-controlled Tanks, but might work with some similar smart players), so moving to put a barrel between you and him will usually have the same effect as a well placed Molotov. Make sure you run, because you do not want to be pounded on by a burning Tank.
 * Try to draw the tank into a crouching only area. It can buy you a few seconds while the tank tries to wiggle its way through the area. Good examples of crouching-only areas are ventilation grates and ambulances. Note, however, that this is no longer a viable tactic as of the latest update. Tanks now crawl at a much faster speed and will quickly overwhelm a team hiding in vents.
 * The Tank can climb, but it slows down. Take advantage of this as you can climb up and down much faster.
 * In closed quarters, all Survivors should concentrate all of their fire-power on the Tank. The Tank will pound on a Survivor or two, but everyone should make it out alive.
 * Another useful tactic is to get to an area immediately inaccessible to the Tank. The rafters of a building away from the area that allows one to climb up to it is effective, because the Tank wants to get to you by the shortest route.
 * Whenever a Tank takes damage, its forward momentum slows down (just like yours slows down when infected punch you). If you can light him on fire, hit him with a minigun, and have the other three pump Shotguns into him, the Tank slows to a virtual standstill and is quickly dealt with.
 * Lacking a good situation, have one person focus on avoiding the Tank while the other three keep him as slow as possible. Make sure to communicate and let your bait know if he switches targets.
 * Explosions, such as pipe bombs, propane tanks, oxygen tanks, and Boomers can knock the Tank back and give you a good three or four seconds to fill him with bullets. It's even better if you can push him off high ground, forcing him to come back up.
 * On Expert difficulty, the Tank can incapacitate a Survivor with one punch or his rock throw. Once a Survivor becomes incapacitated, he will die in two hits so keep your distance and stay on your toes.
 * Never let the Tank back you into a corner as you can't go anywhere and it is most likely you will be incapacitated.
 * Explosives deal around 750 damage to the Tank.

If someone else is attacked by the Tank:
A) Fire away until the Tank dies, though on expert he will most likely kill the incapacitated player before the Tank itself dies. B) Run, especially if close to the safe room. If all the players can get to the saferoom and close it while the Tank is killing another player, you will succeed. C) If you are the incapacitated player, don't be afraid to shoot at him with your pistols. Every little bit helps. It can really mean the difference between the Tank dying on your body, or you dying under the Tank.
 * If the Tank is pounding a Survivor into the floor, another Survivor can aggravate the Tank and possibly draw its attention from its target by using melee and hitting it in the back. Shooting a Tank won't have the same effect as tapping it on the shoulder with your rifle butt when it's busy killing your teammate. Be aware that a Tank can turn around mid swing and smack you if you're trying to melee him.
 * Another way to aggravate the Tank and draw its attention is to get on a nearby minigun. Even if you can't hit the Tank, he will stop pounding on the incapacitated survivor, and go after the gunner. Another survivor should then try to help the downed player up as soon as possible.
 * Never let the Tank back any of your teammates into a corner as they can't go anywhere and it is most likely they will be incapacitated.
 * On Expert difficulty, the Tank can incapacitate a Survivor with one punch or his rock throw. Once a Survivor becomes incapacitated, he will die in two hits. If you see him going for an incapacitated Survivor, you need to aggravate him before the first hit or the Survivor will almost certainly die.
 * If you have pills and someone else's health is in the red, give them your pills. This can prevent them from getting incapacitated. Also, if someone's health is above 51%, they can outrun the Tank. Pills provide 50% health so giving them pills will let them run faster.
 * If a teammate is incapacitated, and you don't want to change his target to yourself you can do one of two things:

The Smoker
Here are some basic tactics to help you deal with a Smoker:


 * When you hear a Smoker or one of your teammates announces his presence, stay close together and watch out for each other. If any of the Survivors are alone and too far away from the group, they make an easy target for the Smoker. If the lone Survivor is grabbed, it's possible the other Survivors will not notice or will be too far away to help in time.


 * If a Smoker is on a roof and has grabbed a teammate then do not waste your time killing the Smoker and just melee the survivor. The survivor will automatically be freed.


 * When a Smoker grabs you, you will have a few seconds to free yourself by shooting the Smoker. If you are not currently holding a gun (or have started reloading) at the time your are grabbed, you will probably not have time to save yourself.


 * If a Smoker grabs you while you're throwing a pipe bomb, and no other survivors are around or notice you, throw the pipe bomb at the Smoker. The resulting explosion will free you from the Smoker's grasp.

