Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Family Survival Guide

Ah yes, the Family, a psychopathic, cannibalistic, normal family that is defending their property from trespassers victims that have escaped and are threatening their way of life.

You are one of said people, which we shall go over now!

The butcher of the Family, Leatherface is the most brutal of the group. While he fills a variety of roles around the house, there’s one he’s particularly proficient at. His Maim Ability is simple, he wields the weapon of dismemberment, the chain saw. What he lacks in maneuverability he makes up for with brute strength, able to saw and bash through bolted doors and blockades in his pursuit of the Victims.

STATS:

Savagery: 40/50
Blood Harvesting: 13/50
Endurance: 35/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 88

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Make sure to get the following Random Perks if possible:

• Vial-ent
• Activated

Why this route?

I believe with this route you unlock Leatherface’s best damage potential, alongside adding some niche utility with Rubber Boots for him. I personally struggle with keeping his stamina low for Hysterical Strength and have found this to be the best compromise for myself.

The Hitchhiker is wiry, greasy, and downright feral. He’s an expert artist of the macabre, known to craft items from bone and teeth. His Trap Ability is a dark extension of that farmland ingenuity where nothing is left to waste, visually represented as snares made of ribs and string. His slim frame allows him to navigate gaps and crawl spaces quickly, making it difficult to escape his pursuit. Hiding or utilizing environmental obstacles is a must if he’s on your trail.

He’s a known thief. So much so that the camera that The Hitchhiker wears around his neck actually belongs to Maria. She was using that camera to photograph wildflowers before Johnny abducted her. The Hitchhiker quickly claimed this camera as his own, snapping morbid shots of anything he feels is interesting…

STATS:

Savagery: 18/50
Blood Harvesting: 22/50
Endurance: 28/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 68

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Make sure to get the following Random Perks if possible:

• Vial-ent
• Univeral Donor
• Scout

Why this route?

Whilst the route for Wire Frame is amongst the most popular for Hitchhiker, due to letting him stick on a Victim like glue and never letting them escape, I find that going the route I take gives Hitchhiker a lot of options, especially as I am a solo player, I tend to rely a lot of Hitchhiker to be able to carry games, so being able to switch up my playstyle when needed helps a lot rather than having to stick to one game plan.

The Cook “just can’t take no pleasure in killing”, but he seems to do just fine when called upon. The owner of the gas station and the head of the household now that Grandpa isn’t able, The Cook knows each property like the back of his hand. His Seek ability is a reflection of this, letting him track down noisy Victims almost anywhere with relative ease. Don’t let the broken broom handle fool you, he can be lethal if needed…

STATS:

Savagery: 35/50
Blood Harvesting: 25/50
Endurance: 10/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 70

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Make sure to get the following Random Perks if possible:

• Serrated

Why this route?

As Cook, the most popular build tends to be Scout, Serrated and Security Pins, I utilise the path for that build however I notice that it doesn’t do as well on Family House, so I found a way to increase Cook’s power by sometimes scrapping scout for Big Swings, which has worked really well for me.

Raised by “Black” Nancy, Johnny’s the closest thing to a traditional serial killer the Family has. A predator in every sense, he’s cold, narcissistic, and relentlessly brutal. Johnny takes immense pleasure in stalking and studying his prey before finally overpowering them. His Hunt ability is a direct reflection of this. Not many who encounter Johnny live to tell about it. The numerous scars that litter his arms and torso serve as a grim reminder of this chilling truth.

STATS:

Savagery: 30/50
Blood Harvesting: 16/50
Endurance: 30/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 76

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Make sure to get the following Random Perks if possible:

• Serrated
• Scout

Why this route?

I have looked at all the paths you can take as Johnny and judging by his playstyle, this build seems to work the best for him as it allows him to dish out a lot of damage while being able to keep up the pressure due to Fired Up, I see no need for Johnny to use Scout as he can already stay on a Victim without the need to use it.

