This is a data-driven Jason tier list, using lots of conclusions gleaned from my Jason ability guide. Please read that guide before you read or comment on this tier list. Understanding how Jason's abilities work is important, if you are to have any context for how and why I value certain abilities.

The purpose of this guide is to evaluate each Jason, as well as how each strength and weakness impacts his overall performance. This is mainly targeted at experienced players who understand the game mechanics and work together, against Jason players who know what they're doing. Not all Jasons are created equal; some of his traits are far better than others, and some of his weaknesses barely qualify as downsides.

If you find this tier list useful, please rate the guide appropriately.

This information is current as of PC patch v1.03.

Here is how much I value each of Jason's traits (strengths and weaknesses), which lines up with the scores that I assign each Jason in my analysis below. Each trait's value basically boils down to worthless (+0), valuable (+1), or extremely valuable (+2). This is obviously pretty subjective, and you might disagree with how I value each trait. Again, I encourage you to read my Jason ability guide, so that you understand how I came to draw these conclusions.

• Destruction: An absolutely amazing trait. This gets you through barricaded doors twice as fast as other Jasons, which is a huge advantage in pursuing counselors and eliminating some of their late-game stalling advantages.

• Shift: This is the most important ability cooldown trait for sure, and it is one of the most consistent metrics on its own for separating the good Jason picks from the mediocre ones. Being able to chase down counselors with this is the most efficient way to close distance, and the more often you can do it, the better. The weakness is also a serious problem, because in addition to the extra cooldown, it also comes with a 60% speed penalty.

• Weapon Range: This isn't displayed anywhere on Jason's character sheet, but it is a major differentiating factor. The two Jasons that have this trait (Jason Part 6 with his spear, and Savini Jason with his pitchfork) enjoy an approximate 60% reach advantage, which is enormous when you're trying to break doors or windows safely, pick off a fleeing counselor after knifing them, or fend off a baseball team. Note that I treat normal-range weapons as "default state" rather than "weakness."

• Weapon Strength: The ability to kill counselors in roughly half the swings makes this a particularly deadly trait.

• Can Run: Running provides an approximate 13% speed advantage over fast walking. This is OK, but it's no substitute for Shift. Faster movement speed also helps with maneuvering around counselors in close combat.

• Morph: The cooldown makes a solid difference in Jason's ability to cycle objectives throughout the game. More experience and map knowledge helps to mitigate the weakness, but it is one of the nicer ability cooldowns to have.

• Stalk: Definitely valuable, but less so than Morph or Shift in my opinion. The more often Jason can use Stalk, the more chances he has to gain ground on counselors before they know he's coming.

• Throwing Knives: All things considered, this is a relatively marginal strength, but it still saves a bit of time. Knives are a quick and solid source of damage, so having a few more in your pocket is a good thing.

• Traps: Traps are a bit weird, because counselors can currently bypass them depending on where Jason places them. I think that having -Traps (start with 3) might be a more serious weakness than +Traps (start with 7) is a serious strength, because your overall "inconveniencing potential" is so abysmally low. That said, I score this trait the way that I do based on the current trap issues. It may be better once this gets patched.

• Can't Run: I treat fast walking as "default state" rather than "weakness," so as not to overvalue running.

• Defense: Irrelevant. In practice, it doesn't seem to have much (if any) actual impact on block chance, and lower health is not much of a weakness (nor does it seem to help Brandon demask Jason any faster).

• Grip Strength: Irrelevant. Unless the counselor has a pocket knife or an armed buddy nearby, they aren't escaping Jason's grab.

• Less Hit Points: Irrelevant for the same reasons as Defense.

• Sense: This trait is only marginally relevant, specifically because Jason can avoid the full cooldown by turning it off after he's used it, and the overall cooldown advantage is only a +/-5 second difference anyway (although he still shaves small amounts of time off of it if he has the +Sense trait).

• Stun Resistance: Irrelevant. This doesn't actually seem to make a difference, based on my research (see my counselor stats guide for detailed stun info).

• Water Speed: Irrelevant. Against a good Jason, the boat is a very difficult escape option. You could MAYBE make a case for -Water Speed being a -1, but that wouldn't change my overall conclusions at all.

This is my shorthand term referring to the cumulative cooldown for each Jason's four abilities, all added together. It is a way to broadly evaluate how often each Jason gets to take meaningful actions during a match, by using his abilities to improve his position vs. counselors. On balance, a Jason with a lower cumulative cooldown gets to take more actions during a game, and this is a useful metric to keep in mind. Here is each Jason's opportunity potential, best to worst, with the score that I assign each level.

• Jason Part 9: 1:25 (+1)
  
• Savini Jason: 1:35 (+1)
  
• Jason Part 6: 1:40 (+0)
  
• Jason Part 8: 1:40 (+0)
  
• Jason Part 2: 1:45 (+0)
  
• Jason Part 7: 1:50 (-1)
  
• Jason Part 3: 2:00 (-1)

If we add up each Jason's traits and opportunity potential, we get the following values.

• 9 points: Savini Jason
  
• 4 points: Jason Part 6
  
• 3 points: Jason Part 8
  
• 3 points: Jason Part 9
  
• 1 points: Jason Part 3
  
• 1 points: Jason Part 2
  
• -4 points: Jason Part 7

Now, let's put it all together. Here are my thoughts on each Jason, from best to worst, based on this data.

