So, clearly I am making a Left 4 Dead survival guide. If you don't know what L4D is then let me give you some background information about this wonderful game:
L4D is a cooperative survival, and kinda scary, first person shooter. Yes, it's a first person shooter, and a very fun one at that. It's available for the computer and the Xbox360, however, I will be giving mostly Xbox360 advice. I haven't played the computer version, but it is probably not that different from the Xbox360, just mainly controls I believe. This game was first released back in November 2008, and yes I still play it. So the storyline is this: P.S: There are lots of spoilers, I would suggest skipping if you don't want spoilers.
Pennsylvania suffers in outbreak of the "Green Flu" which is a highly contagious virus causing aggresion, mutation, and loss of brain function. Two weeks after, four immune survivors which are Bill, Zoey, Louis, and Francis, travel through the city of Fairfield only to discover that the virus has created more dangerous mutations(I'm 99% sure that these are in fact, the special infected). They are then alerted that there is an evacuation point at Mercy Hospital roof by a passing helicopter. They fight their way through the city streets and sewers and get rescued by the pilot, and then discovered he is also infected. Zoey is forced to kill the pilot and the helicopter crashes. That's the end of No Mercy campaign.
They find an armored delivery truck and drive it to the town of Riverside. However, the rest of the road is blocked so they must make their way on foot. After an encounter with an infected lunatic, they find the town is overrun as well and decide to go to a nearby boathouse for their rescue. They contact a small fishing vessel and manage to reach the city of Newburg, only to find much is in flames. End of Death Toll campaign.
They seek cover in a large greenhouse, but their rest is interrupted when a military plane flies overhead. This leaves the survivors to travel through the business district to get to the Metro International Airport. Upon arrival, the survivors see that in an attempt to contain the infection, the military bombed the airport. The runway is intact which allows them to escape on the waiting plane. End of Dead Air campaign.
The plane crashes, of course, and they find themselves at a military outpost soon after. After answering a radio transmission, the survivors make their final stand against the infected before a military vehicle transports them to the only safe zone left. End of Blood Harvest campaign.
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Controls: SURVIVOR: Right Trigger: Shoot Left Trigger: Shove/Punch(Same thing) Press right thumbstick: Hunting Rifle scope. Press left thumbstick: Vocalize Left thumbstick: Move Right thumbstick: Look A: Jump B: Reload Y: Pick up weapons Left bumper: Crouch Right Bumper: 180 degree spin
INFECTED: Same left and right thumbstick controls, same A button control, same bumper controls. X Button: Move closer to survivors. Right trigger: Attack with special power. Left trigger: Claw
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Objects:
Healing: First aid kit and pills. First aid kits will revive to at least 80% health, and so will pain pills. Pain pills wear off though, so only use them if you need to run really fast to a safe room or something, or if you are on the verge of death with no first aid kit.
Guns:
Assault rifle and SMG: The SMG has more bullets (can hold 50/480), shoots a little bit faster, but lacks a little power. Assault rifle has 120 bullets less (50/360), shoots a little slower, but has more power.
Shotguns: There are two. There is the pump shotgun, which has to be pumped after every shot, and holds 8 bullets and over 100 backup, and the auto shotgun which holds the same amount of bullets, but holds 10 instead of 8, and it doesn't pump after every shot. However, they both have more power than the assault rifle and SMG. Can shoot through usually 2 infected
The Hunting Rifle: There is only one! However, it is very accurate, and can go through a few infected in one round. It holds 15 with 150 backup. It can also shoot through doors. It can shoot almost as fast as a single pistol can when required, but is usually slow. However, it is a pretty good weapon to choose.
Pistols: Well, this is your backup. It has unlimited ammo, 15 bullets for a single, 30 for duel wield, and unlimited backup. You use these when you are incapacitated, or when you run out of ammo on your primary guns. However, don't doubt the power behind these. You also might want to use these when there are very few infected around.
Other:
Pipe bomb: I believe you can find these more often by just searching then actually finding them in safe rooms. These are great to use. They blink and make noises, attracting common infected to them and then they go BOOM! Awesome to use when a horde is about to attack.
Molotov: These are firey weapons that might save you at times. They are in safe rooms on either part 4 or 5, I can't remember. However, if they are in part 4, they are also in part 5. Throw these at anything and it will die quicker. However, zombies may still run through the fire and start attacking you.
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What works well together: Well, from my experience and from other experiences that have happened on this game, you should only have one rifle and one shotgun, both working together. Have two people use the assault rifle. If you can only get the SMG and shotgun, I would probably have three SMG's and one shotgun.
Probably the smartest thing to do(I said probably, haven't tried it yet.) is to throw a pipe bomb and a molotov in the same spot. If the pipe bomb doesn't kill them, the molotov will.
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Special Infected:
Tank: The worst thing ever!!! You can't avoid him, and he has very powerful attacks. Throw a molotov at him and have the whole team shoot with whatever they have. If you need to reload, DON'T!!! Just use your pistol or pistols until the tank dies. He has somewhere around 5000 health.
Witch: The witch annoys me... so much. Turn off your flashlight(which is attached to your gun, hit up on the d-pad to turn it off) and don't shoot. Try to walk around her being as quiet as possible. If there is a horde around the witch, shove them and run. Do not shoot. If you startle the witch and she attacks you, you will be incapacitated and could die.
Boomer: Not really harmful unless it vomits on you. Shove the boomer away and then shoot it. If it vomits on you then a horde will be attracted to you. Spinning around in circles and shooting until there are about 3 infected left is probably one of the best ways to survive through a circle horde.
