Friday the 13th: The Game

Friday the 13th: The Game

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Counselor Stats: Knowledge Base w/ Lots of Hard Data
By Rydog
This is a compendium of data on how each counselor stat works, and what it affects, with a lot of information based on controlled experiments in private matches.
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Introduction
This is a compendium of data on how each counselor stat works, and what it affects, with a lot of information based on controlled experiments in private matches. This was all done using counselors with no perks equipped. This guide was previously published on Reddit (my username there is Geekboxing), but I have moved it here to Steam.

I have endeavored to make sure my data collection exercises are very clear, both to demonstrate precisely how I arrived at each conclusion, and to highlight where any possible blind spots are. This is a work-in-progress, and I will always be receptive to feedback on how to improve the quality and accuracy of this data. If you like it, please rate the guide appropriately.

This information is current as of PC patch v1.03.


Latest Update
The following information was added/amended on July 18:
  • Luck: Added information on weapon durability vs. blocked attacks.
  • Repair: Completely revised this section, to emphasize how quickly each counselor can finish repairing an objective.
  • Strength: Added some information about demasking Jason using heavy attacks.
  • Health: Added information on damage vs. blocked attacks.
Composure
This stat reduces the rate that Fear increases, and makes it easier to break free from Jason's grab. Composure suffers from serious diminishing returns as the match goes on and Jason's Sense radius expands. The Composure stat itself has nothing to do with Jason's Sense ability, other than helping to control Fear (which itself impacts Sense).

Please see the Fear section at the end of this guide for a detailed explanation of Fear, hiding, Jason's Sense ability, and Composure's role (or lack thereof) in these mechanics.


Grab Breaking
Breaking free from Jason's grab relies on a combination of Composure and Strength. Here is approximately how many button taps it takes each counselor to escape from Jason's grab, at a rate of ~2 taps per second (you should be able to do it much faster; this was just easier to consistently count). These grab breaks were all done with Jason Part 6, at max Fear, with the counselor's HUD completely gone.
  • Tommy (Composure 10, Strength 10, combined 20) -- NO DATA YET
  • Adam (Composure 7, Strength 8, combined 15) can break free from Jason's grab in 20 taps.
  • Brandon (Composure 4, Strength 10, combined 14) can break free from Jason's grab in 22 taps.
  • Jenny (Composure 10, Strength 1, combined 11) can break free from Jason's grab in 22 taps.
  • Kenny (Composure 5, Strength 5, combined 10) can break free from Jason's grab in 27 taps.
  • A.J. (Composure 7, Strength 2, combined 9) can break free from Jason's grab in 27 taps.
  • Eric (Composure 4, Strength 3, combined 7) can break free from Jason's grab in 35 taps.
  • Vanessa (Composure 3, Strength 4, combined 7) can break free from Jason's grab in 35 taps.
  • Deborah (Composure 5, Strength 1, combined 6) can break free from Jason's grab in 35 taps.
  • Tiffany (Composure 3, Strength 2, combined 5) can break free from Jason's grab in 43 taps.
  • Chad (Composure 1, Strength 3, combined 4) can break free from Jason's grab in 53 taps.

Note that the delay between a counselor getting grabbed, and grab-related HUD features becoming available ("mash to escape" for counselors, and grab kills for Jason), is about 2 seconds. It might be a fractions-of-a-second delay between the two opposing HUDs, but in practice, but in practice, this is too minute to be actionable.

I've seen it suggested that Composure increases Stamina gain when breaking free from Jason's grab, but it looks like a consistent ~30% recharge to me, across all counselors. I could be wrong.


Fear Gain
Here is approximately how long it takes for each counselor to develop full Fear, when standing next to Jason Part 6 outdoors. Once Jason is gone, counselors slowly lose Fear until they have completely regained their Composure (i.e. a neutral stance with no visible panic). This takes longer for higher-Composure counselors, which seems to indicate that they simply have a deeper "Fear bucket" (for example, in my tests, it took Jenny 2:14 to regain full Composure, while it took Chad 0:35). This makes high Composure something of a double-edged sword.
  • Composure 10 counselors (Jenny, Tommy) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 3:21.
  • Composure 7 counselors (A.J., Adam) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 1:45.
  • Composure 5 counselors (Deborah, Kenny) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 1:10.
  • Composure 4 counselors (Brandon, Eric) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 0:56.
  • Composure 3 counselors (Tiffany, Vanessa) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 0:51.
  • Composure 1 counselors (Chad) go from zero Fear to an invisible HUD in 0:35.


Effective Break Points for Composure
  • GOOD: Composure 7-10 (zero Fear to invisible HUD in longer than 1:30 in Jason's vicinity)
  • AVERAGE: Composure 5-6 (zero Fear to invisible HUD between 1:00-1:30 in Jason's vicinity)
  • BAD: Composure 1-4 (zero Fear to invisible HUD in less than 1:00 in Jason's vicinity)
Luck
This stat affects weapon durability, damage that you suffer from traps, and your chance of taking damage when climbing through broken glass while in a non-staggered state. It also allegedly has some slight impact on other mechanics, but I've not quantified any of this.


