Left 4 Dead Survival: Hints and Tips to help you survive in Left 4 Dead

Whether you’re new to Valve’s zombie horror survival game ‘Left 4 Dead’ or an old hand at the game, there are a host of tactics and methods with which to survive the campaigns and get out alive.

If you’re a newcomer to the game, check out the Brighthub Left 4 Dead review and Left 4 Dead campaign walkthroughs and apply these few simple tips to staying alive.

Although these tips pertain to playing the campaign mode of Left 4 Dead as the human survivors, with the Director AI being handled by the computer, some of these tips can also be utilised against human opponents controlling undead.

While most are just basic common sense, knowing them beforehand can go a long way to helping you survive.

One of the biggest aids you can give yourself is to invest in a gaming headset and get used to using it in-game to talk to your fellow survivors. The ability to communicate with your teammates vocally should not be underestimated and can help you to survive better than any typed warning ever could. Remember, if you’re typing you’re not moving or firing and you need to do both to survive!

Let your team-mates know what you’re doing. There’s little sense in two (or more) of you throwing a grenade into a horde when one will do the job.

Left 4 Dead is all about survival and the team that sticks together survives together. Left 4 Dead is not a game for lone gunmen or heroes and getting either too far ahead or behind the rest of your teammates is one of the quickest ways to bring about your demise. If you must go marauding, at worst do it in pairs so there is always someone around to help you out of a jam until the remainder of your team arrives to help.

Keep moving. Staying still for too long brings down the horde. Only stop to pick up supplies or to use first aid kits.

Have the team carry an assortment of weapons. There’s little point in having all players carrying sniper rifles for instance. Aim to have a balanced arsenal across the team to better cope with the various instances you’ll come across in the game.

Left 4 Dead isn’t overflowing with health packs so use the ones you do have wisely. You’ll get four first aid kits in each safe room in a campaign, but remember these have to get you through to the next safe room. Very occasionally you’ll find a first-aid kit somewhere in the level but for the most part, you’ll have to rely on pain pills to give you a temporary boost.

Ideally, only use first-aid kits if you or a teammate has a health score in the red zone. For health in the amber zone and lower reaches of the green zone, these can be treated with pain pills. Remember too that as a teammate gets injured, their movement is slowed. Players with amber health move slower than those with green health scores, while those with red scores move slower still making them easier targets for horde attacks or special infected attacks. Using pain pills can negate the slowdown and help you avoid trouble.