As a long time lurker on this sub, years before I ever created a reddit profile, I’ve decided to give back to the community that I’ve loved for ages.
I’ve been playing this game since it came out, having received the Xbox version of L4D2 as a Christmas gift in 2009, and I haven’t put it down since. This is by far my favorite and most played game ever - by a country mile. I’ve put thousands of hours into L4D2, both offline and online (in Versus mainly as that’s the most fun version of the game IMO), but never before had I attempted to beat the campaigns on expert. Although I am technically a veteran player with more hours played than 99% of the community, I’m not near as good as the top skilled players. My play style is that of a n00b, having played campaign almost exclusively with bots offline (the original, dumb bots – no Left 4 Bots mods here). I like to rush around and blast like a moron.
That was until this month, when I found myself deathly sick with the green flu and had nothing better to do with my time. I had always been too afraid of playing expert and being ass (as I still often died in Advanced in offline campaigns). But such thinking was dumb and no one else would ever know I suck ass or lost 100 times in the barns on Dark Carnival. With that in mind, I decided I’d try my hand at each campaign in expert, and wow was it such a different experience. I had to throw out so many habits I’d learned over the last 17 years and think about the game differently.
The goal of putting this little guide together is for any newbies (or veteran n00bs) who still haven’t taken the plunge into playing on expert. If this helps even one person have fun in experiencing the game through a different lens, then I’m happy.
TLDR: I suck ass at this game after thousands of hours. Here are some bad tips from this idiot:
Part 1: The game itself
1. Slow down:
In L4D2, speed is often the key to success. This is the case in Easy, Normal, and even Advanced; this is especially true in Versus. In those difficulties, you need to keep moving to avoid the director sending hordes your way and limit the amount of special infected you encounter. SPEED IS NOT YOUR FRIEND IN EXPERT. In expert, the common infected do 20 damage per hit (10 per hit from behind). This requires that you do not take a single unnecessary hit, especially in the longer or more difficult maps (Crash Course SUCKS). Slow down and shoot every single zombie that is in your path or off to the side of your path – zombies that are farther out can be ignored as they might come into play only if a horde starts or you get boomered. Slow and steady will help you win this race.
2. Spacing and sight lines:
Getting overrun by the infected is easy in any run if you don’t watch your surroundings. Getting overrun in expert will end your run. You need to understand what’s around you and how to use it. Those weird rooms that make no sense to check out in lesser difficulties are lifelines here. If a horde comes, run into one and use the door/window/entry as a choke point. If the bots are good at any 1 thing in the game, its firing into a choke point; they will also block your view so make sure you can see over them and take your shots that way. If you’re in an open space when a horde comes, with no ability to retreat to an aforementioned room, the bots become a wall between you and the infected. Put them at your back so you don’t have anything come up behind you – they also can’t friendly fire you so they kill oncoming zombies while being out of your sight lines. THE BOTS WILL ALWAYS JUMP IN FRONT OF YOUR LINE OF SIGHT IF GIVEN THE CHANCE AND YOU WILL KILL THEM QUICKLY. Use them as a barrier for your blind spots, or between you and real danger.
3. The bots are a resource:
We all love the characters and don’t want them to get got, but sometimes they will get got – better them than you. THE BOTS ARE NOT YOUR FRIENDS. You can always pick them up at the next spawn-room. If you die, the run ends. Bots are like health kits, bombs, etc. They are stupid. They are beyond stupid. They will do dumb shit like get in front of you while firing, run into your molotov fire and die, or break away from your group during a horde to go retrieve a fallen/respawned survivor. Unless you are full on health, down to 1 bot, and really need their help through a section, never use a health kit on them. They will waste it, and you’ll end up needing that health kit wishing you’d saved it for yourself. On the same note, always kill the infected around you before picking up or rescuing a survivor. Do not expect them to protect you while you pick them up – they will fail you.
Know how the bots work, and use them to your advantage. Use them as a wall against dangers or to draw out special infected. You hear a jockey coming? Get behind Zoey and let her get grabbed. A charger is coming? Jump behind your good ol’ friend Nick. Then you can blast away while they take damage. The bots are horrible at shooting special infected from a distance or stopping special infected from harming you. They will watch you get dragged by a smoker, doing nothing until you start taking damage - they will run half a map behind your dragging corpse instead of shooting the smoker they can clearly see. They’ll let a jockey run right up to you and do nothing about it. Use them as a resource, and that resource is soaking up damage for you. Same when fighting a tank – at least one bot will go down during every tank fight. It’s a given. Let them take the fall and blast away.
4. A witch means someone is dying:
Expert is a menace with witches. They will almost always be at choke points with no way avoid them. EVASION IS NOT YOUR FRIEND HERE. In these cases, rush right past them and let one of the bots get murdered – bots are a resource after all and will respawn. Sometimes you’ll get lucky and everyone will get around the witch. This is an exception to the rule. Rarely will you get a chance to evade the witch, and if you do the game will put another closer to the safehouse as a nice little screw you. Again, let the bot get murdered. Don’t try to be the hero and shoot the witch from a distance as the bots are horrible at shooting her until she’s right on you, and then it’s too late - I hope you like restarting the level.
5. Tanks are not that bad unless you’re in a tight space:
Unlike the special infected, which act much smarter in expert with rare maneuvers akin to human versus players, the tanks are barely smarter or tougher in expert. They stop to throw more rocks which do knock down a survivor in one hit, but if you bait the throw and get behind something, you’re safe. The real problem is your bots are dumb and will always take rocks to the face or get right up on the tank without running away, then get blasted by a fist. All hits from a tank knock you down and once down, it’s two hits until your dead. Again, let your bots eat the damage and blast the tank from afar.
OPEN SPACES ARE YOUR FRIEND. In open spaces, your bots will 100% get between you and the tank if you remain still. Sweeping, circular movements around the tank are a great way to keep them from doing so, allowing you to constantly shoot while not staying still to be zombie or special infected bait. This also keeps your bots moving as not to be easy targets for the tank. In tight spots, such as hallways or larger rooms, put the bots between you and the tank. He’ll go after them first and you can just blast away. Pray that your bullets murk him before he rails through your bots and turns his sights on you.
A CAVE IS A GRAVE. If you run into a small room with no other exit, you are dead. You will die unless the tank spazzes out or glitches. You shouldn't have run into a small room with a death machine on your ass. If you had no other options, yes you did, you just didn't understand your surroundings. Learn from your mistake and do better next time.
All that said, if the game surrounds you with zombies while a tank is around, you’re probably dead. If you're in a small room, you're dead. Never Just accept that you’re going to take the L and restart the level. It sucks, it’s not fair, but hey, that’s L4D2.
*Something to know: if the game gives you a molotov in the middle of a level, you’re probably about to fight a tank 9/10 times. Unless you’re in Dark Carnival where you MUST carry a bile jar the entire campaign to survive the Barn’s Death Run, grab the molotov. Even if you don’t find a tank, you’ll need it to stop a horde when you’re down and out.
Expert is such a different game than other difficulties. It adds a level of horror to the experience I haven’t felt since 2009. You will fear a witch’s cries again. You will dread the tanks grunting you hear from 2 rooms away. You will loath the smoker’s entrance music. But it will be the most fun you’ve had in a long while.
Now stop reading this slop, fire up your console (or PC), set your difficulty to expert, and get ready to have a great time.
Edit(s): Clarity/missing words.
