Brutes (+ Enhanced Brutes)
Their weak points are at their back, and at their joints, specifically at their shoulders and hips. These points are obvious, as they are a distinctly different yellow/orange color compared to their dark armored shell, and it is these points that should be targeted in order to bring them down.
The typical strategy does not actually involve dismemberment. It is important to have stasis when dealing with a Brute. They like to charge, and can do so at a considerable speed, even sometimes leaping short distances between them and Isaac. Stasis will slow them down and neutralize this attack, although only to a certain extent, as they will continue to move at a noticeable speed. This time can be used to target their weak points. When enough damage is dealt, the Brute will hunch over into a defensive stance, using its armoured shell to protect itself. Its frontal weak points will no longer be exposed, but its back will be. This is a good time to use stasis again. It will provide you with a longer period of time with which to empty rounds into its back, although even with repeated use of stasis, the Brute will quickly recover and get back up again, and the process must be repeated.
A more refined strategy is actually to use dismemberment. Cutting off either 1 or both legs from the Brute will cause it to begin crawling around, neutralizing its dangerous charge attack, and it will begin periodically opening and cavity in its chest, and firing out organic bombs, identical to the ones fired by the Leviathan boss. These can be caught with kinesis and shot back at the Brute using the same strategy that one uses for said boss, causing it significant damage, and saving you significant amounts of ammo.
Brutes will never leave the area in which you encounter them, though you are often trapped in said area with them due to a quarantine lock down. However, they seem unable to climb stairs either, though can sometimes still reach with you a swinging punch attack.
It should also be noted that the Flamethrower and Force Gun both deal massive amounts of damage to the Brute, even in frontal attacks.
Dividers
Dividers can always be heard, shortly before they are seen, as they make a distinctly recognisable sound. There are several strategies for dealing with them.
Targeting only one of their legs will dismember it quickly, and doing so will cause the Divider to fall the ground and break up into at least 3 component parts, imaginatively called Divider parts, which then need to be individually killed. Using stasis can be helpful, and if you are able to dismember one of the Divider’s legs quickly enough, then there is a chance that all of its parts will also remain stasised for a short period as well, allowing you to quickly deal with them, as they will initially be grouped together upon separation, before they split up.
Alternatively, you can stasis the Divider, and use one of 3 weapons against it. The Flamethrower deals significant damage to Dividers, and will affect all parts of the body, often killing all of its parts as well before they even have a chance to split up. Or, the Force Gun can essentially ‘blow’ a Divider apart, and a single well placed shot kill all of its part as well. Or, a fully charged shot from the Contact Beam can kill the Divider, and all of its part, in a single shot.
Alternatively, you can place a timed mine near the Divider using the secondary fire of the Line Gun. One or two primary fire shots will them dismember it, and the mine will explode on queue to kill all of its parts.
The Ripper’s primary fire is also an effective strategy to use against Dividers. Hold the disc high at its legs to dismember them, and it will often kill all of its part as well, as this is the region in which they appear once the Divider separates.
Divider Parts
If the Divider’s parts do manage to escape, then they are individually weak, but very small and fast. They are also very mobile, and will jump frequently, all of which can make them difficult to hit them with the minimal amount of shots needed to kill them. Parts will try to jump onto Isaac if they get close enough, and try to strangle him. This will initiate an action sequence in which Isaac will pull the appendage off and kill it by bashing it with his weapon. However, if you are low on health, the part can decapitate Isaac.
Divider Parts are sometimes encountered alone, with no accompanying Divider anywhere nearby. The above still applies however. They too, like their parent Necromorph, make a distinctive sound, and can often be heard before they are seen.
Exploders
The ‘suicide bombers’ of the Necromorph species, it is essential that these enemies are killed at range, as their only melee attack is extremely devastating, even if misses you directly and hits the nearby environment. They can always be heard, shortly before they are seen, as they make a distinctly recognizable sound, and their explosive appendages give off an aura of yellow/orange light. However, they can go unnoticed if you are battling other Necromorphs alongside them, and they will try to sneak up on and ambush you.
The obvious strategy is to try and shoot the large pustule of explosive liquid that is attached to the end of their left arm. This will cause it explode, killing the attach Exploder, and causing a chain reaction of explosions among any others that are nearby in the blast radius. The explosion(s) will also deal significant damage to other Necromorphs, and it is possible for a single well timed shot to clear out an entire group of enemies. Often, it is production not to simply shoot on sight, but to wait, or even stasis an Exploder, and wait until other Exploders and/or other Necromorphs are nearby until you shoot it. This can save you a considerable amount of ammo.
In relation to that point, an alternative strategy is to try to dismember their explosive appendage. This can then be grabbed with kinesis and shot, or placed elsewhere and use as an impromptu mine. However, dismembering the appendage will not kill the Exploder, and it will continue to advance towards you, biting Isaac with its split head if it gets close enough, so keep that in mind if you want to try the above strategy.
Do not attempt to melee Exploders, for obvious reasons. The Force Gun is also an unwise choice of weapon to use against them, particularly in close range, as there is a chance that it will cause their appendage to explode. If one gets too close for comfort, stasis it, and move a safe distance away. In this situation, Exploders will often try to self detonate their appendage, but due to being under the effect of stasis, you should be clear and safe before it explodes, and they will kill only themselves, and possible other Exploders and/or Necromorphs.
Guardians
Guardians should always be engaged at range. Being defensive by nature, they are immobile, and cannot pursue you. But, if you venture to close to one, it has a melee attack that you cannot dodge, and will decapitate you and kill you instantly. For this reason, the Flamethrower and melee attacks are out of the question when dealing with this particular enemy.
The only thing to worry about are the Guardian Pods that it will expel from its abdomen. These will quickly grow short tentacles vertically into the air, and will proceed to fire barbs at you. This attack is identical to the ranged attack used by Lurkers. Severing the tentacle will kill the pod, however, stay clear of time for a short period after doing so, as they will explode, causing you damage if you are nearby.
