Enemy Strategies (2)

Learn how to defeat T-Virus Zombies, Lickers, Zombie Dogs, G-Adults, and Ivies in Resident Evil 2 (Remake). Includes tips for each enemy.

T-Virus Zombie

These are your basic "grunt" enemies. You can kill them absolutely by getting a critical headshot (a shot that lands on the enemy's head, usually an instant kill) that turns their skulls to a mush. However, you only need to kill zombies if they're somewhere that you're going to come back to repeatedly or they're unavoidably blocking somewhere you need to go. Otherwise, you can shoot them in the head to stagger them and run past. Smart players shoot them in the knees to amputate a lower leg, leaving them crawling on the ground and easy to avoid now and later. When they're on the ground, you can use a combat knife to stab them to a second and permanent death. If you drop them, they often play dead and will grab you as you go past. Try slashing them with a combat knife to check that they're really dead. If you absolutely must kill one right now, a point-blank shotgun blast or a magnum round to the skull will do the trick. Note that it game terms, they are supposed to be simple obstacles, therefore spending time and ammo blowing their distinctly bullet-spongey skulls to pulp is maybe not the optimum strategy.

Licker

This is the second enemy type you encounter but fortunately you encounter them rarely. These are like mini-bosses who can absorb a lot of damage and dish a terrific amount a lot. Their tongue attack is surprisingly long distance and their pounce attack is pretty much guaranteed to take your health into the danger zone. They are blind and track you by sound which means that you can sneak past them if you walk very slowly. However, these things are often placed somewhere where they're a serious and repeated obstacle and there's typically something else that will attack you when you're trying to be very discreet. They are uniquely vulnerable to Flash Grenades, which make them deaf as well as blind, and fire, which Claire gets access to long before Leon.

Zombie Dog

Fortunately, you only encounter these pests in a couple of places. They are very fast and very dodgy. While they go down to three or four well-placed pistol shots, the optimal strategy if you can manage it is simply to put a door between yourself and them.

G-Adult

At close range, they grab you repeatedly. If you don't use a secondary weapon, they'll damage you and inflict the poisoned status (which is very bad indeed). At range, they'll fire G-Embryos at you which damage you and inflict poison. Sometimes, you'll see them waiting in the water. In this case, you can shoot them and run past during their rising-out-of-the-water animation. If they're already out of the water, you may simply have to treat them like toll bridges that cost one grenade to get past. Another strategy is to tank them with R+B Herbs. Don't try and kill them with sheer firepower alone - they have ridiculous amounts of health. They can be panicked with fire attacks which once again puts Claire at an early advantage.

Ivy

You encounter these towards the end of the game. You can disable them temporarily by shooting their sap sacs or by inflicting a decent amount of fire damage. You can only kill them permanently by inflicting fire damage once they're disabled. If they get close and you don't have a secondary weapon, they will kill you, no questions asked. Fortunately, by the time you encounter them, both Leon and Claire have access to fire attacks.