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This is an introduction and guide to the game Left 4 Dead 2 where we will be talking about the Games, Movement, Zombie, Map and Movement Mechanics, and give you guide tips within the game the same as describe it in full detail to you all about it.

The Platforms that are present to the present day are (Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X, and Linux).

Left 4 Dead 2 developed in 2009 is a First Person Shooter Multiplayer “Survival Horror” Based game and published by the creators of Valve. The sequel from another company Turtle Rock studio’s Left 4 Dead, when it was released for Windows and Xbox 360 in the year November 17th 2009; Mac OS X in October 5th 2010 and on Linux in July 2nd 2013.

The key people that have made Left 4 Dead 2 are, the Director Erik Johnson, the Producer Gabe Newell, the Writer Chet Faliszek, the Composer Mike Morasky, and the designer Micheal Booth.

Left 4 Dead is a game based on Cooperative gameplay that is built upon Valve’s Programming Engine called the “Source Engine”, which the same engine is used in the original game “Left 4 Dead”.The game is set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic “pandemic”, Left 4 Dead 2 is mainly focused on 2 groups of 4 survivors 1 being Nick’s group and the other being Bill’s group ,with their own set of 6-7 campaigns, while fighting against a huge horde of zombies, which are widely known as the infected, which is a different form of a human being which developed a severe psychosis and can act aggressive. The survivors have to fight their way through their separate campaigns, including safehouses that act as checkpoints, with an end goal of escaping each campaign’s final.

In response, alterations were made to the cover art and both Australia and Germany refused to rate the unmodified edition at the time of release. After release, however, the game was met with positive reviews by critics.

The development for Left 4 Dead 2 started Shortly after the release of the first game which a short break followed. Building on excellent ideas from the development team to make the next game “way bigger and better”. The game has been given a game code name “Carnation” that would then prevent revealing its details even more before it was officially announced. Valve while thinking about their new ideas have considered on a new title for the game “Back 4 more”

Chet Faliszek would then state that Left 4 Dead 2’s story would explore more around the world of the game within the maps, and that Valve have made a thought of a story for the cause and the actual effects of the virus/the infectious pandemic.

Left 4 Dead 2 would in total contain around 7,800 unique lines of continuous dialogue, which would surpass Left 4 Dead over 40%. The writers have designed the characters and have selected really appropriate voice actors who had the proper accent for their characters for their lines and which allowed the actors freedom to help authenticate their roles within the game.

In development, the Left 4 Dead 2 programmers wanted to find a new way to provide more variation and visual effects for the excited players.Simple changes of the underlying geometry of the model, either the head or the body, with the resulting effects on the texture mapping was one means to create apparent variation. Another means was created by using different head textures along with various blood and dirt maps, and similarly different wounds applied to the body texture. A final means to alter the tone of both the skin and the clothing worn by the infected. As a result, a single infected model could have up to 24,000 variations within the game. This allowed Valve to effectively only keep two to six common infected core models in memory for each level, leaving only the unique infected for each campaign and the special infected as their own unique models. As a result, the memory use for the infected dropped by 50%.

Another visual aspect that the Valve team explored was the rendering of water, particularly in the "Swamp Fever" campaign, which takes place mostly in a large swamp area. Valve found early play-testers would become confused with the large, tree-covered map, but by adding hints of water movement in the direction they were to go, there was a significant reduction in players becoming lost on the map. The water maps were created by using the 3D animation tool Houdini against its landscape maps to create realistic water flow patterns as surface maps.

The PC and The Xbox 360 players that have pre-ordered Left 4 Dead 2 through the participation of the retailers gained early access to the game’s demo, which was released on the year October 27th 2009 for Xbox Live and October 28th 2009 for PC players, and the melee weapon “The Baseball Bat” was an exclusive weapon that you were able to use in game. If you have pre-ordered the PC version of the game through the steam network would unlock bill’s beret from Left 4 Dead for a use in the PC version of the game Team Fortress 2. they would also get a frying pan as a melee weapon and Ellis' hat as an in-game hat. The demo became available for all PC and Xbox Live Gold users on November 4, 2009 with Xbox Live Silver users gaining access on November 11, 2009. The demo features the first two maps in "The Parish" campaign.

On October 5, 2009, Valve announced that Left 4 Dead 2 would be promoted by a $25 million advertising campaign, exceeding the $10 million that supported Left 4 Dead. The campaign includes television advertisements during sporting events, on billboards and magazines; and more aggressive advertising for Europe.

The weekend following the game's announcement at the 2009 E3 Convention, some Left 4 Dead players called for a boycott of Left 4 Dead 2 and formed the Steam community group called "L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2)" which grew to over 10,000 members by the end of that weekend, and reached more than 37,000 about a month later. In addition to a lack of further Left 4 Dead content, they were concerned with the characters, visuals, and music shown in the E3 demonstration video, feeling these were inappropriate to the first game's aesthetics, and that the release of the sequel so soon after the first game would fracture the community

Valve was forced to alter its original cover art for the game by the ESRB; the original image depicted the series' hand with its little finger, ring finger and the thumb torn off, which would thus have the index finger and middle finger remaining. It was deemed too explicit, and to appease the ESRB, Valve changed the image so that the fingers were merely bent back instead, but the company was still able to include the torn-off thumb in all regions except for Japan and Germany, where it had to be censored.

Willie Jefferson of the Houston Chronicle, after seeing initial promotional material for the game, considered that several of the infected "appear to be African-Americans" implying a racist approach to the game, and also noted that "setting the game in a city that was a scene of dead, bloated bodies floating by" some years after the impact of Hurricane Katrina was "a bad call". Faliszek, commenting on Jefferson's claims, considered the supposition to be "utter insanity", and commented that the infected are a mix of all races, and that the game's version of New Orleans is "not a brick-for-brick representation" of the city and were not trying to make any statement about it with the game.

Left 4 Dead 2 was refused classification in Australia by the Office of Film and Literature Classification . It failed to gain a MA15+ rating, the highest possible rating for video games in Australia at the time of release. This prevented the sale of the original game within the country. In its report, the OFLC cited the reason for refusing classification as "realistic, frenetic and unrelenting violence".However, a small number of members of the OFLC board believed the game could merit the MA15+ rating which was used to publish the first Left 4 Dead.

It was expected that changes could be made to the game to allow the game to be classified as MA15+ and thus sold in Australia. Both Lombardi and Newell were "surprised" by the classification refusal. Valve appealed the OFLC's decision about a week after being notified of the ruling, comparing the sequel to its predecessor, which had been classified as MA15+, and the mature ratings the sequel had received from similar rating organizations around the world. However, as the appeal process, expected to end on October 22, was close to the planned release date, Valve submitted a modified version of the game for classification addressing the concerns the OFLC has stated. This version, which no longer contained images of "decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies", was classified as MA15+ by the OFLC, thus allowing for the game's release in Australia, though Valve and Electronic Arts still hoped to have their preferred, unmodified version classified by the OFLC for release.

Bill is voiced by Jim French

Aged in his sixties, Bill is the oldest out of all of the 8 survivors. He is a Vietnam veteran who fought in the U.S Army and was rewarded with a handful of medals and a knee full of shrapnel. Which his combat skills have helped him to stay alive throughout the unthinkable pandemic. In the game he wears an olive green military beret, a matching coloured Army/Combat jacket, with a white stained t-shirt with his military boots and dark gray brown pants.

Both Bill and Francis do appear to have a negative relationship, sometimes often spewing insults or jokes at on another, but which does still indicate that they’re always helpful

Within the campaign “The Passing” Bill is Sadly killed prior to the bridge being raised during “The Sacrifice”, where you’re able to see his body laying next to the generator in the final Chapter of “The Passing” and alongside him he has his trusty assault rifle.

Fun Fact - Within the game Bill always has a lit up Cigarette when he's alive, only if he dies his cigarette is put out.

Francis Is voiced by Vince Valenzuela

Francis is a tough biker with a whole load of tattoos which cover his arms and neck, one of the tattoos which would identify him as a member of the “Hell’s Legion” bike gang which would be possibly inspired by the real world “Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club”.Since his character was remodeled during the development, it was said that Francis’ new face was remodeled after the head developer, Mike Booth. He wears a black leather vest over a white tank top, with a mixture of fingerless gloves, with black jeans and boots.


Francis has a self centered personality that seems to be the recent aspect of Bill’s leadership while he was treating Louis with an openly negative attitude at times. And during his development, his character was supposed to be in love interest with Zoey, but it has since been dropped after play testing and their relationship is warm.

Fun Fact - The Valve connection is strengthened by the fact that he has a Lambda symbol from the Half Life game cut into his hair.

Louis is voiced by Earl Alexander

Louis being aged around his thirties, Louis’ original concept as a character was an assistant manager at a well known local retail electronics chain store. His Clothing resembles that of a typical businessman, but seems to have a lot of similarities with the character “Shaun” from the film “Shaun Of The Dead”. who does wear a red tie with a white t-shirt, and was an assistant manager at a local retail electronics chain store, also wearing dark gray pants with formal shoes.

