While Lethal variants are generally slower for Fatman, they are more consistent. On Easy and Normal runs, the M9 is ignored entirely, so this becomes the optimal way to fight him.

Fatman can be defeated with 3 Socom headshots in two cycles:

• Regular Setup:
  • Go to the right bomb first and defuse it.
  • Knock down Fatman using the Socom and fire quickly once at his head when he falls down.
  • Wait a bit until stars appear over head, then fire another shot.
  • At this point, Fatman's path is random. Ideally he would move south but he can also move to the left or right. Chase him, knock him down with the Socom and then fire once at his head with the Socom.
  • Diffuse the final bomb.

• PlatonicGuy Setup:
  • Go to the right bomb first but do NOT diffuse it yet.
  • When Fatman comes nearby, knock him down and fire once at his head when he falls down.
  • Diffuse the bomb now and then fire the second shot at his head before he stands up.
  • At this point, Fatman's path is random. Ideally he would move south but he can also move to the left or right. Chase him, knock him down with the Socom and then fire once at his head with the Socom.
  • Diffuse the final bomb.

Fatman can be defeated with 6 Socom headshots and 1 Claymore in at least 3 cycles:

• Regular Setup:
  • Go right and place a claymore.
  • Fatman will be knocked down by the claymore, shoot him once in the head then diffuse the bomb on the right. After that shoot him in the head again.
  • At this point, Fatman's path is random. Chase him, knock him down with the Socom and then fire once at his head with the Socom.
  • Repeat the previous two steps until Fatman goes down. Ideally, he would go down when the player is close to the final bomb.
  • Diffuse the final bomb.

Fatman can be defeated with 6 Socom headshots and 1 Claymore in at least 3 cycles:

• Regular Setup:
  • Go right and place a claymore.
  • Fatman will be knocked down by the claymore, shoot him once in the head then diffuse the bomb on the right. After that shoot him in the head again.
  • At this point, Fatman's path is random. Chase him, knock him down with the Socom and then fire once at his head with the Socom.
  • Repeat the previous two steps until Fatman goes down. Ideally, he would go down when the player is close to the final bomb.
  • Diffuse the final bomb.

Non-lethal variants of the fight are faster on all difficulties, as you can fit more than two shots per cycle with the M9 (exception: Extreme and European Extreme).

Fatman can be defeated with 4 M9 headshots after shooting him in the leg once with the M9 as well:

• Regular Setup: Go to the right bomb first and defuse it then go the the middle and check what Fatman does (stands still, goes clockwise, or goes counter-clockwise):
  • If he stands still, then go to the left and shoot him in the leg
  • If he goes clockwise, then wait for him to make it to the right side of the cycle before shooting him in his leg.
  • If he goes counterclockwise, then try to shoot him in the leg as fast as possible.

• Edboi Setup: Hold d-pad right and before reaching the first black line do a punch-punch-kick combo, and as your face touches the 2nd black line cartwheel.
  • If you don't knock him down with the cartwheel then quickly turn around and shoot him in the leg.

• Tino Setup: Hold d-pad right until you reach the middle of the gap between the 2 boxes, after that hold d-pad down until you barely pass the horizontal line. At that point, you want to start punch-punch-kicking.
  • If you don't knock him down with the punch-punch-kick then quickly turn around and shoot him in the leg.

Fatman can be defeated with 5 M9 headshots after knocking him down with the Socom:

• Fastest Setup: Go to the left bomb first and defuse it, after that you will have to see where Fatman goes. Fatman can go in 2 directions, either up where he always goes if you defuse the right bomb first or down in the South-West corner of the Helipad.
  • The fight is faster only if he goes up. If he does go up you want to knock him down with the SOCOM and then quickly shoot him 5 times in the head with the M9 (the timing is tight and you have to do it fast), after that you can go to the right bomb and defuse it to end the fight.
  • This strat is only recommended for ILs and Boss Survival as it's too risky to do in Tanker-Plant runs or Plant ILs.

(Credit to Major_Zero)

Fatman can be defeated with 7 M9 headshots in at least 2 cycles:

• Diffuse one of the bombs first.
• Knock down Fatman using the Socom and fire 4 M9 headshots into his head using the both the autoaim and tactical reloading.
• At this point, Fatman's path is random. Ideally he would move directly south, but he can also move to the left or right.
• Knock him down from as far away as possible with the Socom and then fire 3 M9 headshots at him.
• Diffuse the final bomb.

Note: Diffusing the left-side bomb first is faster overall, but introduces unfavorable RNG.

Fatman can be defeated with 7 M9 headshots in at least 3 cycles:

• Diffuse the one of the bombs first.
• Knock down Fatman using the Socom and fire 3 M9 headshots into his head using the both the autoaim and tactical reloading.
• At this point, Fatman's path is random. Ideally he would move not that far away from the northern section of the map.
• Repeat the previous two steps until Fatman goes down. Ideally, he would go down when the player is close to the final bomb.
• Diffuse the final bomb.

Note: Diffusing the left-side bomb first is faster overall, but introduces unfavorable RNG.

• Fastest strategies for Fatman - Normal and below

• Getting at least one 3-shot cycle with the M9 on Fatman speeds up the fight immensely, but is recommended for advanced players only as the timing is incredibly strict. Fastest method possible is two 3-shot nonlethal cycles plus one extra shot to finish.
  • 1 3-shot cycle: 32 seconds
  • 0 3-shot cycles: 37 seconds
  • Lethal: 36 seconds

Fatman can be defeated with 10 M9 headshots in at least 4 cycles:

• Diffuse the one of the bombs first.
• Knock down Fatman using the Socom and fire 3 M9 headshots into his head using tactical reloading. (Note: On Hard, the autoaim does not work, making this strat significantly harder.
• At this point, Fatman's path is random. Ideally he would move not that far away from the northern section of the map.
• Repeat the previous two steps until Fatman goes down. Ideally, he would go down when the player is close to the final bomb.
• Diffuse the final bomb.

Note: Diffusing the left-side bomb first is faster overall, but introduces unfavorable RNG.

The following is a loop on Extreme and European Extreme that is only possible on versions of the game that run at 50 Hz (i.e: PAL PlayStation 2, PAL PlayStation 3 at 576p, etc.)

• PS2 PAL Loop

• HD PAL Loop

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