Dead Rising/Psychopaths

Throughout the game, Frank will encounter Psychopaths - survivors of the zombie outbreak who aren't in the mental state to be rescued. Often, they've taken other survivors hostage and will attempt to kill them; your only course of action is to take them out first.

UPDATE: Carlito, raincoat cultists, and the convicts don't count for the "Psycho Collector" achievement.

The list below is in more or less chronological order, and may contain spoilers.

Food Court
Carlito can be tough if you're careless, but there are a couple of different approaches that will work against him - the one you choose will depend how brave you're feeling, and how much health you've got.

The safer course is to use the food court restaurants and pillars as cover, using your handguns to chip Carlito's health down and using the food and drinks in the area to keep your own health topped up. After his health drops a bit, Carlito will retreat from the gantry at the front of the Wild West section to the roofs of the stores at the back. At this point, if your ammo is running low, you can jump up onto the entrance arch of Chris' Fine Foods to pick up a sub-machine gun.

Alternatively, if you prefer the direct and reckless course of action, equip your katana and head up to the raised area below Carlito's perch. On one side of the central steps along the front edge of the Food Court's Wild West area are a few boxes which you can use to climb up onto Carlito's walkway. You'll want to wait until he's as far to the right as possible to give yourself the best cover when pulling yourself up onto the gantry, then run around and start attacking him. You might take a couple of hits from Carlito's machine gun, but you should survive long enough to land the three or four katana hits required to end the fight.An easy way to defeat Carlito is to wait for the Out Of Control Scoop and defeat Adam and grab the small chainsaws and one shot on Carlito will end him for good.

An easier, but slightly dangerous way to beat Carlito is before 3:00 PM running to the Huntin' Shack. Before 3:00, Cletus will not be there, so you can take as many shot guns, handguns and snipers as you like. The fastest way to defeat him is to climb over some crates onto his walk way and using the side of the house structure as cover. If you step out and shoot at him with a shot gun, Carlito will ordinarily come running over. Aim your shotgun at him and shoot his health down. This doesn't normally take more that ten seconds.

Sometimes it's not good to do close combat with Carlito, because he's hard. It's a good idea to grab a machine gun and blast him or get close and use the Real Mega Man Blaster (you unlock it after killing 53,594 zombies)and blast him once.

Entrance Plaza
This guy's a tough cookie - not long after his first defeat at the hands of Frank, Carlito is back for another one. This time, he's armed with a powerful sniper rifle, and as such will be much more difficult to get close to than last time.

The best tactic is to head up either of the escalators right beside your starting position, and then head around to the right, and take cover behind the corner of Outta Sight on the left. From here, you should be able to target Carlito on the opposite walkway without exposing yourself to his fire.

Alternatively, you can run into the sports shop and grab a hockey stick, then hide behind the pillar next to it. Since the stick is so long, you can target Carlito, but he can't target you. Just one stick should be good enough, but if you miss a lot, take two.

Alternatively, if you are feeling brave, reckless, and above all have a small chainsaw or two, you can move up the opposite side of Brad and move up when Carlito's focus is on Brad then move to a pillar so he can't shoot you. Then repeat until you are taking cover at the pillar next to the way across at that point, you should be just close enough that as Carlito focuses fire on Brad you can run up and chainsaw him with the small chainsaw. And if he tries to run follow him and if you can chase him and get in a few hits he should go down. Do not try this without food and a small chainsaw the first time. Always have a small chainsaw or it will take longer and you might get kicked if he isn't focused. If you try to chase Carlito he will drop pipe bomb behind you.

Cletus Samson
It is time for crazy Cletus' huntin' shack sale where everyone must go. Head over to the north plaza and look on your map for the huntin' shack go to the hall way and fight or run from the zombies. If you're early before 3:00P.M on the first day head in and grab the sniper rifle. If you are not a good shot take two to three, leave north plaza and comeback at 3:00 PM or later. Grab a display rack as he reloads and put it with the one up front. If you don't hurry you can get shot and will have to try again and get shot again and again until he reloads (every six shots). When you have your jerryrigged barricade to stop the shotgun shells, wait for him to reload and pop a sniper bullet in his brain; just one unless you like lead in your body. (If you didn't grab one before you can quickly hop the counter and grab one as Cletus reloads if he is just a diagonal angle from you. He will bodyslam you though and at that point take a picture of him and his whiskey or wine.) Take cover again and repeat the process each time he reloads. If health is needed when Cletus reloads, hop the counter and grab a wine or two if you're lucky. Repeat until the irony occurs.

