A quick lesson on how to play Pyramid Head properly
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
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
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
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
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.
(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
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
Comments
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Very informative thank you, I love pyramid heads asmr and want to get good with him. Do you have other builds that don’t use gen defence?
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Honestly not really, as his lack of movement is his biggest weakness so that's usually what I cover in builds. However, for a purely aggro playstyle I'd suggest Monitor and Abuse, Infectious Fright, I'm All Ears and a tracking perk like Whispers, BBQ, Thrilling, Discordance, Tinkerer, or Surveillance. Basically just to know where to go. This was my old build before I figured out gen defence was much more suited to my playstyle.
Monitor works well with Infectious, and the lower terror radius helps diminish the strength of the w key. Infectious helps a lot with snowball and knowing when to cage- if someone is nearby you cage them and get immidiately into another chase. Very helpful. I'm All Ears I've been through and then a tracking perk. I'd avoid EndFury because you shouldn't be eating too many pallets, and breaking them is worse, and Bamboozle or Crowd Control take away chances for animation lock hits with your power (which is why I suggest against breaking pallets to begin with).
If you wanted a little hybrid I'd ironically suggest Ruin here. Infectious is decent enough tracking to have a semi good idea of where to go and if you're playing hyper-aggro it can and will eat away at their hen progress. The issues with Ruin though, obviously, is that it's a hex perk on a killer without much map mobility.
Thanks for taking the time to read it through, though. It means a lot ^^
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I can see that you put a lot of effort into this guide, good job!
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Thanks! :D
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One of the best forum members
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I appreciate it! :)
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Very nice, I used to run similar build but instead of pop and Im a ears, I used ruin and Nurses calling. Gonna try out this one tho
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I think I used Nurse's when he first came out but dropped it because I didn't feel like I got that much value from it. I'm All Ears, though, honestly god-tier perk
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Now that is a good guide if I've ever seen one! Good job, my friend!
Wish I could have read this before going after his Adept, it would have helped me a lot.
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Thanks! :D
And yeah, I thankfully got his adept D1 so I could spend almost a year perfecting my playstyle + build
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Stop, the cows are going to melt my heart!You got it on day one? That is impressive. I struggled a lot with his Adept, more than any other killer at that point. Finally managed to get it after a very difficult match on Mother's Dwelling.
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not to flex but
i think the adept i suffered with the most was oni or blight because motion sickness :')
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Nice guide but as a fellow pH main that's mained him since his release,
[BAD WORD] BBQ.
I'm sorry but it's such an overrated trash perk for pH(most non mobile killers actually). If you want to have a better chance of actually winning and aren't super thirsty for bp don't recommend BBQ. It's also heavily outclassed by phs best perk imo being infectious since it tells you exactly when to hook or cage at all times. Again nice guide but good I hate BBQ because people will recommend it for any killer just for the bp gains instead of actually wanting to win. BBQ is an insult to ph
Post edited by EQWashu on0 -
Yea he might be one of the best killers for Im all ears.
And how do you feel about Tinkerer on PH?
I used to run build Otzdarva recommended, Ruin, Undying, Discordance and Tinkerer but either Im unable to make it work or survivors cleanse both gen perks super fast.
Also I am a BBQ addict for BP lol and run it on every killer, which in PH case makes me almost never use cage mechanics
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its almost like i addressed that
(and if not clear by the comments, ive also mained him since his initial PTB)
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its not a good perk on him.
you have no movement ability so you make little use of the information and with the undying change RuinDying became an unreliable combo to use on him because no movement so bad totem defence. you don't make use of Undetectable, like, at all because *metal scraping noises* *grunts in pyramid head* *sound of sword slicing ground dramatically* *h e a v y m e t a l b r e a t h i n g*
there are substantially better alternatives.
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Infectious being only a mention just feels wrong on pH . And putting BBQ on best build section can missinform tbh
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I never managed to do that. Well, probably because it is rare for me to play killer when a chapter releases, as that is usually when my friends come back from the ashes to play DBD.
And yes, Adept Blight is painful. The best part is that I got it on Lery's. I don't know how I did it, but I did.
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i got my blight adept on hawkins which honestly felt like dbd telling me "mate you're ######### at this, just stop using your power".
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Infectious is good in aggressive playstyles but as that's not how I play Pyramid Head, nor is it how I think playing Pyramid Head is the most successful, I had it down as a mention. BBQ fits my playstyle substantially more and considering most people play for Bloodpoints not having it there would be odd.
BBQ has yet to fail me on him.
If you disagree with me, which is evident, you're always welcome to make your own guide.