Guardians will usually be dormant when you approach them. They are easy to spot, even in this state, and are always surrounded by the easily recognisable organic growth that infests parts of the Ishimura, something that they themselves are a part of. When awoken, they will let out a distinctive moan, and several tentacles will grow out of their chests and attack themselves to the wall that they themselves are attached to. Severing these will kill them, and there are several strategies for doing so.
Individually dismembering the tentacles is an effective method, but they have an irritating habit or regrowing tentacles to replace lost ones, so you must be quick, and sometimes repeat the process. The Force Gun’s secondary fire bombs and the Contact Beam can both deal significant damage to multiple tentacles at once, and even kill them outright, if aimed centrally at the Guardian’s chest. Also, a well placed set of Line Gun mines can be equally as effective in doing the same.
You should always be on the look out for explosive canisters nearby Guardians. They can usually be found in their vicinity, particularly in encounters with them in early Chapters of the game, although this is not always the case in later Chapters. Pick them up using kinesis, and aim them at the Guardians chest. Advance until you awaken it, and at the moment that its tentacles appear, shoot it. This will kill the all of the tentacles at once, and the Guardian. The same principal applies for the Contact Beam. Charge up a shot, aim at the Guardian’s chest, and advance until you awaken it, firing as soon as the tentacles first appear.
Immature Guardians
These are seemingly pathetic creatures to behold. They remain looking distinctly humanoid, although they have nothing below the abdomen, and are not as swollen or grotesque as their mature form, and not as fully incorporated into the organic growth. They will react to you, shielding their eyes from your torch light if you aim your weapon at them for example, or making groaning noises if you pass nearby.
That being said, that can and will damage you if you venture to close to them, making wild swinging motions with their arms. They can be killed easily, by decapitating them.
Infectors
Infectors are unique in that they have no limbs for you to dismember. All that you can really do is shoot them to death, old school FPS style. The most effective weapon in this capacity is actually the Flamethrower, though they will succumb to any other weapon as well.
You will never randomly encounter an Infector by itself. It will always be enroute to infect a corpse, and if allowed to do so, it will create 1 or more Super Slashers or Twtichers, depending on who the dead body is and how many are available to it. It will continue to try and infect corpses until it runs out of them or until you stop it. This will mean that you will quickly not only have the Infector to deal with, but its new companions as well, and things can quite quickly get out of hand. You have 2 choices in what to do in this situation. 1, aim for the corpse that it is trying to infect. Damaging it enough will force the Infector to abandon trying to infect it, and prevent it turning it into another Necromorph. If there are no other corpses nearby, then it will turn on you instead. If you aren’t quick enough to stop it finishing the infection process, then any damage that you dealt the corpse will transfer across to the newly created Necromorph. 2, if you are quick enough, you can aim for the Infector, and try to kill it before it can finish the infection process. This can conserve more ammo, but if you aren’t quick enough, you will have 1 or more Super Slashers or Twitchers to deal with, meaning much, much more ammo and damage.
You can actually use the fact that they will always try to infect corpses over attacking you directly, to your advantage, if the particular situation provides the opportunity for you to do so. In the game, there are several locations in which a scripted event will occur in which an Infector or Infectors will appear when prompted. I won’t reveal them here so as this guide remains spoiler free, but if you know or can guess these locations, then you can use kinesis to pile corpses in the middle of a room and use kinesis to place explosive canisters near them. When the Infector(s) appear, they will go straight for the corpses, allowing you to shoot the barrels, killing them instantly, and dismembering the corpses as well in the process. Alternatively, if not explosive canisters are available, you can fire multiple Line Gun mines or Force Gun secondary fire bombs into the group, and deal all significant damage.
However, this is not always possible, or not always wise, so pre-emptive dismembering of corpses can be beneficial, if time consuming. Use kinesis to pull them into a more suitable position to melee stomp, dismembering them without having to use up ammo. If you do this and Infector(s) emerge, they will go straight for you, meaning you have only them to deal with, no Super Slashers or Twitchers. By themselves, or even in pairs or small groups, they are not much of a threat. Their true danger comes from their ability to infect and mutate corpses into other Necromorphs.
The Force Gun is an effective strategy here. It will usually blow apart the corpse that it is trying to infect, rendering it useless, and deal damage to the Infector as well.
If they get close enough to you, Infectors will sometimes latch on to you, starting an action sequence in which Isaac will tear off their proboscis, killing them instantly. This is an important detail to note, as if you are able to do so, dismembering the proboscis when an Infector exposes it to infect a corpse, will sometimes kill them instantly. If you fail the action sequence, the Infector will decaptiate Isaac with a probsocis stab through the neck.
Leapers (+ Enhanced Leapers)
A Leaper’s weak spot is its arms, although its main point of attack is its barbed tail. You may be more concerned, and wise, to dismember this first, although this will not result in its death, and it will still charge and try to bite you. Leapers are capable of incredible speed, despite essentially running on their arms, moving on the walls as well as the floor, and can also use their tails to ‘leap’ long distances and impact you. Dismembering one of its arms will not necessarily kill it, but it will seriously hinder its mobility. It will no longer be able to sprint, but will still be able to leap, as it does this with its tail. Dismembering its tail will remove its ability to leap, but it will still be able to sprint. Dismembering an arm and its tail, or both its arms, will usually kill it.
Decapitation has little effect by itself, only momentarily stunning it, which can be valuable in itself, but subsequent shots will then kill it. However, decapitation or other dismemberment whilst it is in mid air will usually kill it instantly.
Leapers are slower in zero g environments, as they must use grip the deck plating to anchor themselves to it. However, to compensate for this loss of speed, they are able to leap significantly bigger distances, equal to anything Isaac is capable of, and can impact you from any angle, sometimes unseen until it is too late to dodge them. An interesting glitch is, if you encounter a Leaper in a zero g environment and it is on the same level as you, you can continuously run around it in a circle whilst shooting at it. The Leaper will remain on the same spot, trying to turn itself to face you before it launches any attack, so if you time yourself well, you can render it completely impotent whilst you kill it.
A Leaper can be stasised to counteract its speed and leap, and can also then be dismembered with Isaac’s stomp melee attack, or other weapon.
Sometimes, the Leapers leap attack, if it impacts you, will knock you over, which will result in an action sequence in which it will pin you to ground, and from which you must escape from. If you are not quick enough, the Leaper will bite into Isaac’s neck, eventually decapitating him.
