With the new release of the SDK and a new game mode on top of two unlocked ( finally ) campaigns Death Toll and Dead Air; the buzz in Left 4 Dead has never been bigger. And so we bring ourselves to the mighty Survival Mode and the whopping 10 min to 14 min marks that people are slamming with seaming ease while the valve team boasted the best they managed was 10 minutes.
Even with these numbers, I propose that this more so the ‘Not So Last Stand’ — here is a quick intuitive guide as to how to set yourself up to survive the horrible horde bearing down upon you with with teeth bared. Buckle in its a hell of a ride.
While survival mode brings a new ‘game play’ style to the table. It offers little more than normal infected in larger swarms coming in mass numbers. While this is not enough there will be multiple smokers and hunters that must be dealt with rapidly. In normal game play, there is usually a single boomer with two hunters and a smoker at any given time. Often this prevents a 4 way incap with all the survivors being pinned in fashion. While this is not always the case as the game does offer a 3rd hunter upon sacrifice of the boomer in vs. And in very VERY rare occasions 4 hunters; survival mode puts no bounds on such and will throw multiples of the same infected at you — finding yourself and your team mate smokered at the same time will not be an uncommon situation.
There are numerous gas canisters and fuel tanks scattered around the area of Last Stand. This is a luxury that is not shared throughout all the available campaigns and is something you should take advantage of. In the situation that these are available, stock piling them under a cornered survivors feet can prove invaluable against swarming hordes when with a good throw and a well placed shot a gas canister can erradicate an entire room while doing no ( or little ) damage to the survivors.
The fuel tank, though it uses a little more skill to throw, can be used to block off entire doors repeatedly. Offering a closing point on a spot with multiple rooms that can be jammed up with molotovs and multiple fuel tanks for very long periods of time. (read on if you are wondering why you wouldn’t use the molotovs / fuel tanks on a tank).
Each level has a certain amount of ‘climb’ texture that the zombies can take. You’ll notice that when zombies clamber over the fences they calaborate in a concentrated area. That is because as dynamic as the game may like to boast, the zombies can only follow and climb set paths while jumping certain heights ( like up on containers for instance ) without lazily clambering up and over the object ( the odd stragler you see over some random portion of the fence). Taking advantage of our undead fallen breathren in there climbing prowess is something that you can use in your survival. Climbing to higher points often allows you to avoid atleast half of the zombies as they clamber up random objects to get close enough to beat you with there long dead arms. The advantage of a situation like this is that it only takes a single person to pick off any climbers leaving 3 others to take out jumpers ( zombies that leap on top of you from above ) and runners ( zombies that charge you from front and/or back).
Another useful thing to remember is that the game dynamics do not allow ( though it can be slightly flawed and I admit I’ve had an entire horde just get dumped in front of me to get wiped out with one clip of the auto shotgun ) the horde to spawn within viewing distance. Strategically setting up someone in view of an overhang, slightly outside of the group, can prevent death from a horde spawning above ones team or behind an annoying fence. ( this is very noticeable on Dead Air Finale, when camping behind the plane if you have someone able to see through the fence zombies will never spawn behind it)
The game offers many many ammo caches usually placed strategically in places that will force you into the open. Some may see this as a disadvantage as you need to clamber into the open leaving yourself an easy target for hunter pounces and smokers. There are a few ways around this, but not many.
Conserving ammo is a great way to lower the need to go outside. People often make the mistake of unloading everything they have into the on coming horde only to find that there dwindling ammo supply forces them out and into the ammo cache area to get eaten alive. Increasing the use of Melee and Pistols in killing normal infected can limit the need for trips out to the ammo cache and thus reducing your chances of being killed.
Dual pistols are your friend due to their accurate range while crouched. They very capable of taking out a smoker and any normal infected. Three or four dual pistols can cause a bullet wall effect dropping anything that comes through a hole in the wall or a door way and saving on heavy weapon ammo and causing less need to go out to the ammo cache out of reach. Also experiment with reloading times to find one that suits you best. Weather it be shoot / melee / shoot / reload or just simply unload a full clip / reload melee spam. Make sure you are capable of adjusting to the situation so you don’t kill two zombies with a full clip of ammo and have nothing left for the horde.
When setting up your perimeter remember that you’re ammo cache must be readily available and that it takes a very short time for you to exit, acquire ammo and return to your camping spot without too much drama. While this is not always the easiest thing to do, attempt to set your team up in a position where the ammo stack is in view of the other players. That way if you do have to go out solo for whatever reason you have ample cover.
In situations where a player needs ammo it is best to do so in teams of two. Two people should head to the ammo stack while two people remain in viewing distance to pick off smokers or hunters that cause trouble to the players preventing the short expedition from being their last.
