Are you ready to take back Camp Crystal Lake from the monster that lurks within its dark borders? Have you gotten tired of cowering in a corner, futilely trying to manage your fear as the unstoppable killing machine bears down on you? Do you want to embrace the next level of Friday the 13th play, and become a fearless Jason-hunter? Look no further, for this guide will arm you with all of the knowledge, tactics, and learning tools that you need to send Jason crying home to mommy.

The techniques described in this video are based on hundreds of hours of game time, years of analyzing competitive games, and a drive to demonstrate that high-level play is a joy to engage in and behold. You are about to learn just how deep Friday the 13th can get -- and hopefully it will make your time with this game even more enjoyable, and ignite a thirst for learning. Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZAKpkYhGDg

And, if you're not in the mood to watch a detailed video, here is an extensive collection of bullet points, if you'd rather skim the key bits. You will also find time stamps for each individual section of the video, so you can review individual tactics and techniques. (But you really should watch the video, too!)

Video Time Stamp: 0:00:12 - 0:01:21

Why engage in combat in Friday the 13th? Well, there are quite a few good reasons:

• Combat allows you to stun Jason, which gives you time to finish objectives or get to safer territory.
  
• The more you fight, the more your fighting and kiting prowess will improve.
  
• Combat is necessary for one of the game's major victory conditions, which is to kill Jason.
  
• Off-the-charts salt mining potential!

Video Time Stamp: 0:01:21 - 0:06:31

When you are trying to improve your skills at Friday the 13th -- or any game or activity, really -- you have to maintain a healthy appetite for learning. This will increase your knowledge and your fun, and the concept can be applied to any other game or hobby you might want to focus on, too!

• Training at a competitive video game is like training at a sport, or at a game like chess.
  
• Learning to play a game at a high level will introduce you to new aspects and ideas that you may not have even known about.
  
• It is gratifying to learn and improve your skills, just as it is with any hobby or task in life.
  
• Videos like this one give you the theory and the tools that you need to succeed, but putting it into practice -- honing it -- is up to you. It takes time to improve your instincts and your muscle memory!
  
• If you're trying to learn a new technique, the best way is to try focusing on it completely during a match. Who cares if you die? You're learning something, and you will continue to improve with focused practice.
  
• Don't be afraid to fail! As long as you take something away from the experience, it isn't really a loss. A good trick to making yourself learn in Friday the 13th is to simply consider yourself dead, from the start of the match. You will learn more when you stop caring so much about the results.
  
• Train yourself to think clearly in pressure-heavy situations, so that you can make the best decisions. This is part of not being afraid! Eventually, you will develop solid game sense, and you will have the experience to operate on instinct.
  
• The golden rule of close combat is this: Whoever commits to an action first gets punished. Learn not to commit too early!

Video Time Stamp: 0:06:31 - 0:12:00

The combat stance (C) allows you to dodge attacks (double tap A, S, or D), block attacks (Mouse 2), and perform heavy attacks (hold Mouse 1). You can only enter combat stance when you have a melee weapon equipped. Here is what combat stance does for you:

• When you enter combat stance, your aim centers on whatever your current closest valid target is, whether it is Jason or another counselor.
  
• Combat stance does NOT make you immune to Jason's grab.
  
• Dodging when you are not locked onto a target will cause you to dodge in a straight line. If you are locked onto a target, your dodge will make you strafe around them in the direction you press.
  
• With regard to where your character's body exists in the game at any given moment, the dodge functions as a teleport. Your character will go from position A (point of activation) to position B (arrival point after dodging), midway through the dodge animation. This is why your character's hitbox can appear to have strange properties during a dodge. Think of it like a "blink" spell from an RPG; many games operate on this logic.
  
• Climbing through a window operates in the same way as the dodge motion, in terms of having teleportation-like properties.
  
• The heavy attack WILL track your target's position, though it is very weak vs. horizontal movement.
  
• Heavy attacks have longer range than light attacks (i.e. what happens when you click, instead of holding, Mouse 1).
  
• You can block Jason's weapon strikes and throwing knives. Blocking causes your counselor to take chip damage, and this damage is dramatically less than what a non-blocked weapon attack inflicts.
  