Weapon Durability
Here is how many hits each counselor gets with the baseball bat, machete, and wrench before they break, when attacking Jason Part 7 from a regular standing (non-combat stance) position. Under these conditions, the number of hits has no variance -- it is consistent 100% of the time. Keep in mind that blocked hits will still result in weapon durability loss.
  • Luck 10 counselors (Chad, Tommy) get 5 baseball bat hits, 13 machete hits, and 15 wrench hits.
  • Luck 8 counselors (Jenny) get 3 baseball bat hits, 8 machete hits, and 9 wrench hits.
  • Luck 6 counselors (Vanessa) get 3 baseball bat hits, 6 machete hits, and 7 wrench hits.
  • Luck 5 counselors (Eric, Kenny) get 2 baseball bat hits, 5 machete hits, and 6 wrench hits.
  • Luck 4 counselors (Tiffany) get 2 baseball bat hits, 5 machete hits, and 5 wrench hits.
  • Luck 2-3 counselors (Deborah, Adam, Brandon) get 2 baseball bat hits, 4 machete hits, and 5 wrench hits.
  • Luck 1 counselors (A.J.) get 2 baseball bat hits, 4 machete hits, and 4 wrench hits.
Key takeaway: Chad is far and away the best counselor when it comes to stunning Jason and contesting him at objectives. The baseball bat has a 100% stun chance (meaning that it should always be your go-to weapon for stunning Jason), and Chad gets more hits than any other counselor.

Also, note that, in practice, the machete is more durable than the axe, even though they both have a Durability rating of 3 (Kenny gets 5 hits before the machete breaks, but only 3 hits with the axe). So, if you're looking to demask Jason (see the Strength section for more useful info on that), the machete is the way to go!


Weapon Durability vs. Blocked Attacks
Weapons are substantially more durable when blocking Jason's attacks from combat stance. For example, Jenny can block 23 of Jason Part 7's weapon strikes with the wrench before it breaks, and 8 of his strikes with the baseball bat. Some weapons seem to work better than others (for example, the machete seems to have the same durability as it does when you are using it to attack). The Luck stat affects this aspect of durability as well, though I have not done any thorough testing with each counselor.


Damage Resistance vs. Traps
Here is how many traps it takes to stagger and kill each counselor, from full health. Luck does not affect damage from other sources, on any counselor. Enormous thanks to Reddit user D_Flavio for bringing this to my attention, as I actually had some inaccurate trap damage in here previously. These damage numbers were tested for every counselor, vs. Jason Part 6.
  • Luck 6+ counselors (Chad, Tommy, Jenny, Vanessa) can take damage from up to 3 traps before dying (staggered after 2 hits).
  • Luck <6 counselors (Eric, Kenny, Tiffany, Deborah, Adam, Brandon, A.J.) can take damage from up to 2 traps before dying (staggered after 1 hit).


A Note Regarding Stun Chance...
Finally, stun chance has nothing to do with Luck (or any other stat in particular) -- please see the Stun section for more details on how I currently believe stun chance may be calculated for each counselor.


Effective Break Points for Luck
  • GOOD: Luck 8-10 (9+ wrench hits)
  • AVERAGE: Luck 6-7 (7+ wrench hits)
  • BAD: Luck 1-5 (6 or fewer wrench hits)
Repair
This stat affects the difficulty of skill checks -- that is, the speed of the quick time event wheel and the total number of possible checks -- when fixing electrical boxes, phone boxes, and vehicles.


Skill Checks
Here is an average of how many QTE checks each counselor can expect to encounter, as well as how forgiving each window tends to be. The average number of checks listed here are based on 10 Repair sequences per counselor, at an electrical box, while the average speed of the Repair wheel is based on a two-minute test of fixing as many electrical boxes as possible (with Jason breaking them immediately upon repair).
  • Repair 10 counselors (Deborah, Eric, Tommy) average 2 checks (these range from 2-3), with long to very long QTE windows, and an average 3.65 seconds for a single successful Repair.
  • Repair 7 counselors (A.J.) average 3 checks (these range from 3-4), with medium to long QTE windows, and an average 5.18 seconds for a single successful Repair.
  • Repair 6 counselors (Adam) average 4 checks (these range from 3-5), with short to medium QTE windows, and an average 5.32 seconds for a single successful Repair.
  • Repair 5 counselors (Kenny) average 5 checks (these range from 4-6), with short to medium QTE windows, and an average 6.83 seconds for a single successful Repair.
  • Repair 2 counselors (Chad, Jenny, Vanessa) average 7 checks (these range from 5-10), with short QTE windows, and an average 15.78 seconds for a single successful Repair.
  • Repair 1 counselors (Brandon, Tiffany) average 9 checks (these range from 6-11), with very short QTE windows, and an average 28.70 seconds for a single successful Repair.
Taking some margin of error and human reaction time into account, counselors with a Repair score of 6 or higher can reliably repair one part while under pressure, during the time that Jason is under the effect of a single firecracker stun (which lasts about 7.5 seconds).