Strangely, despite being barbed, if you dismember a Leapers tail, it cannot be used effectively as a weapon, in terms of being a kinesis projectile.
Lurkers (+ Enhanced Lurkers)
Their weak points are the tentacles that they project from their backs, that fire barbs at you. Dismembering 2 out of 3 of these is usually enough to kill them, although sometimes, particularly with their enhanced versions, dismemberment of all 3 tentacles is required to kill them.
The Plasma Cutter is the best weapon to deal with them Lurkers. The use of more powerful weapons is not necessary, as they are relatively weak compared to other Necromorphs, although other weapons can be used to kill them. Lurkers are fond of interchanging frequently between floor and walls, and the Plasma Cutter’s secondary fire mode will allow you to line up an accurate show regardless of what angle, horizontal or vertical, that their tentacles end up projecting at. A carefully aimed shot, particularly when the tentacles are just being projected and are close together, can often dismember 2 or even all 3 at once. If one is on the floor, and projects its tentacles vertically, the Line Gun can alternatively be used to dismember all 3 at once. The Plasma Cutter is limited in this regard by a much smaller shot width that can at most encompass only 2 tentacles when they are fully projected. The Ripper is also effective at dismembering numerous tentacles at once.
It goes without saying that all of the above strategies are more effective if stasis is used in conjunction with them. Use it most effectively when the tentacles are fully projected, giving you a considerable amount of time to hit the largest possible target. However, keep in mind that stasis will only slow them down, not stop them. As their primary attack is ranged, stasis will thus not remove the immediate threat entirely. They can still fire barbs at you, if only very slowly.
Lurkers generally shy away from close encounters, and when approached, will often retract their tentacles and scamper away. However, sometimes they will jump on you, starting an action sequence in which Isaac will pull the Lurker from his body and ‘punt’ it like a football, killing it. Should you fail, the Lurker will stab Isaac repeatedly in the back, and eventually in the neck, decapitating him. The damage that the Lurker deals to you during this sequence is minimal, particular if you are quick in finishing it, so sometimes, it is a better strategy to deliberately chase a Lurker until it jumps on you and initiates it, particularly if there are no other Necromorphs nearby. This can conserve both ammo and stasis.
Unlike the barbs from a Leapers dismembered tail, the barbs from a Lurkers dismembered tentacle(s) can be used as an effective weapon, in terms of being a kinesis projectile.
Pregnants
In many ways, Pregnants can be considered to be ‘suicide Necromorphs’ in the same vein as Exploders, as they want you to kill them and rupture their swollen abdomens. You want to avoid doing so, at all costs.
Pregnants can carry a variety of payloads, including Swarmers (most commonly), Divider Parts, and even Enhanced Leapers. What they carry is partly random, and partly determined by Chapter, with tougher opponents emerging in later Chapters. What they carry is not, however, determined by difficulty. Once a Pregnant has been killed however, without having its abdomen ruptured, then its spawn will die with it. Accidentally rupturing the abdomen post mortem will have no ill effect.
A weapon with a small width of fire and an adjustable reticule, like the Plasma Cutter, is best when dealing with a Pregnant, as you will want to be very precise. Their legs are small and difficult to hit without rupturing abdomen, so are best ignored. Dismembering their arms will kill them. Use stasis to slow them down and to make it easier to hit what you are intending to hit, and not missing and hitting another sensitive area.
If you do rupture their abdomens, then a ‘splash damage’ weapon like the Flamethrower, Force Gun or Contact Beam will be needed to deal with the spawn, unless ofcourse they happen to be Leapers. Rupturing the abdomen won’t usually kill the pregnant either, so getting swarmed can be dangerous, as it will incapacitate you and leave you open to attack by it whilst you are unable to defend yourself for a period. However, it will usually be crawling after having its abdomen ruptured, if it survives, and thus you can have time to free yourself before it reaches you, depending on distance obviously.
Do not decapitate Pregnants. Doing so will not kill them, but will cause them to immediately begin tearing their own abdomen apart until its spawn are released. Even after this birthing process has taken place, the Pregnant can sometimes survive and continue to crawl towards you.
Slashers (+ Enhanced Slashers and other variants)
Slashers are the bread and butter enemies of the game, and can be cut apart any which you fancy, without significant difference in efficiency, in terms of how long it takes to kill them. They do, however, demonstrate a wide variety of responses, depending on which body part(s) are dismembered.
Dismembering both arms will instantly kill Slashers.
Dismembering both legs will not kill them, but cause them to use their arms to pull themselves towards you and to try to bite you when they are close enough. It will, however, slow them down significantly and make them more manageable, particularly in groups. It can conserve ammo to stasis them in this state, and use a melee stomp to dismember their arm(s) and kill them.
Decapitation will not kill a Slasher, nor have any noticeable long term ill effect on them. However, immediately after being decapitated, a Slasher will wave its arms around wildly in confusion and in an attempt to find and damage you. This effect can be taken advantage off, particularly when dealing with a group, as in this state, a Slasher can sometimes mistakenly attack and damage other Necromorphs. It will, however, eventually recover from this state, and continue to function normally until killed.
A less common phenomenon happens when an opposite arm and leg are dismembered (i.e. a left arm and right leg, or a right arm and left leg). A Slasher will then use its remaining arm as a kind of crutch, and hobble towards you, which can be quite amusing.
It goes without saying that all of the above strategies are more effective if stasis is used in conjunction with them. It is not, however, recommended that you use a swinging melee attack against Slashers, even whilst stasised. It can take up numerous hits to kill them, and more often than not, they will recover, and be close enough for their action sequence to start, in which they will repeatedly bite Isaac in the neck until he is able to push them off. If he is not able to, then a final bite will decapitate him.
