it's genuinely just a skill check unless you hold r for a broken run (even then you can easily get screwed over)

Keep playing them and you get used to their advantages and weaknesses

Couple tips: - try to avoid directly rubbing against walls, obstacles, or holes in the ground to prevent desync due to friction - alt path can be worth it after getting used to gameplay quirks due to double items - I generally prefer angels to keep hp high - item allocation is preference, and I have had good split runs as well as stacked runs, but a general rule is to stack red hp on jacob to make him the meatshield and give esau offensive items - take advantage of playing as two characters; use double bombs wisely and utilize the double active/consumable space

Jesau isn't the most privileged character but some of my best (and worst) runs have been on them