The Smoker

The Smoker is an Infected with a long, whip-like tongue that can drag Survivors away from their team-mates and use its tongue as an organic noose to strangle Survivors when it is perched above them, similar to Half-Life's Barnacle, or Resident Evil's Licker. When killed, it leaves a haze of black smoke, distorting the Survivors' vision and disabling character speech and in-game voice communication. Like most other boss infected, a melee hit from the Smoker does about twice as much damage as the Horde.

Identified by its hacking and coughing, the Smoker is one of the most deadly if the Survivors are being attacked by the Tank or the Horde. Interestingly, a survivor cannot talk in smoke, only cough, choke, and hack (NOTE: voice chat and typing are not inhibited).

Survivors
General strategy:
 * Always have at least one buddy close at hand
 * Listen for the distinctive hacking sound the smoker makes
 * Immediately start shooting the smoker as there is a brief window where the survivor is ensnared but still able to fire.

Upon seeing a smoker:
 * If it is far away: open fire
 * If it is close: quickly do a melee attack. This is important because if you get tongued at very close range, you may not get any window of opportunity for shooting at all

Just after being ensnared:
 * There is approximately a one second window of opportunity after getting captured by the smoker's tongue to shoot the smoker
 * If you can't see the smoker, shoot the tongue instead. Don't neglect to kill the smoker afterward. It does take a while for the smoker to "rewind" that tongue for another attack, but it will happen. At the very minimum, warn fellow survivors that the smoker is still an active threat

Helping a captured survivor:
 * Use a melee attack. You can melee two things to instantly free them and avoid nasty friendly-fire incidents:
 * The survivor themselves
 * The smoker
 * Shoot
 * Target the smoker (the tongue should lead you right to it)
 * If you can't see the smoker then target the tongue instead
 * If you can't see the smoker nor the tongue then shoot the smoker through the wall or ceiling (i.e.: judge the position of the smoker relative to the survivor getting clawed by the smoker)

Infected
If you're playing as a Smoker, a common yet useful tactic is to always have the advantage of higher ground. Choking a Survivor from above is far more effective than dragging a Survivor straight to you. Being higher makes it harder to see and kill you, giving you the advantage.

The key point to the Smoker is to be patient and wait until the survivors are distracted by the horde or other distractions.


 * The Smoker also works well with the Hunter. Between them, they can immediately silence two separated Survivors without a fight.


 * The Smoker is the Tank's best friend. The last thing a group of Survivors needs is to have one of their number dragged a long distance off during a Tank battle.


 * Zombies don't stop attacking a Survivor just because you have him entangled, in fact it's the bane of a Survivor covered in Boomer bile. Try to prey on Survivors so marked, especially when they're weak.


 * Alternatively, if a boomer has vomited on the three other survivors, you can take the opportunity to grab the fourth. While the other three are covered in bile, they cannot see aura signals of their allies.  In the mess of the Horde battle, the lack of an aura means they may not even notice.


 * If the survivors are near a large vertical drop (such as an overhang or rooftop), take advantage of this by pulling them over the edge. This will either cause a great deal of falling damage or incapacitate them (i.e.: they will be hanging onto the edge with both hands).


 * Upper ground is a great advantage but sometimes the low ground plays into your advantage. If survivors are on a high structure that takes precious time to get back on top of and you pull them off being in a position where you are not easily hit someone else will have to come down to rescue the entangled survivor.  This can split the survivors and will cost the survivor (and the survivor who attempts to save him) who was pulled off (if he escapes) precious time to scale back up the building and get back with the team.


 * Try to think like a Survivor. Consider the worst possible time you've been "Smokered." In particular, being dragged into the arms of a Witch or Boomer, off ledges/rooftops, and into a raging inferno are devastating.


 * Unlike the hunter a survivor can still attack you for 3 or so seconds before they are knocked over and dragged if they spot you. If they do you'll most likely die a quick death.  In light of this always attack from above or behind and NEVER in front.


 * Your main job is to halt the Survivors, force them to backtrack, and give your teammates more time to respawn. Any damage you cause is just icing on the cake.  Again, prioritize your targets - red outlined people first.  During finales, your main job is to pull people away from the group.


 * Survival sometimes leaves you well behind the Survivor team with no way to move quickly ahead of them and set up another ambush. Keep this in mind - it's sometimes better to run away from them until you get that "Press E to respawn" message, rather than try to run behind them and grab someone while in broad daylight. This resets your health to 100%.


 * If there is ever an area where survivors need to drop down and there is no way back up (for example, the apartments in No Mercy chapter 1) a Smoker can wait behind the Survivors until 3 of the 4 Survivors drop down and then quickly grab the 4th. As long as the 4th Survivor doesn't kill you before he's knocked over, you are almost always guaranteed a kill.  Just be careful to be definitely out of the line of sight of anyone down the hole.

Survivors
Tongue Twister

Kill a Smoker who has grabbed you with his tongue.

Drag and Drop

Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker's tongue before he takes damage.

No Smoking Section

Kill 10 Smokers as they are pulling helpless Survivors.

Infected
Chain Smoker

Constrict two Survivors on one life as a Smoker.

Big Drag

Drag a Survivor 100 feet with your tongue.

Specific Tactics