Idiot's Guide to Left4Dead2: Versus Mode

Must... rush back.. to read sixguysataprataplace...

What can be more fun then surviving a zombie apocalypse? Playing a part in the zombie apocalypse! Left4Dead2 allows you to pit your wits and skills against your friends as you take turns trying to prevent each other from reaching the saferoom. If you love zombie movies and would like to try your hand at first-person shooter, this game is a must-try for you!

Disclaimer: This guide is not a bible to Left4Dead2. It will not turn you into a L4D2 expert. However, it will make you more 1337 and less susceptible to cyber-bullies (people like fOsh) and minimize the odds of people labeling you as a "n00b".

孫子兵法, the "Art of War" is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy. Lets see how its integration with this guide can give you the extra edge in the game (:

"If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected."
- Sun Tzu

Wow, so cheem. What it simply means is...

1. Synchronize attacks and engage the survivors together whenever possible. Do not attack one at a time, alone. The survivors will just leave bullets in your decomposing body and laugh at your lame attempt.

2. Target the Straggler/Rambo. You can definitely identify them. They are the ones that will always be far away from the team, either shopping around, being indecisive about which weapons to choose, or rushing recklessly ahead without the teammates, triggering all the zombie hordes/tank/witch.

3. Always conceal yourself. Never approach openly. Make them shoot cars, witches or trigger alarms and then work in tandem with the chaos that ensued to incapacitate the survivors.

Ahhh... the Witch, the infected players best friend. Use a smoker or jockey to pull the survivors towards her, so that you may turn their playing perspective from this...

...into this. See how things look differently when you're lying on the floor?

"Whoever is first in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive exhausted."
- Sun Tzu

4. As infected, always try to be ahead of where the survivors are when you are in ghost mode (spawning mode), especially if you're a boomer! So that moments before they reach you, you're able to spawn out and give them the a pleasant surprise! Special exception would be for smoker/jockey who wish to pull and separate the survivors to keep them apart (:

5. You can never be able to spawn out when you are in clear view from the survivors, or when you are really too close. Sometimes when you're near and unable to spawn, try pressing crouch or hiding behind some obstacles and you may find yourself in the position to spawn. Never spawn too early as the you will produce noises to give away your position and alert the enemies of your existence.

Hunter

Basic: Hold down crouch button (default: ctrl button), then left click to pounce. As long as your crouch button is held down, you may left click and pounce again the moment you land on the ground. Jump further by aiming higher. You can pounce off walls in mid air by facing away and left clicking with your back against the wall to jump further and higher. Just note that when you're crouching, you make a lot of noise and that gives off your position. With practice, we can all hope to do something like this;

The initial pounce damage of the hunter can be increased if you pounce from a greater distance (jumping from high ground can help achieve that), dealing as much as 25 damage from a single bound!

Smoker

Effects of excessive intake of Marlboro Menthol Lights.

The smoker is an infected that can attack from far range. To have a good gauge of how far you can hit from afar, aim your crosshair at the enemy, if it turns red, you're in business. Just left-click to pull your catch in (:

The smoker is very useful for separating the team. Like always, try to hide behind obstacles and smoke the last guy with your snake-like tongue. He is best used to pull people down ledges.

Boomer

"Baby where'd you get that body from?"

Round, rolly and jolly, the boomer is effectively the play-maker of the team. He/she can vomit and cover the enemies in bile juice, blinding them and summoning all the flesh-eating hordes to rush at the survivors, creating the perfect opportunity for your team to strike. Just press left click to unleash the force from within. Even if you miss, you can dance near the enemies praying hard that one of them is foolish enough to shoot you, because when you die, you'll explode and spread your love juice in a small area around you, staggering and stunning the enemy momentarily.

When you left click, you are able to bile for 1.5 sec, so sweep your aim from left to right to increase the spread and reach of your bile.

The bile juice travels a greater distance then you imagine if you aim higher. But if you aim anything higher than 30 degrees, you will create a zone where the bile don't hit, missing the enemy that is directly in-front of you as depicted in the image below.

3 Things to avoid as a boomer:

1. The boomer is extremely fragile, so never stay in the open as just 1-2 shots from a pistol can take care of you.

2. Never spawn too early, as your gurgling noise will give away your location, prompting the survivors to shoot through the obstacles in your direction, most likely killing you before you have a chance to do anything.

3. Never spawn behind the survivors. The boomer walks wayyy too slowly to catch up (obviously the boomer didn't read this entry:http://sixguysataprataplace.blogspot.com/2010/01/stylebook.html. time to lose some weight!), and even if you do get near, they'll hear you (revisit point no.2) and they'll kill you (reiterate point no.1).

Spitter

"Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?"

