As I said in the other article, which more introduced the idea of a location being important, it’s time for an article on strategy in more depth.
Writing strategy is a tricky thing. While we at boomercharged are frequent Left 4 Dead players and not terrible Left 4 Dead players, we also are not Left 4 Dead masters. As such, we don’t know all the best strategies, and as such sometimes might refer to something as difficult and get laughed out of the room for it, or suggest something that you’ve all heard before. But not everyone who reads the site is a versus-owning professional player, so some of these tips should still be helpful.
That said, the strategy of picking a location has ten main points:
1. Ammo
Some guns are more ammo consumptive than others. Use the hunting rifle means you probably won’t run low on ammo unless you’re doing very well, but with the assault rifle and the automatic shotgun, if you’re using them on normal infected you’ll start going dry quickly. If you’re near or next to ammo, you can unload your primary weapons on the normal infected, but if you’re far away you’re best off using the pistols. If you are using the pistols, smokers can be harder to deal with, and large hordes are sometimes a significant threat if you’re not great with the pistols or you’ve lost a player.
2. Health
In the early rounds of Survival, there’s a break right before the tank where there’s not much in the way of infected. Later on the other three survivors can cover you, and there will occasionally be lulls in the action where the hordes will slow down. Either way, ten seconds can be a long time, but it’s not forever, and the health pack is very useful to keep you going. Starting somewhere near a crop of health packs can help out a lot, especially if you’re only going for a Bronze.
3. Pills
Pain pills are the friend of the Survival player because unlike Medkits you don’t have to wait ten seconds for the health. Sure, it may be borrowed time, but for the Survival player ALL time is borrowed. Locations with lots of pain pills are rare, but can be very helpful, especially against the looming spectre of a tank when your team is all sitting in the red.
4. Miniguns
The benefits of a minigun are obvious- mowing down normal infected without using ammo, no reloading, and a solid spray will take down a tank quickly and easily. However, since they can’t be moved and have a terrible habit of getting placed in a rather open and not particularly good location, miniguns are not usually in locations that are very good. However, in some maps like Helm’s Deep, a minigun can make a location go from decent to amazing.
5. Grenades
A pipe bomb can give you a few moments to heal, rescue someone from a smoker, or just get the heat off for long enough to finish off a tank. A molotov can wound the tank heavily and make a wall of fire that stops smokers and the infected from attacking you while you heal. Either one buys you time, and in survival time is definitely something worth buying. A location with lots of explosives usually ensures at least a small amount of time for even the least skilled player.
6. Directions the infected come from
This is possibly the most important thing for a survival location. If the infected are coming from all angles, you’ll get surrounded quick, cutting down your mobility and laying tons of damage on you. Small little hits add up. But if they come from one angle, you can always face in one direction and it makes it much harder to get surrounded. It might not seem like a big deal, but it is often the deciding factor in picking a location. It also makes it much easier to spot smokers before they can pull you, which matters. Hunters have to run into your guns to pounce at you. Keeping up a wall of bullets in one direction is easier than doing it in four directions.
7. Time between enemy coming into firing range and being able to hit you
This one is pretty self explanatory- with the exception of the tank’s rock throw and the smoker, infected have to be in melee range to hit you, while you can hit them from a greater range. The longer time they spend in the zone where you can hit them and they can’t hit you, the more damage you can do before they can hurt you. This is especially important with tanks, as a tank turning a blind corner into you is very, very bad.
8. Space to escape a tank
Speaking of tanks, you know the problem with a long corridor with only one entrance? There’s nowhere to run from the tank when he shows up. If you can’t get away without going past him, then he’ll run right into you and crush you. So enough room to get around him or another entrance to take is vital to any location.
9. How hard is it get back after being pulled
Locations that are high up and open are criticised, talking about the survivors being “smoker bait.” One reason for this is because the smoker can come from any angle, meaning it’s hard to see them ahead of time. But the second reason is that if a survivor IS pulled, they’ll be pulled down. And with the hordes down there, it’ll be hard to get back up, and that can cost the survivor their life. Try to make it so you can get back to the others easily.
10. Effectiveness of molotovs
Last but not least, the effectiveness of molotovs and gas cans. Certain areas there’s less use for them- the infected don’t come from a small enough opening. But others, if there’s a small entrance, a molotov can shut down the hordes completely for a short time.
That wraps up the ten tips. Hopefully, next time you pick a location, you’ll keep these simple ideas in mind and it’ll help you get a better time.
