Far Far West No Jokers Nightmare Challenge — I Beat It In Over an Hour
I beat Far Far West nightmare mode without using a single Joker. Three attempts, over an hour, almost died at extraction. Full strategy breakdown: rush objectives, drop emergency heals, wait out storms.
What's up guys, welcome back to Far Far West. Today's challenge is simple in concept, brutally hard in execution: can I beat nightmare mode without using a single Joker?
No weapon Jokers. No character Jokers. No nothing. Just the gun, the bow, healing bottles, and raw skill. The only exception: if I find a Joker in mission and desperately need the heal, I can pick it up — but only if I drop it immediately afterward.
Spoiler: It took over an hour, three attempts, and almost killed me at extraction. But I did it.
The Rules
| Rule | Details |
|---|---|
| No Joker slots used | Empty across all weapons and character |
| Weapon upgrades allowed | They don't help that much anyway |
| Pick up + drop for heal | Only emergency healing — can't keep any Joker |
| One storm trigger minimum | Otherwise it doesn't count as nightmare |
| All side objectives | Full clear, not avoid-everything mode |
I could have made it even harder by removing weapon upgrades too — and I'll consider that for a future run if people want it.
Why This Is So Hard Now
The recent update made nightmare significantly more punishing:
| Enemy Change | Impact |
|---|---|
| Kamikazes | Now attack instantly after spawning (no 0.5-1.5s wait) |
| Slingers | Straight-line projectiles, fast, on Very Hard+ |
| Prowlers | Permanently invisible on nightmare |
| Liches | Larger shockwave, semi-homing projectiles |
| Elites | Spawn during storms with massively buffed stats |
"Kamikazes immediately attack now. That just makes them so much more fun to deal with, right?"
(Spoiler: it doesn't.)
Attempt 1 — Immediate Death
Tried to lollygag, took my time exploring. Got chunked by snakes and a Kamikaze spotter in the first 30 seconds.
"I just hit myself with that. I'm a genius. Oh, I'm dead."
Attempt 2 — Also Death
Same general issue. Going slow when you have no sustain Jokers means every projectile chips your finite HP pool. Restarted again.
Attempt 3 — The Strategy
"Instead of lollygagging around, I think what I need to do is just go for objectives. Side objectives. I'm going to try to do all the side objectives and the main one fast."
New strategy: rush objectives, minimize exposure time, never engage when you don't have to.
The mission was Cryptic Vulture (the rest were Train, which I wanted to avoid because of how brutal that fight is without Jokers).
Discovery: Fence Power Routing
Mid-run discovery from a comment:
"Some people in the comments told me you can actually use the fence — you can have the power go through the fence."
I had no idea. I always went around it. This is going to save me so much time on future battery objectives.
The Horseman Problem
By the second danger zone I'd already seen three horsemen in a single run.
"Is that the third horseman so far? Just in this run alone? Oh my gosh, dude. Unbelievable."
Without Jokers, horsemen are nightmare:
- High HP — takes forever to whittle down
- Hits hard — one hit removes a huge HP chunk
- Can lock onto you across the map (still — the dead eye targeting didn't fix this for horsemen)
The Cryptic Vulture mission seems to have a lot of horseman spawns. Bad luck this run.
Joker Pickup Tricks
Throughout the run I picked up several emergency Jokers, used them for the heal, then dropped them:
| Joker | Used For |
|---|---|
| Soul Siphon | Heal proc → dropped |
| Soul Eater | Resource refill → dropped |
| Bouncing Ball | Drop confirmed possible |
| Medic Card | Heal → dropped |
| Weak Link | Tried to pick up — can't drop it (warning!) |
"Weak Link — I don't think you can actually drop weak links, so I cannot pick that up."
Lesson: check the Joker drop rules before picking up. Some Jokers stick to you permanently and would break the challenge.
TNT Factory Objective — Storm Survival
The main objective was TNT factory with the steam mechanic. Got caught in a storm with 45 seconds left.
"Oh my gosh dude, there's no heals. I have 45 seconds, dude. Oh, no."
The key insight: storms have a time limit. Just wait them out behind cover and the enemy spawn rate drops back to normal. Don't try to fight through them with no Joker sustain.
Spell Loadout (The Help You CAN Use)
The challenge bans Jokers but spells are allowed. I ran:
| Spell | Why |
|---|---|
| Portal | Mobility tool — teleport out of bad situations |
| Pistolero | AI defender — clears small enemies while I focus on the dangerous ones |
| Bandido | Wave clear during boss fight |
Spells became the workaround for not having Jokers. Pistolero in particular saved me at the main objective.
The Boss — Cryptic Vulture
Without Joker damage stacking, this fight took forever. Strategy:
- Stay mobile, never get pinned
- Use Pistolero as a constant DPS source while I focus on positioning
- Save healing for the spawn-attack phases
- Bandito on the adds when they pile up
The Vulture went down eventually. The relief was palpable.
Extraction — Almost Lost It
This is where I almost lost a 1+ hour run. At extraction:
"There are so many elites there. I cannot stay there. I can't."
A Lich and a Gunslinger spawned at extraction together. I had nearly zero healing. I just ran for the train and prayed.
"I did it. Oh my, I did it. Nightmare, no Jokers. Oh, I did it."
Final Stats
- No deaths, no revives (across the successful run)
- No Jokers used — verified on the post-run inventory
- Run time: Over 1 hour
- Storms triggered: 1 (the minimum)
- Attempts: 3
- Hardest moment: Lich + Gunslinger at extraction
"That took over an hour. I deserve [the prestige slots]."
Verified Loadout — No Cuts
After the run, I walked through every weapon and the character screen to prove no Jokers were equipped:
| Screen | Status |
|---|---|
| Shotgun | Empty Joker slots |
| Bow (Electric) | Empty Joker slots |
| Character | Empty Joker slots |
| Utility (Bottles) | Standard |
Hardest Challenge I've Done in This Game
This is genuinely the hardest thing I've done in Far Far West so far. Without Joker sustain or damage scaling:
- Every enemy hit removes a real chunk of HP
- Every shot takes the full base damage of your weapon (no buffs)
- You're running base movement speed (no Disgrace stack)
- The new enemy buffs hit much harder
- Healing options are extremely limited
Next challenge idea: No Jokers AND no weapon upgrades. Same loadout, but stripped down even further. Let me know if you want to see that.
Quick Reference
| Component | Setup |
|---|---|
| Primary | Shotgun — no Jokers, upgrades only |
| Secondary | Bow (Electric) — no Jokers, upgrades only |
| Character | No Jokers |
| Utility | Bottle Crate |
| Spells | Portal, Pistolero, Bandido |
| Strategy | Rush objectives, wait out storms, drop emergency Joker heals |
| Avoid | Train missions (brutal without Jokers), Weak Link pickups (can't drop) |
I need to go chill for like an hour or two. For the full 24-minute run including the failures, the storm survival, and the extraction clutch, check out the original video.
