Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2

Kyle's Rebalance - BUFFS ONLY
 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
Kyle H. McCloud  [developer] 27 Sep, 2024 @ 8:15am
What Changed & Why - Buff Patch Notes
Here is a list of every buff in my mod scripts and an explanation for why I chose to make that change.

In general, I wanted every weapon to be viable, fun, and unique without straying too far from the vanilla experience. Balancing weapons without any nerfs is tough, but I did my best.

Things to note:
  • Many numbers are approximate and/or rounded.
  • DPS stands for damage per second.
  • DPM stands for damage per magazine.
  • Accuracy numbers are presented in this order: crouching spread / standing spread / running spread -- smaller numbers are more accurate.
  • For shotguns specifically, accuracy is written as vertical spread x horizontal spread.

ASSAULT RIFLES


The assault rifles were already the gold standard for unique, distinctive weapons that don't feel like clones of each other. The problem is that the vanilla AK47 is the best weapon in the game, and it overshadows the other three rifles.

AK47
DPS: 447 - DPM: 2,320
No changes.

M16
DPS: 433 (was 376) - DPM: 1,900 (was 1,650)
The M16 is neither overpowered nor underpowered, putting it really close to the "Goldilocks Zone." However, I did give it a damage buff to compete with the AK47.
  • 15% more damage (33 > 38)

SCAR
DPS: 398 (was 365) - DPM: 2,880 (was 2,640)
The SCAR is arguably the worst assault rifle, mainly because its atrocious reload speed drags down otherwise decent stats. I've buffed the reload speed, damage, and accuracy to compensate as best I can without nerfing other rifles.
  • 10% more damage (single 44 > 48) (burst 132 > 144)
  • 15% faster reload (3.35s > 2.85s)
  • 15% more accuracy (0.05/0.35/4 > 0.04/0.3/3.5)

SG552
DPS: 461 (was 400) - DPM: 1,900 (was 1,650)
The SG552 shares most of its stats with the M16, and I kept that in place because I think it's already a "sidegrade" to its sibling. The scope and higher fire rate are balanced out by having the slowest reload of any assault rifle.
  • 15% more damage (33 > 38)
  • 15% faster reload (3.45s > 2.9s)

SNIPER RIFLES


In contrast with the assault rifles, the sniper rifles are atrociously balanced. Some are obviously better than others, and two of the rifles don't feel particularly unique to use either. I've overhauled all of them to feel more distinct and viable.

Hunting Rifle
DPS: 436 (was 360) - DPM: 1,980 (was 1,350)
The vanilla Hunting Rifle is so thoroughly outclassed by its military counterpart it's often considered a Tier 1 weapon in spirit. It has received major buffs to make it a true Tier 2 weapon with a knack for quickly picking off Special Infected. The faster fire rate is addicting!
  • 33% larger magazine (15 > 20)
  • 20% more reserve ammo (150 > 180)
  • 10% more damage (90 > 99)
  • 20% more accuracy (0.1/1.5/3 > 0.08/1.2/2.4)
  • 10% faster fire rate (4/s > 4.4/s)
(Side note: I really wanted to buff this gun's reload, but it's the only weapon in the game that has animation glitches if you change the reload speed. Ugh...)

Military Sniper Rifle
DPS: 360 - DPM: 2,700
No changes.

Scout
DPS: 151 (was 117) - DPM: 1,890 (was 1,575)
The bolt-action sniper rifles are generally considered to be worse than the Tier 1 weapons, so I gave the Scout massive buffs and made it an actual Tier 1 weapon. It will now spawn wherever low tier weapons can be found, and it's great for picking off Spitters and Smokers.
  • Downgrade from Tier 2 to Tier 1
  • 20% more damage (105 > 126)
  • 10% faster reload (2.9s > 2.6s)
  • 25% more accuracy (0/0.1/3 > 0/0.075/2.25)
  • 10% faster fire rate (1.11/s > 1.2/s)

AWP
DPS: 266 (was 109) - DPM: 5,060 (was 2,300)
It used to be the worst gun in the game, but the AWP has been given a compelling new role as a Special Infected killing machine. Even without headshots, it can kill Boomers, Spitters, Hunters and Smokers in a single hit. It's still bad against hordes of Common Infected, but now a single bullet does as much damage as a shotgun blast.
  • 220% more damage (115 > 253)
  • 10% faster reload (3.65s > 3.3s)
  • 25% more accuracy (0/0.1/3 > 0/0.075/2.25)
  • 10% faster fire rate (0.95/s > 1.05/s)

SHOTGUNS


The shotguns are balanced, but way too similar to each other for my liking. I sought to give them more distinct roles by exaggerating their differences -- now, the Wood and Benelli shotguns are even better at killing Common Infected hordes, and the Chrome and SPAS shotguns are best against Special Infected.

