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Contents

  • Essentials
    • Survival Basics
      • Introduction
      • Gameplay Fundamentals
      • Premise and Game Modes
      • Team Play: Getting Started
    • The Survivors
      • The Survivors
    • The Infected
      • The Infected
      • The Boomer
      • The Hunter
      • The Smoker
      • The Tank
      • The Witch
      • Infected Achievements
    • Weapons and Supplies
      • Standard Weapons
      • Weapon Upgrades
      • Hand-Tossed Weapons
      • Explosive Objects
      • Supplies
  • Walkthrough
    • No Mercy
      • The Apartments
      • The Subway
      • The Sewers
      • The Hospital
      • Rooftop Finale
    • Death Toll
      • The Turnpike
      • The Drains
      • The Church
      • The Town
      • Boathouse Finale
    • Dead Air
      • The Greenhouse
      • The Crane
      • The Construction Site
      • The Terminal
      • Runway Finale
    • Blood Harvest
      • The Woods
      • The Tunnel
      • The Bridge
      • The Train Station
      • Farmhouse Finale
    • Achievements
      • Achievements

Left 4 Dead Guide › Walkthrough › No Mercy

The Hospital

Safe House

This break room in the emergency room on the first floor serves as a makeshift safe house. Inside are the usual goodies necessary to outfit your team. Take a few seconds to grab some ammo, change weapons, and take a first aid kit.

Due to the close-quarter nature of the hospital, shotguns are very effective. But maintain at least one assault rifle in the group to provide rapid fire, useful when engaging Tanks and Witches.

Before moving out, check over the health of your team and apply any first aid necessary to get everyone within the green range on their health meters. The action in the hospital is fast and requires optimal mobility on the part of every survivor.

You can’t afford to have anyone lagging behind due to injuries. Once everybody is stocked up on gear and health, open the door and enter the first-floor hallway.

First Floor

When the outbreak first hit, many of the infected were brought to this hospital. But the infection could not be stopped, and the contagion eventually spread to hospital staff and other patients, leading to a complete quarantine of the facility.

As a result, most of the common infected here are dressed in scrubs and hospital gowns. But don’t let their attire fool you. These infected are just as ferocious as the ones you encountered in the streets and sewer.

The high concentrations of them in the exam rooms and hallways are an even more serious threat. So kill every infected you come across, even if they look harmless. There’s no telling when they’ll lunge at you.

While moving along the hallway, conduct a quick sweep of each exam room. All are likely to contain common infected. But a few of these rooms may contain some useful supplies, like pills, molotovs, or pipe bombs, all placed by the director.

Most exam rooms can be cleared without entering—simply hold at the door and shoot every zombie inside.

Still, be careful when entering each room as there may be some infected lurking in the corners that you couldn’t see from the doorway. Clear these blind corners as soon as you make entry to avoid getting flanked.

Tip

Use the signs inside the  hospital to help you navigate. your team's goal is to reach the rooftop, so look for stairways leading up.

All stairways are marked with signs and are usually accompanied by a lighted green sign. If you look for these signs, you'll never get lost.

Once you’ve completed scouring the first floor for pickups and easy kills, proceed to the stairwell at the end of the main hallway. However, be careful when ascending these steps.

Infected spawning on the floor above (or behind you) may attack your team in this confined space.

So always look up while advancing up the stairs, and make sure your teammates are nearby to provide support if something scary and painful happens to you.

Infected

Instead of attacking the survivors as they enter the stairwell, consider hitting them from behind as they exit onto the second floor.

Stay in ghost mode as they climb the steps, then spawn behind them after they exit. If playing as the Smoker, try to drag a survivor back into the stairwell—then have the rest of your infected teammates ambush the rescuers.

Second Floor: Cafeteria

The hospital’s cafeteria is on the second floor. From the stairwell, turn left to access this large dining hall, which has two main entry points. You can enter from the hallway or the kitchen.

To enter the kitchen, go through the doorway on the right, just past the fire extinguisher. Since there are two separate paths, call out the path to your teammates to ensure they stick together.

Splitting up here could give the infected a chance to stage a serious attack on your team. Consider moving through the kitchen—sometimes the director drops some items in here.

Regardless of how you enter the cafeteria, be ready for a fight. Your mere presence may trigger attacks by common infected filtering through either the second-floor hallways or the third-floor walkway.

Keep your back to the outside wall and engage all comers while slowly stepping toward the staircase leading up to the third floor. The large size of this room favors your weapons, particularly assault rifles.

