The Onryo Player's Manual

For those who wish to learn the Onryo's powers, and how to use them, but don't wanna watch YouTube videos...

Intro

I can't believe no one has made a guide about our girl, and thus they've forced me to watch over an hour of YouTube videos to learn her tricks of the trade. How terrible! Then I played Saddie, and oh boy.

You are in for a treat...

Before we begin, I'll tell you right now that if your goal is reliable 4K every time, Sadako is probably not for you without some very specific perk combos from other killers. But if you aren't too sweaty, love to extend the game, and enjoy scaring the beejezus out of people, then let's dig into DbD's most misunderstood indie film director.

Why Sadako?

Sadako is a sweet girl, a shy girl. A very much misunderstood and maligned girl. She's just there at her house, relaxing with a new flick, a cool, refreshing glass of well water at the ready, about to settle in for Movie Night...

And then four bozos turn up. They keep turning off her TV when all she wants to do is watch movies. They keep hijacking her generators like they have no respect gas prices. They are the worst guests ever!

It's okay. It's okay. Sadako likes people. She wants friends. Maybe she can show them her new movie? It has flies and fingernails. You'll get it if you just watch it.

You see, no one understands the genius of Sadako. They don't appreciate her subtleties or how lonely she is. How badly she wants to make friends. They think she's just this autistic girl who walks around slapping people.

Well, let me tell you, like Amber Heard, Sadako does not hit. She high-fives your face.

Players tend to rate Sadako as trash because she isn't a chaser (though she kind of is, but more on that later). The problem is that these people tend to really, really want to play a chaser, but aren't playing a chaser. They just want to hit chainsaw and down someone. They want to teleport across a loop and smack someone.

But Sadako is a gentle soul and she just wants you to leave her TVs and generators alone, kthnx.

The Onryo excels at extending the game, at giving you more time to do what you love: play with your food. She does not end the game quickly, she does not defeat god-loops, she only sometimes counters Dead Hard. But what she does is be everywhere, and nowhere, all at the same time. She is a stealth killer, possibly the Stealth Queen. She plays mindgames, you never know which direction she's going to come from, you won't see her until she's almost on top of you, and then she's going to sit you in a skychair and politely ask if you'd like to see her new art director project.

She is a gen pressure killer, able to put pressure on every generator at all times. When survivors try to counter this, they make themselves vulnerable and obvious. She jukes with her intermittent visibility, blinking in and out of existence closer and closer to you. She pops out of TVs when you're trying to make skill checks. And all her perks are designed to screw up survivor progress on her gens.

If freaking people out, being unpredictable, and making games last longer while you rack up BP are things you like, then Sadako might be for you.

Also, unlike the Spirit, she has all of her body parts attached, she's short, and she's adorable.

Misconceptions About Ya Girl, Saddie

MISCONCEPTION #1: She is trash!
The people who say she is trash are objectively wrong. This is fact. The World Fact Organization (something I did not just make up, shut up about it) has said so.

MISCONCEPTION #2: She sucks at chasing!
Sure she does. But more than that, she is not a Chaser. She is often called weak by people who get looped and fall for survivor bait. She does not chase, she ambushes. She slides up to you like a crocodile in a pond. The survivor is a drinking gazelle in this scenario. Then she gives them a high-five and runs away giggling.

But if you play as a Stealth killer and chase people around loops, you gonna have a bad time. Your objective is to smack high-five them before they get to that loop.

MISCONCEPTION #3: Spine Chill nullifies her!
She is only partially countered by Spinechill. Neither her perks, nor powers, lend themselves to Ghostface-style play. You are meant to keep people off your dang generators. That is what she's built to do, and if Spine Chill goes off, that person is likely to ditch the gen and run. Do not chase the bait, feint the bait to their loop and then find the person they're baiting you from.

MISCONCEPTION #4: Lul so easy, just turn off TVs!
Dead giveaway of your location, thanks! Survivors turning TVs off is the #1 way I find and surprise them aside from missed gen skill checks.

MISCONCEPTION #5: Condemnation is useless!
Condemnation is a bonus, and meant to stop a sacrificial lamb from going about the map turning off ALL your TVs. It's not your main objective, but it's a free kill from time to time if survivors don't learn to just leave the TVs alone.

MISCONCEPTION #6: She's an M1 Killer and they are trash!
NO! YOU FOOL! YOU USELESS FOOL! YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND SADDIE! HER GENIUS! HER POWER! HER NEEDS!!

Sadako is like a rich girl who hangs out with normal people because they're cooler. She's Baby from Dirty Dancing, ditching the rich folks and going to the underground dance party. She loves the M2 and Ctrl, she breathes them. She caresses them at all times, and when she's not pressing them, she's thinking about pressing them.

