L4D Versus Mode

[Food Nipple]

The co-op is great, but I've been spending most of my time in the Versus mode, and it's an absolute blast. The catch is that the Infected side requires a lot more coordination to be effective. Unlike the survivors, who all play the same, the infected are extremely specialized, and since the AI director determines which one you spawn as, it can be hard to learn the nuances of each class, especially when there's so much pressure on you to perform. So here's the things I've learned through trial and error, please share any tips of your own.

The Boomer

The Boomer is the most important of the boss infected, and a competent boomer is often the difference between winning and losing. The other infected rely on the chaos you create, so it's absolutely essential for you to hit as many survivors as possible with vomit as often as possible.

• ALWAYS spawn in front of the survivors. You are the slowest infected, and you have the least HP. If you spawn behind the survivors while they're running forward, you will not catch them 9 times out of 10. Spawn in front of the survivors, find a blind corner they must pass and wait. A single stray shot will kill you, and the rest of your team will have to wait a full 30 seconds for you to respawn.
  
• Your vomit has an arc. Start by aiming at eye level and move your reticule upwards as you vomit. You want to be as close as possible to the survivors when you spew. Even vomitting from directly above the survivors isn't reliable, but you can increase your chances of hitting at a distance by dragging your reticule across the survivors as you vomit. I'm still not confident about my ability to hit at a distance, so I go for the suicide vomit most of the time.
  
  
  

Start aiming at eye level, and drag your cursor upward to hit people at a distance with your vomit

• Don't be afraid to suicide. If I survive my initial attack, I like to wait about 15 seconds before I rush in. The survivors are usually busy enough with the common infected to notice me until I'm right on top of them. Use your secondary attack to get in a couple of hits, most of the time the survivors will shoot you and the ensuing explosion will coat them with a second wave of vomit, triggering yet another hoard.
  
• Ambush the survivors in open areas. In a narrow hallway, a coordinated survivor team can easily watch the only two ways zombies can rush from. You're much better off ambushing the survivors in an area where zombies can rush them from all sides, even if it means waiting 30 seconds for them to get to the ambush spot.

The Smoker

The Smoker requires finesse to play well. You need to carefully pick both your hiding places as well as your moments to strike, and since your special attack's cooldown is much shorter than your respawn time, it is rarely worthwhile to perform the kinds of suicide attacks that a Boomer would do.

• If you're standing somewhere the survivors can reach, you're standing in the wrong spot. Whenever possible, a smoker should be on top of a rooftop, somewhere where survivors will have difficulty killing you. If you're just standing on ground level pulling people, you'll be killed after your first pull, leave those sorts of attacks for the Hunters.
  
• Pull people down from ledges whenever possible. One of the few times a smoker shouldn't spawn on a rooftop is when they can pull survivors down through a window, off of a ledge, or through a hole especially if it forces the survivors to backtrack. By isolating a single survivor, you're forcing the other survivors to backtrack to help their teammate, often splitting the group of four into two groups of two.

Pulling a survivor through the hole in the minigun room in No Mercy Chapter 2. There are many other spots where you can force the survivors to backtrack or make them prematurely jump through a hole and into an ambush.

• Run away if your grip gets broken. A smoker often has the opportunity to escape if the survivors melee their teammate to save him. The cooldown on your tongue is significantly shorter than your respawn time, so be sure to live to fight another day. If a greedy Hunter pounces on your target, you can hang around to get in a couple of swipes with your secondary attack, but be sure to be out of sight by the time his friends come to save him.
  
• Use environmental hazards to your advantage. Stand behind cars with car alarms and drag survivors into you. If that doesn't set off the car alarm, the other survivors will almost surely set it off when they come to save their friend. If you hear a witch, run ahead and find her location. Drag a survivor into her to aggro her.

The Hunter

The Hunter is the most common of the infected, you'll have 2-3 at all times. They are also the most reliant on teamwork to do damage. A solo hunter strike will rarely do any amount of significant damage, so be patient, wait for your teammates, and cause a diversion while they're respawning.

• Wait for the Boomer to strike before pouncing. Your best bet is to wait for a Boomer strike. The ensuing chaos is often enough to distract teammates while you lay into one. In fact, you should always wait for your teammates to respawn, as the only way you'll do damage as a solo hunter is if the other team makes a mistake.
  
• Use your mobility to distract players. If your Boomer is on respawn, you can often cause a diversion by jumping near the survivors without actually pouncing them. Never let go of the crouch button, always be leaping around. Not only can you attract the survivor's sight, but your screams cover up the Boomer's groans. Remember that you can wall jump to get out of hairy situations. Get their attention so that the Boomer has time to sneak up on them. Be aware of the weapons the survivors are carrying, it's much riskier to be seen if they're carrying tier 2 weapons.
  
