Left 4 Dead Hunter

Chances are if you play a game of versus you'll play the hunter more than any other special infected. Some people love them most can't wait to get some thing else. If you use them right you can do a lot of damage and make the survivors despise you. Any one can use these tips to play a better hunter in Left 4 Dead.

L4D Hunter Wall Jumping

Hunters are the fastest special infected in left 4 dead. At normal running speed they are about the same as a smoker. Pouncing is what makes them fast. You can also use pounce to quickly travel vertically. By pouncing at a wall then turning 180 degrees and pouncing again you can bounce back and fourth on vertical walls.
Whats the point in bouncing off walls like a caffeinated 4 year old? For one it allows you to reach high spots for extra damage pounces. It is also incredibly hard to hit a hunter moving in this way and makes a good distraction for the boomer to get his puke on.

L4D High pouncing

High pouncing is exactly what it sounds like with the Left 4 Dead Hunter, nailing survivors with long distance jumps. The higher you jump from the bigger your impact damage will be, the largest being 25. To pull these things off you need two things, map knowledge and flight control.

Find a place where survivors get bottle necked, like a single doorway. Then find the highest area you can in pouncing range of that door. Once in the air you have just a little control over where you land.

So make sure your already well lined up before jumping. Using your movement keys on the way down after a jump will give you a little bit of last minute adjustment.

L4D Hunter target selection

Left 4 Dead Hunters are easy to knock off and kill once they pounce. This makes target selection a big part of being successful hunter. pay attention to what you're team mates are doing.

If the smoker pulls some one away don't pounce his victim.
Crouch and wait for the person who trys to save them and get an easy pounce. When the boomer covers people with vomit the hunter should go after any player the boomer missed. The horde and distorted vision will make it difficult for those players to rescue a downed team mate.

Keep track of how the survivors are playing. See if any one has a habit of going ahead or falling behind. Its also a good idea to figure out who is playing as the leader, this person usually ends up separated from the pack when moving.

L4D Hunter Slashing

This is the Left 4 Dead hunters secondary attack. In some situations this attack can potential lead to more damage then pouncing. Each slash does 6 damage and can hit multiple targets at once. If the survivors are defending from a closet this attack is perfect.

If you don't think a survivor will stay pinned for more than 1 second then use slash instead of pounce. Pouncing then instantly getting killed will only do 1 damage. Slashing will do 6 and you have the chance to get away and hit them again.

Team Work

Just like any thing else in Left 4 Dead playing an effective hunter means using team work. The simplest thing you can do to play better is wait for your team mates. Attacking one at a time with hunters is usually a death sentence. Even if theres only one player separated, it makes more sense to send 2 infected.

One to pounce him and one to wait for his would be rescuer. Just because your spawn time is up doesn't mean you absolutely have to spawn in and throw yourself at them. Fewer more coordinated spawns will yield a lot more damage than tons of quick deaths.

Hunter Distraction

The Left 4 Dead hunter speed in open areas makes it well suited to running distractions. If you spawn in first and are waiting on team mates pounce around the survivors and give boomers and smokers the distraction they need to get hits in. Boomers are good for breaking up survivors but they wont be able to do that without hunters to draw their attention away from an easy boomer target.

Hunter timing

Timing is the difference between 1 damage and incapacitating a survivor. Maps in left 4 dead are separated into sections, some of which once passed survivors cant travel back to. A smart hunter can use these spots to their advantage by trying to catch the last survivor who trys to pass through.