The Smoker is a very unique Special Infected, even among his respective peers. He is the only ranged capper-class Special Infected—capable of incapacitating (or even killing) unwary Survivors from afar. Those who tend to wander off from their teammates are especially vulnerable to his tentacle hentai tongue presence.

As deadly as he is in Campaign mode, his abilities become even more lethal in Versus mode, being able to set up damaging combo attacks with fellow Special Infected such as the Charger or the Hunter. In the hands of a skilled Versus player, he can even instakill a Survivor outright with precise timing and a hazard present.

It then comes as no surprise that his long and potent tongue can be bothersome to many players out there.



So one might ask, “How the hell are we supposed to defend ourselves from Smoker?”

We cut his tongue.

In order to repel Smoker, we need to use a sharp melee weapon to do the job.

• Katana
  
• Fire Axe
  
• Machete
  
• Crowbar
  
• Combat Knife
  
• Pitchfork (new addition in The Last Stand update)

When a Smoker pops up and fires the tongue, you need to swing the sharp melee weapon while facing the tongue right before it hits you. The exact timing will vary depending on the distance. For Campaign mode, this table will show how long it takes for a Smoker to react to your presence and fire the tongue for each difficulty level, making it easier to predict approximately how much time it takes for the tongue to travel towards you.




If executed successfully, it should break the Smoker tongue and prevent you from getting ensnared. The Smoker will go into cooldown before he attacks again.

As of The Last Stand update, you can use this technique to unlock the LICKETY-SPLIT achievement in-game.

This technique will not work with blunt melee weapons such as the electric guitar and the frying pan. If you try to cut the tongue, it will just phase through it and you will be ensnared.

A running Chainsaw will auto-cut the tongue while you are facing it as it reaches you—rendering a Smoker completely harmless for as long as the Chainsaw is active.

If you are carrying a gas can or cola, you can throw it at the Smoker as he fires the tongue at you and it should break the tongue as well. Staring down directly at the floor and dropping the gas can/cola onto the tongue as it pulls you will also break it in the same manner.

Here is a detailed training video on how to master the techniques I described above.
https://youtu.be/TgC4MbvbRJo
Hopefully, this will help you out for both Campaign and Versus mode (such as countering Charger + Smoker death charge combos).

The Smoker may be an annoying ranged Special Infected that can attack from almost anywhere from afar, but now you finally have the tools and techniques to defend yourself against him!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Game on!