Jacques Boss Guide
Jacques is the very first boss you will face in Etheria: Restart’s Grim Pursuit, a content area specifically focused on farming Shells to enhance your Animus Builds.
Jacques Element is REASON, meaning you will want to avoid bringing weak elements (HOLLOW) to this encounter to increase your chances of success.
You can fight Jacques on Basic and Hard difficulty, with the reward quality increasing for the higher difficulty.
The Meltdown Creature appearing in the Ultra Building possesses an Anima Reaction that exceeds the database limit, with a high level of self-awareness, but its origins remain unknown.
In this guide, we will break down Jacques’s Skills, how to face this encounter, as well as suggesting an accessible progression team for defeating Jacques.
Possible Rewards
Jacques Skills
Avian Torrent
Jacques gathers lightning at the spear tip, dealing 320% damage with 100% chance to inflict a 2-turn [DEF-].
Winged Doom
Jacques gathers lightning at the spear tip, dealing 550% damage to all enemies.
Vermilion Skyruler
After each action, follows up on a random enemy, dealing 400% damage; for every 2% HP the target loses, damage increases by 1% and permanently increases Jacques’ SPD by 6%.
How to beat Jacques
Jacques is the first boss players encounter in Grim Pursuit and introduces core mechanics like defensive debuffs, AoE pressure, and a scaling follow-up passive that rewards him with permanent Speed increases. While the fight is still beginner-friendly, Jacques is more than just a damage sponge—he’s an opportunity to learn the value of early mitigation, buff control, and burst tactics. His Skill 1 applies AoE DEF Down for 2 turns, while Skill 2 is a straightforward AoE nuke. Together, these abilities can set up big follow-up hits if you’re not prepared with mitigation.
The real threat comes from his passive, Vermilion Skyruler, which triggers a follow-up attack after each action. This extra hit not only deals scaling damage based on the target’s missing HP but also permanently increases Jacques’ Speed by 6% every time it lands. If the fight drags out, he becomes progressively faster and harder to contain. The best counter is to burst him down quickly before he can stack too many follow-ups. This makes high-damage AoE units and DEF Down appliers like Gray invaluable.
To avoid taking heavy punishment early, you can bring support units that offer immunity, shielding, or cleanse. Cachi the Guard, Lingluo, and DokiDoki all work well for cleansing or blocking DEF Down. Dorothy is also excellent here—not only can she heal and cleanse, but her overheal turns into shielding, which helps mitigate both the AoEs and follow-up damage from Jacques’ passive. For players lacking SSR units, Vice (R) can offer taunt utility, and Asshu (R) brings Speed Down and DoTs to help slow Jacques’ tempo.
A strong, budget-friendly lineup for this fight includes Gray (DEF Down), Asshu (DoT + Speed Down), Dorothy (heal + shield), and Lian (nuke). This team covers all the basics—debuffing the boss, managing his pressure, and bursting him before his scaling gets out of hand. If you’re following good fundamentals like DEF Down, Speed manipulation, and sustain, Jacques should fall quickly and cleanly.
