Enemy Guide: The Molded
Pretty much every enemy you face in RE:7 will be a boss, or one of these creepy-crawlies. Half mycocyte, half corpse, all nightmare fuel. But they're not so bad once you get know them. Specifically, once you get to know how to kill them.
The first thing to remember about Molded is this: They only cause damage when attacking. There's no contact damage from touching a Molded, squeezing past one in the hall, or accidentally running into one while sprinting around a corner. This technically makes them less deadly than the Goombas from Super Mario 1-1.
The second thing is this- the Molded are slow. Sure, they'll have the sporadic leap or lurch to quickly close distance, but it takes them time to launch an attack, and time to recover from it. You can use these vast gaps in lethality to either dodge past them or line up your attacks.
The third thing, though you probably don't need telling, is that you should always go for the headshot, even with a melee weapon. Molded can soak up a fair amount of damage, but headshots both hurt more and stagger them a bit, allowing you execute more headshots, for even more damage, etc, etc, etc.
That last thing to know is that the Molded have strict territorial limits- they won't follow you beyond their designated territory, and they can't follow you through a closed door, even if you've just slammed it their face. In particular, ducking into a safe room can cause all Molded following you to permanently de-res, as can simply moving on to the next section of the plot. Make use of this to get rid of hostiles without wasting ammo, health, or your precious time.
Types of Molded-
Shamblers – The most common, and arguably least lethal of the the bunch. These ones slowly shamble toward you, swinging their arms to attack, and executing a lurching charge attack when close or badly wounded. Standard strategy is a controlled retreat, taking aimed headshots as they follow up. If engaging with melee weapons, remember to aim up at the head, and keep circling around them.
Scythers – Essentially just Shamblers with a large scythelike arm that does increased damage. Scythers are also much tougher than Shamblers, so consider a shotgun blast or two to the face at close range.
Quadfoots – Vaguely arachnid Molded. They scurry quickly but pause a lot- you can flee from them, but they're pretty difficult to dodge past. They are physically much weaker than other Moldies- preferred method of execution is a few pistol shots to the noggin at extreme range.
Blobulas- Also known as the Fat Molded, these juggernauts can absorb massive amounts of damage, and are the only enemies with a ranged attack – a streak of acidic vomit that occasionally clips through solid objects. As with other Molded, concentrated damage to the head is the ideal means of execution. It is possible to take them down with (a lot of) melee attacks, but remember to account for their bulk when lining up your swing. Lastly, if you have the remote bombs you can take them out with three or so, or one if you can convince the thing to grapple you.
