The Tank



The Tank is a huge, muscular Infected capable of throwing large items such as cars or blocks of concrete. The tank keeps a high profile, able to be heard by the Survivors from a great distance due to its loud thrashing while running. The immense strength and toughness of the tank makes it a terrible foe in combat. Special walls on some maps will be outlined with yellow cracks (similar to the paws on climbable objects) to indicate that the player can break through the wall as a special infected. To prevent the tank from camping away from the survivors for too long, a frustration timer is set when the survivors are not in sight. When the timer runs out, the tank becomes uncontrollable and begins stomping and thrashing giving away its position and becoming vulnerable to the survivors. If this happens to the human while he is playing as the tank, the computer will give control of the tank to another player. The tank is the toughest of the infected, and is able to withstand 6000 points of damage on Advanced, or 8000 points of damage on Expert before dying. He is the alpha male of the infected whose only competition is The Witch, but even she is more easily killed or avoided than this monster.

The tank is chosen randomly from amongst the infected players.

W6H6gC0QZc8 The Tank Trailer

Survivors

 * Listen carefully for the tank, make sure you can distinguish him from a hunter/smoker/boomer. By the time the music changes, or worse the tank is in your line of sight, it is often too late to plan an effective defense. In fact, upon hearing the tank, some players may want to simply try to hide until the meter builds and then while the computer is thrashing, run from the noises. During the final stand, if you're very lucky, and neither you nor the tank sees each other, it will go away after a period of time.


 * Throw a Molotov cocktail in its path to set it on fire and slowly eat away at its life. Fire damage is independent of the Tank's hitpoints, and will assuredly take down a Tank after a duration dependent on the difficulty level. Easy and normal Tanks last 30 seconds, Advanced Tanks last 35 seconds, and Expert Tanks last 40 seconds. This method ensures a Tank death if you are unsure of your ability to down the beast with firepower.


 * Run and shoot, the intro movie was correct on this point


 * If the tank is very close, focus entirely on running away from the tank. If there are no obstacles, run backwards so that you can shoot on the run.


 * Otherwise, go ahead and open up on it. Be aware that the nearest survivor that shoots the tank is the target.


 * If you are lucky enough to be near a thick tree, you can lead the Tank a merry dance by keeping the trunk in between yourself and him. He can't go over a tree and he can't rip it up either.


 * The Tank can knock down the beginning saferoom door! Do not try to hide in the beginning saferoom when a tank comes, use the tactics above instead.


 * Provided you have sufficient health, it is fairly easy to "kite" a tank. In other words, you can get the tank to follow you without him ever catching up, and yet still have time to put lead/grenades into him. Using this tactic, tanks can reliably be beaten with no casualties (given sufficient running room)


 * The tank climbs obstacles much more slowly that he can run; exploiting this fact will provide you with more uninterrupted firing time


 * If you are incapacitated and the tank is not on you, do not shy from using pistols on the tank since every bit counts. If you are incapacitated and the tank is on you, stop firing immediately because it prevents your friends from distracting him. If you are still alive when the tank is distracted, a friend can help you back up and you can resume the shooting. Dead, you will be of no help.


 * Not only do pipe-bombs not hurt tanks, you are unlikely to find a tank willing to sit on your pipe-bomb long enough for it to blow


 * If you're in an area where falling is possible, such as the Rooftop Finale, make absolutely sure that you are between something solid and the Tank, so that the massive knock back from its attacks doesn't launch you on an incredible 30 story journey to your death.

How much health is "sufficient" to out-run a tank?
 * Generally, you need 51% health (green health bar) according to the Left 4 Dead Xbox manual
 * On variable terrain where you can climb up on obstacles, you may get by with less than that though as mentioned previously.

How to deal with ranged attack Watch out for:
 * The tank can't move and throw
 * You'll know when he's doing a throw by the absence of the ground pounding noise
 * Anyone can shoot the concrete out of the air, rendering it harmless with any weapon.
 * The tank can predict where a survivor will run, if it's an AI. Zigzagging will avoid the rock
 * One shot will incapacitate you (on expert difficulty only)
 * Non-static geometry such as crates will not block his shots
 * You may be unable to dodge a rock if you are limping too badly (i.e.: when your health bar is red or yellow)

Helping an incapapitated teamate
 * 1) Melee the tank to get its attention (it will re-target on you)
 * 2) Run away! If the way is clear, run backwards while shooting, otherwise just run.

Infected



 * Even though the tank was made to charge through seas of lead, a strong survivor team can take him out with no damage taken.
 * Avoid attacking in the open if at all possible (or you will end up on the wrong side of a Molotov and much concentrated fire)
 * Use alternative routes where possible to "sneak up" on the survivors
 * Use concrete projectiles to knock down pesky marathon survivors


 * Co-ordinate with the other infected, nothing is more effective than a tank herding survivors to their doom (i.e.: hunter/smoker/boomer ambush)
 * If you incapacitate a survivor, immediately re-target on another. Wait a few seconds, and then go back to the first incapacitated survivor to knock-down the foolish medic helping the first survivor back up


 * If playing on a rooftop level such as chapters 4 and 5 of the No Mercy campaign, do everything you can to knock survivors off the building, as this will kill them instantly.
 * If you are on fire, water will put it out
 * Tanks can punch cars and dumpsters large distances


 * A hit by car or dumpster instantly incapacitates a survivor
 * Hitting cars is faster than throwing concrete


 * Punch survivors in different directions to separate them.


 * If the survivors are indoors, keep attacking one survivor (choose the one with the lowest health first) till they are knocked down and need assistance to get up


 * Be careful using the swing attack on survivors in wide open flat areas as this merely gives them a chance to get away. Charge a survivor you've whacked as soon as you whack him.


 * Always aim to divide and conquer if you're in a building or in an area with lots of objects in it. Try to spread the survivors out by hitting them behind large objects or knocking them out of windows helps in two ways. 1) If the survivors can't see you, they can't shoot at you, meaning that you will take less damage during your rampage. 2) This helps hunters to pounce on survivors, or smokers to grab survivors ,so they can't come to the group's aid or the group coming to kill the infected that has them pinned or tied up, leaving you with one less survivor to kill.
 * The Tank's punch attack is somewhat slow, so lead the survivor slightly as you charge and swing.

Survivors
Towering Inferno


 * Light a Tank with a Molotov.

Man vs. Tank


 * Single-handedly kill a Tank.

Tankbusters


 * Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.

Infected
All 4 Dead


 * Kill all four Survivors in one life while playing as a Tank.