Effective Break Points for Repair
  • GOOD: Repair 6-10 (averages 4 or fewer skill checks; can reliably repair a part in under 7.5 seconds, even with one failure)
  • BAD: Repair 1-5 (averages 5+ skill checks; cannot reliably repair a part in under 7.5 seconds)
Speed
This stat affects top speed (for both jogging and sprinting).


Running Speed
Here is approximately how long it takes each counselor to jog (slow run) and sprint (full run) across the half-circle in Flat Rock (Packanack map), west to east. These speeds are very consistent across counselors who share the same Speed level. No other stat or variable seems to impact movement speed, aside from damage.
  • Speed 10 counselors (Tommy, Vanessa) can jog this area in 0:24, and sprint it in 0:15.
  • Speed 9 counselors (Chad) can jog this area in 0:24, and sprint it in 0:15.
  • Speed 8 counselors (Brandon) can jog this area in 0:25, and sprint it in 0:15.
  • Speed 6 counselors (Tiffany) can jog this area in 0:25, and sprint it in 0:16.
  • Speed 5 counselors (Adam, Kenny) can jog this area in 0:26, and sprint it in 0:16.
  • Speed 4 counselors (A.J., Deborah) can jog this area in 0:27, and sprint it in 0:17.
  • Speed 3 counselors (Eric, Jenny) can jog this area in 0:27, and sprint it in 0:17.
Given this data, we can conclude that a Speed 10 counselor has an approximate 12% movement speed edge over a Speed 3 counselor. This might not look like much in terms of the raw numbers I've listed above, but remember that this is just describing a small area -- the longer the distance, the more significant a Speed advantage is.


A Note Regarding Attack Speed...
The Speed stat has no impact on melee attack speed. Weapon swings for all counselors take approximately 2.2 seconds for slow weapons (axe and baseball bat) from startup to recovery (i.e. neutral stance, fully ready to swing again). Swings with fast weapons (all others) take approximately 1.75 seconds.


Effective Break Points for Speed
  • GOOD: Speed 8-10 (sprint Flat Rock half-circle in 0:15)
  • AVERAGE: Speed 5-7 (sprint Flat Rock half-circle in 0:16)
  • BAD: Speed 1-4 (sprint Flat Rock half-circle in 0:17)
Stamina
This stat determines a counselor's overall Stamina pool, which is used for movement (jogging and sprinting) and combat (dodging). All of the data below was collected outdoors, with Jason far away, on main roads (where I could easily manage Fear with flashlights and lamp posts).


Stamina Regeneration
Here is approximately how long it takes to refill an empty Stamina bar at zero Fear. This is consistent for every counselor, including Tommy. The fact that Stamina regenerates at a consistent rate, regardless of Stamina score, suggests that the regen rate is strictly percentile-based.
  • 9.5 seconds while standing still, with your flashlight on.
  • 10.5 seconds while standing still, under a lamp post.
  • 12 seconds while standing still, with your flashlight off.
  • 13.5 seconds while crouching. Yes, it takes longer to regen Stamina when you are crouching.

Fear affects Stamina regeneration substantially. At the highest Fear level, it takes approximately 26 seconds to regenerate a full Stamina bar while standing still, or approximately 30 seconds while crouching. In this state, flashlights and other light sources no longer help.


Running Distance
Here is approximately how long a counselor can jog (slow run) or sprint (full run) at each Stamina level. These speeds are very consistent across counselors who share the same Stamina level. This suggests that no other counselor stats or other variables affect Stamina use when running.
  • Stamina 10 counselors (Tommy) can jog for 2:29 or sprint for 0:26 without stopping.
  • Stamina 9 counselors (Tiffany, Vanessa) can jog for 2:22 or sprint for 0:25 without stopping.
  • Stamina 8 counselors (Brandon) can jog for 2:16 or sprint for 0:24 without stopping.
  • Stamina 5 counselors (Jenny, Kenny) can jog for 2:00 or sprint for 0:22 without stopping.
  • Stamina 4 counselors (A.J., Adam, Chad) can jog for 1:55 or sprint for 0:20 without stopping.
  • Stamina 3 counselors (Deborah) can jog for 1:52 or sprint for 0:20 without stopping.
  • Stamina 2 counselors (Eric) can jog for 1:48 or sprint for 0:19 without stopping.