It should also be noted that, uniquely in the game, Slashers sometimes like to play possum, or feign death after taking a certain amount of damage, and them ambush you when you approach them or turn your back on them, again, starting their action sequence. Whenever you encounter a Slasher inconspicuously lying on the floor looking suspiciously intact, then there are a couple of things that you can do. You can simply shoot off their arms whilst they lie exposed, or stasis and melee stomp them to conserve ammo. As a test, you can use kinesis on them. If you are able to pick them up, then they are genuinely dead, but if you cannot, then they are playing possum. Strangely however, they will not react to having tried to be picked up with kinesis, so you can then use one of the above strategies to kill them.
Furthermore, Slashers have numerous variations that you should be aware of, beyond their regular and enhanced versions, each with their own individual characteristic(s). Female Slashers, for example, will sometimes spit acid at you, that will temporarily slow you down and render you defenceless. Former security personnel retain remnants of their armoured uniforms, particularly around their legs, which make these limbs difficult to dismember, which can be dangerous, as these also tend to favour charging at you more so than other Slasher types.
Swarmers
Swarmers are small in size and relatively unimposing to look at, but are none-the-less extremely dangerous in their own right. They should not be dismissed as being in any way an insignificant enemy. They are encountered in ‘swarms’ at certain specific points in the game, though I shan’t reveal them here so as this guide remains spoiler free.
Swarmers are surprisingly fast, and can jump considerably far despite their small size. The moment that one (or several) latches on to you, you should button bash with some urgency and shake them off as soon as possible. Even only a small number of them can drain your health at an alarming rate. The moment that one latches on to you, you will move noticeably slower and be unable to fire your weapons, use stasis, or perform a melee attack until you are free. This quickly allows more to latch on to you, and the more that do so, the harder the situation becomes, so you can quickly find yourself in something of a downward spiral if you aren’t careful. If enough of them latch on to you, you will likely loose a significant amount of health or even die, as it is difficult to shake any significant number off before they have significantly or fatally damaged you.
There are several strategies to deal with them, before you find yourself in a button bashing frenzy. A single, well placed shot from the Force Gun, Line Gun or Contact Beam can kill an entire swarm. A single Ripper blade can have the same effect, provided you keep your aim steady and target the swarm evenly. However, the close proximity to the swarm that this necessitates makes it a secondary recommendation. If one is available, kinesis can be used to shoot an explosive canister into the centre of the swarm, killing the entire group in one go. It is possible to target them individually with a weapon like the Plasma Cutter or Pulse Rifle, however, even with only 1 or 2 shots killing each Swarmer, and even with an unreasonably high level of accuracy, this will cost you a significant amount of ammo.
It is possible to use stasis to slow down an entire swarm, provided that it is aimed for quite literally the dead centre of it. However, several usually escape the effect, and in the time that it takes to kill them or shake them off, their companions are once again free and on top of you, so it is best not to waste stasis at all. If you can manage to stasis a large enough proportion of them however, this can allow you to place a well placed Line Gun mine or Force Gun bomb in the centre of them, or melee them. However, melee is not recommended, as you will likely find stasis wearing off, and you stood in the middle of a very active swarm. It is possible, if you can manage to stasis a large enough proportion of them, or even if you can’t, to simply bypass them altogether, which, seeing as how they drop no items and only cost you ammo, is probably the best and most economical course of action to take.
Very rarely, a small number of Swarmers can hide be found hiding in a storage box, waiting to ambush you when it is melee stomped open. If you can reach quickly enough to this, then a second stomp will usually kill them all in one go, but it is possible that the first stomp will kill them anyway. If that fails, then you will have no time to shoot, stasis or avoid them, and will have to shake them off. Again, this happens in a very specific number of set instances in the game, but again, I shan’t reveal them here. If you want to avoid this though, use kinesis to shoot the boxes against the wall to break them open.
Twitchers
Despite having their own name, and being defined by their characteristic ‘twitching’ and incredibly fast speed, Twitchers are basically only another variation of Slasher. Dismembering both a Twitcher’s arms will kill it instantly. Dismembering a Twitcher’s legs will cause it to use its arms to pull itself towards you. However, it will do so with the speed at which a regular Slasher sprints. Despite that difference, using stasis on a Twitcher will completely override the reversed effect of its own incorporated stasis module, and bring its increased speed down to that of any other Slasher that has been stasised. Twitchers do not play possum, but are known to feign death sometimes, after taking a certain amount of damage.
The increased difficulty comes in trying to actually hit Twitchers with anything, given their twitching and speed. It is almost impossible to hit their arms whilst they are still standing and not stasised, and equally difficult to hit them with stasis at all in the first place. The best strategy is to aim for their legs. As I have mentioned, they will continue to crawl at an incredible pace, but their arms are easier to hit whilst they are doing this, and they are less able to dodge regular fire or stasis. It is almost a complete waste to try and stasis them whilst they are still standing, particularly on higher difficulty settings.
However, Twitchers are able to react to both regular fire and stasis, particularly whilst they are still standing, although the frequency and time of their reactions is dependant of difficulty setting. For example, on Easy mode, they will rarely, if ever, dodge. On harder difficulty settings however, they are quite capable of dodging a Line Cutter beam, for example. It is far better to use a weapon with a higher projectile speed that will hit them almost instantaneously upon being fired, giving them less chance to react to it whilst it is incoming. The Pulse Rifle fits this category well, but the Plasma Cutter is better, as it is more efficient at dismembering at the same time. Aim to dismember the legs, and create a more manageable enemy that can be more easily killed.
If you are finding this too difficult, then you can switch to another strategy. This involves using weapons that can essentially push and hold them back, keeping a safe distance between you, whilst simultaneously dealing them damage. Again, the Pulse Rifle fits this category, but the Force Gun is obviously best suited in this capacity. However, this strategy can be difficult to apply when dealing with a group of Twitchers, particularly if they approach you from different angles.
In the same vein, it is possible to use their own speed against them. By using the Ripper, you can create a barrier between you and the Twitcher(s), and one that they will probably charge straight into. If your aim is steady, you can dismember their legs in the process, and perhaps even their arms if you react swiftly enough.
An interesting point to note about the Twitchers, in terms of using their own speed against them is, following a method like this, or dismembering their legs in some other fashion whilst they are running at speed, has been known to cause the Twitcher to fall to the ground with such force that they essentially smash their own body to pieces, dismembering their remaining limbs, and basically killing themselves for you.
