So Criticals...

[LagunaFox]

In the original game a Critical Hit was just a hit that instantly killed the enemy. However in this game that seems to be not the case. I noticed one of the rifles that had the exclusive upgrade that "increased critical power" and that left me kind of confused. It has lead me to pick my weapons honestly based on avoiding weapons that have exclusive upgrades dealing with criticals because I just don't know what the hell they are even talking about. It isn't like an MMO or even a JRPG where the damage numbers pop up as you land a hit and a critical is just extra damage that is very obvious because the number is bigger and yellow instead of white or something like that. But then I see the charm that gives you 20% melee critical hit rate and I'm like "Wait.... is that exactly what they are doing here?" Or is the game saying that a Critical Hit is what actually causes enemies to stagger and bring up the melee prompt rather than just damage?

I've been playing Hardcore for my first playthrough (which has been completely brutal and I don't think I'll finish the game on Hardcore honestly) and I have noticed several times when I give enemies multiple headshots without getting a stagger at all (by stagger I mean one of the animations that also has a melee prompt with it) which is very confusing and frustrating if I compare it to how the original game worked. Of course they change things, it is fine, it's my own fault I'm so used to the original game and expecting it to work the same way.

Anyways a little bit of clarity on what the game actually means by "Critical" would be very helpful. I just feel like I can't make good decisions when the game fails to explain its own terms to me anywhere.

[ChiefMendez]

Critical melee kills a Ganado the first time you kick them, you can hear bones cracking. That or they'll start to twitch and transform into overpowered Ganado with a broken neck - but you have a few seconds to knife it on the ground before they turn.

[ggAkatsukiP]

This get asked a lot so I'm putting it here
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2966260398

So far we know pistol category critical multiply damage by 3x
Source
https://www.reddit.com/r/residentevil4/comments/12g981k/re4_remake_damage_system/

As for stagger, use Bolt Thrower or weapons with high wince stat x firepower.
Blacktail and Red9 actually have very minimal difference in stagger power (wince x firepower), but their ability to halt a ganado from its current action (stopping power x firepower) is much significant different than staggering.
You are gonna experience huge problem trying to headshot stagger a ganado with non exclusive upgraded SG09R and Sentinel Nine.
If you only wanted to halt a ganado from harming you, try shooting at their limbs.

[LagunaFox]

Originally posted by ggAkatsukiP:

This get asked a lot so I'm putting it here
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2966260398

So far we know pistol category critical multiply damage by 3x
Source
https://www.reddit.com/r/residentevil4/comments/12g981k/re4_remake_damage_system/

As for stagger, use Bolt Thrower or weapons with high wince stat x firepower.
Blacktail and Red9 actually have very minimal difference in stagger power (wince x firepower), but their ability to halt a ganado from its current action (stopping power x firepower) is much significant different than staggering.
You are gonna experience huge problem trying to headshot stagger a ganado with non exclusive upgraded SG09R and Sentinel Nine.
If you only wanted to halt a ganado from harming you, try shooting at their limbs.

I actually saw that just after I posted last night, it is an interesting chart, I'll have to look through it more and play with some weapons and situations before I feel like I'll actually understand it but yea. So I guess what I would call a stagger is tied to the wince stat? Then stopping power is I guess like a mini stagger?

As for my loadout, I'm an avid fanboy of the Red9 and I have been for quite some time. Also rocking the Riot Gun. Bolt Thrower I'm starting to use more now that I have it upgraded with higher ammo capacity and stuff.

But I guess if this is to be believed then Criticals in this game are exactly what they are in a normal rpg, just extra damage? Though not all criticals are created equal because the different weapon types have bigger or smaller crits? Idk it is a really odd concept for me to wrap my brain around currently. Original game was sooooo simple and this is.... well, not lol.

[Jalir]

From my understanding, Wince is a stun that opens up to a melee follow-up attack, Break is the chance to blow a limb off, while Stopping Power is merely an interrupting stun, but does not open up a melee opportunity.

[Xengre]

In short, yeah, criticals are just high bursts of damage. It was the same in the original. It was high dmg not a guaranteed kill. Its just depending on difficulty, coincidental enemy HP of said scaling, and weapon used and upgrades, usually a crit is potent enough to kill them outright so you usually see it as if it is an instant kill but on Pro sometimes once in a blue moon depending on the dmg of weapon used and its multiplier it might actually barely survive breaking that facade.

Worth nothing is the Crit Pistol and Magnum (killer 7) exclusives boost melee knife and prompt (roundhouse kicks) crit rate just like in the original game... which stack well with the two headgears for melee types of dmg and also stack for even more crit chance with the crit emblem for melee.

For example with melee you do 4x dmg on crit roundhouse kick and the wolf tail boosts it by 50%. Dmg scales as you progress in game so it keeps up with evolving enemy HP. Throw on emblem plus use a crit exclusive and you go from 25% crit on melee to around 70% with the 4x multiplier + 50% bonus dmg. In short, you almost always 1-shot entire groups with a roundhouse kick even on pro. Just swap to the crit weapon before the melee if you staggered using another weapon.

Just a heads up the Bolt Thrower doesn't perform to well once in Professional, especially later on, but I've seen testing showing in hardcore and lower its super consistent. In professional its kind of a joke and can easily take 4-6 bolts to turn the enemy around.

[Crypto Gamer]

In OG critical hit was 10x dmg which was almost always a 1 hit kill on enemies.

In the remake critical dmg multiplier depends on the weapon and is only 1.5x to 4x multiplier.

So in remake with exclusive crit you likely crit as often as in OG but even the critical hits likely will not kill full hp basic enemies.
So basically crit got nerfed.

However in the remake critical hits can also trigger on non head shots too like in other RE engine games.

So with 2 dmg pistol you hit a torso and roll a crit you will do 6 dmg.

Likely you can calculate average dmg of weapons.

Also just like OG having a critical exclusive weapon equpied also buffs critical chance of melee moves.

Stagger is caused by the weapons hidden stopping power value.
And stagger which alloves melee moves is caused by the weapons hidden vince value.

And there is a chart somewhere that list the hidden values of weapons.

[Taklaminon]

One thing not a lot of people are mentioning: the rifle dealt 5x crit damage in the original, and the Chicago Typewriter dealt only 2x crit damage. Both weapons typically kill everything in 1 hit, so you wouldn't notice the difference.