THE lake monster boss returns to chapter 3 of Resident Evil 4 remake, aka the weirdest salamander you’ve ever seen, Lake.
This is the first real boss in Resident Evil 4, and it can be tricky to take down if you don’t know what to do, especially on Hardcore or Professional difficulties.
To help you complete Chapter 3, we’ve detailed the best strategy on how to beat lake monster boss below.
Please note that this is a guide for resident evil 4 remake so the exact boss strategy might not be the same in the original version.
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For more help, you can visit our Resident Evil 4 walkthrough.
How to Beat the Lake Monster Boss in Resident Evil 4
The basics of the Del Lago boss fight are pretty simple: hit the lake monster with the ship’s harpoon when you can see its body above the water, and don’t hit the floating obstaclesor your ship’s health will decrease.
If your boat loses all of its health, Leon will die and you’ll have to start the fight over from the beginning.
You need to aim your harpoon before throwing it (aim with L1/LB or consoles, and throw with R2/RT), but since Del Lago likes to go really fast, we suggest aim further left or right than you think
Unless there is an obstacle right next to you, we also suggest always move the boat to the left or to the right. This helps you automatically dodge Del Lago’s surprise lunge attack, which triggers a QTE (quick event) if you don’t dodge it, and your ship loses more health the longer it takes you to complete the QTE.
You can’t destroy the obstacles with your spear, unfortunately.
During the sequence where the lake monster is heading straight for you, you need to punch it in its open mouth to make sure it doesn’t grab your boat. Its mouth will open near the boat, so make sure you have the harpoon pointed in preparation.
Keep in mind that you can also hit Del Lago as he jumps in and out of water in his dive loop, which can speed up the boss fight.
Our final tip is to aim a little higher that you think you should when the lake monster is away. The Harpoon has a steep drop at longer distances, which can help you land a hit from afar, like when the monster is heading straight for you.
It took us 23 harpoon shots on Standard difficulty to finally defeat the lake monster in the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Once you kill Del Lago, Chapter 3 will end, and if it’s your first time killing him, you’ll get the “Harpoon Howler” trophy/achievement.
Our Resident Evil 4 walkthrough can help you through the village with guides on the Large and Small Cave Shrine puzzle solutions, the Church Dial puzzle, and the Del Lago, El Gigante, and Méndez bosses. When you reach the castle you have to tackle the treasure sword, the four slot wall, the dining hall bell and the exact time of the grandfather clock, as well as the dungeon Garrador, to two giants and to the bosses of Ramón Salazar. The island is next, and there are still puzzles with calibration puzzles, keycard locations and a hidden key, as well as the final bosses Krauser and Sadler.
Resident Evil 4 lake monster boss strategy on Hardcore and Professional
On standard difficulty, the Del Lago boss fight shouldn’t take too long unless your harpoon aim is off a bit. However, on Hardcore and Professional, it’s a long boss fight that requires you to be very careful to avoid obstacles.
If you’re playing on Professional, make sure you make a manual backup just before boarding the boat, as there is no auto-save.
All of our advice above still applies to the Del Lago fight on harder difficulties, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that you have to focus more on the obstacles in the water than on Del Lago.
We always suggest always turning the boat left or right to avoid the monster’s surprise attack, but make sure you don’t do this if you’re near an obstacle in the water. Quickly steer the boat the other way if you notice you’re getting too close.
You can only take two obstacle hits during the entire fight in professional, provided you don’t get hit by Del Lago. On the third obstacle hit, your boat will lose all of its health and the monster will kill you.
On Hardcore and Professional, we also recommend trying to land as many harpoon hits as possible when the lake monster circles the lake in the distance, and when it does, it’s a jump sequence.
Anything you can do to shorten the fight is highly recommended, as the longer it lasts the more likely you are to hit an obstacle.
Good luck for Del Lago!
If you want more help with the Resident Evil 4 Remake, you can visit our walkthrough for more puzzle solutions, boss guides, and asking for help.
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