The Cannibal or Bubba Sawyer is another franchise killer added to Dead by Daylight. He is better known as Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series. What are his special powers, abilities, and weapons? Which perks should you focus on? What tips and tricks you can employ? Get your answers in this ultimate guide to The Cannibal.
The Cannibal is much like The Trapper but has better control of his Chainsaw Dash ability. Despite his lack of tracking, he is a fantastic aggressive killer. He is easy to handle and any beginner will feel at home picking him. Although, you must be extra mindful of his Tantrums. Any misuse of his ability will lock him in place while he thrashes around his chainsaw. Master the dashes and you are good to go.
Here is a detailed guide that covers everything there is to know about The Cannibal in Dead by Daylight to make it easier for you to decide whether to pick him or not.
Is The Cannibal (Bubba Sawyer) good for beginners?
The Cannibal is as standard a killer as they come in Dead by Daylight. Understanding his playstyle isn’t the most arduous of jobs hence any beginner will feel quite at home, especially if you are coming from using killers like the Trapper or Hillbilly.
The only bit you have to account for is his Chainsaw Dash ability. Using it haphazardly will put you in an uncontrollable state. Knowing the risks and rewards of this state can lead to multiple survivors on the ground ready to get hooked.
Are The Cannibal Perks worth upgrading?
Since this killer lacks tracking, his Barbecue & Chill perk is extremely valuable even for other killers. Upgrade this perk to further increase the Aura reveal distance. Since the Chainsaw Dash ability will bring down targets immediately, you will be hooking survivors quite regularly and thus revealing your next target in the process.
Other perks are pretty lackluster so keep them to the side. Another great perk to add to the mix is Whispers. It too shall aid in tracking nearby targets so that you can close distance with your dashes.
What are The Cannibal Perks?
The Cannibal has 3 unique perks with three tier levels in Dead by Daylight:
Knock Out
Putting a Survivor into the Dying State with your Basic Attack blocks their Aura from being revealed to any Survivor, who is farther than 32/24/16 meters away from them.
For the next 15 seconds, the following effects apply to the dying Survivor:
- Reduces their Field of View and causes them to be deafened.
- Suffers from the Blindness Status Effect.
- Reduces the Crawling speed by -50 %.
- Reduces the Recovery speed by -25 %.
Barbecue & Chilli
After hooking a Survivor, all Survivors who are at least 60/50/40 meters away from that Hook have their Aura revealed to you for 5 seconds.
Franklin’s Demise
Your vicious Basic Attacks make Survivors drop their Items on impact.
- If not recovered within 150/120/90 seconds, the lost Items will have their Charges depleted by The Entity.
- The Auras of lost Items are revealed to you within 32 meters and slowly fade from white to red as the timer elapses.
What Weapon does The Cannibal have?
Break the spines of your victims with Bubba’s weighty weapon The Sledge. Simple yet effective for whacking around the survivors. This killer has another weapon, The Chainsaw, which is the source of his special powers. More on this weapon in the section below.
What Powers does The Cannibal have?
This killer’s main ability is linked to Bubba’s Chainsaw. He has three charges where he performs a Chainsaw Sweep. This ability sends him into a Chainsaw Dash for 2 seconds. During this window, you can steer him to take out multiple survivors. The impact puts any survivor in a Dying State.
Unlike the Hillbilly’s Chainsaw, this ability doesn’t have an overheat mechanic. You use up charges instead of revving the chainsaw like the aforementioned killer. The charges come back after a 4-second cooldown provided you are not using the chainsaw.
The best part about this ability is that it can be chained for extended reach. Pressing the power button again while using the Chainsaw Dash will initiate another dash of 2 seconds. Just keep in mind that the cooldown timer will take longer to refill.
Constant use of the ability will build up a Tantrum meter. When the meter is full or if the killer hits any obstacle while Chainsaw Dash-ing, he will go into a fit of rage where he mindlessly swings around his weapon, downing any survivor caught in it. He will stay in this Tantrum for 5 seconds and 1 second will be added for 1 charge used, meaning the tantrum will persist for a maximum of 8 seconds.
If you time it right, this crazy mode can be used quite strategically to take out multiple survivors. On the other hand, the prolonged state might backfire when survivors get a chance to outmaneuver you. You also lose all your charges when you go into a tantrum. You will have to wait for them to replenish.
To counter this, you need to keep an eye on your tantrum meter and any obstacle while dashing. Use it at the most opportune time.
Is The Cannibal fun to play?
The Cannibal functions much like the Hillbilly without the constant worry of overheating your chainsaw. However, the Tantrum comes with its own set of drawbacks and even effective strategies. He is a fun killer once you properly understand the chainsaw dash.
You need to be careful when dashing or planning it just right to hit an obstacle and put numerous survivors in a Dying State.
And unlike the Hillbilly, this killer’s chainsaw dash has much better controllability allowing you to chase your target around corners. Again, be careful not to hit any surface while cornering otherwise you will lose control.
What are some tips and tricks to get better with The Cannibal?
Here are some tips that you can employ when playing as this killer:
- When starting out, you will be making mistakes and triggering tantrums often. To counter this, add-ons that lower tantrum duration like Homemade Muffler and Chainsaw File will come in handy.
- Add-ons that lower Chainsaw Dash charge refilling time like Spark Plug and Primer Bulb help tremendously to use this ability without much delay.
- Chili and Award-Winning Chili add-ons will extend the Chainsaw Sweep for additional seconds.
- This chainsaw can not go through windows therefore any add-ons that block windows and make them a death trap like Bamboozled will reap the most kills. Otherwise, use your primary weapon and just bonk them while they are vaulting.
- Do not always rely on your Chainsaw for attacking. Sometimes it is beneficial to swing your hammer to down a survivor.
- Since this killer has lower speed even while dashing, camping in an area with multiple points of interest is a compelling approach.
- Use his chainsaw dash to destroy pallets almost instantly, disabling loops in a jiffy.
- A good strategy is to down a survivor, hook them near a Generator, and move to another. Repeat this process. Many times you will find other survivors just by hooking and you can get into a rhythm.
- Herd survivors to open zones. These are the perfect places to perform the dash. The survivors will have nowhere to turn to and the added speed will cover the distance to take them out.
- Try to bait survivors by faking around a corner to use the other side. This way they will play into your hand and you can finish them off by sweeping them.
- The Chainsaw Dash has amazing controllability so try revving it from afar when chasing survivors. Even if they turn a corner, you can smoothly maneuver yourself while dashing.
- While you are not chasing and on the lookout for your next target, dashing into areas with your chainsaw revved might flush out hidden survivors.
The Cannibal is a better version of Hillbilly in Dead by Daylight. He has a better command of his power, there is no overheating, and he chops down survivors with relative ease. With a bit of training, you will be dashing with ease without any worries of triggering unnecessary tantrums.