If someone is in dire need of medical attention, someone with a GOOD amount of health should make there way to the medpacks / pills to acquire medical aid. Never send a low health survivor out into the open to acquire there own medical supplies as infected will make very short work of him. Causing an incap and drawing out your remaining survivors. And remember when someone is going out make sure the team is fully reloaded!
Learning to Reload at times can be difficult, but some things you should always remember:
- While reloading a weapon, use melee to fight off infected. This does not interrupt the reload process.
- When one gun runs out either reload and begin melee or switch to the other gun.
- After every two shots with any shotgun, reload and use melee. This saves your full ammo pack for a bad situation.
- You do not need to reload your weapon immediately. Just don’t forget to do it when you have a chance. (secondary weapons can be extremely effective backups)
- NEVER go out for more ammo alone, always inform your team mates that you are going.
- If you are completely out of ammo use a pipe bomb / molotov before reloading. This can buy you time.
The first thing you need to do is don’t panic! Often the tank at distance will throw rocks. These rocks CAN be shot and will not hurt the survivor if done so. At times this can be difficult and is easiest with the Automatic Shotgun. There is a time (I believe) that the rock needs to be in the air before you can shoot it. Example you can’t shoot it out of his hands. This distance seems to vary, and shooting should be the last ditch attempt when dodging is not possible.
At least two people should have the automatic shotgun at all times. While most people roll with three as a minimum, I say two because a hunting rifle and an automatic rifle can be excellent cover from annoying smokers and hunters that the hunting rifle just can’t pick off.
To deal with the tank there are two times that the survivors ( with automatic shotguns ) should run at him to get his attention while atleast one support person keeps an eye on smokers, boomers, hunters and to a lesser extent horde. When he is throwing a rock the two auto shotguns should begin to open fire (and stop running towards him). If you are very close begin opening up with a fully automatic shotgun barrage. If not you may want to use your pistols to begin doing damage to avoid the rock strike.
After throwing a rock, he often does what I like to call a ‘Hulk Roar’. This is the opportunity for both automatic shotguns ( or more ) to charge in to punch range and begin firing. If both players wait until they are in range then rapidly back pedal they should get away without being hit. Done properly the tank should go down very fast without a reload needed.
Unfortunately he does not always go down, or you get punched around a bit and / or run out of room to run. Or maybe you just plain have yourself stuck in a small room with nowhere to run.
If a pillar is available, the person who is being chased is to circle around the pillar at a wide diameter with all three other team mates attacking the tank. When the tank switches targets the new target is to circle the tank and repeat the process. If done right the tank will never land a blow and the other 3 players can keep special infected at bay while doing good damage.
Using climbable objects to your advantage is a little more difficult. Obviously the tank will climb up to get his target, giving everyone ample time to do excessive damage. But your initial reaction once he is up is to jump back off the object often standing atop it and firing down at him. This is the worst thing you can do because once the tank reaches the top, he can almost instantly punch you straight off. Even if you wait for him to get up then jump down he can instantly punch you before he touches the ground.
In the situation where a tank is climbing up to get you jump off the moment he latches on and begins to climb up and immediately shoot him from the ground. Not only does he have to complete his climb animation but this means that once he reaches the top you are out of reach and safe and he has to come back down. If he changes targets, his next target has ample opportunity to climb back up to another high spot and repeat the process.
This is heavily situational on your team. The up side to shiva stacking is with all 4 of you cuddled into a corner with 4 automatic shotguns it only takes one person with a few shots to rapidly dispatch of any infected / special infected that may wander into viewing distance.
The down side to this is that on a public team, people will INSIST on using all 4 shotguns blazing unloading full ammo clips to wipe out a few infected.
Here are some tips to Shiva Stacking:
- Alternate mele attacks, have two people run into fatigue and then have the other two begin melee.
- One person at any given time should be a shooter for normal infected. Once it stacks up no more than 3 or 4 shots from an automatic shotgun should take care of everything.
- Make sure that your team is capable of shiva stacking and have good communications to advise when there mele time is up.
- Find the highest, most disgustingly closed in place as possible to shiva stack.
- When the tank comes, stay in the corner. 4 Automatic Shotguns at point blank will carve it up exceptionally fast. If 4 people are unloading everything into the tank no-one should get hurt at all.
Shiva stacking is the simplest tactic to survive, but it can also be the most difficult at times to pull off. Especially with multiple smokers and hunters coming at you with your limited vision. Often stacking in a wide open area and a large corner allows players to keep smokers and hunters off, and gives them ample warning and run time from a tank when it spawns. Experimenting with this technique is often the best way to achieve long times.
As always this is nothing more than a simple guideline to assist in game play. There are numerous other ways to achieve long times that I have glossed over or simply left out. But in the attempt not to make a gigantic guide I have simplified it into this little article.
Now Go Out and Kill Some Zombies
Rogotin [Revelation 6:7-8]
“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”
