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 all Left 4 Dead 2 campaigns (including all the ported versions of the original campaigns from Left 4 Dead), with the exception of Swamp Fever and The Parish.

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 Shredding weapon, and will spew blood on a player's screen. It can decapitate Infected, but it also has the unique ability to peel off an Infected's face while leaving the rest of their head intact.

Achievements

Main article: [[Achievements|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.

Notes

Louis holding Crowbar in No Mercy.

• The Crowbar seen in-game is based on a generic crowbar, 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.
  • When Louis picks up a Crowbar, he may say he feels like Gordon Freeman.
• In-game, the Crowbar shares the same range as all the other melee weapons, but it has fewer hit-detection rays (than the Axe).
• 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 player holding Crowbar can use a melee push faster (almost instantly after a swing) than any other type of melee weapon.
• The Crowbar is unique as it is the only melee weapon 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.
• With the exception of the Chainsaw, the Crowbar is the only Shredding melee weapon in the game, the rest being Bludgeoning and Slashing weapons.
• 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.
• Contrary to popular belief, the Crowbar actually does get stained with blood. The red color scheme obscures the blood staining. Blood will be more visible when the color of the Crowbar's skin is changed to a more contrasting color than the default red.

External Links

• Crowbar Gameplay