Resident Evil Village is a game with a fair number of elite enemy, mini-boss, and boss encounters in it. So, to help players get through the game in record time (and beat some of those time-based challenges), here are some of the ways we found to easily run circles around all the encounters.

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Most of these are exploits you can take advantage of, but some are methods that absolutely speed up the time you'll be spending on each of these encounters.

The Endless Lycan Assault

Resident Evil Village - Hanging Out Near The Red Gate To Survive The Lycan Ambush

First up is something most might not consider a challenge equal to the boss fights, but try getting through it on the Village of Shadows difficulty and then decide. Basically, these are some tips to get you through the polarizing timed ambush of the Lycans in the first hour of the game.

  • Use ladders to regroup — the invisible timer doesn't go down while you're on them, but Lycans can't attack you on it either.
  • Alternatively, camp at the gate where the Iron Insignia Door and Water Wheel are — it's an open area that's easy to kite enemies around.
  • You can glitch the Lycan tracking AI a bit by teasing the ladder that leads underground in the two-story house, as it can make the Lycans go back and forth between the front and back of the house.

The Three Dimitrescu Daughters: Bela, Cassandra, & Daniela

Resident Evil Village - What The Dimitrescu Daughters Look Like When They Are Killed

There's no real "exploit" for these three encounters, but there are some neat tips to make them even easier;

  • Bela: The first fight is so easy it basically functions as a tutorial, so there's no real need for tips.
  • Cassandra: This second confrontation can be a bit more annoying, but just know that you can run and move the bookshelf blocking the crack in the wall as soon as you enter the room. You can also blow up the wall to let the cold in almost immediately as well, if you bring a pipe bomb in with you.
  • Daniela: The third of the sisters, Daniela, is fought in the Library and is exposed to the cold by the skylight above. If you know this ahead of time, you can run to the switch on one of the pillars and make her susceptible to damage before she even finishes her entrance speech.

The First Lord: Lady Dimitrescu

Resident Evil Village - Fighting The Second Phase Of Lady Dimitrescus Boss Battle

The first real "boss fight" in Village is an odd one, as there are some things you need to know about this fight beforehand;

  • Don't bother trying to shoot her until she destroys both sides of the covered area on the rooftop, she's invincible until after this is accomplished.
  • Luckily, she staggers easily, especially if you hit her upper humanoid form. If you manage to stagger her, get close and unload to keep the stagger going.
  • Switching between weapons after every shot can actually save time too, depending on how you do it.
  • Once the second phase starts, immediately run up the stairs. She's once again invincible until she actually lands on the platform at the top.

And that's about it, but knowing when Dimitrescu is invincible makes a huge difference in the time this fight takes, as well as your ammo count.

The Second Lord: Donna Beneviento & Angie

Resident Evil Village - Confronting Angie And Donna Just Before Their Boss Battle Of Hide And Seek

Next up is the true horror-centric section of the game, the dollhouse. Getting through this area is scary, but relatively easy since you don't really "fight" anything. But, to cap this section off, there's a bossfight with Donna Beneviento (one of the more interesting characters in the game). Here's how to get through this bossfight lickety split;

  • This boss is only challenging if you're going in without prior knowledge — if you know where Angie can hide, this is a cakewalk.
  • Angie hides in three spots. First, she hides in the room upstairs, then the cubby area to the right of where the fight started, and finally she goes to the almost empty room on the other side of the first floor.
  • People have said that her hiding order can change, but it really only flops between two variations, and if it does change and you get the wrong order, just reload the save until you get the right one.

All Three Varcolacs

Resident Evil Village - Stumbling Across The Varcolac Outside Luizas Home

At this point, Ethan can finally access East Old Town again through the Unborn Four-Winged Key Door. But, there's a bit of a surprise waiting for you the minute you walk in: the Varcolac. Now, this isn't the only one in the game, there's another one in Luiza's field after clearing Moreau's area, and even a third one near where you find the Mermaid Ball as well. But, their strategy usually stays the same no matter where you find them.

  • The Varcolac can't get into any of the houses, the most they can do is swipe inside, so use this and kite them back and forth to take all three of them out without taking any damage.
  • Land mines also work incredibly well, since their explosion only throws you, but does no damage to you.
  • If you have extra Magnum shots and want to save time, a couple of hits between the eyes will down one of these things too.

The Urias Drac Guarding The Beneviento Treasure

Resident Evil Village - One Of The Urias Drac Axe Wielding Zombies

There are two Urias Drac's in the game, otherwise known as those giant health-sponge zombies with the axes, but this is usually the first one you'll encounter. After returning to the village from the dollhouse section, you can find and obtain the missing slab that will unlock the Beneviento Treasure underneath the gravestone. But, when you return, the Urias Drac literally hops down to stop you, here's what you need to know:

  • First, make sure you have a lot of ammo and your gun damage is as upgraded as possible at this current point in the game. The Urias Dracs are insanely tanky, and will absolutely eat up all of your ammo.
  • Second, make note of the stairs leading down to the grave, because, about halfway up them there's an invisible trigger the Urias Drac won't pass.
  • To make this boss as easy as possible, just poke at his head with bullets until he follows you up these stairs, wait until he stops, turns around, and starts walking back. Then, walk a bit forward, pick at him again while backing up, and repeat until he's dead.

