Resident Evil 4: Advanced Handgun Guide for PlayStation 2
Table of Contents [Shortcuts w/ Ctrl - F]
Intro [INT]
My Handgun Progression and Upgrade Choices [MYH]
Overview and Upgrade Information [OVER]
Handgun [OHA]
Punisher [OPU]
Red 9 [ORE]
Blacktail [OBL]
Matilda [OMA]
Conclusion For Best Handgun [OBE]
Firepower by Chapter End [FPC]
Firing Speed by Chapter End [FSC]
Intro to Handgun Critical Chance [HCRIT]
Disclaimer [DERP]
A Note on Control Groups [NCON]
The First Control Group:
Chapter 1-1 Villagers: The Pueblo [C1-1]
Standard Handgun [C1HA]
Red 9 [C1RE]
Blacktail [C1BL]
Conclusion for the First Control Group [1-1C]
The Second Control Group:
Chapter 2-1 Villagers: The Farm [C2-1]
Standard Handgun [C2HA]
Red 9 [C2RE]
Blacktail [C2BL]
Conclusion for the Second Control Group [2-1C]
The Third Control Group:
Type 1 Las Plagas: (Razor Blades) [CT1]
Standard Handgun [T1HA]
Red 9 [T1RE]
Blacktail [T1BL]
Conclusion for the Third Control Group [T1C]
The Fourth Control Group:
Chapter 3-1 Zealots: (w/ Black Robes) [C3-1]
Standard Handgun [C3HA]
Red 9 [C3RE]
Blacktail [C3BL]
Conclusion for the Fourth Control Group [3-1C]
The Fifth Control Group:
Type 2 Las Plagas: (Head-Eaters) [CT2]
Standard Handgun [T2HA]
Red 9 [T2RE]
Blacktail [T2BL]
Conclusion for the Fifth Control Group [T2C]
The Sixth Control Group:
Chapter 5-1 Soldiers: (Starting Island) [C5-1]
Standard Handgun [C5HA]
Red 9 [C5RE]
Blacktail [C5BL]
Conclusion for the Sixth Control Group [5-1C]
The Seventh Control Group:
Chapter 5-1 Bio Hazard Soldiers [CBIO]
Standard Handgun [BIOHA]
Red 9 [BIORE]
Blacktail [BIOBL]
Conclusion for the Seventh Control Group [BIOC]
Appendix 1: Statistics when Upgraded to Exclusive [AP1]
***The Tables and figures expressed in this guide represent data collected
while playing the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. While
some of the data may be pertinent to other versions, my understanding is
that several of the weapons in the GameCube version have different stats,
and thus would produce different results than those shown here.***
Resident Evil 4 was a game I was extremely excited for. Before it came out I
was working at a video game retail store and we had a demo version of it on the
GameCube system that would let you play from the begining of the game until the
cutscene just after you survive the village attack area (or for a certain
amount of time if you were too slow to get that far). I played it every time I
was at work and had a break (and a few times when I was the only person in the
store). I loved it. I loved how they completely redid the aiming scheme, and
I thought it was so cool and resourceful that they added the laser sight to all
weapons so the player could see where they were aiming (as opposed to most
other shooter games where you get the crosshairs).
When the game finally came out, I was so practiced at shooting enemies in the
head, charging in until the "Kick" command showed up, then knifing them to
death, that I wound up using a handgun for the majority of the game (excluding
bosses).
My first time through the entire game (on GameCube), I went from using the
regular Handgun, to using the Punisher that you receive once you shoot all 15
of the blue medallions (the firepower is upgraded to 1.1 already if you take
down all 15 blue medallions before taking the free weapon), to using the
Blacktail as soon as it became available. I never even shot the Red 9.
Eventually I wandered online to see what other players were using for their
handgun, and I discovered a guide (I forget exactly what, probably one from
gamefaqs.com) that highlighted the Red 9. So I tried it out for myself, and
to this day am convinced that it is the best handgun, not only for dealing out
damage, but for preserving ammunition, surviving, and long range handgun
shooting. Thats not to say that the other pistols aren't great weapons, its
just that I prefer the Red 9, and I'm hoping that by the end of this guide, you
will prefer the Red 9 over all other handguns (with the Blacktail or Standard
Handgun being a close second choice).
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<> My Handgun Progression and Upgrade Choices <> [MYH]
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When I play through Resident Evil 4 from a new game (not a new game+), I have
worked out what I consider to be the best progression for which handguns to use
for the entire game. Without fail, when I play a New Game on Professional, I
follow this progression.
Since you start with the Standard Handgun, it is an obvious first gun. Don't
bother upgrading it, at all, unless you are desperate for 9mm rounds, then you
can upgrade the capacity to get a whole clip of bullets (I've never had to
resort to this, but its nice to have the option). Try to use your last Handgun
bullets to nail the remaining Blue Medallions, so you don't have to waste any
9mm's when you sell it.
