How to defeat Nemesis in every Resident Evil 3 boss battle

Zombies? Easy. Hunter Betas? A little trickier, but still not the most challenging enemy you will face in the newly-released Resident Evil 3 Remastered. Nemesis? Well, he’s a different kettle of fish entirely ⁠— here’s how to beat him.

When Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was first released on PlayStation in 1999, it brought with it all the horror ⁠— and, of course, the jumpscares ⁠— gaming had been lacking. Most of that came down to Capcom’s titular villain, Nemesis himself.

Now, two decades later, Umbrella Corporation’s greatest, and perhaps their scariest, creation is back in all his remastered glory. That means you, or rather franchise heroes Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira, have to beat him again too.

Capcom

You’re going to need every tip and trick to beat Resident Evil 3’s titular monstrous villain.

That’s no easy task, especially considering the hulking T-Series creation is literally built to do battle with the STARS police team. There are a few tricks to beating him in each of the many times you encounter him though.

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Here’s how to beat Resident Evil 3’s biggest bad guy:

General tips to beating Nemesis

Before we get into the encounters themselves ⁠— and there are a fair few in the remastered release ⁠— there are a few general tips you should keep in mind. Nemesis isn’t always able to be beaten with a cutscene; here’s how to stay alive:

• Don’t bother shooting ⁠— Look, we told you Nemmy was a big unstoppable beast, right? Bullets ain’t working on him, so probably don’t bother. You’ll need them for the rest of the game’s deadly beasts.
• Nemesis hates electricity ⁠— Bullets may not bother him, but electricity sure does. Any time you see a generator with a green LED light on top, make sure you blast it. This will freeze Nemesis in his tracks.
• Be ready to dodge, always ⁠— Outside of the rest of his deadly arsenal, Nemesis also loves to use his mega-rocket launcher. He fires in groups of three, then reloads. Once you hear that third one land, run!

Okay, got all that? Good. Now here’s a breakdown of each and every time you’ll come face to face with the terrifying mutation, and how to beat him.

Capcom

The Umbrella Corporation’s monstrous mega-weapon won’t stop hunting you until the game’s closing credits.

Rooftop Demolition Site fight

This is your first proper, face-to-face, mano-el-monstro fight against Nemesis, and it may be one of the most iconic in the franchise too. The mutated monster whips out a flamethrower, and sets most of the roof alight.

There are a few tricks to this fight. The main one is shooting the gas canister behind him, to make sure he detonates. If you shoot the electrical supply on top of the roof ⁠— another green flashing light ⁠— you should get an opening.

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Unfortunately, this doesn’t end the boss fight. It mainly just pisses him off. Be ready to do some dodging as he charges at you (the right shoulder button is dodge). Once he’s missed, slam him with explosive rounds to polish him off.

Downtown chase sequence

Did I say “polish him off” in the last section? Sorry, I meant stop him for like a couple of minutes before he’s back on your heels. Luckily, this chase sequence is one of the easier meetings with an angry Nemesis.

The whole chase is basically on rails. He’s aiming with a targeting laser, so if you can avoid it once it turns red, you should be fine. Don’t let him catch you though, or he’ll swipe at you, and kill you. Just run until the cutscene.

Capcom

If you can dodge Nemesis’ rocket launchers, the chase sequence should be a breeze.

St. Michael’s Clock Tower

The second face-to-face fight with Nemmy comes just before you arrive at the hospital. This time, the Umbrella Co. creation has warped into a beastly version of himself, ready to hunt you down in a terrifying new shape.

The key to this fight is your grenade launcher. As soon as the battle starts, race past all the destroyed S.W.A.T. vans, ambulances, and police cars. In the north-east corner of the square you’ll find shells and first-aid spray: grab this. One of the S.W.A.T. vans also boasts some flame rounds, so pick these up too. 

You have to remember too, Nemesis isn’t just going to let you loot. He’ll be jumping around trying to land a killer blow, so you have to be fast on the dodge buttons. If you can pull them off, and land a few blows, you’re cheering.

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Eventually, Nemesis climbs to the top of St. Michael’s Clock Tower itself. From there, he’ll try to end the fight with some mega-leaps. Dodge just as he’s about to land on you and you should be in the clear to pepper him down to zero.

Capcom

Down doggy! — Nemesis transforms for the first time ahead of the St. Michael’s Clock Tower battle.

Umbrella’s NEST 2 Facility

Look, we’re not going to lie ⁠— your third unavoidable battle with Nemesis is going to be the hardest one yet. You arrive beneath Umbrella’s NEST 2 Facility to find your horrifying pursuer has added tentacles to his arsenal.

There are three stages to this fight. The first is pretty simple. Keep slamming him with flame rounds ⁠— do not use explosive rounds here! ⁠— until Carlos turns up. From there, Oliveira will guide you to where Nemesis is hiding.

After you’ve peppered him a few more times, the pit gets a couple of zombie visitors. The best thing to do here is making sure you just avoid them. Wasting ammo on them may leave you shorthanded for the real battle.

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Electricity plays a big part here again, as you shock Nemesis into paralysis. Shock the big baddy, and when he charges out of it, make sure he’s hitting the zombies too. That will fix two problems at once, and deal damage.

Finally, Nemesis will stop in front of the generator. From here, shoot the canisters around him. This will trigger Carlos to flatten him with a giant crane. Do this three times, and Nemmy will be flattened— at least for now.

Capcom

In his most horrifying appearance yet, Nemesis becomes a being of pure goo and gunk.

Umbrella’s Railgun Testing Room

This is the closing fight of the game, and thankfully it isn’t as hard as the long-winded NEST 2 battle you had a little earlier. After squashing him last time out, Nemesis has become a big blob of puss and gore. It’s pretty gross.

In this fight, Nemesis can’t even move to pursue you because of his gelatinous form. Ignore him ⁠— the real prize is at the back of the room: the rail gun. It’s got so much power the game plays a cutscene when you fire. Use it on Nemmy.

After you fire, you’ll have to power it up again. This is the trick: wait until Nemesis is down, and then race around. If you do it when he’s upright, he’ll one-shot you and it’s game over, back to the title screen. Take it slow.

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When you’ve powered the rail gun back up, aim for his body boils. These do extra damage, and when you’ve shot them all he falls to the ground. Three railgun shots to the body will polish Resident Evil’s terrifying villain off for good.

Capcom

Nemesis has come a long way since his first appearance in 1999, but he’s still as scary as ever.

So there you have it: how to beat ⁠— or at the very least, how to run away from ⁠— Nemesis every time you meet him in Resident Evil 3 Remastered. For all things RE3, including guides and gameplay tips, stick with Dexerto.