Infected

The Infected are the enemies in Left 4 Dead- humans that succumbed to the virus and turned into zombies. These aren't your grandad's zombies, either- they're fast, aggressive, have a pack mentality, and come in several unsavory flavors. Players can control the Infected in Versus mode. All Infected can use special ladders scattered around the levels to move around.

The Hunter is an attack Infected- he attacks by pouncing a Survivor and clawing at them until they die or he does. Hunters can wall-jump by putting their back to a wall and jumping off, and climb up some inclines by crouch-walking backwards up them. Hunters do a constant amount of damage over time when they have a Survivor pounced, but they can also inflict a big chunk of damage by landing on a Survivor from long distance. The Hunter is the fastest Infected and does the most damage with a claw swipe. Players can free pounced teammates by meleeing the Hunter off the victim or by killing the Hunter. Hunter strategies include concetrating on high-damage pounces, using the knockback from a successful pounce to send nearby survivors over edges, and quickly running into an area to claw at a near-death survivor to knock them down.
 * __The Hunter[[image:http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/groups/1/1/941/thumb_620x2000/l4d-boss-art-hunter.jpg width="183" height="265" align="right"]]__**

//Hunter-Specific Controls:// Alt. Fire: Claw Swipe (6 damage) Crouch+Fire: Pounce (can be angled, bounced off of walls, etc.) (Very short recharge) (0-25 from initial pounce, ~10/sec) Crouch+Move back: Climb (Only certain inclines)

The Smoker is a long-distance Infected that focuses on separating and moving survivors first and killing them second, although the first often leads to the second if done right. The Smoker attacks via shooting his extremely long tongue at an unlucky Survivor, who, if the tongue hits, is pulled toward the Smoker while screaming their head off. One of three things can happen: the Survivor is pulled all the way to the Smoker, who then starts clawing at them, the Survivor gets stuck or is hanged, which has the same result with strangling instead of clawing, or they're freed by assisstance from their teammates. Players can free a smoked teammate by killing the Smoker, shooting his tongue, or by meleeing the Smoker, the victim, or the tongue. When a Smoker is killed, he leaves behind a large cloud of blinding green smoke that disables any voice commands from the Survivors. Smoker strategies include snaring anyone separated from the group, grabbing the last person to go over a one-way jump so they can't be rescued once down, dragging someone down from a high ledge to inflict fall damage, and pulling somone backwards in such a way so that the entire team or at least a few teammates have to backtrack a signifigant distance to rescue the victim (EG down from a high ledge you have to climb to or out of a second-story building), costing the Survivors time and health.
 * __The Smoker[[image:http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/left4dead/images/thumb/f/fd/Smoker-artwork.gif/410px-Smoker-artwork.gif width="164" height="239" align="right"]]__**

//Smoker-Specific Controls:// Alt. Fire: Claw Swipe (4 damage) Fire: Shoot Tongue (~15 sec recharge if successful, very short otherwise) (~5/sec)

The Boomer is the most strategic Infeted that focuses on setting the Survivors up for an ambush. Unfortunately, he's also the most fragile of the Infected, having but a fifth of the Hunter and Smoker's health. The Boomer can vomit on Survivors to blind them and paint them as a target for the Infected Horde. Multiple Survivors can be hit with one volley, making them all prime targets. When a player is "boomed", he or she can only see names above their teammates' heads, although that doesn't help much- being boomed makes everything a dark, muddy-looking mess. Players can't see the usual glowing outlines of teammates in trouble (IE Pounced, Smoked, down) and are usually completely open to attack thanks to the mass of zombies crowding around them. Good Booms are the start of any good ambush- if several players are blind and busy, then the rest of the team (almost always two Hunters and a Smoker) can incapacitate the un-boomed Survivors, ensuring that, even if the team survives the attack, they'll be wounded badly. Boomers explode when they die, coating anyone around them (with the same effect as being boomed), and knocking them back a fair distance. Note that this knockback also extends to your undead teammates, so watch it. Boomer strategies include spawning close to the Survivors for a quick unexpected attack, coating multiple survivors, jumping down from rooftops into the middle of the survivors to attack, and purposely getting killed by twitchy/unaware/stupid Survivors to utilize the explosion and boom more Survivors.
 * __The Boomer[[image:http://www.techarena.in/files/image/guide/092009/Left_4_Dead/left-4-dead_boomer_.jpg width="210" height="305" align="right"]]__**