Second, I like to use the "free" Punisher, once all 15 of the Blue Medallions
have been nailed. I used to toss this gun as soon as the Red 9 became
available (right before the "cabin ambush" I believe), but now I realize that
the cabin fight is an great place for lining up 2 enemies to make the most out
of the penetration ability of the Punisher. Enemies regularly clump up by the
windows before they climb in (though I always wait until they are inside so I
can pick up anything they drop). Also, when you head upstairs, wait at the top
of the staircase, and look down the stairs to easily line up the enemies
walking to the second floor. In-between pushing the ladders away from the
windows, I constantly run back to keep the enemies walking up the stairs under
control.
Again, I do not spend any money upgrading the Punisher. If you are desperate
for 9mm, then you can upgrade the capacity for a full clip of bullets. If you
are having trouble with the "Cabin Ambush", then maybe I can rationalize
upgrading the Firepower, or Firing Speed, but only if you are having too much
trouble passing the ambush.
After the "Cabin Ambush" I promptly sell my Punisher and buy the Red 9 and
never look back. I hold off on buying the stock, since the Red 9 is easy to
use when the enemies are at close and/or medium range. I upgrade this weapon
as soon as possible and I only upgrade the capacity when my current clip is
low on bullets. I willingly backtrack to take the merchant a Red 9 with "0"
bullets in the clip.
Once I reach the Castle, I always buy the stock. If your money is lacking,
let Firepower take the highest precedence for your upgrades.
If you like using the Blacktail, then skip the Red 9 altogether. The Blacktail
is an excellent handgun, boasting a higher Firing Speed, Reload Speed, and
Capacity than the Red 9. It also takes up way less space (5 less spaces
compared to the Red 9 + Stock).
The Standard Hangun is also a great choice, but will consistently perform
worse than the Red 9 until Exclusive Upgrades become available late in
Chapter 4. However, the Standard Handgun costs much less to upgrade
completely (more than $100,000 less) than the Red 9 and the Blacktail.
Sticking with the Standard Handgun makes it much easier to afford the Striker
Shotgun and Killer 7 Magnum if you prefer to buy those guns.
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<> Overview and Upgrade Information <> [OVER]
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Included below are the complete upgrade statistics for all 5 handguns. I also
recorded the earliest instance when a gun can be upgraded. If there is nothing
more than the Chapter listed (i.e. Chapter 3-1), then that gun can be upgraded
at the first (and any) merchant you run into during that chapter.
There is also a quick review of each handgun, where I tried to be as objective
as possible, and focus on situations when each gun would perform the best.
It seems as if "Critical Headshots" are a function of bonus damage based upon
a handgun's Firepower, instead of an instant-kill. This means that end-game,
the Standard Handgun will not be able to 1-shot-kill the toughest basic enemy
(the Bio-Hazard Soldiers). Both the Red 9 and Blacktail will be capable of
1-shot-kills against all basic enemies.
The Handgun is a great gun. After I found out that every gun had special
"Exclusive" powers after you upgraded them fully, I went through the game
again and kept the Standard Handgun. Having a high critical headshot chance
is great, especially since I was almost always aiming for the enemy's head
anyways, and having an enemies' head 'pop' meant that I wouldn't have to
spend time kicking and knifing the poor foe to death.
The Handgun reaches its Exclusive first, almost a full 2 chapters before the
other pistols. It also costs the least to upgrade (at about $200,000 total
cost).
However, 2.0 is low when you consider the Firepower of every other handgun.
Imagine my frustration when I started running into those Metal-Mask-Wearing
Monks! Or the Army Soldiers with head defence! Pft! Shoot an enemy in the
legs or chest? Are you kidding? And shield guys? Cmon! (This was before I
learned that you could shoot their foot/leg then run up and "Kick" off their
shield.)
Of course I learned that shooting an enemy in the legs, then following up with
the suplex and knifing was an effective combo, but I realized that the bonus
critical chance was worthless against anything but the most basic zombie (I
know they aren't zombies).
Until you upgrade this gun to it's Exclusive, its best to shoot all Zealots
(robe-wearing-pale-faces) in the legs/knees/feet to trigger the "Suplex"
attack. Once the Exclusive has been purchased, it makes sense to shoot all
basic Ganados in the head (unless they have protective armor, or a shield).
Using a pistol like this against bosses? Forget about it! Against the
Garrador? Forget about it! Chainsaw weilding Bella Sisters? Well...I'll
still shoot them in the head with the pistol to stagger them, run up and kick
them, then fire repeatedly into their head while they are on the ground. But
any other pistol will work exceptionally better than the Standard Handgun in
these situations.
If you loathe shooting mini-bosses and bosses with handguns, and are very
comfortable shooting basic enemies in the leg to set up the "Suplex" attack,
then this pistol is great because it dominates normal enemies with it's high
Critical Headshot rate once upgraded to it's Exclusive.