Their weak points are at their back, and at their joints, specifically at their shoulders and hips. These points are obvious, as they are a distinctly different yellow/orange color compared to their dark armored shell, and it is these points that should be targeted in order to bring them down.
The typical strategy does not actually involve dismemberment. It is important to have stasis when dealing with a Brute. They like to charge, and can do so at a considerable speed, even sometimes leaping short distances between them and Isaac. Stasis will slow them down and neutralize this attack, although only to a certain extent, as they will continue to move at a noticeable speed. This time can be used to target their weak points. When enough damage is dealt, the Brute will hunch over into a defensive stance, using its armoured shell to protect itself. Its frontal weak points will no longer be exposed, but its back will be. This is a good time to use stasis again. It will provide you with a longer period of time with which to empty rounds into its back, although even with repeated use of stasis, the Brute will quickly recover and get back up again, and the process must be repeated.
A more refined strategy is actually to use dismemberment. Cutting off either 1 or both legs from the Brute will cause it to begin crawling around, neutralizing its dangerous charge attack, and it will begin periodically opening and cavity in its chest, and firing out organic bombs, identical to the ones fired by the Leviathan boss. These can be caught with kinesis and shot back at the Brute using the same strategy that one uses for said boss, causing it significant damage, and saving you significant amounts of ammo.
Brutes will never leave the area in which you encounter them, though you are often trapped in said area with them due to a quarantine lock down. However, they seem unable to climb stairs either, though can sometimes still reach with you a swinging punch attack.
It should also be noted that the Flamethrower and Force Gun both deal massive amounts of damage to the Brute, even in frontal attacks.
Dividers
Dividers can always be heard, shortly before they are seen, as they make a distinctly recognisable sound. There are several strategies for dealing with them.
Targeting only one of their legs will dismember it quickly, and doing so will cause the Divider to fall the ground and break up into at least 3 component parts, imaginatively called Divider parts, which then need to be individually killed. Using stasis can be helpful, and if you are able to dismember one of the Divider’s legs quickly enough, then there is a chance that all of its parts will also remain stasised for a short period as well, allowing you to quickly deal with them, as they will initially be grouped together upon separation, before they split up.
Alternatively, you can stasis the Divider, and use one of 3 weapons against it. The Flamethrower deals significant damage to Dividers, and will affect all parts of the body, often killing all of its parts as well before they even have a chance to split up. Or, the Force Gun can essentially ‘blow’ a Divider apart, and a single well placed shot kill all of its part as well. Or, a fully charged shot from the Contact Beam can kill the Divider, and all of its part, in a single shot.
Alternatively, you can place a timed mine near the Divider using the secondary fire of the Line Gun. One or two primary fire shots will them dismember it, and the mine will explode on queue to kill all of its parts.
The Ripper’s primary fire is also an effective strategy to use against Dividers. Hold the disc high at its legs to dismember them, and it will often kill all of its part as well, as this is the region in which they appear once the Divider separates.
Divider Parts
If the Divider’s parts do manage to escape, then they are individually weak, but very small and fast. They are also very mobile, and will jump frequently, all of which can make them difficult to hit them with the minimal amount of shots needed to kill them. Parts will try to jump onto Isaac if they get close enough, and try to strangle him. This will initiate an action sequence in which Isaac will pull the appendage off and kill it by bashing it with his weapon. However, if you are low on health, the part can decapitate Isaac.
Divider Parts are sometimes encountered alone, with no accompanying Divider anywhere nearby. The above still applies however. They too, like their parent Necromorph, make a distinctive sound, and can often be heard before they are seen.
Exploders
The ‘suicide bombers’ of the Necromorph species, it is essential that these enemies are killed at range, as their only melee attack is extremely devastating, even if misses you directly and hits the nearby environment. They can always be heard, shortly before they are seen, as they make a distinctly recognizable sound, and their explosive appendages give off an aura of yellow/orange light. However, they can go unnoticed if you are battling other Necromorphs alongside them, and they will try to sneak up on and ambush you.
The obvious strategy is to try and shoot the large pustule of explosive liquid that is attached to the end of their left arm. This will cause it explode, killing the attach Exploder, and causing a chain reaction of explosions among any others that are nearby in the blast radius. The explosion(s) will also deal significant damage to other Necromorphs, and it is possible for a single well timed shot to clear out an entire group of enemies. Often, it is production not to simply shoot on sight, but to wait, or even stasis an Exploder, and wait until other Exploders and/or other Necromorphs are nearby until you shoot it. This can save you a considerable amount of ammo.
In relation to that point, an alternative strategy is to try to dismember their explosive appendage. This can then be grabbed with kinesis and shot, or placed elsewhere and use as an impromptu mine. However, dismembering the appendage will not kill the Exploder, and it will continue to advance towards you, biting Isaac with its split head if it gets close enough, so keep that in mind if you want to try the above strategy.
Do not attempt to melee Exploders, for obvious reasons. The Force Gun is also an unwise choice of weapon to use against them, particularly in close range, as there is a chance that it will cause their appendage to explode. If one gets too close for comfort, stasis it, and move a safe distance away. In this situation, Exploders will often try to self detonate their appendage, but due to being under the effect of stasis, you should be clear and safe before it explodes, and they will kill only themselves, and possible other Exploders and/or Necromorphs.
Guardians
Guardians should always be engaged at range. Being defensive by nature, they are immobile, and cannot pursue you. But, if you venture to close to one, it has a melee attack that you cannot dodge, and will decapitate you and kill you instantly. For this reason, the Flamethrower and melee attacks are out of the question when dealing with this particular enemy.
The only thing to worry about are the Guardian Pods that it will expel from its abdomen. These will quickly grow short tentacles vertically into the air, and will proceed to fire barbs at you. This attack is identical to the ranged attack used by Lurkers. Severing the tentacle will kill the pod, however, stay clear of time for a short period after doing so, as they will explode, causing you damage if you are nearby.
Guardians will usually be dormant when you approach them. They are easy to spot, even in this state, and are always surrounded by the easily recognisable organic growth that infests parts of the Ishimura, something that they themselves are a part of. When awoken, they will let out a distinctive moan, and several tentacles will grow out of their chests and attack themselves to the wall that they themselves are attached to. Severing these will kill them, and there are several strategies for doing so.
