El Gigante

El Gigante (literally "the giant" in Spanish) is a towering behemoth, created from humans that were exposed to Las Plagas parasites, and through an unknown method, grew to an immense size, acquiring great strength and brutality to compensate for their loss of higher reasoning.

Characteristics
It could be that the parasite in El Gigante could have caused an extreme growth spurt which increased the bone growth as well as the muscle and skin growth, but it isn't confirmed. These monsters have high stamina and will use their vast size and bulk to choke, crush, kick, charge and punch smaller prey. The only weak point on El Gigante is the accordingly overgrown Plaga attached to its spine. When the Plaga is destroyed, so is El Gigante. Once damaged enough, the Plaga will expose itself and El Gigante will fall to its knees, grabbing his head in pain, allowing the player to climb up on it's back and use their knife to slash at the writhing Plaga parasite before the monster recovers. If the player is too slow or presses the wrong attack button during this action, they will be thrown from El Gigante's back and the player lose their chance to inflict damage on the monster. Repeating this method (3 successful attacks, more specifically) will eventually kill El Gigante. One does not however have to respond to the action and can instead shoot the Plaga with a powerful weapon. Likewise, a well placed shot from a Rocket Launcher can also instantly kill an El Gigante. A startlingly efficient way of dealing with El Gigante is to fire three mine darts from the Mine Thrower (without the EX heat-seeking upgrade) in rapid succession at the exposed Plaga: the Plaga will then retreat into the thoracic cavity and the mines will detonate, killing the monster instantly.

Role in Resident Evil 4
Leon first encountered El Gigante as he passed through a path that ran next to a mine neighboring the village church. At first, during daytime, the beast was contained by heavy locks and a giant gate within the mine and can be heard breathing and grunting. But at nightfall, when Leon attempted to traverse the same path, a group of Ganados opened the door in hopes the behemoth would kill Leon so he would never reach the church. When released, the towering monstrosity crushed the Ganados and proceeded to attack Leon. If the player chooses to release the dog from the beartrap earlier in the game, he will arrive during Leon's battle and will provide a distraction, giving Leon a better chance at killing El Gigante. Later on, in one of the two paths Leon could choose to reach the Village Chief's hideout, by fighting a second Gigante, this time in a deep, steep ravine where Leon had very little open space. There, it was defeated again by Leon, where he could choose to employ a heavy boulder on the edge of the ravine (which was noticed by Ashley), to crush the monster or fight it conventionally. In the mines beneath Salazar's Castle Leon confronted a pair of Gigantes (which carried the Los Illuminados emblems) in a blast furnace, where he could choose to open the floor to drop one of them into the molten metal below. This act fuses the mechanism however, forcing Leon to defeat the second Gigante conventionally.

Ada Wong encounters and defeats a second Gigante in the same village ravine as Leon in "Separate Ways".

Learnset and strategies
El Gigante is capable of twelve combat moves in Resident Evil 4. All but one of these deal 800 points in damage.


 * Punch - El Gigante delivers a powerful punch that knocks itself to the ground.

Resident Evil: The Deck Building Game
El Gigante is a unique Infected card in the Resident Evil DBG. There is only one in the base set. El Gigante is one of the stronger Infected, and is essentially the third strongest in the first set. He inflicts 40 Damage, which is as much as Nemesis without considering the +20 Damage inflicted by Nemesis' effect. However, he only has 40 Health; which his the most common amount in the base set but still technically makes him the third strongest. He is one of the few cards removed from the Mansion Area in Mercenaries Mode, mostly due to the amount of damage he inflicts. He is worth 4 Decorations.

Trivia

 * If Leon helps the dog that was stuck at the beginning of the game, it will come and help him fight El Gigante by distracting it from attacking him.


 * When Leon first passes through El Gigante's enclosure (during the day), there are no trees. But when you return to the enclosure at night, three trees spawn in the enclosure that El Gigante will use during the fight with Leon.


 * It also appears as if El Gigante's enclosure is much smaller in the day light hours than it is at night.


 * The three huts inside of El Gigante's enclosure contain items both before and during the fight. Should the huts be destroyed during the fight, all items within them are destroyed.


 * If, during the fight against the pair of Gigantes, you stand close to the hole in the floor after dropping one of them, it will rise up and drag Leon into the molten metal, killing him instantly. It normally happens after he goes under and it looks safe. Don't go near the hole until it closes.


 * The sounds coming from the mines inside the first El Gigante's enclosure are actually the roars of a lion.


 * El Gigante resembles the Cave Trolls from Peter Jackson's rendition of The Lord of The Rings.


 * The Ndesu from Resident Evil 5 is essentially identical to El Gigante, in regards to appearance and attack patterns, although Ndesu is a larger creature, wears dead humans as trophies on its primitive belt, contains more than one parasite in its body, and sports a beard.


 * In some versions of the game, if you hit El Gigante with the Rocket Launcher as he grabs you, when he dies you will also despawn, making you unable to do anything.


 * The first El Gigante that you fight on your way back to the church from the waterfall has an incredibly reduced amount of health compared to the others, even considering being the first, capable of being dispatched with about 25 well aimed Exclusive TMP bullets.


 * The El Gigante that Ada fights in Seperate Ways can be killed with less than 2 magazines from the Blacktail to El Gigante's face (provided you knife the Plaga that comes out of its back when it's stunned).


 * You CAN shoot the exposed plaga with any firearm instead of climbing on top of him and slashing it, but it will still retract it back into its body. (A well aimed shot from a rocket-launcher, fully-upgraded handcannon, or three mine dart shots in rapid succession will kill it instantly).


 * It is impossible to kill the twin El Gigantes by dropping them both in the lava pit; if you manage to lure them both onto the grate and release the switch, the second one will simply float there and the switch will break.


 * If you kill one of them via the lava pit, you forfeit his money reward. However, there is a glitch in some versions of the game where if you leave and re-renter, the money will be sitting at the edge of the grate.


 * Notice how every El Gigante Leon fights, there is a way to make the fight easier. For example: the first El Gigante is much easier if you help the dog. The second El Gigante you can shoot the boulders to reduce his health and save ammo. The last two El Gigantes, you can instantly kill one of them by burning him alive in lava.


 * During the early stages of development of Resident Evil 5, at one point, Tricell was planned to release 10-15 El Gigantes into the African town. The Art of Resident Evil 5 contains rough concept art of this scrapped invasion.
 * During the fight with two El Gigante if the player were to open the fire pit while both at standing on the grate, only one will fall in during the small cutscene while the other is no where to be seen within the small scene.
 * If the player goes too close to the fire pit while it is open after dropping one of the Gigantes into it, it's charred arm will reach out, grab leon, crush him, and bring him into the lava with him.

Gallery
El Gigante El Gigante