Licker

History	Biology	Gameplay	Appearances	Gallery	Further notes

Resident Evil 2

The chances of a Licker having a particular constitution in BIOHAZARD 2.

Standard Lickers in BIOHAZARD 2 have a hit point range of 75–115, with Evolved Lickers being at 90–130. This is in comparison with Leon and Claire's values of 200.

Movesets

The following stats are derived from the BIOHAZARD 2 Official Guide Book, which describes the original PlayStation version.

Attack	Damage	Description
Claw (ツメ, tsume)	15
Tongue (舌, shita)	25
Jump claw (跳びツメ, tobi tsume)

Strategies

• Lickers have fast movement speed and can catch up with a running player. But to attack the player, a Licker must stop to initiate one of their attacks and as such, won't be able to actually harm a player as long as the player is constantly moving away from it.
• Lickers can perform "listen" action in order to better hear their surroundings, and this allows them to detect a walking player. There are gameplay differences regarding this mechanic. In any US and EU releases including the original PC release, a Licker can only detect a walking player in their immediate vicinity. While JP release including the SOURCENEXT release, The Licker can detect a walking player from anywhere in the room and can even detect the ready weapon stance performed by the player during the duration.
• Lickers can be knifed safely by exploiting it recovery time between its animation but it is very time-consuming. By positioning themselves anywhere outside the claw swipe range or 180 degree in front of a Licker. The player can wait until the Licker switches from Listen mode to relaxed mode. During the animation change, there are a strict timing window in which player can perform exactly one knife attack on the Licker without being noticed nor retaliated. Doing this will result in the Licker stuck in the search loop, allowing the player the opportunity to repeat the process and perform another attack as long as the Licker hasn't completely turn around towards the player.
• Licker's claw swipe is their least damaging attack but comes out very fast and hits 180 degrees in front of the Licker. Circling around the creature is very difficult due to their attack speed and recovery speed. Baiting a Licker to take a swipe in order to run past is also inadvisable as it can repeatedly perform this move over and over until it hits and only when it hits does the Licker relent and back away for a few seconds, allowing the player to run past or counterattack.
• If staggered with a weapon with good stopping power but not enough to knock them down, a Licker will resets its attack recovery animation, causing it to instantly use another attack (most of the times will be the claw swipe). Had the player failed to positioning themselves properly or well out of its attack range, this will always leads to a costly situation where the player taking turns trading hits with the Licker until one of them dies.
• When detecting a player at medium range, a Licker will perform the Tongue attack, signified by the Licker tensing up then pulling its head back to regurgitate it's tongue. This attack has a very telegraphed animation but can instantly hit once the startup animation finishes and has very deceptive range as a Licker detects the player and starts up the attack at a much closer range than the actual attack range, which can actually covers an entire small room. However, the Tongue Attack has a very bad sideways tracking and turning, meaning that during this attack, running in circles around the creature will guarantee safety, but running away will not.
• Licker's tongue attack can pierce any kind of barriers between the player and the Licker. Once the attack starts, dodging out of the way or stunning it before the attack can be initiate are the only options.
• When agitated enough by repeated gunshot sounds and/or enemy constantly retreating, A Licker can perform a Jumping claw swipe attack. The obvious telltale sign includes The Licker lets out a loud shriek, tensing the body up while holding one claws out before leaping forward at the player to slices their throat. This attack deals heavy damage and due to their tendency to initiate this attack while the player is low on health (at yellow or worse) can results in an instant death, similar in function to the Hunter enemy in the previous title. The jumping slash attack has similar startup animation as the tongue but faster and covers much larger ground during the actual attack. It also has extreme sideway tracking, to the point that it lets the Licker homing in the player's position and even chasing them down pass the corner, all while being airborne. There are 3 ways of anticipating this attack. First is to run directly at the oncoming Licker then make a sharp turn towards and run further pass the opposite side of the outstretching claws to dodge it. Second is to shoot it out of the air with any weapons stronger than a handgun, The Licker will take extra damage if shot down during airborne. And lastly by running away and out of its attack range which is hardly applicable due to the lack of space in all of the encounter with Lickers.
• Lickers has two recovery animations. If a hard hit occurs in the front, the Licker will flip backward and lies still for a few seconds before springs back into its neutral position. If a hard hit occurs in the back, the Licker will stumble over with face on the ground for a few seconds before pushing itself up. Lickers are completely invulnerable during its recovery animation and any shot make during this time will never hit.
• Lickers also cannot be attacked while lying down on the ground like Zombies due to them recovers instantly after being knocked down.

