Developing a build for Johnny in Texas Chain Saw Massacre requires a level of cold calculation. Most of the killers in Texas Chain Saw Massacre are unique. They bring one outlandishly disturbing idea to the forefront of their personality and then use that to brutally murder everyone in sight. Johnny is not like that. Instead, Johnny is your traditional serial killer. A man who kills for the thrill, and kills cleanly.
Johnny is not complex. He is a man with a mission, and that mission is to kill people - usually women. He’s handsome, charming, and quick with a blade. He’s also very strong after years of honing his craft. Johnny might not be as brutal as Leatherface, but he is an efficient killer who is almost impossible to escape.
For some more general tips and tricks, check out our how to win more games guide. If you want to know how all the characters rank up, check out our survivor and killer tier lists.
Overview of Johnny in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Johnny was trained by Black Nancy and given his trademark blade by Grandpa himself. He has the most recorded kills of any killer in the Family, and this is simply because he takes things step by step. When Johnny goes out hunting, he comes across as normal. Once his prey has entered his trap, he takes them to Family and disposes of them cleanly.
Texas Chain Saw Massacre isn’t clean, however. The survivors have escaped and Johnny didn’t handpick them for death. As Johnny, you will use your physical strength and razor-sharp intelligence to hunt every last survivor down. Once you find them, they won’t be a problem for much longer.
Johnny’s attributes in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Johnny is all about the hunt and the kill. He is a master of hide-and-seek, and his stats show this. Johnny has one of the highest savagery stats in the game, coming in at 30. This makes every swing of his blade a devastating blow. With a small amount of investment, Johnny can match the likes of Leatherface in terms of raw power.
This is backed up by his high endurance, rolling in at 30 as well. This gives Johnny a lot of stamina, meaning he can chase his prey relentlessly. Very few characters can escape Johnny, and this is, in part, thanks to his endurance.
With two stats this high, blood harvesting of course takes the short straw. At only 16, Johnny is terrible at feeding Grandpa. We would advise leaving that job to someone else - preferably someone like Sissy. Johnny has his strengths, and playing into them will produce far more reliable results.
Attribute progression for Johnny in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Johnny has 30 additional attribute points to spend, and you have two options when it comes to using them. Firstly, you can bump your savagery to 50 (maxing it out) before swinging back around and taking endurance to 40. This will give you oodles of stamina and enough damage to take down a charging bull.
Alternatively, you could take both stats to 45 if you wanted a more balanced approach. We prefer maxing out our damage, but the choice is yours; the build works either way. We highly recommend avoiding blood harvesting like the plague - it’s a dead stat not worth investing in.
Johnny’s unique ability in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Johnny is an effective killer even without an ability, but it just so happens he has one of the better abilities in the game. It’s called Hunt, and it does the following:
Track the movement of Victims while searching for any footprints left behind.
This ability is bonkers. You find footprints, and you then examine them. After a short delay, you are then shown the exact path a survivor took. If the trail is fresh enough, it will take you right to them. This makes Johnny exceptionally reliable as he can pop this whenever, and always get a rough idea of where someone is; if not their exact location.
When used in conjunction with Cook or Grandpa, Johnny becomes even more effective. But Hunt is not the only thing Johnny has going for him, no, no, no. Johnny has the hidden passive, Concussive Blows. This makes every hit daze the person he hits. With this, Johnny can slow a survivor down, mess with their movements, and more importantly, line up follow-up attacks.
Once Johnny has you in his sights, he will hunt you to the ends of the earth. He’s a bit too large to squeeze through tight spaces, so learn the maps to find the most effective way to get around these barriers, and you are golden.
Best early game perks for Johnny in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
We love Johnny as a character, but one thing that holds him back slightly is his perks. They are alright, but we struggled to put together a combination that felt right. His skill tree spreads so many powerful perks amongst non-linked branches that it often felt like we were making do, instead of refining.
That being said, we did manage to get something special together. We recommend going ‘right’ on Johnny’s skill tree.
Remember, all perks become more powerful as you use them. Stick with the same perks, and you will grow in strength far faster.
Big Swings
Big Swings is an excellent perk with a devastating downside. This thing increases your damage by 10% scaling to 15% at max level. The issue is, it makes your attacks 300% more expensive to throw out when consuming stamina. On many characters, this would kill Big Swings. On Johnny, however, it’s pretty solid.
This is because Johnny has a naturally high endurance to offset the added drain, and Johnny deals staggering amounts of damage, reducing the number of attacks you need to kill a survivor. Throw in Concussive Blow for good measure, and Big Swings just makes sense.
Serrated
Serrated is very simple. When you hit someone, they will bleed for a few seconds. This causes very light damage over time which ultimately increases Johnny’s already exceptional damage output. There’s not much else to say, it’s a solid perk.
Fired Up
Even with Johnny’s exceptional stamina, he will eventually run dry. Fired Up is here to fix that. At level one, this perk reduces the delay for stamina regeneration by 30%. This is a substantial boost and helps Johnny get back into the fray quicker. At max level, that boost climbs to 90%. Johnny will have very little downtime in Texas Chain Saw Massacre as a result.
Experienced Stalkers
Finally, we have Grandpa’s perk, Experienced Stalkers. The best way to kill someone is to catch them off guard. Experienced Stalkers reduces the threat detection radius of all survivors, so they won’t know you are as close as you are. This gives them less time to figure out where you are, and by extension, less time to escape.
Experienced Stalkers buffs the entire Family, so even when you are not on the prowl, your allies are gaining a small buff.
That’s all we have for Sissy in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. To help you navigate the game, check out our guide covering all maps. You can also have a gander at our tips and tricks for playing as the Family.