A drifter and a product of the hazy, drug fueled era, Sissy is extremely enigmatic, even for this group. Having spun out of numerous cults, including Spahn Ranch, Sissy utilized her wiles to make her way back to Texas, leaving a blood trail in her wake. Demented and unstable, Sissy’s turbulent past has only further fed her tendencies. Somewhere in her travels, she’s picked up strange organic skills and her poisonous Bane Ability is the deadly result of that. She is every bit as dangerous as the rest of the family, albeit in different ways.

STATS:

Savagery: 10/50
Blood Harvesting: 38/50
Endurance: 23/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 71

Why this route?

Personally I believe you can go any way with Sissy and make her work. With my playstyle I like to be able to either deal damage and stick on a Victim or poison health items so they have less survivability overall.

Not much is known about Nancy, other than she’s been married 3 times, with each husband dying from mysterious causes or vanishing completely. Locals refer to her as “Black” Nancy, alluding to the constant death and misery that surrounds her. She’s an expert at using her friendly looks to lure unsuspecting victims into deadly situations. Many years ago Johnny’s Mother made this innocent, but fatal mistake. With Johnny’s Mother dead, Nancy finally had the one thing her husbands could never give her, a child of her own. So as sick and twisted as Johnny is, remember, even monsters have makers. Her heinous barbed wire traps perfectly reflect the pain and torture she’s willing to inflict on anyone in her path.

STATS:

Savagery: 20/50
Blood Harvesting: 33/50
Endurance: 15/50

TOTAL BASE STATS: 68

Why this route?

I find that this route on Nancy gives her the best amount of utility, of course, you can play her in other ways, such as making her capable of dishing out damage or blood collecting, but I have found that taking this route gives her more power compared to the other playstyles.

In this section, I will describe the way I tend to play certain family members based on my knowledge of them.

The main antagonist himself, he is capable of destroying crawl spaces, crates and doors with his chainsaw, over the course of a match, the map will slowly become more and more dangerous for Victims as they find themselves having less and less places to use for safety, that and his ability to end the life of anyone unfortunate enough to find themselves at the mercy of his overhead attack.

Loadout 1:
Vial-ent, Activated, Rubber Boots
Grandpa Perk: Excited Grandpa, if duplicate, Nobody Escapes Hell

Best Use: Nancy’s House, maybe sometimes Family House. Allows you to get across electrified cattle grid safely, allowing you to catch Victims in Family House off-guard and chase Victims trying to escape through the front of the house easier.

Loadout 2:
Vial-ent, Activated, You’ll Pay for That!
Grandpa Perk: Excited Grandpa, if duplicate, Nobody Escapes Hell

Best Use: Slaughterhouse, Gas Station, Family House. Going full damage, sometimes you’ll find a situation where you can deal up to 65% more damage! Of course, this won’t happen frequently, but when it happens, it happens.

One the best Family members to use for solo play, as he allows you to access areas that otherwise might be completely blocked off for the rest of the family unless there is a Leatherface. Can completely lock down an area of the map by himself because of his traps.

Loadout 1:
Vial-ent, Serrated, Scout
Grandpa Perk: Suffocating Grip

Best Use: Slaughterhouse, Gas Station, allows you to traverse the map quicker whilst also dealing a nice bit of damage, negating the 10% decrease from Scout.

Loadout 2:
Vial-ent, Battering Ram, Serrated
Grandpa Perk: Windoom, if duplicate, Suffocating Grip

Best Use: Family House, allows you to go around latching doors and then break them down quickly, lowering safe spots for Victims.

Loadout 3:
Scout, Serrated, Rubber Boots
Grandpa Perk: Suffocating Grip

Best Use: Nancy’s House, allows you to go up the slope with the electrified cattle grid safely.

Loadout 4:
Scout, Serrated, Universal Donor
Grandpa Perk: Suffocating Grip

Best Use: When there is no other blood collectors, you can go 25 blood harvesting to get 100 blood in 4 buckets.

