Credit: Capcom

The original Resident Evil 4 was more than a traditional shooter, it also incorporated all kinds of situational attacks, the kind you’d see in character action games like Devil May Cry. While the remake of Resident Evil 4 has leaned more into the shooter side of things, that doesn’t mean pointing a gun at things is the only thing Leon is capable of. Here’s how to kick and suplex in Resident Evil 4.

How to Kick and Suplex in Resident Evil 4 Remake

While your first and foremost weapons in Resident Evil 4 are your guns, preferably fired with consistent headshots and whatnot, depending on the way you fight back against enemies, you may receive opportunities to perform powerful follow-up attacks. If enemies are staggered in a particular way, Leon can follow up with either a powerful roundhouse kick, knocking crowds of enemies back, or a mighty suplex, all but guaranteed to crush a Ganado’s skull.

In order to perform these moves you need to fire at specific weak points on an enemy to trigger special stagger animations. If you’re standing near an enemy that’s staggered in the right way, you’ll get a melee prompt over them, which you can perform by pressing the A button on Xbox.

Setting Up Staggers

Credit: Capcom

First, let’s set up a kick, the easier of the two attacks to pull off. To set up a kick, all you need to do is shoot an enemy in the face. You might need to peg them a couple of times for this to work, but with any luck, they’ll hunch over and reach up to grab their face with their hand. In this situation, walk right up to them and press the A button when you see the prompt to deliver a kick. Not only does Leon’s kick damage and knock down the target, but it’ll also knock back and stagger any enemies that happen to be standing behind them (which is usually more than a few, given how Ganados congregate). If you ever need to quickly clear a crowd, the kick’s the move to use.

Second, let’s set up a suplex. This is a bit trickier and more circumstantial, but if you can pull it off, you’ll deal major damage and look awesome in the process. To set up a suplex, you need to target an enemy’s legs with your gun. You can shoot them anywhere in the legs, though if you’re up against female Ganados in dresses, you may need to make an educated guess on where their legs actually are. Regardless, after you pepper their legs a bit, they’ll hunch down in pain. At this moment, you need to quickly run around behind them and face their back to get the melee prompt. Press the A button, and Leon will suplex them, dealing heavy damage and knocking back any enemies behind him. It’s not a guaranteed instant kill, but it’s pretty dang close.

Keep in mind that you can only kick and suplex distinctly humanoid enemies like Ganados and Cultists. Any bigger, and Leon can’t make it work. Also, if a Ganado’s neck is broken or their Plaga is showing, they can’t be staggered the right way, so don’t try to melee them. Kicking can’t solve all of life’s problems, after all, just most of them.