• Ignore vomited players and focus on the ones who can still see. Survivors who have been vomited on are usually too preoccupied to be able to assist their teammates. They also can't see the silhouettes of their teammates while covered in vomit, so they may not even be aware that their friends need help.
  
• Ambush players as they climb up ladders or jump off ledges. Pouncing the first player up a ladder will knock the other players back down the ladder, giving you a couple of extra hits. A well timed pounce can snag the last survivor to jump off a roof. This makes it extremely difficult, and sometimes impossible for his friends to revive him.
  
  
  
  I've managed to pounce someone who was slow to hop off the ledge, now it's extremely difficult for them to save him. Two of his teammates are also covered in vomit and are too preoccupied to help.

• Don't pounce on a smoker's victims. I know it's awfully exciting that one survivor is all by himself, but someone's already damaging him. One of his friends will be along soon enough to save him, and your job is to pounce on that second person. If you steal the smoker's victim, he won't be able to help you when the other survivors come, as his tongue will still be on cooldown. If you want to help, you can use your secondary attack to damage the victim quicker, but be sure you're ready to pounce on any teammates that come to the rescue.
  
• Coordinate with the other Hunter on your team. In Vs mode, the Hunter's pounce has a slight knockback. If both Hunters pounce targets at the same time, the ensuing knockback will guarantee a couple of extra hits. Double pouncing players climbing ladders or jumping off ledges can instantly spell doom for the survivors.
  
  

Above all else, the infected need to coordinate their attacks. If the infected are just throwing themselves at the survivors one at a time, you'll never do any decent damage. It's also important to execute your attacks at points in the map that make the most sense. If there's a great smoker spot coming up, tell your teammates you're going to be waiting for the survivors to reach that spot, that way the other infected can plan their attacks accordingly.

[axion]

Awesome write-up Food and pretty dead on all around.

[pomeroy]

This mode really is all about teamwork. Which makes it super frustrating when you've got one or two non-communicative people on your team. I was playing this and got so pissed I almost just quit the game (which I never do) because my team was just retarded.

[Wackman3000]

Great write up for anyone who hasn't spent much time in the versus mode. This is why I love playing with Food Nipple, the man knows his zombies. (Except you missed the Tank, although he is pretty self explanatory)

But I'll throw up a couple tips for the Tank, even though I've only had the pleasure of playing him a handful of times:

- Try to separate the survivors as much as possible and create space between their crew. The more you split them up, the better chance the rest of the infected have at doing their jobs more effectively. (IE knock one away so a hunter can pounce him or a smoker can choke him)

- Try to avoid chasing the survivors in circles in open areas. You will spend more time chasing than actually doing damage and you will drop very quickly.

- Ledges are your friend! If you are playing on an area where you can knock them either completely off a tall building, (instant death in No Mercy) or even back down to a lower section of a map, it really ruins the survivors game plan since they will usually try to go back for them, thus allowing more time for Boss infected to spawn again.

- Attack standing survivors. If you manage to knock someone unconscious/to the ground, move on to the next guy so the regular infected can finish the job. Tank is far to important to deal with fallen enemies.

- If you see cars, HIT THEM! I know I was in a game yesterday and whoever was the tank massacred half their team by flinging cars all over the map.

Not sure what else to add... But I'm sure there's more.

[hunterx280]

Haha i now have food nipple's secrets!!! Now i too shall be unstoppable!!!!

[KingGorilla]

Learning Curve? When we were playing on Friday, I think the survivors won twice(our team both times).

My big thing is that The Hunter is the ultimate support character. I find that guy is best suited to knock down a standing survivor, the guy who will be shooting at your friend the smoker. Try to nock down the guys who are NOT affected by Boomer slime, these folks will be magnets for the generic zombies, and will find it impossible to assist downed friends and shoot zombies off of themselves. Try to nab the people not covered in boomer slime, as they will need to worry more about themselves than their incapacitated team mates.

I see very few people taking the smoker in closer to smoke up an enclosed area. That cloud of gas is a valuable commodity as it messes with the survivor's sight. A tongue lashing from up high yields a two fold advantage, one, it makes it nearly impossible for the person you grab to shoot you; but it also forces any would be assisting survivors look up and not at where a hunter may be coming from to save their friend.

For the Boomer, try to make it so if you ambush, you get killed in the middle of the survivors, hopefully with some open space. If you get ignored for a moment, do not forget you have a swipe button. The Boomer's job is to fuck up everyone else's day, not to live.

That brings me to my next point. The Zombies have the ability to break down doors and walls that open up areas that the survivors cannot get into, like elevator shafts.

Here is the most important thing to remember. The Smoker and The Hunter have enough health that they can be shot or knocked off of a victim, and still live. A hunter can, with luck, get two knockdowns in one life because of this. A Smoker can regroup and try for a fresh attack if the first is thwarted.

