This is a data-driven counselor tier list, using lots of conclusions gleaned from my counselor stats guide (which you really should read if you want to understand how stats work and what they contribute to). This guide was previously published on Reddit (my username there is Geekboxing), but I have moved it here to Steam.

Special thanks to Pappus for providing a lot of high-level feedback and context for this. I arrived at very similar conclusions to him (as you can see here), but I wanted to give you some context behind why I feel the way I do about each counselor.

If you find this tier list useful, please rate the guide appropriately.

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


This list makes a few assumptions, namely:

• You have read my counselor stats guide. Please do not use the comments to make any stat assumptions until you read that thread, and understand how the stats contribute to weapon durability, jogging speed, skill checks, and other important factors.

• You are playing in a team that is at least somewhat coordinated in an effort to win. At higher-level play, the game is about rolling in groups, watching each others' backs, and knowing how to actively contest objectives with Jason present. There are very few situations in this game where you can reliably win by lone-wolfing it after significant time has passed. In practice, even 2-3 counselors with a rounded knowledge of the game's mechanics makes a massive difference. The more teamwork and coordination present, the more this tier list applies.

• You understand counselor roles, and know how to play to your character's strengths. The roles that I've defined below for each counselor are bully (excels at stunning Jason), fixer (excels at repairing objectives quickly), runner (excels at clearing cabins and kiting Jason), and killer (excels at demasking Jason).

• You are exclusively (or near-exclusively) using the baseball bat, the wrench, or the machete for combat, depending on your intentions. Some of the other weapons are OK, but these are objectively the best weapons in the game (the baseball bat has a 100% stun rate, the wrench has high stun + durability with the side benefit of being really common, and the machete's durability makes it a better demasking choice than the axe). My conclusions on counselor performance assume that you are using the best options available.

This tier list is mathematical, and based on how I value each stat. The long and short of it is that I fully value the Luck, Speed, and Stamina stats, I only value Repair if it is high enough to be used reliably (6+), and I do not value Composure, Stealth, or Strength at all. I'll elaborate on each briefly.

• Composure is useful early on, but it has serious diminishing returns as a match goes on. Hiding is a losing proposition against a Jason who understands how to play the game; if you want to survive consistently, you should be near teammates and watching each others' backs. Fear gain is inevitable, and it makes Composure totally irrelevant. Yes Jenny, you're the last one left, and Jason is definitely going to find you in that tent, whether it's glowing red or not.

• Luck is arguably the most important stat in the game, as it dramatically affects weapon durability -- which directly translates to combat contribution and heavy objective control.

• Repair is a weird stat, because either you have a high enough score to quickly and reliably succeed on skill checks while under pressure, or you don't. Scores of 6+ Repair are useful, but anything below this is not worth seriously considering.

• Speed is also (alongside Luck) arguably the best stat in the game. It lets you gain more distance on Jason, juke his Shifts more often, and move around him in close range to dodge and counterattack (and hopefully stun). The faster you are, the harder Jason has to work (and the more time he has to waste) to catch you.

• Stamina is the resource that you spend to jog and sprint to cabins and/or away from Jason. Therefore, high Stamina is most important for escape and kiting; if you're fighting Jason, you'll always be regaining Stamina.

• Stealth falls into pretty much the same bucket as Composure -- that is to say, useful early on, but with diminishing returns as the match goes on. Anything below 9 Stealth is not reliable anyway (since you can't jog silently), and hiding isn't a good survival strategy.

• Strength is not necessary unless you plan to kill Jason, and in that case, Tommy has it covered anyway. A coordinated group will consistently demask Jason regardless, and Strength isn't used for anything else. Great Strength correlates to crummy Luck on all counselors, and vice versa -- so it's better to go for Luck if you want to fight, since you'll get a lot more mileage out of your weapons. You could even argue that high Strength is a negative, because friendly fire deals more damage to teammates.

Now, given this, if we add up each counselor's Luck, Speed, and Stamina, as well as Repair for any counselors with a good score (6+), we get the following values.

• 25 points: Vanessa
  
• 23 points: Chad
  
• 20 points: Deborah, Eric
  
• 19 points: Tiffany
  
• 18 points: Brandon
  
• 17 points: Adam
  
• 16 points: A.J., Jenny
  
• 15 points: Kenny

• Vanessa Jones (runner, bully) is fantastic when it comes to kiting Jason, clearing cabins, and ferrying parts to fixers. She doesn't have Chad's insane weapon durability, but she's very fast, and still reasonably reliable for stunning Jason. She has what is effectively the best cross-section of good stats, but her focus on running and evasion means that good map knowledge and twitch skills are necessary to maximize her talent for wasting Jason's time. One of her biggest contributions to a coordinated team is to be the designated sweater-carrier; a good team can demask Jason and allow her to get to his shack, if they're going for a kill victory. Vanessa is a solid choice for grabbing the sweater, since she can capably defend herself and get away (and her Luck means that she can tank a trapped cabin better than other sweater-carriers, if necessary).