His recent injury renders him almost immobile and because of it he uses a “Heavy Machine Gun” at The Port. Louis’s character is upbeat and positive at all times towards his fellow survivors with an almost exaggerated degree. Bill does seem to regard him with wry tolerance, Francis on the other hand mocking Louis, whilst Zoey is the only one to treat him with genuine warmth.

Fun Fact - Everyday Louis would have frequent trips to practice at the gun range while being mocked at by his co-workers.(does seem that karma hit them hard)


Another Fun Fact - Louis before the outbreak would be an avid gamer, while also knowing fluent Japanese.

Zoey is voice by Jen Taylor

Zoey Being in her first year in college prior to the outbreak which would make her 18 years old or slightly older. Her parents were divorced and that she had a somewhat way closer relationship with her father which was a Police Officer. She has a ponytail, wears a bright red jacket over a white tank top, blue jeans, and converse shoes.

In official media, she would usually wield dual pistols. In the game, she favours the hunting rifle. Zoey’s character is always warm-hearted when everyone is alive and well, however if someone dies she becomes emotional. Being the closest to “Bill”, who reciprocates with a protective father-daughter stance, but also does also care about the other two survivors. However she is more of a follower, but during the events in “The Sacrifice” comic and “The Passing” campaign, in the wake and shock
of Bill’s death, and it is apparent that she has grown up after Bill's death and has slowly taken the leadership role in the group.

Fun Fact - Zoey’s original design was based on Alesia Glidewell who has previously worked with Valve on the game Portal as the model for the character Chell.

Coach is voiced by Chad L. Coleman

Coach is a 44 year old Physical Education teacher at a local high school in the town of Savannah which back then was his hometown. As a prospective professional defensive lineman, a career ending knee injury at college has led Coach teaching which would be an alternative pathway into an actual possible football coaching career.

Being the oldest in his group and a great leader to his fellow survivors, he is a religious man, even stopping the survivors for a group prayer before entering the “Liberty Mall”. And does show a weak point with his stomach, always ready to stop by a food place nearby. His preference for the tier 1 and 2 shotguns, although in the official media the chainsaw appears to be his signature weapon.

Fun Fact - If you’re hurt, injured or incapacitated, Coach will scream out loud demanding words of encouragement to get up and not give up.

Ellis is voiced by Eric Ladin

Ellis being a 23 year old redneck mechanic from Savannah, similar to Coach. He wears a Bull Shifter t-shirt, a white and blue cap, half removed coveralls with the sleeves tied around his waist, and black work boots. Ellis does appear to have a small mind about the seriousness of his current situation and retains a somewhat goofy personality like that of other survivors, he could just be trying to get everyone encouraged and positive, similar to Louis. Being also the youngest in the group, Ellis does have a naive, childish view on the new world, getting the nickname by the community the “little brother” of the group.

Ellis does also seem to have a long interest in Zoey when they first meet in the map campaign “The Passing”. Within the game, Ellis does have a preference for the Sniper and the Hunting Rifle, almost similar to Zoey; While in official media, the Grenade Launcher appears to be his signature weapon.

Fun Fact - It’s rare when Ellis will make any negative comment about others, except in the case of a certain stock car. If someone makes disparaging marks about “Jimmy Gibs Jr.” or his car, Ellis will actually threaten to kill them.

Nick is voiced by Hugh Dillon

Nick was a 35 year old ex-prisoner who has escaped, and has experienced a new world to live out his new freedom by stealing a white suit from a high-end retailer. He would later develop into a shady man and gambler who would drift from city to city, bemoaning his bad luck in happening to be passing through the city of Savannah, and not Las Vegas, prior to the crisis.

He would wear a stolen expensive white suit with a blue button-down shirt, with several gold rings and black leather shoes. Nick would have a negative and pessimistic view towards the situation he has fallen into and the 3 strangers he would later be forced to join up with. Over time, despite his negative attitude towards his fellow survivors, he would soften and mellow as he quickly learns to trust them. Nick shows a preference for the Submachine Gun and the Assault Rifle variant.

Fun Fact - One of Nick’s rings does have a symbol of a biker gang similar to one of Francis’ tattoos

Rochelle is voiced by Rochelle Aytes

Rochelle is a 29 year old minor associate producer from a well known new station with a really high reputation, although her job would be boring or had more to do with moving cables and coffee duties. She was in Savannah producing her last news segment about the evacuation centre when the area has become overrun by “the Infected”.

She Wears a pink t-shirt with a Depeche Mode logo, silver hooped earrings, blue jeans, a thin studded belt, two silver bracelets on her left arm, knee-high boots and always has a tight bun.

Rochelle always has the most realistic grasp within the outbreak situation and is always very caring towards her fellow survivors. Rochelle and Francis do both show romantic interest in each other when they meet within the campaign map “The Passing”. Within the game, she does seem to have the same preference to Nick; she prefers the Submachine Gun and the Assault Rifle.

Fun Fact - Rochelle would always speak out if Nick has crossed the line with his negative attitude trying to calm down the situation.

Adoring a dark blue hoodie with duct tape around its elbows and knees, which would be a common practice for those that would participate within parkour. The Hunter can be presumed to have had an athletic type appearance before getting infected. The Hunter is a special infected would be able to pounce and pin down survivors, even from great height and distance; clawing at their abdomen until the victim is dead or the Hunter has been knocked off or killed by another helping survivor. When the Hunter is ready to pounce by crouching, he lets of a dog like growl, giving away his position right away to the survivors.

Fun Fact - The Hunters growling and lunging sound was scraped from 2 different Special Infected.

The Charger is a Special infected with a charging attack; going forward and plowing into the group of survivors, hence the actual name. On a successful charge, he will grab the survivor and carry a single survivor away while knocking down the rest. Once the Charger hits a wall or another surface, or after running a certain distance, he will start slamming you onto the ground consistently until he has killed you or the other survivors kill the charger. Because of his hulking size within the game, the charger cannot be shoved with a melee, and must be killed in order to release his victims.

Fun Fact - The charger is also the strongest and the most durable out of all of the special infected (excluding the Tank and the Witch)

The Jockey is a small janky special infected that attacks survivors by clinging or climbing to them from behind and rides the survivor to a dangerous place; away from the other survivors. He will only let go if the survivor is incapacitated, or gets knocked off/killed. He has a maniacal laugh which would give out his location and show his presence, and does constantly twitch, making us think he gets a sort of hyperactive nature.

Fun Fact - The Jockey seems to have a spinal disease, similar to kyphosis, giving him a hunched appearance. Getting the name “Hunchback”.

The Spitter possesses the ability to spit a ball of acid from a very long distance, and will create a huge puddle of acid when it contacts any surface; and will damage any survivor that steps on it. After the Spitter has spat she seems to be paralyzed for 2 seconds, giving a huge chance of the survivors killing her. Upon death the spitter leaves a similar kind of puddle that has the same effect on the survivors if they step on it. Despite her useful ability, the spitter itself is very weak in terms of its health, so taking out the Spitter should be an easy task.

Fun Fact - The longer survivors stand in it, the longer the puddle will last.

The Boomer is a Special Infected that vomits a bile at the Survivors, which temporarily blinds their vision and draws the Horde of Common Infected, attacking them. At a long distance he isn’t that big of a threat; however their large size and low health makes them an easy target with any weapon at long range, but within its range it can vomit at you. When they die, they explode, which does have the same effect like if it's vomiting at you. If you get in close contact with the Boomer, you can shove him paralyzing him for a couple of seconds giving you an advantage on running away and killing him.

Fun Fact - On Expert Mode/difficulty, the Boomer is able to snipe Survivors from Long Distances.

The Smoker is well known for being an ambush class that can strangle Survivors with its long and annoying tongue, similar to the Half-Life’s Barnacle. To be able to help out the other survivors you’re able to shove at the licked survivor which would release the survivor the same as shooting at its tongue or just killing it. As the name implies Smokers after being killed emit a large cloud around the area it died which impairs the Survivors’ vision. Smokers do frequently cough, letting know at which part of the map the Smoker is.

Fun Fact - Though if you’re quick enough , though difficult, to kill a smoker who has already grabbed you, which would earn you an achievement.

The Tank being the biggest, the strongest and the most intimidating Special Infected, it can easily wipe out a whole team out in seconds, being able to smack cars at you, throw giant pieces of concrete (especially from on top of fences) or almost one tap you with its large arms. In the “versus” mode he is the only player-controllable “Boss Infected”. He is reasonably fast, only slowing down if hit with a large amount of automatic weapons gunfire, fire or explosives. If a Survivor is at 40% or lower, the tank will be able to catch up to you, but if you have more than 40% you will be able to run away. Nevertheless, the Tank will die between 20-45 seconds if set on fire and if constantly shot at.