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Me who was just gonna play ph thank you this will be helpful
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happy to be of service
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That is pretty much how I felt when I got Lery's for Blight. And Mother's Dwelling for PH. And Ormond for the Twins. And Cowshed for Trapper. And this list goes on.
I think we are all just very unlucky with Adepts sometimes.
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By yet to fail are you implying you never lose with bbq on or mostly. Using an aggressive playstyle with infectious and moniter most of the time gives me way more momentum than bbq ever will for ne
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I'm implying that it provides useful information which I use later in the game. I am no way arrogant enough to claim I've never lost a game. However my winrate using BBQ is substantially more than my winrate using Infectious because I don't play aggressively, nor do I think it's the best way to play him. It definitely isn't to me. And, shocker this, when I made the guide I made it from my own experience. Which is why I said this little bit:
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I sort of disagree with not using ruin on pp head. He in my opinion works quite well with that and tinkerer. The number of times I have gotten POTD hits through walls while giving survivors no warning that I am coming is both hella satisfying and rewarding. If paired with ruin, that is a free gen that you have just protected from being finished for a long while.
My personal go to build for him is tinkerer, ruin, undying, and discordance. They have pretty good synergy and I personally enjoy it since it is still somewhat reliable even without the hex perks.
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No need for sarcasm. I wasnt really bad mouthing your guide at all just the perk itself mainly
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Ruin is far too unreliable from my testing, even with Undying. The lack of mobility means that you can't effectively defend them and you've now lost 2 perk slots.
Tinkerer just isn't a good perk on him. There, I've said it. You're too slow, Spine Chill can and will ruin your day if you even think about it and if you're getting POTD through the walls on people due to Tinkerer then their ears have stopped working because you're so damn loud about everything you do. There are more reliable ways to get information that is more helpful than knowing a generator halfway across the map is at 70% and you have no chance at defending it.
If you like it and find success with it, go for it. It's definitely a stronger combination than CorruptPop, however my build aims to be the best, most consistent build. It sacrifices potential strength for far better consistency (and bloodpoints because you always need those) which makes you feel better because your game isn't decided by a dice roll
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You're new here so it's not like you could know but I'm an incredibly sarcastic person
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Im a lurker just made the acc like 2 months ago
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well welcome to the forums officially, we have sarcasm, complaints, people who aren't aware opinions aren't facts and occasionally a cute animal. i hope you enjoy your stay
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In my honest opinion: No. Not in the slightest. At all.
Enduring is a very meh perk that you could use but I wouldn't suggest it because you should not be eating pallets as him. You'll be stunned, yes, but not enough that dedicating an entire perk slot to it is worth it.
The same goes for EndFury except you're now dedicating 2 perk slots to something that probably won't happen. Which also needs you to break pallets to activate. Which you definitely should not be doing because then you can't get hits with POTD as easily.
STBFL is very, very hit or miss entirely dependant on the survivors you're facing. It can work but you'll be using your POTD quite frequently once you're used to it, so you won't be gaining many stacks and the ones you have won't be used much, and there are times you just have to M1 gamer it and not even think about using your power, in which these hard to get stacks become harder to get.
I really wouldn't suggest those perks on him.
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Good job
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I cover that bit here:
"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.
and here:
If you're going to cage all the time, you're going to lose most of your pressure. If all you want to do is cage then by all means, go right ahead, but I wouldn't suggest it if you're trying to win.
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I'll watch a game of yours later. Quite interested in this since PH and Blight are my mains.
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The game titled "I forgot to change my build so Feng became my backpack" is more recent, though I think "PyramidHead.mp4" is funnier simply because of that Jake. I don't really upload videos of me playing killer very often
edit: theres one more video but it features a modded version of dbd and so i dont think i can post it
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Like your gameplay. And your build is nice. Mine is quite similar actually:
- Corrupt
- BBQ
- Monitor
- I'm all Ears (I change this one from time to time)
Monitor just works fine with me, having extra FoV outside of a chase gives me enough visibility to cover a huge amount of the map and during a chase it doesn't really matter since I am focused anyways, it also reduces the "Hold W" strat a bit since Survivors hear your Terror Radius a bit later, so hiding behind stuff with the reduced TR is quite helpful. Having a small FoV outside of chase when I look around gives me Claustrophobia and I refuse to use Shadowborn, though I used it for quite a while and somehow I always come back to using Shadowborn at some point xD
I find I'm all ears quite nice but the cooldown is just to long in my opinion and I dislike to long cooldowns. It's Quick and Quiet's evil brother so it should get it's cooldown reduced to 20 seconds as well.
Corrupt and BBQ are self-explanatory.
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@GoodBoyKaru hey what's up buddy! Are you planning to keep this guide up today with any changes that may happen? Also has your build changed any since the most recent chapter?