And if you are doing chases with just your M1? Then you don't GET that she just pretends to be M1 so she can get invited to Bubba's BBQ like a normal person instead of the Huntress' lame sorority soiree.

Unless you are so close you can smooch them (but you would never dare because Sadako is a good girl), you are never M1ing.

...

Okay, fine, technically an M1 Killer, but only in the most technical sense of the word. Everything about her revolves around M2 and Ctrl.

Stealth Killa Lyfe

As stated before, Sadako is a film buff stealth killer. Meaning she is not meant to chase. Erase the word 'chase' from your vocabulary. Is it gone? I hope it's gone. You don't chase. You don't fall for bait. You don't get led on loops.

Once a survivor has looped you once or twice, proper Saddies give them a nod to show they did a good and Demanifest, feint around one side, and then... just leave. Go find someone else. That simple. If they made it to the loop and you're not already hot on their tail, you failed, no bigs.

Unlike the other Stealth Killers, Sadako is a gen pressure sneak. She can be at all gens, at all times. The only 'cooldown' for her teleport is the time it takes to finish the teleportation animation, and the time it takes to hit 'Demanifest'. And guess what? Every generator has a TV somewhere near it (99% of the time).

She is everywhere. She is anywhere. And they won't see her until she's right there.

As such, Sadako makes better use of gen-kicking perks than most Killers will, she can pop in to check on them any time she wants. While her perks that increase the difficulty of skill checks won't matter too much at higher level MMRs, it can still net you a few alerts here and there.

Your job is to be unpredictable. To show up where they feel safe. To pop in as they're working on generators. That is your job. To show up when they are working on gens! This is Sadako's bread and butter, this is what she's built around, this is her purpose in life. Her job is not to chase the obvious bait loitering around in the open standing up and within easy sprinting distance of a good loop.

Of special note is a hidden perk: Shortness. Shawty be short. This can make her much harder for survivors to see and keep track of, especially while Demanifested. They are used to seeing giants that tower over the landscape. Use this to your advantage and break LOS where possible on approach.

Stay hidden, stay unpredictable. Don't stay too long on the chase.

You can even go AFK to grab a cup of coffee from the maker! The survivors won't know the difference, you should have already made them paranoid AF.

One of the side-benefits of Sadako, a kind of free 'unofficial perk', is that when played properly, people working on gens have to keep their heads on a swivel rather than just listening for the heartbeat notification. This can make them slip and give you a free notification of a gen being messed with.

So let's discuss her unique perks...

Call of Brine is amazing if utilized correctly. Often, if you don't spot a survivor at the gen itself and give chase, they (or their friends) will hide nearby, wait a bit to see if you loop back, and then start working on the gen again.

With Sadako, you can kick the gen when you see it's been messed with, then walk out of sight and out of your terror radius while Demanifested. Even if they nail their skill check, you will be notified they are back at it and can swoop back in. Survivors will almost never go work on another gen if they think they can keep working on one that already has progress.

Scourge Hook: Floods of Rage can be amazing if you down a survivor within easy distance of one of the four hooks. Hang them up on it and then Demanifest and walk away. It is amazing for camping, it is amazing for tunneling, but, and this is my favorite, it is amazing for spotting the designated Gen Technician hiding across the map and messing with your dang gens!

If you catch the bait, throw them on the white hook, then find the person creeping around your gens.

Merciless Storm is great at lower MMR levels, where survivors aren't garaunteed to hit those skill checks. At higher levels it suffers, but can still help with an occasional notification. The best benefit it has is that it blocks the gen from being worked on for a bit, giving you time to show up and kick it.

The Life and Times of the M2 Killa

Discussed previously, Sadako is not really an M1 killer. M1 is not how she makes her kills, except in the most technical of senses. She makes her kills one of two ways: sneaking up on you, and extending the game so long that you just WANT to die.

The longer a game goes on, the more in the Killer's favor it becomes. Sadako is a gen rush counter, and she primarily does that through a little something called...

DELUGE OF FEAR

Dope name, right?

The M2 button will do one of two things for you: Manifest or Demanifest, with you swapping between these two states when you use it. And you should pretty much always be Demanifested. Not only does your second power not work while Manifested, but everyone can see you at all times and I told you already...

Sadako is shy! She doesn't like to be looked at and she's not dressed for company.

You have two goals: Don't let people see you until it's too late, and keep people away from the generators. As such, if you're not about to hit someone, being Manifested is wrong! Stop doing it! Even when you chase, you chase while Demanifested until you are almost in lunge distance!

Sadako's M2 power isn't just for sneaking up on people, though, it's for defeating loops. Sadako is all about mind games. Making them wonder where you're going, which way you'll pop out of. They can only see you intermittently, so you can feint one way and go the other. You can make them drop a pallet too early, or even too late. I've even had them vault through a window and into my arms.

