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"Oh, MAN! This is just like Counter-Strike!"

―Louis

"Grabbin' a bread slicer."

―Ellis

The Knife is a close combat weapon in Left 4 Dead 2.

It is found in the following campaigns:

• Dead Center
• Dark Carnival
• Swamp Fever
• Hard Rain
• The Parish
• No Mercy (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Death Toll (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Dead Air (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Blood Harvest (Left 4 Dead 2 only)
• Cold Stream
• The Last Stand (Left 4 Dead 2 version)

Melee Mechanics

Melee weapons replace Pistols in the secondary weapon slot. Unlike Pistols, close combat weapons never need to be reloaded and cannot run out of ammo (excluding the Chainsaw). They have two main drawbacks: a limited reach and (with a few exceptions) relatively long cooldown periods. Close combat weapons cause minimal friendly fire damage to the Survivors, even on Advanced and Expert difficulty levels (the Chainsaw is an exception).

These weapons are extremely effective. All melee weapons, on all difficulties, kill Common Infected and most Special Infected in one hit, aside from the Charger (which takes two—but see point below), the Witch (which takes four), and the Tank (which takes twenty, excluding the Chainsaw). Due to their death effects, it is generally advised to melee neither the Boomer (unless there is no choice) nor the Spitter (unless it is possible to move away immediately from the resulting acid splash).

The melee weapons appear to do more damage if an Infected's head or upper body is targeted. With the correct timing it is possible to kill a Charger with one hit while it is charging, allowing a Survivor to "level" a charge without first dealing damage to the Charger and to gain the achievement "Level a Charge".

The Knife is classified as a sharp weapon. As such, hits from this weapon will sever limbs and splatter blood, as well as cutting The Smoker's tongue.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Fast swing speed.
• Can be found in most campaigns.
• High spawn rate.
• Can cut a Smoker's tongue.
• Doesn't shake the screen when swung.
• Great horizontal swing.

Cons

• Attacks may obscure user's vision due to gore.
• Not recommended for killing Boomers due to bile showering attacker and any nearby Survivors.

Achievements

Main article: Achievements

	CONFEDERACY OF CRUNCHES	(30G)
	Finish a campaign using only melee weapons.

	TANK BURGER	(30G)
	Kill a Tank with melee weapons.

	BEAT THE RUSH	(15G)
	In a Survival round, get a medal only using melee weapons.

	LEVEL A CHARGE	(15G)
	Kill a Charger with a melee weapon while they are charging.

PC exclusive

	LICKETY-SPLIT
	With a sharp melee weapon, cut a Smoker's tongue before he ensnares you.

	NEW HAIRCUT
	Kill a Witch using only a sharp melee weapon, without anyone getting incapacitated or killed.

Notes

• The Knife is based on the one found in Counter-Strike, the Knife, which is itself based on the real life Bad Land Bowie by Mick Strider.
• The Knife does spawn in the demo of the Xbox 360 version of the game, and functions as normal. However, in the normal Xbox 360 version, it can only be obtained through modding or playing with a German copy, as with the other Counter-Strike weapons.
• The Knife and the Crowbar are unique in its dismemberment, as they are the only melee weapons that can peel off a Common Infected's face and split off half of a skull while leaving the rest of the head intact.
• Unlike other melee weapons, the Knife only has one swing animation.
• In the The Last Stand Community Update, the Knife's swing speed was heavily reduced, with it being on par with most other melee weapons. Previously it was one of the fastest melee weapons in the German version of Left 4 Dead 2, along with the Nightstick. In addition, most of the melee hit detection rays were removed, making the hitbox diagonal. This often caused the knife to miss its target most of the time, as it would essentially be striking at leg level no matter what direction the user was looking at.
  • As of the August 22, 2023 patch, the Knife had its hitbox reverted back to its original horizontal swing from before the Last Stand Update, though it retains its slower swing speed.^[1] The reverted hitbox now makes the knife significantly more reliable, being on par with the Katana and Golf Club in term of swing speed.

Gallery

The white outline of the Knife

Rochelle using the Knife in a custom campaign

Nick using the Knife in a custom campaign

Coach using the Knife in a custom campaign (third person view)

Weapons
Primary Weapons
Tier 1	Chrome Shotgun / Pump Shotgun / MP5 / Silenced Submachine Gun / Submachine Gun
Tier 2	AK-47 / Combat Rifle / M-16 Assault Rifle / SG 552 / Auto Shotgun / Combat Shotgun / AWP / Hunting Rifle / Scout / Sniper Rifle
Special Tier	Grenade Launcher / M60 Machine Gun
Secondary Weapons
Sidearms	M1911 Pistol / Magnum Pistol / P220 Pistol
Melee Weapons	Baseball Bat / Cricket Bat / Crowbar / Fireaxe / Frying Pan / Golf Club / Guitar / Katana / Knife / Machete / Nightstick / Pitchfork / Shovel
Special Tier	Chainsaw
Other Weapons
Grenades	Bile Bomb / Molotov Cocktail / Pipe Bomb
Upgrades	Explosive Ammunition / Incendiary Ammunition / Laser Sight
Fixed Weapons	Heavy Machine Gun / Minigun
Items
Usable Items	Explosive barrel / Fireworks / Gas can / Oxygen tank / Propane tank
Special Items	Cola / Gnome Chompski
Featured in both games / L4D1-exclusive / L4D2-exclusive (Counter-Strike weapons / PC-exclusive)