Is Pyramid Head (Executioner) a good killer for beginners?

ColdWater

I tried him a few times and honestly he doesn't seem too difficult to play/understand. I just want to hear what you guys think about him.

Dino7281

It's good to use I'm All Ears for some time. It helps you learn how survivors react to you while they break line of sight.

He is decent killer, not as good as before, but still one of better killers. I prefer Nemesis tho.

MrDardon

If you can handle the jank and lack of good Add-ons then yes. Like Dino said, I'm all Ears is a good Perk and especially a good beginner Perk on him.

I started playing him less and less as I am reeeaaalllyyy enjoying Spirit recently. There is a chance that I am leaving him for Spirt.

GoodBoyKaru

Honestly I'm not entirely sure. He's fairly easy to pick up but hard to master, and a lot of his power outside of animation lock revolves around knowing survivor pathing which you wouldn't do as a new player. But then again, he can really help you learn survivor pathing and improve your skill with all other killers.

But because I can and will plug this at any given moment I made a guide for learning him you may find useful!

@GoodBoyKaru said:

So a few attentive people may recognise this from a comment I made yesterday (technically it was 24 minutes into today but let's not talk semantics). A couple of people suggested I make it a real post because "That's an excellent guide, very well put together." So, here I am. I've added a few more things so it's still worth a read.

This will cover what is, in my opinion, his best build and why, as well as a few tips on playing him & a few videos.

So hey, it's me- GoodBoyKaru, your friendly neighbourhood Pyramid Head main- here to give some swift Tips and Tricks(tm) to help make you a better Pyramid Head player!

For the record, this was made during DBD Patch 4.7.2

Build

PERKS

My personal favourite and imho strongest build is this:

• Corrupt Intervention

https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/5A01IV8RME2M/image.png

Crucial early-game slowdown on a killer without mobility, allows him to stall the game massively because survivors know that if they get found they're doomed.

• Pop Goes The Weasel

https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/FHA7ZFNAKVZY/image.png

It's the second best gen regression perk in the game, Ruin is too volatile to be anywhere near reliable on him because, again, no movement speed, he needs gen perks because he cannot move around the map quick enough, 11/10. "But you don't hook pe-" WRONG. You should be getting plenty of value out of PGTW and if you're overcaging then you're taking your map pressure and throwing it out the window.

• Barbeque and Chili

https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/SC8THLXSY3RP/image.png

Now, you could obviously put other perks here like Infectious Fright (amazing snowball), Tinkerer (Undetectable is nice and it helps tell you where to go but again no movement speed) or Discordance (amazing info, can sometimes do nothing about it). However I say BBQ because I like the perk and also because bloodpoints.

• I'm All Ears

https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/V90CSL0I44NO/image.png

Hands down the best perk in the game for Pyramid Head, that's six seconds of wallhacks. I cannot stress how valuable this is with his power- that is a guaranteed free hit in 9/10 situations. To show what I mean, I've linked a timestamped video below of where IAE comes in so clutch- continues to 5:16 in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJs4rvkppqs&t=296s

(you can watch the whole thing if you really want I'm proud of the game).

An honourable mention here goes to Ruin/Undying over Pop/Corrupt. As I've mentioned before, Tinkerer isn't a great perk on him due to his lack of speed, but the same goes for Ruin/Undying. You don't have the map mobility to defend your totems, especially if they spawn further away, and you'll probably end up losing two perks before 2 gens go. Corrupt/Pop is just more consistent in my experience.

ADD-ONS

So, his add-ons aren't great. The best ones, by far, are range add-ons which, when combined, extend his POTD by up to 2.5m (10.5m total). These are Burning Man Painting (Rare), Wax Doll (Uncommon), and Black Strap (Common), which ass +1.5m, +1m, and +0.5m respectively.

tips

Okay so rule number one is to not break pallets. Sounds weird but, just trust me.

His power is incredibly strong in a chase- so much so that if a survivor commits to an animation they die. If you don't break pallets (with some exceptions like God pallets) you can do amazing things. Because who doesn't want more opportunities to win a chase, like, instantly? It turns incredibly safe pallets into death sentences

To show what I mean, here's another timestamped clip. Ends at 10:58

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu3X5o9GpjY&t=646s

Learn the range of the power. 8m is specific and sometimes you think you can hit things and you can't. You need to be very careful, especially when playing with range add-ons for so long, because it can and will screw with your perception.

Adapt to the survivors you're facing. A lot of players will fake taking an animation, go to the side slightly to bait your POTD or your cancel, and then commit to the animation. If you turn to the side and release, you'll catch a lot of these survivors out and get a hit. It's really satisfying to do. Alternatively some survivors will commit to the animations regardless, in which case you'll know to aim in the centre. Other survivors will just hold W and pre-drop pallets, in which case you know to leave them because you'll really struggle catching up, or do not use your power.

I cannot stress that enough. If a survivor is pre-dropping W key gaming, do not use your power. M1 killer them.

Don't overcage and don't stress about torment. If a survivor loops you, they'll get tormented. That's just kinda how it works- you stick your knife in, follow them around a loop, and release your POTD after tracking their movements.

To see what I mean we return to the first video, again timestamped. Clip ends at 1:36.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJs4rvkppqs&t=83s

See how I hug the car, turn the camera and use the power to hit him out of animation lock? Had he kept running, easy torment too.

