Almost every Hillbilly guide currently on the first page of Google is copying a reference page that has not been re-read since 2024. That is not a guess: the community wiki article on Max Thompson Jr. still calls him one of 41 Killers — the live roster is 44, and the three it is missing are named in Behaviour's own patch notes: The First (Patch 9.4.0, 27 January 2026), The Slasher (Patch 10.0.0, 16 June 2026) and The Judgment (Patch 10.1.0, 25 August 2026). The same page labels his power description "based on the changes announced for or featured in the upcoming Patch 8.3.0". Patch 8.3.0 went live on 8 October 2024, nearly two years ago.
This guide is written against Patch 10.1.2a, live since 17 September 2026, and every number below is traced to the patch note that set it.
Quick answer: The Hillbilly is a 4.6 m/s Killer whose chainsaw is an instant-down mobility power. Chainsaw Sprint moves at 10.12 m/s, rising to 12 m/s for 20 seconds once the Overdrive meter fills at 20 charges. His last balance pass was Patch 8.3.0 (8 October 2024); Patch 10.2.0's PTB contains zero Hillbilly changes, so nothing about him is about to move. Best add-ons: Spiked Boots and Dad's Boots for turn rate, Iridescent Engravings for raw sprint speed. Best perks: Bamboozle, Lethal Pursuer, Pop Goes the Weasel and an aura or info perk. To counter him, hold tight loops and force him into obstacles rather than running long, open lines.
What does The Hillbilly do in Dead by Daylight right now?
He walks at 4.6 m/s like most Killers, then trades all of that for a straight-line sprint that downs healthy Survivors in one hit. Holding the power button charges the chainsaw for 2.5 seconds and breaks him into a Chainsaw Sprint at 10.12 m/s — more than double Survivor running speed. The cost is manoeuvrability: he gets a violent 412 degrees per second initial turn rate for exactly 1 second, then drops to 32 degrees per second for the rest of the sprint. That one-second window is the whole skill ceiling of the Killer.
Miss, and the chainsaw punishes you. Cooldowns are 2.7 seconds on a hit, 2.5 seconds into an obstacle, 2.7 seconds on a whiff, and 1 second when you use it to break a pallet or breakable wall. The chainsaw is also loud: its noise carries 60 metres, so every rev tells the lobby exactly where you are.
That kit is the result of a full rework. Patch 7.5.0, live on 30 January 2024, rebuilt the power around an Overdrive meter and pushed Chainsaw Sprint from 9.2 m/s to 10.12 m/s, cut the hit cooldown from 3 seconds to 2.7, and raised movement during the miss cooldown to 2.3 m/s (it had been 1.38 m/s). It also shrank the chainsaw's collision volume so he stopped catching on scenery mid-sprint — a change with no number attached that did more for him than most of the numeric ones.
What are the exact Overdrive numbers on Patch 10.1.2a?
Overdrive is a meter, not a cooldown. Revving and sprinting both fill it; standing around drains it. Once it is full, the chainsaw is enhanced for 20 seconds.
| Overdrive stat | Current value | Set by |
|---|---|---|
| Activation threshold | 20 charges | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Charge gained while revving | +1.5 per second | Patch 8.3.0 |
| Charge gained during Chainsaw Sprint | +1.5 per second | Patch 8.3.0 |
| Dissipation when not using the chainsaw | −1 per second | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Decay delay before draining starts | 8 seconds | Patch 8.3.0 |
| Rev buffer (anti-tapping) | 0.5 seconds | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Duration once triggered | 20 seconds | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Chainsaw Sprint speed in Overdrive | 12 m/s | Patch 8.3.0 |
| Charge speed bonus | +5 percent | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Cooldown reduction | −10 percent | Patch 7.5.0 |
| Transition time in and out of Overdrive speed | 1 second | Patch 7.5.0 |
The 8.3.0 pass was a nerf and Behaviour was explicit about the numbers. The live notes read, verbatim: "Decrease Overdrive dissipation buffer to 8 seconds (was 15 seconds)", "Decrease Overdrive chainsaw sprint speed to 12 m/s (was 13 m/s)", "Decrease Overdrive charges gained when revving to 1.5/second (was 2/second)" and "Increase the Chainsaw miss cooldown to 2.7 seconds (was 2.5 seconds)".
There is a detail almost nobody reports: the PTB for 8.3.0 tried 11.5 m/s for the Overdrive sprint, and the live patch walked it back up to 12 m/s before release. If a guide tells you Overdrive is 13 m/s or 11.5 m/s, it is quoting either the pre-nerf value or a test build that never shipped.
Which Hillbilly facts do the reference pages still get wrong?
