Resident Evil Village boss guide

(Image credit: Capcom)

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Village fight
Main boss 1
Main boss 2
Main boss 3
Miniboss 1
Miniboss 2
Main boss 4
Miniboss 3
Main Boss 5
Optional minibosses

Resident Evil Village has a boss density that dwarfs most games. Every hour you'll be going one-on-one with a huge monster in what feels like a lopsided fight, and if you don't know what you're doing, they'll play out that way. Ethan will get pancaked, chomped, shredded, melted—he'll die in some of the most horrific ways imaginable, unless you guide him through Resident Evil Village's boss fights using these tips.

So if you're having trouble, scroll down, my friend. Our Resident Evil Village boss guide will make sure you never hit too much friction and ensure you won't have anything spoiled. We've placed big spoiler blocks between every fight to help you out.

Boss tips are presented in chronological order, so just scroll down to where you're stuck using our patented spoiler abyss technology—not too far now!—and find the RE8 boss tips you're looking for.

Village fight

The first Village showdown

A lycan monster up close — (Image credit: Capcom)

Welcome to Resident Evil Village, everyone's here to kill you. It's not exactly a boss battle, but pitting you against an endless horde of lycans feels like a tall order, especially so early in the game. At this point your guns are still pretty weak and lycans take quite a few bullets to go down, but don't sweat surviving too hard. You're meant to fail eventually. The lycans will tie you up and take you to their leaders, but it's still worth surviving the attack as long as possible. Every lycan kill nets you a bit of extra cash, plus this is a good opportunity to practice positioning and blocking.

Fun fact: you can actually take down the big brute here, assuming you've got the firepower, tactics brain, and thick skin to make it. But on your first run, you likely won't come close. New game plus goals, eh?

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           >            AYE, ENTER THE VOID IF YE DARE
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>                                                     BUT SCROLL CAUTIOUSLY, YE READER...
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           >                       SPOILERS LURK BELOW!!!
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Main boss 1

How to beat Lady Dimitrescu

What we've got here is primarily a battle of attrition. Lady D (the D stands for dragon now) looks huge and intimidating, but this fight's a breeze as long as you take advantage of every opportunity to fill her with bullets.

Phase 1: In the first short phase, it's just you and Lady D on the staircase. Your first instinct might be to shoot the horrible thing in its horrible mouth, but you'll want to peek over those endless rows of teeth to the human shaped thing growing out of its back. That's what you want to shoot. Shoot it now and don't let up until she recoils and begins the next phase.

Phase 2: Now Lady D's gonna chase you around the tower in a circle. She's pretty slow, but will wind up and lurch towards you, closing some major distance in a short time. Don't stand still for too long or she'll football tackle you to hell. Run ahead, turn around, and pop some rounds into her with whatever you have, making sure to reserve some ammo for your shotty and rifle. If you do enough damage to her human torso, she might stumble and fall, opening her up to some close range, focused shotgun damage. Sometimes she'll just enter a short stun state, which is usually long enough to get at least one or two shells in her head.

Eventually, she'll take flight. Pay attention here. If she stops and hovers mid-air, now's a great time to get some rifle headshots in. Do enough damage in this state and she'll come crashing down and open herself up for some easy damage. If she keeps flying, she's gearing up for a powerful dive bomb attack. Try to keep a bead on her and note where she's coming from. Find out what length of the tower she's careening towards and get around a corner away from her, fast. She'll slide along the whole length of the tower and smash into you otherwise. Once you learn the attack cues and timings, this phase wraps pretty quickly.

Phase 3: You'll get a chance to breathe while Lady D flies around the tower and admonishes you from afar. Be sure to smash everything in this room, both as a form of protest and to scoop up all the free shotgun ammo. Lady D's coming in for a landing shortly. She'll bust through the stone and rear up in front of you. The goal here is to do as much damage as quickly as possible to prevent her from getting an attack in. With all that extra shotgun ammo, it's a pretty breezy phase. She'll go down quickly, as long as you keep your trigger finger busy. And that's it. Congratulations, you killed a meme.

