Ecko's Expert Compilation Guide

The comphrensive guide to all and everything Left 4 Dead related.

Introduction

Welcome to my guide! My name is Ecko and I'm an advent L4D2 versus player. With over 1500 accumulated hours of L4D2 versus, I have learned and seen many tactics and strategies that work and do not work. This guide is helpful to new and veteran players. The purpose of this guide is to provide tips and information to improve your general gaming experience.

Disclaimer: This guide is quite lengthy as it attempts to cover anything and everything to L4D2 (more towards the aspect of multiplayer). I will also be constantly updating the guide and adding new information.

Survivor Tips

• Microphones. This is an online game and communication is very important. Typing leaves you and your team vulnerable to attacks. Please do set up your voice chat to push to talk. Decent headphones with a microphone attachment are not expensive, although I would avoid buying anything under $10.
  
• Group up. Stay together as a squad, but don't be so close together that you are all vulnerable to Boomers, Spitters, and Chargers. I suggest a diamond shape formation.
  
• Bullet penetration is a game mechanic. Most objects in this game (walls, floors, wooden panels, etc) can be penetrated with bullets. For example, if a player spawns a Boomer in a room next to you. Go ahead and spray through the walls, more than likely you will kill the Boomer. All weapons besides shotguns are effective for penetration.
  
• Loot. Loot is plentiful in the game and more than often it is right along the path to the safe room. Grab everything you can use, especially if it only takes an extra few seconds to get it, but don't spend too much time "shopping."
  
• Time is against you. Yes, while there is no set time limit for you to reach the safe room; every second you spend as a Survivor is every second you give Special Infected players to respawn and attack you.
  
• Magnums are your best friend. When a Survivor is incapacitated the best choice of weapon to wield is a magnum. The accuracy and firepower can cover your team members as they go for the revivals.
  
• Boomer Biles. These have advantages and disadvantages. They can blind Tanks and redirect hordes of Infected, but don't forget that you will have to deal with these Infected once the effects of the Bile end. I generally recommend not to use the Boomer Biles on Tanks as more than often you will end up dealing with the Tank and horde you just created. Biles are useless if you or a member has been Boomed.
  
• Molotovs and Pipe Bombs. Often I see entire teams incapacitated and they still held on to their Molotovs and Pipe Bombs. You should always save Molotovs for the Tanks; however, if you are being horded you should Molotov yourself. Not only does this free yourself, it also eliminates most of the infected. This gives you a second fighting chance as the Tank would have potentially downed you. Molotovs and Pipe Bombs can also be used to free Survivors from Special Infected.
  
• Reload. Reload often and do it when the situation is clear. There's nothing worse than having to reload in the middle of a fight when your team mates needs you the most.
  
• Switching weapons. This goes hand-in-hand with reloading. If you are caught in that situation of having to reload. It is faster to swap to a secondary/melee weapon to dispatch the problem.
  
• Physics. Take advantage of the physics present. Items and throwables can be bounced off walls to reach corners and areas without putting yourself in danger.
  
• Focus. Hunters and boomers can be threatening and should be dispatched immediately, but don't forget there are more Special Infected waiting to surprise you. Just in mind that they can be simply distracting you in order to set up a real attack.
  
• Car alarms. Car alarms will not trigger if you are a certain distance away. If you see Special Infected setting up by a car alarm and you are about a block away. Go ahead and open fire. It will not trigger the alarm. The more you play and experiment with this, you will soon learn the approximate distance needed to be away to prevent car alarms from triggering.
  
• Think outside the box. If you know Special Infected are sitting behind a vehicle, waiting for you to come closer. Just crouch and shoot their feet.
  
• Use the environment. The environment and jobs can be very helpful to you and could make the difference between life and death. If you have been Boomed it would be ideal to get on top of a vehicle, garage dumpster, etc, because it slows down the Infected. The Infected have to climb up to reach you, giving you precious extra seconds to deal with every one of them. An ideal object would be a garage dumpster, flushed with the wall. Not only does this eliminate one side you must watch out for, it's also an obstacle that common Infected must climb up on to reach you.
  
• Multiplayer options. Enable Game Instructor. Game Instructor is helpful at pointing out hidden loot, informing you of team mates needing assistance, and hints to game events. I personally have Game Instructor enabled as I sometimes may miss and/or pass by loot I didn't think would spawn there.
  
• Consumables. Have you been ever been frustrated trying to heal and/or pass pills and adrenaline to your fellow Survivor? That is because (for reasons unknown) you are unable to pass/use them on a fellow Survivor immediately as you equip them. Wait for about 3 seconds and you will be no longer mashing the shove button.
  