We checked the community reference pages against Behaviour's published notes. These are the mismatches that are live right now.
| Claim you will still find | What the patch notes say |
|---|---|
| "One of 41 Killers" | 44, after The First, The Slasher and The Judgment |
| Power description tagged "upcoming Patch 8.3.0" | 8.3.0 shipped 8 October 2024 |
| Add-on descriptions tagged "upcoming Patch 7.5.0" | 7.5.0 shipped 30 January 2024 |
| Tinkerer tagged "upcoming Patch 6.1.0" | 6.1.0 shipped 19 July 2022 |
| 2v8 chainsaw "no longer deals double damage", +44 percent turn rate | Instantly downs healthy Survivors, +30 percent turn rate |
| Movement during chainsaw cooldown listed as 1.84 m/s | Behaviour set miss-cooldown movement to 2.3 m/s in 7.5.0 |
That last row is a genuine unresolved conflict rather than simple staleness: the wiki trivia figure of 1.84 m/s matches neither the old 1.38 m/s nor the 2.3 m/s that Patch 7.5.0 announced. We are citing the patch note and flagging the discrepancy rather than pretending it is settled. The same habit applies across the game — we ran into it while building our DBD killer tier list, where several mid-tier Killers are still ranked on values that were changed two years ago.
How do you actually curve a chainsaw?
Curving is the technique that separates a Hillbilly who threatens loops from one who only threatens open ground: you start the sprint before the corner and use the initial turn-rate window to wrap the wall or rock the Survivor is hugging.
Most players ask the same question — they either start the turn too early and slide wide, or too late and eat the obstacle. There is an objective answer to what counts, because Patch 7.5.0 added score events with hard thresholds. A Curve is scored when you turn "a minimum of 80 degrees within 1 second of using the Chainsaw", and a Curve Hit is scored when you land a chainsaw hit "within 2 seconds of getting the Curve score event".
Those two lines are the training drill. The turn has to happen inside the same one-second window as the 412 degrees per second turn rate, and the hit has to land within two seconds of it. If your Curve score event fires but Curve Hit does not, you are curving correctly and committing too late. If neither fires, you started the sprint too far from the corner. Behaviour also added Sprinter (a sprint of 4 seconds or longer) and Sprint Hit (a chainsaw hit after travelling more than 32 metres), which are the map-pressure equivalents.
Is The Hillbilly different in 2v8?
Yes, and this is the most-repeated error about him. In the 2v8 mode he uses a reduced Innate Skill rather than his full power, and the widely-copied description of that skill is out of date.
Behaviour's 2V8 Developer Update, published 11 November 2024, states plainly: "The Chainsaw will now instantly down healthy Survivors." and "Decreased Chainsaw turn rate bonus to 30% (was 44%)." The reference pages still describe the 2v8 chainsaw as dealing single damage with a +44 percent turn bonus. If you queue into 2v8 expecting a chainsaw that only injures, you will misplay every chase.
This matters today specifically. The current 2v8 run — version 9, the Alien edition, with 16 playable Killers including The Hillbilly — is scheduled to end on 29 September 2026. If you want to practise the cut-down chainsaw before it goes away, you have a day. We covered the wider mode rules in our 2v8 September 2026 breakdown.
Which Hillbilly add-ons are worth running?
Patch 8.3.0 reshuffled both the rarities and the values, so old tier lists misprice several of them.
Top tier. Spiked Boots, now Very Rare, adds +30 percent Chainsaw Sprint turn speed — it was Uncommon and +45 percent before 8.3.0, so it is both rarer and weaker than older guides claim, and still his single best add-on, because turn rate decides whether a loop is chainsawable. Iridescent Engravings is the other ceiling-raiser: +20 percent Chainsaw Sprint movement speed at the cost of +12 percent charge time.
Strong. Dad's Boots moved to Rare and now gives +20 percent turn speed (was Common, +30 percent). It is the budget Spiked Boots. Clogged Intake extends Overdrive by +15 percent, and Ragged Engine cuts the meter's dissipation speed by −30 percent, which is the closest thing he has to permanent uptime.
Cheaper than they used to be. Discarded Air Filter dropped to Common and High-Speed Idler Screw dropped to Uncommon in 8.3.0. They extend the Overdrive decay delay by +20 percent and +30 percent respectively, so the meter-sustain package is now cheap enough to run every match.
Read the downside first. Cracked Primer Bulb and Off-Brand Motor Oil both give +15 percent Overdrive charge rate, but Cracked Primer Bulb also makes chainsaw hits deal a single health state — you trade the instant down for a faster meter, which is almost never worth it. Tuned Carburettor gives +20 percent chainsaw charge speed and permanently drops his base movement to 4.4 m/s. Counterweight cuts the initial turn rate by −70 percent, deliberately trading curving for stability.
Understand LoPro Chains before you slot it. It lets you continue a Chainsaw Sprint straight through breakable walls and dropped pallets, breaking them on the way — but healthy Survivors hit within 5 seconds of that are only damaged for one health state, and injured Survivors get Deep Wound instead of going down. Patch 8.3.0 set that second half explicitly: chainsaw hits within 5 seconds of breaking a pallet inflict Deep Wound on injured Survivors "(instead of the Dying State)". Any guide still selling LoPro Chains as a free down through pallets is two years stale.
