First , let me say if you are on the fence about this game , get off it and buy it. I was skeptical at first, even though I love zombies, but I was wrong. Great game. (Great if you like FPS multi player) I have been putting in quite a few hours and let me share what I have learned about fighting the Zombie Hordes. You will also find this updated as I can on my BLOG.
Please post your tactics here as well, this was we can win back the earth for mankind.
Tactics
1. Save a zombie: You do NOT have to shoot every zombie: Often if you leave them be, they will ignore you. Shooting a far off zom' can alert other out of your view of your presence. Stealth can be your friend.
2. Close those doors people: Always close doors behind you. (just like your mom told you) Zombies can break down doors , but it takes them quite a bit of time, and most of the time you'll be long gone when to door finally comes crashing down. Also when searching rooms , do a quick scan for anything you might need before shooting anything. If the room is empty of anything but the undead, back out quickly, and shut the door behind you. Many times, they will stay in that room, never knowing you were there.
3. Puke and Run: Bleeeech, what a lovely sound. But that boomers vomit attracts the infected like moth to a flame. If your the unfortunate recipient of this dark bile, RUN AWAY from your group. But not to far away. This serves two ends. The first is that the horde will go after you, and ignore your teammates, saving them a beating with you. The infected will run right past them if they are just off to the side in a room or behind an object. But more importantly, if you duck when being attacked you team mates can easily mow down the infected by aiming head high, and you will not be shot by mistake. SO-> Bleeeech -> Run away-> DUCK!. And the boomers bile aint so bad....except the smell. (Hint: If everyone is close to death, sacrifice yourself. If you are vomited on, run as far away from you group as possible, let the horde fall on you. It will give your team a break from the attack, and help them escape to to the safe room.
GET HIGH!: No this is not what you think :D. Anytime you can get up on a dumpster, bag of cement, car , van, fence,whatever. Again there are to reasons. The first, as any marksman will tell you, is you get a clearer shot from the high ground. The second is it takes an infected a few second to climb up to you, giving you a precious shot or melee so you can reload or redirect your assault. (Hint: at the beginning of Dead Air : the Crane, you leave the safe room and enter an area separated by a fence. If you balance on the top of the fence and climb over toward the brick wall, all 4 player can easily defend against any horde, because they cannot climb it to get you. )
Having gas is good: Propane tanks and Gas cans are everywhere, and they go boom. Propane tanks can be found lying around but the are also where you would expect them, under barbeque grills. You can take these and use them for destruction. The gas cans make a great spread of flames, and are almost always found at end segments of the game. Place them in strategic points, and wait for the horde to get on top of them, Shoot the can and watch them burn. (Hint: in Dead Air: The crane all 4 team members can fit on top you the crane, if you place the 2 gas cans found there at the entrence of the gates, you can burn the entire attacking horde and escape without injury, and without wasting ammo.)
The B!tch is Back (uh I mean Witch): Quite possibly the most intense and terrifying part of Left 4 Dead is your first encounter with a Witch. (and each encounter after that.) The sad sobs and moans of this deadly foe are you fist warning, but just because you hear her does not mean you will see her. The standard rules apply here, Douse your lights, she hates them. Go into crouch mode and be quiet. there are hints if your not doing it right. If she looks up from her position at you, then you are doing it WRONG! Stop and stand still and she might got back to her tissue box. If you do happen to wake her, treat her like a tank, everyone concentrate fire on her head, and she will go down quickly. I have heard it whispered that if you snipe her with the rifle in the head when she is still crying, she goes down in one shot....try this at your own risk!.
MORE SOON STAY TUNED!
Tactis UPDATE
Editors note: Left 4 Dead is a CO-OP game, Last night on the servers I had a very difficult time finding a game worth joining. Teamates cussing and arguing with each other, yelling at each other for making mistakes, failing to help teammates out with reviving or health. You cannot win this game without teamwork, its what the game was designed for. If you can not share and be helpful, and cooperative, then this is not the game for you. You would be happier playing Unreal of COD4 on Deathmatch. Leave L4D to the people who want to play the game they way it was ment to be played. ( insert angry replies below, since thats what you do.)
Togetherness: Well as you can tell from the above rant, this is the core of this game. Stay together and you might make it. Separate by more that 50 feet and you doomed. (smokers love when you do that.) Occasionally it will be a good idea to send someone ahead as a scout, often this is the scout is near death anyway. This scout can lead the infected away from the group is needed , or just give you a heads up on what is coming.
Fire and BEEP BEEP; Molotovs are very handy if used correctly. They best uses are often not to burn a horde, but to place a barrier between a horde and your team. This gives you time need to heal up, reload and re-group. PipeBombs are your best friends. After a boomer attack you can often redirect the entire horde with a single pipe bomb. When entering areas of uncertainty, you can toss an extra pipe bomb to find out jst what lay ahead. This is really only useful when you are low on health and ammo and near a re-supply area. (but it could save your team.) Best advice is to save these two for end of map horde rushes whenever possible!
The Sherman (The Tank) : What can one say about a 400 lb, little head, steroid addicted , dead guy? You can say he's a BAD A$$. If your playing on expert its 2 hits and you dead. So the tactic is Do NOT get hit. The tank will often pick on someone, if that someone is you run away! Let your team unload on him, and pray you don't get stomped. The rest of the team needs to shot him on the head as much as possible from a distance. A molotov will help bring him down faster , but a burning tank can do double damage to your team , buy beating and burning at the same time. If he decides to re-asphalt the ground, you had better get some cover, you cannot out run it in the open. On expert even the fragments from the piece of concrete can get you so total cover is essential.