Individually dismembering the tentacles is an effective method, but they have an irritating habit or regrowing tentacles to replace lost ones, so you must be quick, and sometimes repeat the process. The Force Gun’s secondary fire bombs and the Contact Beam can both deal significant damage to multiple tentacles at once, and even kill them outright, if aimed centrally at the Guardian’s chest. Also, a well placed set of Line Gun mines can be equally as effective in doing the same.
You should always be on the look out for explosive canisters nearby Guardians. They can usually be found in their vicinity, particularly in encounters with them in early Chapters of the game, although this is not always the case in later Chapters. Pick them up using kinesis, and aim them at the Guardians chest. Advance until you awaken it, and at the moment that its tentacles appear, shoot it. This will kill the all of the tentacles at once, and the Guardian. The same principal applies for the Contact Beam. Charge up a shot, aim at the Guardian’s chest, and advance until you awaken it, firing as soon as the tentacles first appear.
Immature Guardians
These are seemingly pathetic creatures to behold. They remain looking distinctly humanoid, although they have nothing below the abdomen, and are not as swollen or grotesque as their mature form, and not as fully incorporated into the organic growth. They will react to you, shielding their eyes from your torch light if you aim your weapon at them for example, or making groaning noises if you pass nearby.
That being said, that can and will damage you if you venture to close to them, making wild swinging motions with their arms. They can be killed easily, by decapitating them.
Infectors
Infectors are unique in that they have no limbs for you to dismember. All that you can really do is shoot them to death, old school FPS style. The most effective weapon in this capacity is actually the Flamethrower, though they will succumb to any other weapon as well.
You will never randomly encounter an Infector by itself. It will always be enroute to infect a corpse, and if allowed to do so, it will create 1 or more Super Slashers or Twtichers, depending on who the dead body is and how many are available to it. It will continue to try and infect corpses until it runs out of them or until you stop it. This will mean that you will quickly not only have the Infector to deal with, but its new companions as well, and things can quite quickly get out of hand. You have 2 choices in what to do in this situation. 1, aim for the corpse that it is trying to infect. Damaging it enough will force the Infector to abandon trying to infect it, and prevent it turning it into another Necromorph. If there are no other corpses nearby, then it will turn on you instead. If you aren’t quick enough to stop it finishing the infection process, then any damage that you dealt the corpse will transfer across to the newly created Necromorph. 2, if you are quick enough, you can aim for the Infector, and try to kill it before it can finish the infection process. This can conserve more ammo, but if you aren’t quick enough, you will have 1 or more Super Slashers or Twitchers to deal with, meaning much, much more ammo and damage.
You can actually use the fact that they will always try to infect corpses over attacking you directly, to your advantage, if the particular situation provides the opportunity for you to do so. In the game, there are several locations in which a scripted event will occur in which an Infector or Infectors will appear when prompted. I won’t reveal them here so as this guide remains spoiler free, but if you know or can guess these locations, then you can use kinesis to pile corpses in the middle of a room and use kinesis to place explosive canisters near them. When the Infector(s) appear, they will go straight for the corpses, allowing you to shoot the barrels, killing them instantly, and dismembering the corpses as well in the process. Alternatively, if not explosive canisters are available, you can fire multiple Line Gun mines or Force Gun secondary fire bombs into the group, and deal all significant damage.
However, this is not always possible, or not always wise, so pre-emptive dismembering of corpses can be beneficial, if time consuming. Use kinesis to pull them into a more suitable position to melee stomp, dismembering them without having to use up ammo. If you do this and Infector(s) emerge, they will go straight for you, meaning you have only them to deal with, no Super Slashers or Twitchers. By themselves, or even in pairs or small groups, they are not much of a threat. Their true danger comes from their ability to infect and mutate corpses into other Necromorphs.
The Force Gun is an effective strategy here. It will usually blow apart the corpse that it is trying to infect, rendering it useless, and deal damage to the Infector as well.
If they get close enough to you, Infectors will sometimes latch on to you, starting an action sequence in which Isaac will tear off their proboscis, killing them instantly. This is an important detail to note, as if you are able to do so, dismembering the proboscis when an Infector exposes it to infect a corpse, will sometimes kill them instantly. If you fail the action sequence, the Infector will decaptiate Isaac with a probsocis stab through the neck.
Leapers (+ Enhanced Leapers)
A Leaper’s weak spot is its arms, although its main point of attack is its barbed tail. You may be more concerned, and wise, to dismember this first, although this will not result in its death, and it will still charge and try to bite you. Leapers are capable of incredible speed, despite essentially running on their arms, moving on the walls as well as the floor, and can also use their tails to ‘leap’ long distances and impact you. Dismembering one of its arms will not necessarily kill it, but it will seriously hinder its mobility. It will no longer be able to sprint, but will still be able to leap, as it does this with its tail. Dismembering its tail will remove its ability to leap, but it will still be able to sprint. Dismembering an arm and its tail, or both its arms, will usually kill it.
Decapitation has little effect by itself, only momentarily stunning it, which can be valuable in itself, but subsequent shots will then kill it. However, decapitation or other dismemberment whilst it is in mid air will usually kill it instantly.
Leapers are slower in zero g environments, as they must use grip the deck plating to anchor themselves to it. However, to compensate for this loss of speed, they are able to leap significantly bigger distances, equal to anything Isaac is capable of, and can impact you from any angle, sometimes unseen until it is too late to dodge them. An interesting glitch is, if you encounter a Leaper in a zero g environment and it is on the same level as you, you can continuously run around it in a circle whilst shooting at it. The Leaper will remain on the same spot, trying to turn itself to face you before it launches any attack, so if you time yourself well, you can render it completely impotent whilst you kill it.
A Leaper can be stasised to counteract its speed and leap, and can also then be dismembered with Isaac’s stomp melee attack, or other weapon.
Sometimes, the Leapers leap attack, if it impacts you, will knock you over, which will result in an action sequence in which it will pin you to ground, and from which you must escape from. If you are not quick enough, the Leaper will bite into Isaac’s neck, eventually decapitating him.