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If any changes happen then yes, I will create a new post.
As for my build, still the same. Haven't got Artist/Jonah and I'm spending all my pre-Christmas money on commissions so I won't get it till after. If Pain Resonance ends up being good on him I'll switch it out but as of right now I think PGTW is the better perk.
But who knows maybe the best play right now involves caging if you aren't near a scourge hook and hooking if you are.
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I actually forget that Caution:Wet Floor Head is 110. Thanksfor the reminder. Why did I think he was 115?
Good point about not breaking pallets. I'll have to save that nugget of wisdom, but it makes sense.
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115 normally, 110 in his power
(and shockingly I was given that tip by someone else, and believe me it's so helpful).
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Yeah I'm actually really enjoying jolt and pain resonance on clown lately, obviously I wouldn't run Jolt on pyramid Head.. But you should definitely try it whenever you have it unlocked It gives you information and slowdown. You'll know exactly where to go to to put some pressure if they scream if they don't scream they might not be at that gen.
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Well you could go with a fun build I use from time to time I like to call.....Duhhhh Where Daddy Go....
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Oh I see, I didnt read it properly.
I could see that strategy being very good with I'm All Ears as well!
Guess I'll play some PH tonight, I've got a few unused Mary's Letters on him still.
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Yeah PR is absolutely a good perk for most characters (can't wait to try it on Wraith or Booba), just need to make sure it'd fit my playstyle on Pyramid Head. I'll keep the thread updated through comments and if there's a major change that warrants me making a new post (or the mods get angry at me constantly necroing a thread lmao).
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In All Ears on Dorito Man makes me happy beyond belief ngl- I think I have some clips of me using it saved (aside from that Jake ofc) and if you wanted I could try and fish em out
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Very solid guide :)
I will add a quick tipp myself, if someone else already wrote about this just humor me, for I haven't read the whole thread.
So, most often experienced survivors will know about your ranged power and fear and respect it, allowing you in return to disrespect certain pallets.
If you are chasing someone towards a pallet and you stick your sword into the ground 9/10 the survivor will not drop the pallet, because they fear being locked in the animation and getting hit, so just lift it out again once you are past the pallet and sometimes you can even hit a cheeky survivor who tried to pull a 180° to hit you after the shockwave, which is a commom thing if you fire too often.
Obviously, if you are too close, they will just throw the pallet, but this way you can often just run through paths that would be closed in your face, if you played any other killer.
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Okay Karu, I've read you're guide and my PH looks like yours but I'm struggling in endgame without that crutch of a perk NOED. Is there anything that can be done to help in those last moments? Or has all thats been said all that there has been to be said about it?
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Honestly noed really doesn't go well with his power. Like, at all- using it and relying on it turns you into the zoning creature that everyone expects you to be, getting rid of a lot of free hits through survivors just not expecting you to do things, since you'll want the M1 for the insta-down. Hell if survivors know you have it they'll force themselves into animation locks to tempt you into using your power on them so they get a speed boost to run away.
In terms of the actual endgame itself, though, outside of just hoping the matchmaking gives you teams relative to your skill level, it's possible to substitute out a perk for No Way Out. You should still be hooking people, definitely if you continue to use BBQ, so you should get that 60 second gate block. Alternatively, a friend of mine uses M&A instead of Corrupt to help lessen survivor reaction time and thus weaken the W key meta.
I guess it's just kinda a case of... Idk, practicing? It took me near enough a year to get to a point I felt comfortable making that guide and I know now I'm leagues above where I was when I made it. Practice makes perfect, and the more you play the better you'll be.
However, if you find yourself relying on NOED to get kills (and not like get a third after already killing two, I mean no kills and noed saves your ass) I would absolutely take it off. Irl artificially inflate your MMR so the system pairs you with stronger and stronger survivors, and you'll limit your room for growth because you'll always have that perk to fall back on. Not to mention you won't get it's assistance when you truly need it- vs the coordinated SWF groups.
So, uh, yeah. I guess practicing? Watching over your own gameplay if that's an option can help you realise where you made a mistake, and learn from it. However, don't beat yourself up over mistakes!! It's okay to fail, it's a video game, and if you beat yourself up over missing a POTD for example it'll just leave you feeling demoralised and #########.
Sorry for the rant, I haven't actually slept in like over a day at this point and my brain is a mess 🏃
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DS should not activate from a cage. If it does, that's a bug.
Depending on what happened before that, it's entirely possible they were unhooked, caged, uncaged, downed, and picked up again all within the span of 60 seconds, which would leave their original DS active. I'd need more context to let you know if it's a bug or not.
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