The Punisher is a great gun. You can get it for the cost of 10 (or 15) well
placed shots from your Standard Handgun and a trip to the Merchant. If you
weren't aware; Shooting all 15 of the Blue Medallions means the merchant will
give you a Punisher that is already upgraded to 1.1 Firepower.
It passively pierces the first basic target to continue to a second (as long as
the target isn't a wall, or metal armor). This is great for those of you who
don't want to spend the extra time aiming for the head, but for bullet-saving
aficionados like myself, the piercing ability isn't that great.
Against the zealots/Soldiers with wooden shields, this is easily the best gun.
Since it pierces the shield and continues to the enemy, it is great for
stopping them dead in their tracks. If shooting them in their leg/knee/foot,
then "kick"ing off their shield is your thing, this gun outperforms all
others.
I never really used this gun in-game with the Exclusive upgrade. There just
aren't that many situations where you will be able to line up 5 baddies. Sure
you will be saving ammo by hitting multiple targets, but it takes a few more
shots to drop enemies by shooting them in the torso/limbs than it does from
well-placed headshots.
Still, I love using this gun during the "Cabin Ambush" fight with Luis. My
favorite spot is at the top of the staircase, looking down the flight of
stairs. From here, it is easy to line up headshots as well as secondary
targets.
If you love to manuever all of your enemies into a line, then this gun is
perfect for you, however, it has the lowest damage output against single
targets when it is upgraded fully, making it quite possibly the worst handgun
to use against bosses, and solo mini-bosses. You really need to be fighting
an enemy with a shield, or lining up 2 targets to get the most out of the
Punisher.
The Red 9 is a great gun (starting to see a pattern here?). Shot for shot, it
is the most powerful handgun in the game. What it lacks in Firing Speed, and
Reload Speed, it makes up in pure Firepower! Besides, .40 is still pretty fast
and you can reload after you have decimated the entire room of zombies (I know
they aren't zombies).
I mean, just LISTEN to the sound the gun makes when it fires! You can tell
that whatever that bullet hits is gonna be in for some hurt! Sure, it takes up
8 inventory spaces (4x2), sure it kicks like a mule, but thats what the stock
is for! Try this bad boy out with the stock, and you will see that it is the
most steady gun, at the cost of an additional 3 spaces (3x1).
I cannot stress how superior this gun is to all others (though it only beats
the Blacktail by a "razor thin" margin when considering raw damage output).
Buy it, use the stock, and amaze your friends when you free Ashley from her
thrice-iron-restrained prison with only 3 shots. This gun is a BEAST! If I
was an enemy, I would just give up once Leon pointed the thing at me and save
myself the misery.
This gun is great against all enemies as long as you are a steady shot.
The Blacktail is a great gun. Great Firepower, the best Firing Speed, the
quickest reload (The Punisher reloads just as fast), and the best Capacity,
unless you consider the Matilda, which isn't available until you New Game+.
Its "almost" as great as the Red 9 : )
Ok...Ok...its actually SUPERIOR to the Red 9 in certain ways. Since it has a
very high Firing Speed, it is much better suited for fighting multiple enemies.
If you don't mind shooting extra bullets, it could be considered a better
handgun against bosses than the Red 9.
I used this gun for my very first playthrough, and loved it. Even though I now
prefer the Red 9, this gun is perfectly fine.
However, as you will notice in the statistics gathered, it quickly loses to
the Standard Handgun when Exclusive Upgrades are considered, and never beats
the Red 9 in performance, shot for shot.
+==========+
| Matilda \
}====================================\ [OMA]
}=====================================+
| Upgrade: | New Game+ $70,000 \
}===============+=================================+==========\
| Firepower: | Earliest it can be Upgraded: | Cost: |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 1.5 | Starting Firepower | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 1.7 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | $15,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 1.9 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 17,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 2.1 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 20,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 2.3 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 25,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 2.5 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 35,000 |
}===============+=================================+==========={
}===============+=================================+==========={
| Firing Speed: | | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| .47 | Starting Firing Speed | |
}===============+=================================+==========={
}===============+=================================+==========={
| Reload Speed: | | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 1.73 | Starting Reload Speed | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 1.47 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | $ 6,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 0.87 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 15,000 |
}===============+=================================+==========={
}===============+=================================+==========={
| Capacity: | | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 15 | Starting Capacity | |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 18 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | $ 7,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 21 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 10,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 24 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 12,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 27 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 16,000 |
}---------------+---------------------------------+-----------{
| 30 | Any Chapter (New Game+) | 20,000 |
}===============+=================================+==========={
}===============+=================================+==========={
| Exclusive: | Any Chapter (New Game+) | $35,000 |
+---------------+---------------------------------+-----------+
\ Total Cost: | $233,000 /
+-------------+---------+
The Matilda is a...well...excessive gun. If you're dying to burn through all
of that spare 9mm ammo you have been hoarding just in case there is a surprise
zombie attack after the credits, then this is the gun for you!