Overall Stamina Levels per Counselor
Given this data, if we assign Tommy (our lone Stamina 10 counselor) a value of 130 Stamina, we get a (rounded) cost of 0.9 Stamina per second while jogging, and 5 Stamina per second while sprinting. Using Tommy as a baseline, we can assume the following Stamina values for each counselor (these are all consistent with these rounded costs).
  • Stamina 10 counselors (Tommy) have 130 Stamina.
  • Stamina 9 counselors (Tiffany, Vanessa) have 125 Stamina.
  • Stamina 8 counselors (Brandon) have 120 Stamina.
  • Stamina 5 counselors (Jenny, Kenny) have 110 Stamina.
  • Stamina 4 counselors (A.J., Adam, Chad) have 100 Stamina.
  • Stamina 3 counselors (Deborah) have 99 Stamina (this is the only one that is a bit weird; the difference between 3 and 4 Stamina seems to be very minor).
  • Stamina 2 counselors (Eric) have 95 Stamina.


Effective Break Points for Stamina
  • GOOD: Stamina 7-10 (able to jog for more than ~2:15 with full meter)
  • AVERAGE: Stamina 4-6 (able to jog for more than ~1:52 with full meter)
  • BAD: Stamina 1-3 (cannot jog for more than ~1:52 with full meter)
Stealth
This stat determines how much noise is generated on Jason's HUD (i.e. the white pings that he sees in the distance). Note that this is conclusively the only thing in the game that is affected by Stealth (in other words, Stealth has nothing to do with Fear, or Jason's Sense ability). Like Composure, Stealth suffers from diminishing returns as the match goes on. It is most useful for finding items and fixing objectives early in a match, but it is nearly irrelevant in the late game.


Noise Generation Thresholds
Here are the thresholds for noise generated by various types of movement.
  • Stealth 9+ counselors (A.J., Tiffany, Tommy, Deborah) only generate noise when sprinting (they can jog silently).
  • Stealth 6+ counselors (Eric, Chad, Jenny) generate noise when sprinting or jogging (they must walk or crouch to remain silent).
  • Stealth <6 counselors (Kenny, Adam, Brandon, Vanessa) generate noise when sprinting, jogging, or walking (they must crouch to remain silent).
There's a Reddit thread that corroborates high-Stealth counselors' ability to jog silently, with a video if you are curious.

Using your flashlight, repairing stuff, barricading/locking doors, using the radio to call Tommy, and talking on your microphone do not appear to generate noise pings under any circumstance. The primary source of noise seems to be movement.


Noise and Distance
The noise pings that Jason receives are based on the counselor's movement speed, their Stealth stat, and their distance from Jason on the map. Note that Fear level has nothing to do with this range, and Sense does not allow Jason to expand his noise detection range by even a single step. Here is how each counselor stacks up against Jason Part 2, from quietest to loudest, while jogging.
  • A.J. (Stealth 10), Tiffany (Stealth 10), and Deborah (Stealth 9) do not generate any noise pings at all while jogging, even if Jason is standing right in front of them.
  • Jenny (Stealth 6). She is an odd anomaly; my conclusion is that she secretly has a much higher ~8.5 Stealth, despite what the game claims.
  • Eric (Stealth 8).
  • Chad (Stealth 6).
  • Kenny (Stealth 5).
  • Adam (Stealth 3).
  • Brandon (Stealth 2). He generates noise pings for Jason at almost any point on the map, unless they are at opposite corners.
  • Vanessa (Stealth 1). Same deal as Brandon, except even more extreme.
Note that once Jason enters Rage, his noise detection range is reduced dramatically, across the board. For example, Vanessa (Stealth 1) effectively receives a +7 Stealth bonus when Rage is active, making her equivalent to Eric.

Here is a collection of screenshots that show the exact maximum distance at which Jason Part 2 receives noise pings from an undamaged counselor, who is at the shotgun spawn inside Packanack Lodge, with all exit doors locked, lights and flashlight on, at zero Fear. One step beyond this, in all cases, is enough to allow the counselor to jog silently (the screens are a bit different for Vanessa and Brandon, since Jason's range against them is so vast).

Vanessa (Stealth 1)
Vanessa (Stealth 1, during Rage)
Brandon (Stealth 2)
Adam (Stealth 3)
Kenny (Stealth 5)
Chad (Stealth 6)
Jenny (Stealth 6)
Eric (Stealth 8)

These distances hold true for every Jason except Part 7, who has better hearing due to what I assume is a bug (props to Reddit user jessehiraya for discovering this -- check out this thread for video evidence). And again, Deborah, A.J., and Tiffany do not generate noise pings at all when jogging.


Effective Break Points for Stealth
  • GOOD: Stealth 9-10 (can jog silently)
  • AVERAGE: Stealth 6-8 (can walk silently)
  • BAD: Stealth 1-5 (can only crouch silently)
Strength
This stat affects melee weapon attack damage. As mentioned in the Composure section, Strength is also a coefficient for that stat when attempting to break free from Jason's grab.