The Witch
Here are some basic tactics to help you deal with a Witch:

If sneaking by:

 * Turn off your flashlight.
 * Watch out for her signature red glow.
 * Note that music gets louder as you get closer, and gets quieter as you are farther.
 * Do not shoot at or near her, loud gunshots near her will startle her.
 * Advise allies if you locate her, and give them the precise location.
 * If she is right where you have to go, let one person go past her at a time, if she starts to get up, but you get away, wait for her to get back down and then let the next person go.
 * Potentially dangerous, but useful, it is smart to locate the Witch before leaving completely. That way, if you are retreating or need a place to hide during a crescendo event, you will know where not to go.
 * Memorize the general area. If you end up startling her, and then shoot while backing up, you don't want to fall off a building or run into a wall.
 * If you absolutely cannot get past her, your only option may be to fight her.

If you startle the witch:
A) Her attack is delayed. B) You have an excellent chance to get some head-shots. C) You can just keep running.
 * First, try to "cr0wn" her with a shotgun. (For best results use an Auto shotgun, and position yourself behind her. Run up to her (so close that you will be running in place), then aim at her face, and continuously shoot. If she doesn't die in the first shot, the next two or three should kill her. An alternate idea would be to place a propane tank next to her, and detonate.
 * If she doesn’t die, burn her with a molotov, that way her health will continuously deplete.
 * Run back to the safe room, she can't break down this door, then when you are safe inside, unload.
 * Don't stop moving! The Witch, though strong is not slow, she is actually quite fast (300 speed compared to the survivors' 210); she will most likely catch up to you if you stop to take a shot, so don't stop running.
 * Don’t stop shooting! If you have a hunting rifle, shoot from afar; if you have a shotgun, get up close, but keep a distance.
 * Have a trust-worthy ally next to you in case she incapacitates you.
 * If possible, use heights to your advantage (Example: at the top of a ladder). That way if she climbs to get to you:

If someone else startles the Witch:

 * Make a defensive line between the Witch and one who startled her, unload before she gets to him; if she is not killed, then her health will be low enough for the running survivor to kill her.
 * If you have a shotgun, keep shooting her up close, she won’t attack you unless you directly block her from moving (if you block her in an open area, she will just push you out of the way while charging, not causing damage).
 * Throw a propane tank at her. This will hurt the Witch, as well as push her back a few feet, delaying her attack and sparing your teammate a few hit points.
 * One option, albeit cheap, is to leave your ally to his fate. The Witch won’t hurt you, and once your ally is dead, you won’t have to worry about an attempt at revenge for leaving him. This is why you should have a trust worthy ally as mentioned above.
 * If you are in a tunnel or other confining space. Do not stand between the Witch and her prey. She will get frustrated shortly and kill you instead.
 * On expert, the Witch ignores incapacitation and instantly kills her target. If a teammate has startled the Witch, you can actually save their life by shooting them and incapacitating them. The Witch now lacks the ability to kill them in one hit, however, be sure to subdue the Witch before she can kill the player on the ground. Also, do not use this tactic unless the Witch is charging to attack in close proximity.

What not to do when startling the Witch:

 * Though it is smart to close doors behind you because it will delay infected and special infected, this will not stop the Tank or the Witch. If you are being chased by the Witch, she will rip the whole door down in one second.
 * Don't split up, the Witch will only go for one person, the others are completely safe, so if everyone runs in separate directions, the one who startled her will most likely be killed by the Witch, others will be killed by special infected. So stick together.
 * Don't melee the Witch, this is a fool's dare.

See the Witch for more tactics.

Team tactics
This game hates lone wolves like no other. You need teammates to cover your back and pull you out of tough situations.

Voice Chat
Voice communication is extremely useful and most players will need to use it to ensure survival. It is not a requirement but voice communication is a lot easier than using the message chat and it will help teammates know what is going on around them while normally offering them a quicker rescue response from special infected and being incapacitated.

Turn On Closed or Full Captions
If you turn either of the above on by going into options, the game will say things like "Tank growls" or "Incoming Attack". Although not necessary, this will help a lot.

Single File
This tactic is best used in a narrow or confined space, such as hallways or tunnels. The players with the most health should cover the front and rear, while the players with the least health stay sandwiched in the middle. There should be plenty of space for two Survivors between each player, so if one is pounced/grabbed, the other players won't be knocked back, and can aid the Survivor faster.

Moving
One of the most important things to do on expert difficulty is to always keep moving forward. On expert, the Director will almost constantly send hordes and hordes of infected at immobile Survivors. The longer you take through a level the more hordes and special infected you will need to face, so move quick and cautious.

