As a survival horror aficionado, I was thrilled to get my hands on Capcom’s remake of the legendary Resident Evil 4. This modernized version brings back fan favorite weapons like the burst-fire Matilda handgun with beautifully enhanced visuals and tight, responsive gameplay.
In this comprehensive guide from a passionate RE gamer for fellow fans, we’ll be diving deep on all things related to acquiring, upgrading and mastering Matilda to become an unstoppable ganado-slaying machine. Time to strap in and get ready to lay waste to Los Illuminados!
Matilda’s Storied Legacy
While Matilda makes her chronological debut in Resident Evil 4, canonically she’s existed in the RE universe since the 1960s as an experimental triple-burst handgun. Fun fact: she’s named after an Australian waltzing Matilda infantry division.
This hard-hitting hand-cannon has quite the legendary (and unethical) backstory – Matilda prototypes and schematics were originally stolen and produced in secret by spy Ada Wong for Wesker’s mysterious plans and machinations.
Now in RE4 Remake, Leon unwittingly gets his hands on a black market Matilda model and takes full advantage of her blistering fire rate and stopping power against the Ganados hordes.
It’s quite fitting that a weapon with roots in covert espionage and android technology ends up in the hands of Leon Kennedy – the man who over his storied career has taken down full-fledged B.O.W.s like Mr. X and Tyrant T-103. Matilda in Leon’s trained hands can wreak some serious havoc!
How To Get Matilda
Unlike in the original RE4, Matilda is now available exclusively via purchase from The Merchant rather than lying in wait at a fixed location. She becomes purchasable starting in Chapter 8 for an upfront cost of 10 Spinels.
This does mean you’ll need to save up Spinels by completing The Merchant‘s Requests leading up to Chapter 8. I highly recommend this rather than hoarding cash – Requests reward far more Spinels than you’ll ever find stashed in boxes or dropped by enemies. Plus, they serve as fun side objectives as you blast through the RE4 Remake campaign.
A couple other tips for amassing enough Spinels for Matilda:
- Aim to finish multiple Requests per chapter. Spinels ramp up exponentially with each successive Request.
- Sell extra treasures, ingredients and ammo to liquidate inventory for cash to upgrade weapons handling Matilda acquisition.
- You can still buy Matilda in later chapters if you missed initial opportunity.
Alright, 10 Spinels in tow, here’s how to actually claim your Matilda once Chapter 8 rolls around:
- Locate The Merchant in the hallways near the Ground Floor exit.
- Open up his Trade interface and navigate to Matilda.
- Hold down the prompt to permanently acquire this triple-burst hand-cannon!
And that’s it! Matilda is now yours to equip and take into the field – time to put her high-caliber stopping power to work against the Los Illuminados.
Matilda Base Stats & Benchmark Upgrades
Before dumping hard-earned Pesetas on upgrades, let’s establish Matilda’s base stats out of the box at Level 1:
- Power: 1.3
- Rate of Fire: 0.96 shots per second
- Reload Speed: 1 second
- Ammo Capacity: 18 rounds
Right away we can see her raw per-shot damage with the Power stat. Rate of fire is a tad slower compared to single-shot pistols but reasonably quick. Reload and ammo capacity are also nothing special.
Thankfully Matilda can be upgraded to much deadlier effect. Consider these upgrade benchmarks I’d recommend hitting to get suitable ganado-slaying numbers:
Power: Level 3 (1.6 Power) – Enables 2 headshot kills on most Ganados
Ammo Capacity: Level 4 (27 Rounds) – Allows spraying 10+ Ganados per mag
Reload Speed: Level 3 (0.8 sec) – Greatly speeds up sustained DPS
Let’s dig into the full upgrade scaling and Peseta costs:
Power
- Level 1 (1.3 Power) – Base
- Level 2 (1.4 Power) – 15,000 Pesetas
- Level 3 (1.6 Power) – 26,000 Pesetas
- Level 4 (1.8 Power) – 43,000 Pesetas
- Level 5 (2.0 Power) – 62,000 Pesetas
Reload Speed
- Level 1 (1 sec) – Base
- Level 2 (0.9 sec) – 8,000 Pesetas
- Level 3 (0.8 sec) – 9,000 Pesetas
- Level 4 (0.7 sec) – 10,000 Pesetas
- Level 5 (0.6 sec) – 11,000 Pesetas
Ammo Capacity
- Level 1 (18 Rounds) – Base
- Level 2 (21 Rounds) – 10,000 Pesetas
- Level 3 (24 Rounds) – 12,000 Pesetas
- Level 4 (27 Rounds) – 14,000 Pesetas
- Level 5 (30 Rounds) – 16,000 Pesetas
I suggest starting off by pumping two upgrade points into Power, then Ammo Capacity, followed by Reload Speed based on the benchmarks noted earlier. This juices up Matilda’s damage and sustainability extremely effectively against groups of Plagas-infected villagers.
Later on with more Pesetas to spare, continue scaling Power for that sweet 2.0x multiplier. Nothing beats eliminating Zealots and Armored Zealots rapidly in 2-3 bursts to the cranium.
There’s also an exclusive +60 round ammo capacity upgrade available – this almost turns Matilda into an LMG equivalent in terms of raw bullet reserves!
Advanced Combat Tactics
Alright, let’s dive into tactics and wielding for peak Matilda efficiency:
Go For Headshots
I simply can’t emphasize this enough – always manually aim for headshots. The Matilda may spit out 3 quick rounds per burst, but precision aiming remains critical.
With a Level 3+ Power rating, most Ganado types can be dropped in just 2-3 clean cranium hits. This ammo conservation enables wiping out entire mobs without reloading.
