Chainsaw Majini

The Chainsaw Majini is a powerful chainsaw-wielding majini encountered during the Plaga outbreak in Kijuju. Much like the Dr. Salvador Ganado of the Kennedy Report, this Majini is far stronger than average Plaga hosts.

Description
Being Resident Evil 5's equivalent to Dr. Salvador, this Majini wields a chainsaw as his weapon of choice, and will not hesitate to use it with brutal effectiveness. As such, most of his attacks will send the player into dying state, if not killing them outright. In addition, he's even more sturdy than Dr. Salvador, as he cannot be knocked down (but can be stunned). Thankfully, he is only encountered rarely in Story modes. Besides his Shanty Town appearance, all killed Chainsaw Majini will drop the Venom fang treasure and, in the case of the final Chainsaw Majini, a Gold ring.

Appearances

 * The Chainsaw Majini is in Shanty Town, only appearing after players have triggered a cutscene by walking up the steps to a gate. He carries the Guard's Key, which must be obtained to continue the mission.
 * They also appear three times in Oil Fields. First at the top, where you turn a valve to shut off the fire that blocks the player's way to Irving. A second Chainsaw Majini arrives while the player is turning a second valve in the closed area during an encounter with Majini. Third, where Captain Stone goes to work unlocking a door for escape while Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar cover him. The Chainsaw Majini here can be avoided altogether, though this leaves the player out one treasure.
 * The Chainsaw Majini appears in the Mercenaries and Versus modes, where two variants will appear, a Red-clothed variant, and a Blue one.
 * In the Desperate Escape downloadable content he appears at the Tricell Communication Facility where he attacks Jill Valentine and Josh Stone. Once killed, he drops a key which allows Josh and Jill to progress to the Communication Facility.
 * Much like in The Mercenaries and Versus modes, he appears in two variants in the DLC.

Strategy
Being a sub-boss, the Chainsaw Majini is quite resilient. Certain strategies may help players trying to defeat him.
 * If you're skilled enough, you can stand quite close to him but when he rears in the for the slice run under his armpits so you're facing his back and unload on him. Repeat until he is dead.
 * One risky method : Once he is extremely close to you, use your shotgun (Upgraded or semi auto one is recommended) to prevent him from attacking you, don't stop firing until you drop him. If you need to reload, stay away from him first. For dealing the berserk one, you need to open fire once he is in your shotgun range, this method is handy for player who don't have any heavy weapon, magnum, or grenades.
 * Headshots will cause the Chainsaw Majini to be stunned much longer than body shots.
 * Headshots from Rifles or Magnums will stumble him for a little longer.
 * While he stumbles, aim for the head to deal more damage.
 * Despite him being capable of one-hit-kills, the Majini is relatively slow and preditable. Take advantage of this and kill any other regular Majini in the vicinity.
 * Both players can execute Chain Combo Reaction Commands by shooting him in the head or body, stunning him.
 * Make use of environmental hazards. The surrounding environment may contain stacks of oil, steel gas barrels, transformers, and even doors. Shoot those from a far distance for your own protection against their (literal) explosive effects which can damage you.
 * There are a few ways of telling if the Chainsaw Majini will berserk, or simply stay dead.
 * If he dies holding his chainsaw with two hands instead of one, he will reawaken after a few seconds.
 * After completing his death animation, if he is dead facing up, he will berserk.
 * If his chainsaw blade is still rotating (it will make sounds but it's quiet), he will get back up again.
 * Play at higher difficultly like Veteran or Professional and you will encounter more "berserked" Chainsaw Majinis.


 * Berserked Chainsaw Majini will mindlessly pursue the player no matter what. However, they are seemingly easier to kill from a distance when in berserk mode, due to their lower health. If you are facing a Chainsaw Majini and you know he will go berserk, place a mine down the only route that he can follow you down, this will either instantly kill him or severely weaken him once he begins pursuit. This works well on the bridge in the oil field if the red goes berserk.
 * The Berserked Chainsaw Majini will swing his chainsaw recklessly (similar to Super Salvador in Resident Evil 4), and will harm any players close by.
 * Two frag grenades will always kill berserking chainsaw Majini.

