The Chicken Hat feels completely ineffective on Professional...

[MyDireHeart]

I've been playing the Resident Evil 4 remake nonstop for a few weeks now. This remake is amazing! I have over 110 hours of playtime across 13 playthroughs, have purchased every DLC, and have unlocked all the bonuses in the extra content shop except for the Cat Ears. I'm just as obsessed with it now as I was back when I first got it for the Gamecube all those years ago!

I've played the Separate Ways DLC only once so far, and I'd like to S+ Professional mode on the Main Story so I can just mess around with Infinite Ammo as Ada and focus on the 16 other achievements I have yet to unlock. Once I S+ Hardcore Mode and got the Chicken Hat, I started the run immediately. As of right now, I've only reached the beginning of Chapter 11. After dying to a stick of dynamite and being sent back to the beginning of Chapter 10, I realized I BARELY feel any stronger against enemy attacks, even with body armor, and have hunted down every yellow herb I can find. Including selling every Weapon Exclusive Upgrade Ticket I had in Chapter 2 after I used four on the exclusive upgrades for the Primal Knife, Headcannon, Chicago Sweeper, and Skull Shaker, then used part of the remaining 1,520,000 pesetas to upgrade them fully.

Usually, I'm able to clear an entire room of Zealots like they were pirates at the shooting range and still have a handful of rounds in my magazine to spare, completely unscathed! But a swipe, grapple, and an airborne axe leave me constantly scrambling to find herbs because I'm always one lucky strike away from la Parca's cold, cold embrace. It doesn't exactly help when you're wearing an actual chicken hat the entire time. I bet Krauser is going to love to see me! Talk about humbled. I have to admit, though, that I haven't looked into the exact percentage of damage the hat halves. I only knew that the S+ requirements were a 5-hour and 30-minute time limit and I would only be able to save 15 times. So I read "Greatly decreases the amount of damage you receive" as "You're gonna need this".

Maybe I've just lost all perceptions of strategy because of the S+ Rank pressure, or I could have just lost my touch burning myself out playing the same story nearly 15 times. Still, it's a classic, and I love it no matter how frustrating it gets. I've got another 40 hours in me. I've made it this far just by sprinting through the chapters attacking only what's in my way, but in the castle which is almost entirely indoors, it's easier to get cornered in the rooms because the seven enemies you didn't kill are ten feet behind you at all times.

I also know that rocket launchers can help skip certain sections of the story, like in the mines when you have to clear the blockade. Getting the dynamite here is optional because you can just blast it away, or when Ashley needs to smash a wall with a wrecking ball, you can help her by shooting it with a rocket so she only needs to hit it once. So I am aware of the shortcuts you can take to avoid certain predicaments that could get you killed and your progress erased. But it doesn't seem like a viable option to waste them on anything that isn't a boss. As I mentioned before, I still feel very vulnerable even with this accessory, and I've come to this forum to ask for help before I put myself in a position where I'll have to restart. And I really don't want to have to survive the village assault in Chapter 1 on Professional mode again.

[Digusting Abomination]

I did an S+ professional run without the hat and immediately after a revenge run on professional too with the infinite launcher and the hat, I felt way less incoming damage but I'm not sure whether it's factual or just perception

[Fish]

Originally posted by Jawless:

I did an S+ professional run without the hat and immediately after a revenge run on professional too with the infinite launcher and the hat, I felt way less incoming damage but I'm not sure whether it's factual or just perception

No you are correct, a very basic test will show you the damage difference. Just start a professional run without the hat and allow yourself to be hit with a throwing weapon that villagers always throw when they can and then put the chicken hat on and see the difference.

To OP walls of text like this scream one thing, you are frustrated and are looking for excuses. I did S+ with and without chicken hat for cat ears and handcannon and there was a difference, when I used the cat ears I no longer had the damage reduction and grabs from regeneradors chunked me. You will get there, S+ takes some practice but honestly when I got beyond the village section it became waaaay easier at both castle and island. You will get there and when you do it feels good to ride that closing sequence

[Fish]

Just to add some pointers, hopefully you check this. S+ you can only save 15 times like you said so making those saves last to the points you really need them is vital. When I did my S+ run my first save wasn't made until just before del lago, yes it is crazy long to not save but that is the point make it last. You get into that habit so you can save before each weird bit like Krauser which I always save just before in case my brain goes to mush.

By what you listed you are not using handguns? If so make sure you change your case, I use the red herb one so I have plenty of almost full heals as I can and of course use those yellow combos as a prio, you want your health bar to be as big as can be but only heal when you need to. You listed the weapons you ticketed, honestly you seem to be doing yourself harm with your choices, skull shaker is not a good shotgun with the riot shotgun easily trumping it so you should have used a ticket for that. Also no rifle? The first bolt action with the full upgrade is easily one of the best strong mob killers bar the Killer7. Also primal knife might seem amazing but honestly on professional you do not need it to be unbreakable, just upgrade the normal knife in damage for Krauser so you can melt him and that is it.

I would suggest you use 3 rocket launchers, one for Saddler, one for last Krauser phase and one for Verdugo. If you are good with your money and save when you need you will have 160k for each of these as well as what you need for weapon upgrades but you MUST use the right weapons, you are honestly barking up the wrong tree like I said before.

For your S+ run I recommend the chicken hat (yes it reduces damage I posted about it above) and Ashley armor. Ashley armor means you can leave her to fend for herself so long as you do not abandon her (move too far away when she is grabbed) she will always come to you meaning you can focus on getting through areas INSTEAD of fighting. S+ actually demands you skip entire fights and not in a glitchy way, for example fish farm it is best to run through the area to get the gas can and then run back to the boat AVOIDING enemies. Why? because when you fight del lago and go back everyone has despawned saving you time AND resources including heals.

I honestly recommend looking up a 3hr run of S+ so you can see all this and more in action.

[Soren]

Originally posted by Fishboy:

To OP walls of text like this scream one thing, you are frustrated and are looking for excuses. I did S+ with and without chicken hat for cat ears and handcannon and there was a difference, when I used the cat ears I no longer had the damage reduction and grabs from regeneradors chunked me. You will get there, S+ takes some practice but honestly when I got beyond the village section it became waaaay easier at both castle and island. You will get there and when you do it feels good to ride that closing sequence

Yeah, I did my professional run with no bonus costumes at all, and no bonus weapons either. Even have the screenshots to prove it. It's more than doable, you just tend to waste a lot of time if you're bad at certain sections of the game. I must have spent like a 20+ hours alone on the castle section of the game dying to novistadors/krauser/verdugo/el gigantes.

And the chicken hat on profession is actually pretty good from what I understand. I think the chicken hat gives 25% damage reduction in vanilla RE4R. Damage dealt from attacks vary. Usually the hat is the difference in the beginning of the game between taking 1 extra hit or not before healing. The reason I'd say the hat actually matters is because RE4R has an endure/survive on 1HP mechanic. Where if you're HP is high enough, you can automatically survive most normal attacks even if they deal more damage than your bar. The chicken hat can help you stay in that endure threshold, at least in the early game it helps.