The Matilda Stock Transforms Her
This foregrip attachment available in Chapter 12 amplifies Matilda to her full potential. Equipping the Stock upgrades her burst functionality even further – now she fires a blistering 5 round burst shot!
It also boosts her default Precision stat by a massive 30% for pinpoint accuracy. Large enemies and Colmillos that used to eat multiple mag dumps now get shredded in seconds.
Mix In Some Red9 Action
What pairs perfectly with Matilda in my experience? The exclusive upgrade makes Matilda strong for mid-range engagements.
That’s where my favorite secondary in the Red9 comes into play – for longer range hostiles, quickly swap to the Red9 fitted with its exclusive Stock for precision 2-3 shot kills even on distant Plaga parasites.
Combining these two prepared handguns makes you lethal up close with Matilda and at a distance with the Red9 – the ultimate dynamic handgun duo!
When Does Matilda Excel?
After extensive testing across multiple playthroughs, here are the enemy types and situations where Matilda dominates:
Ganados & Zealots – Triple and eventually penta-burst headshots rapidly slay basic Plaga hosts that tend to attack in numbers from close up.
Colmillos alpha wolves – Matilda’s high carnage lets you quickly stagger and kill these lethal wolves before getting mobbed by the pack.
Chainsaw Ganados – Risk getting insta-killed up close! Matilda lets you burst them down safely outside melee range.
Boss weak points – Shooting glowing Plaga parasites and eyeballs fill bosses with highly concentrated pain.
Mercenaries mode – Matilda’s excellent mob clearing potential makes her a popular Mercenaries speedrun pick.
When Does Matilda Struggle?
Matilda can’t handle every volatile situation Leon finds himself in. Here’s when you may want to consider swapping to a bigger gun:
Garradors – These blind Wolverine impersonators will soak tons of Matilda shots while wildly slashing at you. Bring your Riot Gun instead!
Regenerators & Iron Maidens – Their insane resilience against pain means slowly plinking away with a handgun isn’t wise. Break out the big boy TMP instead!
Long range combat – Matilda just doesn’t have the accuracy or damage dropoff performance for distant threats like Snipers or boss weak points. Use your Bolt-Action Rifle or Magnum Revolver instead.
Critically low ammo – If you’re totally starved for bullets, relying on Matilda’s hunger for ammunition isn’t sustainable. Conserve ammo with melee attacks until supplies can be replenished.
Speedrun Potential
For RE4 Remake speedrunners and experts attempting minimum time clears on Normal or Professional, Matilda can be an extremely potent tool for quick combat encounters against large mobs of enemies.
Upgraded with improved fire rate and ammo capacity, speedrunners can swiftly mow down rooms filled with Ganados and Zealots in seconds by landing clean burst headshots. This allows quickly blitzing through action set pieces without needing to collect extra supplies.
Skipping cutscenes and cinematics coupled with skipping supplementary kills where possible enables Matilda to carry the player through Plaga-infested areas very rapidly.
However, for world record pace runs, the Matilda lacks the raw damage output compared to upgraded shotguns or magnums to sweep bosses efficiently. But for casual speedrun attempts, Matilda brings some excellent run-and-gun credentials!
How Does Matilda Compare to the Best RE4 Guns?
Let’s directly pit the Matilda against the crème de la crème of Resident Evil 4 weaponry:
Matilda vs Red9
The infamous semi-auto Red9 pistol trades away Matilda’s spray potential for superior ammo efficiency and damage per second against single targets.
In most situations, a upgraded Red9 narrowly beats out Matilda. But Matilda’s lead spray gives her an advantage against densely packed mobs of weak Plagas that need wiping out rapidly.
Matilda vs Killer7
The Killer7 magnum seems like serious overkill packing .45 caliber rounds with immense penetration stats – can Matilda’s modest 9mm bursts even compare?
Surprisingly yes – when fully upgraded, Matilda reaches similar per-shot damage but with triple the bullets downrange in quick succession! The key advantage Killer7 still maintains however is distance damage dropoff, making it better suited for long range executions.
Matilda vs Riot Gun
This brutal shotgun loaded with incendiary shells is the ultimate crowd control tool – or is it? Matilda can run circles around the Riot Gun against groups thanks to her deeper ammo reserves, firing speed, and movement capability.
However, the Riot Gun’s sheer stopping power per shell combined with its exclusive reload upgrade makes it objectively better at melting individual tough enemies.
So in summary, Matilda can hold her own against the Resident Evil’s best ordinance, but ultimately sits a tier below the holy trinity of Red9, Killer7, and Riot Gun in overall potential.
Final Verdict on Matilda
I hereby declare my verdict after substantial testing and analysis – the Matilda handgun is still an S-Tier monster in RE4 Remake.
While she faces stiff competition from other top-flight weapon options, a fully upgraded Matilda’s blend of spray firepower, quick reloads, large ammo capacity and low equip cost makes her an incredibly flexible threat eliminator in numerous situations.
Both hardcore and casual RE4 Remake enthusiasts are doing themselves a major disservice if they gloss over Matilda in favor of flashier armaments. Her sheer utility coupled with available upgrades turn Matilda into an arbitrator of ballistic brutality.
So in summary – chase down those Requests contracts as soon as possible, channel your inner spy film protagonist, and unleash triggered Matilda and all her triple-burst glory unto thy enemies! This gun empowers players with a profound sense of power and tactical flexibility that accommodates nearly any confrontational context.
Thanks for checking out my Resident Evil 4 Remake weapon spotlight on the Matilda handgun – now get out there and start popping Plaga parasite heads with extreme prejudice! Let me know your own pro strats and opinions on Matilda versus other ordnance options in the comments section. Happy hunting out there!
