Guide

Grace and Leon take turns in a single story (these are not separate campaigns). Every chapter of this guide says who you play.

• Grace Ashcroft: survival horror. Scarce resources, stealth, puzzles, safes, Lockpicks, Antique Coins and blood crafting.
• Leon S. Kennedy: action. Hatchet parries, finishers, attaché case, credits and Supply Boxes to buy and upgrade guns.
• Chloe (chapter 11): a short stealth section with no weapons.

You can switch the camera in the menu at any time: Grace starts in first person and Leon in third. Third person shows more (there is no field-of-view slider). According to the game's wiki, in third person Grace stumbles when fleeing a stalker but gets caught less often.

The Default control type, per the official Switch 2 manual. The manual contradicts itself on A and B: check the first on-screen prompt.

• ZL aim · ZR fire, slash or swing the axe (and finish when the prompt shows).
• L Hatchet parry (Leon) · L + Y sharpen the Hatchet.
• R quick heal · Y reload · A interact, kick or throw an enemy's weapon · left stick ↓ + B quick turn.
• X items · − map · + pause · ↑ flashlight · ← ↓ → switch weapon.
• Right stick click crouch · left stick click run.

Gyro aiming exists, but according to CGMagazine it only reads roll, so it's nearly useless for horizontal aiming in handheld mode. There is no Joy-Con 2 mouse aiming and no touchscreen inventory. Aim assist has several levels.

Settings that help: Movement Type = Walk (fewer accidental sprints in stealth), Repeated Input = Hold (mash prompts become holds), Reset Scope Magnification = Off, and Camera Wobble at 0 (it defaults to 10, the maximum) if first person makes you queasy.

• Casual: heavy aim assist, enemies with less health and damage, more resources and frequent autosaves. Health refills on its own up to yellow when you drop into the red.
• Standard (Modern): this guide's baseline. No Ink Ribbons and plenty of autosaves. After several deaths it offers to drop to Casual (irreversible).
• Standard (Classic): same puzzles, enemy health and damage as Modern, but Grace spends an Ink Ribbon per save and there are few autosaves. There are 15 Ink Ribbons and 16 Ink Ribbon Tins (tin + 40 blood = 1 ribbon). 12 minor Modern pickups are missing, 2 are Classic-only (a Mixed Herb (G+G) and Shotgun Shells in the Subterranean Passage, chapter 12) and there is one extra wave on Main Street (chapter 9). Leon saves for free.
• Insanity: unlocked by one clear on any difficulty. More health, damage and speed, more enemies, Ink Ribbons required, and coins, safes, the Parlor and some keys change.

Difficulty challenges stack: an Insanity clear also gives Casual, Modern and Classic. There is no grade: the results screen only shows time and difficulty.

• Dynamic rank (unconfirmed): according to data one player pulled from the game, enemy health is the same on every difficulty and a rank adjusts the rest based on how you play: Casual 0-2, Modern 3-7, Classic 4-8. Insanity would be locked at 9: you take 360% damage, deal 40%, stagger with 10% force, enemies move at 120% speed and melee weapons wear out twice as fast. Treat it as player data.
• Stealth = damage: shots at an enemy that hasn't seen you hit much harder.
• More blood: head and leg shots raise the blood you can harvest from the corpse.
• Rising price: each Stabilizer or Steroids you craft costs 10 blood more than the last (110, 120, 130).
• Credits per kill: nobody publishes per-enemy numbers; one guide's "500 per kill" looks like a ceiling.
• Leon would have 1,200 health and each armor bar 800 durability, according to another player (unconfirmed).