Keep killing zombies until the attack subsides. If no attack occurs, don’t wait for one to start. Simply race up the nearby steps to the third floor.

Infected

Sneaking up on the survivors in the cafeteria can be tricky due to the lack of cover. If necessary spawn in the hallway or kitchen area once the survivors are out of sight.

The restrooms near the staircase are other good spawn points. The Smoker can wreak some havoc by pulling one of the survivors out of the cafeteria and into the hall, kitchen, or restrooms.

Hunters can also experience some success by performing leaping attacks from the third-floor walkway. But Boomers are better off waiting until the survivors move upstairs.

There are plenty of side rooms from which to spew bile on passersby.

Third Floor

Climb the stairs on the side of the cafeteria to reach the third-floor walkway. This floor is lined with a few exam rooms and an administrative desk.

Be careful when passing by the exam rooms, especially if the doors are open. Either clear each room and kill everything inside, or at least close each door as you pass.

Also, watch for more infected approaching from the cafeteria on the floor below. The thin railing on the right side of this walkway won’t prevent you from being pounced on by a Hunter or constricted by a Smoker.

The stairwell leading up to the fourth floor is only a short jog down the third-floor hallway, just beyond the desk. But don’t rush inside.

There may be more infected waiting in here eager to pounce on your team—like all stairwells, this one is a popular ambush point for Boomers. Peek through the doorway from the hall and eliminate any visible threats before stepping inside.

If necessary, toss a molotov or pipe bomb inside to wipe out any zombies. Enter the stairwell and climb to the fourth floor.

Tip

On the lower three floors, the elevator is out of service, but don't let that stop you form checking out the rooms surrounding the elevator shaft.

These rooms are not along the main path between the stairwells, but the director often places useful pickups in these less-traveled rooms.

Still, searching these rooms can be risky since they're often populated by common infected.

Infected

If playing as the infected in versus mode, avoid attacking the survivors on the third floor. Instead, save up for the mini-finale at the elevator on the fourth floor.

A combined attack by your team here can totally cripple the opposing team. So begin coordinating while the survivors move through the third floor.

Fourth Floor

After exiting the stairwell on the fourth floor, turn left and hop over these desks in the middle of the hallway.

This path doesn’t lead you closer to the elevator, but the rooms lining this span of the hall often contain items useful when confronting the infected horde at the elevator mini-finale.

Scour these rooms for molotovs, pipe bombs, and pills. But watch out for common infected and bosses hiding in these rooms too. As usual, stick together and avoid the urge to raid each room as individuals.

Return to the overturned desks near the stairwell and proceed down the hall toward the nurses’ station. Sweep each room along the side of the hall while advancing, but also keep an eye on both ends of the hall.

Hunters, Smokers, and Boomers may be prowling these halls, so listen carefully for their presence. Impromptu swarm attacks by common infected are also possible, so stay together and keep the halls clear.

At the nurses’ station, follow the signs leading to the elevator and ICU. Watch for more infected inhabiting the halls and side rooms around the nurses’ station. There may also be a Witch hiding in one of these rooms.

If you hear the wailing of a Witch, sometimes it’s best to avoid these side rooms altogether, as entering with your flashlight on is sure to startle her. And being in a small dark room with a pissed off Witch (and other infected) is a very bad place to be.

Infected

The side rooms lining the halls of the fourth floor provide the infected with so many great opportunities to attack the survivors.

If the survivors are moving slowly through this floor, set aside your plans for the elevator ambush and start attacking now.

For best results, wait until the survivors have passed, then quickly spawn and attack them from behind, preferably by barging out of a side room.

This is a great tactic when playing as the Boomer, and is a sure way to move within range and vomit on your prey.

ICU

The hospital’s Intensive Care Unit is in this long hallway beyond the nurses’ station. A number of small exam, biohazard, and surgery rooms line both sides of this hall, making it a very dangerous passage, ideal for infected ambushes.

A slow and methodical advance is the safest way to clear this area. There’s no need to enter each side room. Instead, sweep each room and alcove from the hallway, shooting anything that moves.

Most importantly, keep your team together. Any attempts to enter and search these rooms for items should be communicated to all teammates.

Otherwise, it’s very easy to get separated and overwhelmed by a coordinated attack by the infected.

Elevator

At the end of the ICU hallway, turn left to spot the elevator—and a spray-painted sign indicating that the next safe house is somewhere up the elevator shaft.