One very important exception is during a horde attack. Find a spot to cover your back, crouch and do not move! This helps to reduce team damage. If in the open, you can use a teammate's back, so that you each cover 180 degrees.

In Versus mode, if your flashlight is off, you are not firing a weapon and you move more slowly than running (crouch-walking, walking or standing still), your outline will not be seen by the enemy infected. This is very useful for sneaking up on a position where an infected is likely to be hiding. Note that this will not apply to survivors in sight of infected players or survivors covered in Boomer bile.

Squad Formation
An effective tactic, especially in tight quarters, is to split your team into a point squad and a rearguard. The squad on point is responsible for eliminating all threats from the front while the rearguard puts the hurt on infected flanking manoeuvres. This tactic is especially effective because your rearguard and team are close enough to you that they can knock bosses off of you before they can deal damage to you.

Cornered
Surprisingly, four survivors crammed into one corner (or closet) works very well. Deploy two of them in a crouched position doing melee while two more stand behind them and unload their weapons, this tactic will get rid of zombies very effectively.

CAUTION: This tactic MUST be abandoned with haste if a Tank is present. You can tell if a Tank is coming because there will be cue music, the screen will shake, and the Tank will make distinctive noises, like the other Special Infected.

Lines of fire (and the not-so-friendly fire)
Important rule of thumb: when in doubt hold your fire and use a melee attack.

Consider some "real-life" situations:
 * An infected slips past you and you give in to the temptation to whip around 180° to gun them down but instead, you kill your teammate.
 * A teammate is man-handling an infected but you decide to "help" them out, only to miss and reduce the survivor count.
 * A Boomer slimes you so you shoot blind in a panic, thus killing the two teammates who were trying to cover for you.
 * A Boomer jumps in front of you before he can attack, you shoot and thus cover yourself and your team in Boomer bile. (If this does happen, don't make the mistake of blind firing, as mentioned above)

Also, whenever a Survivor is between you and a target rich environment, you should either:


 * Hold fire and ask them to crouch (good players will do this automatically).
 * If they are crouched, inform them you are behind them, then open fire (otherwise they might stand up again when you do not expect it).
 * Aim high. Dangerous weapons like the Pump/Automatic Shotguns have a wider area of effect than other weapons thanks to their lack of pinpoint accuracy. Doing this will save your team from potential (and unnecessary) friendly-fire.
 * Switch to pistol(s). Depending on what your primary weapon is, your pistols can be more accurate thus lowering the risk of friendly fire. Also, the relatively low damage of the pistol means that even if you happen to shoot a teammate, minimal damage will be taken.
 * If you're slimed and your vision is obscured, look for your teammates' names, they're still visible. Shoot or push when you see motion and you don't see them.

Dangerous weapons
The following weapons have relatively large areas of effect and thus cause friendly fire havoc. On any difficulty, it is imperative that you know what you are shooting at and have the sense to not stand in front of teammates who are shooting as there are cases where entire teams have been defeated from taking more damage from friendly fire alone than from hordes of zombies. On expert, minimizing friendly fire is absolutely necessary to survive as taking even a few rounds from any kind of weapon is enough to take out a huge chunk of your health and possibly incapacitate you. In the worst case, if you are seriously injured, taking even a round or two of friendly fire can kill you outright.

Shotguns: Do not open fire unless you are in front of your teammates. Generally, do not even try to "help" your teammates by picking off targets that are attacking them. If you must shoot, try to fire at the enemy by having them at the edge of your crosshair so that your shot will just barely hit them. This alone may be just enough to kill the enemy and save your friend. However, it's best to just switch to the pistol, which is far more controllable than the shotgun in terms of spread.

Molotovs: This is the single most dangerous weapon to your teammates in the game as the fire damage is indiscriminate and has the potential to incapacitate and/or kill a teammate in seconds. It is even possible to incapacitate the entire team at the same time if the molotov is thrown poorly. Always warn your teammates before deployment and aim it far from survivors. The same goes for the red gasoline jerrycans scattered throughout the game and are relatively common in the levels. Note that fire damage does not kill immediately, even in the case of the ordinary infected, much less a Tank. Because of this, laying down a wall of flame that begins six inches from your own face can be worse than useless.

