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The Heavy Machine Gun is a mounted weapon featured in Left 4 Dead 2. It is new in the sense that it replaces the Minigun from Left 4 Dead. It fires extremely powerful bullets accurately and operates with a slower rate of fire relative to the Minigun. Ammunition is unlimited. Unlike the Minigun, there is no wind-up time and it fires the instant the trigger is operated.

The HMG can fire continuously for 15 seconds and takes one minute to cool down if it overheats.

The only sign of overheating is the barrel glowing from orange to yellow hot, indicating that it's about to overheat and any further usage will render it useless for a full minute.

Locations[]

  • "The Plantation"―Located at the center of the top floor overlooking the garden at the rear of the plantation house.
  • "The Bridge"―Just before the drop-off to the helipad, the Heavy Machine Gun is located on a truck directly opposite the drop down.
  • "The Port"―Used by Louis on the bridge during the finale. It can only be used by players if Louis is kicked via console commands (the console command is sv_cheats: kick Louis).
  • "Port Finale"―Located on the bridge during the finale. It is usable in both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

Tactics[]

  • Firing short bursts (rather than holding the trigger down) gives a steady rate of fire and will delay, if not prevent, overheating. Short bursts on demand are possible because there is no wind-up time like the Minigun found in Left 4 Dead.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun, like the Minigun, uses the crosshair of whatever weapon (melee, guns or items) the operator is currently holding. In gameplay, this seamless transition makes aiming the Heavy Machine Gun easy and instinctive, but has no effect on the weapon's accuracy. The weapon's crosshair expands and contracts infinitely and automatically thus coping perfectly with targets at all ranges. This effect can be used to change the crosshair of the Heavy Machine Gun to best suit the player's preference or play style, helping players fire more accurately without improving the accuracy of the gun itself.
  • AI Tanks are programmed to attack the player operating the Heavy Machine Gun. This feature can be used to the Survivors' advantage in two ways: Firstly, AI Tanks can be drawn into a "killing zone" whereby they are overwhelmed by concentrated interlocking fire from the gun and other teammates. Secondly, AI Tanks can be drawn away from threatened teammates by mounting the Heavy Machine Gun.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun is in a favorable position in the finale of "The Sacrifice". It is placed on the bridge, allowing the gunner to cover the entire intersection plus the generator area, possibly allowing the sacrificing Survivor to live long enough to restart the generator. The gun's location is also out of reach for most Infected. Furthermore, AI Tanks will also attempt to target the HMG, not the sacrificing player.
    • However, to make it happen at least 2 human players are required, as bots will not do the sacrifice and neither will they mount on the Heavy Machine Gun.
  • In "The Port", the Heavy Machine Gun manned by Louis is very helpful when trying to achieve "Kite Like a Man".
  • In The Plantation, the gun is on a balcony overlooking a hedged garden. However, very few (if any) Common Infected attack from that direction and from angles covered by the gun. Players choosing to defend from this position can try to improve their chances by throwing bile bombs down into the area covered by the gun and hope that the Tanks will spawn in the same area.
  • In "The Bridge", the gun appears once the Survivors have accessed the bridge and the end-of-finale phase has begun. It's useful when playing on survival mode.

Notes[]

  • The Heavy Machine Gun appears to be modeled after the Browning M2 heavy machine gun.
  • In gameplay and in Left 4 Dead 2's intro film, the Heavy Machine Gun ejects its spent casings from the right side, whereas the real M2 Browning ejects casings from underneath its receiver.
  • Compared to the Minigun, it is easier for the Heavy Machine Gun to overheat.
  • The absence of a visible ammo belt/feed animation when firing is hidden by a striped yellow/black cover over the ammo box and feed port on the gun.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun was originally going to have limited ammo, unlike the Minigun which has infinite ammo. Evidenced by the launcher command ammo_minigun_max 800.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun is mistakenly listed as "Minigun" in the stats.
  • Unlike the Minigun, there is never a chance to "Cr0wn" a Witch in the canon campaigns because no Witches spawn in areas covered by the Heavy Machine Gun (except for some in Custom Campaigns).
  • There is a Heavy Machine Gun present in the beta version of the Waterfront + Park level, located on a tower just before the CEDA checkpoint and the Gauntlet Crescendo. Whether this was going to be a placement in the final game, or simply used to test the weapon's use is unknown. The latter is suggested, due to the presence of many newer weapons/items in this test level.
  • In the Survival Guide trailer, the Heavy Machine Gun where Rochelle fires it in The Plantation can be seen located at the bottom floor instead of on the mansion's second-floor balcony.
  • Louis uses a Heavy Machine Gun to defend the new Survivors in "The Passing". However, his stance resembles him using a Minigun due to him re-using animations made for him in Left 4 Dead 2.
    • If Louis is removed using the console, a player can take his place on this Heavy Machine Gun.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun appears in the finale of "The Sacrifice" in "The Port", which is also the same area for the finale of "The Passing". The Heavy Machine Gun also appears in the Left 4 Dead version of "The Sacrifice" even though it is not used anywhere else in the same game; presumably, this was done to help with storyline continuity and the overall job of tying both campaigns together.
    • The Heavy Machine Gun formerly replaced the Minigun in the Left 4 Dead 2 ports of the original campaigns, which is odd considering that the Minigun was kept in when "No Mercy" was ported over to Left 4 Dead 2. As of the January 13th, 2012 patch, the Minigun is in all the ported versions of the Left 4 Dead campaigns. "Death Toll" was updated later on January 21st to use the Minigun in place of the Heavy Machine Gun.
  • The Heavy Machine Gun takes over the Minigun's entity and properties in Left 4 Dead 2 and uses both the prop_mounted_machine_gun and prop_minigun entities.
  • In "The Plantation", using and dismounting the Heavy Machine Gun on the balcony will sometimes cause it to spray blood.
  • The Mounted Machine Gun has three console commands;
    • mounted_gun_overheat_penalty—The time, in seconds, for the gun to cool before it can be operated again.
    • mounted_gun_overheat_time—The time it takes for the gun to overheat.
    • mounted_gun_rate_of_fire—The rate of fire, in seconds.

Gallery[]

External links[]

References[]

  1. Console variable - mounted_gun_rate_of_fire, value in seconds - default is 8
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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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