• Blocking also causes your weapon to take durability damage, though this is also (with most weapons and counselors) less than what a successful weapon swing would do to its durability.
  
• A successful block will put you into a knockback animation, which you can quickly cancel with an attack. This is a very effective counterstrike against a Jason who is repeatedly attacking you.

Video Time Stamp: 0:12:00 - 0:13:22

A clean hit -- one that connects, and isn't blocked -- always interrupts Jason's current action, deals damage to him, and has a percentage chance (based on the type of weapon being used) to stun him. With the exception of very few specific attacks, a stun will always result in a knockdown, as long as Jason has enough flat, unobstructed space to fall backwards after he is hit. Here are some pertinent facts about weapon hits:

• Every attack reduces your weapon's durability, which is affected by your counselor's Luck stat. For example, Chad (Luck 10) gets 5 hits out of the baseball bat before it breaks, while Vanessa (Luck 3) only gets 3 hits. Every target you connect with costs durability -- so if you hit both Jason and a counselor when you are trying to save someone from a grab, that counts as 2 hits. Train yourself to always count how much weapon durability you have left!
  
• A successful attack regenerates some of your Stamina, which is also impacted by Luck.
  
• The damage that Jason suffers is impacted by your counselor's Strength stat. When Jason reaches 0 health, he loses his mask, and can then be killed. Brandon or Tommy (Strength 10) are the best for this, as they can remove Jason's mask with approximately 3-6 light machete attacks, or 2-3 heavy machete attacks.

Video Time Stamp: 0:13:22 - 0:23:38

Attacks in Friday the 13th behave in ways that are similar to attacks in fighting games. Each attack animation has startup, active, and recovery frames, and each of these three phases means something specific. Here's a breakdown of what's covered here; you really should watch this section of the video, as it includes an excellent visual breakdown of what an attack looks like, which makes this section much easier to comprehend.

• Startup frames are the "wind-up" part of the animation. For, example, the counselor pulling the baseball bat back, to ready for a swing. Strikes will not register as hits during these frames.
  
• Active frames are the part of the animation where the attack will cause damage to the target, if the target collides before the attack reaches its recovery state. For example, the majority of the counselor's right-to-left bat swing arc constitutes that attack's active frames. These animation frames gradually "travel" (i.e. right-to-left with the bat), and the target must collide with the attack's active zone in order to take damage.
  
• Recovery frames are the part of the animation where the character returns to a neutral state. For example, the counselor retracts the bat after the right-to-left swing. Targets will not take damage during these frames.
  
• Once you commit to an attack, you are locked into the animation from start to finish, unless the attack is interrupted or cancelled.
  
• The best window to attack is during your opponent's startup or recovery frames, as this is when they are most vulnerable and cannot react.
  
• Some attacks have fewer startup, active, or recovery frames than others. This means that you can interrupt an attack with your own, as long as the startup of your attack is faster. It also means that an opponent using a long-recovery attack is especially vulnerable to counterattack if they whiff (miss) an attack.
  
• With all of the above in mind: Jason's weapon swing and grab both have much faster startup than counselors' attacks, which means that he will cleanly beat them in any toe-to-toe exchange.
  
• The best way to beat Jason's weapon swing is to leverage human reaction time with the "turn & burn" approach. You can do this by quickly turning around (by pressing C to enter combat stance) and hitting Jason before he has time to react with a swing of his own. But you must be careful with your timing, because Jason can also beat this by anticipating your swing, and putting out his own attack to counter it. This is where mind games come into play!
  
• In order to beat Jason grab, you can bait him into a whiffed grab ("whiffbaiting"), and punish him with your own attack during his recovery frames. But again, be careful -- a quick Jason can cancel the recovery frames of his grab with a throwing knife. Again, mind games -- the stuff that fighting games are made of!
  
• The literal character that you see on-screen is not always the same as their hurtbox (the area that an attack must touch in order to deal damage), as certain animations can result in weird hurtboxes. The heavy attack is a good example; during this animation, your hurtbox is extended a bit forward from your actual character.
  