Spitter. Left click to spit, get it? She is capable of dealing massive damage to the team, normally used in tandem with your teammates. Spit when the survivors are knocked and flying into the air; as they take their time to recover, they will take massive damage from the puddle of venomous acid created by you. The keyword is opportunity. Spit when they are reviving their fallen allies, and laugh wickedly as they scramble to save themselves and abandon their friends in the wretched pool of green poison *cue evil laughter*

Though powerful and deadly, the spitter is extremely vulnerable, having only 100 hp. The key to effectively using the spitter is to stay alive as long as possible, utilizing your great range and firing your spit from afar. The spit can actually bounce off walls/and roofs, so you may actually fire from beyond the enemies' sight, enabling you to attack in complete cover.

As a spitter, never aim and fire and a moving target, its a huge mistake. The acid will always take some time to form, by the time the target is long displaced from its original spot you were aiming for. Always anticipate and know where the survivors are going, and spit at the spot ahead of them to delay the survivors' progress or to damage them (e.g. spit in narrow corridors, into rooms).

Charger

This 600 hp mini-tank is one of my favourite infected to use. When you left click, he will charge in a straight line in front of you, grabbing a survivor and scattering the rest like bowling pins in a strike. Whilst he pounds and smashes the hapless victims into the ground, the others who are knocked back will take 1~1.5 secs to recover. You are looking at big damage here, and possibly opening the floor for your team mates to engage the enemies. The charger is most effective in long, narrow spaces in which the survivors are all marching in one straight line and has nowhere to dodge. It can also kamikaze with its victim for an instant death! See video for an example.

Note that as a charger, if you were to contact any objects (e.g. curb, crates, fences) in the straight trajectory when you launch yourself, your charge will be disrupted, causing your attack to miss. Just run and hide, as your charge meter will refill fairly quickly and you can attempt to charge thereafter. Or just melee them by pressing right click. It deals an awesome 10 dmg/hit, the 2nd highest special infected melee attack! So who has the highest melee attack amongst the special infected? Drum rolls please...

Tank

"So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak."

This rule definitely applies to you when you are the god-of-destruction-massive-heap-of-rotting-flesh-granddaddyofallspecialinfected, aptly named as "The Tank".As a tank, only three rules apply.

Rule no.1: Never hunt what you cannot catch.

Rule no.2: Never hunt what you cannot catch!!!

Never chase a survivor that is still green, you can never catch up with him/her. Go for those that are in yellow and limping, or better still, go for the ones in red that are crawling. Its as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

"What if all the survivors are green and healthy?" you may ask. Then in that case my friend, I offer you "There is no 'I' in 'Teamwork". Hide, wait for your friends to spawn and strike together. Meanwhile you may climb or hide from afar and press right click to throw some rocks at the survivors.

Note: Never ever attempt to throw a rock in the open, as the tank takes freakin' long to rip the earth from underneath before you can toss it, therefore giving the enemy plenty of time to pump plenty of lead into you.

Rule no.3: Never get hit by the Molotov or get burned by fire. Nor should you get hit by any melee weapons. The following chart generated from countless of data gathered from all the geek gamers out there will give you a clearer picture.

So if you catch fire, your tank will be reduced to nothing in less than 1min 30 sec. And even though you have 6000hp, it will only take 10 hits from ANY melee weapon to kill you. Imagine being frying-panned to death *shudder*

Though the survivors may attempt to melee you, fear not as the tank has greater reach. The tank's punch can hit multiple targets (good when the survivors are trapped in a room), dealing 24 damage/punch. Doing the maths, it just takes ~4 solid punches for a knock out!

Tips: As a Tank, in stages where there are cars/tractors available (the vehicles will have a red outline), it means you can punch the piece of flying metal crap in the direction of the survivors. One hit from the shiny flying metal will instantly incapacitate the enemy!

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

After learning about what the special infected is capable of doing, when it is your turn to play as survivors you will be well-prepared to face off against them. Now I shall bestow you upon the ability to have preemptive knowledge of what special infected are the enemies going to have, even before they spawn!

Each time a special infected is generated in ghost mode, the game will play a special sound. And each special infected has their own unique sound to help you identify them.

Special infected and their unique sound.

Here's a demonstration. You can practise by closing your eyes and listening out for the special infected, then opening your eyes to tally and see if you got them right.

Alright people, that's about everything I have to share with you guys. Now with my dear friend's eternal quote, I shall sum up the end of this tutorial.

"If we don't play to win, then I play for f*ck?"

-fOsh

Hopefully after reading and digesting this, even if it does not make you a better or more skillful player, it will at least enhance your next playing experience (: Now who's up for some L4D2?

Peace,

Des