Resident Evil 4 - Verdugo Boss Guide

The Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss presents two options: fight or flight. As you make your way through the Castle's Depths/Underground Laboratory, this creature will stalk you. You can either do everything you can to avoid it, or finish it off for good. Here's our Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss guide to help you defeat this opponent.

Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss guide

The Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss guide is primarily about understanding the layout of the area. The Underground Laboratory has winding corridors, and around four liquid nitrogen canisters. Make note of their locations, since they'll be important later on. Halfway through, a short cutscene will play, where you'll see that the Verdugo is stalking you. Then, at the very end, there are two instances where you have to press Circle/B on your gamepad to dodge its tentacle attacks. Once you turn on the power for the elevator, an autosave will trigger. Soon, the Verdugo will show itself.

Verdugo's attacks

Technically, you don't need to kill the Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss. If you want, you can simply wait until the elevator arrives to ride it back to the surface. But this is easier said than done due to your opponent's relentless nature. It has the following attacks:

• Claw Strike - A melee hit that can be deflected with your knife.
• Tail Strike - A single hit with its tail that can also be deflected.
• Multi-Strike - This attack sequence consists of three rapid Tail Strikes, and you need to parry each one if you want to avoid damage.
• Leaping Grasp - It will rear back and jump at Leon. You can evade this by pressing Circle/B. Otherwise, you have to press the right trigger (R2/RT) to stab it with your knife.
• Sweep and Tail Lash - Its other abilities consist of having its tail pop up from the ceiling or grates to hit you as you make your way through the tunnel. These can also be dodged.

Using liquid nitrogen pipes

The four liquid nitrogen canisters can be activated by interacting with them. You'll then need to run away not just because of Verdugo's lunging attacks, but also because the gas will cause damage to you. If you manage to bait your opponent into advancing, it will get frozen. You'll then have a few options:

• Kick and run - After it stops clawing the air, move forward to do a roundhouse kick, then run away. When the freezing effect dissipates, the Verdugo will scurry away, but it will reappear at certain sections of the underground tunnel.
• Use normal weapons - Alternatively, you can pump it full of lead, preferably hitting its head. Use hard-hitting weapons, such as shotguns or magnums. A submachine gun such as the TMP might also help, though its recoil can be hard to manage. As usual, it will run off once the freezing effect ends, but it will be back soon.
• Use the Rocket Launcher - If you already have the Rocket Launcher, then you'll want to freeze the boss first before firing the missile. It will shatter your foe's body, causing instant death. However, if the boss isn't frozen and you shoot it, the rocket will get wasted since your opponent will just scurry off before popping up again a bit later.
• Do note that the Verdugo does tend to destroy the pipes, but we've seen that it's possible to reuse them.

How the Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss fight progresses

Here's how the Resident Evil 4 Verdugo boss fight should go (you don't need to worry about this part if you plan on freezing and blasting it with a Rocket Launcher):

• Pick up any items you need in the underground area, then dodge the two tentacle attacks as you make your way to the room with the power switch. Trigger the autosave, and hit the switch when you're ready.
• Go back the way you came until you hear the Verdugo's approach, then run back to the first liquid nitrogen pipe near the switch. Wait for it to get frozen, then kick or shoot it.
• Open the door and go to the small room with the Treasure. Pick up the loot quickly, then ready your dodge once the tentacle pops up. The boss will also reemerge here, so get out of there.
• Enter the storage room with several crates, but don't pick up anything. Instead, unlock the metal door and go around the corridor. Use the liquid nitrogen pipe here to freeze it again. As usual, kick or shoot.
• Once it's gone, pick up ammo and other items from the storage room, but make sure you avoid multiple tentacle attacks.
• Continue back to the elevator room. Before you reach it, the boss should reappear. There's a liquid nitrogen pipe here (make note of this spot), then just kick or shoot.
• The elevator won't be there yet, so you can continue to the last corridor beyond. There's another liquid nitrogen pipe, and you'll know what to do by now.

Next, return to the aforementioned spot (the liquid nitrogen pipe before the elevator room). In our experience, the Verdugo didn't respawn. Instead, it simply tried swiping us with its tail, which is easily dodged. After doing this a few times, the elevator arrived, and we managed to escape. This will complete the Resident Evil 4 Verdugo encounter.

Still, if you do want to kill it, the Rocket Launcher is the way to go. If you use regular weapons, it's going to take a lot of ammo, and maybe a few healing items if you can't dodge/parry everything. Assuming you killed the Resident Evil 4 Verdugo (whether you use regular weapons or the Rocket Launcher), you'll receive the Gold Monocle treasure, as well as the "Wave Goodbye, Right Hand" trophy/achievement and challenge completion.

Last but not least, if you're just after the trophy/challenge, go ahead and kill it, then reload a manual save at the Merchant area just before the Undeground Laboratory. This will allow you to do an escape attempt where you won't need to waste your ammo or your Rocket Launcher.