I guess it could be a great gun if you are very light on your trigger finger,
or shooting at a big target (El Gigante), and I guess it could be considered
super-effective against mini-bosses like Dr. Salvador (the Chainsaw guy).
Personally, I loathe the though of aiming for the enemie's head and noticing
that the second shot of the 3-shot burst "pop'd" the enemy's head, and I shot
an extra bullet into the nothingness that is Resident Evil 4's background.
*-Passively pierces the first target to continue to a second.
**-5x Chance to Critically hit when aiming for the head (roughly 40%).
***-Passively Pierces up to 5 enemies.
As the chart shows, the Red 9 will always have the highest firepower, followed
by the Blacktail. The Punisher will always have the lowest Firepower, but will
always be able to hit up to 2 targets (potentially doubling it's Firepower).
The Standard Handgun has an excellent exclusive, but you don't have the
opportunity to upgrade it to the Exclusive until Chapter 4-3.
Clearly the Red 9 and Blacktail are your best bets for consistent damage
output. Right away the Red 9 is almost 30% stronger than the Standard Handgun,
and almost 40% stronger than the Punisher (and thats if you upgrade it to Level
3 Firepower...if you consider the leap from 1.1 Firepower for the Punisher to
1.8 Firepower for the Red 9, its about 60% stronger).
Any of the handguns can get you through the game, and are decently effective
against all basic enemies, but the Red 9 will consistently kill foes in less
ammo, whether you are aiming for their head, legs, or torso (unless you are
using the Punisher to aim at the torso of 2 enemies).
There is a reason why the Red 9 is bigger than the other pistols. Its almost
like balancing. The sacrifice is 2 extra inventory slots for additional
Firepower. Adding the Stock for the Red 9 makes this gun stand out even more
against it's competition. Once the Stock is attached to the Red 9, it becomes
the most steady handgun.
As the chart illustrates, there is a very small difference between the Firing
Speeds of each handgun. The Red 9, with the slowest Firing Speed, is only .07
seconds slower than the Handgun and Punisher.
Basically, at the full upgrade;
The Standard Handgun and the Punisher can shoot 6 bullets in 2 seconds.
The Red 9 can shoot 5 bullets in 2 seconds.
The Blacktail can shoot 7 bullets in 2 seconds.
The Matilda can shoot more bullets than you want to shoot in 2 seconds.
The difference is that the Red 9 will deal out 32 damage, the Blacktail will
deal out 31.5 damage, the Punisher will deal out 11.4 damage per target, and
the Standard Handgun will only deal 12 damage.
The Red 9 does the most damage over 2 seconds, and uses the least amount of
ammunition (The Punisher would have to hit 3 targets with every bullet to beat
the Red 9 in damage dealt, and would still use more ammo).
Below is my statistical observation of how often the specified Handgun will
score a Critical head shot, ('pops' head, blows off head, instant kill e.t.c.)
for Professional Difficulty on the PlayStation 2 as well as Professional
Difficulty on Xbox 360. Also contained in this guide is an analytical
comparison of how effective each Handgun is.
For Critical Hit Chance, I only compared the Standard Handgun, Red 9, and the
Blacktail. Sorry Punisher and Matilda fans, I can only assume that the
Punisher and Matilda have the lowest chance of scoring critical hits to the
head (this due to the low damage once fully upgraded, and the lack of a
critical-affecting Exclusive Upgrade). Each Handgun will be fully upgraded to
their Exclusive for comparison. It will be specially noted when the opponent
is defeated on the first shot, as this will give what I will term the "true"
headshot critical rate. I assume the natural "true" chance for a critical
headshot lies somewhere between 5% and 10% for all handguns.
Regardless of whether or not a critical hit is scored, if the enemy is killed
with a shot to the head, the end result will always be a head explosion (except
for the first enemies of the game, and any enemy wearing a metal mask). This
guide only concerns standard humanoid enemies, and not Mini-Bosses (chainsaw
weilders, garradors e.t.c.) or Bosses.
Please understand, that as with all statistics, they can never be perfectly
accurate. The way that odds, or statistics work, is that they are more
accurate with larger amounts of incidences (thus, killing 1000 enemies with a
handgun will give you more "statistically accurate" data than killing 10
enemies).
Though I only chose to kill 30 enemies, per Handgun, per scenario, the
analysis I submit is noteworthy, but not 100% accurate.
Again, this is a comparison for Professional Mode, on the Playstation 2 and
Xbox 360 version of Resident Evil 4 (and a USA version of the game).
(Additional data collected during Chapter 5 was done using an XBox 360
Version of the game while statistics gathered from every other chapter was
done using a Playstation 2 version).