Fun Fact - If a Tank is on a fence, bush, rooftop or anything that isn't made out of concrete he will still be able to somehow get a block of concrete and throw it.

The Witch is the second “Boss Infected”, but cannot be controlled by players. However, she commonly appears among the Campaigns, and is passive sitting unless she is provoked if the Survivors shine light at her, get close to her or when she gets shot. The Witch is rarely found in small rooms and normally stays on the main route of the Survivors. If shot, she will chase her attacker, and when she catches up she will incapacitate the attacking Survivor and still shred them to pieces if not rescued from the other fellow Survivors.

The Wandering Watch appears mostly in the Campaign map “Hard Rain” and seen in daylight hours, wandering aimlessly around the map, with her hands on her head and continuously crying. If blocked by a Survivor she will also chase them. Besides different ways of startling her the only thing that doesn’t seem to bother the Wandering Witches is the flashlight

Fun Fact 1 - The only Campaign that contains at least more than 20 witches is the Campaign map “Hard Rain” which has a large amount of wondering witches.

Fun Fact 2 - If you anger the Witch during a daylight based Map she will run way slower than if she chased you in the night; and within the Realism mode the Witch is able to kill you with one blow.

Common Infected within the Left 4 Dead 2 franchise are the most frequent faces you as a survivor will see amongst the infected, and the easiest to beat. their strength originates when working as a horde or in groups, sometimes as large as several dozen.

While they can be killed in the same way as any human, they possess immense endurance, capable of ignoring missing limbs, high falls, and even a few gunshots if not hit in the head. They are capable of climbing ladders and scaling objects once they find a target, and will not stop until it is dead. These Infected are fast, sensitive to loud noises and movement, and able to attack in ravenous waves, as determined by the Director. They might not notice the Survivors right away, but when they do they will attack relentlessly until they are killed or manage to kill the Survivors.

The fun thing is that me and my friends keep hearing the Spanish words "Buenos Dias!" whenever an infected ever screams.

The Screamer is one of the first few prototypes for Special Infected formulated early in Left 4 Dead's development. As such, he is the progenitor of Special Infected like the Witch and Boomer. Screamers were presented in-game as Infected humans bound in a restraining psychiatric-style straitjacket.

The idea for the Screamer was for him to lurk in different areas, much like the Witch, paying no attention to his surroundings until coming in contact with a Survivor whereupon, if sufficiently agitated, he would run away from Survivors in an attempt to hide. If he succeeded in escaping, he emitted a loud scream that alerted a horde, causing an attack; thus, foreshadowing the later Boomer bile concept, and additionally helping to establish early on in production that the Common Infected are driven to extreme aggression as a response to loud noises.

The Hound Dog is another of the cut Special Infected that was introduced but cut from the official release of the Left 4 Dead game. The growls from the Hunter before he attacks/jumps indicates that it was scrapped from the Hound Dog.

Claw's appearance is similar to The Meatwall's, it has claws similar to The Witch. The creature is extremely fast and silent and could hang onto ceilings, waiting for a lone or the survivor at the end of a group of survivors to pass by, it would then snatch the person and run away quickly, retreating behind cover in which it will start tearing apart its victim using the large claws in a similar fashion to the Hunter.

The Meatwall was a cut infected from Left 4 Dead 2. It was giant and carried two common infected. which in contrast the Meatwall represents a Boomer and Tank hybrid.

The Worker is a strong infected with almost the same health as a Tank, he can wipe out an entire team if the teammates are not careful. The Worker is an exclusively male infected and does not have a female counterpart like The Boomer. The Worker looks to be a cross between a Boomer and a Tank, he has a yellow construction hat and a tube going through his mutated flesh, the tip of it coming out of his arm.

The CEDA Worker Infected was the actual first infected to be ever announced and appear in the Left 4 Dead 2 campaign "Dead Center". Players when walking through this area will sometimes come across an Infected wearing a Hazmat Suit. Which in prior was worn to the person being infected. when they're killed they have a change of dropping a Bile Bomb (in which case it will be seen strapped to their side). When shot in the face, blood will splatter across the visor, and the sound of air hissing out of their now-punctured hazmat suit can sometimes be heard.

Due to their hazmat suits, they are resistant to fire, as they do not burst into flames when in the middle of a Molotov's fire, and incendiary ammunition do not set them on fire. If idle within fire for extended periods of time, they will die due to the heat. They come in two different varieties: yellow suits and green suits.

Jimmy Gibbs Junior was a famous and well known driver from the Southern United Stated prior to the pandemic, which he did win the SuperCup in 1977, 1981, 1984 and 1986. Prior to the pandemic he did write a autobiography call "SPEED" and is considered an idol in the eyes of Ellis and Coach. He is dressed in his racing suit and is rarely seen in "The Atrium" with a 5% chance of him spawning.

In the campaign "Dead Center" the Survivors steal Jimmy's within the mall to escape. and can be mentioned by the Survivors briefly, saying things such as "If we see him, someone else is going to have to kill him". He shares the strongest attributes of the other Uncommon Infected. He has 1000 HP, no detachable limbs, and is fireproof, and can't be drawn to Pipe Bombs or Bile Bombs like the other infected.

The Fallen Survivor was the only one that is fairly equipped Survivor from the initial outbreak. He appears in the DLC campaign "The Passing" wearing a militia attire

Once lovable but still slightly disturbing fun park entertainers,They wander around the "Dark Carnival" campaign and when they spot Survivors, they will charge, calling in other Infected with their noisy, squeaky shoes for a mass attack.No new Common Infected are spawned during these events, but an agitated Clown in attack mode attracts Common Infected and other Clown Infected loitering nearby.
If a Clown is killed at a distance, all Infected following him will stop, mill around swatting at the air around his corpse, though they will soon attack the Survivors shortly afterwards.

The Mud Men appear on the campaign map "Swamp Fever". They are similar to the Common Infected, except that they are covered in mud and use this as camouflage. Mud Men sprint on all fours low to the ground, although they stumble back on two feet when shoved.A hit from a Mud Man obscures a player's screen with mud, like Jimmy Gibbs Junior's motor oil effect. The mud on their screen increases with successive hits, blurring the screen in a way similar to Boomer Bile.

When this unfortunate demolition crew received orders to tear down an old sugar mill, they became Infected. Dubbed Worker Infected, these Infected populate the Hard Rain campaign. Workers are equipped with ear protection, hardhats, where if you try to jump onto their heads they wont be killed like ther other infected, and reflective vests which makes them easier to spot in the downpour. Their unique ear protectors make them unable to hear pipe bombs.

The Riot Infected appears in the campaign map "The Parish".While human, they were members of a private security firm hired by CEDA to protect civilians. They turned into the Infected while still wearing their armour. although it has 50 health like any other infected but "Jimmy Gibs Jr" and "The Fallen Survivor", it is able to survive any type of weapon but the Chainsaw/Explosions/Flames on the front side, and has a really high chance of dropping a nightstick when killed.

In Savannah, Georgia, four complete strangers find themselves caught up in the chaos of a recent outbreak of the deadly Infection currently sweeping across the United States. Just missing the last evacuation helicopter, they are forced to band together and head to the next known evacuation center at the mall. The Survivors shoot their way down through a burning hotel and through the Infected-swarmed city streets to a nearby shopping mall, where they find it overridden with zombies. With no other alternatives, they hope to use a famous race car being exhibited there to make their escape.

After escaping the mall in Dead Center, the Survivors are stopped by a raised bridge. They encounter the Left 4 Dead Survivors taking shelter on the bridge, who inform the new Survivors that they will lower the bridge if the generator is refilled with gasoline. The Survivors make their way through the streets and buildings, past an interrupted wedding ceremony, through some sewers, to the generator, where they discover that one of the Survivors at the bridge has passed away. With combined effort from everyone, the generator is filled, and the Survivors were able to lower the bridge to continue their adventure on wards in their stolen race car.

Upon finding the freeway out of Savannah blocked by abandoned cars, the Survivors were forced to leave their vehicle and make their way on foot to the nearby Whispering Oaks amusement park, still partially operational and crawling with Infected. As a patrolling rescue helicopter circles overhead, the Survivors must make their way down the park's midway, through the Tunnel of Love, over the tracks of a rollercoaster, and past the exhibition barns to reach the park's stadium, where the pyrotechnics display of a rock concert stage provides them with their only means of signaling the chopper pilot for help.

Unfortunately for the Survivors, the helicopter pilot that rescued them from Whispering Oaks succumbed to the Infection, and they are forced to kill him and crash-land the chopper in the Mississippi bayou. Finding evidence that rescue may be waiting deeper in the swamp, the Survivors must trek through an abandoned alligator farm, an airliner crash site, and a ramshackle shantytown where the local swampfolk made their last stand against the Infected. Eventually, they reach a giant plantation house, where they must hold off the relentless hordes of Infected until a kindly skipper named Virgil arrives with a rescue boat to take them to a rumored safe zone in New Orleans, Louisiana.

