How Do Critical Hits Work?

Critical Hits are a way to instantly kill an enemy in Resident Evil 4 Remake. Read on to find out how critical hits work, how to increase their chances of occurring, and how often they can happen!

How Do Critical Hits Work?

Always Instakills an Enemy

Critical hits are a way to instantly kill an enemy.

Only Occurs on a Headshot

You can only score a critical hit by shooting an enemy's head.

Critical Hit Rate Depends on the Weapon

The chances of scoring a critical hit depend on the weapon. Bigger and more powerful weapons such as shotguns will almost always score a critical hit on weaker enemies if aimed precisely.

List of All Weapons and Guns

Enemies with Helmets are Unaffected

Not all enemies can be affected by critical hits. They cannot occur on enemies with helmets or any kind of protective headgear.

List of All Enemies and Monsters

Enemies with Second Forms Can Regenerate After Critical Hits

Some enemies have second forms that emerge after the first form is killed. Scoring a critical hit on an enemy's first form doesn't cancel out its second, meaning you still have to kill it for a second time.

How to Increase the Chances of Critical Hits

Wait for Crosshair to Tighten

One way to increase the chances of a critical hit is by waiting a moment for your crosshair to tighten before shooting. This requires you to be still for a second while aiming. Moving even a little bit will reset the crosshair back to its wider default.

Utilize Weapons with 5x Critical Rate Exclusive Upgrade

List of Weapons with 5x Critical Rate Exclusive Upgrade
SG-09R	Sentinel Nine	Killer7

Another way to increase the chances of making critical hits is utilizing weapons that have the 5x Critical Rate Exclusive Upgrade. To acquire the Exclusive Upgrade, you need to fully upgrade the weapon or purchase an Exclusive Upgrade Ticket from the Merchant.

How to Obtain Exclusive Upgrades

How Often Can Critical Hits Happen?

The chances of critical hits happening vary from weapon to weapon with more powerful weapons scoring critical hits more often. We conducted a test with the SG-09 R, the game's default weapon, and we scored 4 critical hits out of 20 shots with the crosshair tightened and aimed properly.

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