• Grace saves at typewriters (10): Room 201, Guard Office, Lead Researcher's Office Lounge, Custodian's Office, Basement Security Room, Processing, Research Facility Reception, Water Treatment Plant Storage Bay, ARK Lab Entrance and ARK Operations Room. Wrenwood has none.
• Leon saves at laptops. On a first run he has no manual save in Wrenwood or the Care Center (chapters 1, 2, 4 and 7): he relies on autosaves until the Central Camp laptop (chapter 9), which works once you start the generator. After that: Building 1 Storeroom, R.P.D. Main Hall, the Side Street container, ARK Staff Room and ARK B4 Staff Room. On later runs he has laptops from the prologue.
• Slots: 12 manual + 3 autosave. The game autosaves at character switches, after some cutscenes and before bosses and puzzles (fewer on Classic and Insanity).
• When you die you go back to the latest save, almost always the autosave.
• On Classic and Insanity, keep Ink Ribbons in the Item Box: every box except the Courtyard West Hallway one shares a room with a typewriter.

• 8 slots at the start, +2 per Hip Pouch: 16 with all 4.
• Linked Item Boxes (7): Guard Office, Custodian's Office, Basement Security Room, Courtyard West Hallway, Research Facility Reception, Water Treatment Plant Storage Bay and ARK Lab Entrance. Storing anything gives the Out of Sight, Out of Mind challenge.
• Key items take normal slots and discard themselves once they're no longer needed.
• Grace's charms only work while you carry them (each takes a slot).
• Bank Antique Coins, Ink Ribbons and keys you can't use yet. Leave every safe room with a loaded gun, one ammo stack and one or two heals.
• While you carry Emily (chapter 3) you can set her down on the Guard Office couch and keep exploring.

• Leon uses an attaché case like RE4's: rotate and fit items. Its only expansion is the Case Upgrade (8×13) (4,000 credits). He has no item box.
• At the Supply Box you buy, sell, upgrade (Tune Up) and repair armor. Each part has Lv. 1 and Lv. 2; Lv. 3 (★) comes with Advanced Tuning (all 25 Mr. Raccoons).
• He can't store guns: he sells them and buys them back for the same base price, upgrades intact.
• His charms hang on one weapon each and can be swapped any time.
• Leon's maximum health never goes up: his defence is Body Armor Lv.I (8,000) and Body Armor Lv.II (15,000). Armor loses durability as you get hit, stops protecting at 0 and is repaired for credits at any Supply Box. Body Armor Lv.III exists only on Insanity.
• Leon buys Med Injectors (1,500 credits); only Grace crafts them.

• The Tactical Tracker sits free on top of the Central Camp Supply Box (chapter 9). From then on every kill pays credits, but they only register when you open a Supply Box.
• Tracking Modules are loot you cash in for a fixed amount. A first run has 17 (common, rare and legendary) worth about 74,700 credits; the biggest, 10,100, sits on a server rack in ARK's Bioweapon Repository 11. Later runs add 9 more in Wrenwood and the Care Center.
• One run can't pay for everything: Lv. 1 and 2 of every gun cost about 322,000 credits. Pick 3 or 4: Silencer 9, a shotgun, a rifle and the Hatchet, plus armor.
• On Insanity and later runs the Tracker and the Supply Box are there from Leon's first section, and on Insanity kills pay more. The Tactical Tracker (Modded) (3,000 CP) pays more per kill and can't be switched off.

The Blood Collector (Blood Lab, chapter 3) draws Infected Blood from buckets, pools, dead infected and Transfusion Bags (a bag empties in one go: anything over capacity is lost). Capacity: 100; 150 with the Override Manual; 200 if you also own the Matsuoka Master Manual (1,000 CP).

Recipes unlock when you analyse each Blood Specimen at the analyzer (challenge Science!):

• Handgun Ammo ×8 = Scrap + 40.
• Hemolytic Injector = Scrap + 60.
• Med Injector = Green Herb + 60, or Mixed Herb (G+G) + 30.
• 12.7×55mm Ammo ×2 = Rare Metal + 80.
• Stabilizer or Steroids = Empty Injector + 110 (+10 for each one).
• Molotov Cocktail = Empty Bottle + 60 · Bottle of Acid = Empty Bottle + 80.
• Ink Ribbon = Ink Ribbon Tin + 40 (Classic and Insanity).
• Insanity only (Blood Specimen (Polymerized)): R.I.P. Knife = Scrap + 110; Handgun Ammo ×30 = Scrap + 120.