As the evening sun begins to set, the Survivors learn that their rescue boat doesn't have enough fuel to reach New Orleans. Virgil drops them off in the derelict town of Ducatel, Mississippi to look for more fuel. Their situation is further complicated by forgetting to bring signal flares to indicate that they have retrieved the fuel, as well as the sudden onset of a torrential downpour, the first sign of an incoming hurricane. The Survivors must move through the suburban streets teeming with Infected and a half-demolished, Witch-infested sugar mill to reach a gas station. After obtaining the fuel, they must then make their way back through the sugar mill and the town, both now flooded by the storm, to return to the dock, signal Virgil with the illuminated sign from a nearby Burger Tank, and escape before the full force of the storm hits them.

Virgil, who rescued the Survivors in Swamp Fever and Hard Rain, leaves them in New Orleans as he goes in search of more Survivors. The Survivors find the city completely overrun by the Infected. They have to make their way through the streets of the French Quarter, the military's abandoned quarantine zone, and an aboveground cemetery until they finally arrive at a partially collapsed table bridge. On the other side is a military helicopter waiting to take the Survivors out of the city to a flotilla of military-commandeered cruise ships in the Gulf of Mexico, where the last remnants of humanity in the area have regrouped, safe in the knowledge that the Infected can't swim.

In Fairfield, after a narrow escape from the Infected, the Survivors focus on moving towards a Hospital for evacuation by a passing News 5 helicopter. The Survivors move from an apartment building to a subway station, then a sewer, then Mercy Hospital, before arriving at the Rooftop Finale.

After escaping Fairfield in No Mercy, the helicopter crashes in an area close to The Turnpike in Death Toll. With the pilot having fallen to the Infection, Zoey is forced to kill him mid-flight. Having survived the crash landing intact, the Survivors make their way across alleys to a garage where they find an armored delivery truck on top of a vehicle elevator, just out of reach.

The Survivors have finally made it to Riverside. Due to the pathway blocked on the abandoned highway, the Survivors follow the drainage system of Riverside, go to a church, traverse the town of Riverside, and finally arrive at a boathouse on the riverbank. There, the Survivors wait for rescue from a civilian fishing boat.

With the Survivors stranded in a large greenhouse full of Infected, they witness a plane fly by overhead. Deciding the best way to escape the city is via the airport, they make their way through a metropolitan area, over rooftops, a construction site, an air station terminal, and finally, a last stand at a Runway Finale. There, the Survivors see a C-130 Hercules plane that has run out of fuel, and needs help refueling.

Lost in the middle of a thick forest, the Survivors follow the path to a trainyard, and through a repair warehouse. Following the railway lines, they move past a bridge, a train station, and finally to a Farmhouse Finale. With nobody in sight, the Survivors call via a radio to the military, and from there, wait for an armored personnel carrier to pick them up. But in the meantime, the Infected have discovered their location.

The aftermath of Blood Harvest and the comic are told in The Sacrifice. The Survivors arrive in a shipyard by train and must battle their way through constant hordes, an imprisoned Tank, and some rather bothersome birds in hopes of finding a working sailboat. Unfortunately, the almost flawless plan to raise the bridge and escape the largest horde anyone has ever witnessed goes awry after one of the generators malfunctions. In order to save the others, one of the Survivors must sacrifice themselves so that the others may proceed. Canonically, this Survivor is Bill, but in the campaign, anyone may do so. The campaign was also released at the same time for Left 4 Dead 2.

A non-canon one map campaign only available for survival mode involving a lighthouse setting. It consists of a what-if scenario involving the survivor's reaching a dead end with no way back. An expanded remake of the campaign, no-longer exclusive to survival mode, was later released for Left 4 Dead 2.

The Workshop was introduced after the February 7, 2013 update along with most other games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Team Fortress 2 and notably Garry's Mod. The Workshop is split into various categories, such as Custom Campaigns, weapon/skin mods, sound mods, UI mods, and other kinds of modifications. This made acquiring addons easier since it automatically updates the addon when needed, unlike manually placing one. Furthermore, if a user has multiple devices, it will download the mod to any that the user downloads Left 4 Dead 2 to, so long as they use the same Steam account.

Custom Campaigns, also known as Community Campaigns, are community-created campaigns that can range in size from a full campaign, to a single chapter. Some custom maps are specifically designed for game modes like Scavenge and Survival. Custom content can only be created and used by PC users. Xbox 360 players are unable to use custom content due to technical and financial difficulties regarding porting community-based content over.

Our Recommendations are
Pain Train where the Survivors have to walk across a whole train to see what has happened to the conductor or the train, to their surprise they find that the conductor has turned into an infected tank which the Survivors have to kill, after defeating the tank, the survivors crash into a heavy truck in the middle of the train track which they then need to walk and swim through a river using a little raft that they have crafted, after killing through the crowd of infected they find themselves in a military airforce base where they make their final escape by killing the zombies while the plane is getting ready to lift off.

Suicide Blitz 2 collection Where four new survivors must make their way through an infected city to escape the zombie apocalypse!

Questionable Ethics and Questionable Ethics 2 where Survivors got stuck in a mysterious research facility.

Diescraper Redux After being firebombed, the survivors must flee their safehouse, and find their way to safety.

Time To Die Where after narrowly escaping from yet another Infected horde, four desperate Southern Survivors decide to search for a secret government laboratory hidden in the mountains. Little do they know, the technological marvels they're stumbling into could have everlasting consequences for the entire human race

Within the Workshop you can find many types on skins for any type of character, Infected, Weapon Skins. Gamers and content creators can now go through this single source instead of going through round-about ways to retrieve top notch L4D2 mods or post their own work. PC players can all go to the Valve licensed Workshop website and upload them for free gamer access and download. User made content, such as custom campaigns, weapons, items, character skins, and a lot more will be featured here, so it’s definitely the place a L4D fan should check out.

Our Recommended Skins Pack

To add content to L4D2:


Load up Left 4 Dead 2 (or browse to it here). In game, click on the add-ons section from the main menu. There you can see add-ons once they are downloaded or choose browse the Workshop. Go into the Workshop, find a something you like – let’s say a skin for Francis where he is in a cop outfit. Click the subscribe button and it will automatically download and appear in the list. If you are doing this through the web browser, it will appear next time you start the game.

Please note – the Workshop has increased its file size limit to 200MB. But this still means some of the larger campaigns will be broken up into sub-200mb chunks. Those campaigns will be in collections and you will need to subscribe to the collection to get all the files.

To create and share content in L4D2:


You will need to update your Authoring Tools and run the Workshop Manager in the tools to upload your content to the Workshop.

A great tip from GShock:
If your campaign is over 200MB you will need to split your vpk into parts with content in each part.

This will also allow you to update your content a lot faster and in turn users do not have to download a much larger file when you release an update to a part.

*Example:
Part 1 Sounds and Scripts
Part 2 Map 1
Part 3 Map 2
Part 4 Materials
Part 5 Models
*Include your missions folder in each part along with your addoninfo.txt file

Once this is done add all your items into a collection and mark it as a "items that work together (will show a 'subscribe to all' button)"

Valve has established a new forum for Workshop community discussions. Use it to report bugs, request changes to content, or even leave feedback for the user; it’s there for everyone’s convenience! Every item you’ll find on the Workshop will have its own discussion area to begin or join in the conversation. Selected submissions will also be featured on L4D.com, so make sure to rate and comment ones that you’ve experienced to help it make their page and gain viewership.

Dedicated servers simulate game worlds without supporting direct input or output, except that required for their administration. Players must connect to the server with separate client programs in order to see and interact with the game.

Dedicated Game Servers don't have to but usually run on a Dedicated Server PC somewhere, and its the same as other PC's (for the most part) but has a server operating system installed (like windows server 2012 or a form of linux etc.) so its meant to run just game servers or website database servers or whatever internet based service.

are servers / match's that are run off someones PC that comes from the same game files everyone uses to actually play the game, so if you pick Local Host when starting a match that's what a non-dedicated server is (also known as a listen server) which is basically like if your PC was running a single player match but it just let people connect to your game, which is why the ping / latency is usually so bad for everyone but the hosting player.

These are servers that are officially ran by Valve, they are the same exact server type as a dedicated steam group server that isn't modded, of course if the server computer that would run them are the same. (just to be clear i see people think they're different really often) These servers can't run custom campaigns from the workshop or other file hosting websites.

When you choose this option it means that the lobby will check for the closest open official dedicated server, if it cant find one then it starts looking for the closest open steam group server and further located official dedicated server , and if it cant find one it will set up a local host type server on the lobby leaders PC.

This means the lobby leaders PC runs a single player mode campaign map where they will average of 5 ping, but still allows players to join. but this usually has a few performance issues or incompatibility when the host is using mods that the others dont have, so these are Non-Dedicated servers. This doesnt also load up any server presets (player made server with custom commands)

The steam group servers are servers hosted by clans groups of people or steam groups or even sometimes by individual people. But they are usually still Dedicated Servers, and of course since these servers are privately owned even if they are publicly usable, the groups usually mod them to change the gameplay. When you start a match with this option it gives the lobby leader a list of the public community servers to pick from so you can choose what you want to play, just don't let the players vote to start or when the count down ends it will pick one randomly.

