Resident Evil Requiem Combat Guide: Breaking Bones and Boss Fights
You can only hide in the shadows for so long before you are forced to swing a hatchet into a rotting skull.
I absolutely hate wasting bullets. In survival horror games an empty magazine is a guaranteed death sentence. Capcom built a combat system here that severely punishes you for panic firing into the dark. If you walk into this game expecting a standard shooter experience you will be completely defenseless when a real threat finally breaks down the door.
Combat in this game shifts drastically depending on whether you are controlling Grace or Leon. Grace is fragile and relies on desperate survival tactics while Leon operates like a heavily armed tactical unit. The core rules remain the same across both campaigns. You need to be methodical. You need to understand how the enemy AI reacts to damage, you need to manage your economy to buy the right gun attachments, and you need to know exactly how to handle the massive boss encounters waiting for you in the back half of the game.
The Anatomy of a Gunfight
Aiming for the chest is a rookie mistake. The infected absorb body shots like sponges and you simply do not have the inventory space to carry enough ammunition to put them down that way.
Precision Over Volume
When you pull your weapon up do not immediately pull the trigger. Wait a full second. You will notice the crosshairs slowly shrink and focus. Firing while the reticle is fully compressed significantly increases your damage output and your chance to land a critical hit. This requires nerves of steel when a mutant is lunging at your throat but you have to stand your ground.
You should always be aiming for two specific targets. Shoot for the head or shoot for the knees. A focused shot to the head has a high chance of an instant decapitation with high caliber weapons. If you are using a standard pistol shoot them in the kneecaps. Taking out a leg forces the enemy to the ground. This instantly removes them as an immediate threat and buys you precious time to reload or reposition.
The Power of the Stagger
Shooting an enemy in the right spot will cause them to violently flinch and stagger. This is your cue to move in and save your ammo.
Grace can shove a staggered enemy. It does not deal massive damage but it pushes them back into a crowd and knocks other zombies off balance. This clears a path to the nearest exit. Leon takes this a step further. If you stagger a target with Leon you can sprint in and deliver a devastating martial arts kick. This deals heavy area of effect damage and instantly floors the target without costing you a single bullet. You should rely on this mechanic to clear crowded hallways.
Mastering Close Quarters
Bullets eventually run out but cold steel is incredibly reliable. You must get comfortable engaging the horde in melee range.
Leon's Hatchet Parry
Leon is equipped with a tactical hatchet and it completely changes the rhythm of the game. You can actively parry incoming attacks. If you time your block perfectly right as an enemy swings Leon will deflect the blow and negate all incoming damage while violently shoving the attacker off balance.
This parry system is essential for surviving the late game boss gauntlets. It allows you to stand toe to toe with massive anomalies without burning through your medical supplies. Just keep an eye on the weapon durability. You have to actively sharpen the blade during downtime otherwise it will bounce right off the tougher mutants.
Grace's Defensive Shanks
Grace does not get a cool tactical axe. She gets rusty makeshift knives scrounged from the garbage.
These blades are strictly defensive tools. If you get grabbed by a zombie while playing as Grace having a knife in your inventory allows you to immediately stab the attacker in the neck to break the grapple before taking major damage. It consumes the weapon but it saves your life. Always keep at least one knife in your inventory.
Leon's Arsenal and the Supply Box Economy
During Leon's extended Raccoon City segment the game introduces a fully functioning economy. You earn credits and you spend them at Supply Boxes to buy new weapons, attachments, and consumables.
Your main source of income comes directly from killing enemies. Because of this economy I highly recommend you stop running past the random zombies roaming the streets. Every kill puts money in your pocket. Some enemies also drop Modules ranging from Common to Legendary. These sit in your inventory until you visit a Supply Box where they automatically convert into massive credit payouts. Keep an eye out for Legendary Modules dropped by mini-bosses.
You can also sell items back to the box. I strongly advise against selling any ammunition or healing items. You will eventually need all of it. However you should absolutely sell off obsolete weapons. The moment you find something better ditch your starter gear. Sell the MSBG 500 shotgun the second you can afford an upgrade.
High Priority Purchases
Your very first purchase needs to be the 990-TAC shotgun. It holds eight rounds, hits like a freight train, and features surprisingly tight accuracy. It is the only reliable way to put down Blisterheads before they close the distance.
Shortly after grabbing the shotgun you need to buy the Silencer 9 combat pistol. Stealth is not always viable but picking off isolated targets without alerting the entire city block saves you a massive amount of medical supplies on higher difficulties. You also need to buy the Body Armor to reduce incoming projectile damage and the inventory space upgrade to hold your expanding arsenal.
Weapon Attachments Matrix
Getting the guns is only the first step. The Supply Box sells attachments that fundamentally alter how your weapons perform. You can even pay an additional fee to enhance these attachments after bolting them on. Here is exactly what you need to prioritize.
Managing Mutations
Leaving a corpse intact is a massive mistake. If you kill a standard zombie and leave its head attached to its body the virus will eventually mutate the corpse. When you backtrack through that same hallway later that corpse will rise as a Blister Head. These mutations are wildly aggressive and absorb a sickening amount of damage.
Grace deals with this problem using science. You can craft Hemolytic Injectors using scrap and infected blood. Plunge one of these syringes into a downed zombie and the body violently dissolves into a puddle of gore. It completely prevents the mutation.
Leon handles the problem with brute force. You need to use his hatchet or a high caliber handgun to completely destroy the skull of any zombie you drop in a high traffic area. Take the extra few seconds to smash the skull. It will save you a massive headache later.
Apex Predator Threat Assessment
The standard tactics do not work on the apex predators. You have to change your entire strategy when the big freaks show up. I have broken down exactly how to handle every major encounter in the game so you stop dying on the same checkpoints.
Keep your crosshairs tight, manage your blade durability, and spend your credits wisely. The game is absolutely relentless but if you master these combat loops and memorize the boss patterns you might actually walk out of Raccoon City alive.