• Savini Jason: The backer-exclusive Savini Jason roundly outclasses all other options by just about every metric you can possibly throw at him. There's a lot of anger and (I suspect consequent) misinformation about him out there, from people who either don't have him or don't like that he exists. Regardless of how you feel about Gun Media or Kickstarter or anything else, this does not change the fact that Savini Jason's kit is extremely powerful, to "Guile in original Street Fighter II" degrees. He has the three best strengths in the game (+Shift, +Weapon Strength, +Destruction), he is one of only two Jasons to have a long-range weapon, and his weaknesses are all non-issues. His cumulative ability cooldown is 1:35, giving him the second-best opportunity potential behind Jason Part 9. The bottom line is that Savini Jason has all of the best tools for controlling objectives, pursuing counselors, and killing them quickly.

• Jason Part 6: Don't have Savini Jason? Well, Jason Part 6 is the go-to consolation pick. The biggest advantage that he (along with Savini Jason) has is his long weapon range; I cannot overstate the value of being able to nail counselors with swings from much further away, and smash through cabins with less fear of being punished. This, plus the +Shift strength, gives Jason Part 6 a lot of very aggressive tools for catching and killing counselors. His extra throwing knives are convenient, since you'll waste slightly less time picking up more, they deal good damage, and you can use them to cancel knockdown animations. His only real downside is his -Morph weakness, which affords him some below-average objective control (this generally means there is less room for you to make mistakes, since a wasted Morph will cost you more time). Jason Part 6's cumulative ability cooldown is 1:40, giving him a slightly above-average opportunity potential.

• Jason Part 8: The value of Jason Part 8 is almost entirely down to his +Destruction trait -- being able to wreck doors in 3 hits really is just that good, and it means he wastes less time being hit through them (I suppose the +Stalk strength lets him get in 1-2 uncontested door hits more frequently as well). Not much else to say here, as his weaknesses are all marginal (-Sense and -Run) or inconsequential (-Grip Strength). Jason Part 8 shares Jason Part 6's slightly above-average opportunity potential, with a 1:40 cumulative ability cooldown.

• Jason Part 9: Part 9's big strength is his opportunity potential; he has a cumulative ability cooldown of 1:25, which is shorter than any other Jason, and makes him fairly relentless. He can also leverage his +Stalk and +Shift strengths for aggressive surprise Shift-grabs. His only real weakness is the fact that he starts with only 3 traps, which means he has fewer shots at inconveniencing counselors at objectives (he can reliably lock down one repair spot, but that's about it). The +Shift trait alone makes him better than all the Jasons below him, but his lack of good weapon properties and/or a +Destruction trait put him right in the middle.

• Jason Part 3: Yes, he seems powerful at first glance with his +Weapon Strength trait, but outside of this, Jason Part 3 is overall fairly mediocre. A lot of his shortcomings come down to his opportunity potential; his cumulative ability cooldown is 2:00, which broadly means that he gets to use abilities less often than any other Jason. His -Stalk weakness means that he doesn't have as much surprise attack potential, and -- like Jason Part 2 -- he doesn't have any traits that dramatically help with chasing.

• Jason Part 2: This is the only Jason with the +Traps strength (which starts him off with 7 traps), but that trait's value is currently pretty questionable due to the fact that counselors can bypass traps (which is bad news, because his lack of chasing power makes him too reliant on them). His +Morph strength lets him rotate around objectives far more frequently than any other Jason, giving him good map control. The -Shift weakness is a big deficiency, and he doesn't have any traits that help him chase down counselors faster, which means that he has big problems pursuing anyone (+Run is only a marginal advantage compared to something like a +Shift or +Destruction trait). Jason Part 2's cumulative ability cooldown is 1:45, giving him a strictly average opportunity potential (1:45 is what all four non-traited abilities add up to). Given the current trap situation, it's debatable whether he belongs above or below Jason Part 3, but they're both pretty much in the same wheelhouse in terms of relative mediocrity.

• Jason Part 7: It's sad that Jason Part 7 is at the bottom of the list, because he is arguably the most iconic version of the character, both in design and weapon choice. His strengths are almost all worthless; +Water Speed and +Grip Strength are inconsequential for the reasons stated above, and +Sense is only marginally useful, as any good Jason will just spam it to avoid the full cooldown anyway. He also starts with only 3 traps, and he's got that crippling -Shift weakness, which is a huge liability in terms of his kill potential. Speaking of potential, Jason Part 7's cumulative ability cooldown is 1:50, giving him the second-worst opportunity potential (only Jason Part 3's is worse). He has to work much harder than any other Jason to chase down counselors, and he does not have a single standout tool to make this job easier.

That's pretty much it! I welcome any discussion or debate in the comments, but please make sure you read the guide introduction, so that you understand my methodology, and who I'm aiming this tier list at. If you found this guide useful, please rate it appropriately, to help with visibility.


Here are the rest of my Friday the 13th: The Game guides, for your reading pleasure:

• Full Maps With All Objective/Location Spawns
  
• Counselor Stats: Knowledge Base w/ Lots of Hard Data
  
• Jason Stats and Abilities: Knowledge Base w/ Lots of Hard Data
  
• Counselor Tier List (data-driven analysis w/ perk advice)

My name is Ryan Scott. I spent eight years as a full-time editor and critic for popular publications like Computer Gaming World, Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1UP, and GameSpy. I've also got a couple of popular podcasts that I'd love for you to check out -- The Geekbox[www.geekbox.net] (a weekly show about video games and lots of other pop culture) and The Comedy Button[www.comedybutton.com] (a weekly show about... utter nonsense). You can also follow me on Twitter.

I am currently a professional video game consultant, which means that I collaborate with developers who are actively working on games, and help to make them a little bit better. I feel it pertinent to disclose that I contracted for Friday the 13th developer Gun Media from about 2011-2012, back when they did this kind of consultation work (before they got into game development). I have nothing to do with Friday the 13th, but I obviously sure do like it a lot.