Headshot kill Zombies, even on Realism-Expert, but...

[Hiuman]

Why is it possible (albeit rarely) to find zombies who are still surviving and attacking survivors without their heads like this one: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2923307433
What makes them lose their heads and yet be still alive?

[Sandyclawz]

I've had "disarmed" zombies still managing to punch me for 20 hp per "punch". I've had headless zombies rising back up and chase after me anyway.

Nobody EVER realizes that one should always AIM FOR THE LEGS. In L4D2, Legs are the secondary heads. Destroy those and commons die immediately. Or be like me, stick with tier 1 shotguns and Grenade Launcher/M60/Incendiary/Explosive ammo. They don't come back from THOSE...

[Qdude]

Originally posted by Sandyclawz:

I've had "disarmed" zombies still managing to punch me for 20 hp per "punch". I've had headless zombies rising back up and chase after me anyway.

Nobody EVER realizes that one should always AIM FOR THE LEGS. In L4D2, Legs are the secondary heads. Destroy those and commons die immediately. Or be like me, stick with tier 1 shotguns and Grenade Launcher/M60/Incendiary/Explosive ammo. They don't come back from THOSE...

I don't believe that's true. The commons won't have their legs blown off until you've done enough damage to kill them with the shot. The reason for that is because Valve didn't program crawlers into L4D, so they made sure only when the finishing blow is dealt can a leg gib come off. Arms blow off immediately, but commons are allowed to live without arms. You're still doing the same amount of damage in the arms and legs.

[Sandyclawz]

I'm pretty sure a shotgun blast to the stomach might sometimes leave infected alive, whereas same shotgun blast to legs insta-kills them.

[John]

An actual answer?, it's a bug one way or another, seem them a few times. Game doesn't register their head just got blown off even though you did a headshot, usually when you connect to another server, desync or something.

[Troubled]

It happens from time to time, just like hits not even registering. Nothing more comical than blasting a zombie in the face with a shotgun with it just casually looking over at like you just asked them a question while looking like they got a bucket of tomato sauce dumped on them.

[supersand]

Originally posted by Sandyclawz:

Nobody EVER realizes that one should always AIM FOR THE LEGS.

this is bad advice especially if playing on realism. this isn't dead space all bodyshots do the same damage shooting the legs in particular is an easy way to miss shots. At least if you aim chest level you can accidentally get headshots, and more likely to kill other commons with penetrating shots at chest level.

I even went and tested this. On Campaign - Expert it takes 6 uzi shots to kill a common with bodyshot damage regardless of where you shoot them, the final shot simply triggers a different animation and is purely cosmetic. Always shoot center mass if you aren't going for headshots so you are more likely to hit.

The only time legs should be shot at is when you suspect a hunter or jockey is in the crowd.

[JAiZ]

Originally posted by John:

An actual answer?, it's a bug one way or another, seem them a few times. Game doesn't register their head just got blown off even though you did a headshot, usually when you connect to another server, desync or something.

It's technically not a bug, but just the fact that the game ends up naturally desyncing hitboxes from the visible models over time (combined with lerp and ping affecting it) the more animations a common infected plays.

When you shoot a common infected's head, the game applies the headshot gore since the model registers being shot in the head, but because the actual hitbox is somewhere else, the kill does not apply since you didn't actually shoot the hitbox.

[Mirror System X]

Originally posted by JAiZ:

ping affecting it

Which makes me think of it for a moment. I think I saw that "bug" 3-4 times, like in the first 50-100 game hours of mine. Well, after I realized L4D games with ping 100+ and overly-modded ones are generally not worth it, I can't recall of any headless zombie staying alive out there in the normal gaming.

There is one + good thing when such stuff happens to occur tho - such weird stuff improves the horror feeling while being comic at the same time. It's a real headless ch1cken fighting. Creepee.

Originally posted by supersand:

Always shoot center mass if you aren't going for headshots so you are more likely to hit.
The only time legs should be shot at is when you suspect a hunter or jockey is in the crowd.

Absolutely