Benelli Autoshotgun
DPS: 1,012 - DPM: 2,783 (was 2,530)
There's not much I can do to make this gun unique without nerfs, so I gave it a larger magazine to emphasize its role in killing hordes.
  • 10% larger magazine (10 > 11)

SPAS Autoshotgun
DPS: 1,188 (was 1,008) - DPM: 2,970 (was 2,520)
The SPAS is now a mid-range powerhouse thanks to higher damage and accuracy, but the buffs to its counterpart make it slightly worse against Common Infected by comparison.
  • 15% more damage per pellet (single 28 > 33) (burst 252 > 297)
  • 35% more accuracy (3.5 x 8 > 3 x 5)

Wood Shotgun
DPS: 288 - DPM: 2,250 (was 2,000)
This pump shotgun was adjusted in the same way as its Benelli autoshotgun counterpart, with a larger magazine to help against Common Infected.
  • 15% larger magazine (8 > 9)

Chrome Shotgun
DPS: 340 (was 285) - DPM: 2,368 (was 1,984)
The newer and shinier pump shotgun is the Tier 1 equivalent of the SPAS: a highly accurate Special Infected killer that does worse against hordes due to a comparatively smaller magazine.
  • 20% more damage per pellet (single 31 > 37) (burst 248 > 296)
  • 10% more accuracy (3 x 5 > 2.5 x 4.5)

Submachine Guns


The vanilla SMGs are a bit of a worst case scenario for balance: there's a clear order of best to worst and they're all extremely similar to each other. I decided to make them much more unique by taking cues from the design of the assault rifles.

Uzi
DPS: 320 - DPM: 1,200 (was 1,000)
The Uzi has been adjusted to be similar to the SCAR: a highly accurate weapon with a huge magazine, balanced out by relatively low damage.
  • 20% larger magazine (50 > 60)
  • 30% more crouching accuracy (0.7 > 0.5)

Silenced MAC-10
DPS: 400 - DPM: 1,250
No changes.

MP5
DPS: 387 (was 347) - DPM: 1,450 (was 1,300)
Since I can't nerf anything, I gave the MP5 a few simple buffs to keep it competitive with the Silenced MAC-10 and the newly buffed Uzi.
  • 10% more damage (26 > 29)
  • 15% faster reload (3.1s > 2.6s)

Secondaries


The secondary weapons are all very unique, but again, there's an obvious hierarchy in viability. There's only so much I can do with my scripting skills, but I've tried to make every secondary option a compelling choice.

Pistol(s)
DPS: 207 single, 414 double (was 166, 331) - DPM: 720, 1,440 (was 540, 1,080)
The Pistols are often considered some of the worst weapons in the game, being thoroughly outclassed by melee weapons up close and the Magnum at a distance. I've given them major buffs so going guns akimbo feels as cool as it should be.
  • Removed accuracy penalty when incapacitated
  • 5% larger magazine (15 > 16)
  • 25% more damage (36 > 45)
  • 20% more standing accuracy (1.5 > 1.2)

Magnum
DPS: 267 - DPM: 640
No changes.

Melee Weapons
There's unfortunately not much I can do to change the melee weapons with a simple script, but I decided to give blunt melees a slight buff just to even things out a bit.
  • Blunt melee friendly fire damage lowered to 5 on Expert

Heavy Weapons


The cruel irony of Left 4 Dead 2 is that the heavy "Tier 3" weapons are generally worse than standard primaries despite their rarity. I've adjusted all of them to be worth using so players will actually be excited to find them.

Grenade Launcher
DPS: 168 (was 100) - DPM: 400
This hunk of junk has had its reload speed nearly cut in half so it's actually an effective weapon. It's very fun to use now, if you can believe that!
  • 40% faster reload (4s > 2.4s)

M60
DPS: 455 - DPM: 9,000 (was 7,500)
The M60 was already a good weapon, but it runs out of bullets too quickly to justify picking it up sometimes, so I've increased its magazine size a bit.
  • 20% larger magazine (150 > 180)

Mounted Minigun
No changes.

