Resident Evil 4 lake monster boss strategy, how to beat Del Lago

The lake monster boss returns in Chapter 3 of the Resident Evil 4 remake, AKA the weirdest salamander you've ever seen, Del Lago.

It's the first real boss in Resident Evil 4, and can be tough to take down if you don't know what to do, especially on Hardcore or Professional difficulties.

To help you finish Chapter 3, we've detailed the best strategy on how beat the lake monster boss 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.

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For more help, you can visit our Resident Evil 4 walkthrough.

How to beat lake monster boss in Resident Evil 4

The basics of the Del Lago boss fight are pretty straight forward: hit the lake monster with the boat's harpoon when you can see its body above the water, and don't hit the floating obstacles, or your boat's health will go down.

If your boat loses all its health, Leon will die and you'll have to start the fight from the beginning again.

You need to aim your harpoon before you throw it (aim with L1 / LB or consoles, and throw with R2 / RT), but as Del Lago likes to move very quickly, we suggest you aim more to the left or right than you think you should - depending on what direction the lake monster is moving - to help you land a hit.

Unless there's an obstacle directly beside you, we also suggest you always have the boat moving to the left or right. This helps you automatically dodge Del Lago's surprise lunge attack, which triggers a QTE (quick time event) if you don't avoid it, and your boat loses more health the longer it takes you to finish the QTE.

You can't destroy the obstacles with your spear, unfortunately.

During the sequence where the lake monster is heading straight for you, you need to hit it in its open mouth to ensure it doesn't grab your boat. Its mouth will open near the boat, so make sure you have the harpoon aimed in preparation for it.

Keep in mind that you can also hit Del Lago when it's jumping in and out of the water in its diving loop, which can speed up the boss fight.

Our last piece of advice is to aim slightly higher than you think you should when the lake monster is far away. The Harpoon has a steep drop off at longer distances, so this can help you land a hit from afar, like when the monster is heading straight for you.

It took us 23 harpoon hits on Standard difficulty to finally defeat the lake monster in the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Once you kill Del Lago, Chapter 3 will end, and if this is your first time killing it, you'll get the 'Harpoon Hurler' Trophy / Achievement.

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.

Resident Evil 4 lake monster boss strategy on Hardcore and Professional

On Standard difficulty the Del Lago boss fight shouldn't take too long unless your harpoon aim is a little off. However, on Hardcore and Professional, this is a long boss fight that requires you to be extra careful in avoiding obstacles.

If you're playing on Professional, make sure you make a manual save right before getting in the boat, as there is no autosave.

All of our tips above still apply to the Del Lago fight on harder difficulties, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to focus more on the obstacles in the water than you do on Del Lago.

We still suggest always turning the boat left or right to avoid the monster's surprise lunge attack, but make sure you're not doing this if close to an obstacle in the water. Quickly steer the boat the other way if you do notice you're getting too close.

You can only take two hits from obstacles during the entire fight on Professional, providing you don't get hit from Del Lago. On the third obstacle hit, your boat will lose all of its health and the monster will kill you.

On Hardcore and Professional, we also recommend trying to land as many harpoon hits as possible when the lake monster is circling the lake far away, and when it's doing it's jumping sequence.

Anything you can do to make the fight shorter is highly recommended, as the longer it goes on, the more likely you are to hit an obstacle.

Good luck taking on Del Lago!

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.