Strangely, despite being barbed, if you dismember a Leapers tail, it cannot be used effectively as a weapon, in terms of being a kinesis projectile.
Lurkers (+ Enhanced Lurkers)
Their weak points are the tentacles that they project from their backs, that fire barbs at you. Dismembering 2 out of 3 of these is usually enough to kill them, although sometimes, particularly with their enhanced versions, dismemberment of all 3 tentacles is required to kill them.
The Plasma Cutter is the best weapon to deal with them Lurkers. The use of more powerful weapons is not necessary, as they are relatively weak compared to other Necromorphs, although other weapons can be used to kill them. Lurkers are fond of interchanging frequently between floor and walls, and the Plasma Cutter’s secondary fire mode will allow you to line up an accurate show regardless of what angle, horizontal or vertical, that their tentacles end up projecting at. A carefully aimed shot, particularly when the tentacles are just being projected and are close together, can often dismember 2 or even all 3 at once. If one is on the floor, and projects its tentacles vertically, the Line Gun can alternatively be used to dismember all 3 at once. The Plasma Cutter is limited in this regard by a much smaller shot width that can at most encompass only 2 tentacles when they are fully projected. The Ripper is also effective at dismembering numerous tentacles at once.
It goes without saying that all of the above strategies are more effective if stasis is used in conjunction with them. Use it most effectively when the tentacles are fully projected, giving you a considerable amount of time to hit the largest possible target. However, keep in mind that stasis will only slow them down, not stop them. As their primary attack is ranged, stasis will thus not remove the immediate threat entirely. They can still fire barbs at you, if only very slowly.
Lurkers generally shy away from close encounters, and when approached, will often retract their tentacles and scamper away. However, sometimes they will jump on you, starting an action sequence in which Isaac will pull the Lurker from his body and ‘punt’ it like a football, killing it. Should you fail, the Lurker will stab Isaac repeatedly in the back, and eventually in the neck, decapitating him. The damage that the Lurker deals to you during this sequence is minimal, particular if you are quick in finishing it, so sometimes, it is a better strategy to deliberately chase a Lurker until it jumps on you and initiates it, particularly if there are no other Necromorphs nearby. This can conserve both ammo and stasis.
Unlike the barbs from a Leapers dismembered tail, the barbs from a Lurkers dismembered tentacle(s) can be used as an effective weapon, in terms of being a kinesis projectile.
Pregnants
In many ways, Pregnants can be considered to be ‘suicide Necromorphs’ in the same vein as Exploders, as they want you to kill them and rupture their swollen abdomens. You want to avoid doing so, at all costs.
Pregnants can carry a variety of payloads, including Swarmers (most commonly), Divider Parts, and even Enhanced Leapers. What they carry is partly random, and partly determined by Chapter, with tougher opponents emerging in later Chapters. What they carry is not, however, determined by difficulty. Once a Pregnant has been killed however, without having its abdomen ruptured, then its spawn will die with it. Accidentally rupturing the abdomen post mortem will have no ill effect.
A weapon with a small width of fire and an adjustable reticule, like the Plasma Cutter, is best when dealing with a Pregnant, as you will want to be very precise. Their legs are small and difficult to hit without rupturing abdomen, so are best ignored. Dismembering their arms will kill them. Use stasis to slow them down and to make it easier to hit what you are intending to hit, and not missing and hitting another sensitive area.
If you do rupture their abdomens, then a ‘splash damage’ weapon like the Flamethrower, Force Gun or Contact Beam will be needed to deal with the spawn, unless ofcourse they happen to be Leapers. Rupturing the abdomen won’t usually kill the pregnant either, so getting swarmed can be dangerous, as it will incapacitate you and leave you open to attack by it whilst you are unable to defend yourself for a period. However, it will usually be crawling after having its abdomen ruptured, if it survives, and thus you can have time to free yourself before it reaches you, depending on distance obviously.
Do not decapitate Pregnants. Doing so will not kill them, but will cause them to immediately begin tearing their own abdomen apart until its spawn are released. Even after this birthing process has taken place, the Pregnant can sometimes survive and continue to crawl towards you.
Slashers (+ Enhanced Slashers and other variants)
Slashers are the bread and butter enemies of the game, and can be cut apart any which you fancy, without significant difference in efficiency, in terms of how long it takes to kill them. They do, however, demonstrate a wide variety of responses, depending on which body part(s) are dismembered.
Dismembering both arms will instantly kill Slashers.
Dismembering both legs will not kill them, but cause them to use their arms to pull themselves towards you and to try to bite you when they are close enough. It will, however, slow them down significantly and make them more manageable, particularly in groups. It can conserve ammo to stasis them in this state, and use a melee stomp to dismember their arm(s) and kill them.
Decapitation will not kill a Slasher, nor have any noticeable long term ill effect on them. However, immediately after being decapitated, a Slasher will wave its arms around wildly in confusion and in an attempt to find and damage you. This effect can be taken advantage off, particularly when dealing with a group, as in this state, a Slasher can sometimes mistakenly attack and damage other Necromorphs. It will, however, eventually recover from this state, and continue to function normally until killed.
A less common phenomenon happens when an opposite arm and leg are dismembered (i.e. a left arm and right leg, or a right arm and left leg). A Slasher will then use its remaining arm as a kind of crutch, and hobble towards you, which can be quite amusing.
It goes without saying that all of the above strategies are more effective if stasis is used in conjunction with them. It is not, however, recommended that you use a swinging melee attack against Slashers, even whilst stasised. It can take up numerous hits to kill them, and more often than not, they will recover, and be close enough for their action sequence to start, in which they will repeatedly bite Isaac in the neck until he is able to push them off. If he is not able to, then a final bite will decapitate him.
It should also be noted that, uniquely in the game, Slashers sometimes like to play possum, or feign death after taking a certain amount of damage, and them ambush you when you approach them or turn your back on them, again, starting their action sequence. Whenever you encounter a Slasher inconspicuously lying on the floor looking suspiciously intact, then there are a couple of things that you can do. You can simply shoot off their arms whilst they lie exposed, or stasis and melee stomp them to conserve ammo. As a test, you can use kinesis on them. If you are able to pick them up, then they are genuinely dead, but if you cannot, then they are playing possum. Strangely however, they will not react to having tried to be picked up with kinesis, so you can then use one of the above strategies to kill them.