The Makeshift Knife takes 2 Scrap. Recipes don't carry over to the next run.

Leon crafts with Scrap and gunpowder; each recipe appears once he owns a gun that uses it:

• Handgun Ammo ×10 = Scrap + Gunpowder (Small).
• Machine Gun Ammo ×40 = Scrap + Gunpowder (Small). Sources disagree on 1 or 2 Scrap: carry 2.
• Shotgun Shells ×3 = Scrap + Gunpowder (Large).
• Rifle Ammo ×5 = Scrap + Gunpowder (Large).
• Hand Grenade = Scrap + 2 Gunpowder (Large). 2 Hand Grenades = 1 Stacked Hand Grenade.
• Herbs: Mixed Herb (G+G), and Mixed Herb (G+G+G) two ways.

That's 9 recipes: crafting them all gives Master Craftsman, and it counts even if you reload afterwards. The whole game has only 2 Gunpowder (Small) and the challenge needs both recipes that use it: never sell them.

• Green Herb, Mixed Herb (G+G), Mixed Herb (G+G+G) and Med Injector (full heal) work for both. R is the quick heal.
• Grace raises her maximum health with Steroids: a permanent yellow segment on the bar, up to 4. One comes from the Parlor and the rest are crafted from Empty Injectors. Steroids also heal you fully when used: they are your emergency heal.
• The Stabilizer (same recipe) adds firepower and stability and shortens the time the reticle takes to close (up to 4).
• There are only 3 Empty Injectors on Standard (4 on Insanity): with the Parlor's 2 that is 5 upgrades in all, and you choose the split. Together they cost 8 coins and about 360 blood.
• Leon never raises his maximum health: he wears armor. At some character switches his health refills on its own.
• On Casual, health refills on its own up to yellow.

• No parry, no block. Stagger with a head or knee shot and shove (A): the shove is weak, but it can push a zombie out of a doorway.
• Knives (Makeshift Knife, Hunting Knife, Kotetsu): they have durability. When a zombie grabs her, Grace stabs it to break free and the knife stays in the enemy: kill it to get the knife back. Without a knife, a grab means a bite. A knife that breaks gives back 1 Scrap even at 1 durability left: that's 8 more bullets.
• Hemolytic Injector: instant kill from behind while unseen, or on a staggered or downed enemy. Works on zombies, the Chef, staggered Blister Heads and Licker β2s, and leaves no corpse to mutate. It hurts Chunk badly: 3 kill him. Craft injectors before bullets.
• Guns: the B934 (Dining Room, found empty) and soon the S&S M232 (behind the Bar & Lounge bar). Empty the B934 before you swap.
• Throwables: Molotov Cocktail (freezes The Girl for a moment and one-shots the grey ARK Zombies), Bottle of Acid (one-hit kill on a Licker β2 on every difficulty) and the chapter 6 Disposal Tank (hemolytic gas).

• Parry (L just before the hit, with a sharp Hatchet or Mortal Edge). A normal parry has a wide window; a perfect one stuns and opens a finisher. It works on swipes, grabs, weapons, thrown debris, spears, Blister Head punches, Licker β2 claws and tongue, and almost all boss melee. Against explosions and traps, dodge instead. Parrying the Chef's cleaver or a chainsaw dulls or breaks the Hatchet.
• Sharpen: L + Y, free. Not in Leon Must Die Forever: there you need Hatchet Repair.
• Hatchet finisher (ZR on the prompt over a weakened, kneeling or downed enemy): it beheads, just like stealth kills. Gun finisher: shoot a weakened enemy point-blank with a handgun, SMG or shotgun (not a scoped gun).
• Kicks after a stagger; kicking into a wall sets up the finisher.
• Enemy weapons: axes and rebar that zombies drop are thrown at the nearest enemy automatically with A. They often kill or knock down.
• Chainsaw: pick up a dropped one once it stops spinning (a spinning saw hurts you). It kills almost anything in one swing, but it's slow.
• Mortal Edge (dropped by The Commander, chapter 13): a much wider parry window.

