A genuine survival horror game, the originalResident Evilonly used action when it felt absolutely necessary, with its focus primarily on crafting a mood, indulging in some B-movie cheese, and offering some genuinely great puzzles. There were few weapons and fewer bosses, but they were always fun to use and combat was by no means bad.
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EveryResident Evilgame has capitalized on the action ever since, to mixed results. A good set of weapons doesn’t necessarily make a goodResident Evilgame, but they’re always the difference between life and death. A remake of a game that was already quite action heavy,Resident Evil 3(2020) offers Jill and Carlos quite an armory to play with.
7Survival Knife
What’s aResident Evilgame without a knife at the player’s side? Knifing was more Chris’ speciality in the originalResident Evil, and it wasn’t super useful in the originalResident Evil 3, butResident Evil 2(2019) increased the Survival Knife’s usability considerably. With ammo scarce, players truly had to verify they weren’t killing everything in sight.
The ones who wanted to needed to use the Survival Knife to finish off downend enemies– usually by shooting out their knees.Resident Evil 3(2020) operates a bit differently, however, to a point where players will comfortably be able to kill everything in sight with more than enough ammo to spare.
6Burst Handgun
The Burst Handgun has the same stats as the Handgun and has a much faster firing rate, making taking out zombies with the standard pistol much easier. The thing is, the Handgun’s relative weakness to other weapons makes sense: it’s the starter pistol. The Burst Handgun? Not so much. Especially since it’s the second to last weapon Jill gets access to.
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All the same, the Burst Handgun is still useful. With the same properties as the Handgun and a boost in speed, it’ll take down zombies guaranteed. It won’t be particularly useful against Hunters or Pale Heads, but it’s also not supposed to be. If nothing else, the Burst Handgun is very fun to use and makes for a nice change of pace for when Jill tackles the Hospital.
5Handgun
Even though the Burst Handgun is more or less the regular Handgun albeit with a considerably faster fire rate, the Handgun can be fully upgraded incredibly early in the game whereas the Burst Handgun is the last weapon Jill gains access to– a present from Carlos to give the player some last minute assistance should they for whatever really need it.
What elevates the Handgun above the Burst Handgun is just the fact that it can be upgraded, and early. Knocking out Nemesis in his first two encounters will result in him dropping some goodies for the Handgun (the only meaningful drops Nemesis has in the remake, by the way.) That alone makes it more useful than the Burst Handgun.
It’s also just a reliable weapon– something to be expected fromResident Evil’s starter pistols. They’re never the best guns in the game, but they always get the job done and are consistently reliable from start to credits. That’s really all a handgun needs to be.
4Grenade Launcher
The Grenade Launcher has arguably been Jill’s signature weapon since the originalResident Evil. Where Chris got the situational Flamethrower, Jill got a Grenade Launcher that could kill just about anything and everything with ease.Resident Evil 3naturally brought the Grenade Launcher back, with the ammo system giving the weapon some decent variety.
As expected, the remake brings the Grenade Launcher back, albeit it’s not all that useful against Nemesis. In boss fights especially, the Grenade Launcher is surprisingly weak– but that doesn’t mean it should just be tossed aside. Against pretty much everything else in the game (save for Pale Heads,) the Grenade Launcher is useful.
More importantly, the Grenade Launcher is fun to use. Acid Rounds dissolve zombies, Flame Rounds continuously burn them, and Mine Rounds are arguably the most creative weapon inRE3, allowing players to place mines that detonate when zombies (and even Nemesis) come into range.
3Shotgun
The shotgun inResident Evil 2(2019) was easily one of Leon’s best weapons in the game. While the core design of the game meant knee shots were often more valuable than headshots, the Shotgun actually allowed players to kill zombies at point blank range.Resident Evil 3(2020) actionizes the combat quite a bit, to the point where head and body shots are now encouraged.
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Interestingly, this change does not necessarily make the shotgun all that much better. For one, getting headshots at point blank range doesn’t seem nearly as consistent as it was inResident Evil 2– whether this be due to differences in the core design or differences in Jill and Leon’s characters.
All the same, the Shotgun will still take most zombies out in two shots if not one. Considering how much High Grade Gunpowder the game throws at Jill, it’s perfectly reasonable to craft more than enough Shotgun ammo to take out most enemies while still saving enough Gunpowder for Magnum ammo.
2Assault Rifle
In a nice nod to Jill’s ferociously overpowered kit in the original’s Easy Mode, the remake’s Assisted Mode actually starts Jill out with a free Assault Rifle (along with some extra item space to hold her Assault Rifle ammo.) Otherwise, anyone looking to get their hands on the Assault Rifle will have to wait until they gain control of Carlos at the RPD.
Considering each Assault Rifle shot does as much damage as one Handgun bullet, it goes without saying that the Assault Rifle’s speed makes it quite the firearm. Not only do zombies drop fast, it really doesn’t take much to kill them with the Assault Rifle. Careful aim to the body will fell most baddies on Standard.
What makes the Assault Rifle such a great weapon, however, is really just how generous the game is with Assault Rifle ammo when playing as Carlos. Correctly recognizing that most players will want to take the opportunity to use the Carlos exclusive gun, there isa lotof Assault Rifle ammo littered across the RPD and Hospital– the usability alone makes it a great weapon.
1Magnum
In typicalResident Evilfashion, the Magnum is only found much later into the game and, as to be expected by any longtime fan, it’s by far the single strongest firearm in Jill’s armory. Of course, being so powerful does mean it comes with a rather limited capacity for ammo, so trying to run around using the Magnum on everything will very quickly result in players no longer being able to use their most powerful gun on the enemies that actually call for it.
Introduced inResident Evil 2(2019)’s Ghost Survivors DLC, Pale Heads are naked, white zombies that are incredibly durable and regenerate damage much like the Regenerators fromResident Evil 4. Thankfully, Jill’s Magnum will put them down with ease. While the headshot is guaranteed to kill them, a body shot can get the job done most of the time.
All this said, as there’s more Magnum ammo in the campaign than there are Pale Heads, it’s more than reasonable to clear out leftover Hunters in the Hospital with Jill, save for the Hunter battle on the bridge, or just hold onto for the penultimate battle against Nemesis. So long as the gun is used wisely, the Magnum is the most valuable tool at Jill’s disposal.
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