Crowbar

Crowbar
Weapon type	Close Combat Weapon
Weapon tier	Melee Weapon
Technical specifications
Rate of fire	0.9s per hit. 18s to kill a Tank

"Man, I feel like I'm Gordon Freeman!"

―Louis

"Crowbars give you that personal touch you don't get with gun killin'."

―Ellis

The Crowbar is a close combat weapon in Left 4 Dead 2.

It is found in the following campaigns:

• Dead Center
• The Passing
• Dark Carnival
• Hard Rain
• No Mercy (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Crash Course (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Death Toll (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Dead Air (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Blood Harvest (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• The Sacrifice (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• The Last Stand (Left 4 Dead 2 version)

Melee Mechanics

Melee weapons replace Pistols in the secondary weapon slot. Unlike Pistols, close combat weapons never need to be reloaded and cannot run out of ammo (excluding the Chainsaw). They have two main drawbacks: a limited reach and (with a few exceptions) relatively long cooldown periods. Close combat weapons cause minimal friendly fire damage to the Survivors, even on Advanced and Expert difficulty levels (the Chainsaw is an exception).

These weapons are extremely effective. All melee weapons, on all difficulties, kill Common Infected and most Special Infected in one hit, aside from the Charger (which takes two—but see point below), the Witch (which takes four), and the Tank (which takes twenty, excluding the Chainsaw). Due to their death effects, it is generally advised to melee neither the Boomer (unless there is no choice) nor the Spitter (unless it is possible to move away immediately from the resulting acid splash).

The melee weapons appear to do more damage if an Infected's head or upper body is targeted. With the correct timing it is possible to kill a Charger with one hit while it is charging, allowing a Survivor to "level" a charge without first dealing damage to the Charger and to gain the achievement "Level a Charge".

The Crowbar is classified as a sharp weapon. As such, hits from this weapon will sever limbs and splatter blood, as well as cutting The Smoker's tongue.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• High spawn rate; found in many campaigns.
• Can be used to cut a Smoker's tongue.
• Melee shoves are faster than any other melee.

Cons

• One of the slowest melee weapons.
• Short reach and inconsistent hit registration compared to other melee weapons, mostly with the 'right-sided' swings (e.g. Fireaxe).
• Attacks may obstruct the user's vision.
• Not recommended for killing Boomers due to bile showering the attacker and any nearby Survivors.

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

	CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES	(30G)
	Finish a campaign using only melee weapons.

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	TANK BURGER	(30G)
	Kill a Tank with melee weapons.

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	BEAT THE RUSH	(15G)
	In a Survival round, get a medal only using melee weapons.

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	CLUB DEAD	(15G)
	Use every melee weapon to kill Common Infected.

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	LEVEL A CHARGE	(15G)
	Kill a Charger with a melee weapon while they are charging.

PC exclusive

	LICKETY-SPLIT
	With a sharp melee weapon, cut a Smoker's tongue before he ensnares you.

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	GOLDEN FREEMAN
	Find the golden crowbars hidden in the Left 4 Dead 1 survival maps.

Notes

Louis holding Crowbar in "No Mercy"

• A crowbar is a hardened steel hand tool normally used as a prying lever to force apart two objects held together by fasteners or to remove fasteners from wood or similar materials. Crowbars are a stereotypical burglary tool and often appear in popular culture as improvised weapons.
• The Crowbar used in Left 4 Dead 2 is a direct reference to Valve's Half-Life series in which the game's protagonist, Gordon Freeman, wields a crowbar with an identical red color scheme as a weapon.
  • Louis may sometimes reference the video game series using the above-mentioned quote when he picks up a Crowbar.
• In-game, the Crowbar shares the same range as all the other melee weapons, but it has fewer hit-detection rays than the Fireaxe.
• The swinging rate of the Crowbar is slightly slower relative to the other melee weapons in Left 4 Dead 2. In addition, it seems that the player holding a Crowbar can use a melee push faster (almost instantly after a swing) than any other type of melee weapon.
• The Crowbar and the Knife are unique in its dismemberment, as they are the only melee weapons that can peel off a Common Infected's face and split off half of a skull while leaving the rest of the head intact.
• All crowbars found in the game show signs of prior use. They are abraded and several sections of paint have been chipped off.
• Before the game's release, some players linked Nick's quote (above) to Valve's Half-Life game design trope to deduce that there would be supplies in crates in Left 4 Dead 2.
• A golden variation of the Crowbar was introduced in the Last Stand Update; this weapon is hidden in various Survival maps of ported Left 4 Dead campaigns as well as the secret room in The Last Stand campaign.
• The Crowbar used to experience a glitch that disabled gore on Common Infected as well as its ability to cut Smoker tongues. This was patched in an update released on October 22, 2020.

External Links

• Crowbar Gameplay