Alternatively if you have a small chainsaw just charge him at the beginning and hit him and try to hit him as much as possible. If he shoots you he needs some alcohol to celebrate. At that time rush him again and chainsaw him. Don't hop the counter or you will be body slammed. Another strategy is to drink a Quikstep (Two coffee creamers in a blender) and use it to swiftly avoid his shots and then, when he reloads, hit him a few times with a lead pipe or a small chainsaw.

Something you can do is bring in one of those green propane tanks. At the beginning of the fight throw it behind Cletus' counter. Now you can blow it up if it landed by the glass windows in the case. Or you can use it as a barricade to jump behind the counter without getting body slammed. Just stay to the other side of it and maybe you can grab a shotgun of your own.

If you want a cheap strategy, try this. Grab the SMG from the maintenance supply room and/or the Al Fresca Plaza fountain (warning, that area is usually packed with zombies) and some handguns from the zombie cops. Trigger the fight and then run back outside the shop. Open only one of the doors to the Huntin' Shack, and hide behind the wall next to it (opening the left door seems to work best). If you stand at the edge, Cletus will find it difficult (note: not impossible) to hit you, but you will have a clear shot when he moves over far enough. This may not be the fastest or most elegant way to do away with him, but it is very likely to work. If you run out of ammo, there's usually a zombie cop wandering around in the area near the shack, whack him and grab his gun.

Another strategy is to stay outside the doors of the hunting shack. Leave both doors open while you're outside, kill the zombies around your area. Once you have done that, stay on the wall next to the hunting shack doors and fire at Cletus. Eventually he will die and it will save you the trouble of losing health.

The Convicts
The convicts are unique among Psychopaths - they'll respawn at midnight each night, with the exception of September 22, and they don't count towards the Psycho Collector, Psycho Taker or Punisher Achievements.

The first time you encounter the Convicts you'll find them chasing Sophie and Sid across the Leisure Park in their jeep. As if the chance of getting run over wasn't bad enough, the jeep has a mounted machine gun which they're not shy about using.

Unless you've unlocked the Real Mega Blaster, the most effective way of dealing with the convicts is to use a Rifle; go for the gunner on the back first so that they're not able to attack you from a distance, then take out the driver. The passenger will then jump into the driving seat, so take him out too.

If you can't get a Rifle and have to get close, head into an area with lots of trees so that the jeep will find it tough to manoeuvre. Aiming at the convicts can be difficult while the jeep's moving, so at close quarters a Submachine Gun or Shotgun will be a little more effective.

An easier way, but which exploits the AI, is to simply hide right behind a tree. They'll keep ramming the tree, trying to get to you. Take out the gunner first, then run behind and steal the mounted machine gun to shoot the driver and passenger.

If you get the van out of the Maintenance Tunnels, you can also use it to ram the jeep and kill the convicts, but you'll then run the risk of destroying the jeep as well, which will prevent you from getting the Carjacker achievement, so it's best just to take out the gunner this way and then concentrate on the other two using the tactics above.

If you are feeling brave and have a small chainsaw, go into the trees and wait for them to get stuck,now you can't get run over. Go for the gunner first, then the passenger,then the driver.Also if you kill the convicts you get the gun on the back of the jeep and if you get in the jeep you'll get the Carjacker achievement.

It is also possible to lure them towards a park bench. When they run over the bench they're likely to get stuck which will give you a good opportunity, but remember, the zombies are still there.

Adam MacIntyre
This clown went insane after seeing the children he was entertaining being killed by the zombies. He now obsesses over the Space Ride that he worked at, and will not allow anyone to stop it.

At the start of the fight, Adam is on the far side of the Space Ride track. Head shots are effective against him, but the best tactic is to run out of the Space Ride station away from Adam and onto the walkways around Wonderland Plaza. His dual chainsaws are capable of doing a lot of damage, so you want to keep your distance and shoot the balloons he inflates before he throws them at you; they'll damage him much more than almost any of your weapons can, with the bonus of distracting him for a few seconds to land another couple of shots. If you use any melee weapon against him, he will break it.