A really great family member for when you want to send the rest of the Family a certain noisy victim’s way. Can lock three doors with his padlocks to prevent easy escapes on certain maps, typically underestimated in terms of strength, a few whacks to the head with a broken broom handle tends to shut overconfident victims down.

Loadout 1:
Serrated, Big Swings, Scout
Grandpa Perk: Well Well Well

Best Use: Nancy’s House, as this map doesn’t have many things for the Cook to padlock, being able to traverse the environment quicker and deal damage helps the Cook with keeping his presence known on this map.

Loadout 2:
Serrated, Big Swings, Security Pins
Grandpa Perk: Well Well Well

Best Use: Family House, as long as Victims aren’t capable of escaping to the outside, this loadout makes Cook a force to be reckoned with, being able to completely shut down victims who are not expecting the damage output of this build.

Loadout 3:
Scout, Security Pins, Serrated
Grandpa Perk: Well Well Well

Best Use: Slaughterhouse, Gas Station, this loadout is best used on the bigger maps as Cook struggles to traverse these maps.

Essentially a mini-leatherface, Johnny tends to be the laughing stock of the Family as he doesn’t bring much to the table, however, he can track the footprints of other victims, which can sometimes lead him to a sneaky victim who could’ve escaped but instead found themselves on the end of a knife.

Loadout 1:
Serrated, Fired Up, Unrelenting
Grandpa Perk: Suffocating Grip

Best Use: Any other map, this loadout allows Johnny to relentlessly pursue victims and keep the pressure on around the map with his ability to patrol and track victims who may be trying to find an opportunity to progress.

Loadout 2:
Serrated, Fired Up, Big Swings
Grandpa Perk: Windoom, if duplicate, Suffocating Grip

Best Use: Family House, Johnny on this map is only good when the Victims make it outside, his ability to stay on top of a victim when chasing them allows him to dish out a good chunk of damage and keep the pressure on them, sometimes forcing them to well. Inside the house however, any victim unlucky enough to run into Johnny will find themselves losing a lot of health or even dead.

I do not know much about Sissy however I can try and give advice from what I know:

Make sure to poison health items you spot around the map, the less of these victims can use, the quicker you’ll be able to kill them!

Your poison can lock down important areas of the map for some time, such as loops or basement exits Victims tend to use often.

Loadout 1:
Serrated, Efficient Herbalist, Feral
Grandpa Perk: Excited Grandpa, if duplicate, Nobody Escapes Hell or Well Well Well

Best Use: When you’d prefer to poison items over dealing damage.

Loadout 2:
Serrated, Special Blend, Feral
Grandpa Perk: Suffocating Grip, if duplicate, Excited Grandpa, Nobody Escapes Hell or Well Well Well

Best Use: When you aren’t going to focus much on poisoning items.

Hosting one of the strongest traps currently in the game, Nancy’s barbed wire can completely take a victim out of the game if another family member (such as Hitchhiker or Sissy) is nearby to chase. Alone, she can sense victims and have an idea of where they might be trying to go or hide.

Loadout 1:
Pins & Needles, Poisoned Claws, Wait a Second
Grandpa Perk: Don’t Have All Day

Best Use: Any other map.

Loadout 2:
Pins & Needles, Wait a Second, Ding Dong
Grandpa Perk: Don’t Have All Day

Best Use: Family House.

Nancy functions the same regardless of whatever map you are playing, she places her traps in key locations that Victims tend to go to and if they are unlucky enough to step into them, the assistance of other family members will ensure that Victim doesn’t stay alive for much longer.

WIP SECTION

Thank you for taking your time to read through the whole guide! I hope this guide has helped you in some way to get a better sense of how each Family member plays.

Make sure to like the guide if you found it helpful so I know this was useful to people!

If this guide does well, I will most definitely consider creating a Victim version of this!

Remember to take this guide with a grain of salt, I am in no way telling you how you should play the character, rather, explaining and providing knowledge to newer players while maybe giving more experienced players a new view on how a character could be played. In the end, it is up to you to decide how you want to proceed with the character’s style of play!