History Videogame / Left4dead2

* BoomHeadshot: Played straight, to YourHeadAsplode levels with common infected is you use a caliber bigger than pistol ammo. Mercilessly averted with the Tank, which takes no extra damage from headshots.

* KillItWithFire: Molotov cocktails, gas cans, and incendiary ammo packs. Very useful against Tanks and Witches, as not only does it deal continuous damage until death (or until the Tank wades into a body of water), it slows them down[[note]]A Witch will only run as fast as a healthy Survivor, and a Tank slows down to an injured Survivor's pace[[/note]]. Also great against hordes, as fire kills Common Infected instantly.

** The Last Man on Earth mutation alters the special infected behavior where they will back off once they reduce your health to zero (the player automatically revives for this mode) so that you can regain your bearings. Witches and Tanks are exempt from this.

** If a survivor is trying to help an incapacitated teammate up, the process will normally be interrupted if either survivor is hit by a Common Infected. Bots are not subject to this, and can get you back on your feet even with a horde wailing on them.

* MolotovCocktail: Practically a staple of the series, and essential to block off an infected access route.

* GolfClubbing: Added with ''The Passing''. And it has the same attributes as the {{Katana|sAreJustBetter}} to boot, and just like in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', it can decapitate if you aim high (you even get an achievement for beheading enough zombies with one). Unfortunately, for official campaigns, it's only found in that campaign.

* GolfClubbing: And it has the same attributes as the {{Katana|sAreJustBetter}} to boot, and just like in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', it can decapitate if you aim high (you even get an achievement for beheading enough zombies with one). Unfortunately, for official campaigns, it's only found in ''The Passing''.

* InstrumentOfMurder: Guitars as melee weapons. Functionally, it's roughly the same as the fire axe.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: Played with. Damage-wise, Katanas in the game aren't any better than other melee weapons due to all melee weapons doing the same amount of damage to zombies. The advantages the katana has, however, is its sharpness and consistent, wide swing. The "Four Swordsmen" mutation is all about these, being the only weapon available.

* MacheteMayhem: Decently fast (only slower than the Nightstick), severs limbs like no one's business, and is decently common in certain campaigns. Now go pretend you're [[Franchise/FridayThe13th Jason Voorhees]] fighting zombies.

* MoreDakka: [[{{BFG}} The M60.]]
* TheMusketeer: It's possible to have a melee weapon as reserve instead of a pistol. Certain mods go even farther and give melee weapons their own unique inventory slot, allowing the survivor to carry the main gun, the sidearm ''and'' the melee weapon of their choice.

** Melee weapons always do [[FixedDamageAttack 5% of a Tank's maximum health per hit]] (meaning 20 melee hits will kill them). This doesn't amount to much on lower difficulties, but it's certainly a lot of HP on higher ones, where the Tank's HP is doubled from Normal to Advanced & Expert. Obviously, trying to get close to a Tank when it can instantly incapacitate you [[TooDumbToLive is usually a bad idea]], but being able to deal about 1,000 damage in 2 seconds without using ammo is something worth noting.

** ''The Passing'' the Fallen Survivor, an infected man in militia gear who [[MetalSlime will run when attacked, has high health, is impervious to flames, and drops valuable items on death]]. There is also a Witch in a bridal dress.

** ''The Parish'' has infected riot cops, whose body armor makes them invincible to melee attacks as well as gunfire from the front.

* UnwinnableByDesign: One of the still-listed achievement is tied into the long-gone event Valve Gift Grab 2011.

** Melee weapons always do 5% of a Tank's maximum health per hit (meaning 20 melee hits will kill them). This doesn't amount to much on lower difficulties, but it's certainly a lot of HP on higher ones. Obviously, trying to get close to a Tank when it can instantly incapacitate you [[TooDumbToLive is usually a bad idea]], but being able to deal about 1,000 damage in 2 seconds without using ammo is something worth noting.

* TerrifiedOfGerms: Averted, the survivors don't mind being covered in zombie guts. Or fishing pills out of urinals.
** Nick plays it straight.

"I am NOT jumping into the- screw it, let's go." (In reference to the [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer sewer]] on The Parish.)
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Each group of survivors only has one female.
** While some might think that this is only done to appeal to the [[MostGamersAreMale largely male demographic]], this is actually [[JustifiedTrope justified]] via genetics. The gene for immunity is strongly hinted to be on the X-chromosome, meaning that males only have to receive one immune X-chromosome from their mother to be immune, while females have to have one from both their mother ''and'' their father. Hence, the much smaller proportion of immune females to immune males.
*** Though the justification is inadequate when noticing that the infected population is distributed pretty equally, not to mention the fact that the gender ratio of ''Specials'' are also 1:3.
*** Partially disproved by ''The Sacrifice'' comic, in which the carrier gene is said to come from the father, and not the mother, which wouldn't make sense from a chromosomal point of view (unless women can have Y-chromosomes).
*** Averted by Taito's arcade adaptation of this game called ''Left 4 Dead: Survivors'' where Coach and Francis were replaced by a Japanese school girl named Haruka Hirose.

