Hello everyone.

I recently just reached E3M10, and I think I've reached a wall in my game. I am playing on "I Can Take It" difficulty, and I have not been able to beat Jakob after 11 tries.

Is there supposed to be some kind of trick to defeating him? Unlike all the other bosses I've fought before in this game, it seems that Jakob is entirely random in his patterns. In other boss fights, like the Experiment or Mama, there was a pattern I could study. I could also make use of terrain to prevent myself from getting hit.

But with Jakob, so far it seems that the only "strategy" is just run in circles and hope his shots don't hit you while also hoping that your shots hit him. His movement is so erratic that hitting him seems to be a matter of luck. Any advice?

I recently beat the game and I guess maybe try to keep your distance (from Jakob) and see how that goes. I thought Jakob had weapons you have like the super shotgun and riveter, which are less deadly/easier to avoid when far away.

Originally posted by Doominator 726:

I recently beat the game and I guess maybe try to keep your distance (from Jakob) and see how that goes. I thought Jakob had weapons you have like the super shotgun and riveter, which are less deadly/easier to avoid when far away.

wait the post is years old

Originally posted by Doominator 726:

wait the post is years old

What are you talking about? It's barely one year old.

IT'S BARELY ONE YEAR OLD.

You'll have to treat this boss battle as a 1 v 1 death match. There's no real trick to it as far as I know. Try to circle strafe keeping him going in a patern and find a circling path where u can consistantly hit him. If u keep dancing in a certain circle he'll be easier to predict because he'll sort of mirror your movement. But in the end it's a pure 1 v 1 fight.

Edit: As Spicy Breakfast Meal said, bunnyhopping is key to keep the momentum going and avoid all his projectiles.

You played throughout the entire game without trying to bunnyhop Give it a try spam space while strafing left then right etc.. Once u figure it out Jakob will be pretty ez to beat. I used the slow fire hunting rifle and assault rifle while bunny hopping at max velocity.
As for the final final Boss i wont spoil it BUT just hop from one platform to the next and stay in the air to avoid being hit.

Unbeatable without bunnyhopping. He's doing it so you're free to do so yourself. Use hitscan weapons, the hunting rifle hits like a truck. He'll go down easy.

Originally posted by ✯FLuxx✯:

You played throughout the entire game without trying to bunnyhop

No, I didn't. In fact, I wasn't really sure what bunnyhopping was until I looked up some videos and guides on how to beat Jakob. I played through most of the game being very slow and methodical. Whenever there would be tons of enemies that spawn out of thin air, I'd quickly run back to a safe spot (like behind cover) and slowly pick the enemies apart one at a time.

Originally posted by panc:

Rather than a traditional boss, he is basically one of those enemy bots for a multiplayer games except he is in a singleplayer game as a boss.

Not a fan of that kind of design, to be honest. I like my bosses to have patterns that you can learn, like Nyarlhotep, the final boss you fight after Jakob. Now that is an excellent boss. Is this boss easier than Jakob? Yes. But he's also more fair.

Anyway, I finally did manage to beat Jakob, but just with sheer luck. I honestly don't know what it is I did differently that got me my victory. After beating the final boss, I went back to fight Jakob again on a separate save file, and I wasn't able to replicate my victory.

I'm willing to admit I just suck at this game, since everyone else in this thread seems to call him easy. Maybe it's just that I'm very inexperienced at fast-paced FPS games. I'll keep practicing on him until I can get him down consistently. I want to one day be able to beat Duskmare difficulty, after all.

Thanks for the input fellas.

Maybe unfair isn't the right word to describe him. If my previous post implied that, then I should clarify that that is not what I meant. Cheap would be a more accurate word, especially since he basically behaves as erratically as a bot from an arena FPS game.

His randomness means that you eventually will get hit by a stray bullet from him every now and then. There is no pattern that you can learn that will allow you to safely and consistently beat him without taking any damage 100 percent of the time. That, to me, is cheap.

This is in complete contrast to most of the other bosses. After dying like multiple times to bosses like Mama, the Guardian and Nyarlhotep, I was able to devise movement strategies based on their patterns that allowed me to get to the point where I can beat them without taking damage. With enough practice, I am certain that I can do repeat these victories consistently, like maybe even do it 4-5 times in a row without getting hit.

With Jakob? Not so much. I'm sure I'll one day be able to beat him without taking damage, but I highly doubt it would be because I mastered his fight. It'll more likely be because I got lucky. When I eventually get to my Duskmare playthrough, I'm pretty sure I'll die to Jakob the most.

Again, I'm willing to admit that maybe I'm just bad at FPS games. Maybe when I learn how to actually bunnyhop (and to actually do so like a pro), I'll get good at the Jakob fight and laugh at these complaints I'm making.

aim the riveter at his feet he tends to land near it and take splash damage a lot.

Keep him at range and strafe like crazy!

Originally posted by El Oshcuro:

Keep him at range and strafe like crazy!

This, all of his attacks are projectiles so if you are moving fast enough with decent distance he can't hit you.

Another couple tips, you can bop him with a charged sword as the fast starts for a good chunk. Don't remember if it got me shot or not. (if on duskmere)
Also for ammo conservation, you start with decent ammo from gun pickups so don't grab the bag of ammo til you need to refill.

obviously as everyone says, bunnyhopping/strafe jumping, you need to keep moving.

once you have that down and are able to keep pace with Jakob, I found if youre planning to use the riveter you need to compensate your aim, so try aiming to the left or right of the direction he is travelling.

If anything, Jakob should be treated like a tutorial to DUSK's multiplayer, in which alot of people will be moving as fast and unpredictably as he would but their attacks will be far more lethal with hitscanning weapons.

jacob is the best boss in this game by far. no gimmicks, no cheese, just 1v1 multiplayer style. good times

Yesterday I tried again to kill the Jakob in the "I can do it" difficulty. It was pretty easy. I had some problems in the beggining, but after tried to keep far from him, I could kill him. If you are having problems, try to change the difficulty to the "easy" just to practice ;)