The feint only works for a second, but if done right, 'a second' is truly the difference between a hit and a miss.

When you get close is when you Manifest. Your intermittent flickering will still work for a precious few seconds, so cocky potatos might think you can't hit them, and it gives you one last chance to feint or mindgame before taking your swing and things devolve into an M1 chase.

But this isn't all that Sadako can do in a chase, my friend...

Ctrl, or Don't Touch My Remote

Sadako can pop out of TVs! Ahhhhhh! Skeery, right?

Continuing from above, this in conjunction with your M2 (De)Manifesting is your chase power. If a survivor has some distance from you, you can teleport to a TV, through use of Projection, on another side of them if one is close, and come at them from an unexpected direction. Since you are a smart Saddie, you know already that you are chasing while Demanifested, so teleporting is easy! Aim at a TV and click your secondary power button!

This is a POWERFUL ability that requires some experience, as you must VERY quickly reorient yourself back into the chase from an entirely new location, facing God knows what direction (pay attention to the TV screen direction as you teleport). But when done correctly, like any other teleport, it can end chases, stop them from reaching a loop, or even end a loop as you suddenly appear from a different direction.

The most common use of this tactic is that a survivor is running from you and you see A TV a bit away on the other side of you. Since you are Demanifested, it will take them a few seconds to realize you're not chasing them anymore (and good survivors always look back at you during chases). This is just in time for you to be running right at their FACE from the opposite side!

Those who know Sadako's power and are of high skill can counter this and know what to look for, so don't sweat it. It can be used in a chase, and when done well is one of her primary ways of catching people, but she's not a chaser, remember?

LEAVE MY GENS ALONE!!
She's a gen presser! She hunts technicians, not bait.

Sadako's TVs (almost always) appear near a generator, meaning you can teleport to any gen on demand. This is huge, as it means you can drop in and check on them at will. Projecting through a TV also provides a survivor with a stack of Condemned, but that is a bonus and not what you should be going for. The objective is to scare them away from the gen and also maybe gain a hit with the temporary speed boost it gives you.

Remember that your perks specialize in sabotaging gens.

There are some limitations, the worst of which is that there is a cooldown period before you can project to the same TV again, however I've never really had that come up.

Silly survivors claim that TVs are easily counterable, since they can mess with them and it takes almost no time to do so. Then they simply have to run across the map to get rid of the Condemned stacks for doing so. These survivors... are silly. And they come in two flavors.

The first is a technician who will remove a tape from the TV near the gen they want to work on. This is called 'broadcasting your location to Saddie' and you should thank them for it by showing up and giving them a high-five for being such a team player. Smart technicians will leave your TVs alone, which they should because they're yours and you don't go to THEIR house and change channels, amirite?

The second is Bait. Bait will roam around, shutting off TVs one after the other, gainining full condemned, then clicky-clicky and t-bag when you arrive to tell them how rude they're being.

Tunnel them. Mercilessly. Endlessly. Let the others go if you must. End their miserable existence.

You don't even have to find a hook, this braindead fool did the hardwork for you by going Full Condemned. See, they think it's not a big deal because they can get rid of it easily.

But you already know their path. If you were paying attention, you have a fairly good idea of what TV they turned off first. Therefore you know what TV they need to go to, or at least the general direction of it, since it will be the one furthest from the first one they turned off. Even if you didn't see what TV they turned off first, you can take a guess by which direction they were running and what TVs are currently off. Every gen has a TV, so which ones don't? Work the problem backwards and you know where they have to go eventually, and likely where they're going next.

Down them and kindly explain that your TVs are meant for your enjoyment, not theirs.

In Conclusion... Saddie is Bae

She is not the sweatiest killer on the block, but do not be fooled. She is no pushover, either. There are other killers easier to use and easier to master. But there is also a golden rule in this game...

Skill matters more than build.

A survivor who is more skilled than you and has thousands of hours logged to your mere 'dozens' or 'hundreds' will evade you no matter what you do. The reverse is true on killers. The choice of which Killer you want to master *almost* doesn't matter. You will get kills if you Git Gud and practice, practice, practice!

(Until you reach high MMR and face the cheaters more often. Even then, you will reliably hook people if you master your Killer.)

Sadako is not the meta, she is bae. She is not the best at being sweaty, but you can sweat with her if you work at it with the right add-ons and perks and tactics.

She's also not just a 'meme character', she can be taken seriously, built seriously, and do serious damage in the right hands. She can be a terror. She can rack up kills, she can propel you to Rank 1. Every Killer can.

She is not easy mode, but she is a gosh darned movie star and amateur film director.