• Chad Kensington (bully) is second-to-none for stunning Jason and protecting teammates. He gets more baseball bat and wrench swings than any other counselor, he's fast enough to jump on a Shift-happy Jason, and a combat-capable player can turn Jason's life into a Three Stooges simulation (especially if you've got a Chad baseball team watching each others' backs). If you are a twitchy player who knows how to abuse combat stance and juke Jason's grabs, Chad is a phenomenal choice. (I feel like I need to qualify this with the following: No, Chad does not just automatically win against Jason in a fight. Yes, some skill is necessary on either player's part. Yes, good Jason players use combat stance, which is very powerful to deter stuns -- and this fact makes Chad even more valuable, because when you DO land those hits, they really need to count.)

• Deborah Kim (fixer) sports the best Repair stat in the game (along with Eric), and has the dubious honor of being the female (AKA "sweater-ready") Repair specialist with the highest Luck stat (a whopping 3). This puts her marginally ahead of A.J. for team contribution value, since A.J.'s 1 Luck is a bigger combat liability. Like other Repair specialists, Deborah is slow, and needs a teammate to guard her at all times.

• Eric "J.R." Lachappa (fixer) is on pretty much equal footing with Deborah for the role of best Repair specialist, and everything said about her applies to him as well. The big deciding factor is whether you'd prefer to have more Luck (Eric) for fighting Jason, or the ability to pick up the sweater (Deborah) so that you aren't taking a higher-value counselor (i.e. Vanessa) away from combat/distraction duty.

• Tiffany Cox (runner) is basically a sneaky version of Vanessa who's slower, and can't fight as well. She's an OK choice to develop your map knowledge with if you're a new player, but if you dig her play style, you really should switch to Vanessa once you're more comfortable with the game.

• Brandon "Buggzy" Wilson (runner, killer) is theoretically a good choice for a group that wants to kill Jason, since he can remove the mask inside of a single machete. But, as noted above, this isn't usually the most attractive selling point. Outside of this, Brandon's major value is in his running capabilities, where he is made totally redundant by Vanessa. Note that, if I were going to rank counselors within this tier, Brandon would be at the top of it, as Strength does have some very specific situational value for groups that are planning for a fast early game demask-and-suicide strategy to kill Jason.

• Adam Palomino (fixer, killer) has all of Brandon's downsides, none of his upsides, and a Repair stat that is completely outclassed by Deborah and Eric's perfect scores.

• A.J. Mason (fixer) makes me very sad, because I love her and I want Stealth gameplay to be good and viable. I want A.J. to be as good as a lot of people claim she is, but she just isn't. She's slow, her Luck is beyond the pale, and hiding is not a winning game plan. Like Tiffany, she's good to learn the game with when you're just starting out, but you will eventually outgrow the things that make her seem good initially. Deborah is the better Repair counselor simply due to her higher Luck, so you're better off just picking her instead.

• Jenny Myers (bully) is just a worse version of Chad. Wow, I think that's pretty much the worst insult you can level at someone in this universe. I'm sorry about that, Jenny. But, seriously, stop hiding in that tent. Jason WILL find you.

• Kenny Riedell (generalist) might look decently flexible with his 5 in every stat, but being wishy-washy at everything means that he's good at nothing. He's a mediocre runner, his Luck does him no favors compared to actual combat-capable counselors, and he's not a clutch Repair specialist. You might be able to buff him up a bit with good perks, but you're better off picking someone who's good at something.

Here is my current advice on perk selection. I think these are the best general-use perks, regardless of counselor choice.

• Thick Skinned is the best perk in the game for reasons that I elaborate on in my counselor stats guide.

• Medic is an amazing perk as well, because it effectively gives you a fourth inventory slot, which is invaluable regardless of the perk's stats.

• The third perk is up for debate, but I really like Nerves of Steel, because it means you'll always be able to track Jason's Shift route on your minimap. An epic Marathon on Vanessa or Chad is very strong, too.

• If you prefer to use A.J. for her 10 Stealth, Lightfoot enables her to sprint silently.

Whatever you do, try to avoid situational perks (My Dad's A Cop, Potent Ranger, etc.), because their benefits rely on really specific circumstances.

That's pretty much it! I welcome any discussion or debate in the comments, but please make sure you read the guide introduction, so that you understand my methodology, and who I'm aiming this tier list at. If you found this guide useful, please rate it appropriately, to help with visibility.


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

• Full Maps With All Objective/Location Spawns
  
• Counselor Stats: Knowledge Base w/ Lots of Hard Data
  
• Jason Stats and Abilities: Knowledge Base w/ Lots of Hard Data
  
• Jason Tier List (data-driven analysis)

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.