Bloaters are the biggest and baddest of all the infected you’ll encounter in The Last of Us Part One. No matter what difficulty you’re playing on in this beautiful remake, the best advice is to avoid any bloater encounters you don’t have to engage in. These encounters can be deadly as well as costly when it comes to using up your precious resources.
Now that we’ve gone over why you should run or sneak away from bloaters, let’s get into how you should take on the unavoidable bloater encounter in the high school. This boss encounter (one of the very few bosses in the game) is especially challenging because of when it takes place. You’re near the beginning of the game. You don’t have your full arsenal of weaponry, you don’t have many upgrades, and the bloater doesn’t show up by itself. While it may seem like absolute chaos, there are ways to prioritize your enemies and handle the bloater itself.
Use Your Manual Save
The autosave feature is great, but whether you’re fighting the bloater at the high school or one of the ones later in the game, it’s always a good idea to use your manual save. It’s a little safety net that keeps you from being set back too far if the encounter doesn’t go your way. Given the difficulty of the bloaters, it’s worth mentioning this tip at the very start.
Kill The Other Infected
Easier said than done, right? But that’s the task. In this encounter, the extra infected are meant to distract you, keep you from using cover, and cause general mayhem while the bloater either pelts you from afar or charges at you in melee range. You don’t want any part of that, so you need to pick off the infected while keeping your distance from the bloater.
If possible, use nearby melee weapons on the infected to conserve your ammunition. You’ll find that ammunition is one of the most precious resources in the game and you don’t want anyone to encounter to eat through your stockpile. While you may find explosives to be useful in this situation, under no circumstances should you use a Molotov on the regular infected. You’ll need that later and you’ll be glad you have it.
Keep Your Distance
Once you’ve taken out the extraneous infected enemies, you can turn your full attention to the bloater itself. Keep an eye on your surroundings, don’t get cornered, and don’t let the bloater grab you. Unfortunately, your shiv can’t save you here. Your melee weapons won’t do you any good either.
If you get too close to the bloater, it’s an instant game over. You’ll have moments of safety where you can craft an item or slow down for a second, but you’ll want to use them sparingly and favor staying on the move. While the bloater seems slow at first, it has a way of sneaking up on you while you’re rummaging through your backpack.
Use Cover
While you’re running to avoid the bloater’s ranged attacks, don’t forget that it also has a devastating charge attack which can be difficult to avoid. In this instance, your best bet is to be behind cover (or any kind of obstacle) and/or moving around as much as you can. When the bloater charges at you with a full sprint, it will hit the cover and you’ll be able to once again put some distance between yourself and the fearsome foe.
Use Fire
Nothing is going to hit the bloater as hard as some fire. If you have a Molotov, throw what you have. If you run out, find a safe spot (just for a moment) to craft more and throw those. If you’re later in the game and facing down another bloater, you may have access to a flamethrower that will absolutely devastate the overgrown infected. While the best advice is usually to conserve resources, never doubt throwing fire at a bloater.
If you don’t have access to fire for some reason, you can use explosives in a pinch. They won’t be as deadly, but they’ll help. You can also use well-placed shots to take the bloater down slowly. Fire is the weapon of choice but you aren’t doomed without it. The infected will continue to enter the room periodically. If you’re playing on a harder difficulty, you can farm these enemies for more ammunition to help overcome a lack of fire.
Shoot The Growths
Once you’ve hopefully softened up the bloater with fire, you’ll want to equip a gun and shoot at the growths spread across its body. You can find these growths on the chest, on the back, or on the abdomen. Shooting these growths will inhibit the bloater from using its ranged attacks against you, making the encounter much safer for the moment. You’re almost there.
Avoid The Plates
While you’re shooting at the growths, be sure not to hit the bloater’s plates when aiming your shots. The natural plating present on bloaters is a kind of armor that will absolutely eat up any ammunition you throw at it. Given that ammunition is probably more valuable than any other resource you’ll want to do everything to can to make sure each shot is actually bringing you closer to victory.
Endure and Survive
If you’ve followed all of the advice given here, you should come out of the fight with minimal damage and many of the original resources you brought into it. Moreover, you’re ready for other bloaters you may encounter throughout your journey with Joel and Ellie. As with anything in The Last of Us Part 1, being prepared is the biggest key to success.