Melee Attack Damage
Here is approximately how many regular hits it takes each counselor to demask Jason Part 7 with the machete, at full health, from a standing (non-combat stance) position. Slight caveat: I could stand to do slightly more testing with Adam and Vanessa to solidify these ranges, but I'm confident enough in this data to put my findings out here.
  • Strength 10 counselors (Brandon, Tommy) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~3-5 hits.
  • Strength 8 counselors (Adam) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~4-5 hits.
  • Strength 5 counselors (Kenny) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~5-6 hits.
  • Strength 4 counselors (Vanessa) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~6-8 hits.
  • Strength 3 counselors (Chad, Eric) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~6-9 hits.
  • Strength 2 counselors (A.J., Tiffany) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~7-9 hits.
  • Strength 1 counselors (Deborah, Jenny) demask Jason Part 7 with the machete in ~8-9 hits.
Heavy attacks (holding the mouse button, or attacking from combat stance) deal more damage to Jason, generally moving the demask range a couple of notches in teh counselor's favor. I haven't done a thorough test with each counselor, but for example: With heavy attacks, Brandon can demask Jason in ~2-3 machete hits, Kenny can demask Jason in ~3-6 machete hits, and Jenny can demask Jason in ~5-8 machete hits.

If you're going for a Jason kill, it might make the most sense to go after him with either Brandon or Adam (who, incidentally, both get 4 hits out of a machete before it breaks). In practice, since Tommy is required to kill Jason anyway, he's your best bet in a coordinated group.

Damaged counselors deal less damage as well. In a staggered state (half health), I have seen Brandon take up to 6 machete hits and Jenny take up to 12 machete hits to demask Jason Part 7, which indicates that there is a percentage-based damage scale that is impacted by counselor health.


Effective Break Points for Strength
  • GOOD: Strength 8-10 (reliably demask Jason inside of 5 hits/1 machete)
  • AVERAGE: Strength 4-7 (reliably demask Jason inside of 8 hits/1-2 machetes)
  • BAD: Strength 1-3 (potentially demask Jason in more than 8 hits/2+ machetes)
Stun
Based on some pretty thorough and particularly time-consuming research, I've concluded that there is a strong possibility that Stun is effectively an 8th hidden stat. At the very least, stun chance definitively has nothing to do with Luck, Strength, or any other stat. I have tried to correlate my data with the sum of every possible combination of 2, 3, and 4 stats, and nothing lines up.

Also, remember that Jason can block stuns while in combat stance, and he has a small window of stun invincibility (~5 seconds) when he recovers from any stun.


Stun Chance
The following stun chance results were collected by hitting Jason Part 7 with a wrench 50 times with each counselor, from a regular standing (non-combat stance) position, outside of Packanack Lodge where the car spawns. Note that a stun with any melee weapon always results in a knockdown, 100% of the time, as long as Jason has adequate space to fall backwards (that is, he is not blocked by counselors, objects, or uneven terrain). I have tested this with the baseball bat, frying pan, machete, pot, and wrench.
  • Chad has an 80% stun chance with the wrench (40 of 50 hits).
  • Brandon has a 72% stun chance with the wrench (36 of 50 hits).
  • Eric has a 70% stun chance with the wrench (35 of 50 hits).
  • Vanessa has a 70% stun chance with the wrench (35 of 50 hits).
  • Kenny has a 68% stun chance with the wrench (34 of 50 hits).
  • Tiffany has a 68% stun chance with the wrench (34 of 50 hits).
  • A.J. has a 66% stun chance with the wrench (33 of 50 hits).
  • Deborah has a 66% stun chance with the wrench (33 of 50 hits).
  • Jenny has a 60% stun chance with the wrench (30 of 50 hits).
  • Adam has a 52% stun chance with the wrench (26 of 50 hits).
  • No stun data for Tommy yet.
The wrench has an overall average stun rate of 67% (336 of 500 hits) across all counselors. Note that I have not tested any other weapon this extensively. I assume that the frying pan and pot both have the exact same properties as the wrench (given that they have the same number of Stun, Damage, and Durability pips in the "How To Play" tutorial).

There's also a possibility that individual counselors themselves have no impact on stun rate, and that it all comes from the weapon itself. (which would be consistent with the baseball bat, which always has a 100% stun chance for every counselor). That said, that's one heck of a 28% spread between Chad and Adam. Please take this particular section with a grain of salt -- and if you can add anything useful to this data, I'd love to hear it.


