Left 4 Dead 2: Map Secrets: Hard Rain

In most L4D2 playthroughs, you’ll head straight from one safe room to the next without really paying attention to the map itself. As such, there’s oftentimes plenty of small details and hidden areas that you end up missing.

This is part 5 of a series of guides focusing on the many secrets in L4D2s maps. This guide relates to Hard Rain, and future guides will each relate to a different campaign.

Remember, most of the details will be story or lore related, and in many cases the exact story that’s told is open to interpretation; there is often more than one answer that works or makes sense.

At the start of the campaign, Virgil announces that he plans to anchor offshore to wait for the survivors. Based on the direction he initially travels, his view of the Burger Tank sign (which he needs to see in order to rescue the survivors) would be somewhat obscured by trees, so he probably sailed out to the west into the open water behind the survivors.

Hard Rain gives the survivors a different selection of starter weapons compared to most campaigns, letting them choose from a variety of melees and a pistol. Considering that T1 weapons can be found just inside the Burger Tank, this actually gives Hard Rain the best starter selection of any campaign; it’s possible to have a hunting rifle and your ideal melee within seconds of starting.

A small jetty, as well as the maps border, can be seen through the trees to the left of where you start.

This white ute is parked right next to a No Parking sign.

Unique to Hard Rain is the backtrack mechanic. To make the best use of your available supplies, its a good idea to take the medkits in the first aid cabinet rather than those on the table, as they will respawn during the finale. It’s also best to take any molotovs rather than pipe bombs or bile. The finale will be flooded, and molotovs aren’t as useful since they will be extinguished easily.

Grenades can occasionally spawn outside the Burger Tank near the dumpster. This spot is often overlooked, but the extra supplies can be a big help.

With only a single body in the Burger Tank, its unlikely that a lot of fighting happened here. Many of Ducatels residents evacuated towards the Mill, and the infection probably hadn’t spread very far at the time the Burger Tank was used to store supplies.

Note that the skylight is broken, and a small blood splatter is directly under it; a survivor might’ve fallen through while setting up supplies on the roof.

Whilst the open fuse box on the sign might suggest it was being worked on by a maintenance team, the presence of supplies on the roof could indicate that another group of survivors attempted to light up the sign to attract attention.

This portaloo will attract the attention of common infected. Technical-wise, this is due to it being a rescue locker and commons being programmed to target doors. In this specific case however, it’s likely a joke from Valve, with the common infected looking like they’re desperate to use the portaloo.

Portable generators and lights have been set up around the town, most likely in response to the flooding.

The businesses in the area, including Jimbos Classy Auto, are boarded up with CEDA style plywood. The barricaded roads also indicate CEDAs potential presence, or perhaps it was the work of the contruction crews.

This sign says that the gas station is 2 miles away, giving a rough indicator as to the true scale of the map.

Virgil and the survivors refer to the fuel as “gas” or “gasoline”. However, they are actually picking up Diesel. In reality, Diesel and Gasoline (also called petrol) are different fuels designed for specific use cases; Diesel is often used for larger vehicles or heavy machinery, whilst gasoline is used for lightweight vehicles. Given the size of Virgils boat (not to mention the fact that the cans the survivors pick up are labelled ‘Diesel’), its almost certainly using Diesel as fuel instead of gas.

The trend of high gas prices is also reflected in Hard Rain; as the supply dwindled and demand massively increased, store owners would’ve been free to charge as much as they wanted.

The finale safe room is initially boarded up, with the boards coming loose and falling off during the storm. It’s also not initially obvious that this is the safe room, leaving first time players guessing as to how far they’ll need to travel in chapter 4.

This car wreck is somewhat strange. The truck only moved a short distance, yet somehow ended up on top of the smaller car. There’s also significant damage to both vehicles. It’s possible that rather than being driven, a tank punched the truck into the smaller car.

Another blocked off road, though it looks like it may have made for a decent evacuation route for the towns residents.

The garage sale was happening at the time the town fell (or very shortly before, with the signs yet to be taken down), meaning the infection reached Ducatel on either a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or early Monday morning. Dead Center takes place on October 24th, 2009 (1 week after No Mercy, which happens on October 17th), which was a Saturday. Assuming Hard Rain takes place on the same day as Swamp Fever (which is the Monday morning after Dead Center, with Swamp Fever taking place during Sunday night), and that the infection was spreading in the same direction that the survivors were travelling, then Ducatel may have only fallen a few hours or even a day or so before the survivors arrived.

A large corpse pile in the playground. The lack of blood on the ground suggests these people died due to the infection rather than being shot. Ducatels residents may have simply been storing the bodies here for lack of any better options.

This entire open plot next to the half built house is accessible, yet the lack of loot means it is never set foot in.

The half built house itself can very rarely contain a T3 weapon on the top floor.

Another very heavily damaged car, possible evidence of nearby tanks.

In regions that are prone to flooding or extreme weather, houses are often built on stilts to allow the water to flow underneath and prevent damage to the house.

Clearly not everyone was bothered by the zombie outbreak.

