The Hunter

The Hunter and Extent of Mutations

The Hunter was heavily mutated by the infection. The Hunter gained a strength boost, that doesn't give him muscles like the Tanks, but gives the ability to jump huge distances and rapidly scale tall buildings with ease. The infection caused the Hunter to have sharp senses, allowing it to hunt with efficiency. But some of this stealth is negated by the fact that the hunter gives a loud growl when it jumps up to pounce. Like the other special infected it is not distracted by the flashing light of a pipe bomb nor it is distracted by car alarms.

A special Infected who looks like an ordinary person wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, the Hunter has quick movements and is ready to maul unsuspecting survivors. The Hunter has the unique ability to pounce from afar and ambush survivors without them noticing. Once on top of a human character, the Hunter proceeds to rip them to shreds and can only be removed after being knocked off or killed. In L4D2 The hunter model has changed to reflect the Southern heat with the added rips and tears and more bloodstains. Also his skin colour changed from grey(L4D1) to a more human coloured skin. The Hunter now has what appers to be boils similar to The Boomers but way smaller. He also lost his shoes and because of that his leg colour seems to be a mixture of blood, mud and sweat. In L4D2 his voice is more high pitched than the L4D1 and his claws seem sharper.

The Hunter is a playable Infected class in the Versus mode of the game, and more common and frequent than Smokers or Boomers

The Hunter's primary attack is his pounce ability, which requires the player be crouched for about a full second before leaping. This launches you straight out in the direction you are aiming, but gravity will arc you downward. If you continue to hold the crouch key you can leap again as soon as you land; also you can wall jump by leaping into a wall, quickly turning away then leaping again. Upon a successful pounce all survivors near the victim will stumble backward, losing control for a moment (only in versus). The Hunter's secondary attack is a standard slash.

You can increase your pounce's impact in two ways. First is by doing damage with the pounce itself, which is done by leaping a large distance onto your prey. Distance, not height, is the main factor, and if far enough you can get a maximum of 25 damage on impact. Secondly, being set on fire, by yourself or by the survivors, will increase your damage output when you have someone pinned.

It should be noted that although the Hunter has his own telltale sounds when stalking and sighting survivors (a growl and a screech respectively) just like other special infected, you can negate this by staying standing. Although creeping around on all fours might seem like the stealthy approach, most survivors will pick up on the unique sounds early on. This along with the Hunter's similarity to common infected will often work as an effective cover for blending in and not drawing attention.

The Hunter has a few achievements associated with it in Left 4 Dead. They are:

• Double Jump: Pounce two different Survivors in one life as a Hunter.
• Jump Shot: Headshot a Hunter while he's leaping.
• Dead Stop: Punch a Hunter as he is pouncing.
• Hunter Punter: Shove a Hunter off a pinned and helpless Survivor.
• Jumpin' Jack Smash: Pounce a Survivor for 25 points of damage in the Crash Course campaign.