Back 4 Blood Jim guide – Tips, tactics, best cards

Jim is one of the Cleaners or playable characters in Back 4 Blood. He isn’t available when you start the game. Instead, he’ll only be unlocked along with several other characters after you’ve cleared The Devil’s Return in campaign mode. Here’s our guide to help you with the best weapons, cards, and tips for Jim in Back 4 Blood.

Abilities and playstyle

Jim has the following perks available by default if you choose him in your Back 4 Blood missions:

• Clean Kill – Precision kills increase Jim’s damage by 5%; can stack up to 50% until he takes damage.
• Seasoned Hunter – +10% team weak spot damage.
• Quick Aim – +25% aim down sight (ADS) speed.
• Razor Snare – Starts missions with a razor wire.

As you can see, Jim has an amazing ability called Clean Kill that relies heavily on defeating zombies with headshots. However, it also means that he can’t get hit, or the stacks will be reset. Another perk, Seasoned Hunter, offers a team-wide buff that boosts weak spot damage.

Best cards for Jim

Jim shares a few similarities with Walker, another Back 4 Blood character. Walker’s abilities and playstyle also rely on hitting weak spots to boost his accuracy. Jim, meanwhile, is all about pure damage throughput. Here are the best cards that we recommend for Jim in Back 4 Blood:

• Ridden Slayer – +20% weak spot damage.
• Reckless Strategy – +30% weak spot damage; -5% damage resistance.
• Hyper Focused – +50% weak spot damage; -75% ADS move speed. This card implies that you’ll need to “quick-scope” as Jim often even with the Quick Aim perk.
• Pep In Your Step – +10% movement speed for five seconds after a precision kill.
• Controlled Movement – +40% movement speed when aiming down sights with sniper rifles.
• In The Zone – Precision kills grant +5% reload speed for five seconds (stacks up to 10 times).
• Broadside – Precision kills have a 20% chance to cause Ridden to explode, dealing 15 damage to other nearby enemies.
• Sadistic – Gain +5% weak spot damage for each precision kill in the last 10 seconds.
• Shredder – Each bullet hit causes the target to take +1% increased damage for three seconds; stacks up to 15%.
• Confident Killer – When you or a teammate kills a Mutation, gain +1% damage (stacks up to 15% until the end of the level.
• Overwatch – Kills from greater than 15 meters grant +5 temporary health to teammates within 10 meters of the target.
• Hunker Down – While crouching, gain +10% damage resistance and +40% accuracy.
• Ammo Pouch – +25% ammo capacity.
• Stock Pouch – +30% sniper ammo capacity and +10% damage with sniper rifles.
• Front Sight Focus – +20% accuracy.
• Superior Cardio – +20% stamina, +20% sprint efficiency, and +5 health.
• Run Like Hell (optional) – +15% movement speed; when you take damage, accuracy is reduced by 20% for three seconds.
• Hellfire (optional) – +45% movement speed when firing; +5% movement speed when not firing.
• Ammo Pouch – +25% ammo capacity.
• Combat Training – +5% bullet damage and +50% bullet penetration.
• Large Caliber Rounds – +7.5% bullet damage, +100% bullet penetration, and -20% stamina efficiency.
• Line ‘Em Up (optional) – +100% bullet penetration with assault rifles.
• Tactical Vest (optional) – +30% rifle ammo capacity; +10% damage with assault rifles and light machine guns.

Ideally, you’ll want Jim to equip sniper rifles as these are the best weapons for him in Back 4 Blood. Sniper rifles should maximize those headshot kills, as well as pump out the damage against elites and bosses when you hit their weak spots. You can also consider cards like Controlled Movement, Superior Cardio, Run Like Hell, or Hellfire since these help with movement and sprinting. Ideally, you’d want to keep the Clean Kill stacks high enough, which means doing your best to avoid taking damage.

Moreover, if you’re not keen on using sniper rifles, assault rifles are the next best thing. Line ‘Em Up and Tactical Vest are ideal cards to include. Lastly, another alternative, albeit riskier, is to use shotguns (just swap to shotgun DPS-boosting cards). Boomsticks deal a lot of damage, but you need to get very close to special infected just to blast their weak spots.