Healing items are those used to restore lost health, be it a temporary health boost or a permanent restoration. They can be found in ambulances, safe rooms, or randomly throughout levels, but are most often found inside of first aid stations. First aid stations may contain up to four bottles of pain pills, but they may contain first aid kits instead, depending on how well the Survivors are doing, the difficulty level, and the gameplay mode. First aid stations found in safe rooms and at finales always contain first aid kits.

Crescendo Events are actions that are caused by the onslaught of Common Infected, which is often called a horde to and fine attack the everlasting Survivors. The main cause of the hordes is some parts of the environment that the survivors must trigger to progress forward or pass the level, acting like a dramatic finale.

Most Crescendo Events involve causing a loud noise to sound or a bright light activate which attracts the infected.

Other like the Crescendo Event there is another one known as the Gauntlet Crescendo Event, where rather than wait for the horde, you keep on running through the horde while trying to survive. For example the “Coaster Rush”.

Unlike Crescendo Events, Panic Events are things that can be avoided as the Survivors proceeded through a level if they are careful.Cars are strewn about the map in virtually every level. While most are harmless, you'll occasionally find an alarmed one. These can be easily identified with a reflective red glare on the car windows. When shots are fired near an alarmed car, it will send a short "beep" out, warning the trigger-loving players to watch their fire. If an alarmed car is hit or touched by a nearby Survivor, it will set an alarm off and send 2× the horde towards the team making it little difficult.

Rescue Closets is a designated area, usually a small unknown room around a map with one door, where deceased players can respawn with a previous gun that they had with less ammo; if the other fellow Survivors rescue you.

The Finale of a campaign is within the final chapter. Rather than going to a new safe room, the Survivors have to equip themselves with weapons and stay within a specific area where they will initiate a rescue call, for a Helicopter or another vehicle, to be able to escape.

Campaigns (or Movies) are grouped sets of environments used for gameplay within Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. Campaigns are aesthetically presented as if they are individual zombie movies, complete with a poster on the loading screen for each one, and usually consist of several chapters ( and also being referred to as "maps" or "level"). Chapters are normally played in order, while also following a story or a narrative, in which the Survivors have to go through from start to finish while going through a whole load of Special and Common Infected, where then the rescue vehicle towards safety is called in to gather them.

Left 4 Dead initially released with four campaigns, while Left 4 Dead 2 initially released with five campaigns, with both games receiving additional downloadable campaigns after release. On Steam, downloadable campaigns are added to the games as free updates and are playable simply by purchasing and installing the games. On Xbox 360, downloadable campaigns must be purchased (excluding The Last Stand for the first game, which is available for free) and manually downloaded from the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Most of the official campaigns (Not Community Made Excluding "The Last Stand") do encompass with a larger narrative when played in the actual order, while it isn't enforced by the game. On the PC version of Left 4 Dead 2, Custom Community-Made Maps/Campaigns are heavily supported which may very in their structure when actually compared to official campaigns.

Some of the following will look and sound really crazy, but I assure you, anyone can perform these same tests to verify what I say is true.

Here is the process used to perform this analysis. A combination of a listen server with sv_cheats 1 and melee_show_swing 1 allows you to see the melee rays. host_timescale 0.1 is useful for slowing time down to take better pictures (1/10 speed). nb_blind 1 and nb_player_move 0 (to stop the spitter) are useful for determining damage to Special Infected. sb_stop 1 will freeze the survivor bots, while z_common_limit 0, director_no_specials 1, and director_no_mobs 1 will also give you some peace and quiet to do your testing. god 1 may also be useful in the event you try meleeing boomers/spitters.

In addition, GCFScape was used to see into vpk files and extract the melee weapon scripts. A custom Sourcemod plugin was also used to print out the time between consecutive melee attacks by analyzing the CTerrorMeleeWeapon netprops m_flNextPrimaryAttack and m_flLastAttackTime for cycle time analysis, and for printing out the damage in TraceAttack/OnTakeDamage/PlayerHurt to determine the damage multiplier per hitgroup. The tickrate enabler plugin by ProdigySim was also used for analyzing melee weapon behavior at higher tickrates.

A melee swing will create hit rays every tick as it sweeps through the swing animation, as shown above. These images were generated at 90 tick to emphasize the sweeping motion. As shown below, the melee rays begin behind the player's eyes. Behind the eyes being the origin explains why crouching or looking down makes melee weapons more effective, since more of the rays will be swinging at larger portions of the infected's hitbox.


All rays are the same length for all weapons; this length is determined by the cvar melee_range, and the default is 70 Hammer units. All weapons also appear to have fairly similar sweep widths, although there does appear to be some minor variation.



This image was generated by strafing to the left, jumping, and then swinging the katana. Notice how there are four sets of four rays; each set corresponded to a different server tick. If you aren't moving, then the last ray of one tick will perfectly overlap with the first ray of the next tick, as in the first animated image. If you are moving, as in the screenshot above, then the rays will be offset from each other, which makes it easier to count them.

The melee script files in pak01_dir.pak / scripts / melee describe the direction of the melee sweeps with startdir and enddir. The total number of ticks that generate hitrays seems to correlate with startime and endtime. I believe force_dir is legit and describes the physics force that the melee weapon imparts. Duration is a complete lie.

The vertical angle of the player's eyes can have a significant impact on the angle between rays in a given tick, and the full width of the melee sweep. See the above 90tick images, where I swing the katana four times in each; on the left, the swings are 0/10/20/30 degrees above the horizontal, while on the right the swings are 60/70/80/90 degrees above the horizontal. Notice how the sweep is about the same size until you get above 60 degrees, at which point it begins to narrow until it has almost no sweep at the top.



The velocity of the player's rotation also has an impact on both the angle between rays during a tick and the final width of the melee sweep. In the 90tick screenshot above, I began swinging a katana, and then slowly increased my rate of rotation during the swing animation. You can see that the angle between hitrays starts out small and gets wider as you go counter-clockwise.


High tickrates also have a significant impact on melee weapons. The angle between hitrays on a given tick gets smaller, and there are also more ticks per sweep, which means more total rays. Compare these two images of the knife; the left is on a 90tick server and the right is on a default 30tick server.

After the first ray from a melee strike connects, it will deal damage, and then mark the target as Already Hit. Subsequent rays from that swing which collide with a target marked Already Hit will do zero damage. This is true even if the melee swing proceeds to strike a different hitgroup, as in the 90tick animation above. Despite hitting two separate legs, the strike to the second leg did zero damage. (as noted below, L4D1 specials can survive multiple melee strikes to the legs) Additionally, Survivors also benefit from the Already Hit detection.

Also noteworthy is that the damage dealt is determined by the first hitgroup to be struck - this is in stark contrast to a bullet, which will do damage according to the highest-value hitgroup that the bullet passes through. However, the only enemy whose hitgroups really matter for melee weapons are chargers; you want to aim for the head, because it gets the 4x bonus that can help you level the charge. Unfortunately, due to the first-hitgroup-wins rule, if you hit the left shoulder first, you will only do 1x damage, even if a subsequent hit ray passes through the charger's face.


The 30tick images above, I created a special situation to test how many enemies a single hitray could kill. I stopped all bots with nb_stop 1 so that they wouldn't even separate from each other, and then I stacked 11 hunters in the same area. Like a Bose-Einstein Condensate made of Hunters, haha.

In the image on the left, I took a swing at the BEC Hunters' heads. This image is the worst case - only one hitray struck their heads, with the other rays falling to either side of the head hitbox. In addition, the ray that hit the head was a single ray and it did not overlap with any other rays. As a result, only one Hunter was killed. This demonstrates that a single hitray kills at maximum one enemy. You can also see that melee weapons on higher tickrate servers become much more effective because the gap between hitrays is significantly smaller.

In the image on the right, I crouched and took another swing at those BEC Hunters. Sadly, the hitboxes rotated out of place, so this image doesn't look as good as it could. But it still demonstrates that subsequent hitrays can kill other enemies standing in the same area. Note that five hunters died - 0 on the first tick, 3 on the second tick, 2 on the third tick, and 0 on the fourth tick. Note that the last ray of the second tick and the first ray of the third tick overlap because we are standing still, which is why we only see four red hitrays while killing five hunters.

This demonstrates that it is far more effective to aim for the body than the head, as it maximizes the chances that your valuable melee hit rays will not fall in between attackers' heads. Additionally, looking straight ahead while crouching is better than looking down while standing, because Pythagoras can show us how the maximum distance from the player can only be achieved with an angle of zero. Another way to look at it would be to project the melee rays flat onto the ground - looking straight will result in melee rays that can hit targets further away than looking down.

