Chances are good that if you're reading this, you picked up a copy of L4D2 for $5 during a Steam Sale. Welcome to the L4D2 community!

I think you’ll be glad you picked up a copy of L4D2. Like many great games, you can pick up the basics in the first hour or so, but to truly master it can take years. And the various game modes, custom campaigns, mutations, and the add-ons workshop give it so much replay value!
























However, there’s a few things you should know about this game and its community:

• It’s got a steep difficulty curve, and you’re very dependent on your teammates and vice versa.
• It’s quite easy to get waaaay in over your head with little to no warning if you’re not prepared.
• I’d strongly recommend that you stick to Campaign Mode in Easy or Normal difficulty for now.
  
• Advanced and Expert difficulties are exactly as advertised; they assume that you already know what you’re doing!

And pretty pretty please, with frag ammo and laser sights on top:
Do not go directly to Versus.
Do NOT go directly to Versus.
DO NOT GO DIRECTLY TO VERSUS! YOU WILL HAVE A VERY BAD TIME!

Versus Mode is much, much more demanding than even Expert Realism. In some cases you will be playing with and against players who have been playing the game almost literally every day for the past 8 years. And some of them will expect that level of proficiency from you, and will kick you immediately if you demonstrate that you’re still learning the game. Sometimes they'll even kick you from the lobby if the "hours played" stat on your profile is too low.

Is this reasonable? Not really, no. But the fact of the matter is, that is what you will (sometimes) encounter.

So please do both the vets and yourself a favor, and abstain from Versus entirely (for now). or join a newbie-friendly Versus group. If you hop into a random Versus pub with less than a few hundred a thousand hours, you’re probably going to encounter some abuse.

So aside from that little warning, if you're a brand-spankin'-new player then this guide probably isn't really for you... at least, not yet:

• If you're like me and you'd really like to learn the fundamentals of the game by yourself before inflicting your newbiosity (totally not a made-up word!) on other people, feel free to start out on Singleplayer. The bots won't give a flip what you do.
  
  
• That being said, it's entirely reasonable to jump right into Easy or Normal Campaign and do just fine. This is where you're basically expected to be learning the game, after all, and the popup tutorials will help get you up to speed rather quickly. Just make sure you stick close to your team!
  
  
• Favorite this guide so you can easily find it later, close this window, and just go play the game. Play enough until you feel like you've learned the fundamentals, and then come back once you feel like you've got a decent grasp on things. By then you'll probably already have a few questions, things like:

How the heck are you supposed to handle the tank?
How do you avoid freaking out the witch?
If I have a choice, which grenade should I take?
What is adrenaline good for?
When should I use my kit?
...and so on. These are the basics, and it's at about this point that these guides will start helping to make more sense of the game.



I'd like to take this moment for a little shameless self-promotion and recommend that you start with my first guide:
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=420289698
It's funny, it's informative, it's brief, and it's only a little bit blasphemous! But hey, it's a great place to start!



And after you're done marvelling in the glorious wordplay that is my awesome guide, here are a few other guides I think might be worth checking out. These guides cover the basics, the stuff that all other player knowledge is built upon:
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=320228671
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=210475314
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=238756439
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=225524418
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=127693480
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129067759
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=323011095
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=129879869

And hey, there's probably a lot of other good guides out there that I haven't mentioned. This is just my own recommended reading list. And yes, a lot of these guides will cover the same material, but if it's in here, then I thought it had something unique and valuable to contribute. Ultimately, your education is up to you.

So eventually you'll get to the point where Normal difficulty is too easy. You're consistently heading into the saferoom in the green, often with a kit on your back, and you're ready for something a little more challenging. You may have already experimented with Expert and discovered that it is not forgiving:




















Congratulations, you're now an Intermediate player! By now, you've got a good grasp of the fundamentals and the basics, but you still have some questions. Hopefully these guides can help:

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=820651087
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159164679
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=157239967
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=154979860
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412007318
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=147309463
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=147354802

And for whatever it's worth, Advanced Campaign is my favorite mode. It's Expert for newbies and Normal for Vets!

Eventually you'll get to the same point with Advanced that you got to on Normal, where you're breezing into saferooms effortlessly. Go ahead and try Expert, preferably with some decently skilled friends off your list. Bring your mic, your headphones, and your A-game, because you're going to need it!

It's dangerous to go alone. Take this:

http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=258670172
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=118236296
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=372959237
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=132068180

I don't typically play Expert as much anymore, but if you ever need a 4th for your Still Something to Prove or The Real Deal run, feel free to send me an invite.

My personal opinion is that you ought to have earned The Real Deal and/or Still Something to Prove before ever venturing into the competitive modes, namely Versus and Scavenge. But that's an argument for the discussions, or perhaps another guide...

*cough*
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1120130180


http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=500028176
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=130902328
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=522078506
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=113762019
and you may find it worthwhile to join a group dedicated towards learning how to play Versus, similar to this one:
http://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1094155198
...before braving the waters of a random VS pub game.

May your pounces always be for 25 damage, your coordination impeccable, your teammates competent, and your opponents worthy!

Thanks for reading, comments are always welcome! If you feel like there's a guide that's conspicuously missing, please let me know, I'll try to keep this meta-guide updated periodically.