Scavenge tips

My favourite game mode in Left 4 Dead 2 has got to be Scavenge. It’s a mix of Versus (as it is Infected vs. Survivors) and Survival (because you just stay in one spot, instead of having to complete a whole campaign) – but, this description is more correct for the Versus Survival mutation. The ‘twist’ it has which makes this game mode unique, is that you have to carry gas cans and pour them in to one generator (or car, like in Dead Center‘s Atrium). This is a round-based competitive mode as after all Survivors are killed or pour all gas cans available (some levels have 21 while smaller ones have 16), the teams switch and the new Survivors must pour at least one more can or be faster than the previous ones (for example, if the previous team poured the 21 cans in 2 minutes and 12 seconds, the new team, in order to win, must pour those in 2 minutes and 11 seconds or less).

Like all other modes, Scavenge highly requires teamwork – without it you will definitely fail. Another thing is strategy: for both Infected and Survivors. There are hundreds of strategies that vary from level to level and from the team’s skill. Below are some useful tips I found on WikiCheats.

Survivor Tips

• Don’t take too long to begin the match by leaving the starting grid. This simply gives the infected players time to set up an ambush.

• Grab the closest cans first and work your way out to the farthest ones. You only earn points for pouring them into the generator so you want to be sure you getting those easiest ones first.

• Work together as a team. Protect the person or persons carrying the gas cans.

• When one person is pouring gas into a generator, another should be guarding them while they do so. If they are hit during the pour, the pour meter will restart. Keep infected off them so they can pour the gas in one quick try.

• Splitting into pairs works well. Just be sure to stick close together in order to protect one another.

• Some levels it’s better to split up. One pair of survivors can wait by the generator while the other pair grabs cans and throws them to the generator team. Don’t use this strategy when there is a spitter, though. She can make the gas cans blow up.

• Don’t simply throw gas cans in front of the generator and leave them there. A Spitter’s acid can destroy a stockpile of gas cans which will then force you to go back and recollect them. Only toss them if someone is there to pick them up and finish the job.

Infected Tips

• Spitter’s are incredibly useful during this game mode. Once a gas can has been picked up and then dropped (glows orange), it can be destroyed by a Spitter’s acid.

• A Spitter should generally set up from a concealed vantage point around the generator. This will allow them to easily destroy the left behind gas cans or allows them to spit on the survivors as they fill up the generator.

• Use Chargers to take out the can carriers and separate them from the others.

• There will generally be a lot of acid being spit near the generator. Jockeys can hide in waiting nearby and then hop onto a survivor once they try to flee the acid and then steer them right back into it.

• Use the time before the survivors start the match to get a lay of the land and set up an ambush near the closest set of gas cans.

• Hunters and Smokers especially work well when you’re trying to force an opponent to drop a gas can in overtime.

• Teamwork is just as important as the infected as it is when you’re the survivors.

Source: WikiCheats - Left 4 Dead 2 (PC/XB360) Scavenge Tips