El Gigante/gameplay

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.

Note: All names are provided by the Biohazard 4 Kaitai Shinsho guide.

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 its 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.