Any zombie killed without destroying its head can get up later as a Blister Head (this game's Crimson Head), usually when you pass by again. It's faster and tougher, dodges your aim, and its grab kills.

Prevent it with any of these:

• A shot that bursts the head (don't count on it).
• A Hemolytic Injector (Grace).
• A Hatchet finisher or a stealth kill (Leon).

The Double Mutation file explains it, and adds that if a Blister Borne's cysts burst, the fluid turns nearby infected too. On Insanity they mutate on the spot and appear from Leon's very first street.

Facing one: as Grace, avoid it, inject it while staggered or spend one Requiem head shot. As Leon, about 3 shotgun blasts put one down, then finish with the Hatchet; parry its punches.

• Craft Hemolytic Injectors before bullets: they kill silently and leave no Blister Head.
• Don't waste Empty Bottles as lures: they're the ingredient for the Molotov Cocktail and the Bottle of Acid.
• Spend blood before you reach a Transfusion Bag or a bucket: whatever doesn't fit in the collector is lost.
• All 5 Rare Metals (one per Lockpick lock) go into Requiem rounds.
• Don't hoard: with a full inventory you can't pick up the valuable item.
• Break ceramic dishes, large vases and yellow-taped boxes even without a prompt: their loot isn't marked on the map until you break them.
• The map marks every item you haven't picked up in rooms you've visited, and a door's lock type once you get close.

• Zombie Staff Member on the light switches: turns off any light you switch on. Flip a far switch and slip past while he goes to turn it off.
• Zombie Blind Patient (white gown, IV stand): hunts by sound and hits whatever made the noise; the IV stand kills even much stronger zombies. A bottle next to another zombie makes them fight (challenge Internal Dispute).
• Zombie Cleaner: scrubs non-stop and heads for spilled blood.
• Zombie Singer: a timed scream that stuns Grace and calls others. When you hear it building, shoot her first.
• Some corpses play dead and get up when you come close: keep your distance.
• Safe rooms aren't fully safe: ordinary zombies walk into lit rooms or reach through the door. Stand well inside. Only The Girl respects the light.
• You can nudge a door open to peek and close it even without a prompt. Don't sprint through closed doors.

She hunts you in chapters 2, 5 and 8.

• She hunts by sound: crouch, don't run, and switch off the flashlight when she's close.
• She won't enter lit rooms, but she breaks lights as the section goes on.
• She moves through walls and ceilings: a closed door doesn't protect you.
• A thrown Empty Bottle draws her away. One Requiem shot (1 on Casual and Standard) or a Molotov Cocktail stuns her.
• In the basement (chapter 5), a Joint Plug in the Furnace door lights a safe spot.
• She only dies at the Water Treatment Plant (chapter 8): first the floodlights, then the sunlight through the roof hatch. The game hands out Requiem ammo there: stunning her with it gives Bring Out the Big Guns.
• On Insanity she's faster and needs 2 or 3 Requiem head shots (PowerPyx says 2; Game8, 2 or 3) or 2 Molotov Cocktails.

• Kill the armed ones first (axes, rebar, spears). Parry and throw their weapon back.
• Some carry a beeping explosive canister or a primed grenade: shoot it in their hands before they throw it.
• Raccoon City BSAA Zombies wear body armor and carry SMGs and grenades, and the helmet soaks one head shot. Take cover from the burst, close in and knock the helmet off with the shotgun.
• Red canisters can be shot, or thrown and then shot: they stun bosses.
• Against Small Spiders, back into a corridor and use the shotgun or a grenade; up close they die to one melee hit.
• Stealth kills behead: you learn them in the Cedarbrook basement corridor on the way to the Underground Parking Garage (chapter 9). Use them wherever you can.
• Pick off distant stragglers: every kill is credits.

