Shovel

Shovel
Weapon type	Close Combat Weapon
Weapon tier	Melee Weapon
Technical specifications
Rate of fire	0.95s per hit. 19s to kill a Tank

"Oh, I know what to do with this."

―Rochelle

"Man, I'm gonna beat these sons of bitches till I lose my watch."

―Ellis

The Shovel is a close combat weapon in Left 4 Dead 2, introduced in The Last Stand Update alongside the Pitchfork.

It is found in the following campaigns:

• The Passing (PC version only)
• Swamp Fever (PC version only)
• Hard Rain (PC version only)
• The Parish (PC version only)
• Cold Stream (PC version only)
• No Mercy (L4D2, PC version only)
• Death Toll (L4D2, PC version only)
• Blood Harvest (L4D2, PC version only)
• The Sacrifice (L4D2, PC version only)
• The Last Stand (L4D2, PC version only)

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 Shovel is classified as a blunt weapon, and will splatter blood onto the screen, but it will never dismantles or mutilates the Infected. It also sends an Infected's body flying a small distance.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Has a wide attack range, allowing multiple kills with one swing.
• Stumbles crowds of Infected relatively easily.
• High spawn rate.

Cons

• Slightly poor hit detection.
• Has the slowest attack rate of all melee weapons.
• Cannot be used to cut a Smoker's tongue.
• Not recommended for killing Boomers due to bile showering the attacker and any nearby Survivors.

Achievements

As the Shovel is only available in the PC version of the game, achievements cannot be earned with it on the Xbox 360 version.

Main article: Achievements

	CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES
	Finish a campaign using only melee weapons.

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	TANK BURGER
	Kill a Tank with melee weapons.

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	BEAT THE RUSH
	In a Survival round, get a medal only using melee weapons.

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	LEVEL A CHARGE
	Kill a Charger with a melee weapon while they are charging.

PC Exclusive

	PURE SATISFACTION
	Kill 20 Jockeys with the shovel or pitchfork.

Notes

• Like the Pitchfork, the Shovel has unique swing sounds and hit sounds.
• Similar to the Frying Pan and the Nightstick, any Infected (except the Tank) can be sent flying a short distance when killed with the Shovel.
• The Shovel has a unique attribute that allows it to hit around ragdolls with greater force than other melee weapons.
• One of the community developers who were involved in The Last Stand Community Update confirmed in a Reddit post that the inclusion of the Shovel in Left 4 Dead 2 is a homage to the Postal video game series, in which the protagonist can wield a shovel as a melee weapon.
  • This is reinforced by the observation of the Shovel's first-person viewmodel being a near-identical mirroring of its Postal 2 equivalent, as well as its size being similar to that of its Postal 4 counterpart.
• A Shovel can always be found at the starting point of The Junkyard in The Last Stand, standing upright beside a makeshift grave to the Survivors' right.
• The player was likely supposed to be able to decapitate Infected with the Shovel at some point. The Shovel's script file includes decapitation; however, this line is set to 0, meaning no decapitation happens. This is an odd detail, as the line is not present in other scripts for melee weapons which are unable to decapitate, such as the Nightstick. Changing the script with a mod allows decapitation to be turned back on.