• Given the hurtbox's nature, counselors (and Jason!) can be attacked through walls and doors if they are standing close enough.
  
• The hitbox for Jason's grab is a thin, straight line in front of him. This can be sidestepped.
  
• The hitbox for Jason's weapon swing in an arc. This cannot be sidestepped.

Video Time Stamp: 0:23:38 - 0:27:47

Many combat animations can be canceled in order to shorten recovery time and take more efficient actions. This, again, is similar to how combat works in fighting games. Here is how counselors can leverage animation cancels in Friday the 13th:

• Swing Cancel: You can abort a melee weapon swing at any point by blocking. If you practice this and learn to do it consistently, you can avoid recovery frames on almost all of your weapon swings. You can also fake Jason out by, say, attacking, immediately swing canceling with block, and then sprinting away. Note that you CANNOT use this technique to spam extra attacks, because of the way that the combat swing timer works. You can cancel an attack, but not do it again until the original attack animation has run its full course.
  
• Dodge Cancel: When (and only when) you hit with a melee attack, you can cancel the animation by dodging. This can be useful to confuse Jason and get successive attacks on him, especially if he is not blocking.
  
• Block Cancel: This was mentioned earlier, but is bears repeating here. A successful block will put you into a knockback animation, which you can quickly cancel with an attack. This is a very effective counterstrike against a Jason who is repeatedly attacking you.
  
• Sweater Stun Cancel: If you are wearing the sweater, you cannot use it while you are in combat stance -- but you CAN enter combat stance while the sweater is active. This cancels the animation mid-sentence, so that you have more time to knock Jason onto his knees for the baseball bat stun.
  
• Car Exit Cancel: The method and implications of this technique are covered in the "Advanced Technique 3: Car Surfing" section below. Please make sure to read the associated caveat for this technique.

Video Time Stamp: 0:27:47 - 0:30:27

It is important to maintain optimal spacing when contesting Jason, as you want to maximize your options while also minimizing his opportunities to damage or kill you. The basic rule is: Be as far away from Jason as possible, but as close as needed. Here is what that boils down to, in actionable terms:

• Do not wantonly attack Jason when standing within his grab or swing range.
  
• Try to attack from just outside of Jason's maximum range when you swing, so that he just steps into your active attack frames. This is Friday the 13th's equivalent of the "stand just outside of sweep range" rule that you always hear about certain characters in fighting games (such as Ryu and Ken in Street Fighter).
  
• In other words, think of the counselor as the carrot, and Jason as the donkey; you want to be just far enough to tempt him, but not close enough for him to get you.
  
• For the most part -- as long as they have Stamina -- counselors set the tempo. They dictate an encounter's spacing, as they are faster than Jason (even when jogging or even stumbling). The only way that Jason can (briefly) steal this tempo is by using Shift, which a skilled counselor can evade.
  
• When you are running away from Jason, always jog; do not sprint unless you have to. This is important for maintaining Stamina, and making it work as efficiently as possible for you. Once you run out of Stamina, you are far more vulnerable to Jason. Jogging also allows you to control your spacing, and getting too far ahead of Jason with a sprint will just incentivize him to Morph, causing you to reset the encounter and lose his position (and potentially your spacing advantage).

Video Time Stamp: 0:30:27 - 0:36:45

You can reliably rescue your fellow counselors from Jason grab, as long as you have a weapon. This is why there is safety in numbers. Here is how the grab -- and rescuing your teammates from it-- works:

• When Jason grabs a counselor, he lifts the target up into the air.
  
• The window at which you can rescue the counselor (by striking Jason with a weapon) is from the point when Jason starts to lift his victim up, to the point where his arm is at its peak and his kill wheel becomes available (in other words: roughly 2 seconds). Once Jason starts a kill animation, it is too late for a rescue.
  
• It is best to stay close to your teammates, so that you can sprint to close distance, and hit Jason before it's too late.
  
• When you hit Jason during his grab, it acts as a normal hit in all regards -- meaning that it may or may not stun, depending on the weapon's stun chance. If the hit does not stun Jason, it means that he can instantly grab the victim again, requiring another rescue. If any hit (including melee weapon, pocket knives, or anything else) DOES stun Jason, he cannot be damaged again while he is in the stun animation, so you shouldn't waste time trying to damage him during this time. Some attacks (like the shotgun) will even give Jason free Rage meter during this time.
  
