A Complete Gamer’s Guide to Lady Dimitrescu
Alcina Dimitrescu is one of the most notable characters from Resident Evil Village, which is the eighth main installment in the long-running survival horror series. To an extent, she is well-known because she is a major antagonist in the game. However, Alcina was also featured in Maiden, with the result that she managed to capture the interest of what seemed like a huge swathe of the Internet.
How Did the Internet React to Lady Dimitrescu?
In short, Maiden was a survival horror game for the PlayStation 5 that served as a demo for Resident Evil Village. Players took up the role of the titular character Ingrid, who sought to escape from Castle Dimitrescu after waking up as a prisoner in its dungeon. Maiden was different from Resident Evil Village in that it had no combat, which was fine because it was meant to show the main game’s tone as well as the main game’s setting. Alcina made a very strong impression on a lot of people because of how Maiden ended. Essentially, Ingrid managed to make her way to the courtyard door even though she was being chased by Alcina’s daughters. Unfortunately, she ran into the mistress of the castle at that point with the result that she was impaled by the latter’s claws. Alcina managed to make quite an impression, both because of the way that she made her entrance and because she was an attractive-looking woman who happened to stand at more than 2 meters in height. Unsurprisingly, the Internet proceeded to generate a lot of fan-works of the character based on very little information, which were of a wholly unsurprising nature.
How Do You Avoid Lady Dimitrescu?
Interested individuals can expect to be chased by both Alcina and her daughters in Resident Evil Village, meaning that it is a good idea for them to learn more about how to avoid these enemies:
Don’t Bother Fighting the Daughters
For starters, there is no point to fighting the daughters. Lore-wise, they are pretty much unkillable while they are moving about as a swarm of blowflies. As a result, interested individuals won’t be able to take down the daughters unless the story lets them expose the latter to cold temperatures, thus making the latter vulnerable by sending the Mold into hibernation. In the meantime, the best solution for the daughters is to keep a watchful eye out for blowflies. The daughters won’t announce themselves in the same way as their mother, so that is the surest sign of their presence. As soon as interested individuals see the blowflies, they should get moving for a number of reasons. One, they will take gradual damage while they are in the blowflies’ presence. Two, they are at risk of a nastier attack if one of the daughters manage to get close enough. Three, weapons won’t do anything against the daughters until they reach the right points in the story. Fortunately, the daughters aren’t too much of a danger when compared to their mother. They don’t move that fast. Morever, the daughters seem to have short attention spans because interested individuals should be able to shake them off after just a few rooms. Be warned that they won’t be obstructed by a lot of obstacles because, well, they can move about as a swarm of blowflies.
Expect to Be Chased By Alcina
Speaking of which, Alcina is another example of the invulnerable or near-invulnerable enemy that must be avoided that is so popular for the Resident Evil series. As such, interested individuals should expect her to start chasing them at a certain point in the story, which can cause them a fair number of complications. After all, Alcina can’t be killed at this point. Even worse, the player’s weapons can’t do much to hinder her. Yes, direct shots to her head might cause her to stumble from time to time. Similarly, she might pause a bit while shrugging off bullets. However, the fundamental fact of the matter is that the player can’t stun her with enough reliability to make this a worthwhile counter, meaning that it is a waste of bullets more than anything else. Instead, the best option for dealing with Alcina is running away. Fortunately, her presence is even more obvious than that of her daughters, particularly since she is prone to just straight-up announcing herself when she sees the player-character. Even so, chances are good that interested individuals will move within her attack range at some point, meaning that they need to be prepared for said eventuality. Alcina has a couple of attacks at this point. One, she can do wide sweeps with her claws, which can do a huge amount of damage if they aren’t either avoided or blocked. Two, she can impale the player-character before tossing him to the side, which won’t be pleasant to say the least. It is interesting to note that Alcina has very little regard for other enemies in the same space. If they are hanging around while she is sweeping, well, suffice to say that her claws go through them with the same ease that they go through the player-character. Still, this is more a point of curiosity than anything else. Expecting Alcina to take out their enemies for them tends to result in very bad things happening to interested individuals.