Stun Duration
I've recorded the following approximate stun durations for Jason, with various weapons used by Brandon and Chad. This is consistent across all Jasons -- even Jason Part 3 (who has a stated -Stun Resistance weakness) and Jason Part 9 (who has a stated +Stun Resistance strength).
  • Firecracker (spotting effect): Stunned for 7.5 seconds.
  • Flare Gun (spotting effect): Stunned for 11 seconds.
  • Flare Gun (headshot w/ knockdown): Stunned for 14 seconds (or 36 button taps to rise from knockdown).
  • Baseball Bat/Wrench (knockdown): Stunned for 14 seconds (or 36 button taps to rise from knockdown).
  • Shotgun (knockdown): Stunned for 18 seconds (or 50 button taps to rise from knockdown -- Jason Part 9 might need slightly less).
Stun duration might be impacted by Strength, but the timings above did not change substantially between high- and low-Strength counselors. I definitely need to test this more thoroughly. At the very least, I have seen enough video evidence to conclude that there are other duration-related factors that I don't fully understand just yet.
Health
I'm not sure how much health each counselor has in terms of actual specific hit points, but each counselor has the same amount of health and takes the same damage from each source (with the exception of traps).


Damage Sources
Here is some data on how many hits it takes for each damage source to stagger and kill a counselor from full health. This is true for every regular counselor (I have not thoroughly tested Tommy yet).
  • 5 weapon strikes to kill a counselor (staggered after 3 hits).
  • 3 improved weapon strikes (+Weapon Strength trait) to kill a counselor (staggered after 2 hits).
  • 4 throwing knives to kill a counselor (staggered after 2 hits).
  • 2 two-story falls to kill a counselor (staggered after 1 hit).
  • 7 broken glass cuts to kill a counselor (staggered after 3 hits). I used both A.J. and Chad for this test (leaping through broken windows until staggered, then climbing), and ran it several times to account for Luck; the results were exactly the same each time.
  • See the Luck section for detailed information on trap damage, as this is affected by each counselor's Luck value.


Damage vs. Blocked Attacks
Blocking Jason's attacks in combat stance causes counselors to take substantially less damage. I have not tested every counselor against each of Jason's attacks (weapon strike, improved weapon strike, and throwing knives), but here's what limited information I have gathered so far. Block damage seems to be affected by at least one stat (most likely Strength). Here is how many normal weapon strikes it takes for Jason Part 7 to kill several counselors who are blocking each attack with whatever weapons are available.
  • Brandon dies after blocking 26 weapon strikes (staggered after 13 hits).
  • Kenny dies after blocking 25 weapon strikes (staggered after 13 hits).
  • Jenny dies after blocking 24 weapon strikes (staggered after 12 hits).
Fear
I've broken Fear out into a separate section -- partly because the Composure section ran up against the character limit, and partly because I want to make this very clear to everyone who currently misunderstands the way that the Fear and hiding mechanics work, and what contributes to them. The bottom line is that Composure and Stealth have nothing to do with Jason's ability to Sense you, beyond Composure influencing the rate at which you gain and lose Fear.


Fear Levels
There are four Fear levels in the game. Higher Composure, as noted above, slows the rate at which Fear ticks up. You can reduce your Fear level by using hiding spots (beds, closets, and tents); this causes Fear to diminish rapidly, so long as the area you're in is well-lit. Your flashlight also reduces Fear, as do other illuminated areas (cabins, lamp posts, campfires). Note that hiding in a dark cabin will not reduce your Fear level. The higher your Fear level, the slower your Stamina regenerates.

Here are the four Fear levels.
  • Level 1 (Calm): Relaxed face. No Fear at all.
  • Level 2 (Nervous): Slightly widened eyes; counselor looks over their shoulder occasionally. Some Fear.
  • Level 3 (Afraid): Fearful face; dropped jaw; fight-or-flight posture; constant nervous glances. Substantial Fear, and makes you much more likely to stumble while running. If you're not hiding, you'll light up like a Christmas tree on Jason's Sense. If you are in a hiding spot, this is the point where Jason can start to hear you shriek in terror.
  • Level 4 (Hysterical): Full Fear. As above, but your HUD disappears. The Nerves of Steel perk will prevent minimap loss.


Fear, Hiding, and Jason's Sense
The Composure stat itself has nothing to do with Jason's Sense ability. In others words, it doesn't matter whether you're playing Chad (Composure 1) or Jenny (Composure 10) -- Jason will always be able to Sense you from the same distance under the same conditions, making you or your cabin glow red as long as he is within range to do so. The actual value of your Composure stat does not affect this range in any way, and it does not reduce Jason's chance to Sense you. Higher Fear allows Jason to detect you from further away, and on top of this, his Sense radius naturally expands as the match goes on. Note that counselors will never glow red while they are inside cabins -- only the cabin itself will, allowing them some breathing room to evade Jason while indoors.

Equipping Sense avoidance perks introduces the possibility that Jason will fail his Sense check. Please see the Perks section for more details.