Before pressing the button to call the elevator, grab some ammo from the nearby bed. The elevator is currently on the 30th floor.

As soon as you press the button, it begins its long journey down the shaft. In the meantime, your team must hold off a massive attack by the infected. So take a few moments to stock up on ammo, reload, and heal any serious injuries.

All hell is about to break loose.

When your team is ready for the undead onslaught, interact with the elevator control panel—this triggers the attack. Back up against the elevator door and be ready to shoot.

The infected not only come racing down the hall from ICU, but they also burst through the walls to the left and right of the elevator. More eventually drop from the vent above.

Quickly coordinate cover points with your team, with each member covering an entry point. Make sure someone is covering the main hall and ceiling vent.

Have another teammate watch the breach on the left and another cover the breach on the right. If you split the workload, your team should have no problem holding this position until the elevator arrives.

Tip

During mini-finales like this  Pipe Bombs are incredibly valuable. Toss one down the hall to distract a large number of infected. this helps alleviate pressure on your team at the elevator and can buy your teammates time to reload or heal.

Infected

The elevator mini-finale is your team’s best chance to lay the hurt on the survivors during this level. Instead of attacking at the outset, wait until they’re overwhelmed by the common infected before spawning and attacking.

Communicate with your teammates and attack simultaneously from multiple directions.

This will greatly benefit the Hunters on your team, allowing them to pounce on separate prey—just call out your targets before attacking. Meanwhile, the Boomer and Smoker can single out the other two survivors.

Get inside the elevator as soon as the doors open. Wait for your team to get inside, theninteract with the control panel to begin your ascent to the 28th floor.

While riding in the elevator, keep an eye on the opening in the ceiling. The infected can spawn in the elevator shaft and may attack through this opening, particularly Smokers standing on top of the elevator.

Infected

Attacking through the hole in the elevator’s ceiling is possible, but quite risky unless playing as the Smoker. Even then, it’s tough to deal much damage. However, Boomers can have some success at pulling off such attacks.

When the elevator stops, simply drop through the hole.

Whether you have the chance to vomit on a survivor or not shouldn’t matter—if they kill you at close range they’ll be covered in bile and greeted by a horde of infected as the elevator doors open on the 28th floor.

28th Floor

As the elevator doors slide open, be ready to engage any visible threats.

Don’t be surprised if you’re immediately jumped by Hunters or a Smoker. During versus matches, the survivors’ long elevator ride gives the infected team plenty of time to stage an elaborate ambush on the 28th floor.

So be ready to open fire as soon as you step out of the elevator.

The 28th floor was under construction when the outbreak occurred. Now its interior and exterior walls remain unfinished, perhaps forever. This presents a unique challenge when moving through this floor.

While you can see great distances, the unfinished walls create impassable barriers, requiring you to move around them. If you’re not careful, your team can get lost in this maze.

For best results, stick to the building’s outer edge and look for the spray-painted signs pointing toward the safe house.

Caution

If a Tank spawns on this floor, immediately race to the center, moving as far away from the ledges as possible. One swipe from the Tank could send you flying off the side of the building, killing you instantly.

Infected

The labyrinth-like layout of this floor works to your team’s advantage, buying you valuable time to stage coordinated attacks. Take every opportunity presented to stop the survivors before they reach the safe house.

If a Witch is present, center your ambush around her. Once she’s startled and attacks a survivor, use this as your cue to attack.

With all survivors focused on killing the Witch, they won’t be paying attention to your team, giving you the chance to vomit upon, pounce on, or snare the other standing survivors.

Tip

The unfinished walls allow Smokers to engage at extreme ranges and squeeze their prey against the vertical supports, causing constriction damage.

When playing as the Smoker, look for opportunities to perform such attacks. If you're careful, you can avoid detection and live long enough to conduct multiple attacks.

Construction Site Safe House

If you’re having trouble finding the safe house, reference the provided map for its exact location. The spray-painted directional signs can be helpful too.

When you see the green glow of an exit sign, you’re very close. Quickly get inside with the rest of your team and slam the door shut to complete this intense sequence. You’re not far from the rooftop now…

Tip

Walls supported by crossed wooden planks like this can be destroyed, simply attack or shoot the planks and the vertical supports will fall down, allowing you to enter new areas.

This may not help you reach the safe house faster, but it does extend the playable area, allowing your team to move through interior portions of the floow, avoiding the potential dangers of following the path along the building's edge.

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