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<> A Note on Control Groups <> [NCON]
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It is important in any experiment, or statistic-driven observation, to
establish a "control group", the un-biased measure upon which your data will be
predicated. For this reason, I will not include any instances where the enemy
was damaged in any way other than a direct shot to their head from a Handgun.
Enemies accidentally kicked will not be included, nor enemies that have
grappled me from behind (as escaping does some minor damage).
Because I will be discarding data from enemies accidentally damaged by shots
to areas other than their head, this will cause my data to be slightly skewed
in favor of instances where an enemy died from less shots. For example, lets
say I shot an enemy twice in the head, but then shot him in the arm. He must
be discardged. Now lets say that the next enemy died in only one shot to the
head. This will cause my data to show slightly higher critical headshot rates
than should be expected.
For the enemy to be included in my information the following must be met:
-They must only receive damage to their head. Either the enemy will stagger,
(being vulnerable to a "kick" command) or their head will "pop".
-Enemies that drop to the ground dead, with their head intact, will be
discarded, as it is probably due to a shot to their chest/shoulders.
-Enemies that place their hands in front of their face to shield themselves
must drop their hands to their sides before damage is inflicted to the head
(even though you could argue that as long as they "stagger" or "pop" from the
damage it is a "legal" hit).
-Even though enemies are somewhat jostled when they are in the close proximity
of a "pop", this action does no damage to them, and serves more as an
interrupt than damage. They will be included.
-For most instances, I tried to have the enemies be in their "slow-walking
form" or stationary, not swinging a weapon, or ducking, or dodging, or running
towards me. Although a very small number were in an alternate animation, I do
not believe this has an effect on the Critical Hit Rate for headshots.
I have a hidden suspicion that enemies may spawn with slightly alternate
health. For the purposes of this guide, I assume that all enemies of a certain
type have roughly the same health (all villagers have the same health, all
zealots wearing the same outfit have the same health e.t.c.). Also, I believe
that shooting enemies in the head provides a positive damage modifier (doing
more damage per shot, than say, a shot to the leg). Sadly, due to my hidden
assumptions that;
a. enemies of the same type may or may not spawn with varying health
b. damage to different parts of the body results in different damage modifiers
that may or may not have a hidden, random element to them (i.e. a shot to
the head may do anywhere from 30-100% extra damage)
It would be hard to prove my point without excessive amounts of killing. If
one, or both of the above are true, then it further invalidates some amount of
my guide. However, this guide will still be excellent at providing an overview
of each Handgun's capabilities and potential.
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<> The First Control Group: <> [C1-1]
<> Chapter 1-1 Villagers: The Pueblo <>
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I will be using The Pueblo from the first chapter (the area where you acquire
the first Shotgun, also the setting for the first level of the Mercenaries
mini-game) as my First Control Group. This area provided a plentiful source of
enemies, though at times hard to manage due to the large number of groups. In
cases where several enemies grouped together, I singled out individuals (like
the females, or the enemy with the pitchfork) to keep my data accurate as I
sometimes was forced to disengage the enemies.
I can only assume that this data gathered would be applicable to enemies later
in the game to a certain degree (future enemies may have significantly more
health, thus lowering the "false" Critical Head Shot Rate...or a "pop" that
results from damage, not from a Critical Hit.
To metaphorically "beat a dead horse", running the Pueblo 100 times would
provide a more accurate portrayal of each guns ability. I have chosen to kill
30 villagers per Handgun, and discuss enemy info that is "extremely
abnormal" (for instance, if on average it took 2 shots to "pop" a villager's
head with the standard Handgun, and one villager out of the 30 happened to
take 8 headshots to "pop")
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<> The First Conrol Group: <>
<> Standard Handgun vs. Villagers (day) <>
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Standard Handgun Exclusive: 5x Higher chance to score a Critical Headshot
*-For this instance, the measured critical chance of the Standard Handgun is
43%. This figure is important, because the handgun has a relatively low damage
output. Since the Exclusive for the gun improves the Critical Headshot Rate by
5x, the natural Critical Headshot Rate of this Handgun can be estimated at
around 8.6%. This falls within my initial guess, that every Handgun has a
natural 5%-10% chance to Critically hit, when the target is the head.
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<> The First Conrol Group: <>
<> Red 9 vs. Villagers (day) <>
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# Shots to Kill Ratio: Percentage: # Bullets used:
1 = 21/30 = 70%* 21
2 = 9/30 = 30%** 18
---
39 Shots used to kill
30 villagers***
*-This figure does not reflect this weapon's "True" Headshot Critical Rate, as
the majority of these 1-shot kills are due more to the sheer damage inflicted,
than to a percentage chance.
**-That it took 2 shots to kill a portion of these enemies may implies that;
a. Some enemies may spawn with differing Health.
b. There may be a hidden variable affecting the damage inflicted when a
headshot occurs (a random number generator affecting bonus damage).
c. The Red 9 will always kill a villager (from Chapter 1) in 2 or less
shots to the head.
