Ok so now that Left 4 Dead 2 is out we have only... 11 months before Left 4 Dead 3 hit's shelves! We need to come up with some ideas for new special infected, pronto!

• The Melter

• The Scrambler:

NOW YOU GO:

• The Hype Master:

You gotta think that the special infected have a general theme. They're not about crippling your character or just making the game harder for no apparent reason. They revolve around the idea of separating the group or delaying them. All the specials fall into one of those two categories, not enemies per-say, but obstacles.

Perhaps more paranormal than the zombies...but hey:

• The Gypsy:

• The Doppleganger:

Slimer

• "The Doppleganger:Disguises itself as one of the survivors to avoid detection while approaching. Avoids being near it's clone and attempts to chip away health unnoticed. "

The Boycotter

The Thief.

Aha! Just shooting this out there.. Someone work off of it? A big zombie that gulps a survivor into it's acidy stomach, only leaving a faint outline for the others to find it. No way of getting out unless kills it. Moderate damage while inside.

• The Quarterback

I think they should put in the Straight-Jacket zombie that they talk about in the L4D1 commentary. Where if it sees you it runs away, and after its run for long enough it screams alerting the horde. 
 
They later changed this zombie to the Boomer, but it would be neat to see it put into the game somehow with a mechanic that's a little more fair.

" I think they should put in the Straight-Jacket zombie that they talk about in the L4D1 commentary. Where if it sees you it runs away, and after its run for long enough it screams alerting the horde.   They later changed this zombie to the Boomer, but it would be neat to see it put into the game somehow with a mechanic that's a little more fair. "

• The Immortal

Well i'll design a female zombie, instead of being called a witch, they call her a bitch. She screams out loud and talks alot of trash. She's not powerful, however it's fun to kill her.  
 
Also there should be a zombie called the grandma, she tit slaps you when it's down to her knees. Disgusting, I know, however you asked me for my ideas.

• The G-Man

I've got nothing, but great thread.

• The Subject

" I think they should put in the Straight-Jacket zombie that they talk about in the L4D1 commentary. Where if it sees you it runs away, and after its run for long enough it screams alerting the horde.   They later changed this zombie to the Boomer, but it would be neat to see it put into the game somehow with a mechanic that's a little more fair. "

" Cant think of a name 
When this zombie is near you it makes other special effected appear to you as an illusion, only one member of the party might be affected or all of them might see different zombies. 
This would create a lot of confusion and cause party members to run off trying to kill the "zombie" only to be separated from the others and become entrapped by the horde "

" Cant think of a name 
When this zombie is near you it makes other special effected appear to you as an illusion, only one member of the party might be affected or all of them might see different zombies. 
This would create a lot of confusion and cause party members to run off trying to kill the "zombie" only to be separated from the others and become entrapped by the horde "

Actually, thinking on it the Survivors should get classes in the next iteration or rather they should have specialties that help making progress through a level more easy, therefor increasing the need for teamwork further. For example in the next game there should be survivor specific obstacles, such as a locked door that need to be picked to get though and while any survivor could pick the lock the ex-con or whatever would pick it much faster. Other things like this would be cool but since we're pitching zombies, back on topic.

• The Telekinetic 

The Fishers - Essentially Smokers. Come in pairs. Hide on rooftops. You step on a colored circle and are then yanked by both Fishers simultaneously by your feet so you are hanging upside-down. You can still aim and shoot, but your view is completely upside-down. This state can only stop if a Fisher is killed. The remaining Fisher jumps off the roof and switches his role to Smoker.
 
Oh, you hang low enough so you can still be whacked by zombies. And maybe the "colored circle" you step on could just be the middle of where the two slacked Smoker tentacles lay. And they only really appear in the middle of intense raids, but if you shoot one before it gets triggered, they both just run down.

