Dead by Daylight – How to Pyramid Head

Want to get some Silent Hill nostalgia by punishing your enemies? Or do you like a bit of cheeky sniping through walls? Well, Pyramid Head’s basekit and once juicy ass has got you covered.

Guide to Pyramid Head

All credit goes to biggiefats!

Who Is Pyramid Head?

To put it simply, Pyramid Head is a humanoid monster that dwells within the mind of James Sunderland, a man who looks like he is in a state of infinite diarrhoea. More so, he is a manifestation of James Sunderland’s guilt and desire for punishment, existing to keep him human and help him remember his past actions as a way to suppress his psyche.

His ‘pyramid head’ and his butcher’s apron mimic the appearance of executioners like him in the time of James Sunderland – His comically large knife is a tool for the maiming of sinners who deserve the suffering.

What Do Pyramid Head Be Doing?

Pyramid Head has got a plethora of wild mechanics built into his power. Here is the Biggiefats description for it:

• Rites of Judgement: Put goop on the ground and if a survivor steps in it, they get gooped (tormented) and you get a visual cue to tell you this.
• Punishment of the Damned: When putting goop on the ground, press a different button to release a goop beam on the ground. If a survivor is within goop beam when goop beam’s hitbox is active, then the survivor gets gooped and loses a health state. Multiple survivors can get gooped if multiple survivors stand within the area of the goop beam.
• Cage of Atonement: When a survivor is in the downed state, they can be sent to a goop cage that has specific spawn points; the goop cage is most likely placed in the furthest place away from your point. However, this only works if survivors step in the goop without crouching. Survivors can get rid of their goop if they save the survivor from the goop cage.
• Final Judgement: When a survivor has overcome the struggle phase of the hook and has been downed by the comically large knife, the survivor can undergo a ‘BTEC Mori’ that only occurs if the survivor has been gooped. This saves time on having to put them on the hook.

If you don’t like my description or my description does not clarify what the Pyramid Head does, then there’s an image below to fully aid your needs.

Punishment of the Damned Gaming

Now, this is where I talk about the most wild mechanic of Pyramid Head, his punishment of the damned.

When the Punishment of the Damned is active (meaning you triggered it), Pyramid Head releases a 1 by 8m death zone in front of his current position. Any survivors who are within the zone are taken down a health state. The punishment can also travel down staircases, but not up staircases; you must also be standing on a flat surface for this to work. Yet overpowering (due to its ignorance of walls and pallets), it can be hard to be successful with it.

Here are some tips onto gaining a further understanding and 100% accuracy with the punishment:

Watch for the safe zones!

Survivors tend to vault windows whenever they get the opportunity. If you see a survivor going for a window, do hold your sword down. However, do not release the sword or cancel the attack until you visibly see the choice that the survivor takes. If they go for the window, hit them before they can get onto the ground to adjust their position. If they don’t, cancel your attack and go for a basic attack instead.

Fake em!

Try and constantly pull down your sword and pull it up in random intervals against good survivors as they will move in unusual ways that would hinder their movement when playing against basic attack killers (Ghostface, Wraith etc.). This ensures that you can get a basic attack or even a special attack for a step closer to the 4k.

Sniper!

This is something that I have integrated into my Pyramid Head chases. When a survivor is currently hidden behind a wall in a loop, try to move your camera as you would think the survivor moves. Then, when the time is right, pull up your sword and hit their anus. It’s best to not always go for this unless you are confident in your snipes and also fake your power during this to make them run towards you or into a deadzone.

Hold!

Similar to faking your power, hold your power so that the survivor is guessing whether or when you are going to activate your punishment zone. Yet your power gauge may run out, it does give you the upper hand in the psychological war that you and that sweaty Ace are having. Please do not that Pyramid Head moves slower when in his power so do not constantly do this as you are only giving a survivor a higher chance of pulling a pallet down on your triangular meathead.

Positive Hook Trade!

This is a very specific technique that can only be done if you are within the range of someone unhooking another survivor. If you are behind a wall, wait for the yellow hook aura to turn 90 degrees clockwise and the groan of the unhooker. If not, wait for the survivor to visibly come of the hook. Time the punishment so that you hit them the moment that both the unhooker and the unhooked can move. This way, you can get a double hit to generate an immense volume of pressure to all survivors. Yet you may be accused of camping and tunneling, you still get great value so who’s the real winner there?

Perk Me Up

Of course, you must run perks in this modern era of Dead By Daylight. The question is, though, what perks do I run?

Hook-related perks should be avoided as Pyramid Head as he relies on his tormenting of survivors to gain pressure and struggle states; the cages are not counted as hooks to the game. However, you can use his torment to tunnel survivors out without the need of Decisive Strike and Borrowed Time in the way. Thus, you can then go for hooks instead of cages which would incentivise the usage of BBQ and Chill, Pop Goes The Weasel, Pain Resonance and other hook-related perks to gain that dub.

Aura reading perks are the cream of the crop for Pyramid Head; that’s where you get your satisfying snipes from. Perks like I’m All Ears (rushed actions reveal your aura) and Nemesis (if you are not the Obsession, stun the killer with a pallet to have your aura revealed) definitely help to shutdown loops with walls and obstacles.

Generator control perks are a must nonetheless for any killer. If you are the kind of killer to setup your trails of goop around the map then Corrupt Intervention helps your case. I wouldn’t recommend this as your trails despawn after 75s or longer with addons. However, the one best generator control perk for Pyramid Head is Tinkerer. This makes you gain the Undetectable status effect for n amount for seconds and whilst that is the case, you can hold your Punishment of the Damned and release it when you are in the area of the generator. Survivors may not expect you coming unless they have Spine Chill so it is a free way to getting easy hits.

Any other perks I missed will probably be found by other people who make better guides, sadly.

Awful Conclusion

So, in summary, please do fight hard with your comically large sword and release the Punishment of the Damned when possible. Also, please do not thoroughly read this guide ever again as you can find a better one within 10 seconds of effort. I’m too tired to be doing this and I’m not paid enough Auric Cells to hide the sadness.

Good luck on your endeavours when it comes to destroying the opposition with a big head and a big dream.