Every member of the Family tries to fill a different niche. They all have their own little quirks that make them stand out, and understanding those quirks will help you play more effectively. Few characters embody this quite as much as tweaking the best build for Cook in Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Cook, like most characters, is fairly well-balanced compared to his allies. If you build Cook wrong, however, you are going to have a bad time. Cook has some very clear weaknesses that need to be clogged. Completing the perfect Cook build will also take more time than most, since his best perks aren’t great at level one. This guide is going to walk you through how to play Cook so you can avoid some of the common pitfalls.
For some more general Texas Chain Saw Massacre tips and tricks, check out our how to win more games guide. If you want to know how all the characters rank up, check out our survivor and killer tier lists.
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+ 5Overview of Cook in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Cook is the oldest active member of the Family in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. As a result, he has been killing far longer, and knows the property like the back of his hand. Whilst not a fan of killing, it has never stopped him from jamming his jagged stick into the throats of his victims. He may have a ‘softer’ demeanour than the others, but he won’t hesitate when the time comes.
Cook is the scout of the pack; similar to Sonny. He is a master of locating his prey and relaying that to the rest of the Family. If he can get close enough, he is also one of the most savage of the bunch, with only Leatherface having more innate damage. Building Cook up to be the ultimate tracker and killer will take time, but it’s well worth the effort.
click to enlarge + 5Cook’s attributes in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Cook’s attributes are wildly skewed to represent his age. We’ll start with his weakest stat first, his endurance. At a measly 10, Cook has the lowest stamina of any Family member by far. This slows Cook down throughout the game, and after a chase, he might struggle to land the killing blow due to not having the gas to attack effectively.
Cook makes up for this with savagery, which rolls in at a whopping 35. This stat is almost as high as the chainsaw-toting Leatherface, and makes Cook a vicious combatant when it gets his hands on a survivor.
His stats are rounded out nicely with a 25 in blood harvesting. This is average, but as we will soon see, average is good enough on Cook. With some perks and a little bit of cardio, we can turn Cook into a lean, mean, victim-eating machine.
When you first start playing as Cook you might struggle, and the gap in power between Cook and his allies will grow rapidly as they level up. Invest stats in the right place, however, and Cook will catch back up.
click to enlarge + 5Attribute progression for Cook in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
When it comes to increasing Cook's stats, we recommend pumping 25 of your 30 available points into endurance. This is a hefty investment, but it’s the best investment you can make. This will bring his endurance from a lousy 10 to a respectable 35. You could even go one step further and dial it all the way to 40 if you really want.
If you don’t cap out your points with endurance, then we recommend putting your last five points into savagery. This will crank that to 40, which is a very solid number. You will have more than enough damage to take out survivors with a few swings of your stick, and thanks to your endurance, you will even be able to catch them.
We have chosen to keep blood harvesting at 25. This is mostly because we ran out of points. That being said, 25 is still a great place for this stat to be and we are going to use our perks to give us a cheeky boost later on anyway.
click to enlarge + 5Cook’s unique ability in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Cook's stats really define his play style early on, but it’s abilities that give every character that extra sprinkle of spice. Cook’s ability, Seek, allows him to do the following:
Listen for noisy Victims, highlighting and pinpointing their location for a short period.
This ability is really powerful and gives Cook a massive leg up when it comes to tracking his prey. This ability is not only great for Cook, but also your entire team if you're willing to share that information.
Like all abilities, it does come with a fairly hefty cooldown, but Seek combined with Grandpa's Sonar will drastically increase your team’s ability to hunt down each survivor. This is especially good early on, as survivors are far more likely to make noise. Remember, Leatherface always starts in the basement with them. If you can effectively direct Leatherface, you can delay their escape and even secure a kill or two. Cook is the leader of the group, and Seek helps him perform that duty.
As an added benefit, Cook can also add locks to gates and doors. This helps secure the property and makes it far more difficult for people to escape. He can replenish these locks by scavenging. In the early game, be sure to make use of these locks before heading off on a killing spree.
click to enlarge + 5Best early game perks for Cook in Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Cook’s available perks are really interesting. With them, you can push different aspects of Cook's play, but we think we’ve managed to land on some key perks that really make him sing in-game.
With Cook, we are going to go ‘right’ on the skill tree. This will take towards powerful blood harvesting abilities that help round Cook out.
Remember, all perks become more powerful as you use them. Stick with the same perks, and you will grow in strength far faster.
Scout
Scout is one of the best perks in the game, it just takes a long time for it to pay off. Scout, at level one, gives you a small boost to your movement speed. This lets Cook catch Victims more reliably, and when combined with his now-high endurance, leads to good times for all (survivors not included).
The downside to Scout is the drastic decrease in damage. You will incur a whopping 30% penalty, which is far too high to offset with any other perk. This might lead you to believe Scout isn’t worth it since, sure, you can catch people, but now you hit like a fistful of soggy spaghetti. That’s where patience comes into play.
As Scout levels up it becomes significantly more powerful. At level three that damage debuff is decreased to only 10%. This is very low and, shocker, can be offset with other perks. Heck, it’s almost offset by our +5 savagery investment from before. Oh, and all of that isn’t even taking into account the speed buff increasing from 5% to 15% when all is said and done.
It takes a long time to get to max, but when you do, Scout is ludicrous on a character like Cook.
Vial-ent
If Scout is our long-term goal, how are we going to make getting there easier? You can take something like Big Swing, or you can run with our choice, Vial-ent. Vial-ent relies on Cook having a full vial of blood, but when he does, his damage increases by 10%. At the max level, this increases to 20%.
The reason this is so good on Cook is that his blood harvesting stat is just high enough to make filling his vial viable. It’s also low enough that feeding Grandpa isn’t going to be your top priority. Cook is a killer through and through, not a blood caddy.
Universal Donor
The final perk we recommend is Universal Donor. This lets Cook get set up without having to hit anyone. This perk increases the amount of blood that is collected from buckets by 20%, scaling to 40%. This lets him fill his vial frighteningly quickly. Once buffed, Cook is ready to go hunting, so the quicker you can fill that vial, the better.
This perk is why we don’t bother increasing blood harvesting.
Well, Well, Well
A lot of perks can be slotted into the Grandpa slot, but we find Well, Well, Well to be one of the best. Since Cook is the hunter, tracker, and potential killer of the group, survivors are more likely to book it down a well when he is nearby.
Normally, this is a solid plan. Wells give survivors a place to go when things get a bit hairy and the Family can’t follow them. Well, Well, Well increases the damage they take when jumping down wells by 50%. This is a substantial buff, and one that nearly always pays off.
That’s all we have for Cook in Texas Chain Saw Massacre. To help you navigate the game, check out our guide covering all maps. You can also have a gander at our tips and tricks for thriving as the Family.
For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre page.