• If you have been rescued from Jason's grab, your main priority should be to pick up whatever weapon or item that you dropped.
  
• Rescuing grabbed players with the shotgun is tricky, as it is very easy to accidentally kill the grabbed player (or others in the vicinity). You should try to avoid this whenever possible, but if you must resort to a shotgun rescue, make sure to aim at Jason's foot, as low to the ground as possible.
  
• You should always favor melee weapons for grab rescues (and most other combat actions). As mentioned earlier, you can use melee weapons multiple times, as weapon durability is dependent on your counselor's Luck stat.
  
• Remember that if you rescue a counselor with a melee weapon, and you hit both the counselor AND Jason, the weapon will take 2 hits to its durability. So, if your weapon only has 1 hit left, and you hit the counselor first, your weapon will break before it connects with Jason (and the rescue will fail).
  
• Because of its swing animation, the heavy attack is the superior option for hitting only Jason during a grab rescue.
  
• Always keep count of your weapon durability!
  
• This tip is for Jason players: Against skilled players who are putting these techniques into action, grabs are increasingly useless as you add more counselors to the equation. Armed counselors who consistently watch each others' backs will always hit you out of the grab. You should not waste your Shift to try and grab counselors during these situations; save it for later!
  
• Grab-baiting is an excellent way to demask Jason unchallenged, as every free hit with a machete reduces Jason's health significantly. So if you're going for a Jason kill, try to save your machete swings for when Jason has grabbed one of your teammates. And for Jason players: Be wary if a pair of Tommy/Brandon/Vanessa players are trying to trick you into a situation like this.

Video Time Stamp: 0:36:45 - 0:41:46

Some counselors, perks, and weapons are better than others. This section of the video goes into great details about these choices, and why they are superior for combat-savvy players. Here is a summary of Friday the 13th's top-tier picks:

• Counselors: Vanessa and Chad are the two best counselors. This is down to Luck, Speed, and Stamina being the best combat stats in the game, and these two characters have the most powerful combination of these three stats. And despite their 2 Repair, Vanessa and Chad can fix objectives reliably when Jason isn't in their face (you can find more detailed information on each stat in the Counselor Knowledge Base guide). Vanessa has the edge over Chad, as she is capable of wearing the sweater, and also has a much bigger Stamina pool (which gives her higher effective Stamina regeneration per second).
  
• Perks: Thick Skinned (even post-nerf) and Medic are the two best perks for every counselor, hands-down. Thick Skinned gives you more health against all damage sources, while Medic effectively gives you a fourth inventory slot with its double-heals. Nerves of Steel, Swift Attacker, and Hypochondriac are all very strong choices for your third perk, thanks to the powerful utility that they bring to combat situations.
  
• Weapons: The baseball bat is the best weapon for stunning Jason, as it has a 100% stun rate on every successful hit, with all counselors. The wrench is the runner-up for stunning, with an approximate 66% stun chance (but much higher durability than the bat). For damaging and demasking Jason, the machete is flat-out the best weapon, as it has higher durability and far more consistent damage than the axe (despite what the in-game weapon chart claims). The axe and baseball bat both have a much longer range and a slower swing speed than other weapons.

Video Time Stamp: 0:41:46 - 0:46:35

You can damage targets through doors, walls, and windows. In this way, these barriers are illusions. There are a lot of tactics that can be leveraged around this. Here are the basics:

• Long-range weapons (the axe or baseball bat) are the best weapons to use for learning this technique. Ideally, you want to be using the machete (for demasking purposes). Swift Attacker makes doorhitting easier.
  
• If Jason is not using combat stance, you can punish him every time he swings at a door. To time this punishment properly, you should start your attack when you see Jason raise his weapon.
  
• You can also punish Jason as he enters his Rage animation, preventing him from breaking the door down (although you cannot do this to him twice in a row).
  