[Deadend]

Most important part, from what I can see from both sides.. let your fucking teammates know what the hell you are thinking. Left4Dead is a game where teamwork will always beat a single guy with amazing skills.

Also, best spot for a last attack is the safe room.

But if you are playing against the kind of dicks that rush for the safe room and leave their teammates behind, you should already be winning.

Try and time attacks to hit at the same time, to different people.

From what I can tell, the Smoker does the least amount of damage, but is the best at separating a group. I agree with the Boomer->Smoker-> Hunters on the nonpuked/choked. Ideally all of this happens within 10 seconds.

I don't really think the Infected teams goal is so much to kill the players themselves, but to make it so the players are unable to work as a group and keep the pressure on and give the AI more time to do damage.

[Hellbug]

On the fourth level of the farmhouse line of missions, I was able to actually pull a survivor out of a window and drop him a couple dozen feet, bringing his health from green to red. I never really enjoyed playing as the smoker, but after that, I think I found my new favorite infected.

[AbeLincoln]

I loooove when there are witches and car alarms. I did this to one guy on no mercy the other day, crouched as a hunter by a witch, making the growly sounds, he comes around the corner, sees me and starts blasting away with his shotgun. Witch goes and f's him up better than I could have

Tank could use some tips, he's wayyyy to important to avoid stating even the obvious.
-Try to knock everyone down! Don't beat up on fallen/pounced/tongued people knock everyone else down and watch their teammates so they don't pick them back up
-You fit anywhere! even small grates and vents.
-There is always a way to get to the survivors! I played as survivors once and a tank couldn't figure out how to get up and into the generator/gun room on No Mercy 2, he kept beating on the door the survivors have to trigger without thinking of going up the stairs right next to him eventually the tank disappeared and we triggered the door.
-Lead your shots when using the concrete throw.
-Knock the big stuff like cars around. My team got owned by a tank in an alley when he sent a dumpster pinballing off the walls knocking us all down in one go.
-Also, it's kind of cheap, but as the tank there are a couple places where you can knock a car into a position to stop the survivors getting to the safe room. Even if they do then manage to kill you the other infected probably get another respawn out of the time it takes for the car to evaporate.

[Veregon]

I read somewhere the Boomer can charge up his vomit. Is this true?

[Kielaran]

Very nice list Food and some good tips from everyone else. I have a few things to add too.

Boomer
-I think of the Boomer as a fire extinguisher. Ever hear of the PASS rule? Pull pin, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep. For the Boomer, switch Pull with Position and the rule stands. Make sure to sweep with the vomit. All you need it a drop for it to activate, there is nothing gained by getting one person with a full blast. Also, as you sweep, keep aiming higher. It is hard to judge distance and by doing this you will have a far better chance of scoring a hit.

-This is the one class that is best to delay the enemy. Boomed survivors will always stop to defend unless they are at the safe room. If you keep tormenting them, it allows the other infected more time to respawn and cause more damage.

-Using buildings is great. If you can, get position above the survivors, jump into the group and don’t even bother to vomit. I like to see how many claws I can get off before they blow me up. If I land in the center of them I will definitely boom most of them and get a few swipes in to boot. If I missed, then I can always use the vomit and still hit them.

-One thing I will harp on here is using the environment. Doors are great. A hole in a door lets you vomit through it while the survivors may not know where it came from. This will slow them down for your allies and there is a good chance that you will get a second vomit off.

-Combo attacks. Probably the most useful boom I have seen was on the roof of No Mercy. I had snagged a guy with my smoker’s tongue and then our boomer came over and vomited on him. By the time his allies freed him from me, the zombies were already doing their work. It had to be the fastest kill I have ever seen on such an open area.

-One thing to watch for is blowing up. One time I had snagged a guy as a hunter in the subway. There was no chance his buddies could save him before I finished him off, but our boomer was standing next to me. They saw him and the knockback from his boom blasted me off of the guy I was ripping up. Be sure to be careful of where you are standing.

Smoker
-Once again, doors are your friend. The tongue works through door holes, making an even level attack more worthwhile.

-If on a roof while constricting someone, hold back. This gives you the best chance for survival, since as soon as you can move, you will move out of line of site of the survivors.

-There are a few spots where ledges are to pull someone. One is the elevator shaft on No Mercy chapter 5 and another is on the roof in chapter 4. The smoker can pull someone over the edge, making them hold on to it. This will eliminate someone even if the group is moving in a pack, effectively making them three instead of four in a two second span. Add a Boomer or Hunter and you should have at least one kill. Plus if your tongue can recharge, you can pull someone who is trying to save them, escalating the situation even more.

