Left 4 Dead/Weapons

The weapon selection in Left 4 Dead is a set of available firearms. You initially have weak weaponry, but can obtain better weapons you progress through each campaign (aka "movie").

Each survivor has a total of five item slots - the primary weapon, the secondary pistol, a grenade, a first-aid kit, and pain pills. As always, you can fire or use these weapons - but you can also make a melee attack with all these items.

Each campaign has players start with a selection of one of two weapons - the submachine gun or the pump shotgun. The other three weapons will become available later in the campaign; all players start with the pistol.

Melee
The melee attack, known to some players as "shoving", causes minimal damage but temporarily stuns an infected and sends them staggering backwards. It is effective against common infected and boomers, allowing you to shove them back to a safe distance before destroying them.

Regardless of what weapon or piece of equipment is in your hands, the melee attack is always available. Additionally, the melee attack does not affect fellow survivors, making it extremely useful when blinded by boomer bile, or in proximity of allies.

Firearms
Firearms serve as one of the original point-and-click interfaces for dealing with trouble. Weapons are separated into two tiers - the first tier consists of two weapons - the submachine gun and a pump-action shotgun. Both will serve players well until the tier two weapons - consisting of the automatic shotgun, the assault rifle, and the hunting rifle - become available.

Most bullets fired can hit up to two targets, and have the ability to penetrate some walls.

Shotguns take longer to reload if you empty the entire clip.

Pistols
Each survivor starts with a single pistol as a sidearm, although it is versatile enough to be used as a main weapon as well (earning players the Akimbo Assassin achievement). Although its effectiveness diminishes in large hordes and tanks, it remains an integral part of the survivors' arsenal. Pistols will never run out of ammunition (though they still must be reloaded), making them a good choice when wanting to conserve ammunition.

Players will occasionally happen upon a second pistol. Dual-wielding pistols will slightly increase the reload time, but the doubled rate of fire and doubled clip size makes it extremely worthwhile to find a second pistol.

Pistols can often be found in nature, at which they will not disappear (allowing all four survivors to get two pistols) or from a fallen player's corpse (at which it will disappear upon being picked up).

Uzi
The Uzi is a sub-machinegun with weak power. Like the pump shotgun, it is most effective at close range, but its range is far superior to the two shotguns. That said, even common infected will require more than one bullet to be defeated, necessitating the use of pistols at longer ranges and the melee attack up close.

It holds 50 rounds per clip, and you can carry 480 spare bullets.

Pump Shotgun
The pump shotgun is very similar to the auto shotgun, but unlike the auto shotgun a pumping animation must be used to load the next shell. The two weapons are otherwise pretty much identical. Pump shotguns are more than capable of blasting enemies away at close ranges. Its scatter and attacking power make it extremely effective at fighting hordes of zombies.

Be aware that like a real shotgun, each shell must be loaded manually. This means that the emptier the shotgun is, the longer the reload animation will be. Fortunately it can be interrupted by using the fire button. Additionally the melee attack will not interrupt reloading, allowing a survivor to spam his or her melee attack while waiting for the shotgun to be reloaded.

You can carry 8 rounds in the shotgun, with 128 spare shells.

Assault Rifle
An improved version of the SMG, the Assault Rifle is a fully automatic weapon that can slice through common and special infected alike. The more recent patches have diminished the auto shotgun's effectiveness against tanks, making the Assault rifle the new weapon of choice when attacking a tank.

It takes a 50 round clip, and you can carry 360 spare bullets.

Auto shotgun
This semi-automatic shotgun can fire as quickly as you can pull the trigger. It is otherwise completely identical to the pump shotgun. Its scatter and power at close range can let it slice through hordes with ease. Like the pump shotgun, however, each shell must be loaded manually - therefore, the more empty the weapon is, the longer it will take to reload the weapon.

Unlike other weapons, however, players can choose to only partially reload their shotgun by attempting to fire their weapon in the middle of the reloading cycle.

The Auto-shotgun is also the weapon of choice for eliminating witches, if you're fast and accurate. The only thing that will kill a witch without annoying her is a single headshot with either of the shotguns. Due to its semiautomatic nature, however, the auto shotgun is obviously the superior choice.

You can carry 10 shells in this shotgun and 128 spares.