• If Jason is using combat stance at the door, things get trickier. Jasons with long-range weapons (Jason Part 6 and Savini Jason) are not punishable at maximum range; in this situation, you should wait for them to destroy the door, and then sprint outside if they are far enough way to allow for an exit. All other Jasons are punishable in the same way described above, when they are breaking down the door in combat stance.
  
• For successful windowhitting, you need to swing earlier -- basically at the same time that Jason starts his attack. Jason Part 7 is particularly vulnerable to this.

Video Time Stamp: 0:46:35 - 0:50:42

As mentioned earlier, this technique is a great way to leverage human reaction time to nail Jason with a surprise punish while he pursues you, before he can react with a grab or a strike (or, at worst, you'll punish him during his startup frames). Here's how to do it:

• First, enter combat stance. This will automatically position you to track the nearest target (in this case, Jason).
  
• As soon as you enter combat stance, swing your weapon. Light attacks are better for this, as it will be easier for Jason to avoid a heavy attack. If Jason turns around to evade your swing, cancel the swing by blocking, and sprint away before he can grab you.
  
• Exit combat stance.
  
• Continue jogging (don't sprint unless you have to).
  
• Do not use this technique to initiate close combat for a demask -- you should primarily use it to buy yourself time (and Stamina) if Jason is about to catch you. The baseball bat and wrench are the best weapons to use, as you're really looking for a stun here.

Video Time Stamp: 0:50:42 - 0:55:25

Whiffbaiting is the act of baiting your opponent into a whiff -- in other words, a failed attack that is then punishable. There are a couple of strong ways to bait Jason in this way. This requires you to have good instinctive knowledge of Jason's attack range, which you will develop with experience. Here's what you should know:

• This technique is easiest to practice and learn with the baseball bat, as stuns are ideal to confirm a clean whiffbaiting attempt.
  
• You can turn around and run to the edge of Jason's grab range, and then double back. When he tries to grab you and whiffs, you can turn around and punish him with a melee strike during his sizable recovery frames.
  
• You can also turn around, and run around Jason's grab range to the right (this is preferable to running left since it protects you from weapon strikes as well). You are then free to attack him from an angle, during his recovery frames. This is also the best and safest way to initiate close combat, as this angled position prevents Jason from immediately retaliating in the case that your hit did not stun him (since he now has to take the time to turn and face you).
  
• Don't forget that there is strong counterplay to this. If Jason is expecting this tactic, he can whiff a grab on purpose, and then cancel his recovery to hit you with a throwing knife.

Video Time Stamp: 0:55:25 - 1:00:18

The goal here is to hit Jason with your weapon at the exact moment that he materializes from his Shift animation, denying him the grab and ideally stunning him.

• When you see Jason use Shift, you want to enter combat stance, and time a swing so that it connects with him just as he exits Shift. As long as you are in combat stance, you will continue to automatically track Jason's position.
  
• If Jason Shifts at you from a short distance (less than 4 meters or so), it is best to shiftbat him with a light attack.
  
• If Jason Shifts at you from longer distances, a heavy attack is great to use.
  
• Timing will only come with practice. If you're used to the timing on dodging Jason's Shift-grab, a good rule of thumb is to attack slightly before you would normally dodge.
  
• You can track Jason's Shift trajectory on your minimap (his icon is always visible), and the Nerves of Steel perk will help you a great deal with this. Please watch the tutorial on anti-Shift techniques for more detailed information on how Jason's Shift ability works, and how to get better at timing your shiftbats.
  
• Remember that you can always cancel your swing using block, if you're afraid that you mistimed it.
  
• As implied by the name, the baseball bat is the best weapon to use for this technique, as you want to stun him out of Shift (although, bonus points if you manage to demask him with a machete while shiftbatting!).
  
• If you get good enough at this technique, you might even get accused of cheating.

