The Complete Guide to Left 4 Dead

Molotov and Pipe Bomb

The Molotov and pipe bomb are Left 4 Dead’s two staple grenades. Of the two, the Molotov is more versatile. Its best use is to create a fire barrier that can be thrown in front of an incoming horde. Any infected who walk into the flames will die in a shambling heap, without being able to attack the survivors.

The skill to using the Molotov is to wait until you know what direction the horde is coming from and then throwing it in front of them - without scorching your teammates.

Its most important use is against the tank. And at least one person in your group should hold onto a Molotov at all times. If no one else wants to do that, then you really should be that guy. You’ll also find the Molotov a useful weapon against the witch. Lighting her up is easy, deals a lot of damage and also makes her really easy to see. In addition, there’s an achievement you can grab when you first set her on fire.

The big downside to using Molotovs is that it gives hunters an easy way to set themselves on fire. A burning hunter gets extra damage on top of their standard attack while they have the survivor pinned. AI hunters won’t go out of their way to set themselves alight, but good human players will do.

There’s an addendum to this though because at the moment, fire damage is cumulative - that means if you throw three molotovs they cause three times the damage per second. Seeing a hunter trying to light himself in the fires of four molotovs and a gas canister can warm you with schadenfreude.


Players don’t like carrying Molotovs because the pipe bomb is the premier kill count weapon in the game. It’s quite possible to kill over 100 regular infected with them over the course of a map, if you can find enough along the way. The pipe bomb only works against regular infected, as they’re drawn to its loud beep. Although the infected are drawn towards it, you need to throw it into a place that they can all get to before it explodes.

If getting the maximum number of kills in a game isn’t your thing, though, the pipe bomb has a strategic use. When you’re becoming overrun, or have been boomer blinded you can use it to pull the horde away from you for long enough to regroup. There are a couple of specific places it can make your life a lot easier, especially on expert difficulty. For example, if you throw it before the Pawn shop safe-room on No Mercy map two, or outside Mercy Hospital you can get to the safe-room without having to melee your way through a huge crowd of irritated infected.

Pipe bombs can also alarm the witch. You might think waking her up with a pipe bomb is clever, but when the smoke clears and she appears, relatively unharmed and extremely peeved you’ll quickly change your mind. You’re unlikely to have enough time to shoot her before she fells one of your team.

Jerry Can

Run speed: 250

Jerry cans work in the same way as Molotovs but their fires cover a wider area and burn for a longer time. Don’t waste them by shooting just for fun. A good way to use them is to set up traps for infected in the crescendo events, blocking their path and making your life a lot easier.One excellent location for this is behind the chaingun in the No Mercy finale on top of the hospital. Drop a can down the hole in the floor (E will drop instead of throw) and shoot it when the horde arrives. It will burn for almost the entire event, making the job a lot easier for survivors.

If you’re in an event such as the church in the Death Toll campaign, take them in to where you’re going to camp and stack them up next to you. That way you can throw them out in front of the horde and fire them up for maximum effect. Perhaps the best use for them is covering your retreat during the escape section at the end of the campaign.

For example, if you set them up on the jetty at the end of Death Toll, you can set them to burn and keep the hordes at bay until rescue arrives, allowing you to concentrate on the most dangerous enemies such as smokers. You can do it at the plane at the end of Dead Air as well, placing one either side of the tail and lighting them makes the final sequence a lot easier.

Gas Cylinder and Bottle

Run speed: 250

The gas cylinder and bottle are almost identical. The only difference is that the cylinder will take a couple of seconds to explode after shooting it, while the bottle is instantaneous. In general neither is particularly useful, as infected are rarely packed closely enough for its blast to do any real damage. You can lay them as traps and shoot them as infected hordes sun past, but in general you’re normally as well off just shooting into the horde at chest height.

They are fun to use and will do significant damage to tanks if you can get your timing right. If you do manage to hit a tank with one it will stumble away from the explosion, which means they can be used to shove tanks off the roof, as in the end of No Mercy’s fourth map.

Chaingun

Run speed: N/A

The chaingun is only available in certain locations and any player on the team can use it. There are four facts you need to know about it. The first is that it has an incredibly high rate of fire - and it never runs ot of ammunition. It is limited, though - fact number two is that the longer you fire it, the hotter it gets and it will eventually overheat. Watch for the barrel glowing red as a warning. Fact number three: it has a limited range of movement.

The fourth and most important fact is that anyone who gets on it will be targeted by the tank. In Expert mode using the chaingun is to be strongly discouraged for precisely this reason. If you feel a little bit suicidal and you want to get pounced, stomped, or punched, then you’ll need at least one team-mate who’s got your back. If you don’t have that then the fastest way to disengage is to melee attack as you’ll instantly release the gun.