Hunting rifle
A high penetrating power and an extremely long range is what defines this rifle. It is essentially the game's sniper rifle, complete with a scope for attacks at long range. Unlike sniper rifles from other games, however, the hunting rifle is just as effective at close quarters. Its accuracy diminishes the most when the player is moving. For maximum effectiveness, fire the weapon from a standstill. The weapon is accurate enough to not have to warrant crouching.

Although an excellent specialty weapon, you'll find the other two weapons to be far more mobile and effective in more situations. That said, however, the places where the hunting rifle shines, it does so extremely well. It is extremely effective against hunters, who also like to strike from long range.

There are 15 rounds in a single clip, with 180 spare bullets.

Containers
Containers come in three varieties. The red, rectangular, oil tank will catch fire when shot, creating a large field of fire identical to that of a molotov cocktail. The white, spherical propane tanks will detonate like a pipe bomb when shot. Propane tanks will, naturally, not lure infected to them. Green oxygen tanks will explode like a propane tank, but only after a short wait.

While they can easily be carried around by, and dropped, by survivors, survivors will be unable to use anything other than a melee attack while carrying the container. Attempting to switch to another weapon will have the survivor drop the container. Fortunately, containers will not explode when carried by a survivor. They can, however, explode when exposed to open flame. If positioned correctly, a system of oil tanks can set a good section of the map ablaze through a chain reaction.

Grenades
Grenades come in two flavours.

The pipe bomb is a simple explosive device with the guts of a smoke detector attached. When thrown, it creates a display of light and sound the common infected find extremely appealing, making them run right for it and crowd around it. A few seconds later, it will explode, reducing the zombies to a cloud of red mist.

Special infected, such as smokers, boomers, and tanks - will not be fooled by the pipe bomb. Combine this with its delay action fuse, and the pipe bomb becomes virtually useless in such situations. It is best used after being struck by a boomer, during crescendo events, or when you hear the horde music cue. The infected will quickly ignore the survivors and crowd around the pipe bomb, allowing a survivor to eliminate them with ease.

The second type of grenade is the molotov cocktail, a bottle of alcohol with an ignited rag. When thrown, it immediately shatters and becomes a giant pool of fire, setting the extremely flammable infected ablaze. Common and special infected, when ignited, will slowly take damage until they die. Common infected will be rendered completely neutralized when set ablaze, and they will be unable to attack the survivors until they die. Survivors will be able to extinguish themselves after a short while.

Because the molotov strikes immediately, it is a better choice when facing special infected, although it is also effective against common infected if you know where they are coming from. The pool of fire lingers for several seconds, making it an effective area denial weapon against the infected. However, the chances for accidentally striking an ally is extremely high, and survivors being dragged into the flames by a smoker will find rescue extremely unlikely.

Minigun
Finales and some crescendo events will sport these powerful mounted rotary guns. Like a machine gun emplacement, the minigun will require a few seconds of charge up time before ruthlessly spitting round after round at the target. Its high stopping power and insane rate of fire is hindered by its limited 180 degree arc. It is often poorly positioned, as well - it can often only cover one or at most two infected entrances.

A good teammate, however, will support the minigunner, and protect the flanks while the minigunner himself focuses on what's in front of him. Miniguns are never positioned randomly and are considered a part of the terrain. That said, however, miniguns do not offer vehicular defence, meaning their operators can still be pounced on by a hunter, or strangled by a smoker.

Healing items
One of each healing item can be carried by a survivor. They come in two kinds - first aid kits and pain pills. Selecting the first aid kit and left clicking will allow a player to heal him or herself - right clicking will either prompt a melee attack, or allow the survivor to heal another person. Instead of restoring a set amount of health, first aid kits will only restore 80% of the damage the Survivor has taken. For example, if a Survivor has taken 70% damage, using a first aid kit will add 56% (80% of 70) to the Survivor's health, bringing the Survivor to 86% health. This healing is not based on any temporary health a Survivor might have after taking pain pills, and will remove any extra health gained by them.

Pain pills, unlike the First aid kit, will only give the user 50 temporary points of health when taken. Pills can be given to teammates by pressing the melee button. When not facing a teammate, pressing the melee button will allow you to use your melee attack. The pills will not completely eliminate damage to your main health meter, but it does sharply reduce it. Essentially, the temporary health serves as a barrier for your regular health.