last night I was playing L4D versus mode with majin and wernstrum for several hours. this was my first time playing versus mode, so i can't really write up a guide per se, but there are some tips/thoughts/questions i came up with.
first off, playing as the infected is so freakin awesome. it's probably the most frustrating gameplay mode as you die over and over while the survivors forge on, resucitating each other and popping pills to make the bad feelings go away. but when a good plan comes together and you wreak bloody murder all over the other team, there's no feeling in the world quite like it.
Playing as the Surviors:
- Keep Moving. the best teams we played against just kept moving. in campaigns i have a tendency to creep forward, picking off wandering zombies as i go, but in versus mode this just gives them more time to get together a strategy. it's best to just run run run, only stopping to heal or to deal with an incoming horde or tank.
- killing the witch: sometimes you come across the witch in an unavoidable location, and you're going to have to fight her. a couple of things - if you can get her alone, you'll do a lot better. last night we found the witch on the third map just in front of the window we had to enter from the roof. we knew that A) we couldn't avoid her and B) as soon as we started the lift, we'd invite a whole horde, and the other team would probably use that time to take us out. that would be a bad time to throw the witch in the mix. so we decided to start shooting her from the ground. she managed to incapacitate majin, but we killed pretty quick, majin patched up, and then we were on our way. we stil died on the rooftop, but still, at least we didn't have to deal with the witch at the same time.
also, this is going to require more testing, but i think that you can body-block the witch. earlier when i was playing campaign, some guy behind me set off the witch, and she zeroed right in on him. i was in the way however, and she was held up on me for a second, giving me time to unload my auto-shotty and take her out before she could hurt my team (earning me the "Witch Hunter" achievement to boot). so that might be something to try
as the Infected:
- just like the survivors have to stick together, so do the infected. a lone smoker or hunter will probably die before they can do any damage, but if a smoker attacks from one side while a hunter comes in from behind, and a boomer uses this oppportunity to unload his lunch, then we've got a party!
- remember you can claw. your primary abilites are going to be your staple, but there are times when clawing can help. for example, as the boomer i barfed one one guy, and his buddies were close by. now i could have taken the opportunity to hide and recharge, but they had already seen me, so i decided to just move in and start clawing. i managed to get two swipes in before they shot me for some reason, so not only did i cover the rest of the group with bile, but i softened one of them up. also, i've heard of people using the hunter to quickly run in, claw someone, and run off, doing some damage while staying alive.
- as the tank: there's a reason that tank rhymes with spank - it's what he does. this is by far your biggest time to take down the other team. the tank seems to run just a little bit faster than the survivors, so if you can get the jump on them you can start punching pretty quick, but if they see you coming from afar, it can take a while for you to catch up with them, so try to get close without them seeing you (yeah, they'll hear your rumbling and the dramatic music, but it's still pretty tough to tell exactly where the tank's coming from until you see him).
once you close in, i find it's best to spread them out. your punch sends survivors flying, so if you can knock one far enough away for a hunter or smoker to finish the job, focus on the rest of the survivors. also, it takes about 3 hits to incapacitate a healthy (green outline) survivor - and that's all you want, incapacitation. once he's down, his ability to do damage is severely cut, and he can't help his buddies. also, he has 300 health when down, so it's going to take a lot longer to kill him than to incap another survior. if you can get at least two survivors incapacitated really quickly, the rest should be easy work for you and your teammates.