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"Now *this* is a big-ass machine gun!"
Louis

The Minigun is a mounted weapon in Left 4 Dead. It is designed for defending intense standoff areas. The Miniguns were presumably left behind by the military, but were abandoned when the Army left or was killed. It has a small wind-up time, but once it starts firing, it becomes one of the best support weapons in the game. The gun is very powerful but can lose its accuracy at longer ranges. It is bolted to the floor so it cannot be moved, only swiveled in a 170° arc in front of the gun. It has infinite ammo but can overheat; this is shown as the Minigun's barrel quickly glows red, as well as the emission of smoke. This smoke also impairs your vision, causing you to have a harder time shooting accurately. However, this is not an imminent signal of the Minigun jamming, as it takes 20 seconds of continuous firing before overheating and takes 3 seconds to cooldown if it overheats.


In Left 4 Dead 2, the Minigun is replaced by the Heavy Machine Gun. Additionally, the Minigun appears in the Left 4 Dead 2 ports of No Mercy (which was simultaneously released with The Sacrifice), Crash Course, Death Toll and Dead Air (Blood Harvest is the only original campaign that does not feature the Minigun). Prior to this, with the exception of "No Mercy", the Heavy Machine Gun served as a temporary placeholder for the Minigun in the aforementioned campaigns due to them being in their beta stages.

Locations[]

L4d2nomercylouisminigun

The Minigun as seen from Louis' perspective in the finale from Left 4 Dead 2's port of the No Mercy campaign.

  • The Generator room crescendo event in "The Subway" of the "No Mercy" campaign.
  • The roof of the room where the radio is located in the "Rooftop Finale" of the "No Mercy" campaign.
  • On the back of an Army transport truck at "The Alleys" crescendo event of the "Crash Course" campaign.
  • The roof of a storage room in the "The Truck Depot Finale" of the "Crash Course" campaign.
  • Pointing toward the failed barricade in Riverside in "The Town" of the "Death Toll" campaign. (In Left 4 Dead 2, the Minigun is removed to force players to run to the safe room rather than trying to outlast non-stop hordes)
  • The upstairs porch of the boathouse in the "Boathouse Finale" of the "Death Toll" campaign.
  • In front of the fuel pump in the "Runway Finale" of the "Dead Air" campaign.

Tactics[]

  • You can greatly improve your accuracy by holding out a First aid kit, grenade, or pain pills and then aiming as the crosshair will be the same crosshair as the crosshair from the item you're holding. Line up the vertical line with an Infected and fire away. In L4D2 ports of these campaigns, a melee weapon also works.
  • Always have someone covering your back, because without being able to rotate the weapon 360°, you are vulnerable from behind while using it.
  • Aim for the Hordes or Special Infected. Don't bother shooting at the one or two Infected stragglers if, for example, there is a Hunter in clear sight. Your gun can take out enemies the fastest in close quarters. Use it to trim their numbers or take out the big guys. Let your non-Minigun-wielding friends take down the stragglers.
  • When shooting into masses of Infected, keep an eye on where your fellow Survivors are by looking for their colored outlines. There's nothing worse than getting gunned down by your own ally. (Unless on Easy difficulty, where friendly fire doesn't damage anyone)
  • When fighting a Tank, aim for the concrete that he throws at either you or the other Survivors, as it can be destroyed before it lands.
  • The Tank, when controlled by the AI, will go for the Survivor who is manning the Minigun/Heavy Machine Gun. This can be used to the Survivors' advantage if other Survivors are in danger from the Tank at close range, and the Tank needs to be pulled away.
  • Even when no Infected are present, you should constantly tap the fire button (Because unlike Team Fortress, you can't spin the barrel without firing). This will keep the barrel spinning, and eliminate the long wind-up time when a Horde suddenly comes at you.
  • Try not to overheat the gun. This is especially problematic if there are tons of Infected charging and the gun can't fire. The smoke produced can also obscure your vision and make it harder to see both incoming Infected and your own teammates.
  • The Minigun does not have vehicular properties, meaning that Special Infected can still use their abilities on someone using a Minigun.
  • While most people avoid using the Minigun, there's no replacement for it in finales. If a Tank is within range, hop on and open fire; this will most likely take a large portion out of its health if it doesn't kill it outright. Also, note that shooting the Tank continuously with the Minigun will reduce its speed.

Achievements[]

L4d red mist
RED MIST (20G)
Kill 1000 Infected with a mounted machine gun.


Notes[]