• Burst fire. When engaging targets at long distances with automatic weapons. It is much more accurate to fire 1-3 rounds at a time instead of continuously holding down the trigger. An AK-47 is a deadly weapon at long ranges when you treat it as a sniper rifle.

Special Infected Tips (General)

• Spawn/Attack ratio. Keep your spawn to attack time as lowest as possible. When you spawn, you should attack right away. The longer you are alive the more time you give Survivors to figure out your location and potentially your plan.
  
• Attack together. Attacking alone is useless and will almost always accomplish minimum damage to the Survivors. The exception to this rule would be "Death Charges." I recommend Boomers going in first to blind the Survivors. Distractions may also be helpful in getting off a successful Boom. An incoming horde or Hunter that constantly leaps around is a good distraction for the Boomer.
  
• Respawns are good. After an attack if you are the only one left alive, then go ahead and respawn. Note that you can only respawn when you are far enough from the Survivors and also must be behind them. The game will not allow you to respawn if you were to run ahead of the Survivors.
  
• Take one for the team. Smokers and Jockeys are ideal for aligning the Survivor for a "Death Charge". Sure, you will not bank a lot of points for assisting the Charger, but it puts you and your team that much closer to winning the round.
  
• Assisting in incapacitation. When a Charger has a hold of a Survivor. Do not try to attack the Survivor in the attempt of furthering their demise. All you will accomplish is damaging the charger and potentially releasing the Survivor. The same applies for Jockeys and Hunters. Smokers can be assisted if you do not get in too close with your attacks.
  
• Spawning. Do not spawn and walk into the same direction Survivors are looking at/firing to dispatch infected and/or hordes of infected. If you have trouble spawning and you are behind a vehicle, it is most likely because your legs and feet are visible to the Survivor. Jump and hit the spawn button just as you are in midair.
  
• Multiplayer Options. Enable Spectating Free Look. This allows you to enter free camera mode which unrestricts your camera to the survivors. This will allow you to see what is ahead such as: incoming hordes, Witches, and car alarms. It will also help your team coordinate attacks based on ideal choke points within the map. Knowing is half the battle.
  
• Ladders. The Special Infected ladders are useful, but at the same time can be a nuisance. Avoid being too close to the ladders if you decided to spawn, jump off, and attack the survivors. There's nothing more embarrassing then trying to do a "Flying Boomer" attack when you latch on to the ladder and get shot in the butt by the Survivors.
  
• Kill it with fire! Maps containing natural sources of fire (No Mercy - Subway, near the starting Safe Room, or The Sacrifice - The Docks, by the derailed train) are a good source of causing additional damage to the Survivors. Pulling and/or knocking Survivors into the flames will do a considerable amount of damage and the same damage still applies to their downed state; resulting in a quick death in the absence of a prompt response.

Hunters

Hunters can spawn and not create noise (unless in pounce mode). This is helpful because Hunters can then break down doors, or get set up in a position. As a Hunter try to pounce Survivors from a good height and/or distance to add that extra damage. Leaping over a fence on top of a Survivor will also provide extra pounce damage. You don't always have to be on top of the highest building, but is necessary to achieve a maximum of 25 pounce damage.

Smokers

The Smoker's range and potential for "Death Smokes" and ability to slow down Survivors by making them hang off ledges is great. When smoking a Survivor, try to limit your exposure. Stand as far back as you can from the ledge, but just enough that you can still target a Survivor. That way, once you have entangled your target and they are freed, you still have a chance of getting away as you have given the Survivors less surface area to shoot at. Smokers are most dangerous when it comes to pulling Survivors off ledges or high areas with no guard railings. As a Smoker you should aim to do this when given the opportunity. Chargers will also rely on you to help them set up for "Death Charges". Survivors can also be pulled into alarmed cars and sources of fire for extra damage.

Chargers

Think of the Charger as a bowling ball and the Survivors as bowling pins. Chargers are the best for outright killing Survivors by charging them out of windows, off of ledges, and off any sort of height with no walls. Depending on what maps are being played. More than often there are opportunities for "Death Charges" and they should be taken. Note that you must be approximately 1 meter or away from a Survivor in order to charge them. If you are too close you will not be able to successfully charge. Charging a player into a source of fire (fire naturally generated by the map) is great for extra damage.