Main boss 2

How to beat Donna Beneviento

I'm not sure I'd even call the final showdown with the dollmaker a boss fight, but honestly, you deserve to walk over the finish line after dealing with—well, you know what. What we've got is a simple game of hide and seek in which we stab a doll in the head three times over. Normal videogame stuff.

In my experience, the doll's first location is almost always upstairs in the back room. Approach the doll (Angie) in the wedding dress, and jab 'em. It'll scurry off and hide somewhere else in the house. The key to finding it again is following its distinct cackle and following a scattered trail of doll blood. Locations might be somewhat random, but the house is fairly small. I'm not even sure you can fail this section, even if it takes you a while to find the doll. Stab the sucker three times, empty its brain on the floor, and a scene will play. Onto the next nightmare.

Main boss 3

How to beat Salvatore Moreau

If you've ever had one too many tuna specials from the rotating sushi bar on dollar night, you'll know what I mean when I say our guy's gone full fish. Moreau's a big boy now, a rainbow trout except the rainbow is eyes, endless eyes.

This is basically Lady D in dragon mode, but with a more complicated arena and some super deadly attacks. Moreau's tanky too, with shorter windows for getting critical damage in and what feels like a much higher health pool overall. But don't worry, learn to avoid his most dangerous attacks and you'll do fine.

Defeat Lady D with these Resident Evil Village guides

Resident Evil Village survive the attack — (Image credit: Capcom)

Resident Evil Village tips: Ensure Ethan's survival
Resident Evil Village bell puzzle: Ring all five
Resident Evil Village doll puzzle: Find every item
Resident Evil Village masks: Escape the castle
Resident Evil Village wells: Get the Well Wheel

For most of the fight, Moreau is going to be right on your tail, trying to chomp you with the large human teeth protruding from his fish face. Before rearing up to slide over you or to leap on your back, he'll expose the human-shaped torso in that big mouth. Shoot it, but don't get too greedy. The free damage phases are fast.

Eventually he'll jump onto a higher level and start gurgling. This is when you hide, and fast. Look for yellow, which marks shelter in the arena. Try to keep in mind where the closest overhang is because getting caught in this guy's vomit rain will take you out in just a few seconds. If you get a decent angle, you might be able to get some rifle shots in on the human torso in all that mess. I'm honestly not sure if it's exposed, but Moreau flinches as if hit when I shoot in the spray where I think the body is. If you've got ammo to spare, it's worth poking at him anyway.

When he comes down, Moreau's belly is probably still full and his eyes all red. Keep your distance while he's bloated because he's getting ready to barf, once again, this time while also running you down. The stream's got some distance, and if you stand still he'll close the gap quickly, so keep running. Now's a good time to pepper the field with landmines if you've got 'em. Even better: lost for all those years beneath the water were about half-a-dozen conveniently placed explosive barrels. Shoot 'em when Moreau's near and he might trip and fall, exposing the soft chewy human center for a much longer time. Rinse and repeat, play it patiently and cautiously, and Moreau will go down in no time.

Miniboss 1

How to beat Urias, the big dopey lycan bully

The fortress boss and your acquaintance from that first village attack is back, baby, and he's pissed. You come into his house, guns blazing? Rude!

This is a pretty simple fight, but he's tanky and hits hard and the arena is tight. Keep as much distance between the two of you as possible, and use the time he rears up for a big leaping attack to get some shots in and trade places with the guy. Use the pillars to keep space between you if you feel cornered, and be sure to block if you can't get out of the way of his close-proximity horizontal attacks.

I recommend reserving a pipe bomb for clearing out the lycans he summons, so you don't have to multitask. Oh, and be sure to get the hell behind something if he snaps off one of the pillars and throws it at you. Those hurt. Otherwise, keep making that frantic figure of eight, peppering the guy with as many bullets as you can at every opportunity.

