The hardest battle EVER

I’ve been playing Resident Evil 5 with a buddy on Professional difficulty in order to beat the game and get the 70 points for the War Hero achievement. We both have unlimited ammunition on several weapons – including the rocket launcher – so we were pretty much going through the chapters like a hot knife through butter. That is, until we reached the battle against Wesker and Jill in chapter 5-3.

That battle was by far the most excruciating and frustrating experience I’ve ever had in gaming. I don’t know how many times we played through that battle. I lost count at 26. I’m not kidding you. 

The infuriating part is that getting rid of Wesker is simple. Run over to the door on the right and hit ‘X’ when prompted to investigate. Wesker will then kick you through the door where you can run up the stairs. Catch Wesker coming around the corner and fire a rocket at him. When he catches the rocket just shoot him with a magnum and it explodes and stuns him. Then just unload on him with your weapon of choice. If you use a powerful weapon like the L. Hawk magnum you can actually get rid of him after this one attempt. If not, run away from him and hide behind another corner so you can hit him with another rocket and repeat the process.

With Wesker out of the way, all you have to do is remove the gem from Jill’s chest in order to save her. To do this, you maneuver around behind Jill and restrain her when prompted. Your partner can then shoot the gem on Jill’s chest (don’t shoot Jill!). Use a pistol for this because anything else is too powerful. Jill becomes stunned after you shoot the gem, and you can throw her to the ground. Try to tear the gem from her when prompted.

The problem is you have to do this 6 or 7 times before the gem will come off. In professional mode, one good kick from Jill puts you on the brink of death. If your partner can’t heal you in under a second, the game is over and you get to try again. And again. And again…

Here’s how we did it:

1. Both of you get a pistol with plenty of ammunition and fill the rest of your inventory with first aid spray
2. After the cut sceme, chase Jill to the center of the room and get behind her in order to restrain her before she shoots you
3. The other person shoots the gem and stuns Jill
4. Throw Jill to the ground and let the other person try to tear off the gem
5. The person who is still standing should immediately equip their first aid spray and stand at Jill’s head while she’s lying on the ground.
6. When Jill rises, she’ll try to kick your the person tearing off the gem. If she connects, the other person needs to IMMEDIATELY use the spray
7. Back off but not too far or she will shoot you. One of you keep her busy while the other tries to maneuver around and restrain her again.

The key is to always keep spray ready because it’s almost inevitable that Jill’s going to connect with one of you.  Here are a few other tips:

1. When Jill jumps upstairs, stay downstairs and run under the balcony until she jumps back down. If you stay in the middle of the floor she’ll shoot you.
2. Try to time Jill’s jump from the balcony and get close to her as she hits the ground. You can quickly get a restrain prompt this way.
3. Never stray too far from Jill or she will pull out her automatic pistols and level you.
4. Communicate – make sure one of you always has a first aid spray equipped and ready.