//Boomer-Specific Controls:// Alt. FIre: Claw Swipe (4 damage) Fire: Vomit (arcs, can hit multiple survivors) (~30+ second recharge, often it's faster to simply go for a suicide boom then wait for a recharge- respawns are usually less than 20 seconds)

The Tank is a rare Infected, appearing randomly three or four times in a single five-map campaign, not counting the finale. His job is to smash stuff. The Tank has a massive amount of health, varying from 2000 on the easiest campaign difficulty to a //massive// 8000 on the hardest. In Versus he has 6000. The Tank is about the same speed as a healthy Survivor. He can (obviously) smash things very well, but he can also use his massive muscles to hit objects like cars and dumpsters at survivors, resulting in an instant incapacitation. The Tank can also rip up chunks of ground and toss them at survivors. Tanks are extremely vulnerable to explosions (which stun them for several seconds, but don't cause much damage) and fire (which slows the Tank and drains his health in Versus). In Versus, Tanks have a "control" bar that slowly drains whenever he //isn't// hitting the Survivors to encourage offensive gameplay. The Tank's job, while seemingly simple, is actually more strategic than it first appears. If the Survivors have molotovs or a minigun availiable, they won't hesitate to use either, and both make short work of a Tank. A Tank can easily finish off survivors, though, if his team cooperates with him. A good boom combined with a Hunter and a Tank alone can kill a team- having to deal with a horde of regular zombies //and// a Tank is a tall order.
 * __The Tank[[image:http://www.techarena.in/files/image/guide/092009/Left_4_Dead/left-4-dead_tank.jpg width="274" height="382" align="right"]]__**

//Tank-Specific Controls:// Alt. Fire: Throw Rock (Aimable) Fire: Smash (~25 damage, can launch large objects to hit Survivors)


 * __The Witch[[image:http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/2/24391/831332-witch_super.png width="240" height="279" align="right"]]__**

The Witch cannot be controlled by players and is usually completely passive, but she can be the most deadly of all the Infected. Witches are rare, about as common as Tanks. A Witch is normally on the ground, crying and rocking back and forth. It's easy to tell when a Witch is near- music plays and her crying is quite loud. If you don't get near her and leave her alone, you'll be fine. However, startling the Witch causes her to scream, chase the person who aggrivated her (extremely fast, faster than you can go at least), and attack them, incapacitating them in a single swipe and continuing to rip them open until either the Witch or the victim dies. After killing one person, the Witch will scream and run away crying, usually never to be seen again. Witches are not quick to anger, but will slowly get up while becoming more and more agitated. Some things cause her to attack faster, such as being closer to her inside her aggro bubble, but all of the following will get you attacked eventually: -Standing near a Witch -Shining your flashlight at a Witch (increases range at which she aggros, makes her aggro faster) -Setting off something explosive near a Witch -Touching a Witch -Shooting a Witch (instant aggro) -Setting a Witch on fire (instant aggro, but the Witch will run quite slowly) -Meleeing a Witch (completely ineffective, be warned) Witches have about 1000 HP, and can be one-shotted by a skilled player with either shotgun. Witches are temporarily stunned if a player headshots one with a Hunting Rifle or sets off an explosive (IE Pipe Bomb or Propane/Oxygen(?) Tank). A coordinated team can easily take out a Witch if someone stands far back, shoots the Witch, and has everyone unload on her on her way to the attacker.

Common Infected are weak, fragile, fast, and much more dangerous than they might seem. Commons are completely ineffective alone (unless you're on Expert), but if a horde gets called by a Boomer, Crescendo Event, or hapless newbie, they can actually do a decent chunk of damage if players aren't careful. Players cannot control commons, but they can call them via Boomer bile or by smoking players into alarm cars or metal detectors (Dead Air). Commons can only survive one shot from shotguns or the Hunting Rifle, and only take a few shots from the pistols and machine guns. A common that catches on fire will simply stumble a few steps before dying. Commons are the only Infected that chase Pipe Bombs.
 * __The Common Infected[[image:http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t280/left4dead411/wallpapers/cornfield-infected2-600.jpg width="420" height="236" align="right" caption="cornfield-infected2-600.jpg image by left4dead411"]]__**