One strategy is to drop down into the children's play area below, and kick the toy cubes at Adam (use first-person view for increased accuracy). They'll knock him over and allow you to get a couple of shots in before he retaliates with fire breath (so make sure to run after your attack!). The sledgehammer's primary attack is good, as is using the Katana or Sword (from shop in North Plaza, next to Seon's). If the weapon breaks, you can always pick up one of the gumball machines and throw it at him.

Another strategy in to grab a big chainsaw from Crisilip's at around 8:00 p.m (Warning! Very hard to do though, because every time a zombie grabs you, you drop it.) and head over to the Wonderland Plaza and hit him whenever you can. Another good idea is get loaded with submachine guns or hand guns, run away until he blows up his balloons then shoot it. He will be stunned for 3-5 seconds. Stay at the same distance and open fire until he gets up. Another thing you can do is swoop in with a pole or battle axe from the main plaza; you're bound to kill him with the machine gun, but you could also swoop in with the battle axe. Beware of his fire breath. Run when he gets up because otherwise you will burn. Don't try running up to him and lashing out when hes not stunned because he will break your weapon and take a part of your life.

When the fight is over, stop the Space Ride to save Greg, who will open a shortcut for you between the Wonderland Plaza and Paradise Plaza bathrooms. If you have problems finding the shortcut, make sure you are in the woman's bathroom and you jump on the sink. Once the shortcut is opened, you'll be able to go quickly travel between Paradise Plaza and Wonderland Plaza without having to go through Leisure Park and being attacked by the Convicts, if you have't already killed them.

Steven Chapman
The crazed manager of Seon's, Steven has an intense hatred of vandals - and a prisoner stuffed in a tricked-out shopping cart, in the form of Isabela, the woman Frank saw in the Entrance Plaza just before the undead hordes swarmed in.

As if Steven's murderous shopping cart wasn't bad enough, he's also got a shotgun for those moments when you're out of range. Fortunately, the store has plenty of cover in the form of the aisle shelves, as well as loads of items to help you get health back when you need it.

Steven's shopping cart is very slow to turn, so start off by running down the aisle away from him, then duck to one side and stand a couple of aisles over with your guns out, waiting for him to come out. Fire a few shots and then duck back down another aisle then repeat. If he's getting too close, you can also hop up onto the shelves and into an adjacent aisle. While it might be tempting to stay up there, Steven will just resort to his shotgun.

Alternatively, if you have defeated Adam, you can use a small chainsaw to defeat Steven. Get the Entertainment and Interior Design books from the book store in Paradise Plaza, and the Serial Killer's book from Sir-Book-A-Lot in Wonderland Plaza to make it last longer. If you jump onto a shelf and wait for him to pull out his shot gun, you can then jump down, Chainsaw equipped and run at him form behind. A good 2-4 hits should take him down no problem.

If you have no weapons that fire bullets, don't fret. On the aisle next to the bread, there are some soda cans. Soda cans are pretty good weapons. Get behind your friendly neighborhood manager and start lobbing the cans at him.

Cliff Hudson
Cliff is one tough guy; health is always good to have with this boss fight. There's nothing in the actual store, but on the fountain outside the store, there is a snack. Of course, that won't do much for your bleeding wounds. However, in the fountain, there's a box. Chances are there could be a useful health item there. Or you can make a trip to the supermarket with infinite amounts of health. Once you pummel him a bit, he'll scamper off to one of his hidey holes. Get a picture of this and you're in for some PP points.

If you engage Cliff in melee combat, it will eventually cause him to jump into these hidey holes (usually after a few hits). After you've grabbed the photo, switch to shotguns, which shouldn't be a problem as the gun store is on the way, and you've hopefully taken care of Cletus. Shooting Cliff with a shotgun will cause him to become stunned for a brief moment. Retreat, wait for him to compose himself, and shoot him again. Keep doing this fire and retreat attack for an easy kill. If he gets too close to you, just keep running. All of Cliff's attacks cause him to become stationary. If you just keep running he'll stop to attack which should give you enough distance to give him a blast to the face. Also to note the shotgun causes him to stay and fight for a longer period so you shouldn't have to worry about bomb throwing nearly as much.