Hiding spots (beds, closets, tents, and outhouses) are extraordinarily binary. Prior to unlocking his Rage ability, Jason can never Sense you while you are in a hiding spot. He can cut the power, max out your Fear, destroy everything in and around your hiding spot, and even damage you to the brink of death -- but until he has Rage, there is absolutely zero chance that his Sense ability will make your cabin glow red if you are in a hiding spot. This is true even if he witnesses you exiting the hiding spot, and then getting right back in; the cabin will never glow red pre-Rage (although, note that he can still hear your counselor's breathing and cries if you are afraid and he is nearby). On the flip side, once Jason receives Rage, there is nothing you can do to keep off his Sense radar. Your location will glow red no matter your Fear level.

Here are screens that show the exact maximum distance at which Jason Part 2 can Sense a counselor, who is at the shotgun spawn inside Packanack Lodge, with all exit doors locked, lights and flashlight on, at zero Fear. I've also included screens for Jenny vs. +Sense and -Sense Jason traits, Chad and Jenny crouched indoors, outdoor comparison screens for A.J./Chad/Jenny (flashlight off and zero Fear), and Jenny outside of line-of-sight (which does not make any difference at all). Sense is unaffected by the flashlight.

Note: These screens were captured at equivalent points during the match, in-between the time that Jason unlocks Shift and Stalk. Based on this data, there is no significant difference for Jason's Sense detection range vs. any counselor, and Composure does not impact this one bit.

Chad (Composure 1)
Tiffany (Composure 3)
Vanessa (Composure 3)
Brandon (Composure 4)
Eric (Composure 4)
Deborah (Composure 5)
Kenny (Composure 5)
A.J. (Composure 7)
Adam (Composure 7)
Jenny (Composure 10)
Jenny (Composure 10, vs. +Sense)
Jenny (Composure 10, vs. -Sense)

Chad (Composure 1, crouching)
Jenny (Composure 10, crouching)
Chad (Composure 1, outdoors)
A.J. (Composure 7, outdoors)
Jenny (Composure 10, outdoors)
Jenny (Composure 10, outdoors beyond LoS)

Everything stated in this section is equally true for all Jasons, including those with -Sense and +Sense traits.

Again, this data was all collected in private 1v1 matches, under controlled circumstances. I think there is certainly some room to experiment in full lobbies as well, and I am not ruling out the possibility that things could perhaps look different with more variables (AKA 6 more counselors) in the mix. I am simply providing the results of the tests that I have described here. I personally believe that this study, in and of itself, is substantial enough to draw some pretty powerful conclusions about the value of Composure.
Perks
I've decided to consolidate all perk-related information into one section, to help make it easier for me to update the guide in the future, and to help you quickly find what useful information I have learned. Outside of what is specifically mentioned in this section, I have not done any other extensive research on perks, as the lottery and varying rarities makes this a very challenging prospect. I will continue to research these on a case-by-case basis.

Home Body, Level Headed, and Low Profile
Equipping Sense avoidance perks gives Jason a chance to fail his Sense roll; as an example, with a combination of these three perks adding up to 53% Sense avoidance, Jason fails his Sense check approximately half the time (ascertained from 50 Sense attempts vs. this perk loadout).

Lightfoot
This perk is especially useful on A.J. Using the rare (orange) version of Lightfoot (+11% noise reduction bonus when sprinting), she ceases to generate noise when sprinting, even when standing right in front of Jason. Curiously, this does not work on Tiffany, despite her identical Stealth stat; with Lightfoot equipped, Tiffany can only sprint silently while outside of Jason's music cue range.

Man at Arms
The common (blue) Man at Arms perk (+12% weapon durability increase) does not affect weapon durability in any way, making this perk effectively worthless (tested on A.J., Kenny, and Chad with the baseball bat, machete, and wrench). I have not yet been able to try this perk out at higher levels.

Restful
Here is how much an uncommon (yellow) Restful perk (+9% Stamina regen rate) improves your Stamina regeneration. As with regular Stamina gain, this is consistent for every counselor, including Tommy. I tested these numbers in the same way that I tested normal Stamina regen, outlined in the Stamina section.
  • 8.75 seconds while standing still, with your flashlight on (normally 9.5 seconds).
  • 9 seconds while standing still, under a lamp post (normally 10.5 seconds).
  • 10.5 seconds while standing still, with your flashlight off (normally 12 seconds).
  • 12.5 seconds while crouching (normally 13.5 seconds).

Sucker Punch
I conducted my wrench stun test (as outlined in the Stun section) with Chad using the rare (orange) Sucker Punch perk (+20% bonus to melee stun chance). It resulted in a 62% stun chance with the wrench (31 of 50 hits), so I think it's safe to say at this time that Sucker Punch is a worthless/broken perk.

Swift Attacker
An uncommon (yellow) Swift Attacker perk (+13% attack speed) decreases melee weapon swing times to approximately 1.9 seconds (axe and baseball bat) and 1.5 seconds (all other melee weapons).