In my opinion, only cage someone in one of four scenarios:

• You're afraid of a DS (just please don't tunnel I'm begging you)
• You're afraid of an Unbreakable (much more likely)
• You can immidiately get into another chase
• It would place you into a Pressure Point Of No Return (name pending).

What I mean by that last point is that there comes a time in a DBD game where the killer will hit a Pressure Point Of No Return, where the survivors physically cannot come back from the amount of pressure and momentum you're building. The best example of this as Pyramid Head is where you split the map through cages. You have two downed survivors. Cage one, hook the other. Nobody is on a generator, you have a BBQ proc to interrupt the person saving the cage or the hook, and now the last person must save both people. On especially large maps, like Mother's Dwelling, or multi-storied ones, like Midwich, this can force people into second stage and you've won the game at 5 gens. It's more common than you'd think.

If you cage at other times you're probably wasting pressure you could've gotten from a hook.

Learn where you can and can't lay trails. In front of totems and lockers? Amazing. In front of a gen? Not at all, it becomes a Restricted Trail Element and disappears after a few seconds. The DBD Wiki has a section on this which I'll just paste below.

https://us.v-cdn.net/6030815/uploads/2808XTGCLSHV/image.png

I'd highly, highly suggest reading the wiki page on his power as it's really useful in understanding the fundamentals and giving actual values to words. Here it is:

https://deadbydaylight.fandom.com/wiki/Pyramid_Head

Finally, learn where you can and can't use POTD. It sounds like a simple thing but learning where you can and can't use it, however there's a lot to it. For example, learning how vertical changes affect it. Did you know if you release his power on a slope going up it'll fail, same with releasing it on a slope going down. However, if you're barely off of the slope it'll travel down it, but only if it isn't too steep.

It's nuts but knowing where you can and can't actually have an ability is, funnily enough, pretty important.

A few more quick-fire tips:

• Don't just go for animation lock shots. People expect these and adapt. Be unpredictable to catch them off guard and get easy hits. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U1k10I-zG4&feature=emb_logo

Bet they didn't expect that one :p

Needless to say that was where I hit a Pressure Point Of No Return and poor Jakey couldn't pick up the scraps.

• Don't spam his power. You waste too much time. Be precise, predict, and adapt to your opponents.
• Don't spam his trails. You move at 110% and you already lack a movement ability, you waste too much time.
• Tunneling isn't the best strategy. I know it seems like it because cages but again, you do not have a movement ability. Survivors can and will facefuck generators and ruin your day substantially.
• Dead Dawg Saloon and Hawkins are both maps you never press M2 on ever. Play like a default M1 killer because the map design prevents you from using your power. They're pretty much auto-loss maps, ngl, unless the survivors really badly mess up.
• Play survivor. Learn where survivors move and how they path, shoot POTD to hit them. That's what I did in that last clip.

And, yeah, that's about it. If people have any questions please let me know and I'll try to answer them as best I can, though I think this is comprehensive enough.

Avilgus

I don't think so.

Sure he needs mechanical skills (Range, delay, cooldown...) but also a good gamesense to cage when you need it.

GuyFawx

Hes a little more complex than a standard M1 killer hes like a medium skilled killer because of his extra play style with Cage of attonement. There are definately things he can do that almost no others can such as attacking through walls and obsticles that could spoil you just know tho that skilled survivors can also dodge his attack so at first dont heavily rely on it. Listen to Karu they generally give sound advice as well as being helpful.

dugman

@Avilgus said:

I don't think so.

Sure he needs mechanical skills (Range, delay, cooldown...) but also a good gamesense to cage when you need it.

You actually do ok just Caging whenever you get a chance. On average the Cages save about 10 total seconds over picking up and carrying someone to a hook, so even setting aside the benefit that they can’t be saved from a Cage action that time savings allows you to Cage someone and get into a new chase in the same time it takes to get a hook.

Sure, to be truly optimal you also would consider how close the gens are to you for example, but if you just Cage every time you’re still getting a lot of the value from it.

AGM

I'd say no. He's mid-strong, but the weird controls while using his power are hard to get used to and don't translate well to other killers. That, and, it takes some game sense to predict what survivors will do so that you can hit ranged shots through walls, which can be mitigated with certain perks, but then you're not using stronger perks.

I'd recommend Wraith, Pig, and Leatherface to newer players.

TheMadCat

He was the very first Killer I've played. I didn't find him hard to play neither, but against good Survivors, it can be tricky. Keep playing him if you feel he fits your playstyle but for a new player, I'd recommand a M1 Killer like Wraith. He's easy to use, which lets you more time to understand basics of the game. Plus, when he's cloaked, he has a decent speed to patrol the map.

If really you love PH, I'd also recommand to watch people playing him. I'm pretty sure there is a lot of guides/gameplay videos on YouTube. You could find a strategy with him you didn't think of.

@MrDardon said:

If you can handle the jank and lack of good Add-ons then yes. Like Dino said, I'm all Ears is a good Perk and especially a good beginner Perk on him.

I started playing him less and less as I am reeeaaalllyyy enjoying Spirit recently. There is a chance that I am leaving him for Spirt.

Spirit is pretty cool. I like her power.