They’re called special infected ‘cause they will cut your balls off and sell them to a Krogan!

If you didn’t get that, shame on you.

You know what jockeys are? Smarter than you.

Remember that time, when you punched an hunter in the face while it was leaping at you? Remember how badass you felt, even after it clawed half your face off? Remember when you tried to do the same with a jockey and got face humped for an hour?

Jockeys are by far the least predictable special infected, shoving them in mid air is extremely hard and you shouldn’t try it.

Even while running away and shooting you should still be careful: jockeys are hard targets, have a surprising amount of hp and their jump has crazy range, so stay as far away as you can.

Be wary of the jockey/boomer combo, you’ll have to go get your friend on the other side of the map when you can see again.

Spitters require a good awareness of what the hell is going on to be dealt with effectively.

Little known fact: trying to jump over a puddle of spitter goo not only doesn’t do shit, but will make you look like an idiot when you’re with your ass on the ground, crying for help.

The only way to avoid massive damage, if you don’t have a clear escape route, is to jump on something: a table, a bed, any kind of furniture.

I can’t guarantee you’ll always be safe, but it’s better than nothing when you just don’t have time to bolt for the exit.

Just try not to run too far away from your friends while avoiding spitter goo, there’s usually something nasty waiting for you behind the corner when you do that; also please, PLEASE if someone gets cut off by it have a heart and wait for them.

Ok, guys? Here’s an important message for you: DON’T FUCKING MELEE THE CHARGERS.

I swear to God, I’ve seen people trying to SHOVE the damn things.

Hey, smart guys: IT DOESN’T WORK.

Here’s a recap for you: huge amounts of hp, absurd melee damage AND THE ONLY WAY TO LET THEM DROP A SURVIVOR IS TO KILL THEM OR USE EXPLOSIVES.

Do not shove chargers, you fucking moron. Yes, you. You know who you are.

And using melee weapons? Remember how I told you it’s always a bad idea?

I know what you’re thinking: OH, THAT CHARGER JUST MISSED, IT’S STUNNED AFTER HITTING A WALL, IMMA GO SLICE HIM WITH MY KATANA ‘CAUSE IMMA SEPHIROTH AND SHIT.

You’re gonna get hit, you asshole. No matter how good you think you are, you’re gonna slice the charger once, maybe twice, it still won’t be dead and you’re gonna get facepunched.

You IDIOT.

If you have enough room, and you spot them in time, avoiding chargers isn’t too hard.

Chargers cannot steer too well: in open enviroments getting out of the way shouldn’t bee too much of a problem…in corridors? Yeah, you’re boned.

Dealing with them while you’re being attacked by a horde can be very difficult, since they require a lot of fire power to kill; your best bet is to distract the horde with a pipe or a bile bomb and concentrate fire on the charger while the pressure from the common infected is off.

Also, if there’s a charger around avoid ledges and open water like the plague.

And that’s all I can think about special infected!

I am by no means a huge expert, so there’s probably more to it; feel free to share your own tactics and tips!

Next time we’re gonna step it up a notch with Witches and Tanks, so stay tuned and give ‘em hell in the meantime!

Ok, so we’ve covered the basics: what are the best weapons, how you should move and that’s all fine and dandy, but now it’s time to step it up by talking about your main opposition: special infected.

Here’s your main guideline: every special infected on expert is the goddamn Batman.

Main rule vs special infected: don’t EVER engage in melee against them, it’s gonna turn ugly no matter what you’re up against.

I won’t go into details about every single special, everybody knows what an hunter is and what they do, so I’ll just provide useful tips and little known information about them.

So…hunters. They’re the most popular I think, so I’ll start with them.

Little known fact: shoving hunters is a very bad idea because they can still hit you even while they’re stunned. Their claws hit for 40 damage: if you’re injured there’s a good chance you’re gonna fall flat on your ass.

If a team mate is pinned down, SHOOT THE HUNTER. Your friend isn’t going to take any friendly fire damage (as long as you stop shooting once the hunter is dead) and you won’t get your face ripped off.

Also, hunters are smart. A popular tactic for them is to blend with a horde and use their claws while you’re busy gunning down two dozens of common infected, so keep your eyes open for hoodies.

Next up is the Boomer.

Little known fact: did you know that using boomer bile after you’ve been puked on is completely useless? Common infected will always go after puked survivors first, THEN after a bile jar.

I know what you’re thinking: boomers are easy, right? Big targets, no great speed or agility and they need to get relatively close to pose any kind of threat.

Haha, yeah you wish. Remember the guideline: boomers are the goddamn Batman. THEY ARE THE NIGHT.

Special infected can access areas of the map you can’t.

I’m talking about roofs: if you hear a boomer but you can’t see it, chances are it’s above you, waiting to drop on your head.

Should you ever find yourself face to face with a boomer, chances are you’re about to get smelly, but don’t panic and DON’T shoot it!

This is the one case where shoving is useful: shove the sucker first, THEN shoot it for a clean kill. Kinda hard to do on expert, but it can save you in a pinch.

