Before you escape the Island’s shipping facility in the Resident Evil 4 remake, there’s one last order of business. The Merchant would like you to handle the bigger-than-usual Iron Maiden that’s taken up residence in the Incubation Lab. It’s a tough fight, but it’s worth a cool 8 Spinels if you succeed. Here’s how to beat the Wandering Dead special enemy in Resident Evil 4.
Back to the Lab: The “Wandering Dead” Request in Resident Evil 4
The Wandering Dead only spawns after you’ve cleared the Cargo Depot in Chapter 14. You can find the flyer that starts the quest on a crate next to the cargo lift’s call button, but if you ride that lift up to the top level, you’ve passed a point of no return.
Fortunately, you can open a barred gate at the base of the cargo lift for easy backtracking to the lab building. The Incubation Lab is only a couple of rooms away.
Once you reach it, you’ll discover the Lab is now home to a large Iron Maiden, the spiky evolved form of the Regenerador. Unlike ‘normal’ Iron Maidens, the Wandering Dead constantly throws spikes in all directions for a long-range attack. It also has a full 6 parasites inside it (as opposed to a normal Regenerador’s 3 or an Iron Maiden’s 1), isn’t as easily staggered when you destroy one of them, and is distinctly faster than a typical Regenerador.
The real danger to the Wandering Dead fight is trying to take it on with Ashley in tow. If you bring her into the fight with you, there’s a good chance she’ll get killed by the Wandering Dead’s spike volleys. Fortunately, there’s an open locker in the hallway between the Merchant’s room and the Incubation Lab where you can stow Ashley for a couple of minutes.
Best Strategy to Kill The Wandering Dead
The Wandering Dead isn’t that much tougher than a typical Iron Maiden, but since those are some of the most dangerous enemies in Resident Evil 4, that’s not saying much. You’ll want a healthy stack of rifle ammo, a Stingray, and the Bio-Sensor Scope you found in the nearby Labs to make this fight as easy as possible.
Alternatively, you can also equip the Bio-Sensor Scope to the LE 5 submachine gun. This doesn’t quite have the penetrative punch of a rifle, unless the LE 5 has its exclusive upgrade, but it compensates with a sky-high rate of fire and being distinctly more useful in close quarters.
With the Scope and a few rate of fire upgrades on the Stingray, you can usually destroy at least 3 of the Wandering Dead’s parasites before it realizes you’re there. At this point, it’ll either return fire with spikes, which can be parried if you’re very quick, or try to rush you down.
In the latter case, you can kite the Wandering Dead by vaulting the broken window and running to the other side of the Incubation Lab. As you’ve probably noticed, the Wandering Dead moves as awkwardly as any other Regenerador. While it’s fast, it’s not agile. It’ll chase you through a window by flopping over the wall onto the floor, which gives you a decent window in which to either get some space or pop another parasite.
Once the Wandering Dead’s gone for good, it’ll explode and drop a jewel. You can now turn in the request to the closest Merchant for your 8 Spinel reward.
There’s also a couple of other requests available in this chapter, with both blue medallions and rats to be found. Once they’re done, you can ride the elevator up and move on.