Get the empty store key to rescue the survivors that are in the room to the right of the hardware store as you exit. Also don't forget the Survival book next to the survivors. 100% increase to healing done by food.

Raincoat Cult
The Cultists make their first appearance, attempting to sacrifice Jennifer, near the entrance to Colby's Movieland in Paradise Plaza early on the afternoon of the second day. Like the Convicts, they don't count towards psycho achievements, but you'll get a 500 PP bonus for every one you kill.

The easiest way to kill them is to grab a bench and hit them in rows. Or get the Mini Uzi and aim for the head. one shot one kill with that weapon.

The Raincoat cultists are definitely not zombies and therefore take a bit more to kill. If you are gassed, you are captured, put in a box, and taken to a storage room in Leisure Park and your weapons and clothes are gone. Sure, fighting all the raincoats may sound tedious, and that's because it is. But there is a step ladder, and a box, which could be filled with health or something useful, and a sword. And once you kill them all, you learn the passcode to get out of the locked room.

They'll also keep showing up all around the mall up until the A Strange Group scoop at 12:00 AM on the 21st.

Jo Slade
Jo usually fires her pistol at you or smashes you over the head with her nightstick, but she occasionally zaps you with her stun gun so she can go back to torturing the women. If you take too long to kill her, she may have killed some of the women before you win. In addition, the time limit for this scoop is unusually long. The reason for this is that Jo will kill off the women as time goes on before you even confront her. When the timer is blue they are all alive. Once it turns to yellow one (not Kay) will be killed. When it turns to red one (also not Kay) will be killed. When the red bar gets about halfway down the last one that is not Kay will be killed and Kay will survive until the scoop is lost.

The fastest way to kill Jo is with a bladed Melee weapon (ideally, the small chainsaw which can be picked up from the Space Ride in the same plaza). But make sure you get her away from Kay at least a little, or come around to the left side and hit her from there; However you may need to take a hit or two to do this. Don't fret; it takes very few hits to actually kill Jo. However, if you don't want to risk getting her away from Kay (who is the only one who can wield a weapon, mind you), make sure you bring wine or orange juice along with you so you can heal her. Another way is getting the battle axe and slicing her. It takes 4 shots with it then she will be dead.

Isabela Keyes
As soon as the fight starts, Isabela guns the engine of her bike and drives straight at you. That bike can do significant damage if you're not careful, so the first order of business is to keep out of the way - you can either dodge, or if you're a decent aim and have a gun, a well-placed shot will cause her to swerve.

However, if you want to cheat a bit and exploit the horrible AI, you can run to the center scaffolding near Seon's and climb to the tallest scaffold. Just keep aiming and firing with your pistol whenever she stops (either to try (poorly) to run you over or to shoot at you). If she starts to head away from you, jump down. Then, when she's coming back, jump back to the top scaffold.

If you need to recover some health, climb up onto the scaffolding in the area to get out of the way before eating anything - but don't try to get into Seon's, as Isabela will escape and you'll fail the mission.

If you're in a time crunch, the mini chainsaw will kill her right quick, but that's assuming you can time a swing correctly. Sadly the best way to get her with melee combat is put yourself into a corner and hopefully she'll get stuck long enough to get some good swings off. You can hit her from the front with the mini chainsaw but you'll only get one swing before she runs you over. You could also try to out maneuver her with quick-step, just bring healing items to this battle.

The Hall Family
This is a family with the Dad, older son, and younger son. All three are armed with hunting rifles. The Dad is the best shot and should be taken out first. They are all pretty easy. You start at the other end of Entrance Plaza with the three on the upper level. Drinking a quick-step/untouchable juice combination is a great way to get past the zombies on the lower level and get in these guys' faces in a hurry. Mini Chainsaw is the best or if you're short on weapons the antique shop is right in the area. Another way is to go into the Nick-Nack store and kick the glass, steal all the battle axes and chase the family. They are slow so you will catch up and slice them. Then they will run; slice them again. Repeat that on each person and you will have three snipers for the taking. Also go into the cosmetics shop next to the escalators - its got a pink sign - and talk to Wayne. He will run to the front of the shop and join your group, so guide him back to the safe room, and if you want, give him one of your battle axes. You can also chase them down with the Hunting Knives.

