Resident Evil 9 Requiem: Leon Must Die Forever tips you need to know

Leon Must Die Forever is the long-awaited free update to Resident Evil: Requiem, and there’s a lot to learn.

RE9’s promised story DLC might be some time away, but Leon Must Die Forever is here to fill the gap until then. Similar to Resident Evil 7’s Ethan Must Die mode, Leon Must Die Forever takes Leon S. Kennedy through multiple areas from the main game, linked together with red doors.

Your run will conclude with a boss fight or two, and you need to ensure you’re ready for the fight by the time you get there, or you’ll be sent back to the start. RNG plays a factor here, but with some game knowledge and skill, you can overcome the odds. Just read through our tips below for the essential things you need to know.

It’s (mostly) like the story – RE9 LMDF

If you’re familiar with the RE9 story, then you’ll mostly be comfortable in Leon Must Die Forever. The Care Center is the only place where enemy spawns appear to be random. Otherwise, you’ll be encountering the same enemies that appear when you move through these areas in the campaign. Again, if you know the story well, then just move to the next area as you would in the campaign, and you’re bound to find something new.

Explore to start – RE9 LMDF

Even though these areas will be familiar, there are a few new things you need to watch out for. Weapon chests can be found in each area, providing either ammo or a new weapon. Red doors will be placed in each area, too, allowing you to skip through the game’s sections in your own desired route. You shouldn’t miss out on Slot Enhancers or Spinners, either. You’ll get a feel for where these items are as you attempt a few runs, so just play and explore each area to see what it has to offer.

Ability Enhancer essentials – RE9 LMDF

Leon’s Ability Enhancer is the core of all of your builds in LMDF. Each enemy you defeat will charge your Ability Enhancer, and for every 100 points in the enhancer, you can add an ability to your ability slots. Abilities, like weapons, come in standard varieties, and then three rarer types, this time indicated by bronze, silver, and gold markings. Gold abilities don’t come around very often, but you can refresh the abilities on offer for 20 points. Tougher enemies and bosses drop a lot of points in exchange for your precious resources, so you need to balance whether you go for abilities or resource preservation in your run.

Red doors – RE9 LMDF

As mentioned above, red doors can be used to travel between each area, and you should plan out your own route through the world depending on your build. For example, you might select abilities that shield you against melee damage, but increase your susceptibility to gunfire — with that build, you would want to avoid sections of the game where guns are a factor. While abilities are partially RNG, with knowledge of each area, you’ll know which door to use to find the best route for your build.

Gear up, or speedrun? – RE9 LMDF

Now that you know about the red doors, you will probably figure out a quick route through the stages. You can very easily skip through Wrenwood, the Rehabilitation Ward, Raccoon City Central Camp, straight to Victor, if you so wish, but you probably won’t fill your ability slots, and it’ll be a tough fight with (assumedly) low-rank weapons. As a result, unless you’re prepared for an uphill final battle, you might want to spend some time defeating standard zombies, finding weapons, and using the Ability Enhancer.

Don’t worry about the timer – RE9 LMDF

Yes, there’s a timer, and it might seem quite worrying at first, but you’re better off ignoring it. The game is pretty generous with the timer, and you’ll get significant time updates from shooting the Aurora or Midas Spinners, and you’ll get another time increase when moving from any stage to the next. It might seem intimidating, but you can feel free to explore and comb through areas for ammo and weapons before moving on — most of the time, anyway.

Weapon ranks – RE9 LMDF

Leon can’t upgrade his arsenal in LMDF, so you instead have to pick up higher-ranked weapons. Weapons that come with upgrades can be found in weapon chests and can be dropped by Red and Blue enemies, which are tougher to take down, obviously. These weapons will make fighting Victor at the end of the game far easier, so we recommend taking your time to gear up if you’re feeling unsure about the battle ahead. Weapons can have up to three stars, with the more stars indicating a higher rarity and – usually – firepower.

Red and Blue enemies hold rewards – RE9 LMDF

We’ve mentioned Red and Blue enemies, so let’s break them down. Yes, they can potentially drop high-rank weapons, but they’re also much tougher to take down, with bigger health bars and specific win conditions. Red enemies take little damage from gunfire, forcing you to use melee strikes and your hatchet. Blue enemies have incredibly high endurance until they’re hit with a parry, at which point their defense drops hard for a short period of time. They can be annoying to fight, especially when there’s a group of foes, but the rewards are worth the struggle.

Get good at parrying – RE9 LMDF

Parries are incredibly helpful in Resident Evil: Requiem when playing as Leon, but especially in LMDF. Your hatchet will break fairly quickly and can be repaired via drops and the Ability Enhancer (sometimes), but the best thing for it is the Parry Recovery ability, which will repairs 40% of the hatchet’s durability on a perfect parry. If you’re good at parries and have this ability, you can keep surviving through even the toughest of situations.

Use the Special Content shop – RE9 LMDF

The Special Content shop is there to be used. You can unlock more inventory space for Leon and have him start with more resources to get started, in addition to upgrading select abilities. You’ll need to complete Challenges to unlock the CP you need to get these bonuses, but if you’ve cleared all of the challenges in the base game, you’ll start with 20200 CP. If you haven’t cleared the base game’s challenges, well, can we suggest attempting The Final Puzzle for a cheeky 20000 CP?