This page focuses on the PC version [update 7 Oct 2011], Easy difficulty.

Glitches

Super jump

The super jump in short lets you jump a lot higher than you normally would. It requires two players and either a molotov or a pipe bomb. One player is the thrower and the other player is the jumper. The process involved in performing this glitch is as follows:

1. The thrower ducks against a wall, presses and holds fire and aims upwards in a specific angle.
2. The jumper positions himself roughly 2-3 meters away from the thrower, face to face.
3. Both confirm that they are ready.
4. The jumper fires off a shot to insert a cue point for the thrower.
5. The jumper starts moving about half a second after the shot and jumps on top of the thrower while bumping into the wall behind him.
6. The thrower compensates for the lag and the throwing delay by throwing immediately when he sees the runner starts moving.

Depending on the throwing angle, the jumper will now get a boost in height. The higher you aim the throw, the stronger the boost, although the harder it becomes to throw since throwing without vision of the jumper requires you to rely on the gunshot sound cue alone.

Tricks and tips

Key runners and suiciding

While it is usually for the best that all four survivors make it to the end of a chapter or to the end of the game, please remember that you don't have to finish a stage with all four members alive. If someone is killed in action, you have the choice later on to save them if they are in a room up ahead or to just leave them until you get to the end since they will just come back later (at the cost of 50% health for the next section) and during the finale, if at least one member of the group makes it out, then everyone wins, even if there was only one survivor.

Finales

Common Infected limit

Weapons

In left 4 dead, there are five different types of guns and two hand-tossed weapons. Each survivor is allowed to carry a pistol (or two pistols), a special gun (shotgun, smg, or etc.) and one hand-tossed weapon (pipe bomb or Molotov)

Sidearms

Pistol

The pistol is the only weapon here that has unlimited ammo. It is a very weak gun and usually cannot kill some of the weaker Infected without shooting them in the head or shooting them several times in the chest, but it does have fantastic reload speed and firing rate and comes in handy if you wish to conserve ammo for your other gun.

You can also find a second pistol lying around, and dual wield to allow for twice as many shots to use at a time at the cost of a twice as longer reload time. Also please be aware that if you are incapacitated at anytime, you only have just one pistol as your only defense mechanism from the zombies around you until someone can pick you up again.

Tier 1

Shotgun

A Classic Zombie killing tool. The shotgun is slow-pumping gun is very effective at close range combat, but useless at long range. The shotgun comes in handy if you are being attacked by groups of the infected, however it has a very slow firing speed; after every shot, the character has to pull the pump handle back and forth before the next shot can be fired and the reload time is also a bit slow as well.

SMG

The submachine gun is another weak gun, but have a great rate of fire that can fire up to 50 rounds at a time. Very handy if you want to take out targets that are from a distance of where your at, and the accuracy of the weapon makes it a good weapon of choice.

Tier 2

While going through a campaign, you are given the chance to upgrade your arsenal to one of three guns listed below. It is highly recommended that you take advantage of getting a better gun since it a great improvement over the SMG or the shotgun.

Auto Shotgun

The Auto Shotgun greatly improves what the shotgun can do. It fires off more powerful shots, can hold more shells before having to reload and the rate of fire is much faster and allows you to take down big groups of enemies in a much shorter period of time. The only bad thing about the auto shotgun is that it still has a slow reload time.

Assault Rifle

The Assault Rifle also is a great improvement over the SMG. While the rate of fire is a bit slower than the SMG, each bullet does a much greater damage. It is also very accurate at long or close range which comes in handy for taking down groups of infected that are rushing towards you.

Hunting Rifle

The only new weapon that allows the player to take out any infected from a great distance (AKA: Sniper Rifle). You are able to zoom in with this gun which allows for more precise aiming. The Hunting rifle is also able to take out groups of infected at a time if they are all properly lined up and is the only weapon that can fire through any in-game surface.

Grenades

Like Upgraded weapons, you can come across a hand-tossed weapon while going through the game, remember though, you are only allowed to carry one hand-tossed weapon at a time, and each weapon has its pros and cons.

Molotov cocktail

The Moltov is capable of setting a section of the floor ablaze. This is very useful if you throw the molotov where infected have to run through the flames to reach you and can usually kill them quickly after they touch the flames. This is also a very good weapon to have if you encounter a Tank or a Witch since after they catch fire, they will continuously burn until they are killed. Remember though, suriviors can also catch fire if they are in the middle of the flames and it can drain their health just as fast.

Pipe bomb

Pipe bombs are equipped with a sensor that can attract all common Infected to where it is thrown. Very useful if you see that you get ambushed or even during the finale when you are running towards safety. After you throw the pipe bomb, and infected near it will rush towards the bomb to get blown to bits. Make note though, special infected do not get diverted from the pipe bombs, but can still be killed by the blast if they are close to the bomb.

Others

Melee

Gas can

Propane tank

Minigun

The Mounted Machine Gun is sometimes seen in areas where you can get overrunned by the infected. it is pointed in just one direction where most of the infected would come from and is very useful for taking out groups of infected from a distance. However it can't turn around and it does leave you sitting in one spot, which can leave you open for getting ambushed by a special infected.

Enemies

Common Infected

Getting hit by Common Infected slows you down considerably, which can be a real annoyance since getting hit allows other Common Infected to catch up and keep slowing you down. However, with their 30 health on Easy they are killed by one shot from most weapons, although it is often hard to see whether they are dead or just injured. Shoving them away with your melee attack is another useful method for clearing the path. Common Infected react on gunfire and flashlights, thus it is best to delay any firing when facing a group of Commons protecting a small entrance, as getting their attention too early can easily get you surrounded or blocked. They also attack in hordes during finales where they must be taken down as quickly as possible.

Special Infected

Smoker/Hunter

The Smoker usually takes too long before attacking to catch any of the key runners on Easy, but Hunters can be an annoyance, especially for a lone runner. The Smoker is more dangerous than the Hunter during finales as it can hide in unreachable places such as inside buildings or on top of roofs. Both have 250 health.

Boomer

The Boomer is generally not a large threat because of its low health (50) and the extremely long delay of its vomit attack on Easy. Players can sacrifice themselves by getting biled on to help keep the path clear for the key runners. Getting hit by its bile during finales however forces additional hordes to spawn which costs a lot of time.

Tank

Tanks are by far the biggest problem when speedrunning, for two different reasons. Firstly, they can easily cut off key runners with their pound attack if close enough, knocking players back a great distance and dealing 24 damage on Easy. Alternatively, they may punch a car or a similar object right at players to instantly incapacitate them. Up to two Tanks may spawn randomly throughout a level, with a large amount of possible spawn points - they may even spawn right at a critical entrance, blocking off the way completely. A common way to deal with Tanks when on the move is to have a player sacrifice himself, since the Tank will keep focusing on the same target until it is dead. Secondly, Tanks always appear during finales where they have to be killed as quickly as possible (3000 health on Easy). It is not uncommon for them to spawn far away from the players or in unreachable areas where they may even get stuck, wasting a lot of time.

Witch

There are often multiple Witches in one level, but they can easily be ignored due to the long startling time on Easy. Witches are a good source for getting killed quickly when players find themselves too far behind the key runners.