This house is usually entered from the other side, but the main entrance leads to some better environmental story telling. The trail of blood leads under the door…

And opening it reveals the pile of corpses. However, it’s not clear whether this house was used to store bodies, or as a holdout location. The windows are boarded up from the inside, the furniture is upturned to make small barriers, and a wall has been broken down. It’s possible that it was originally intended to be depicted as the location of a survivors last stand, but Valve forgot to add the blood decals to indicate the infected being killed by force.

Also note this dead body in the bathroom, with a few weapons and the door half broken. It would make sense for this to be a suicide victim, having killed themselves as the infected tried to break down the door, but there is once again no blood decal as is seen with other suicide victims.

This pile of trash is quite large; the workers responsible for collecting it may have decided to skip work on account of the flu, leaving it to pile up on the streets instead.

These smaller homes are boarded up with both plywood and planks; there may have been infected families inside who were locked up for the protection of others.

If you head around the right side of the double story house, you can avoid most of the infected on the street and head straight to the broken house with the weapons stash.

Hard Rain has a significant number of clipping issues, with grass appearing inside many of the houses.

This was almost certainly the site of a final stand, given the large number of dead infected and the proximity to the weapons stash.

This ladder is often missed on the way to the mill, but it does let you avoid most of the water during the return trip by travelling across the roofs.

Most car batteries will completely drain within about 8 hours if the headlights are left on. The fact that this Ambulances lights are still shining would mean that it was last turned on sometime in the very early morning. With all the roads blocked, the ambulance would’ve already been in the town at the time the infection hit, and was possibly hijacked by another group of survivors in an attempt to evacuate (there wouldn’t really be any reason for someone to turn the lights on unless they were using the vehicle). All of this means that there was at least a decent enough survivor population within the town at least 8 hours before the main survivors arrived for hijacking an ambulance to be feasible.

There is a second ladder in the tree house, letting you climb to the very top. Combined with a sniper rifle, it’s a great place to pick off the infected.

A major hint to narrow down the time of Ducatels fall is the tarps over the boxes at the garage sale. This was likely done in an effort to avoid things getting wet in the approaching storm, yet not everything is covered. Whoever was holding the sale might’ve gotten partway through setting up the tarps, only to be forced to stop due to the approaching hordes of zombies. There’s no evidence of recent storms, only the one set to happen later in the day that the survivors arrive. This would mean that the garage sale was abandoned possible only an hour or two before the survivors arrival, with the tarps being partly set up in preparation of the storm.

The house near the garage sale finally shows clear signs of infected being killed by weapon. There’s dozens of bodies, and quite a lot of blood. In addition, the windows are boarded up from the inside.

The floor outside this shower is still wet, again serving as evidence that the town was only overrun mere hours ago.

Several piles of CEDA posters can be found in this area, particularly near cars and electrical poles, yet none are actually set up properly. It’s as if the person in charge of putting them up didn’t have time to, perhaps only getting to the location shortly before Ducatel was overrun.

These tipped over chairs show that at least a few people in this house were forced to leave in a hurry.

Evidence of axe based zombie killing.

More and more dead infected can be found closer to the mill, showing how the intensity of combat between the zombies and surviving residents increased as they evacuated.

These few sentences of graffiti provide several massive clues as to what occurred during the evacuations.

1) CEDA never properly arrived. We already know this due to the lack of any of their infrastructure, and the piles of scattered posters.

2) The residents of Ducatel were aware of what Witches (and possibly the other special infected) were as they were evacuating. This information may have been passed on from other groups of survivors passing through the area.

3) The Witches arrived at the Mill before the town was evacuated. The smell of the sugar must’ve drawn them in without the towns residents realising, with the other types of infected arriving slightly later.

Another reference to CEDAs absence, as well as New Orleans being used as a main evacuation point.

Like in the Burger Tank, it’s best to take the medkits from the cabinet first, as these will respawn on the return trip.

This new sign shows that the survivors are halfway to their goal, or a quarter of the way through the entire campaign if you include the return trip.

A banner warning any passerby’s to avoid the mill on account of the Witches.

The mill is in a state of disrepair, and is largely overgrown with plants. However, the maintenance teams may have been attempting to restore it to a degree.

The Witches have spread throughout the entirety of the mill. Though it’s not clear as to whether they actually eat the sugar they’re drawn to, that alone mustn’t be enough to hold them in one area.

Several pills and adrenaline shots can reliably be found in this small hut, but it is frequently skipped. Propane can also be found in the hut next to it; if you’re not confident in your ability to crown Witches, the propane can serve as a backup option.

Though there are weapons here, the mill is mostly devoid of any signs of fighting. Any evacuees probably escaped before the mill was overrun by the infected, and were able to avoid the Witches that were present.

Certain walls in the mill, as well as walls near the Burger Tank, have a fresh coat of paint, which helps to explain the presence of the maintenance workers.

This area of the mill has many broken catwalks and an inaccessible room near the broken roof. Even with noclip, this room and the catwalks cannot be explored. Disabling noclip will result in the survivors either getting stuck or dying instantly.