-Melee tongue. Saw this once and then used it once and I must say it is amazing. If you use the tongue when you are right beside someone you will almost instantly constrict them, giving them no time to escape. It may not work well in a group that is running close together, but if someone is in the red, it can be great for a quick down.

Hunter

-Long range pounces do damage on impact. The most I have seen is 4, but that extra bit is always useful. One of the easiest ways to get a long range pounce is off a building (my best was by the gas station in No Mercy). I think the bigger the pounce, the more it knocks back anyone else around too, but I can’t confirm it.

-You can pounce through damaged doors. It is great for a sneak attack.

-Draw their attention by jumping around in the distance. If you can get them to fire on you at the right time you can use a witch or car alarm to up the damage.

-The infected have choke points too. Drop holes in the floor with no return are perfect for ambushes. Two hunters can easily destroy half a team if they can pounce at the right moment, knocking others through the hole and ripping up those above. This is also useful as a smoker.

-Spam the pounce button. Sometimes they will knock you off of your target, though a second later you can pounce again, making a second strike.

-The 180° turn is your friend. If you are ready to strike and then get seen or outclassed, hit it and pounce. The extra distance between you and them will either save you or give your allies an opening as you are shot at.

-Try not to approach from the front. A quick hit from the butt of a rifle will leave you stunned and helpless. Use any other angle if possible.

More later if I think about it.

[shunoshi]

Nice writeup Food!

I have a simple comment about the Boomer. Echoing Food's comments, suicide is your friend. If you can catch a tightly grouped bunch of survivors unaware, vomit (make sure to angle up) and charge. If your aim is on you'll hit the closest ones with vomit giving you time to close in. Once on top of them, exploding will cover everyone in a second dose. If your teammates are nearby and ready to pounce/constrict, this will often wipe a party of survivors.

I think the key with both Boomers and Smokers is patience. If you move too soon you'll be shot and rendered ineffective for another 30 seconds.

[Victorvonviolence]

General

-Focus fire one from the beginning, if one gets wounded aim at that survivor.

-Don't hide in the same spot, subway level beginning of no-mercy is a good example. Survivors expect zombies in the roof.

-rush any survivor you see using a med-pack. Likely he'll think twice about using it for at least a little while.

-don't bother waiting for a "killer smoker-hunter" combo. It's wasting time that you can be spent damaging the survivors. Rush in, wait for a small opening and attack.

[Disgustipated]

Originally Posted by Kielaran

-The 180° turn is your friend. If you are ready to strike and then get seen or outclassed, hit it and pounce. The extra distance between you and them will either save you or give your allies an opening as you are shot at.

How do you do the 180 turn?

[KingGorilla]

Xbox 360 only Riley.

The rest of us move our mouse.

[Disgustipated]

Originally Posted by KingGorilla

Xbox 360 only Riley.

The rest of us move our mouse.

There's a 180 toggle on the PC, too.

[Lint of Death]

One of the very biggest questions you have to resolve before planning tactics is the presence of AI survivors. Here's what an AI or two changes when playing the Infected:
*AIs are much better at spotting hidden Infected players, especially when they've ambushed a player.
*Boomer suicide runs are almost useless. You HAVE to ambush them with vomit or trick a real player into shooting you because the AI know exactly how to deal with Boomers.
*Pouncing a shotgun-wielding AI from the front is a good way to get your head blown off before you even finish half the leap.
*They never leave downed players behind, but players are liable to leave AI behind even when they're bandaging. This is a good way to deal with the AI menace.
*If there are 4 infected and at least 1 AI, it is likely that one Infected will not spawn until two or all of the other Infected players die once.

One more thing:
The Tank's rock throw is not useless when aimed well. You can do a lot of damage and knock back/over several survivors simultaneously. Even better if they're in a clump or line. The effective damage might be dependent on the difficulty the server sets for versus, so the throw might be less useless if the versus game is set to normal or easy.

[Wackman3000]

It's useless when it's a big open space and you can't hit anyone.

*Looks DIRECTLY at Lint*

:P

Honestly though, I would much rather just run and attack since it seems to cause more of a frenzy among the survivors, where as when you are stationary they can hold their ground and plan for your next move.

[KingGorilla]

Originally Posted by Disgustipated

There's a 180 toggle on the PC, too.

Where? Not in my button mapper.

[Lint of Death]

Originally Posted by Wackman3000

It's useless when it's a big open space and you can't hit anyone.

*Looks DIRECTLY at Lint*

That was the key part. They were all in a line with hardly any distance between them. If my aim had been better, I would have knocked over three of them at once. I just happened to hit the guy that wasn't as close first because I'm not used to the lack of crosshair for that thing yet :/

Also the server was on Easy or Normal so I forgot how much less health the Tank has then.