The damage done to survivors varies by melee weapon (5 or 7 on expert, consistent with the values in the scripts divided by 10) and difficulty (following the typical friendly fire damage multipliers). Survivor damage is the only time different melee weapons do varying amounts of damage. Every melee weapon consistently does the same damage to a given non-Survivor, regardless of weapon, difficulty, and probably gamemode (I only really tested coop, take that last one with a grain of salt)

I *think* anything that's not a CCombatCharacter (not infected, not survivor) take 175 damage from a melee strike. For example, destructible props like doors. I'm not 100% sure, I didn't print out how much damage props were taking.

Melee hits do 100% of (max/current?) health to commons and uncommons (including Jimmy Gibbs and his 3000 health, excluding riot cops from the front). The witch, while technically a common, is also a Boss Infected, so she has her own rules - she loses 25% of max health per swing. Tne Tank loses 5% of max health per swing. These percentages are constant regardless of how much health the Infected have.

The Charger has a lot of caveats. Melee does 65% of max health to a charger, subject to hitgroup multipliers (4x head, 1.25x right arm, 1x everywhere else). AI Chargers also gain a 1/3x "idiot multiplier" while charging. That is, damage from all sources is divided by 3 while the AI charger charges at you. I theorize that the developers added this for AI chargers and not human chargers because the AI charges from a mile away and gets mowed down easily without such a buff. There are two implications from all this

1. The only way to kill a full health charger in one melee blow is with a headshot, since the right arm 125% * 65% = 81.25%, but head 400% * 65% = 260%.
   
2. It is literally impossible to level a full health AI charger that is charging at you. 260% / 3 = 86.67%. Any AI charger that was leveled was either a) chipped before the melee swing, b) actually controlled by a human, or c) killed by Tabun's AI Consistency plugin.

In contrast, the remaining specials lose a nominal 100% of current health, subject to hitgroup multipliers. Unfortunately, L4D1 specials have 0.75x hitgroups for legs. Using current health means the Hunter, Smoker, and Boomer can survive about five melee strikes to the legs, since the melee weapon does less damage with each swing. Spitter and Jockey have no 0.75x hitgroup, so they always lose a minimum 1x current health (i.e. instant kill). For reference, the Spitter and Jockey have the same hitgroup layout as the Charger - 4x head, 1.25x right arm, 1x everywhere else.

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The shove has hitrays much like the melee weapon. They begin on the player's right and span to the left. Unlike most melee weapons, there is no combo, and it always goes right to left. The hitrays begin scanning immediately after the shove key is registered by the server, and it proceeds to scan for the next 200 ms, with a total nominal cycle time of 700 ms. This creates about 34.29 rays per second on a 30 tick server. Finally, shoving is exactly the same for all weapons, melee or otherwise.

In the second image above, you can see a shove superimposed on a melee attack. Note how the shove is slightly wider than the melee attack, it has a greater range, and the difference in range is greatest at the periphery.

The following is speculation. There is a cvar, melee_collateral_shove_count, whose default is 16. My theory is that once a melee ray has struck a common infected, it cannot kill any more commons. Instead, any commons that would have been within range will be shoved away, up to this cvar max. I haven't proven this yet though.

Melee weapons have a series of swing animations called combos. The combo always begins with the first swing, and counts up once on each swing. The maximum combo size correlates with the number of primaryattacks in the melee scripts. The current combo will reset after the last attack, or after some time has expired without a primary attack. This timeout is determined by the cvar melee_combo_reset_time, whose default is 1.2 seconds.

A shove will also reset the animation to 1 - or perhaps it just lets the combo timeout, I'm not quite sure, because shoves are 700ms and the fastest melee swing is 575ms. Resetting the animation to the first hit in the combo by interleaving shoves with primary attacks is useful if the first swing has superior properties to the other swings, like the baseball_bat and cricket_bat and maybe even the frying_pan. For some weapons, interleaved shoves may help purely because the shove is faster than a melee attack. For other weapons you should never interleave shoves.

What follows is an analysis of all the official melee weapons, in order from worst to best (in my opinion, with supporting evidence). The general format is

Describe the swings: direction, raycount (ticks), cycle time, force, ray start delay
List maps where the weapon is available

Brief description, including average cycle time, average rays per second, survivor damage, tongue cutting, swing orientation, whether interleaving shoves is beneficial, and the occasional oddball property.

Then I will show screenshots of the melee rays for each weapon. The first set of shots will show the strafe-jump for each weapon's swing, so you can clearly see the rays. Then I will show what the swings look like while standing still. Finally, I will show the first-person perspective of the full combo.

First swing : Right to left, 12 rays (3 ticks), 966 ms cycle time, force vector 10 -5 5, start delay 150 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 12 rays (3 ticks), 900 ms cycle time, force vector 10 5 5, start delay 130 ms

Available: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Crash Course, Death Toll, Dead Air, Blood Harvest
Unavailable: Swamp Fever, The Parish, Cold Stream

The crowbar is by far the weakest melee weapon. The cycle times are the longest on average (933 ms). It also has fewest rays on average. The abysmal cycle time and ray count combine such that a steady combo will only generate about 12.86 rays per second, just over half what most melee weapons can produce. The only "advantages" the crowbar has are 5 survivor damage, the ability to cut tongues, and all animations being horizontal. Due to the 900ms cycle time for the second swing, it may be better to interleave shoves, even though this results in only 7 rays per second, and even though the first animation is slower.

First swing : Right to left, 20 rays (5 ticks), 800 ms cycle time, force vector 50 -30 0, start delay 150 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20 rays (5 ticks), 1000/1033 ms cycle time, force vector 50 -30 0, start delay 100 ms

Available: Swamp Fever, Hard Rain, The Parish, Death Toll, Blood Harvest
Unavailable: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Crash Course, Dead Air, Cold Stream

IMO, the frying pan is the second worst, mostly due to the having the longest single attack animation of all melee (average cycle time 900 ms). Note that the second swing appears to occasionally take an extra frame; while not statistically rigorous, out of 56 second swings, 20 of them took an extra frame. Its combo generates a roughly standard 22.02 rays per second. It does 7 survivor damage, it cannot cut tongues, and all animations are horizontal. It also appears to have the highest force of all melee weapons. Due to the atrocious 1011 ms average second swing cycle time, it is recommended to interleave shoves, which will still generate 13.33 rays per second (still more than the crowbar combo!!)

Oh yeah. It sounds terrible.

First swing : Right to left, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 925 ms cycle time, force vector 0 -15 0, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 925 ms cycle time, force vector 0 15 0, start delay 100 ms

Available: Dark Carnival, The Parish, Dead Air
Unavailable: Dead Center, Swamp Fever, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Crash Course, Death Toll, Blood Harvest, Cold Stream

This one is only slightly better than the frying pan. Its average cycle lime is longer (925ms), but it is predictable, consistent, and it sometimes attacks for an extra frame (I have no idea why the frame count is variable). It generates 23.78 rays per second, does 7 survivor damage, cannot cut tongues, and are all horizontal. Due to the long cycle time, it may be better to interleave shoves, with 13.54 rays per second. And it also sounds awful.

First swing : Upper-right to lower-left, 8 rays (2 ticks), 725 ms cycle time, force vector 20 7 0, start delay 160 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20 rays (5 ticks), 600 ms cycle time, force vector 12 7 0, start delay 33 ms

Available: The Parish, No Mercy, Crash Course, Death Toll, Cold Stream
Unavailable: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, Swamp Fever, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, Dead Air, Blood Harvest

Some people like the tonfa. It has the fastest average cycle time, 662 ms. But the first swing is not horizontal, and it has the shortest frame count of any melee weapon. Despite being the fastest, the small frame count on the first swing results in the second worst rays per second, 21.13. It only does 5 survivor damage, and does not cut tongues.

Funny story, though...the melee script implies that it should be able to cut tongues (128 | 4 == DMG_CLUB | DMG_SLASH), but I don't think the key-value pair parser understands bitwise |, and so the tonfa does not do DMG_SLASH (and probably doesn't do DMG_CLUB either). Whatever you do DO NOT SHOVE, the second swing of the tonfa is the good one; interleaved shoves would generate a paltry 5.61 rays per second.

First swing : Right to left, 24-28 rays (6-7 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 -40 0, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Upper-left to lower-right, 21-25 rays (5-6 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 40 -10, start delay 33 ms
Third swing : Upper-right to lower-left, 21-25 rays (5-6 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 -40 -10, start delay 33 ms

Available: All maps

The bat is where we start getting good. It has some disadvantages...the average cycle time is meh, 857 ms, and the second/third swings are not horizontal. But it has the second-highest ray count on its first swing. Sometimes, each swing will last for an extra frame, and this leads it to have the second-highest rays per second, 28.01. It does 7 survivor damage, and does not cut tongues. It also has the second highest force. Due to the diagonal second/third swings, I recommend interleaving shoves, which would still result in a healthy 16.70 rays per second.