Minigun
  • The rate of fire displayed by the in-game model, 25 rounds per second, (real miniguns have rates of fire in the range of 50 rounds per second) would be considered tame in the realm of modern Gatling-type weapons. Many can be adjusted to fire up to 100 rounds per second, especially those mounted on aircraft. Even though the rate of fire in-game may seem excessive, it is not all that wearing on the weapon, as each barrel would fire roughly 7 rounds per second, less than some of the handheld weapons in-game.
  • The fact that these guns are in the various areas hint at how desperate the Military must have been, as Miniguns consume massive quantities of ammunition and require a power supply. In any situation, a regular HMG would require much less maintenance. Likely, the Military set these up to deal with mutations among the Infected like the Tank.
  • The sounds emitted by the Minigun are reused from Team Fortress 2's Minigun.
  • Using the Minigun is one of the best ways to kill a Witch. If the Survivors are in an area that has a Minigun and encounter a Witch, it is possible to use the gun to kill her instantly. She will not be startled, and it counts as cr0wning her.
  • In reality, Miniguns are specifically designed not to overheat, as the multiple barrels disperse heat equally and allow for vastly extended periods of firing compared to single barreled firearms with half the ROF. Valve likely did this for balancing reasons.
  • The Minigun can dismember Common Infected, but only the models in Left 4 Dead 2 as those have been improved to use much less memory than in the first game, with more textures including wound parts that are also available for melee weapons; this is also due to the enhanced wound system which the original Common Infected lack (such as the hospital patient re-used in the Left 4 Dead 2 port of "No Mercy" during the Rooftop Finale). As of The Last Stand update, original L4D1 common infected models are now officially supported by the game (and added to L4D1 campaigns) and include same level of gore as other L4D2 common infected.
  • The Minigun appears in the Left 4 Dead 2 port of "No Mercy", "Crash Course", "Death Toll" and "Dead Air". It works exactly as it did in in Left 4 Dead. Similarly, it does not appear in "Blood Harvest" like in Left 4 Dead.
  • Bots mount and/or never use The Minigun.
    • By using mods or scripts, Bots can mount on the Minigun and use it. However they will sometimes turn the body backward while arms still attached (usually bent) to the handles and has capability to shoot the Minigun in any direction even though the gun barrel is locked to 170° arc and pointed forward.
  • The Minigun's entity is named prop_minigun_l4d1 in Left 4 Dead 2 instead of prop_minigun. This is because the HMG uses this name on release of Left 4 Dead 2.

Glitches[]

  • Turning your flashlight on or off while you're using the minigun will cause the flashlight to flicker repeatedly until you dismount (L4D1 only).
  • Like with the Heavy Machine Gun, one may be randomly knocked off of the Minigun in the middle of fire and have some problems getting back on, this is likely because you try to back off the Minigun and USE it at the same time, this may also happen when doing the other way around (using the Minigun then "getting off" it).
  • If there is an oxygen tank, gas can, or propane tank under where you would be standing on the Minigun, you will be above the normal height you would be at, and can aim farther down, but less upward. This counts only for non-picked up pickups (e.g. those on "The Alleys").
  • Previously there was an exploit where players could repeatedly shove the Minigun from behind, jump on it and be launched forwards a great distance (this allowing them to bypass one Crescendo Event in particular or die from falling). This was patched later on.
  • If a survivor using the Minigun is charged by a Charger, the player will still be in aiming animation, rather begin knocked to the ground, even when charged off the building. However, should the player dismount the Minigun after the player is getting charged and the Charger is killed, the animation of standing up will play.
  • In the Left 4 Dead 2 port of the No Mercy Rooftop Finale, the player could stand on the Minigun and the common infected would not able to attack the player. In addition if every survivors stands on the Minigun, the director won't spawn any infected beside The Tank (which usually dies before he appear in the view unless the director spawns him rather close). This was patched since The Last Stand community update.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 The default rate of fire is 1500 rpm as evidenced by the default value of z_minigun_rate_of_fire. Another convar, z_minigun_damage_rate, determines the damage rate of the gun in health per minute, with a default value of 48 000. Dividing the damage rate by the rate of fire gives the damage per bullet.
Weapons
Primary Weapons
Tier 1 Chrome invert Chrome Shotgun / Pump invert Pump Shotgun / MP5 Invert MP5 / Mac10 invert Silenced Submachine Gun / Uzi invert Submachine Gun
Tier 2 Ak invert AK-47 / Scar invert Combat Rifle / M16 invert M-16 Assault Rifle / SIG Invert SG 552 / Auto invert Auto Shotgun / Spas12 invert Combat Shotgun / AWSM Invert AWP / Hunting invert Hunting Rifle / Steyr Invert Scout / G3 invert Sniper Rifle
Special Tier Grenade launcher inverted Grenade Launcher / M60Icon M60 Machine Gun
Secondary Weapons
Sidearms Pistol inverted M1911 Pistol / Deagle invert Magnum Pistol / Pistol l4d2 inverted P220 Pistol
Melee Weapons Bat invert Baseball Bat / Cricket invert Cricket Bat / Crowbar invert Crowbar / Axe invert Fireaxe / Pan invert Frying Pan / GolfClubIcon Golf Club / Guitar invert Guitar / Katana invert Katana / Knife Invert Knife / Machete invert Machete / Baton invert Nightstick / Icon pitchfork inverted Pitchfork / Icon shovel inverted Shovel
Special Tier Chainsaw invert Chainsaw
Other Weapons
Grenades Bile invert Bile Bomb / Molotov inverted Molotov Cocktail / Pipebomb invert Pipe Bomb
Upgrades L4D2 ammo explosive Explosive Ammunition / L4D2 ammo incendiary Incendiary Ammunition / Laser sight HUD invert Laser Sight
Fixed Weapons MMG Icon Heavy Machine Gun / Minigun icon Minigun
Items
Usable Items Explosive Barrel HUD invert Explosive barrel / Fireworks icon Fireworks / Gas canister HUD invert Gas can / Oxytank icon Oxygen tank / Propane tank icon Propane tank
Special Items Cola Cola / Gnome icon Gnome Chompski
Featured in both games / L4D1-exclusive / L4D2-exclusive (Counter-Strike weapons / PC-exclusive)
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