Campaign Specific Unlocks

Left 4 Dead Achievement Guide

Welcome to Section 1, where we will cover campaign specific achievement unlocks for Left 4 Dead. We will cover the easy way, for the carefree gamer; the hard way, for the gamers that have to do everything the difficult way; and the fun way, for the normal (hah) gamers.

Since achievements are the perfect addition to any game for all the OCD gamers out there, as I know, it's hard to move on to a new game until one is beat. I mean fully beat, 100% no messing around beat. Because, as we all know, no game is actually beat until 100% of everything has been played, seen, and unlocked. Right? This guide is here to help you on your way to satisfying that nagging sense of incompleteness that tugs at your nerves every time you boot up the game.

So, here we go!
MERCY KILLER
Survive the No Mercy campaign.
TOLL COLLECTOR
Survive the Death Toll campaign.
DEAD BARON
Survive the Dead Air campaign.
GRIM REAPER
Survive the Blood Harvest campaign.

The easy way: Simply start up any of these campaigns in single player, on easy, and quickly run through the levels. Oh, and most importantly, make sure you actually escape the final level. A campaign can generally be run through in an average of 25-30 minutes.

The hard way: Take a single player run through on expert, and survive to the end. Since there is also the achievement for surviving all campaigns on expert, this can kill two birds with one stone.

The fun way: Gear up with three buddies and slay some zombie ass, on any difficulty. However, again, playing through on expert will help for the other achievement. Since all four of you may still need to unlock the campaign specific achievement, it'll help the fun factor with all your buddies and yourself striving to keep each other alive and surviving that final encounter... on a skill-appropriate setting of course.
ZOMBICIDAL MANIAC
Survive any campaign on Expert.

The easy way: Run through the No Mercy campaign on expert with three talented buddies.

The hard way: Run through any campaign in a pug or with some noobling friends. Or, rely on the amazing intelligence of bots and see if you can make it to the end without banging your mouse through your desktop in frustration.

The fun way: Playing with skilled friends (and perhaps one unskilled friend to spice things up along the way) on expert, and making sure you got voice capabilities between you all is formula for a good time.
WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO PROVE?
Survive all campaigns on Expert.

The easy way: Unless you can gear up with three well molded teammates, there really is no easy way. Going for this one will also unlock the campaign specific achievements if you don't already have them though, so that's kinda nice.

The hard way: Exactly as the description indicates. Survive all four campaigns on expert. Play through with three bots in single player, to utilize their special infected ESP detection abilities and hope their AI doesn't crap out on you too regularly. Likewise, try pugging all four campaigns. Really. That's going to be hard.

The fun way: If you got three buddies with zombie slaying skills, you're in for a blast. However, it'll be hard to find a pug with three other well minded individuals, but it's technically possible, law of probability and all.
NO-ONE LEFT BEHIND
Beat a campaign with all 4 Survivors.

The easy way: Run through the No Mercy campaign with three buddies or bots on easy. It's really, really simple assuming no one does something stupid or no bots glitch out. Also, be wary of getting knocked off the roof by a tank at the end, but you have no excuse for letting one get close to you on easy anyway!

The hard way: Try to survive a campaign on expert. For a real challenge play with bots. Still, it shouldn't be hard for all four people to survive the final map unless someone does something really stupid or your teammates lack co-operative skills.

The fun way: Play your favorite campaign on expert with three talented friends. And of course, beat the final level without using glitches or map exploits. Hold your ground and watch your buddy's backs, y'know, the entire point of the game.
NOTHING SPECIAL
Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Special Infected.
STOMACH UPSET
All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.
STAND TALL
Survive a campaign without being incapacitated.

The easy way: Stand Tall and Stomach Upset can be relatively easily achieved by running through the No Mercy campaign on easy with bots. Be extremely cautious with corners and listen closely for the tell-tale boomer sound. Generally, the bots are quite adept at knocking boomers back and dispatching of them pretty quickly. On easy, there's no real reason to get incapacitated. There is sadly, nothing easy about no survivors taking damage from special infected for an entire campaign. This requires a team of skilled players, good communication, teamwork, and a bit of luck.