Video Time Stamp: 1:00:18 - 1:07:38

As much as I know that Pappus will grumble about this, I feel it pertinent to note that this is currently a very controversial technique. Its execution and application is a bit glitchy, and Friday the 13th's developers have not weighed in on whether it constitutes an exploit, despite our repeated attempts to reach out to them about this and other matters. Pappus' position is that because there is strong, valid counterplay to the technique -- that is, it does not put the counselor in a grossly superior position that denies Jason a victory or keeps him from punishing/denying the act entirely -- it does not meet the criteria of what constitutes an abusable cheat or exploit. Counterplay for this technique is carefully, exhaustively covered in this section, point-by-point. That said, until Gun Media takes a stance on the matter, please use car surfing at your own risk. -Rydog


When you exit the car, you can enter combat stance and perform a swing cancel (by swinging and then quickly blocking). If you take no action, you will be pushed onto the car's roof, and can "surf" on top of it; otherwise, you can glide through the car and exit via other doors. This can be used for car defense (to punish Jason with a quick attack), or to evade his grab after he smashes the car's hood. Here's what to know, and what you can do about this if you are Jason:

• This cannot be used from the driver's seat of a running car. The car MUST be crashed in order to use the technique from the driver's seat.
  
• A driver can get Jason to crash the car near an objective (such as the phone box), and then repair it while car surfing, in the case that Jason has set a nest of traps.
  
• Jason can fully prevent counselors from doing this by body-blocking the car door.
  
• Jason can attack car surfers with throwing knives.
  
• If the car is on uneven terrain, Jason can easily grab the counselor.
  
• If it's clear that the counselor is attempting to use this technique to repair another objective, Jason can just simply NOT crash the car, denying all possibilities.
  
• Jason can use a delayed Shift to score hits on the counselor, by taking advantage of the fact that the counselor cannot see him -- and then strike or grab straight out of Shift.
  
• Any imperfect timing when entering the car allows Jason to punish the counselor with a grab, from either the driver OR passenger side.

Video Time Stamp: 1:07:38 - 1:13:16

Prolonged close combat is sometimes necessary to demask Jason with the machete, or hit him with a stun (if you aren't using the baseball bat). This is a very difficult technique to pull off cleanly and consistently, but it will frustrate Jason players to no end once you have practiced a lot and manage to do it successfully. Here's what you need to know:

• Ideally, you should condition Jason to grab less often. You can do this by whiffbaiting him a few times, so that he respects your ability to punish his grab, and hesitates to use it.
  
• Close combat relies heavily on the dodge cancel (canceling your recovery animation with a dodge after successfully hitting Jason). You should always be striking Jason from an angle, so that you are never caught dead-on in his grab's hitbox, whether you are at dodge position A or dodge position B (as described in the Animation Canceling section above). In this way, you can quickly overwhelm Jason with multiple successive dodge cancels.
  
• Instead of using dodge cancels (or if you don't have the timing down), you can also strike Jason at an angle, and then manually move around him to another angle before striking again.
  
• Let go of your fear! This is the ultimate way to get in Jason's face, take his mask, and/or knock him flat. Bonus points if you're using Lachappa!

Video Time Stamp: 1:13:16 - 1:14:45

Just a few quick notes about Jason's block:

• Jason takes minor damage while blocking. A melee swing cannot stun Jason if he is blocking, unless the hit demasks him.
  
• Firecrackers appear to deal a good chunk of damage to Jason.
  
• Keep in mind that Jason can cancel his swings with a block, just as counselors can.

Thanks for watching this video (or, at least, for reading all the bullet points -- although you really should watch the video!). The goal is that you will learn everything you need to about Friday the 13th's combat from this guide, and you will be well on your way to becoming a Jason-hunting pro. If you enjoyed this, you can find Pappus in the following places, and learn even more about how to become a better Friday the 13th player.

• Twitch[www.twitch.tv]
  
• YouTube (including many more Friday the 13th whiteboard guides)
  
• Patreon[www.patreon.com]
  
• Twitter

Lastly, the written portion of this guide was created with help from Rydog (AKA Geekboxing, on Reddit/YouTube/Twitch), author of several valuable Friday the 13th mechanical analysis guides. These guides provided the groundwork for several points of data in this video, and you should definitely give them a look if you want to learn more about how the game's mechanics work.

Extra special thanks to everyone who helped with the creation, assembly, and critique of the video. It was a beast, but hopefully it was worth the long wait! Please feel free to leave any comments, questions, or constructive criticism in the comments area below.