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The Fall of Nakayama is the final story mission in Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt.

Background[]

Professor Nakayama has been amassing his defences and stands ready to carry out his nefarious plan. He must be stopped!

Walkthrough[]

Objectives[]

  • Travel to Candlerakk's Crag
  • Defeat elite savages
  • Extend bridge
  • Reach the ship
  • Enter door code
  • Kill Jackenstein
  • Kill Professor Nakayama
  • Loot ship

Strategy[]

In order to successfully complete the mission, the Vault Hunters have to push through a heavily guarded enemy territory towards the H.S.S. Terminus.

Before the final boss fight, the mission mainly consists of fighting common savages, with the only exception being the Elite Savages, who are encountered at Elite's Crossing a long, narrow bridge about one third of the way through the area. The bridge itself is a natural chokepoint, lending itself to area-effect attacks and unidirectional fire. At one point, it is necessary to lower another bridge, which is achieved by shooting a lever on the other side of the chasm it spans. After several fights with the native inhabitants under Nakayama's control, the H.S.S. Terminus will be reached. It is necessary to input the proper password to enter the ship. As Claptrap hints, the correct number order is 1-3-4.

Inside the ship are two vending machines offing ammunition and defensive supplies before the final boss fight. A small shaft beyond forms the access point to the remains of a spacious cargo hold, and its freshly created resident, Jackenstein. Sparse cover is available in the chamber, including a recess immediately left of the entrance (see Notes).

Phase 1[]

Jackenstein has a variety of attacks, each of them very powerful and dangerous. For most of the fight, the monstrosity will chase Vault Hunters around using moderately dangerous melee attacks, which can be avoided quite easily by simply sprinting away. It will occasionally jump towards the more distant Vault Hunters, causing severe damage. Shields with very fast recharge rates are valuable assets in warding against Jackenstein's frequent attacks.

During the entire fight, Jackenstein can grab any of the three large containers present in the area, as well as numerous big jars containing a corrosive fluid, hanging on some of the walls of the arena, and throw them at the Vault Hunters. These attacks cause significant damage and can drop victims of them into Fight For Your Life mode unless the health gate triggers. The thrown containers deal much more damage than the corrosive jars, but Junkenstein can only throw three before the arena runs out of containers.

Jackenstein is incredibly tanky: it boasts an absurd amount of health, reflects bullets when shot at its main body, is entirely invulnerable to damage on most of its body, and is immune to both Shock and Explosive damage. Its only vulnerable spots are the two energy capacitors on its back; these will always take critical damage, but are not affected by status effects. Reflected bullets (including rockets) will be reflected in random directions, potentially harming attackers. As the capacitors are immune to statuses, Vault Hunters should preferably use non-elemental guns, as reflected statuses can be the reason they accidentally down themselves.

The goal in the first phase is to shoot at the two capacitors on the back of the beast. Each capacitor has a high set amount of health, which comprises of around 5-10% of Jackenstein's health bar and can give the illusion of it taking very little damage. As a capacitor's health decreases, it will gradually short out (indicated by sparks around it). If the Vault Hunters approach Jackenstein too closely while its capacitors are shorted out, they will take constant shock damage, so it is best to keep a distance away. When each capacitor is destroyed, Jackenstein will take a large chunk of health damage (around 25-30% for each).

Mob phase[]

Destroying a capacitor will cause Jackenstein to jump onto a distant wall and activate an impenetrable shield. At this point some loaders spawn and attack; these should be kept alive (preferably with their limbs shot off), as they are the only source of Second Winds in the battle. After a while, Jackenstein will jump back into the arena and resume the fight. While the shield can be partially bypassed by using amplifying shields and Maya's Phaselock, it is recommended to weaken the Loaders as Jackenstein's extreme health makes chipping it while shielded mostly futile.

Phase 2[]

The final stage of the fight, taking place after both of the energy capacitors are destroyed, causes Jackenstein to be completely invulnerable save for one new attack phase that acts as an opportunity to deal damage to it. The beast will chase intruders around the arena as usual, but occasionally, it will stop in its tracks, stand on its two hind legs and produce a barrage of energy blasts from an aperture in its abdomen (in the shape of Jack's mask). The aperture, like its capacitors, has a high health pool and takes only critical damage. As such, the Vault Hunters should kite around the arena till the opportunity arises to unload into Jackenstein's critical spot. Like in Phase 1, Jackenstein's body will deflect bullets, so it is not recommended to use elemental weapons or weapons with high spread.

Each time the aperture loses 25% of its health, Jackenstein will take damage and its abdomen will glow, giving a visual indicator of its remaining health. Once the aperture glows thrice and its remaining 25% health is depleted, Jackenstein will be defeated.

After the cybernetic monstrosity is defeated, Nakayama himself will make an appearance, again expressing his fear for his life and remarking that he still has a chance to defeat the Vault Hunters. Unfortunately, as he makes his way down the stairs, he slips and tumbles to his death on a digistructed light bridge that leads to the armory with loot.

Completion[]

"You killed Nakayama, obliterated his monstrosity, and saved Pandora once again. You go, girl.

Turn In: Sir Hammerlock.

Notes[]

  • Even though the fight with Jackenstein is repeatable (for the E-tech Yellow Jacket SMG), the treasure room is only accessible once, as its looting is a part of the initial mission. In subsequent visits outside of the mission, it will be guarded by an impassable orange energy shield.
    • This can be bypassed by using cheats (can also be done without noclip) by jumping on top of the armory and moving to the northwest corner of the armory. There's a crack the vault hunter can slide down but they need to be in the correct spot in order to slide out since jumping won't work and godmode is required to prevent being instantly put into Fight For Your Life mode once they reenter the armory. All of the chests in the room will still contain loot.
  • As every hit on the capacitors is counted as a critical hit, the Lady Fist can take advantage of its extremely high critical damage bonus. A Pitchfork or other Dahl rifle is also highly effective, as the critical spot is large enough for them to land several consistent hits.
  • On Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode, the loot of the armory will scale to the character level irrespective of the level at which the mission was taken. After Jackenstein's defeat, Vault Hunters can fast travel to other areas (without entering the armory), level up, and return to HSS Terminus to farm the armory for loot scaled to their level without the need to fight Jackenstein again.
  • Krieg's thrown axes will damage Jackenstein even if they hit its body. This is the only case observed where the boss can take damage without being dealt critical hits.
    • Even though it is technically possible to cause damage to Jackenstein without shooting it in its critical locations, the damage dealt this way is functionally useless, as its health is extremely high. Damaging the capacitors and central weak point with a proper strategy can finish the fight in minutes while attempting to beat the monstrosity down with brute force can take hours.
    • There is a spot behind the fan just to the left of the entrance drop into the area. From there the character is shielded from all bullets and projectiles and can whittle away at Jackenstein. If using this technique, it is advisable to equip a shield that grants immunity to shock or incendiary damage. When Jackenstein is on the short ledge in front of the fan, shots fired will hit, although it will never expose its critical spot while in that location. Launchers, grenades and Tediore weapons can be very useful when used from this spot, but if used improperly can be extremely dangerous. When both capacitors are destroyed, if the character is here, Jackenstein will be right in front of them, but only its area attacks can damage them. Note that, as little space as there is behind the fan, there is just enough to take a step backward. This may count as leaving the room, and stepping forwards again will reset Jackentein's health.

Trivia[]

  • Mission dialogue mentions "man" as "the most dangerous game" to hunt. This is a reference to the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell.
  • The mission's title is a double entendre, as Nakayama literally falls to his death.

Video[]


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