Smokers are assholes.

Nine times out of ten a smoker will try to drag you through the fire you have just started, they have fun like that.

Little known fact: did you know that a smoker’s tongue can be shot off? If you’re not close enough to free your friend with a shove, cut the tongue with some bullets.

There’s not much to say about smokers, they can still hurt you a bit if you get too close, and on expert you’ll rarely catch them in the open, but as long as you stick together they’re not the worst.

Until they drag you on top of a witch, that is.

Boy, this post is getting kinda long!

I’ll cover the other special infected in the next post, try not to get dominated too much in the meantime.

in the event of encountering a witch on expert mode with no shotgun/nobody who can safely cr0wn:

if you or a teammate startles her, shoot them and incap them immediately. this way she won’t be able to kill them in one hit.

this is an especially handy trick if the witch is in your way. if you.must, send your teammate with the lowest health to startle her and then incap them and kill her. quick, easy, and more painless than it would be otherwise :)

You’ve got to stop shooting me.

I’m not even kidding, stop shooting me!

The most dangerous things you’ll ever encounter in a game of Left for Dead are your friggin’ team mates.

Flash news: friendly fire isn’t as friendly as it would like you to believe.

Yeah, try running from a tank while you’re being shot in the ass!

Here’s a few rules to minimize incidents, most of which should be self explanatory, unless you’re stuck playing with Donald Duck or something.

1) Move in formation: this holds true no matter what weapons you’re using.

Two people take point while crouching, to give a clear shot to the guys watching their back.

DON’T just get up during a firefight, or ever for that matter, warn your buddies first. (this doesn’t apply to gauntlets, obviously)

2) Don’t strafe like an idiot. This isn’t doom and infected don’t shoot back. If there’s a charger and you NEED to move, call for it first then get the hell out of there. A charger is gonna deal less damage than a shotgun blast in the back of your head.

3) Don’t walk right in the middle of a team mate’s line of fire.

Seriously. This happens to me all the time.

Somebody wants to score more kills, so they keep running ahead of your team mates and guess what happens? They get their ass fulla lead, that’s what.

If one of your buddies is shooting and you need to get somewhere past them, at least have the courtesy of circling BEHIND them, otherwhise getting shot is the least you should expect.

4) EQUIP LASER SIGHTS. You’ve no idea how many times I’ve heard “OH, BUT I’VE GOT A SHOTGUN, I DON’T NEED NO LASERS!”                                                  

That is the single stupidest thing anybody could say, ever.

Laser sights will let you know where everyone’s aiming, thus reducing friendly fire dramatically, unless you’re attracted by shiny things, in which case you’re infected so feel free to run in my sights.

Remember folks, if they start shouting “DO I LOOK LIKE ONE OF THEM!?” …well, that’s probably Louis, so keep your finger on the trigger, for the love of pills!

“Oh Monday! Expert is so difficult! Please, tell us what to do, oh paragon of awesomeness!”

Yeah yeah, I hear that a lot, but fear no more for I have heard your cries, and decided to provide help.

Let’s start with the basics, aka weapons.

First things first: on expert difficulty even common infected hit like a truck (20 dmg from the front, 10 from the back) so melee is a no go. 

Either go double pistols or get a magnum.

The magnum does insane damage, if you actually manage to land a shot that is, and it’s a great weapon to use when incapacitated.

You see it’s accuracy is completely awful, if shot when not crouching, but when on the ground you can dispatch lots of infected, or even special infected, with actually decent accuracy, so if you see a magnum lying around go for it!

So, I hear you ask, that’s all cool and dandy but what’s a good main weapon?

Man, you guys are hopeless!

This is THE best weapon for expert difficulty, bar none.

It deals insane damage, is VERY accurate even on the run and has the best ammo per infected killed rateo which means that, unlike every other weapon, you’ll be able to keep using this rifle in every situation without switching to your sidearms and you’ll be unlikely to ever run out, or even low for that matter, of ammo!

As an added bonus the rifle bullets have insane penetration, and will kill any common infected on a straight line until they hit a solid surface.

Add to that a huge clip and you can see how four of these, in capable hands, can clear a horde in a few shots.

The only downisde is a lenghty reload animation, so watch yourself.

Got all of that memorized?

Then go get ‘em, get slaughtered, and come back for some more hints & tips next time!

Adding quickly my two cents to the “strategy topic”.

One major rule of survival (this may sound dull) it’s to stick together and I mean you must stay real close to each other, let’s say at shoving range, shoooving raaaange. This applies to all the map and especially in the finales when the hunter/jockey/smoker tries to split you up.

If your team tends to split up (that magically happens a lot when you scream “Stick together people!”) try to stick close to the nearest one, it’s either two people or four, I find everything else very dangerous.

Sure you can take out 53,594 common infected by yourself but a special infected can take you out at the first error.

If someone has more tips you can Submit them! We’ll add them to our upcoming section!