Spitters

Experienced Spitters will use their environment to their advantage to harm the Survivors. For example, if you are sitting on the roof and want to Spit on the group of Survivors directly below you. It is not necessary to walk over to the ledge and expose yourself. You can fire the Spit against the wall and gravity will do the rest. Spitting on top of objects such as tables will deny the Survivor a quick way to avoid the Spit as it will spread. Always wait for other Special Infected to attack first before using your Spit. Spitting alone will more than often result in minimal damage to the Survivors.

Jockeys

As a Jockey, direct the Survivor back to the origin of where they started or into an area where Survivors do not have a clear line of sight. It does not do your team any favours if you move the Survivor towards their goal of reaching the Safe Room. Falling on top of Survivors will also count as if you were leaping on them. If a Survivor is near an alarmed car you can force them to trigger it by Jockeying them into the car. Jockeys have a knockback feature when leaping onto Survivors who are too close in proximity. This can cause the other non-targeted Survivors to hang off ledges or break the hold of a Smoked Survivor. It is also faster for a Jockey to travel by constantly leaping. Jockey a player into a source of fire for additional damage.

Boomers

Once you spawn, you should be ready to attack immediately. Get as many Survivors as you can and then move in and "suicide" on the ones you missed. Survivors caught in a Boomer explosion will be pushed away. Keep this in mind when Survivors are near edges or sources of fire. "Flying Boomers" are also another method of suiciding on Survivors. This is achieved by running off a ledge and spawning at the last second before you are exposed and cannot spawn, thus falling on your target(s). The Boomer's vomit protectile goes on a downward arc, so in order to maximize the length of your vomit, you must aim at a 45 degree angle. Since the vomit have a downward arc you can reach Survivors by vomitting over a low wall, hedge, or vehicle.

Tanks

The ideal situation for a Tank to move in is when the Survivors are in disarray and low health (under 40 points of HP). When Survivors have to deal with common infected it slows them down, giving you a chance to get your attacks in. Tanks that move in on Survivors who are in an open area with nothing going on will die almost immediately. As a Tank, if you find yourself in a situation where the Survivors have an upper hand. It is better to stay out of view and throw rocks until your team can disrupt the them, giving you a chance to go in and cause serious damage. Your fist and rocks are not the only things at your disposal. Cars, forklifts, and structures can be used to damage and incapacitate Survivors. When car alarms are present in the area, you should bring it towards the Survivors as they may accidently fire upon it, triggering a horde. Tanks are also useful for blocking the only possible route for Survivors. For instance on the map Dead Center - The Hotel, the room with the burning kitchen just before the Safe Room is an ideal choke point for a Tank to camp, as those doorways are the only possible route to progress.

Witches

Witches are NPCs and cannot be controlled; however, can be used to your advantage. I often see people as a Boomer sit by the Witch, hoping for Survivors to kill him and cause the Witch to attack due to the explosion of the Boomer. This will not work if the Survivors are at a good distance away. This is the same issue with car alarms as previously discussed. It is better to surprise the Surivors as they try to get pass the Witch or kill her. For example, Smokers can pull Survivors towards the Witch from a tall building, Chargers can charge Survivors from behind into the Witch, etc, you get the idea. Witches can also be triggered to attack if aggravated by passing and nearby Survivors. Simply attacking the Witch will trigger her to attack. Not do not attack her if she is an a calm state. All you will do is damage her and it will not cause her to be aggravated by the Survivors.

Ending Statement

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. If there any questions/suggestions/concerns, feel free to comment on the guide. For anyone that would like additional advice, simply comment or send me a friends request and I'll do my best to help you. I will be constantly updating this guide, so please revisit it often for any changes and/or new information.

[Enemy Forces]

Nice one

[gekkii]

You have 1200 hours of server time and over 300 hours menu and lobby time adding up to over 1500 hours of l4d2.exe being active. Server time isn't necessarily playing time but just being connected to a server so that includes all the hours you spent standing in the safe room waiting for players/that AFK guy or kicking the griefer, it includes all the times you are being shown the scores at the end and all the opening cut scenes.

Your actual play time is probably closer to 1000 hours.

Just saying.

[magnificient bastard]

You've forgot to underline "Focus".

[Estuh]

more pics
more clicks

[Qbodp]

"There's nothing more embarrassing then trying to do a flying Boomer attack when you latch on to the ladder and get shot in the butt by the Survivors." haha i laughed XD

[Vermilion]

Nice job

[Heretical Hermit]

very good guid thnx for info

[Viny]

good job!

[ChyonE]

Good Job!!!

[Optimus Prime X77]

Nice one