Lickers are blind creatures that can't see the player. As long as the player doesn't make any noise (by running or firing weapons) or doesn't touch the Licker, the creature won't attack them. Although not always recommended, a tactic to avoid Lickers is to walk near the creature as close as possible then try to run past the creature. If it's not possible to avoid them, recommended weapons to kill Lickers are the grenade launcher loaded with grenade rounds or acid rounds (flame rounds won't knock them over), shotgun, or magnum (if Leon is low on shotgun shells, make sure to aim downward and only recommended for normal ones since it can instantly kill them). When using the non-upgraded shotgun, make sure to get as close as possible and aim downward, otherwise the weapon may not knock down the Licker.

Resident Evil Survivor 2 CODE:Veronica

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Lickers appear in both Arcade Mode and Dungeon Mode. Besides the usual creature, there's a variation in Dungeon Mode (a challenges oriented mode), which is called the Chameleon Licker.

It changed its colors to match the surroundings, but after receiving a certain amount of damage, it'll change back to crimson red.

Resident Evil Outbreak

Lickers appear in both games in scenarios such as Bellow Freezing Point, Hellfire and Desperate Times. Unlike other games, the Lickers are pretty much passive foes, which will attack the player or the AI if wondering close to them, Also, they are weaker and easier to kill and avoid. If a Licker is on a wall, it is recommended to shoot it with a shotgun, or a hit them melee weapon, and as soon it's laying on its back in the floor to stomp it as it will stunt-lock them letting the player to kill them that way, saving ammo and melee weapons uses. If it hits a player with its Tongue Spear attack, it will cause a huge amount of infection to the player, making them a danger if a player is near the end of an scenario. Unlike other games, they don't have an instant death attack.  

Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

In Darkside Chronicles, Leon and Claire first encounter Lickers during Chapter 2 of the Memories of a Lost City scenario. Lickers tend to climb on the walls or the ceiling during these encounters. When near the player, they can either attack by swiping sideways, or lashing out their tongue. A Licker's weak point is its exposed head which causes it to stagger.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds

Lickers (technically Licker Beta) appear in the Tricell Laboratory stage in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. They are contained in glass cages similar to the ones in Resident Evil 5. The glass will crack and eventually shatter if powerful moves are unleashed, causing the Lickers to escape and begin running around the area. Some will attempt to lash the fighters with their tongues. An interesting attention to detail is shown if more Hyper Combos are used; the Lickers will die, dissolve (like dying enemies in RE4 and RE5), and will spawn items such as in the games. The items that appear include Green Herbs, First Aid Sprays, Grenades, Rifle Ammo, and more.

Resident Evil 2 (2019)

The Lickers returned in the remake of Resident Evil 2. Although their behaviors are still the same, the player character will briefly encounter them instead at the 3F hallway before the West Storage Room, crawling over the window. Until the player has used the Valve Handle to gain access to the 2F Hallway after the Shower Room, the player will face-to-face encounter the Licker there. In the 2nd run scenario, the player will instead encounter them as early as getting through the west hallway on the Receptions (a nod to the original 1998 game's first Licker encounter). More Lickers will spawn at the West Hallway later on after the player has returned to the Police Station from the Parking Lot. They are not encountered later again until reaching the NEST lounge.

When not alerted, Lickers will often remain stationary, more often than not attached to the ceiling of the room they are in or eating the flesh of corpses should there be any or sometimes may crawl over the corners of the R.P.D. hallways. Should the player move slowly, it is possible to evade the Licker. However, should one draw too close, the Licker may turn to face the general direction of the player and begin to slowly make their way towards them if they continue walking. If the player stops moving for a couple of seconds, the Licker will lose them. If the Licker comes into direct contact with Claire or Leon or is alerted by either running/firing a weapon, it will attack. In this agitated state they move rapidly, leaping between the ground, roof and walls to make it difficult to shoot them. They can also use their namesake tongues when in long range to deal moderate damage.

They have the ability to tackle the player, dealing somewhat more damage than normal if not removed with a sub-weapon. One licker in The Fourth Survivor is guaranteed to do this if not shot first (even if the player attempts to sneak by it), costing precious seconds.

Sometimes, the Lickers will ambush the player by breaking through windows or ceilings after obtaining certain Key Items.

These creatures are particularly dangerous when the player encounters the Tyrant, as the player's walking speed is considerably slower than the Tyrant's and running will draw the Licker's attention.

Lickers cannot follow the player through doors or up stairs.

Resident Evil 3 (2020)

The Lickers retain their behavior in the Resident Evil 3 remake. They are encountered in the Police Station and at the Spencer Memorial Hospital. In Nightmare and Inferno mode, they are far more aggressive. The player can utilize Jill's dodge or Carlos's Shoulder Barge to move faster and not cause the Licker to enter a combat status.

Bibliography

• Tahara, Seiji (田原 誠司), ed (1998). BIOHAZARD 2 Official Guide Book. Japan: Famitsu.