***-The Red 9 took the least amount of bullets to kill all 30 villagers. This
will be a recurring theme. This is to be assumed since it deals out the most
damage per shot.
# Shots to Kill Ratio: Percentage: # Bullets used:
2 = 30/30 = 100%* 60
---
Shots used to kill
30 villagers
*-Notice that there were no 1-shot kills expressed by this run. If this gun
has a 10% chance to kill instantly with a headshot, then there is only a 3.81%
chance that out of 30 kills, none of them will be killed by the first shot. I
know that the Blacktail is capable of 1-shot kills. I also know that I did
kill 30 enemies, all of them died with no head. I thought it was odd that
without exception every enemy died from 2 shots, so I even killed an extra 5
villagers, beyond the 30. The extra 5 killed were not recorded, but served
more to satisfy my curiosity. In time, I will conduct another trial of 30
villagers to see if any of them die in one shot. Until then, please know that
the Blacktail has a very consistent damage output.
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<> Conclusion for the First Control Group <>
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Clearly, when the villagers from Chapter 1 are considered, the Red 9 beats both
the Standard Handgun, and the Blacktail, both in 1-shot kills, and ammo
preservation. Shot for shot, the Red 9 is going to deliver consistent results.
Though the Blacktail is more consistent, the Standard Handgun out performed it
in this run (by a very small margin).
For comparison, below are the above ratios stacked against each other.
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<> The Second Conrol Group: <> [C2-1]
<> Chapter 2-1 Villager: The Farm (night) <>
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The Second Control Group uses various Villager Ganados faced throughout chapter
2. I originally used the Villager that accompanies the first 'Type 1 Las
Plagas' you encounter right at the start of Chapter 2-1, but I found out that
he has more Health than the rest of the Villagers that will be encountered
throughout Chapter 2.
Since the Villager with the Type 1 Las Plagas was obviously an atypical sample,
I instead used the enemies in the Farm just past the Pueblo. The Farm was an
easy place to gather data because Ashley can be hidden in the dumpster, and
there are several stationary Ganados which do not become active until you walk
close enough to them, or shoot in their general area.
As an additional rule to elicit more accurate results, enemies weilding torches
must be shot so as to stagger them, as opposed to shooting them when they start
breathing the fire at you, causing their corpse to become charred.
As a side note, while killing the enemies within the farm (and the Pueblo), it
was common for 2 of the Type 1 Las Plagas to spawn from a defeated enemy.
Occasionaly 3 would spawn, and rarely 1, or none would spawn (from about 7
Ganados).
It is my opinion that C@pcom tweaked the spawn rate for various enemies and can
control it from anywhere from 0-100%. Two out of Seven Ganados spawning Type 1
Las Plagas is about a 29% chance for Type 1's to appear.
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<> The Second Conrol Group: <>
<> Standard Handgun vs. Villagers (night) <>
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Standard Handgun Exclusive: 5x Higher chance to socre a Critical Headshot
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<> The Second Conrol Group: <>
<> Red 9 vs. Villagers (night) <>
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# Shots to Kill Ratio: Percentage: # Bullets used:
1 = 8/30 = 26.6%* 8
2 = 22/30 = 74.4% 44
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52 Shots used to kill
30 Villagers**
*-Most of these 1 shot kills are probably due more to the sheer damage of the
Red 9 than because of it's Critical Headshot Rate.
**-It took 39 shots to kill 30 Villagers during the day, meaning it took
roughly 33% more ammunition to kill Villagers during the night using the Red 9.
# Shots to Kill Ratio: Percentage: # Bullets used:
1 = 4/30 = 13.3%* 4
2 = 26/30 = 86.7% 52
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56 Shots used to kill
30 Villagers**
*-Not an accurate representation of the Blacktail's True Critical Headshot
Rate.
**-I find it odd that it took less ammunition to kill the Villagers during the
night with the Blacktail, than it did during the day. The statistics I post in
this guide are only a general representation of each handgun's ability. I
would need to kill thousands upon thousands of Ganados to actually quantify the
most accurate stats for each gun.
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<> Conclusion for the Second Control Group <>
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Once again the Red 9 is the winner with 52 shots needed to kill 30 enemies.
The Blacktail is a close second with 56, and the Standard Handgun took 69
shots!!!
Remember that the Red 9 only took 39 shots to dispatch 30 units from the First
Control Group.
I believe that as the enemies start having more health, the amount of ammo
used to kill the control group will steadily rise for the Red 9 and Blacktail,
but slowly rise for the Standard Handgun due to it's ability to score Critical
Headshots 5x as often.
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<> The Third Conrol Group: <> [CT1]
<> Type 1 Las Plagas: (Razor Blades) <>
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The Third Control Group consists of the Type 1 Las Plagas that spawn from the
neck of defeated Ganados. I used the very first one you encounter right at the
start of Chapter 2-1. These are the Las Plagas that have the ability to swing
around in a full 360 arc and even attack when knocked to the ground.