• Not everything can be parried: the Blister Borne's charge, the Super Tyrant's thrown cars and his car-roof leap, Plant 43's tendril slams, and Victor's electric line and jump slam. Dodge those.
• Raise the Hatchet's durability before the Super Tyrant (chapter 12): with the base axe you get about 2 parries per sharpening.
• Red canisters stun the Blister Borne and the Titan Spinner.
• Leon's Requiem is for bosses.
• Keep shotgun shells for the 3F Blister Head room at the end of chapter 4.
• Road Rage (motorcycle chase, chapter 9): when Victor has a red arrow over his head, shoot him to cancel his rocket. The SMG has infinite ammo and you get two chances; if you miss, load the autosave.
• In the cemetery escort (chapter 7), if the Chef gets close to Grace, shoot the red canister next to him: the blast kills him even on Insanity.

• Licker β2s are blind and hunt by sound. As Grace: crouch-walk, don't step on broken glass, throw bottles and use the Bottle of Acid (one-hit kill) or a Hemolytic Injector from behind (the others don't react). 4-5 handgun head shots also work, but the noise draws the rest. Gunfire in a room with the door shut can't be heard outside.
• As Leon, every claw and tongue attack can be parried. Parrying the tongue cuts it off: challenge Cat Got Your Tongue?, chapter 15 only. They rarely use it: walk back and forth at a distance.
• Grey ARK Zombies die to one Molotov Cocktail. Don't break pod glass with stray shots.
• Raccoon City Syndrome coughing fits (Leon, in ARK): purple vision, no attacks for a few seconds and slower movement. Back off before the enemy reaches you.

Elite Guards (chapter 13) fire as a team, flank you and shred armor in seconds.

• In the Server Room, throw a grenade at the door as soon as it opens.
• Shoot the white canisters: they make smoke and let you land stealth kills.
• In the Stockroom, stay behind the big container and fire unscoped. Shoot the red tank on the north-east side: it releases a Licker β2 that fights them. Shoot the shield guard in the back while he turns to the Licker.
• Once two are down, the rest fall back.
• Between fights, heal, save and repair your armor in the Staff Room.

Chloe has no weapons and The Children kill her the moment they catch her. There is no fight, only hiding spots, in this order:

• 2F corridor: run back to your bedroom and get under your bed.
• Main Hall: under the table in front of the door (north-east corner of 1F). If they guard the director's door, let them chase you into the Main Hall, hide and wait 1-2 minutes (there's no indicator).
• 1F corridor: if they stand in the corner, go back to the Main Hall and they vanish.
• Director's office (after the Hatch Key): crouch behind the white boxes by the wooden drawer.
• Underground chapel (after the Fire Poker): run back to the altar, go round its right side and take the ladder inside the wall.

• Chef (chapter 3): let him see you, let him swing 4 times and run into the kitchen right after the fourth, without pushing the cart. Works on Insanity.
• The Girl (chapter 2): in the first chase, slip into the Nurses' Station, stand under the toolbox shelf and let her knock the cart into place; then climb up for the Screwdriver. Keep her close in the Room 201 hallway so she doesn't teleport ahead. That cart puts Antique Coin #1 out of reach: no harm done, there are coins to spare.
• Joint Plug in the Furnace (chapter 5): a lit refuge from The Girl.
• Emily on the couch in the Guard Office: finish your Care Center business without carrying her.
• Steroids as an emergency full heal.
• Reading files doesn't stop the Speed Demon clock; the pause menu does.

• Fighting everything as Grace.
• Leaving the Care Center without the Antique Coins: they exist only there and Leon can't pick them up.
• Throwing Empty Bottles as lures when you need them for crafting.
• Trying to parry with a dull Hatchet.
• Upgrading a gun you plan to sell.
• Blowing the East Raccoon City gate without saving and shopping at Central Camp.
• Accepting the drop to Casual when you wanted the Standard challenge.
• On a second run, expecting the MSBG 500 (attic, chapter 4) and the Classic 70 (rooftops, chapter 7): they only appear on the first. Buy a shotgun before Chunk and a rifle (Marksman 1A) before the escort.
• Choosing Destroy Elpis on the challenge or Speed Demon run.
• Spending CP on models and concept art before infinite ammo.