Mounted Machine Gun
This heavy turret has an absurdly long cooldown time in vanilla L4D2. Meanwhile, due to what is almost certainly a typo, the Minigun has a cooldown time of 3 seconds when it overheats. Since nerfs are illegal, this cooldown time was gutted. Note that the cooldown is intentionally slower than the Minigun's because this turret does more damage.
  • 80% shorter cooldown (60s > 12s)

Miscellaneous


I also made some miscellaneous changes to things that are not weapons. I would have done a lot more, but there's only so much you can change in the game's code, unfortunately.

Adrenaline
As much as I love Adrenaline, I have to admit that 90% of the time, the speed boost is too niche to make up for the paltry amount of health it provides. Therefore, I increased Adrenaline's health boost to 30 so it's a more compelling choice compared to the Pain Pills.
  • 20% more health restored (25 > 30)

Pipe Bomb
Molotovs are better at killing zombies and Bile Jars are better at distracting them, leaving the Pipe Bomb without a niche as the weakest throwable item. I decided to simultaneously buff its killing and distracting potential by increasing the fuse/beep time to 8 seconds.
  • 33% longer fuse time (6s > 8s)
Last edited by Kyle H. McCloud; 3 Dec, 2024 @ 9:46pm
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Showing 1-3 of 3 comments
Kyle H. McCloud  [developer] 11 Jul @ 4:50pm 
Originally posted by Yuri:
I really enjoy your rebalance, it gives some much needed fresh air! If you don't mind, can I ask a few questions:

Does the blunt melee damage buff carry over to lower difficulties?

Can the M60 have at least 200 ammo? Compared to Grenade Launcher and Chainsaw, it doesn't even last one chapter.

Dual pistols can 2 shot commons on advanced and expert right?

1. Melee weapons only have their friendly fire damage changed, and it applies to all difficulties. Just like in vanilla, the friendly fire damage decreases as the difficulty lowers.

2. The M60 does have 200 ammo in my standard rebalance mod with buffs and nerfs if you're interested. In the standard version, the M60's extra ammo is balanced out by lower accuracy. Since this version is buffs ONLY, I decided to tune down the extra ammo since there's nothing to balance it out. I might change that in the future but don't count on it.

3. I'm pretty sure Common Infected can be killed in 1 pistol shot on Easy, 2 on Normal and Advanced and 3 on Expert (same as vanilla) but I'm not sure if the math works out exactly right in-game. Keep in mind that pistol damage decreases over distance, so sometimes it takes an extra bullet.
Last edited by Kyle H. McCloud; 11 Jul @ 4:52pm
Kyle H. McCloud  [developer] 12 Jul @ 8:26pm 
Originally posted by Yuri:
On Expert the Magnum OHKOs the Commons, shouldn't the pistols be buffed to 2HKO so they don't get outclassed (maybe remove the ammo buff and slightly reduce the accuracy buff to compensate)?

Unless there's some programming wizardry I don't know about, the only way to make pistols 2-shot commons on Expert is by buffing the damage so much they 1-shot commons on Normal. I wasn't willing to go that far even though 2-shotting commons on Expert is a reasonable change in a vacuum. Game balancing is all about the big picture.

Since you have so many ideas, I'd recommend following the guide I left in this comment section on March 28 (scroll down) to make your own custom mod. All you have to do is download a few free programs and edit some numbers in text documents.
Last edited by Kyle H. McCloud; 12 Jul @ 8:27pm
Kyle H. McCloud  [developer] 14 Jul @ 11:26pm 
Originally posted by Yuri:

It looks like you calculated the DPS of the auto shotguns wrong (they have a fire rate of 6 rounds per second instead of 4).

Ah, my pet peeve is back for more...

I know the scripts say 6/s, and that's why the wiki said 6/s for the longest time. But take a stop watch and time it yourself -- both autoshotguns cannot possibly fire that fast no matter how rapidly you click your mouse. I'm not sure what programming spaghetti is causing the change, but they have a maximum in-game fire rate of around 4/s in practice. Dual pistols can be fired at a 6/s rate (or more!) so I promise you'd notice the difference. This is what 6/s sounds like for reference.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet, as they say :sans:
Last edited by Kyle H. McCloud; 14 Jul @ 11:32pm
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