Miniboss 2

How to beat Sturm, the man with a propeller torso

What is this, The Evil Within? Silent Hill? Whatever, I'm into it. Finally, a boss fight against a real man, because what's more masculine than having a propeller for a body? My dad would love this guy, who is extremely cool and hot. Anyway, Sturm doesn't have many attacks, but he does a lot of damage (to be expected from a propeller torso) and fighting him ain't easy in the arena unless you deliberately attempt to open it up.

And that's exactly what you should do. When the fight starts, you'll feel like a rat in a maze and might have to take a hit or two on the chin. Make sure you have some health tonics at the ready just in case. When Sturm comes at you, he'll tear down any walls he connects with, which can open up the arena completely. Do your best to steer him towards standing walls to clear up the space as much as possible, because it makes the fight, especially phase two, much easier.

As long as you dodge his dashes, which Sturm telegraphs with long, noisy wind-ups, he'll bounce into the wall eventually and chill with his back turned. Since this is a videogame, his back is the weak spot. Shoot it with whatever you have. Shotguns up close, a magnum bullet if you want to move things along, a quick rifle shot or two if you're fast—it all works.

Eventually he'll get pissed and red and even hotter somehow, attaining a new fire breathing attack in the process. If he's not revving up as normal, it means Sturm's about to lay down some area denial bullshit, spewing out a long line of fire across the arena. You'll be glad you knocked down those walls at this point. He'll throw in some dashes between fire attacks to limit your available space for moving out of the way, but don't be too afraid to take a little chip damage from the flames. As long as you keep doing damage when Sturm hits the wall, he'll go down eventually.

Main boss 4

How to beat Karl Heisenberg

Our guy's Bloodborne cosplay has gone haywire. Now he's a big, fleshy machine and you two junkyard dogs are about to scrap. Lucky for Ethan, Chris kindly donated a tank to our cause. Here's the big secret to beating Heisenberg: shoot the glowing red spots and stay out of the way of his dash attacks. Heisenberg's not a major challenge as long as you never let up on the machine gun fire. Throw in missile attacks here and there, but not so often that you don't have one ready when he preps his big salvage toss.

Eventually, Heisenberg will pull up a bunch of metal sheets and build a shield around himself. There's a short window (literally) where you can shoot one of his weak points. Do it fast enough and he'll drop the sheets. If you don't pop the weak point, he'll toss those sheets at you. Get ready to dodge and block. I usually reserve a missile for the shield, just in case.

In the second phase, your tank is gone, but Heisenberg is hurting. He'll rumble towards you slowly and do some clearly telegraphed dashes, but do as you did in the tank. Keep your distance and shoot the sucker in the weak spot, this time his head. Dance around the arena and plink him with your rifle and the monster truck (ha ha) will go down soon enough.

Miniboss 3

How to beat Urias Strajer

You won't mitigate much damage from those overhead attacks, but blocking his horizontal swipes is important if you can't run out of the way quickly enough. This fight's a lot like fighting the last big brute, except you'll need to shoot this sucker in the back. Avoid those overhead attacks, block the horizontal swipes if you can't get out of the way in time, get to his side, and lay into him with everything you've got. Don't hesitate to use grenades to thin out the smaller lycans that drop down.

Main Boss 5

How to beat Mother Miranda

A good, challenging final boss in a Resident Evil game? How dare you! But it's true, Mother Miranda's a fun fight. We've got multiple phases, a whole suite of forms and attacks, and a gradual escalation that makes for a fun, fair duel. Her phases feature the same attacks, just sped up and with faster variation between her forms. The final phase is very straightforward, a fun climactic finisher that you'll know how to handle when it happens. Study her moves, practice some patience, and you'll do fine.

Normal form

She'll spin up and dash towards you, so run to the side when you see the tell. But don't turn around immediately. Miranda modifies the dash with one or two spinning melee attacks. Run for a little longer than you think you need to, and be ready to throw up a block just in case. Pepper her with the shotgun or handgun when you can.

Her other big attack in this form is the root splooge. She'll call up massive black roots, so check the floor to get out of the way, then get one of them between you and her. She'll pop into the air, spin up, and spray molten goo everywhere. When she drops, she'll pause for a bit. Get some shots in.

