How to easily defeat El Gigante (first fight) in Resident Evil 4 Remake

While the chainsaw villager is tough to overcome in Resident Evil 4 Remake, the first real threat that you will face is El Gigante. The massive plague-infested beast will try to prevent you from getting to the church in the village during the early moments of the game. Though you’ll potentially have quite a few guns at this point, what will matter is how you adapt to the boss' strength.

At this point in Resident Evil 4 Remake, you’ll also get a new friend. Remember the wolf that you helped early on in the stage? It will come back to help you in this battle. While this remake doesn’t give you any major clues on how to hurt a boss, we’ll go over the important things to know.

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What you need to know about taking on the mighty El Gigante in Resident Evil 4 Remake

El Gigante, as his name suggests, is gigantic and hits incredibly hard. Thankfully, he’s also pretty slow. For this Resident Evil 4 Remake boss, I focused on using the pistol and rifle, but that’s only because I didn’t have shotgun shells to spare.

Flash grenades do wonders on El Gigante, stunning him for several seconds. I opened with one and repeatedly shot him in the head with my pistol. His early attacks consist of very slow swipes with his massive arms, so keep shooting him in the face, stay back, and reload when you have a safe moment.

After a few clips of pistol ammo are dumped into his face in Resident Evil 4 Remake, El Gigante will scream and hunch over. A Plaga parasite will grow on his back, so you now have a new target. Focus on it at all times. The boss will get more aggressive now and begin jumping at you. Press the evade button and get back when this happens.

After another few shots, the white wolf will show up — the one you aided earlier in Resident Evil 4 Remake. He’ll distract El Gigante for you, so it’s easier to take shots at the parasite on his back. Take as many as you can, but try to stay at least a bit close.

Watch the first melee attack on the boss:

In this phase, El Gigante does a pretty fast dash attack, so be on your toes. If he’s close to you, you can go between his legs and get behind him. After you’ve dealt enough damage, you’ll get a melee prompt, and after that, spam your knife attack as fast as you can.

El Gigante will lose the parasite, but it’ll come back. After the brief knife attack spree, he will pick up the shack in the canyon you’re fighting in, and throw it at you. Once he shambles towards it, start moving for safety.

The wolf will bite him in the leg to once again distract El Gigante, and the parasite will make another appearance. The boss will charge into the wall and knock some rubble down onto him. Get as many shots on the parasite as you can here, so you can trigger another melee event soon.

In this phase, El Gigante uses slow, charging swipe attacks. He’ll lumber across the screen, trying to hit you. After the next melee/knife phase, the boss fight will be over. Don’t forget to loot this canyon for resources before you move on.