Sean Keanan
The cult leader is an annoying person to fight, as he is very fast and his sword makes you stumble and stop attacking. The best way to kill him is to use the small chainsaws, or hide behind the seat rows and shotgun him mercilessly. Once you kill him, you are treated to his spectacularly messy cut scene death. Alternatively, head to the main plaza and go into the Nick-Nack shop and steal the battle axes and avoid his attacks.

Paul Carson
Paul seems to be a nerdy kid who is paranoid about girls making fun of him. However, he is potentially dangerous. He seems to have a knack for arson and will throw bombs at you. Frank can't bother with this kind of nonsense .... he's covered wars ya know?

Paul's main method of combat is running. 12 years of evading bullies has made him an extremely talented runner and it shows. He will also drop bombs while running away from you. If you can avoid walking into these explosions, you should be fine. The zombies that get in the way should be blasted, so there's not much need to pay attention to them.

Paul also has the ability to use remote controlled bombs. Run up to Paul and hit him. Or if you can't keep up with the guy, there is an ample supply of police zombies with guns near the stairs near the store of where the fight begins. At some point he will catch on fire and you should put him out with the fire extinguisher. If you need another one, there's one in the closet of the store, but he'll probably die before you can get to it. Putting the fire out is actually the trickiest part of this boss fight. Once you get the fire out Paul will be at about half health or less so it's good to bring some food for him to increase his chances of surviving the journey.

If you're lucky, you can trap Paul in the store and take a few swings at him with a bladed melee weapon. If you have already defeated Adam the Clown, his mini-chainsaw (spawns next to the rollercoaster control panel) is very effective; Paul should go down with a few swipes and won't even have the chance to leave the store. Paul will accidentally light himself on fire, and if you want an extra survivor for the Saint achievement, you can save him with the nearby fire extinguisher. It isn't advised that you use first person mode to try and put him out, as you will throw it at him and lose it. Where Mindy and Debbie are stored, there is a second one, if you can grab it before he dies. Take a photo of him before he dies and you'll be a photo closer to the Psycho Collector and Psycho Photo achievements. Whether he dies or not, you should get the "Psychopath Defeated" bonus.

Escort him back to the security room, and he'll give you free Molotov cocktails when the scoop arises.

Kent Swanson
Makes his first appearance in Cut From The Same Cloth and shows up again in Photo Challenge.

In Photographer's Pride he's got a hostage.

Kent is a professional photographer trapped in a mall full of zombies looking to get some good pictures. He decides he should give you pointers and by that he means you need to take some good snapshots of the him before he'll stop bugging you. If you can do that, hooray! However, Kent sees your fancy pictures of him and decides to take this up a notch. He presents you with a challenge of taking a better picture than him. Simple enough. If you are late for Photographers Pride then the hostage will have been turned into a zombie.

Larry Chiang
It's important to note that if you take too long against Larry (10-15 minutes), Carlito will end up in the meat grinder - and while that may seem like reasonable punishment considering the trouble he's caused you, it won't help solve the mysteries behind the zombie outbreak. Also Carlito is vulnerable to friendly fire, so be careful as you try to shoot/slice Larry.

Keep your distance and use the hanging meat as cover when you need to eat, but watch out for thrown items - including the cattle carcasses, which Larry will occasionally throw at you. Submachine guns and shotguns are great for chipping away at his health, but if you get in close, a katana will also make short work of the butcher - although you'll have to watch out for his cleaver.

Brock Mason
The commanding officer of the Special Forces unit sent to Wilamette and driver of the XM3 Experimental Tank, Brock has a nasty habit of getting you in holds. If he does, you'll take a couple of units damage before you'll be back in control of Frank. The military man is also very adept at blocking your attacks, which can make him an extremely frustrating opponent.

The most effective move in your repertoire is the somersault kick; if you're Level 50, four or five of these will take Brock's health down extremely quickly. It can be even more effective if you also follow them up with a Roundhouse Kick.