Stealth is a real playstyle, not a meme. Apex Muffler silences the chainsaw for every Survivor outside your Terror Radius, and Filthy Slippers grants Undetectable once you have held a Chainsaw Sprint for 2 seconds. Against the 60-metre chainsaw noise radius that is a genuine ambush package — it just trades map pressure for surprise.
What are the best perks for The Hillbilly in 2026?
He is a mobility Killer with no innate information and no innate loop-breaking, so the build fills exactly those two holes.
Bamboozle is close to mandatory. His hardest counterplay is windows — a Survivor who holds a strong window loop simply cannot be chainsawed — and blocking the vault converts an unwinnable tile into a curve opportunity.
Lethal Pursuer is unusually strong on him specifically. Most Killers cannot reach an aura revealed at the start of the trial before it expires. At 10.12 m/s he can. It is the difference between a slow first minute and a first down before the first generator pops.
Pop Goes the Weasel is the regression perk that fits his tempo, because he is fast enough to reach a generator after a hook and still catch the next chase. The classic four is Bamboozle, Lethal Pursuer, Pop and an information perk such as Barbecue and Chilli or Infectious Fright — Infectious pairing naturally with a power that downs instantly and often near other Survivors.
One anti-synergy is worth spelling out: Nowhere to Hide wants you kicking generators, while Pain Resonance and Dead Man's Switch — itself reworked in the 10.2.0 PTB — want you off the kick button. Running all three means one is dead weight in every pattern. Pick one or the other.
His own three perks — Enduring, Lightborn and Tinkerer — are a mixed bag on him. Tinkerer is a genuine stealth-Hillbilly enabler because Undetectable plus a 10 m/s approach is a real ambush. Lightborn is a comfort pick that becomes a wasted slot once your curving is good enough to avoid pallet-save angles. Full perk context is in our best killer perks tier list.
How do you counter The Hillbilly as a Survivor?
Geometry beats him; distance does not. Every counter below follows from two numbers: a 1-second turn window and a 2.5 to 2.7 second punish on a miss.
Never run a long straight line. In the open he covers ground at more than double your speed and the chainsaw downs you from healthy. Break line of sight toward structures, not across fields.
Hold tight loops and short walls. The 32 degrees per second late-sprint turn rate means he cannot correct once the initial window closes. A small rock or a tight jungle gym forces him to either cancel the sprint or crash and give you 2.5 seconds.
Bait the rev. He has to commit 2.5 seconds of charge time and the chainsaw is audible from 60 metres. Change direction after you hear the rev, not before.
Respect windows, not pallets. Windows are his hard counter, which is exactly why good Hillbillies run Bamboozle. If he has it, treat the tile as a pallet loop instead.
Watch for Overdrive. For 20 seconds after his meter fills he is at 12 m/s with faster charges. Go to a generator far from him; do not try a clever loop.
FAQ
Is The Hillbilly good in 2026? He is strong in skilled hands and mediocre otherwise. He has had no balance change since Patch 8.3.0 in October 2024 and the Patch 10.2.0 PTB from 15 September 2026 contains no Hillbilly changes at all, so his position is stable.
What is the fastest The Hillbilly can move? 12 m/s, during a Chainsaw Sprint while Overdrive is active. Without Overdrive the sprint is 10.12 m/s, and his base walking speed is 4.6 m/s.
How long does Overdrive last? 20 seconds from activation, with a 1-second transition in and out of the boosted speed. The meter needs 20 charges and fills at 1.5 charges per second while revving or sprinting.
What counts as a curve? Behaviour's own score event fires when you turn at least 80 degrees within 1 second of using the chainsaw. Landing a hit within 2 seconds of that scores a Curve Hit.
Is Hillbilly's chainsaw an instant down in 2v8? Yes. Behaviour changed it on 11 November 2024 so the 2v8 chainsaw instantly downs healthy Survivors, and cut the turn rate bonus from 44 percent to 30 percent. Descriptions saying otherwise are outdated.
What are the best Hillbilly add-ons? Spiked Boots for +30 percent turn speed and Iridescent Engravings for +20 percent sprint speed, with Dad's Boots at +20 percent turn speed as the cheaper option.
Is Lightborn worth running on Hillbilly? Only against squads that commit to flashlight saves. Blinds are avoidable with good curving angles, and the slot is usually better spent on Bamboozle or information.
Which Killer plays most like him? The Blight, in the sense that both convert map traversal into chase pressure through geometry rather than raw speed. Their skill expressions are different, and we break his down in our Blight guide.
Keep reading
Want the rest of the Dead by Daylight roster at this level of detail?
- All Killers list 2026
- DBD killer tier list, September 2026
- Best killer perks tier list 2026
- 2v8 September 2026 guide
Accurate as of Patch 10.1.2a, 28 September 2026. Balance quotes are taken from Behaviour Interactive's 8.3.0 Mid-Chapter notes and its 2V8 Developer Update of 11 November 2024, both published on the official Dead by Daylight Steam news feed; Patch 7.5.0 values and the current add-on card text come from the community wiki's transcription of Behaviour's 7.5.0 notes and its live add-on table.