Some Places in Castle Dimitrescu Are More Dangerous than Others
Naturally, there are some places in Castle Dimitrescu that are more dangerous than others. Sometimes, this is because they are a place such as the Main Hall that can be patrolled by both Alcina and her daughters, which can make for a much more dangerous scenario than running into either threat on their own. Other times, this is because they are a deadend, with examples including both the balconies overseeing the Main Hall and the balconies overseeing the Opera Hall. Generally speaking, interested individuals should be trying to break eye contact if they run into Alcina. Unfortunately, if they run into Alcina while they are caught in a deadend, they might have no choice but to make their way through her. Something that is extremely dangerous because her size provides her with considerable reach. Success will pretty much require interested individuals to either block her attacks or position themselves in such a manner that her attacks are blocked by some kind of obstacle. If interested individuals are feeling frustrated, they might want to remember some of the places that are useful for avoiding Alcina. One example would be the Merchant’s Room, particularly since it comes with multiple escape paths if she is lurking about. Other examples include the rooftops as well as the rooms leading to the dungeons. The sooner that interested individuals get a idea of what to expect from Alcina on patrol, the more manageable that she will become as a threat.
How Do You Defeat Lady Dimitrescu?
Eventually, the player will have the chance to take on Alcina in a boss battle, so it can be a good idea to read up a bit beforehand:
Aim At Her Humanoid Torso
Alcina will fight in her mutated form. Interested individuals can do damage by just shooting at her in general. However, if they actually want to get the boss battle done within a reasonable amount of time, they should be aiming at her humanoid torso. This is because that would be her weak point, meaning that this will enable interested individuals to make faster progress than otherwise possible.
Bring a Rifle, a Shotgun, and Some Pipe Bombs
It is possible to take out Alcina with a pistol. In practice, that won’t be very fun to say the least. Instead, interested individuals should bring both a rifle and a shotgun at the very least. The first can be used to engage Alcina from a distance, which is pretty important when her mutated form happens to be capable of flying around. Meanwhile, the second can be used to engage her when she tries to close in for the kill. Something that will happen more than once over the course of the boss battle. As for the pipe bombs, well, interested individuals may or may not want to bring them depending on how skilled they are with said weapons’ use. A well-aimed pipe bomb can do a lot of damage to Alcina. However, there is very much reliant on the pipe bomb being well-aimed, which can be much harder than it sounds.
Don’t Get Greedy When She Is Fighting Up Close
Interested individuals should follow standard action game boss rules when Alcina is fighting up close. Essentially, they shouldn’t get greedy when going on the offensive because they can’t stagger their target. As a result, if interested individuals attack and do nothing but attack, they can expect to get pounded into dust because Alcina has a lot more health than they do. Instead, the best approach is to get some attacks in, get ready to get out of the way when the boss attacks, and then resume the offensive from a new position. Fortunately, Alcina will telegraph her attacks, meaning that it is very much possible for interested individuals to pick up on these cues telling them to get out of the way. In any case, attacking carefully won’t actually cost them much of a reduction in damage when compared with attacking as much as possible as fast as possible. After all, they should be focusing their fire on Alcina’s humanoid torso, meaning that they need to carefully aim anyways if they want to make fast progress through the boss battle.
Snipe Her When She Flies Up
Alcina is capable of fighting from a distance by sending out swarms of blowflies while she is flying around in the air. It is possible to avoid the blowflies by ducking into the conveniently-positioned alcove. However, that can be a huge hassle. Instead, interested individuals should know that this is the reason that they should bring a rifle. Essentially, they can make Alcina fall out of the air by hitting her in the humanoid torso a few times while she is flying around. If interested individuals can succeed, Alcina should be stunned by the impact, thus making her vulnerable to further attacks. This is one of the times when interested individuals shouldn’t hesitate to unleash everything that they have to do as much damage as possible as fast as possible before she manages to recover.
Smash Urns for Ammo
There will come a point when the player will have to run up the stairs to reach the top of the spire. When they do so, they will be under time pressure because they will be chased by Alcina. However, interested individuals should still have enough time to smash some urns, which contain ammo for the continuation of the boss fight.
Move Sideways While Fighting Up Close
The next phase of the boss battle is more dangerous because the player-character is now forced to engage Alcina in closer confines than before. As a result, interested individuals don’t have the luxury of hugging the edges of the battle but will instead need to fight up close. Due to this, they should try to move sideways while keeping their weapons focused on Alcina. Something that should reduce their chances of being struck as much as possible. Be warned that if Alcina turns red, that is a sign that she is about to lunge. When that happens, the player should get out of the way before using the shotgun to shoot her afterwards, which should stun her for a short period of time. Something that should be exploited as much as possible. Ultimately, this is the last phase of the boss battle. If the player has been doing everything right, they should have no problem coming out on top.