Hans is a very straight forward boss fight. He has a lot of health and packs a mean punch but is generally not too difficult in the right setting. Because Hans telegraphs his attack with an extended pause the player can easily take the opportunity to duck behind cover given that the arena supplies any.
Like the other bosses, Hans does not flinch when fired upon. Because of this, it's important to stay vigilant while concentrating fire on Hans to follow cues that he may fire back. It's also important to make sure that while firing on him Hans isn't getting too close or when he fires the player will be shredded in seconds.
Hans is a boss but does not end the episode when killed but rather drops a gold key. As such, as many Hans Grösses can be placed in a level as the mapper sees fit. In fact, E6M10 has 3 Grösse brothers named Mans, Pans, and Fans. However, placing multiple Hans Grösses means that it is crucial to be thoughtful of how much ammo is being given since Hans does not drop any ammo when killed and takes very much to kill.
While Gretel Grösse, Trans Grösse, and Submarine Willy are almost 1:1 clones of Hans, Hans actually uses the gunfire behavior from the SS which has heightened accuracy. This makes him the most dangerous of all the dual chaingun weilders.
Guarding the exit to the castle is one Hans Grösse. He comes from a large family with one sister, Gretel, and many brothers. Watch out for them in future levels! Hans is big, but he is not very smart. Shoot at him, strafe to the side when he's about to shoot, then have at him again! Soon he'll be crying "Mutti!" ("Mommy!") and you'll be running for freedom!
Trivia[]
Hans and his sister Gretel Grösse are named after Hansel and Gretel from the German fairytale about two children who are lured into being kidnapped by a cannibalistic witch.
The Grösse family displayed in the Wolfenstein family of games spans 6 siblings, not including the 2 Hans Grösses in the Aardwolf maze in E2M8.
Max Hass replacing Hans
In Wolfstone 3D Hans is replaced with Max Hass, a supporting character of the MachineGames Wolfenstein family of games.
Though Hans is the first boss in the series, he is canonically chronologically the last of the Grösse siblings to be fought by BJ.
ECWolf DECORATE Definition[]
actor Hans : WolfensteinMonster 16
{
points 5000
health 850, 950, 1050, 1200
speed 1, 3
attacksound "hans/attack"
deathsound "hans/death"
seesound "hans/sight"
dropitem "GoldKey"
+AMBUSH
states
{
Spawn:
HANS A -1 NOP A_Look(0, 0, 0, 0, 360)
stop
See:
HANS A 5 NOP A_Chase
HANS A 1.5
HANS B 4 NOP A_Chase
HANS C 5 NOP A_Chase
HANS C 1.5
HANS D 4 NOP A_Chase
loop
Missile:
HANS E 15 A_FaceTarget
HANS F 5 A_FaceTarget
HANS GFGFGE 5 bright A_WolfAttack(0, "*", 0.667)
goto See
Death:
HANS H 7.5 A_Fall
HANS I 7.5 A_Scream
HANS J 7.5
HANS K -1
stop
}
}