Furthermore, Slashers have numerous variations that you should be aware of, beyond their regular and enhanced versions, each with their own individual characteristic(s). Female Slashers, for example, will sometimes spit acid at you, that will temporarily slow you down and render you defenceless. Former security personnel retain remnants of their armoured uniforms, particularly around their legs, which make these limbs difficult to dismember, which can be dangerous, as these also tend to favour charging at you more so than other Slasher types.
Swarmers
Swarmers are small in size and relatively unimposing to look at, but are none-the-less extremely dangerous in their own right. They should not be dismissed as being in any way an insignificant enemy. They are encountered in ‘swarms’ at certain specific points in the game, though I shan’t reveal them here so as this guide remains spoiler free.
Swarmers are surprisingly fast, and can jump considerably far despite their small size. The moment that one (or several) latches on to you, you should button bash with some urgency and shake them off as soon as possible. Even only a small number of them can drain your health at an alarming rate. The moment that one latches on to you, you will move noticeably slower and be unable to fire your weapons, use stasis, or perform a melee attack until you are free. This quickly allows more to latch on to you, and the more that do so, the harder the situation becomes, so you can quickly find yourself in something of a downward spiral if you aren’t careful. If enough of them latch on to you, you will likely loose a significant amount of health or even die, as it is difficult to shake any significant number off before they have significantly or fatally damaged you.
There are several strategies to deal with them, before you find yourself in a button bashing frenzy. A single, well placed shot from the Force Gun, Line Gun or Contact Beam can kill an entire swarm. A single Ripper blade can have the same effect, provided you keep your aim steady and target the swarm evenly. However, the close proximity to the swarm that this necessitates makes it a secondary recommendation. If one is available, kinesis can be used to shoot an explosive canister into the centre of the swarm, killing the entire group in one go. It is possible to target them individually with a weapon like the Plasma Cutter or Pulse Rifle, however, even with only 1 or 2 shots killing each Swarmer, and even with an unreasonably high level of accuracy, this will cost you a significant amount of ammo.
It is possible to use stasis to slow down an entire swarm, provided that it is aimed for quite literally the dead centre of it. However, several usually escape the effect, and in the time that it takes to kill them or shake them off, their companions are once again free and on top of you, so it is best not to waste stasis at all. If you can manage to stasis a large enough proportion of them however, this can allow you to place a well placed Line Gun mine or Force Gun bomb in the centre of them, or melee them. However, melee is not recommended, as you will likely find stasis wearing off, and you stood in the middle of a very active swarm. It is possible, if you can manage to stasis a large enough proportion of them, or even if you can’t, to simply bypass them altogether, which, seeing as how they drop no items and only cost you ammo, is probably the best and most economical course of action to take.
Very rarely, a small number of Swarmers can hide be found hiding in a storage box, waiting to ambush you when it is melee stomped open. If you can reach quickly enough to this, then a second stomp will usually kill them all in one go, but it is possible that the first stomp will kill them anyway. If that fails, then you will have no time to shoot, stasis or avoid them, and will have to shake them off. Again, this happens in a very specific number of set instances in the game, but again, I shan’t reveal them here. If you want to avoid this though, use kinesis to shoot the boxes against the wall to break them open.
Twitchers
Despite having their own name, and being defined by their characteristic ‘twitching’ and incredibly fast speed, Twitchers are basically only another variation of Slasher. Dismembering both a Twitcher’s arms will kill it instantly. Dismembering a Twitcher’s legs will cause it to use its arms to pull itself towards you. However, it will do so with the speed at which a regular Slasher sprints. Despite that difference, using stasis on a Twitcher will completely override the reversed effect of its own incorporated stasis module, and bring its increased speed down to that of any other Slasher that has been stasised. Twitchers do not play possum, but are known to feign death sometimes, after taking a certain amount of damage.
The increased difficulty comes in trying to actually hit Twitchers with anything, given their twitching and speed. It is almost impossible to hit their arms whilst they are still standing and not stasised, and equally difficult to hit them with stasis at all in the first place. The best strategy is to aim for their legs. As I have mentioned, they will continue to crawl at an incredible pace, but their arms are easier to hit whilst they are doing this, and they are less able to dodge regular fire or stasis. It is almost a complete waste to try and stasis them whilst they are still standing, particularly on higher difficulty settings.
However, Twitchers are able to react to both regular fire and stasis, particularly whilst they are still standing, although the frequency and time of their reactions is dependant of difficulty setting. For example, on Easy mode, they will rarely, if ever, dodge. On harder difficulty settings however, they are quite capable of dodging a Line Cutter beam, for example. It is far better to use a weapon with a higher projectile speed that will hit them almost instantaneously upon being fired, giving them less chance to react to it whilst it is incoming. The Pulse Rifle fits this category well, but the Plasma Cutter is better, as it is more efficient at dismembering at the same time. Aim to dismember the legs, and create a more manageable enemy that can be more easily killed.
If you are finding this too difficult, then you can switch to another strategy. This involves using weapons that can essentially push and hold them back, keeping a safe distance between you, whilst simultaneously dealing them damage. Again, the Pulse Rifle fits this category, but the Force Gun is obviously best suited in this capacity. However, this strategy can be difficult to apply when dealing with a group of Twitchers, particularly if they approach you from different angles.
In the same vein, it is possible to use their own speed against them. By using the Ripper, you can create a barrier between you and the Twitcher(s), and one that they will probably charge straight into. If your aim is steady, you can dismember their legs in the process, and perhaps even their arms if you react swiftly enough.
An interesting point to note about the Twitchers, in terms of using their own speed against them is, following a method like this, or dismembering their legs in some other fashion whilst they are running at speed, has been known to cause the Twitcher to fall to the ground with such force that they essentially smash their own body to pieces, dismembering their remaining limbs, and basically killing themselves for you.
SOURCE FOR GUIDE