* GenreSavvy: Nick asks the group, after they reach the hotel elevator in Dead Center, if anyone has been bitten. [[WrongGenreSavvy Not that he's on the right track asking this]], as they're all immune, the disease is airborne, and quite frankly there's a pretty low chance of them ''not'' getting bitten anyway.

* GenreSavvy: Nick asks the group, after they reach the hotel elevator in Dead Center, if anyone has been bitten.

** WrongGenreSavvy: The survivors are immune, the disease is airborne, and quite frankly there's a pretty low chance of them ''not'' getting bitten anyway.

* EverythingsBetterWithPlushies: Of the [[http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=S0205 Tank]], [[http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=S0203 Hunter]], and [[http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=S0201 Boomer]]! Despite their hideous appearances in-game they make adorable plushies.

* SpeedRun: How some players play Versus mode as survivors.

* BaseballEpisode: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVtbLVPgGH4 Batter Up]] trailer shows the survivors fighting zombies in a baseball field, with commentators acting like it's a genuine game.

* AnAxeToGrind: One of the most common melee weapons is, understandably, the ubiquitous fire axe. It also has the widest swing range out of all melee weapons, making it great at chopping down hordes; this is balanced out by its slow swing rate.

[[caption-width-right:330:[[CloudCuckooLander Ellis]], [[TeamDad Coach]], [[TeamMom Rochelle]] and [[LoveableRogue Nick.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:330:[[CloudCuckooLander Ell]][[MrFanservice is]], [[TeamDad Co]][[ReligiousBruiser ach]], [[TheGenericGuy Roch]][[TeamMom elle]] and [[DeadpanSnarker Ni]][[LoveableRogue ck.]]]]

Please take a look at the [[Characters/Left4Dead character sheet]] to learn more about the characters (both living and undead) and the ShoutOut page for countless [[ShoutOut/Left4Dead pop culture references]].

Please take a look at the [[Characters/Left4Dead character sheet]] to learn more about the characters and the ShoutOut page for countless [[ShoutOut/Left4Dead pop culture references]].

* DualWielding: If a player has the P220 pistol and finds a second one, the two pistols together can be dual-wielded. The second pistol will be a Glock 26 instead of a P220. Dual pistols double the player's available pistol magazine to 30 rounds and increases the maximum rate of fire from 300 to 600 RPM.

* RareGuns: The Desert "Cobra", SPAS-12 and SCAR-L in ''Left 4 Dead 2''. The starting pistol, a SIG Sauer P220, is also stated in the commentary to be extensively customized[[note]]overall a P220 with the barrel, slide, and magazine capacity of the compact P228, and a custom two-tone finish[[/note]], as is the Glock[[note]]essentially the subcompact Glock 26, with a custom slide elongated to the length of the full-size Glock 17's and an extended, steel-colored magazine[[/note]].

* {{Machinima}}: Machinima/ProfoundMomentsInLeft4Dead2.

** Lone Gunman takes it UpToEleven by surpassing Expert damage even on Easy (ANY damage at all is game over on Expert Lone Gunman), allowing only one survivor armed with only a magnum and grenades, and spawning Boomers constantly.

** Due to ArtificialStupidity rendering bots unwilling to shoot when near car alarms, it may be simpler to set off the car alarm anyway to wake them up, even if it means fighting more zombies. The impound lot in the middle of The Parish takes this UpToEleven.

** The "Gib Fest" mutation [[UpToEleven amps it up to extremes]] by only having weapons that cause this. Namely, the M60. With a Magnum for when you're incapacitated or when you want a little more precision. The AWP produces the same results as a single M60 bullet.

* TheVirus: If you're... unlucky enough, you turn into a constantly crying, always-guilty Witch, a head humping horny midget, an acid spitting hag, a giant armed freak, an exploding fatass, get Gene Simmon's tongue, become a flying Parkour expert, or turn into the [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Hulk]].

* EliteMooks: Pretty much ''every'' common infected becomes one on Expert Realism difficulty, the "'''REAL''' zombie apocalypse" as it's advertised. To put it into perspective, on Normal difficulty one survivor can hold off and kill over a dozen commons in close quarters without much difficulty. [[DifficultySpike On Expert, a single common infected can potentially down or kill multiple survivors if they're not paying attention]]. To make it even better, they still appear in huge numbers. Likewise on Expert Realism, commons are tough to bring down with anything other than headshots, capable of surviving multiple point-blank torso shots from assault shotguns before biting the dust.

* TheTetrisEffect: Play the game for a good hour or so. Close your eyes. See the zombie horde rushing towards you?

* Near the motel in the first map of Dark Carnival is a huge slope that the survivors must slide down. For that section only, fall damage is disabled so that the players don't have to worry about taking major damage from sliding down really fast or hitting the bottom by jumping.