You may have read my previous advice on playing Left 4 Dead and thought to yourself, 'hey, this stuff isn't too complicated. Common sense, really.' And that might be mostly true. Once you learn the basics of surviving campaign mode, there aren't too many advanced techniques to pick up that'll turn you pro. Versus mode, however, is a bit different. Deceptively so. The core difference here is the point structure. In campaign mode, your only goal is to make it from one end of the level to the other. And even though that goal doesn't change a whole lot in versus, the fact that you're scored based on distance traveled, health remaining, and surviving players changes the way you play in very significant ways. First, we'll go over the few ways in which survivor tactics change, then get some in-depth strategies on playing the infected side.


Survivors: Keep it quick, bro

Your Survivor-side strategies will remain mostly the same. Stick together, close doors, move in formation, etc.. You know all that. The central thing to keep in mind during versus mode is to always keep moving. Remember, your main enemies are on respawn timers, so the more time you waste moving around the level, the more times you're going to have to fend them off. Keep the checking of side rooms to a minimum, and keep track of when you've killed most of them and you're able to move mostly uninhibited. Moving forward means earning points, so go quickly as much as possible. Also, if you're aware of a stray smoker or other special infected somewhere behind you, it's sometimes best to just leave him back there. If you can move quickly enough, he's going to have a hard time catching up to attack. That means one less mystery infected causing trouble up ahead.
Overall, just remember that you're fighting a much more intelligent group of special infected from the campaign crop, so they're likely to do things you might not otherwise expect. They've played these levels, too, so they've got a good idea where you're going and what you're thinking. It's a very interesting mind game that typically leads to zombies getting shot through walls entirely as a result of a hunch on the part of a Survivor. Now then, on to the Infected:

Hunter



Why don't we start the Hunter section off with a quick video:

The HD version comes highly recommended

Here's the thing about the Hunter: the game never actually teaches you about some his most important gameplay mechanics. First, the Hunter is capable of doing fairly significant amounts of damage just with his initial pounce as long as he jumps from a good distance away. This, combined with his truly absurd wall jumping ability, makes the Hunter a real threat in able hands. With a truly immaculate leap, you can do as much as 25(!) damage before you even get to slashing at their throat. It's difficult to learn and a bitch to master, making the Hunter easily the deepest of the three main infected types. I mean, you can even wall jump off of freaking power lines. What the hell.
Another thing Hunters are particularly good at is being loud. The shriek emitted when they leap is one of the more recognizable sounds to survivors, and you know they'll be looking for you as soon as they hear it. Use this to your advantage by drawing their attention away from your teammates, allowing them to move in for the attack. This works especially well in areas like the street in front of the pawn shop, the parking lot outside Burger Tank, or similarly open arenas.
And this might be more of a general tip for any infected, but do your best to draw the survivors' fire towards unintended targets like alarmed cars and Witches. A couple of stray bullets towards these bastards and they'll get a whole lot more than they bargained for.


Smoker



The basic key to a great Smoker pull is staying out of sight. Your ideal pull will take one of them out of the group and around a corner, safe from direct fire, forcing them to make a major detour to take care of you. In my experience, the best way to make that happen is by striking either from above or below your target. Below is typically the best, since the survivor will usually have serious problems climbing back to wherever you pulled them from, and you're more likely to get the bonus damage from pulling them 100% to you instead of strangling them from afar. Unfortunately, opportunities to do this are fairly uncommon (one room in the subway and the finale of No Mercy come to mind) so you'll more frequently have to stick with smoker pulls from above.
The tongue attack itself takes some getting used to. You don't always grab who you think you'll grab, and it can sometimes be hard to tell why some grabs take and others don't. My advice is to be patient with it. Take time to pick your target and when to strike. Try for survivors that aren't moving around too much; if they move a lot and something interrupts your line of sight before the grab locks on, you'll lose the grab and do nothing but give away your position. But stick with it, and you'll be slurping up survivors with the best of 'em.


Boomer



Boomers are responsible for one thing: bringing chaos to an orderly group of Survivors. The disorientation and confusion brought on by a stream of Boomer bile is nothing short of pure panic for them. Unlike the Smoker and Hunter, who work best on isolated survivors, Boomers are most effective when survivors are clustered together. More often than not, Boomer attacks are the impetus for Survivor separation, creating those ideal Smoker and Hunter moments. The challenge for the Boomer is getting close to as many survivors as possible without being spotted. One great way to do this is to pretend you're playing as a Pyro and just hide around corners, springing your attack before your prey can react. But in general, just watch for when they're distracted. Sure, Boomers are awfully loud and easily recognizable, but it's not too difficult to slip under their radar while they deal with a Hunter or foolishly investigate a side room without backup.


Tank



You've fought Tanks before, so at the very least you know what doesn't work. Your team scatters, some of them rush ahead in a foolhardy attempt to finish the level solo (only to get Hunter pounced seconds later), some attempt to take it head on, others just hide in closets till danger has passed. Your goal as a Tank is to recreate those situations. Coordinate with your team so that when a Survivor runs off by himself to escape your unbelievably massive pectorals, one of your Hunters will be there to take him out.
But don't play like the AI plays it. You might see AI controlled Tanks smashing repeatedly at downed survivors as if a prize might come out, but that is not the way to do things. Your only goal here is to incapacitate the survivors, so just move on after you get one down. One kill is not worth the damage it's going to cost you to stand totally stationary, a massive damage sponge trying desperately to turn Louis' face into a puddle of goo.
The other insanely useful tool at the Tank's disposal is the ability to throw otherwise completely immobile objects at his targets as if they were whiffle balls. Most stages have this tool available; urban environments have cars, wooded maps have large downed trees just aching to make some Survivor's day much, much worse. Chapter 4 of No Mercy even has a forklift for you to bat around like a kitten with a ball of string. So if you're ever feeling a little sluggish, remember, these objects, despite their size, will travel much faster towards your target, if given the correct motivation.


Well, that does it for my Versus mode guide. Hope you found it at least somewhat informative. The Infected might be the scourge of the planet and one of my greatest fears, but I'll be damned if they aren't fun to play. As always, I invite you to add me to your Steam friends list! I love having new 'Toiders to play with. And I'm getting a little tired of having the entire other team rage quit after round 1.