Pipe bombs: This weapon is dangerous for a different reason than the Molotov. The blast radius is small enough that it's trivial to avoid but be careful as the explosion can set off propane tanks and gas cans turning that trivial explosion into a seriously damage dealing problem. What is downright impossible is to avoid the horde of zombies a badly thrown pipe bomb will attract without destroying. Imagine the following scenario: the survivor team is facing a standing army of infected in front of them and suddenly a horde flanks them from the rear. The player named "Genius" throws a pipe-bomb at the infected hitting the flank. This attracts both groups of infected, detonates to kill the flanking group, and leaves the survivors in the midst of an angry mob of infected that were formerly peaceful in the front. Not good. If needed throw the pipe bomb a medium-far distance away, so if you don't eliminate all of the infected wanted at least they're far enough away to attack with your pistols or ready for another wave

Compressed gas cylinders: These come in two varieties, propane tanks (white, fat and stubby, relatively common) and oxygen tanks (green, long and slender, rare). Both of these can be thrown and detonated by gunfire to deal massive damage over a wide radius. That's the problem, in fact -- it's sometimes difficult to throw them far enough to avoid blasting yourself or your teammates. It is not possible, however to detonate these items while they are being held by teammates should a stray round connect with them. Bear in mind that depending on what you shoot the gas cylinder with, it may not explode immediately. It will usually lose some gas before exploding unless shot with a shotgun or hunting rifle. Additionally, it should also be noted that these objects are highly vulnerable to all sorts of fire damage as well, and will prematurely detonate on their own if they are placed too close to any open flames. Despite the risks associated with these gas cylinders, they are still very useful for set-piece defense situations such as final stands or holding out against incoming hordes.

Dropping down the rabbit hole
This is a source of much agony since infected are often waiting for you at the bottom. You should inform teammates before you jump down and if you are already down there, be aware that teammates will "unexpectedly" drop down from above to intercept your fire.

Teammates left behind
Should someone fall behind and get attacked by a Hunter or Smoker after everyone else has dropped down the rabbit hole, there is still a way to save them. Most walls, ceilings, and floors allow you to shoot through them. The damage you do will be greatly reduced, but you can still end up saving your stranded ally before they are incapacitated.

Cheap But Effective
You're near the final safe-room, low on health, and one of the survivors gets puked on. What do you do? If you want to finish the chapter, you will run. Running from a puked on survivor may not be the friendliest tactic, but it can make it possible to finish a long and difficult chapter.

Survivor Deaths
Close Rescue Closet doors after you rescue a survivor. If two people have died close together the second survivor will respawn after you close the door (or you may need to wait half a minute or so). This is much safer than fighting to another rescue closet.

Medical attention
Whenever possible, try to help fallen comrades up and/or cover the person helping them up. Remember this game absolutely loves destroying lone wolves and every time your survivor count drops you are entering a new world of hurt. When in doubt, just remember: when you're facing endless numbers of infected, having three live people covering your back instead of two live players and one dead teammate can make all the difference in holding off the many waves of infected zombies. No one can survive the infection alone.

Help a friend up as soon as they fall and the area is clear. Until the area is clear, cover them. It is impossible to help someone up while infected are attacking you or your fallen comrade. If there's a Tank and he is far away, go ahead and rescue.

It is important to understand that if you are helping a survivor up who is not being attacked and another survivor gets pounced by a Hunter, help the pounced survivor first. Especially on higher difficulties. This also applies if a Smoker constricts a teammate.

Once you sustain damage you can regain health with:
 * 1) First aid kit: Stabilizes your health and puts you into the green (80 or better hitpoints).
 * 2) Pain pills: Temporary health boost, nothing more, but this makes a big difference by letting you run instead of limp and survive potential knock-out blows.
 * 3) Dying then getting "rescued", you get 50 hitpoints on rescue(you are either assigned a pump shotgun or submachine gun based on what tier 2 weapon you may have been holding as well with one pistol and nothing else)
 * 4) Although it is not entirely helpful, when on temporary health of less than 30, if you go to an edge, enter the "hang on" incapacitation mode and get helped up, your health will go back to a temporary 30. This is useful if you have reached 1 and you want to go faster, but lack pills or first-aid.

Being helped up:
 * Restores you to 30 hitpoints that decrease down to 1 hitpoint over time
 * Only works up to 2 times unless you use a medkit (resets count). You die on the third time. Its easy to tell because your screen goes black and white and your heartbeat gets loud. Make sure to tell teammates, as it is less obvious for them.

Death is not permanent. How to return:
 * Your teammates will need to advance a certain distance beyond your body into the level.
 * You will need to wait 1 minute
 * Your teammates then need to open the closet you will spawn in to complete the "rescue" of a "new" survivor. It's always best to close said closet after rescue, as on some levels the same closet covers a wider than average length of the game.
 * Versus, however, does not allow survivors to return during a level.