Even the very edges of this puddle are enough to cause the survivors to slow down. Realistically, you could probably run through at least a couple of inches of still water without any drawbacks. If water slowdown was tweaked to only apply to slightly deeper water sources, Hard Rain might be viewed more favourably.

It is possible, albeit very rare, for Witches to spawn underneath the map (recreated above). The proximity sounds and crying can still be heard, and at certain angles it’s possible to startle her by shooting through the ground.

With only a single crescendo event, Hard Rain is among the least eventful campaigns in the game. The challenge comes from the abundance of Witches, ineffectiveness of grenades, and the difficulty in navigating the later chapters. In addition, there are also no ammo piles in the mill.

Since the elevator starts on the ground floor, it can be inferred that it was last used by someone evacuating the mill.

Much like the hospital in No Mercy, the gas station sign directs survivors where to go and helps them stay on track.

Despite being abandoned, some of the sugar cane is bent over or broken. This might be due to the survivors who evacuated through the area, or it could be potential evidence that the Witches have been breaking the cane apart to eat.

Medical items frequently spawn in the plants directly in front of the gas station. These supplies are almost always skipped, but can be a huge help for the return trip.

The gas station advertises that it sells seafood. This makes sense given Ducatels proximity to the ocean, as well as what we know from other campaigns like Swamp Fever and The Passing.

This banner says that the pumps are empty, which explains why shooting them doesn’t cause them to explode. It also says the gas is available for sale inside. As the supply dwindled, the remaining gas was probably drained from the underground tanks and intentionally brought inside to prevent thieves from driving off without paying.

The graffiti in the gas station gives several dates, however there are some inconsistencies between them. October 15th, October 5th, and October 6th are all mentioned. You would only be able to write graffiti in the station if it had been abandoned, so this seems to suggest that the station had been used as a safe room for about 2 and a half weeks, only a few days after the initial outbreak. The difference between the dates also implies a shortage of gas that lasted a similar duration, and evacuations happening over the same time frame. This contradicts all prior evidence, such as the ambulance lights, garage sale, wet shower floor and lack of CEDA presence, which suggest that Ducatel was overrun only a few hours before the survivors arrived.

Another inconsistent date, October 7th. Again, this contradicts all prior evidence and suggests that people began evacuating a couple of days after an outbreak happening some 1300 miles away.

This graffiti shows that an honour system was in place to ensure there was enough gasoline for everybody. Conveniently, there are 4 cans remaining when the survivors arrive.

A makeshift toilet made from a bucket and broken seat. It is yet to be emptied.

Yet another inconsistent date, this time predating even the initial outbreak of the infection.

To avoid getting lost in the cane field, head to the far right and find the irrigation system (the big arched metal structure that runs at an angle). By following the path of the irrigation system, you’ll be lead directly to the base of the elevator.

Interestingly, the electrical grid is still intact despite the outbreak and the storm.

The ladder is illuminated by the spotlight, making it immediately obvious where the survivors need to go to avoid the water.

Throughout the remainder of the chapter, the spotlights continue to show the best path to the saferoom.

The mills front building has no means of getting from the ground floor to the top floor.

Here the fresh paint provides contrast for the ladder against the otherwise grey wall, helping it stand out.

Although there are many propane and O2 tanks throughout Hard Rain, there are no gas cans, tying into the gas shortage plot point.

The blood from these infected has not washed away in the rain. Whilst this is due to the whole chapter being reused, if it was intentional it would mean that these bodies had been there for at least a few hours in the sun, as blood takes around an hour or so to dry on a solid surface.

The ambulance lights are still going strong on full brightness, even with an additional half an hour or so to burn through the battery. Again, this would indicate it was last used sometime within the last 7 or so hours, quite likely less given how bright they are.

For some reason, the ladder on this slide is broken. It’s as if Valve doesn’t want us to have fun…

The plywood blocking the safe room door has fallen down and broken when hitting the ground. If it fell into the water it likely wouldn’t have broken, so it may have fallen down early on in the storm before the ground was properly flooded.

It’s not exactly clear why this safe room was boarded up. There’s no infected or dead bodies inside, and there’s ample supplies. It may be that the home owners barricaded it with the intent to come back later, only to never return.

The other piece of plywood has been knocked a considerable distance away from the door, showing the strength of the wind during the storm.

The newspaper dispensers have been completely emptied, likely due to everyone buying the papers to hear about the infection.

The Burger Tank sign isn’t particularly bright, so Virgil would’ve needed to be reasonably close to shore to see it.

You can walk along the top of the fence next to the Burger Tank.

The dumpster item spawn (mentioned earlier in the guide), having spawned 2 defibs, 2 pipe bombs and a bottle of pills. This would be extremely helpful during the finale, and there’s no reason not to check this spot.

It can be easy to miss Virgils dialogue, what with the sounds of the boat, Tank, rain and music, but he will sometimes compliment the survivors on their use of the Burger Tank sign to get his attention.