First swing : Right to left, 24-28 rays (6-7 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 -40 0, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Upper-left to lower-right, 21-25 rays (5-6 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 40 -10, start delay 33 ms
Third swing : Upper-right to lower-left, 21-25 rays (5-6 ticks), 857 ms cycle time, force vector 15 -40 -10, start delay 33 ms

Available: Dead Center, Swamp Fever, The Sacrifice, Crash Course, Dead Air
Unavailable: Dark Carnival, Hard Rain, The Parish, The Passing, No Mercy, Death Toll, Blood Harvest, Cold Stream

The cricket bat is a literal copy/paste of the baseball_bat in every way except one - it only does 5 survivor damage.

First swing : Right to left, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 925 ms cycle time, force vector 5 -5 10, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 925 ms cycle time, force vector 5 5 10, start delay 100 ms

Available: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, Swamp Fever, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Crash Course, Blood Harvest, Cold Stream
Unavailable: The Parish, Death Toll, Dead Air

The fireaxe is slower than the bats (925 ms average cycle time). It also has slightly fewer rays. These combine to create a fairly average 23.78 rays per second. But it does two things better than the bats - both attacks are horizontal, and it can cut smoker tongues. It does 7 damage to survivors. Due to the cycle time, it may be better to interleave shoves, with 13.54 rays per second. But at least it doesn't sound like the guitar (although it does make Rochelle sound like Coach?)

First swing : Right to left, 12-16 rays (3-4 ticks), 725-828 ms cycle time, force vector 4 -10 0, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 725-828 ms cycle time, force vector 4 10 -10, start delay 33 ms

Available: The Passing
Unavailable: Everywhere else

The golfclub is...a little glitchy. In addition to the occasional extra frame, it also has a variable cycle time. One might think that the longer cycle time would correlate with the extra rays - and one would be wrong. I saw 12 rays with 725 ms, I saw 12 rays with 828 ms, I saw 16 rays with 725 ms, and I saw 16 rays with 828 ms. This results in an average 776ms cycle time, which is reasonably fast, yet still only 23.18 rays per second, which is mediocre. It does 7 damage to survivors, does not cut tongues, and has all horizontal swings. I do not recommend interleaving shoves because the second swing always generates more rays, and the cycle time is comparable to a shove anyway, so you would end up with only 9.48 rays per second (still better than the crowbar..). However, due to the irregular and unpredictable 828ms swings, you may still want to interleave shoves.

First swing : Right to left, 12-16 rays (3-4 ticks), 725-828 ms cycle time, force vector 4 -10 0, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 20-24 rays (5-6 ticks), 725-828 ms cycle time, force vector 4 10 -10, start delay 33 ms

Available: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Dead Air, Cold Stream
Unavailable: Swamp Fever, The Parish, Crash Course, Death Toll, Blood Harvest

The katana is identical to the golfclub in every way, except that the katana can cut smoker tongues.

I also did 507 swings to investigate the attack timing. Of first swings, 50.2% were 725ms and 49.8% were 828ms. Of second swings, 48.8% were 725ms and 51.2% were 828 ms. I would say those are statistically equal.

First swing : Right to left, 12 rays (3 ticks), 725 ms cycle time, force vector 5 -5 3, start delay 100 ms
Second swing: Left to right, 21 rays (5 ticks), 714 ms cycle time, force vector 10 -7 2, start delay 33 ms
Third swing : Right to left, 12 rays (3 ticks), 575 ms cycle time, force vector 10 -7 2, start delay 100 ms

Available: Swamp Fever, The Parish, Death Toll, Blood Harvest, Cold Stream
Unavailable: Dead Center, Dark Carnival, Hard Rain, The Passing, The Sacrifice, No Mercy, Crash Course, Dead Air

The machete has an interesting set of tradeoffs. It has the fastest individual swing and the second fastest average cycle time (671ms, just barely slower than the tonfa). In contrast, it generates some of the fewest rays (only the tonfa generates less). This results in a fairly standard 22.34 rays per second. It only does 5 survivor damage, it cuts smoker tongues, and all swings are horizontal. I do not recommend interleaving shoves, because the second swing has more rays and the third swing is faster than a shove (in other words, the first swing is the worst); interleaving shoves would only make 8.42 rays per second.

First swing : Left to right, 32 rays (8 ticks), 700/733 ms cycle time, force vector 8 -4 0, start delay 66 ms

Available: All maps (Germany only)
Unavailable: All maps (outside Germany)

The knife is clearly the best melee weapon. While it is the third fastest, that's only 1-2 ticks slower than the tonfa and machete. It has the occasional extra frame of cycle time, like the frying pan's second swing. But it has the most rays of any melee. The fast speed and high ray count lead to an absolutely broken 44.69 rays per second! That is twice what most weapons are and nearly 4x the crowbar. It only does 5 survivor damage, cuts smoker tongues, and has one consistent horizontal swing (although it is left to right, unlike the other first swings). It is a terrible idea to interleave shoves with the knife, since a shove takes just as much time as a knife swing, and there is no combo count to reset. Despite this, interleaved shoves would still generate 22.86 rays per second, which is on par with most weapons that aren't interleaving shoves.

Note that the knife is not normally available to most players. There is a hard-coded check against the string "knife" in the engine, and you either need the German version of L4D2 that has CS weapons (and low gore) to have access...or you can get a vpk that renames the knife to bypass the check in the engine, or you can get a Sourcemod extension that patches the knife check out.

The Laser Sights can only appear within Left 4 Dead 2, and are served as a tool that can be used to enhance the accuracy of every primary weapon, but not to secondary weapons. The Laser Sights when changing your primary weapon, cannot be transferred.

Incendiary Ammunition, also known as Fire Bullets by the Survivors, would set Common and Special Infected on fire, with the exception of the Infected CEDA Workers and Jimmy Gibbs Junior. which makes them immune to fire. Since incendiary ammunition is a one-hit kill against Common and Uncommon Infected on all difficulties and in Realism mode, it is advised to conserve your fire and attempt to only hit each Infected once. Incendiary rounds are less effective when applied to Sniper Rifles and one-hit kill weapons, as it just adds the burning and no extra firepower.

Explosive Ammunition, also known as Frag Rounds by the Survivors, are explosive bullets that explode on impact with any surface, including the infected. This would instantly kill all the Common Infected (regardless of the difficulty given) and does knock down anything within a feet to where it hit. It can also stun any Special Infected. On Versus, the impact of explosive ammo on a human-controlled Special Infected will cause the Infected to stumble a bit as though they have been hit by a Survivor's melee attack and their ears will ring.

The Molotov is a single use only throwable weapon, that sets a large amount of an area for approximately 15 -17 seconds. the fire will burn all Infected that comes into contact with the fire. The Molotov should be saved in levels for some of the harder horde events or to kill the tank when it spawns. Players should be wary standing next to fire as they can charged or smoked into it.

Fun Fact - in Single player a Molotov will slow down a tank when it is chasing you whereas in multiplayer it will speed the tank up a little making it harder to run away from.

The Pipe Bomb is a tube, that when thrown will be able to attract any Common or Uncommon Infected making them attracted until their demise; Exploding with a small blast radius which if used correctly.However, since a well-deployed Pipe Bomb is usually tightly surrounded by enemies, as many as 20 or more can be killed at once. Since a Pipe Bomb blast can injure a Survivor, care is needed to ensure that teammates are at a safe distance when one goes off.

Fun Fact - If you throw the Pipe Bomb at your feet when the tank is going after you, you have a chance on stunning him for up to 3 - 4 seconds making it way more easier for you to escape

The Bile Bomb is a filled tube with the "Boomers" puke, is a throwable weapon which appears in Left 4 Dead 2. The Bile Bomb when thrown, it will attract the Common and Uncommon Infected but will send them to the cloud of the Bile Bomb where ever it was thrown. but if thrown directly at a Special or Common Infected like a Tank or a large group of Common Infected, the others that arent covered by the Vomit will attack the vomit covered Infected. Making it viable for the Survivors.

These items, such as; (Cola, Gnome Chompski and scavange gas cans), take over all of the Survivor's abilities to use weapons, and can be used to knock back Infected. However, these are special in that they are only found in specific places and are used to complete specific tasks. Only found in Left 4 Dead 2.

These items are found throughout campaigns, and when picked up, you can't use any weapon until you throw them or drop them. You can shove with them, however. When shot, burned, or otherwise detonated, these items blow up, spread flames, or both, making good tools for defending areas during Crescendos or Finales. The Explosive Barrel is the only item which cannot be picked up by the Survivors. These items include; gas can, oxygen tank, propane tank, fireworks and the explosive barrel.

Over the course of the campaigns, the Survivors find fixed gun emplacements left behind by the military in their failed attempt to contain the Infection. They appear at certain finales and crescendo events and have an infinite supply of ammo. However, they are prone to overheating, which renders them temporarily unusable. When a Survivor uses a mounted gun, they cannot move and can only fire in a fixed arc.

