Best Johnny Build in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

If you’re after a well-balanced villain in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre who’s not only headstrong and relatively streetwise, but surprisingly tough and dependable, then you’ll definitely want to pour some time into playing as Johnny, the Slaughter Family’s go-to hunter. As far as starter characters go, Johnny is hands down one of the best to learn the ropes as, mainly down to the fact that his tracking abilities can not only give you a clearer lay of the land, but also hunt Victims much quicker than the average Family member.

So, let’s get straight to the point — who is Johnny, and how can you go about making him the most feared killer in all of Texas Chain Saw Massacre? Well, here’s what we’d suggest doing just as soon as you get your first handful of XP.

Ability

• Hunt

If you’ve played through your fair share of matches as a Victim, then there’s a good chance you’ve witnessed that terrifying notification letting you know that Johnny has caught your scent, as is essentially on the move to your exact location. Well, that’s exactly what his power is: Hunt, as it’s known as, allows Johnny to trace Victims’ blood trails and follow them to their last known location. That’s quite a useful Ability, all things considered, and highly disadvantageous for the Victims, too.

Of course, you’re going to need to apply two or three Modifiers in order to make that Hunt Ability shine. In the case of Johnny, you should aim to choose the Quicker Recharge Modifier, as a higher level in this will mean having a larger search radius for footprints and other clues. If you can help it, aim to bring this particular branch up to Level 3, and consider Decrease Tracking Cost for the sake of consuming less of your Ability gauge.

Once you’ve purchased and assigned all of your Ability Modifiers in the loadout section of the menu, you’ll want to put them to use in the game to boost their overall effectiveness and level. It is worth pointing out that this is not an overnight thing, so be sure to put in as much work as you can.

Perks

When it comes to assigning Perks to your character, you’re going to want to secure three that’ll benefit  your Hunt Ability. If you can help it, aim to unlock and assign the Tracker Tagged, Down the Rabbit Hole, and Feral Perks in your Skill Tree as early on as possible. If you fail to secure any of the aforementioned nodes, then go ahead and hit Respec on the tree to start everything from the beginning.

• Down the Rabbit Hole

You’ll notice that a Victim’s last-ditch effort to evade your grasp often leads them to throw themselves directly down a well and back into the basement. It’s a nightmare, truly, though with the Down the Rabbit Hole Perk enabled, you can use your advanced tracking abilities to follow them to their graves — even if it means having to return to the place it all started.

• Tracker Tagged

Tracker Tagged is arguably one of the best Perks to have as Johnny, as it allows other players to track other Victims around the map for a brief period of time. In short, it’s like sharing your Hunt Ability with others, if only for 10 to 15 seconds while you secure another route directly to your chosen target.

• Feral

If you’re feeling the need to divide your Extra Attribute Points into the Endurance and Blood Harvesting areas, then be sure to snatch up the Feral Perk, as this will grant you a few additional Savagery points, which will, in turn, give you a better, more balanced build.

Attributes

The good thing about Johnny is that his Attributes are actually balanced enough to match most, if not all other characters on the roster. That said, where he tends to thrive in areas like Endurance and Savagery, he does fall surprisingly short in Blood Harvesting, which makes him somewhat useless in situations that involve leveling up Grandpa. However, if you’re able to progress through the Skill Tree and earn all of the Extra Attribute Points, then you should, in theory, have enough to boost all three Attribute pools to a comfortable level.

Having said all that, you should definitely prioritize the Endurance and Savagery sliders over Blood Harvesting, what with harvesting being a job for other, less agile members of the Family. If you can use any Extra Attribute Points to boost both Savagery to 50, Endurance to 42, and then any leftover points on Blood Harvesting, then you’ll be well on your way to formulating the best all-round Johnny build.

• +10 Savagery 
• +12 Endurance

Skill Tree

There are two routes to travel through on any Skill Tree in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre: right, or left. Given the fact that you’re playing as Johnny—a character pretty much known for being overly tough—you’re going to want to secure nodes that increase the Savagery Attribute. To do this, you’ll want to steer more towards the left-hand side of the tree, as these paths tend to cough up better Perks than the right.

Of course, there’s always the chance that a Random Perk node will wind up giving you something that doesn’t benefit your character, in which case you’ll want to hit the Respec option and start the ascension process from scratch. Not that this is an issue, mind you, as all accumulated XP is returned once activated.

Again, you’ll want to assign these Perks to your character in the loadout section of the Customization menu once unlocked. Once done, you’ll need to put each of the Perks to use in matches to level up their power and make them more effective.

So, what’s your take? Do you have any useful tips for Texas Chain Saw Massacre newcomers? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.