Resident Evil 4 giant boss strategy, how to beat El Gigante at the Quarry
Leon and Goliath.
El Gigante is the boss in the Quarry near the end of Chapter 4 in the Resident Evil 4 remake, and you need to beat this giant boss to progress with the story.
Unlike the lake monster, you have to use your own weapons to take the giant down in Resident Evil 4, so you'll want to bring the ideal weapons and use the best strategy to conserve your health and ammo - especially on Hardcore and Professional difficulties.
To help you progress through Chapter 4, we've detailed the best strategy for how beat the giant at the Quarry below.
Please note that this is a guide for the remake of Resident Evil 4 so the exact boss strategy might not be the same in the original version.
For more help, you can visit our Resident Evil 4 walkthrough.
How to beat giant boss at the Quarry in Resident Evil 4
Here's our giant boss strategy at the Quarry to beat El Gigante:
Preparing for the El Gigante fight
For the giant fight at the Quarry, we recommend you bring the TMP weapon. You can purchase this from the Merchant for 10,000 Pesetas on Standard difficulty. It's not needed to beat El Gigante, but it will make your battle a lot easier. Grenades are also great for some quick damage, but aren't essential if you'd rather save them for the next fight.
Another important thing to do to prepare for the giant boss fight at the Quarry is to free the dog from the bear trap outside the Village Chief's Manor. It will come to your aid during the fight to act as a helpful distraction, and will even cause the giant to fall at one point, leaving it open to an easy attack.
Our last recommendation for preparing is to go fishing at the lake or Fish Farm, pick up eggs laid by chickens on the little nook on the east side of the lake, and knife any vipers you see at the Fish Farm. These are all essentially free health items.
Just don't use the Gold Chicken Egg unless you're really struggling! You need it for the Egg Hunt request, but there is an opportunity to get another one later in the game.
Fighting El Gigante strategy
You can either pick up all of the items in the two small wooden houses at the start of the fight, or during it while you're running from the giant. There's both ammo and health items here, but what's in the boxes and barrels are random.
The rest of the fight is pretty straightforward, but that doesn't mean it's easy! You have to damage El Gigante enough until the parasite bursts out from its back, then damage the parasite until the giant falls to the ground. Run and press the prompt when the giant is downed to knife the parasite.
The giant will get back up after you knife it, or if you don't get to it in time, and you'll start this sequence all over again until El Gigante is dead. You don't have to aim for the parasite when it appears, but hitting it will cause El Gigante more damage.
El Gigante will also lift the roofs from the houses and try to throw them at you sometimes, so make sure you run to the giant's feet when this happens to avoid getting hit.
The dog will come and help you after a bit if you freed it, and when the cutscene plays where the dog bites the giant's foot, stay close to the giant, as it will soon fall to the ground after chasing the dog - leaving it open for you to attack the parasite.
We recommend using the TMP weapon on the parasite on El Gigante's back. It causes a lot of damage in a short amount of time, making it perfect for targeting the parasite when the giant stops moving.
If you've got plenty of ammo, the TMP is also great for damaging the giant to make the parasite pop out - but only if you have a lot of ammo. Otherwise, we managed well by using the Shotgun while running through its legs, and the Red9 Handgun at longer range.
Once you kill El Gigante it will drop a Yellow Diamond, and you can continue your journey back to the church.
Our Resident Evil 4 walkthrough can help you through the village with guides on the Large and Small Cave Shrine puzzle solutions, the Church dial puzzle, and Del Lago, El Gigante, and Méndez bosses. When you reach the castle, you have to tackle the Treasury sword, Wall With Four Slots, Dining Hall bell, and Grandfather Clock correct time puzzles, along with the Dungeon Garrador, two giants, and Ramón Salazar bosses. The island is up next, and there's still brain teasers with callibration puzzles, keycard locations, and a hidden wrench, along with final bosses Krauser and Sadler.
Fighting El Gigante on Hardcore or Professional strategy
Everything we recommended above for taking on El Gigante on Standard difficulty applies to fighting the giant on Hardcore and Professional, except for a few alterations:
- Make sure you create a manual save right before the fight if you're playing on Professional, as there is no autosave.
- If you can't get a good angle on the parasite, shoot El Gigante in the face.
- Grenades are a bigger help, but you might want to save them for the next fight.
- The giant is a lot more aggressive, and gets up quicker when downed - so stay close when you see it going down.
Except for the dog, of course, the TMP is your best friend during the giant fight on Hardcore or Professional. You can do it without the TMP, as we had to fight the giant on Professional with the Rifle our first time, so it is doable, but speaking from our poorly planned experience, it's a lot harder.
Good luck taking on El Gigante at the Quarry!
If you'd like more help with the Resident Evil 4 remake, you can visit our walkthrough for more puzzle solutions, boss guides, and Request help.