Spider form

As intimidating as Miranda's sharp legs look, this form's pretty simple. She'll perform three primary attacks, most of which you can avoid by running to the side of the arena. If she rears way up she's getting ready to march forward, swiping along the way. Run to the side and she'll stop for a minute, opening up her body for a couple shots. She'll rear up much faster if she's going to do a quick jab, but the same rule applies. Run away and to the side.

The big one to avoid: she'll leap up to a platform above the arena, and if you're fast you can get a rifle shot in here. Then she'll jump down and try to crush you. Running forward and under her didn't work well for me, but, once again, running to the side did the trick. Shoot her while she recuperates.

Flying form

The pistol's your friend in this form. Miranda will take flight and summon three gooey orbs. Pop them quickly before she sends them down at you. One pistol shot each does the trick. All the while she'll dance around in the sky, so pepper her with pistol shots when you can. If she does a corkscrew, she's getting ready to dive bomb you. When you see the tell, run to the side immediately. It's fast.

~~~ THE DARK ZONE ~~~

One more note for the bit where Miranda clouds the arena in darkness. The key here: listen. Headphones will make this much easier. Even if you can't see Miranda, she's pretty chatty during this part. Just pay attention to the direction her voice is coming from and get ready to dodge an attack.

She's got a big move set to memorize, and she'll start moving between all her forms quickly, but once you've committed the tells to memory, Miranda's a cinch.

Optional minibosses

How to find and beat the optional ogre minibosses

Resident Evil Village tucks away quite a few secrets, and one you definitely don't want to miss are the secret miniboss encounters. Like a damn Dark Souls game, Resident Evil 8 has a few hidden fights that I'm guessing quite a few players will miss. If you're early on in Resident Evil Village, then don't sweat it quite yet. You won't be able to reach the secret minibosses until you've hit specific points in the story.

The first is accessible after finishing things up at the dollmaker's estate. First, head back to the village and pick up the Broken Slab in the graveyard. Then huff it back to the Garden. A big ogre with an axe will be there to greet you.

The key to this guy? Keep your distance. The arena is circular, so keep rolling around it, peppering him with shots from afar. That axe has wide reach and playing it too close will get you chopped, diced, and screwed real fast. Sometimes he'll rear up and leap across the arena, but keep doing what you're doing and run away. He'll summon some shufflers too, so I'd lay out some mines at this point to avoid too much multitasking. Keep the gunfire flowing and the big guy will go down eventually.

The same rules apply for the second hidden miniboss, because it's the same damn enemy. You'll find this guy by turning left just before entering the Fortress area door, northeast of the church in the village.

The arena's a little tighter here though, and he'll summon flying enemies this time, but you've got a few explosive barrels to work with, as a treat.

How to find and beat the optional miniboss, Vârcolac Alfa

Once you finish off Moreau and return to the Village you might hear a piercing howl in the distance. Let's figure out where it's coming from.

Head to the Fallow Plot in the village, you know, the area with the tall grass just before the house that burned down. If you don't spot the Vârcolac Alfa at the top of the hill, it will definitely spot you. This sucker is fast and hits hard, so unless you're planning on using up all your magnum ammo, try to bait the thing towards the house at the foot of the hill.

I found the fight pretty easy if I stepped out the front door and baited it with a rifle shot or two. Run inside to dodge its surprisingly long leap, then shotgun the ugly thing. It'll run back up the hill if you go too far inside the house, so try to keep that invisible line tense. Continue popping in and out of the house, keep the gunfire steady, and it'll go down eventually. You should get an achievement, some bonus store points, and a big crystal body to sell. Nice.

James is stuck in an endless loop, playing the Dark Souls games on repeat until Elden Ring and Silksong set him free. He's a truffle pig for indie horror and weird FPS games too, seeking out games that actively hurt to play. Otherwise he's wandering Austin, identifying mushrooms and doodling grackles.