The Junkie   

" @Pie said:

" Cant think of a name 
When this zombie is near you it makes other special effected appear to you as an illusion, only one member of the party might be affected or all of them might see different zombies. 
This would create a lot of confusion and cause party members to run off trying to kill the "zombie" only to be separated from the others and become entrapped by the horde "

Nice idea, and to add on to that, maybe make it possible for it to make your team mates show up as Zombies instead of there just being hallucinations? "

"

The Junkie   

Quick and agile.  Tries to jack your pills and adrenaline to get a fix.  Once he does, he goes off in a corner and gets his fix, which makes him stronger.  Can only consume up to two of each item. "

The Swoosh?
A flying zombie that will swoop down and grab a survivor, and take them up in the air.  While in the air, medium damage is done (2 percent per second maybe?) and you must shoot it down before it gets to its max height, the longer it brings you in the air, the more damage you will take once you fall when it dies.  At the max height you will suffer 25 damage from the fall.  It moves around slightly while in the air.

I would like a zombie that shot out some sorta gas...and it made you see crazy shit. Like zombies that arent there, or you team members as zombies. Call it the mad hatter.

Maybe a zombie that screams extremely loud, making you not be able to hear anything and make you disoriented.  Call it the Screamer.

The Burrower
A zombie that travels underground and can rip up and grab a survivor and drag him across the ground, he only has his head showing above the ground, so it will be hard to shoot him.  Does light damage but tends to take you towards enemies.

Smooch!

How about a zombie that knows how to code for the PS3???

 The Master
 
Like the Witch, it must be startled to attack, but after it does, you start to see illusions, like Pies. However, these illusions start attempting to break the fourth wall, like making your 360 look as if it RRODs or make your PC look like it obtained a virus.
 
The Rapist(?)
 
Normal zombie with mask and burned hand, with a hook on it. Very little health, but very fast, and once it gets you, it starts to run with you getting dragged along. When doing this, you gradually lose health and are prompted to mash a button, however, if you do not fast enough, the Rapist drags you to a place extremely far away so that team-mates can't revive you easily. 
 
The Grabber
 
Again, very little health, but hides in shadows and is fairly small. The Grabber takes equipment (like other people have said) and eat them. If seen, it may start screaming, causing a Launcher to hunt you down. If you do not kill a Grabber, the Grabber grows into a Launcher, but is faster overall for a limited time.
 
The Launcher
 
Extremely large and likes to jump across rooftops to try and land on top of you. Very slow, but extremely large amounts of health. If it sees a Grabber being killed, it becomes enraged and runs after the Grabber-killer very quickly until it is killed or has killed you.
 
The Hound
 
Zombie dog.
 
The Knights
 
Zombies stabbed in some way by something. They sometimes lie upon the ground as if dead, however, if close enough, they get up and stab you. Some have decayed armour, which, if join together, charge at the team with other people behind.

I will simply put it this way, new ideas for the special infected for Left 4 Dead 3 require a lot of creativity and careful thought. Here's something to think about (some of the posts have sounded pretty interesting though). The special infected of the first two games work with each other and have their own special abilities and attributes. In order for a special infected team to put a halt to the four survivors, strong teamwork should be in effect. After looking at some ideas other users have posted, I have noticed quite a few abnormalities in their abilities. Special infected that disable weapons and slow players tends to take away from the actual point of the infected's goal. Guns run out of ammo, and common infected are there to slow the survivors (which I often find upsets players enough as it is!) When survivors are already below 25% health, they move slower than molasses, with a special infected dedicated to slowing the survivors even more, they might as well be standing in place waiting to be killed. Once again, ideas for the special infected need to be new, creative, and functional with the other infected. It may be hard to come up with new ideas while maintaining originality and not having the special infected being too similar to other specials.  
An idea I've had swimming around in my head was a flying zombie (I haven't actually come up with a creative name for it yet) but I'm sure I'm not the only one who has thought of this special infected idea. An ability I had created for it would be to have it dive bomb the survivors, dealing a fair amount of damage, in addition to an effective hit, it actually pushes the survivor away from the remaining survivors, dragging him/her on the ground, then initiating its incapacitating attack. Think of it as a cross between a Hunter and a Charger, only difference is that it flies. 
  Another idea I've concocted was a burrowing zombie, hides in wait underground and pulls an unsuspecting survivor into the ground leaving half of the survivor's body exposed for the others to find him/her. I got the inspiration for this idea from the movie Eight Legged Freaks (in the movie, there are burrowing mutant spiders that grab humans and pull them under, killing them instantly). I already see the flaws with this infected idea, like how would you kill the zombie if it's underground? However it's work in progress.