MultiVersus: Jake - how to play?

Jake is the protagonist of the Adventure Time universe. In MultiVersus he's a Bruiser, meaning he's a relatively easy to use, balanced character with decent damage potential and endurance. This page of our MultiVersus guide explains how to use this character against AI opponents or other players.

• General tips
• Recommended build
• How to win as Jake?

General tips

1. Jake is a versatile and flexible character - literally so, as he can shapeshift into different forms, such as a house, a horse, or even stretch to a large size. This is a huge advantage, as in every one of his forms, Jake serves as a platform both his allies and enemies can bounce off of.
2. Nothing happens if an enemy bounces off of you, but if an ally does, it will cause a positive effect. When an ally bounces off of you while you're turned into a house or a car, that is, when using your Down Special, you'll create an explosion around yourself, pushing enemies away.
3. Jake's Up Special stretches him upwards, knocking enemies into the air. In this form only his head can take damage, with the rest of his body being invulnerable. Once this attack is over, you'll return to your regular form, ending up where your head was before.
4. Jake can eat enemies and allies, holding them in his belly. If he eats an enemy, he'll hold them for a while, keeping them out of the game. He can then spit them out in a direction of his choosing, affecting them with the Weaken debuff, making them take more damage and more knockback. Eating an ally keeps them safe for a while and grants them a shield once you spit them out.
5. Your aerial Down Attack, Where's My Halfpipe?, creates a skateboard underneath you. Landing on an ally or an enemy lets you chain this attack into a three-hit combo. Connecting with the third hit applies the Fire debuff on an enemy, dealing damage over time.
6. Holding down an attack button when using a transformation lets Jake stay in that form for longer.
7. Your Neutral Special, Rubber Stomach, Dude!, is a powerful tool which can protect your allies or disable enemies, weakening them as well. It's easily punishable if you miss though, so we recommend using it during combos.

Recommended build

Jake has access to two useful signature perks you can make use of in your build. The first is Stay Limber, Dude. After your Down Special - that is, turning into a house, a car, or something else - you'll bounce off the ground again. The second perk, Sticky, affects your Up Special, Stretchin' Out. All enemies who touch you during this attack get stunned.

1. Wildcat Brawler - an offensive perk, thanks to which your team deals 5% more damage with melee attacks on the ground. When an ally chooses this perk, the bonus will increase to 10%.
2. Lumpy Space Punch - an offensive perk, thanks to which your team deals 5% more damage with aerial melee attacks. When an ally chooses this perk, you will deal 10% more damage.
3. Aerial Acrobat - a utility perk, thanks you which you gain a 10% increase to aerial acceleration. When an ally chooses this perk, you will receive a 20% increase.

Some of the perks synergize great with Jake, though they are pretty situational. Nevertheless, they're worth considering and using sometimes:

1. Snowball Effect - an offensive perk, thanks to which your team deals 7% more damage to the most heavily wounded enemy. To clarify, this means the enemy with the highest number under their health bar. The bonus increases to 15% when stacked.
2. Armor Crush - another offensive perk which Jake can take easy advantage of. It makes all fully charged attacks destroy enemy armor. Many of Jake's moves can be charged. If an ally takes this perk as well, you'll only need to charge your attacks to 75% to destroy armor.
3. The Purest of Motivations - a utility perk which increases the damage dealt by your team by 15% for 10 seconds when an ally is rung out. Stacking the perk increases its duration to 15 seconds.

How to win as Jake?

Being a Bruiser, Jake must get close to the enemies to do his job properly. Approach them as quickly as possible, attacking with your best moves. One of these is your aerial Down Special, which transforms Jake into a house or a vehicle. By falling down to the ground you can damage the enemies - then your allies can bounce off of you, causing an explosion.

Enemies with a low damage counter can be easily comboed with your aerial Down Attack, which lets you bounce off them on your skateboard. You won't knock healthy enemies too far away, making it easy to bounce off them and apply the Fire debuff.

Remember to use your Neutral Special, which you can use to hold enemies and allies in your belly. When trying to swallow enemies, we recommend using this move as part of a combo - for example, Side Attack, Side Attack, Neutral Special. If you've swallowed a heavy enemy, spit them out into a pit, if you've swallowed a light enemy, spit them out upwards. We also recommend you focus on the enemy you've spat out, as they'll be taking more damage due to the Weaken debuff.

You can use your aerial side attack to stretch out your arm and punch an enemy. Remember this attack lets you control the direction your fist goes in.

Try not to use your Side Special too often - it turns Jake into a horse who gallops across the arena. This attack is heavily telegraphed, easily dodged and countered. If you decide to go for it, we recommend using it in the air. On the ground it's far too predictable and punishable.