Fun Fact - When you’re on the last chapter of no mercy or on any map that includes a fixed weapon, you can stand on the Minigun and not get attacked by the infected.

Left 4 Dead unlike most other games is managed by what is commonly known as "the director" or the "AI director". This AI will will manage various elements of the game while the survivors are playing through the campaign.

This artificial intelligence will manage game dramatics, pacing and difficulty. The director is responsible for setting up spawns for the enemies and creates a mood and tension for players while they are playing. There is also a second director in Left 4 dead that controls music ques on a player to player scale which is called the “music director”

Enemy Spawning:
The directer is immediately responsible for managing and spawning the infected on the map out of sight of survivors. The directer is also responsible for de-spawning any enemies who stray too far away from the survivors but this is open to a few exceptions.

The game directer categorises enemies as wanderers, mobs, specials and bosses.

This artificial intelligence will manage game dramatics, pacing and difficulty. The director is responsible for setting up spawns for the enemies and creates a mood and tension for players while they are playing. There is also a second director in Left 4 dead that controls music ques on a player to player scale which is called the “music director”

The common infected can be split up into two categories the first being wanderers and the second being mobs. Wanderers are spawned by the directer in front and on the sides of the survivors main path. The highest concentration of wanderers is always placed directly ahead of the survivors whereas to the sides the directer will spawn a varying number of wanderers. True to their name sake wanderers will lurk on the map till they spot a survivor and will attack.

The second category; the mobs otherwise known as hordes are spawned behind or to the sides of the survivors. the directer will spawn anywhere from 10-30 commons which will immediately hunt down the nearest survivor. If the directer is unable to spawn a horde due to where the survivors are located, the directer will proceed to queue hordes until the survivors leave the area effectively punishing them for not advancing.

The director has the ability to change the rules for spawning enemies in the numerous in game events and finales. It can change the rate and limit of infected spawning and the rate and size of mob hordes; it can even force numerous boss infected to spawn onto the players.

When a map is loaded up the director will immediately start to select item spawn locations at random and populate the world, making sure nothing is placed too close to each other. However, the director is not in a lot of control over what items will spawn such as tier 2 weapon spawns.

The director has the ability to change items depending on the current team’s performance on the map. For example, the director might choose to spawn health kits nearby when players are low on health. There is also a chance that any pain pills that have spawned ahead of survivors may be turned into med kits if the team is in critical condition or it may be turned into a defibrillator if players are black and white.

It can be noted that some items on maps are considered static and will not be changed or moved during multiple run throughs. This can include the silenced sub machine gun in the hotel event in the dead centre campaign.

A new feature to the left 4 dead series was dynamic maps. The director has the ability to measure how well the survivors are doing and alter the map accordingly. Changes could include; restructuring the survivors path, changing item spawns, altering weather patterns and re pathing events. Examples can include;

Dead Center

After the event in the streets chapter the director may choose to put an alarm on one or both of the red cars located in the liberty mall parking lot.
During the mall chapter the path to the event will change at random either leading to a security door or a toy shop window. In verses mode the director will always default to the toy shop to keep the game fair.

Dark Carnival

At the beginning of the barns level the director may choose to spawn a fence blocking the survivors path and forcing them to go around.

Hard Rain

During the mill escape chapter heavy rain will occur randomly while the survivors are trying to escape the chapter. The rain hinders the vision and hearing of the survivors making it hard to communicate as well as spawning enemies during the events.

The Parish

During the cemetery chapter many of the graves will move location forcing the survivors to take longer routes if they are doing well. All the dynamic change made to the map are kept the same during versus games.

The director has a number of phases which help determine how it will behave in relation to the state of the survivors. The point of the phases is to add a dynamic flow to the game allowing for survivors to recover or be punished when doing well.

When survivors leave the safe room/ safe area the director will enter build up mode and commons and special infected will spawn normally and mobs/ hordes will appear fairly regularly.

The director enters what is known as its peak phase when the “survivor intensity” is at its highest. At this point infected will stop spawning. Survivor intensity is measured by the director at all times by measuring how much pressure an individual is under by combing the number of zombies around them and the ones that are hitting them. A survivor is automatically at maximum intensity if incapacitated.

During relax mode the director will allow survivors to relax and recuperate after a crisis event. In this mode the director will not spawn anything from 30-45 seconds. The director will automatically be taken out of relax mode into build up mode if the survivors start moving again. This is usually a good time to heal up.

In certain situations you can do what is called quieting the game director where it is essentially turned off. This usually happens right before an event and during this period no special infected or mobs will spawn. So as long as survivors remain in the event area and do not try to rush ahead the game director will not spawn any additional infected or mobs during the event.

Infected get quicker, smarter and harder to kill as survivors put the difficulty up, some director functions also change with the difficulty such as the speed at which commons appear again after the relax period and the rate of mob/ horde spawns.

Online campaign

During Campaign, also known as Co-op, up to four players work together to try to reach the end of the campaign by fighting their way past large numbers of AI-controlled Infected. There are four difficulty levels: Easy, Normal, Advanced and Expert. Each chapter ends in a safe room, which acts as a checkpoint that is triggered when all living Survivors get inside the safe room and close the door behind them.
In Campaign mode, one or more players play as the Survivors, with the rest of the four filled in with AI-controlled "Bots". The Survivors play through each chapter, making their way from safe room to safe room. The last stage in each campaign has an expanded ending called the Finale, which usually ends with players escaping on Rescue Vehicles like boats, helicopters, etc.

Solo

Single Player is a gameplay mode with only one player controlled character. The player assumes control of one of the Survivors, and all the other characters are AI controlled. No other player can join a Single Player game, unless locally (LAN), via the connect "host local ip" console command. Other than that, the same rules as Campaign apply here, except for in Dead Center, or The Passing where you only have to get 8 Gas cans in Solo Dead Center (13 in standard Campaign mode) and 10 in Solo The Passing (16 in standard Campaign mode).
In singleplayer, if you get killed in the Campaign, the chapter will restart since bots don't use Defibrillators (unless mods has been used to allow bots continue on their own). Also, if you complete the campaign with everyone surviving, it will say "The Survivors have escaped!" or "In memory of [name/s of deceased survivors in the finale]" if the player escapes but the bots failed. The only time Campaign can be completed with the player dying as a result is Port Finale of The Sacrifice Campaign, as bots won't go and restart the generator and therefore the player's death won't fail the campaign for balancing reasons.

Survival

This is a self-explanatory game mode where survivors will have to survive as long as they can in a given location.

Versus Survival

Versus Survival (also called Survival Versus) is a mixed gameplay mode between Versus and Survival where the Survivors fend off against Special Infected controlled by players instead of Bots. In this mode, the Survivor team hold out in an area and fight against the Infected to obtain medals while the Infected team's job is to kill the Survivors as quickly as possible. If all Survivors are dead or incapacitated, the teams swap.

Versus

Versus is the basic competitive mode for the Left 4 Dead series: two separate teams of four players take turns playing as the Survivors and the Infected competing for the most points. In Left 4 Dead, points are only awarded to teams playing as the Survivors. Points are calculated by the amount of health left in each player and how far the team got. In Left 4 Dead 2, points are still only awarded to the Survivors but no longer use the amount of health left in each Survivor in the score. Instead, points are awarded solely on how far each Survivor got before they died and if they made it to the safe room alive. The points possible for each chapter is the same for both teams. Should both teams make it to the safe room without casualties and without the use of a defibrillator, then the Tie Breaker calculates how much damage each team did to the opposing team, awarding 25 points to the winner.

Versus Realism

Realism Versus is a game mode that combines Versus and Realism.

Realism

Realism can be played on any difficulty setting. This mode removes the Survivor auras usually shown around players through walls. Also, halos for items or weapons only appear if you are close enough to do their action (such as grabbing a weapon or pressing a switch). Realism mode also includes a damage penalty for body shots. Rescue closets are removed, making the defibrillator the only way to revive dead Survivors until you reach the safe house, where they will respawn for the next round. Witches kill instantly on any difficulty except Easy and no longer receive bonus damage from point-blank shotgun blasts, making cr0wning impossible. Speech bubbles over the Survivors are disabled when speaking via the microphone, although the speech bubble still appears above the character's icon. Overall, this gameplay mode was created to take the teamwork factor that made the Left 4 Dead series famous to the next level. Realism can also be played by creating your own lobby.

Scavenge

Scavenge Mode is a competitive gameplay mode. It is a round-based game in which Survivors attempt to find up to 22 gas cans to refuel a generator (or car), while fighting against player-controlled Special Infected much like in a Versus game.

Mutations

Mutations are small are large gameplay tweaks to the normal campaigns of left 4 dead.

The game itself is a very fun game to play with your friends if you want to witness some cool action, blood and gore. But if you have got to this point and have learnt something new throughout reading this guide we are severely thankful. if there is a problem within the guide like any spelling mistakes or grammar please do write it into the comments below or in our Steam group. :)