Attacks

 * Chainsaw Swing Type 1 (he will laugh before he tries this): The Chainsaw Majini swings his Chainsaw and causes a cutscene where the player's throat will be ripped apart (similar to the Japanese version of Resident Evil 4, this attack will not decapitate the player, and ends up looking a tad silly). This causes instant death. If the player is far enough away while he is swinging his chainsaw, he will not kill the player, instead sending them into dying status.
 * Chainsaw Swing Type 2 (he will not laugh before he tries this): Unlike the type 1 animation this happens slightly faster and more unpredictable. Caught in this type of chainsaw swing is always instant death and is why knifing is very risky however this doesn't happen as often as type 1. The animation is slower as the person being chainsawed is trying to push it away and there is considerably more gore.
 * Chainsaw 180 Degree Turn: The Chainsaw Majini will make quick 180 turn and swings his Chainsaw, this occurs usually when player is behind him or when he is knifed behind by the player, three times or more. Unlike the other attacks, this swing always causes instant death. The animation is the same as chainsaw swing type 2.
 * Chainsaw Rampage (only used in Berserker State: The Chainsaw Majini gets back up after apparently dying and goes on a rampage where he swings his chainsaw back and forth, resembling Super Salvador. These attacks will never go into an animation of any sort involving the player, as they will simply knock the player backwards onto the ground, but will always put the player into dying status.

Melee Prompts

 * Kneel - He will kneel down after being caught in an explosion, blinded, or shot in the leg area. Allowing the player to Uppercut for Chris, Somersault for Sheva, Sweep Kick for Jill, and Tiger Uppercut for Wesker.
 * Headshot Stun (try to aim for his uncovered eye) - Will do this upon any shot to the head, Hook for Chris, Twist Kick for Sheva, Spin Kick for Jill, and Panther Fang for Wesker. Any melee during this state will send him into Recovering from Melee state, allowing another opening.
 * Recovering from Melee - The Chainsaw Majini will only do this when he is attacked during a Headshot stun, you will prompted to do Straight for Chris, Roundhouse for Sheva, High Kick for Jill, and Cobra Strike for Wesker.

The Mercenaries/Versus/Desperate Escape
Many Chainsaw Majini will appear in Slayers and Online mode on the ship level. Both variants (red and blue clad) will attack the players. They seem to be rather agile, able to jump from a higher level onto a player and decapitate said player. The red clothed Chainsaw Majini explodes after being defeated and has much less hitpoints. The blue clothed Majini will fall to the ground stunned, then get up and continue the chase before players can defeat him. Sometimes both of them will stalk the player. They also seem to protect each other, as the Chainsaw Majini will always be around each other. Note that this is not true in story mode, as they have equal health and capabilities, and both can get up after feigning death.

Red
In Mercenaries mode, the Red Chainsaw Majini is much weaker than his blue counterpart, only having about half the health but can endure 7 shots of Smith and Wesson revolver albeit not upgraded. Despite this weakness in health, his attacks are still lethal. This is only true in Slayers, Survivor, Mercenaries and Desperate Escape modes. In Story Mode, his health is equal to that of the blue variant. Upon dying, he'll fall into his normal dying animation, however his body will inflate and explode; any close Majini or player will be caught in the explosion, receiving damage.

Blue
Unlike the red variant, the blue Chainsaw Majini boasts at least twice the amount of health and will always go on a rampage after his first "death" in Mercenaries. Like the red variant, this is only true in Slayers, Survivor, Mercenaries and Desperate Escape modes.

Trivia

 * If watching an online player in Versus mode getting decapitated, one will see that when a player is decapitated, the head stays attached to the body due to the game makers not actually programming an animation where the head separates from the body. All that really happens is an animation where much blood splatters. In the single-player game, the splatter combined with a tilted camera angle (panning away from showing anything above shoulders) would give the illusion that the character's head is getting sawed off.
 * Like all sub-bosses in Resident Evil 4 and 5, the Chainsaw Majini has two variants, red pants with bluish skin and blue pants with brown skin, most likely to help with defeating them in story mode (e.g. remembering which one has been damaged more.) It also determines whether or not the Chainsaw Majini will get up and berserk rather than exploding in the Mercenaries and Desperate Escape modes.
 * In the beta version of Resident Evil 5, the chainsaw majini was to take the role of the Executioner Majinis he is seen in early screenshots wielding the same axe as the Executioner Majini. Later the Chainsaw Majini model was equipped with a chainsaw while the Executioner Majini was redesigned.
 * The Chainsaw Majini has many chunks of flesh missing from his torso. This possibly due to careless handiling of the chainsaw.
 * The Chainsaw Majini is considered a "successful" adaption to the parasite, due to his high vitality.
 * In Story mode, red Chainsaw Majini have less health and will enter berserk mode, while the blue Chainsaw Majini have high health but will not berserk.
 * An exception to these rules is the last Chainsaw Majini you encounter (the one that comes up the elevator while Josh is deactivating the second door) which appears to have the Berserk Mode of the red ones and more health like the blue one.
 * The Chainsaw Majini in Resident Evil The Mercenaries: 3D can be killed with 1-2 shots from Barry's magnum, unless he is a berserker.