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<> The Third Conrol Group: <>
<> Standard Handgun vs. Type 1 Las Plagas <>
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Standard Handgun Exclusive: 5x Higher chance to socre a Critical Headshot
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<> The Third Conrol Group: <>
<> Red 9 vs. Type 1 Las Plagas <>
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<> The Third Conrol Group: <>
<> Blacktail vs. Type 1 Las Plagas <>
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<> Conclusion for the Third Control Group <>
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Although the Red 9 won due to it requiring only 59 shots, the Standard Handgun
was very close with 63. Once again we can see the very high chance for the
Standard Handgun to kill enemies with the first shot.
In this situation, the Blacktail took alot more ammo to kill the same number of
enemies (87 shots).
For the fourth control group, I used 4 hooded Zealots from chapter 3-1. My
reasoning for using them was simple, they were the first enemies I ran into,
the first 2 Zealots you encounter after the room with the merchant, patroling
the balcony back and forth. Once you proceed past the area where the first 2
monks are patroling, a second set of 2 monks spawns from the entrance to this
area. All Zealots used; are unarmed, and hooded, with the same rules applying
from above for them to be considered.
*-This percentage is very similar to the % expressed in Chapter 1 (43% vs.
46.6%). If you average the two percentages together it comes to 44.8% chance
for a Critical Headshot).
**-If the Critical Headshot Rate for the Standard Handgun is 44.8%. then the
proability to NOT Critically headshot a Zealot by the 5th shot is 4.34%
(roughly 1 in 23). This leads me to assume that by the 5th shot, the enemy's
head will "pop" from damage, regardless of a critical hit or not.
# Shots to Kill Ratio: Percentage: # Bullets used:
1 = 3/30 = 10%* 3
2 = 27/30 = 90%** 54
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57 Shots used to kill
30 Zealots***
*-This control group more accurately expressed the "true" Critical Headshot
Rate for the Red 9.
**-For the First Control Group, only 30% of the enemies survived the first hit.
Since 90% of the Zealots took 2 headshots to finish, we can assume that this
control group may have up to 60% more health than the villagers from Chapter 1.
***-Compared to the 39 bullets it took to kill the 30 villagers from the First
Control Group, it took 46% more ammunition to dispatch the 30 Zealots.
Since I used the same Red 9 from Chapter 1, we have to assume that either;
a. The Enemies in Chapter 3 have more health than those from Chapter 1
or b. The Enemies in Chapter 3 have a form of damage reduction, compared
to those in Chapter 1
*-Proof that the Blacktail is capable of 1-shot kills. I'll consider the data
from chapter 1 to be atypical since there were no 1-shot Critical Headshots.
In a future version of this guide, I will be revisiting the Pueblo in Chapter 1
with the Blacktail and comparing the second set of data to the first.
**-Since there were no enemies from the Pueblo in Chapter 1 that survived 2
head shots, again We can again assume that;
a. The Enemies in Chapter 3 have more health than those from Chapter 1
or b. The Enemies in Chapter 3 have a form of damage reduction, compared
to those in Chapter 1
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<> Conclusions for the Fourth Control Group <>
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The Red 9 still outperforms both the Standard Handgun, and Blacktail, with the
notable exception that the Standard Handgun defeated a substantially greater
number of Zealots on the first shot. But when you consider that by the
second headshot, 100% of the Red 9's victim's were dead, as opposed to the 63%
defeated by the Standard Handgun, the Red 9 is faster, and more efficient at
killing the Zealots. Taking only 57 shots to kill 30 of the Zealots (vs. the
Standard Handgun taking 68 shots, and the Blacktail taking 69), the Red 9 is
better for ammo conservation.
For comparison, below are the above ratios stacked against each other.
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<> The Fifth Conrol Group: <> [CT2]
<> Type 2 Las Plagas: (Head-Eaters) <>
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For the Fifth Control Group I used the Type 2 Las Plagas that spawns from the
neck of the Red-Robed Zealot in Chapter 3-1, in the room where the Gold and
Platinum Swords need to be placed in their appropriate slots to progress to the
next room. These are the Las Plagas that can 1-hit-kill Leon if they lurch out
and connect.
Since the Red-Robed Zealot in this room always spawns a Type 2 Las Plagas
(unless you finish him with a "Suplex"), he was a consistent source. Due to
the Type 2 spawning from a Red-Robed Zealot, they may start with more health
than those Type 2's which spawn from a defeated Black-Robed Zealot.
I only killed 15 of the Type 2 Las Plagas with the 3 handguns. I figured that
killing 15 was enough to get a general idea of how well each gun performs
against them.
