Resident Evil 7 guide: How to beat Jack in the basement's Dissection Room chainsaw boss fight

Aside from Resident Evil 7's atmospheric horror gameplay, puzzle solving and tense exploration, it's also peppered with boss fights that are everything from mildly interactive events to fairly difficult duels to the death. The chainsaw fight in the morgue is one of the latter.

Once you finish your exploration of the Baker house's basement, you will have to do battle with a chainsaw-wielding madman. Warning: Spoilers ahead.

Resident Evil 7 is available now as an Xbox Play Anywhere title on Xbox One and Windows 10, and now has a sequel in the form of Resident Evil Village.

See at Windows Store

Battle to the death ... again

The first phase against Jack begins when you find the final dog-head piece needed to open the back door. He boots you into a square arena cell and begins swiping at you with a large ax. Before heading into this fight, you may want to consider backtracking to find health items if you're running low. A couple of screwups can cost you dearly in this fight.

Every game should have a chainsaw duel from now on. #ResidentEvil7 pic.twitter.com/7FVlDC3ayL— Jez (@JezCorden) 30 January 2017

There are lots of health items hidden around the basement, including herbs in plant pots and chemicals for crafting. There is also a crate and a healing item in the arena itself, in opposite corners.

  1. Preparation is important in this fight. Make sure you have a couple of healing items before going in.
  2. Jack's attack pattern, initially, is similar to the one he uses in the garage. The difference this time is you need to do damage.
  3. Kick the hanging corpses into Jack to stagger him, and then hit him in the face with your gun.

Resi Evil 7

Resi Evil 7 (Image credit: Capcom)
  1. Once you've done enough damage, he will go down on one knee and begin to mutate. After this, he will storm to one side of the arena and rip down part of the wall giving you access to the chainsaw.
  2. The chainsaw is awkward to use but very powerful. Holding down aim and attacking does a lunging attack, and simply attacking does a swiping attack. Blocking with the chainsaw is very effective. If you block at the last moment before being hit, Jack will stagger. If you overuse the chainsaw, the yellow light will turn red, and the chainsaw will stall. Press the reload button to rev the chainsaw back to life.

  1. Jack will come at you with some bizarre chainsaw scissors. Use a combination of blocking and kicking those hanging corpses to avoid and stagger him.
  2. Swipe at Jack when you have openings, using the center pillar to avoid Jack's attacks. Note: If you crouch while Jack lunges horizontally with the chainsaw shears, you will unlock the "Duck if you love life" achievement.

  1. Once you have done enough damage, Jack will go down on one knee and mutate again. Use the chainsaw's lunge attack to deal a huge amount of damage.
  2. Jack will mutate a few times like this. For me, it was three times on Normal difficulty. Rinse and repeat until Jack is defeated (again).
  3. Use the chainsaw on the door to exit ... and lament that you can't take it with you.

Paying homage to The Evil Dead, Resident Evil 7's chainsaw boss fight is one of the more grueling in the series, and it really exemplifies the studio's dedication to making the game's antagonists stand out. Stay tuned for our next guide, where we'll look at RE7's greenhouse battle, which is even more insane.

Jez Corden
Co-Managing Editor

Jez Corden is a Managing Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow on Twitter @JezCorden and listen to his XB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!