The hard way: Pug. Good luck.

The fun way: There's nothing that's much fun about these achievements. Unless you strive on real challenges and have the patience of a Zen master, best of luck with Nothing Special. Stomach Upset and Stand Tall will most likely be unlocked at the end of a campaign without you even realizing that you have in-fact met the conditions. Striving for the unlocks with buddies may be fun, but it can be tedious and tense if one of your friends (or you yourself) muck it up near the end. You wouldn't want to be known as the guy that blew the achievement for everyone, right?
UNTOUCHABLES
No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.

The easy way: Start a new campaign on the finale map. There's many methods for this one. There's various glitches and tactics, like "Jesus Corners", but really nothing is easier than playing on easy mode with three other people (that aren't screwing around), and holding down the fort legit like. I'm not exactly a fan of the glitch-tactics in games, as it removes the sense of accomplishment you get when you unlock a difficult award/achievement/trophy/whatnot. But, if you are just fed up or don't have the patience, everyone should grab auto-shotties and hunt down a Jesus Corner. The best I've personally seen are under the ramp to the helipad in No Mercy, the double doored rescue closet along the back wall in Dead Air, and the bookcase corner on the main floor in the house in Blood Harvest. There's of course many other corners, and also glitched ledges and zombie-inaccessible areas, if you know of a good one drop a line in our forums.

The hard way: Start from level 1 and work your way to the end. Everything rides on you and your team's ability to work together and watch each other's asses. Or, try the finale on expert if you're a real glutton for punishment/zombie holocaust masochist.

The fun way: Start on the finale map, and just get into the game, as it's really easy to get absorbed into the teamwork and friendship aspects of Left4Dead. If you find yourself getting frustrated and not unlocking it after a few tries, give it a break for awhile and come back to it at another time. It's always easier, and plenty more fun, to strive towards something with a cool head.
UNBREAKABLE
Finish a campaign without ever using a first aid kit on yourself.

The easy way: Start up a campaign on easy mode with bots, as long as you have the confidence that you won't take much (if any) damage. Bots will heal you whether you like it or not, so even a nice punch from a Tank or a misplaced Molotov and it's curtains for your efforts. However, if you got a good run through strategy and can handle not taking any damage, a quick run through on easy with bots will have you unlocking this one in no time. If you think you might have problems not taking any damage, just boot up with a few buds and don't pick up any of the medkits or pills.

The hard way: Play on expert with a team of bots. If you pull this off, please tell us of your adventure here, because that's worthy of a yarn.

The fun way: Play with friends on a skill-appropriate mode, and select who (if not all) of you four will be going for the achievement. Protect the hell out of them on the finale map, or play Vietnam gun-ho style.
SAFETY FIRST
Play an entire campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.

The easy way: Run through No Mercy on easy with bots. Generally, the odds of getting friendly fired by a bot are pretty slim. There's the slim chance of running in to their line of fire (still it's pretty hard to get hit, they're pretty accurate little teamies), a badly placed molotov (on you or the bot's behalf), being slightly too close to a pipe bomb explosion, a stray bullet striking a gas can or canister, or more often then not, having a bot run infront of your line of fire. However, unless you have a really good team of humans, the odds of going through an entire campaign without getting FF'd (or FFing your teamies) is pretty slim. Bots, playing smart and practical, and taking no unnecessary risks with explosives will get this unlock. For encounters with 360° mobs and tanks and the like, let the bots do most of the work, as you are more likely to FF than the bots in those panic situations.

The hard way: Play with humans. That's it. Five levels with four humans and four guns is a recipe for friendly fire. Especially when someone starts pulling out the explosives.

The fun way: Pretend you're playing SoCom: Zombie Encounter, and take that sh*t seriously. A well co-ordinated team of serious gamers will tear those maps down with a military-like discipline of fire. Play smart, play S-mart.
If you want to compare your achievement list with the rest of the Steam community and to see the percentage of steam users that have each individual achievement unlocked, visit this link.