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<> The Fifth Conrol Group: <>
<> Standard Handgun vs. Type 2 Las Plagas <>
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Standard Handgun Exclusive: 5x Higher chance to score a Critical Headshot
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<> The Fifth Conrol Group: <>
<> Red 9 vs. Type 2 Las Plagas <>
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<> The Fifth Conrol Group: <>
<> Blacktail vs. Type 2 Las Plagas <>
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<> Conclusion for the Fifth Control Group <>
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All things considered, the Red 9 has consistently outperformed both the
Standard Handgun and Blacktail when we consider how much ammunition it took to
defeat an entire Control Group.
The Type 2 Las Plagas are no exception. When you consider the Red 9 as the
basis for comparison to the other 2 guns, it took 50% more ammo for the
Standard Handgun, and twice as much ammo for the Blacktail to do the same job.
The information gathered in Chapter 5-1 represents the most pertinent
statistics as this is the first chance to use the Exclusively upgraded Red 9
and Blacktail (the Standard Handgun could have been exclusively upgraded 2
chapters earlier) when playing a New Game. The first group of soldiers were
used to compile the data (the ones which support JJ the mini-gun man).
(The information for this chapter was gathered using an XBox 360, USA version
of Resident Evil 4.)
*Comparable Critical Hit Rate to previous instances.
**This is the first time the Standard Handgun out performed the Red 9. As is
to be expected, as the average health of enemies rises, the Standard Handgun
should perform better than all other handguns.
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<> Conclusion for the Sixth Control Group <>
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This is where the Standard Handgun shines. Clearly outperforming the Red 9
by using almost 30% less ammo to defeat the same number of enemies, and
putting the Blacktail to shame by using almost half the bullets it needed,
the Standard Handgun is best for defeating high-health standard mooks.
When using the Standard Handgun, I can only recommend exclusively aiming for
the head when facing normal ganados. The Red 9 and Blacktail are still
better suited for setting up Suplex attacks by aiming at the legs of enemies.
The Bio-Hazard Soldiers (wearing gas masks, orange/yellow jumpsuits, and
often weilding stun rods), represent the basic enemy (mook) with the highest
base health. If there is barbed wire surrounding their face, they tend to
have slightly higher health (or damage resistance).
For this control group, I used the first 3 Bio-Hazard Soldiers that are
encountered on the Island in Chapter 5-1. They appear after the heading up the
ladder, after initial area where Leon needs to use the mirrors to focus the
red light to unlock the door.
(The information for this chapter was gathered using an XBox 360, USA version
of Resident Evil 4.)
*That no Bio-Hazard Soldiers were defeated on the first shot using the Standard
Handgun, but the Red 9 and Blacktail both achieved 1-shot-kills, leads me to
believe that "Critical Headshots" are a function of increased damage based
upon a weapons's Firepower, instead of an instant-kill.
**The Standard Handgun used the least amount of ammo to defeat 30 Bio-Hazard
Soldiers.
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<> Conclusion for the Seventh Control Group <>
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Once again, the Standard Handgun outperforms the Red 9 (this time by a
razor thin margin). The Blacktail still lags behind both the Standard
Handgun and the Red 9, spending about 25% more ammo to defeat the same number
of enemies.
Between the Red 9 and Standard Handgun, the Standard Handgun lacks the ability
to achieve a 1-shot kill, and the Red 9 suffers from a much longer reload time
(twice as long to reload), and marginally worse firing speed.
Considering that a player must traverse the majority of the game before seeing
the Standard Handgun outperform the Red 9, I still strongly recommend the Red 9
for New Games.
**-Damage over 10 seconds. If you were able to just unload at an enemy without
adjusting your aim, for 10 seconds, this is how much damage would be inflicted.
***-Since the Punisher has the ability to inflict damage on up to 5 targets,
its damage per capacity is the most volatile. Obviously, there are very few
instances where you will be able to line up 5 targets.
****-The Matilda fires in 3 round bursts. It is capable of dealing out the
most damage off the starting line (2.5x3=7.5). Though it is hard to quantify
the exact damage, the DPS is roughly 15.96 (1 second / .47 Firing Speed x 2.5
Firepower x 3 bullets) and the weapon's damage over ten seconds is around
159.60. Note that the damage per second is lower than both the Red 9 and
the Blacktail, and at the cost of 3 times the amount of bullets. Also, damage
amounts do not figure in the time it takes for the the 3 shots to occur, thus,
the DPS and Damage/10 secs is exaggerated.
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<> Legal and Contact Info <> [HERP]
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All information contained in this document reflects my own personal research.
Nothing has been borrowed. If others submit their own Statistics to me, and
I reproduce them here, they will be credited. Resident Evil is a product of
Capcom and blah blah blah blah blah... this is why I put this stuff at the
bottom of my guide, instead of at the top... jeez... cry more cause someone
might copy and paste your work...
I have given my permission to post my guide at a few gaming guide websites.
Send me polite and objective messages (ok...they can just be objective) with
questions, concerns, and/or comments @
