Players who regularly step into the shoes of the Slaughter Family in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre have learned to fear Leland McKinney. With the right combination of Perks and Attributes, Leland can completely change the rules of the cat-and-mouse game at the heart of TCSM and send Family members running for the hills. This guide will show you how to craft a Leland build that can hit a Family member so hard that their weapon of choice will fly into a neighboring county.
The Best Loadout for Leland in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Table of Contents
Best Leland Skill Tree Path in TCSM
You’ll want to hang a left as soon as you start your journey up Leland’s Skill Tree in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, collecting all the nodes you can until you reach the first (technically second) branch. There, you’ll want to go right and pick up Strength.
From there, head up until the next branch and head right to claim Toughness. From there, head up and left to get Radar Detection, and keep ascending until you reach the final fork in the road. Head right and claim Agitator, then use whatever Skill Points you have left to claim any unclaimed Perks and Extra Attribute Points you haven’t already.
One of the best things about the optimal Leland build is that you don’t need to rely on Random Perks, so you probably won’t need to Respec and start over to get anything essential. That being said, Repecing costs nothing, so you can reset your Skill Tree as many times as you like if you feel Leland’s standard Perks aren’t quite to your liking.
Related: Best Texas Chain Saw Massacre Leatherface Build: Skill Tree, Perks, and Attributes
Best Leland Life Saver Abilities in TCSM
- Level 1 — Increased Stun Duration I
- Level 2 — Restore Stamina II
- Level 3 — Quicker Recharge III
Choosing Increased Stun Duration I at Level 1 increases the time a Family member that Leland hits is stunned to 10 seconds. This allows Leland to save a teammate from peril while giving him time to get away or ready a Bone Shard before the Family member on the receiving end of Life Saver recovers.
Restore Stamina II does precisely what it says on the box, allowing Leland to recover 60 Stamina points after he hits a Family member with Life Saver. This synergizes well with Stun Duration I’s additional stun time, giving Leland time to ensure his allies get away or focus on unblocking an escape route.
Finally, Quicker Recharge III reduces Life Saver’s recharge time to 126 seconds. This means that Leland will have more opportunities to take down Family members and protect his allies, which he will probably be able to use thanks to the additional stun time and stamina boost granted by Life Saver’s previous two upgrades.
Best Leland Perks in TCSM
- Toughness
- Empowered
- Endurance
Toughness gives Lenand one chance to reduce the damage he takes when he’s attacked by a Family member by 40%, with the number going from 60% to 80% as Toughness levels up. You’ll be throwing yourself into the thick of danger with disturbing regularity while playing as Leland, so having a way to reduce incoming damage is excellent.
Empowered adds 2 seconds to the time Leland stuns a Familym ember after a Sneak Attack or a successful Close Encounter, increasing to 5 seconds once fully leveled up. Leland’s whole stick is stunning his enemies and buying his allies valuable time, so anything that increases the time he can keep a Family member from moving is welcome.
Endurance allows Leland to regain 10 Health Points and 50% of his maximum Stamina whenever he survives a close encounter with a Family member. Leland is, once again, only beneficial to his teammates if he’s alive, and the additional bonuses to stun time given to him by his other Perks and Ability Upgrades ensure that he’ll be able to keep away from the Family long enough to recover his lost Health and Stamina.
Related: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Victim Tier List: Best Survivors, Ranked
Best Leland Attribute Point Allocation in TCSM
- 30 Toughness
- 30 Endurance
- 40 Strength
- 30 Proficiency
- 25 Stealth
Leland’s greatest weakness is his abysmal Stealth stat, and unlike all of his other Attributes, his Perks and Ability Bonuses don’t accommodate this glaring flaw. Pouring a few Attribute Points into his Stealth will help Leland stay hidden from the Family, giving him chances to set up ambushes by waiting for family members to pass by none the wiser.
Leland’s Health pool isn’t as deep as Ana’s, so it wouldn’t hurt to invest some Attribute Points into it to ensure he survives one-on-one bouts with the Family. Finally, putting a few points into Leland’s Proficiency stat will help him pick up the flak if the team’s Connie goes down early.
That’s our guide on building the ultimate Leland. But why stop there? If you are facing off against a seemingly unkillable Leland, check out our Johnny build guide to create a Slaughter who can bring Leland to his knees.
- This article was updated on August 29th, 2023
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