Hunter: They are usually pretty sneaky, and if they jump on you, you will be incapacitated. Have your teammates shove the hunter off of you. Same goes for you. Shove off a hunter if your teammate is getting attacked by one.
Smoker: They will attack you with their really long tongue and drag you until you are where they are. Again: rely on your teammates to attack these. Sometimes you can be lucky enough to kill the smoker before it grabs you though.
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My strategy on how to be good at the game:
Pick No Mercy campaign. Practice this campaign, a LOT on easy. Once you feel confident that you know this map, go onto normal. Practice it on normal a bit. Then eventually move to advanced, by now you should have found where the witch usually is, and have a general idea of where some of the other special infected are. Play on advanced more than you did on easy. By the time you are really good at advanced, finally move on to expert. Don't get discouraged if you can't beat it on expert for a while. It's EXPERT! By the time you beat it on expert, you probably won't want to play on this map anymore as a survivor. Play No Mercy on versus mode too, it's pretty fun to try killing the survivors at times. Repeat this same strategy with all the other campaigns and you might eventually just get every achievement.
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Achievements and how to earn them: (How many G's)
Helping Hand: Revive 50 incapacitated survivors(20G)
Field Medic: Heal 25 survivors with a first aid kit(20G)
Pharm-Assist: Give pain pills to 10 survivors(20G)
My Bodyguard: Protect any survivor from an attacking infected 50 times(15G)
Dead Stop: Punch a hunter as he is pouncing(10G)
Cr0wnd: Kill a witch with a single headshot(30G)
Untouchables: No survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle(30G)
Drag and Drop: Rescue a survivor from a Smoker's tongue before they take damage(20G)
Blind Luck: You or another survivor doesn't take damage after being vomited on by a boomer(20G)
Akimbo Assasin: Survive a campaign using only pistols(30G)
Hero Closet: Rescue a survivor trapped in a closet(10G)
Hunter Punter: Shove a Hunter off a pinned and helpless survivor(10G)
Tongue Twister: Free yourself from a smoker who has grabbed you with his tongue(20G)
No Smoking Section: Kill 10 Smokers while they are pulling helpless survivors(15G)
101 Cremations: Set 101 infected on fire(20G)
Do Not Disturb: Sneak past all witches in a campaign without disturbing one(20G)
Man vs. Tank: Kill a tank by yourself (I honestly don't reccomend doing this until you are insanely good) (30G)
Tankbusters: Kill a tank without it doing any damage to survivors(20G)
Safety First: Complete a campaign with no friendly fire damage at ALL(30G)
No-one Left Behind: Complete a campaign with all 4 survivors(20G)
Unbreakable: Complete a campaign without ever being healed(30G)
Witch Hunter: Kill the witch without a survivor taking damage from her(20G)
Red Mist: Kill 1000 infected with a mounted machine gun(20G)
Pyrotechnician: Kill 20 infected in one explosion(20G)
Zombie Genocidest: Kill 53,595 infected(Just by following my strategy for No Mercy, you might get this one. If not, Go through Death Toll as well) (20G)
Dead Giveaway: Heal a fellow Survivor when your own health is below ten(10G)
Stand Tall: Finish a campaign without being incapacitated(20G)
Zombicidal Maniac: Finish a campaign on expert(Good luck with this) (30G)
What Are You Trying To Prove? : Survive ALL campaigns on expert( I find that this might be just about impossible ) (35G if you get this though)
Nothing Special: Survive a campaign with survivors taking no damage from special infected(30G)
Burn The Witch: Light the witch on fire with a molotov(10G)
Towering Inferno: Light the Tank on fire with a molotov(10G)
Spinal Tap: Kill an infected with one blow from behind(10G)
Stomach Upset: All survivors complete the campaign without being vomited on(20G)
Brain Salad: Make 100 headshot kills(Not too hard to do actually) (15G)
Jump Shot: Headshot a hunter while he's jumping(20G)
Mercy Killer: Survive the No Mercy campaign(Time consuming, but pretty easy) (15G)
Back 2 help: Leave a safe room,save an incapacitated teammate, and bring them back to the safe room(20G)
Toll Collector:Survive the Death Toll campaign(15G)
Dead Baron: Survive Dead Air campaign(15G)
Grim Reaper: Survive Blood Harvest campaign(15G)
Ground Cover: Save another survivor from a special infected while on the ground(30G)
Clean Kill: Shove away a boomer and kill him without splatter on anyone(10G)
Big Drag: Drag a survivor 100 feet with your tongue(Smoker only achievement) (20G)
Chain Smoker: Constrict two survivors in one life as a smoker(20G)
Barf Bagged: Cover four survivors with boomer bile at one time(20G)
Double Jump: Pounce two survivors in one life as a hunter(20G)
All 4 Dead: Kill all survivors in one life as the tank(30G)
Dead Wreckening: Deal out 5000 total damage to survivors as a special infected(20G)
Lamb 2 Slaughter: Incapacitate a survivor who has entered and exited a safe room (20G)
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Other: While in campaign mode, if a survivor dies, they respawn in the next part
Well, I think I included everything you basically need to know. If not, comment and I will put in chapters of stuff I forgot.
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Credits: The websites that have helped me create this for you
http://www.gamefly.com/Rent-Left-4-Dead/128965/GameplayControls/
http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Weapons
http://www.xbox360achievements.org/game/left-4-dead/achievements/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_4_Dead
Most Importantly of all though were the creators!!! They created this game for you. Thank Valve Corporation. **I did not just copy and paste everything. If I did, then that would be stupid. I wrote this all in my own words**. Leave your strategy and stuff down below in the comments. Vote!