Numb Body
Location: Central Square Mall (Normal and Alternate), Underpass, Hilltop Center
Attack Method: Numb Bodies will attempt to damage Heather by ramming into her at close range.
Best Tactics: Numb Bodies aren’t particularly difficult, so it’s probably best to use melee weapons to conserve ammunition. However, as the difficulty level increases, you may want to consider using firearms. Numb Bodies are often in fairly narrow hallways, so exercise caution when more than one of them are around.
Closer
Location: Central Square Mall (Normal and Alternate), Lakeside Amusement Park, Church
Attack Method: Closers will either attack by swinging one of their arms at you, or by swinging both arms in a spinning attack.
Best Tactics: Closers are BIG, and they’re fond of using that fact to their advantage. Closers, as the name suggests, like to “close off” your escape route if you choose to run from them, meaning it’s bad to leave more them two of them alive on any difficulty higher than Normal. Ranged weapons are your best bet, but attacking from the back with a melee weapon is also efficient. Just be sure to get out of range before the Closer retaliates with an arm swipe or spin attack.
Double Head
Location: Central Square Mall (Normal and Alternate), Subway, Hilltop Center (Normal and Alternate), Silent Hill, Brookhaven Hospital (Alternate), Lakeside Amusement Park
Attack Method: Double Heads will either attack by lunging at you from a distance or biting you at close range.
Best Tactics: These dog-like can be a pain in groups, so it’s best to focus on killing or at least knocking one down as quick as possible. Using the handgun is probably your best bet on lesser to normal difficulties, and the shotgun is handy on harder difficulties or when they’re lunging at you in packs. Melee weapons work well, too, but use caution when there’s more than one around. While exploring the town of Silent Hill, they’ll howl when they see you and attack shortly afterward, so be ready.
Pendulum
Location: Hilltop Shopping Center (Alternate), Underpass, Construction Site, Silent Hill, Lakeside Amusement Park, Church
Attack Method: Pendulums will either be floating in the air or walking on the ground. While floating, they’ll lunge at you in a straight line or attack you at close range. On the ground, they’ll attack you at close range by rotating their body. Shooting at them while floating will cause them to lunge at you with great speed.
Best Tactics: It’s best to just avoid Pendulums, but use ranged weapons if you’re forced to fight. Floating Pendulums give themselves away with an annoying screeching/scraping sound, so if you’re planning to run past one, it’s best to play things by ear. If you’re forced to use a melee weapon, use something with longer range, such as the maul or the steel pipe.
Insane Cancer
Location: Subway, Construction Site, Hilltop Center (Normal and Alternate), Church
Attack Method: Insane Cancers will only attack you while standing, and do so by swinging at you with their arms.
Best Tactics: These big guys will always be lying down at first, so take the opportunity to run by them if you can. Doing this in narrower hallways may be more difficult, but it’s possible to push them out of the way by nudging into them. Otherwise, the shotgun was practically made to deal with Insane Cancers. Their wide girth is sufficient enough to take the full range of a shotgun’s bullet spread, so let ‘er rip at medium to close range. The Submachine Gun is also a great ranged weapon to use. When using a melee weapon, attack from the backside with caution. Also, Insane Cancers are only dead when they deflate (they’ll also make a very distinct sound when they die), so be careful until you’ve confirmed that.
Slurper
Location: Hilltop Center (Alternate), Brookhaven Hospital (Alternate), Church
Attack Method: Slurpers attack at medium to long range by crawling fast in a straight line and knocking you flat on your ass. At close range, they’ll grapple with you and cause damage.
Best Tactics: These guys are a serious pain in the ass. Running by them without getting grappled or knocked down is very difficult, so it’s best to use something with stopping power, like the Shotgun, to at least down them before running by. Any other weapon, including most melee weapons, don’t have the stopping power to keep these guys away from you (and if they do have the stopping power, they’re usually too slow).
Nurse
Location: Brookhaven Hospital (Nightmare and Alternate)
Attack Method: Nurses will either be carrying a steel pipe or a revolver, and will use them accordingly. Nurses with revolvers will attack at medium to long range, and nurses with steel pipes will attack at short to medium range.
Best Tactics: Nurses can be hard to defeat and require many hits, so use caution when fighting them. Melee weapons are extremely difficult to use against Nurses, due to their long attack range with both the revolver and the steel pipe. As long as you keep your distance, the Handgun works nicely. The Shotgun can be used when multiple nurses are bearing down upon you, but remember to conserve your shotgun ammo if you need to.
Scrapers
Location: Church
Attack Method:Scrapers will take a swipe/stab at you with their bladed arms at medium to close range.
Best Tactics: Scrapers fight almost exactly like the Missionary boss, except you encounter them in fairly to extremely narrow hallways/walkways. Unless you’re lucky or skilled enough to run past them, attacking from the front with either the Shotgun or Submachine Gun is your best bet. He will almost always deflect your Handgun shots from the front, and getting in close for melee will all but ensure a swift beating, so exercise caution. If this sounds scary, that’s because it is… but thankfully, you only encounter them very briefly in the Church, so deal with them quickly and get it over with.
Valtiel
Location: Central Square Mall (Alternate), Hilltop Center (Alternate), Brookhaven Hospital (Alternate), Church
Attack Method: Valtiel doesn’t attack you, nor does he show any interest in doing so.
Best Tactics: Have fun watching him do different things in different places: twitching his head extremely fast, turning a valve, crawling in a narrow space. He also may appear to drag you off when you die, pending certain conditions. Watch for him during the final boss fight, as well.