The Third Lord: Salvatore Moreau

Resident Evil Village - Moreau About To Explode At The End Of His Boss Fight

Moving on to the sad-sack big fish Lord; in his transformed state, Moreau is just about the tankiest boss in the game. And, his acid rain attack can kill you in a heartbeat, so here's how to handle his fight with little to no problems:

  • After draining the water, Moreau will walk from the now-drained area to the boss arena right as you walk down the hill towards him. Moreau is 100% able to be damaged while he's walking from the sluice area to the boss area. So, lay down some mines or unload on him while he walks to make the "Sashimi" timed challenge all the easier to complete.
  • Moreau takes much more damage if you hit his humanoid form inside his mouth, so save the big-damage weapons for when he exposes himself.
  • Once again, land mines do a ton of damage through his fishy skin, so use them as much as possible.

The Urias Drac In Otto's Mill

Resident Evil Village - Sneaking Up On The Urias Drac Zombie In Otto's Mill

Just before walking up the long staircase leading to the Stronghold, you can actually head left into and find Otto's Mill, a place hiding a Goat of Warding under it and a gigantic butchering Urias Drac within it.

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The strategy is mostly the same, but the front and back doors don't work quite as well as the stairs near the Beneviento Grave, so it can be a bit trickier.

  • When you first walk into the room, the Urias Drac is too busy cutting up meat to notice you. Use this opportunity to get into position and line up a headshot with the Magnum/Rifle.
  • You want to keep this guy staggered as long as you can, as it becomes an entirely different fight once he's allowed to walk around and summon allies. Use the Magnum, flashbangs, an upgraded rifle, or whatever else to interrupt his animations as long as possible.
  • If you don't want to bother with any of that, either kite him to the door you came in from and use the same strategy as the Beneviento Drac or go for the back door with the three padlocks and shoot them off before he can attack.

The Younger Urias Brother

Resident Evil Village - Confronting The Younger Urias Brother

There are two of these gigantic, hairy giants to fight throughout Resident Evil Village. This one, the younger one, can be "killed" in the timed Lycan ambush at the beginning but will reappear at the end of the Lycan Stronghold as a mini-boss no matter what.

  • When the fight starts, he'll take a few seconds before jumping down into the arena, use this time to get some free shots off.
  • Periodically, Urias hops back up to summon some more mobs to fight for him. Wait until the new enemies drop in next to him, then unleash a grenade launcher shot to take out his allies before they can even come down.
  • In fact, the GM 79 (and the other explosives) actually has a high chance to stun him, whether with explosive rounds or flashbangs.

Sturm

Resident Evil Village - Sturm Charing Through With His Propeller Head

Sturms's design is great, though the concept and story behind it have brought Capcom some trouble. But, what's the best way for you to take care of this troublesome opponent, in-game?

  • Landmines and explosives absolutely break this fight open. Use all of them in this fight, and you can breeze through both of Sturm's phases.
  • When Sturm starts blasting fire, try and keep his back away from any walls, it's incredibly easy to get behind him while he unleashes this attack.
  • Other than that, just kite him effectively, fire into his weak point, and use whatever explosives you have and Sturm should go down rather easily.

The Fourth Lord: Karl Heisenberg

Resident Evil Village - Heisenberg In His Mutated Form Charing At Ethan Winters

Unfortunately, the metallic mystery that is the Heisenberg battle is one of the only bosses in the game without an easy workaround. Because of the way his boss fight works, you really just have to take him on legitimately. That said, it's not like there aren't any tips for how to do that efficiently as possible, though most of these tips are already covered in our guide on how to beat him quickly.

The Older Brother, Urias Strajer

Resident Evil Village - Stumbling Across The Older Urias Brother

Spoiler Alert: This entry contains major story spoilers, so if you haven't cleared the game before, skip down the page to the next section!

So, after taking control of Chris Redfield, you then get to run through a truncated version of the village and take out a big mutamycete cluster. Then, after going underground to take out the core of the Megamycete, Chris comes face to face with its protector, the second Urias brother.

Much like his sibling, this Urias also uses a gigantic weapon, though this time it's a mace rather than a hammer. The tactics for this fight are almost exactly the same, the main difference being that Strajer doesn't summon allies or hop up above, and he has a clearly marked weak point.

  • The story makes it seem like the only real way to hurt Strajer is with the Target Locator, but that's not at all the caseBullets still hurt him, especially if you aim at his back left shoulder where all those nasty tentacles are coming from.
  • Your only difference in tactics should be to do whatever you can to stagger him so that you can unload on his weak spot or charge up the Target Locator.

If done correctly, the older Urias should go down in two or less Target Locator charges instead of three, which saves a lot of time.

Ruler Of The Four Lords: Mother Miranda

Resident Evil Village - Lady Miranda In The Middle Of Her Boss Battle

Finally, we've reached the last boss of the game, Mother Miranda herself. Here are the best tips we've found for taking down this Mutamycete freak as quickly as possible

  • Probably the best layout for this fight is having a primary short-range weapon, a secondary long-range one, whatever pistol has the highest clip count, and pipe bombs.
    • Use the primary for when she's in her human form, staggered, or up close
    • Use the long-ranged weapon for her forms that keep you at a distance
    • Use the pistol to get rid of her projectiles right away.
    • Use the Pipe Bombs to get through her "darkness" attack quickly or just to pile on the damage when she's standing still. Because she moves in odd ways, land mines are actually pretty hard to use here.

Otherwise, there's not much else to exploit about Miranda's fight. You can get her in a stagger chain if you have a lot of Magnum ammo or some of the unlockable weapons, but that's about it.

NEXT: Resident Evil Village: Spooky Details You Missed In Castle Dimitrescu