Resident Evil 5: The Mercenaries - Lag Shot

What is "Lag Shot" in Resident Evil 5?

Lag shot is a term associated with performing a gunshot the split second right before a melee attack hits a stunned enemy. Basically, a player fires then melees almost simultaneously. This technique can be done with ANY type of weapon - even a rocket launcher. It can be done with any type of melee as well. This technique can actually be used to play Safari Chris much like BSAA Chris (leg stun only) or it can be used to correct the flaw where Safari Chris' straight might not kill when hitting a Majini from behind after a head stun (straight then lag shot + straight) - when using lag shot before the straight, Safari's straight will always kill if the straight hits!

Around the first year of RE5, lag shot was mainly used while playing off host in duo when a player played with lag. Playing with lag makes a lag shot easier to pull off. When playing with any type of lag, the buttons for performing the lag shot do not have to be pressed as fast! Over the years, players have started to perform lag shot more often without lag. The buttons must be pressed almost instantly one right after the other when lag is not present.

In Mercenaries, most players use lag shot to perform a melee kill more quickly on an enemy after an early stun. It is most useful with Chris and Sheva since their frontal leg melees can both hit grounded enemies. Wesker and Jill can both take advantage of lag shot as well, but the melee will not connect as well in most cases since many of their melees will not hit a grounded enemy (besides arm stun).

Lag shot is best performed with a control type where you can control the camera with the right analog/thumbstick. It's good to tilt the camera toward a stunned Majini before firing the shot right before the melee. With Type C and D controls, a player can only tilt the camera up or down with the right analog/thumbstick, which reduces the amount of control for aiming. With Type A lag shot, you really need all the camera control you can get, so Type C's limited camera control would make that lag shot sequence even harder.

What are the flaws of Lag Shot?

Lag shot does include certain flaws that are caused by trying to perform the lag shot itself.

- When a Majini falls down on both knees for a leg stun, the melee will often miss unless the Majini is uphill or your character is RIGHT NEXT to the Majini. In that case, it is best to perform an instant kill melee from behind or shoot the Majini one more time to cause the Majini to fall. To me, this is the worst flaw of lag shot, simply because, if you had damaged the Majini normally, your character could kill the Majini after the stun, but because you are using lag shot, you need that extra gunshot, but can't get it, so... you are losing time by trying a lag shot when a Majini falls on its knees during a leg stun!

- Never aim toward the head when performing the actual lag shot gunshot or you run the risk of getting a critical shortly before the melee. This can be even worse and you might accidentally activate a scripted Cephalo shortly before a melee.

- Sometimes a Majini will stagger backwards from the lag shot if they are shot in the top half and the melee will miss. This happens VERY rarely, but it will happen eventually. Shooting a Majini in the leg instead of the body will sometimes cause them to fall and the melee will miss as well! It's best to aim toward the body.

- With Safari Chris, if you do a lag shot right after a head stun (lag shot + straight), the Majini might fall and roll to the ground and the straight will miss the rolling Majini. The melee can usually be saved through a stomp when this happens, but this can cause a missed combo!


Type B and D Lag Shot



Player: Berserker Kev

NOTE: Safari Chris is normally a head stun character when trying to melee kill with him. His usual melee kill combination is headshot + straight. When played with lag shot like in the video above, he can be played as a leg stun character since all leg stuns can give you a melee kill. Playing Safari Chris as a leg stun character with the help of lag shot reduces the chances for criticals and random Cephalos in stages where they are both common like Missile Area. I use control type B in the video up above.

The method to perform a lag shot with Type B and D is the easiest, so I will explain it first. With Type B and D, get a stun on an enemy then rush up to the enemy and aim then fire and perform the melee DIRECTLY after firing. The melee button must be pressed between the time period where the gun is fired and the bullet actually hits the enemy.

Here is a full explanation of how to perform a melee from a leg stun with Type B or D:

1) Stun an enemy by shooting the enemy in a leg to get a leg stun
2) Rush toward the stunned enemy to where the melee prompt appears while standing near it
3) Aim at a portion of the enemy with the L1/LT button
4) While aiming press the R1/RT button to fire then QUICKLY tap the Square/X button to perform the melee

The actual shot + melee combination has to be performed one tap right after the other. It's much like Tekken where two button taps must be pressed one right after the other very quickly! Sort of like... R1 ~ Square or RT ~ X.


Type A and C Lag Shot



Player: RAGIA-2-RAGI_

NOTE: The player in the video above is a Type A player. Type A lag shot looks no different from Type B lag shot, but, as you can see, he does it a lot less than in my video - aka. lag shot is harder with Type A and C controls.

Type A and C players have a similar method for lag shot, but, since the melee button and the fire button are both the same, the fire button must be held before stepping in front of the enemy and the gunshot must be triggered by aiming with the aim button. Basically, you have to keep in mind that after you hold the fire button then tap the R1/RT button while holding the fire button, your character will shoot!

Here is a full explanation of how to perform a melee from a leg stun with Type A or C:

1) Stun an enemy by shooting the enemy in a leg to get a leg stun
2) Hold down the fire button (Square/X) then rush toward the stunned enemy to where the melee prompt appears while standing near it
3) While the Square/X button is still being held, aim at a portion of the enemy with the right analog (tilt the camera toward the enemy). The MOMENT you press and hold the R1/RT button to aim your weapon, your character will fire.
4) Right after pressing the R1/RT button to fire, release the Square/X button then quickly tap the Square/X button once again to perform the melee

Just like with Type B and D controls, the melee button press must be tapped in between the time the gunshot is fired and when the gunshot actually hits the enemy in order to perform the melee.


NOTE: If you have any problems performing lag shot with either method, try playing in duo and allowing another player to host - play off host. While playing off host, you will get a bit of lag depending on the connection and the lag shot will be much easier to pull off since you will not need to press the fire and melee button as quickly in sequence.