Thick Skinned
Here is how much a rare (orange) Thick Skinned perk (+17% attack damage resistance) improves your health pool vs. various damage sources. I tested these numbers in the same way that I tested normal damage, outlined in the Health section.
  • 8 weapon strikes to kill a counselor (staggered after 4 hits), up from 5 strikes with no perks. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 15 strikes.)
  • 4 improved weapon strikes (+Weapon Strength trait) to kill a counselor (staggered after 2 hits), up from 3 strikes with no perks. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 8 strikes.)
  • 5 throwing knives to kill a counselor (staggered after 3 hits), up from 4 knives with no perks. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 6 knives.)
  • 3 two-story falls to kill a counselor (staggered after 2 hits), up from 2 falls with no perks. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 4 falls.)
  • 9 glass cuts to kill a counselor (staggered after 4 hits), up from 7 glass cuts with no perks. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 12 glass cuts.)
  • 3-4 traps to kill a counselor based on Luck (staggered after 2 hits), up from 2-3 traps with no perks. Chad and Tommy can take 4 traps; all other counselors can only take 3. (NOTE: The pre-nerf 41% Thick Skinned was 3-5 traps based on Luck.)
Conclusion
And that's it. I will continue to update and refine this guide, and add more research as I tackle other topics on my list. Again, if you find this guide useful, please rate it to help with visibility.


Things Left To Do
Here are some ideas for things I plan to look into for future updates.
  • Figure out the approximate percentage of HP each med spray heals.
  • Add some information about combat stance (heavy swings, blocking, and dodging).
  • Take a closer look at the Marathon perk.
  • Time jog and sprint efficiency for counselors who are at full Fear.
  • Time swimming, walking, and crouching movement speeds, and how Low Profile impacts crouching.
  • Do some more research on how many machete hits it takes each counselor to demask Jason with heavy attacks.
  • Figure out how many machete hits it takes to demask Jason while he is blocking.
  • Do more research on damage and weapon durability vs. blocked attacks.
  • Figure out other weapons' stun rates, under the same conditions that I used for the wrench. It would be great if I can conclusively prove whether individual counselors have an innate impact on stun chance. Doubt I'll ever get to this alone -- this is something that needs to be crowdsourced.
  • Explore the theory that perks are static lotteries depending on which counselor is selected when you roll. This is totally unsubstantiated, but I've heard it claimed. It will be really hard to ascertain this.

Special thanks to YerBoyDrew, Reddit user Warston, and Steam users MaffickMartin and Pastah for all their help with gathering up this nerdy nonsense, and to Pappus for providing valuable context and high-level feedback (you should watch his videos for some really in-depth gameplay advice).


My Other Friday the 13th Guides
Here are the rest of my Friday the 13th: The Game guides, for your reading pleasure:


About Me/Disclosure
My name is Ryan Scott. I spent eight years as a full-time editor and critic for popular publications like Computer Gaming World, Electronic Gaming Monthly, 1UP, and GameSpy. I've also got a couple of popular podcasts that I'd love for you to check out -- The Geekbox[www.geekbox.net] (a weekly show about video games and lots of other pop culture) and The Comedy Button[www.comedybutton.com] (a weekly show about... utter nonsense). You can also follow me on Twitter.

I am currently a professional video game consultant, which means that I collaborate with developers who are actively working on games, and help to make them a little bit better. I feel it pertinent to disclose that I contracted for Friday the 13th developer Gun Media from about 2011-2012, back when they did this kind of consultation work (before they got into game development). I have nothing to do with Friday the 13th, but I obviously sure do like it a lot.
107 Comments
Pops Ghostly 30 Jul, 2023 @ 8:38am 
This is an impressive amount of work/data. Well done, and thank you!
Chalon 30 Oct, 2022 @ 10:03am 
how to jog as a counselor
PandaDuhhh 4 Dec, 2021 @ 10:51pm 
anyone Know how to get them Tapes?
Butcher Pete 2 Nov, 2021 @ 5:50am 
good shit
TIGERJM 12 May, 2021 @ 12:21pm 
gg
LieutenantDevil 29 Mar, 2020 @ 9:54am 
@Rydog Dead By Daylight is trash, survivors get nerfed more and more through each update and killers get buffed. Safe to say this game is better.
Printers 12 Feb, 2020 @ 2:46am 
Dead By Daylight is trash
MOHAX 22 Dec, 2019 @ 4:34am 
Wow, great guide, so much work... wow
Rydog  [author] 17 Jun, 2019 @ 12:26pm 
Guys, it's been almost 2 years. Game's done. Guides ain't getting updated anymore. Go play Dead by Daylight, like anyone else who wants a game that's actively worked on in this genre. The F13 developers dropped the ball in every conceivable way. It's over.
Guitarman 16 Jun, 2019 @ 11:01am 
you forgot to add to the strength section on hitting jasons face. jasons face hitbox will affect how much damage it will take before he is demasked