Play peek-a-boo and keep them off your gens and hear the lamentations of their technicians.

The Saddie Bible, Part I

Oh... you're still here? No, go home now. We're done!

Nnngh, okay, okay... Here's a few more expanded concepts for taking your Saddie from Awkard to someone they have to Bae-watch out for.

The 10 Commandments of Saddie come to you from a few comments I've seen, both below and in the forums and on reddit. A few more ways to improve your Saddie game, as well as some general Killer tips.

The First Commandment: Thou shalt keep track of thy TVs
As stated before, this is one of the primary tracking methods of finding people foolish enough to touch your tapes. Which gen doesn't have a TV? That's probably the one being worked on. Show up and nobody is there? You may have been baited.

Learn from it. Survivors will very, VERY rarely mix up strategies in a single match. Learn the quirks of these particular opponents and use it against them. Stay observant to what they do.

But nine times out of ten, if a TV is off and that gen isn't done, there is a survivor there working on it.

The Second Commandment: Thou shalt camp all gens, everywhere and always

It's not always feasible to keep people away from EVERY generator, but you should try. Since Sadako benefits most highly from attacking people at gens, it makes sense that you want to always be doing that. Scatter them, if you can, as 1 or 2 people are easier to outwit and defeat than 3-4.

Never give up a gen if you can help it, though do not pass up on getting a nice hook or easy sacrifice. This is a game of gambling, your strategy against theirs. But unlike most killers, both your strategy AND the survivors revolves around gens. The longer the survivors are kept off gens, the longer the match goes on, and the longer you have to learn their quirks and catch them. Your odds of winning go up the longer they are in your realm.

Consider the Huntress' Lullaby hex as, if you get a few hooks, that combined with Merciless Storm is almost a surefire guarantee of at least one fail on every gen, followed by a generous lockout time of that gen. And gen rushers frequently fail to even look for, much less cleanse, totems, because they are focused on rushing gens. However, while powerful, to make use of this, you really need to find the weak links and get a few hooks, so like everything, it's a gamble.

But you KNOW they have to do gens. They can't avoid it. They can't not do it. You know where they have to go. You specialize in this.

Bottom line: keep them off your gens. Gas ain't cheap.

The Third Commandment: Thou shalt not eat bait, for thou art not a fish

This a reminder to stop chasing bait. If there's someone who is just THAT GOOD at looping, let them go. Flashlight clicking and tbagging after a pallet drop? Ignore them. Those are designed to throw you off your game, to distract you from generators.

Generators are a resource the survivors are trying to steal. The longer you are on a chase, the more of them they can get. Some survivors you meet will just hands down be better than you. They will loop, drop pallets in your face at the last second, Dead Hard at just the right time, etc.

Don't get frustrated, don't get greedy. Play the gens. Always play the gens. It doesn't matter how good their bait is at looping, because chances are he's not an ace at gens, and even if he is, it'll be hard for him to do them alone. Every team needs to do those gens to win, no matter what their strategy is. So play the game, not the player.

The Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt go for the Gen Grab, and practice it muchly
Since you are hunting gen technicians anyway, always go for the gen grab if you can! There are few spookier jump scares than this! And it is quite possibly the most satisfying thing you can have on Saddie, other than downing a survivor with Full Condemn. While high-level players will rarely be caught off guard enough for this, the key to it is timing and approach vector.

Generators are LOUD, especially when near completion, and the survivor is listening for an audio cue for their skillcheck, while also keeping their head on a swivel. They are distracted, and it takes some top notch skills to also listen for Saddie's approach while doing all of that.

Approach from around the corner, always keeping out of line of sight, and then AS you are coming around the corner right next to the gen, Manifest. If you are lucky (and they're on your side of the gen), you get the grab. If you aren't, you still get a free hit. Then it is up to you whether it is worth it to kick the gen or give chase.

The Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt be Demanifested for thou art not dressed for company

As stated ad nauseum above, you should always be Demanifested unless you are about to hit. Not only does it give you intermittent invisibility, but it lets you walk THROUGH survivors that are trying to body block for their friend. There is literally no benefit to wandering around Manifested versus Demanifested.

But you must get the timing down. This is crucial, because on a chase, you can't hit them until they are solidified. So if you are chasing a survivor who likes to double back and run right at you, Manifest a little earlier than you normally would. If you are chasing a survivor who stares straight ahead, holds W, and Dead Hards too early, you can wait a bit.

As a side note, if a surv has Dead Hard and you know it? Wait for the Dead Hard. Get close, and let them waste it. If they Dead Hard and you didn't swing, it gains them at most a couple extra seconds. But you miss while they Dead Hard, it goes from 'a couple' to 'a number'.

Outwit, outthink, kill. This is not just a game of reflexes, but one of strategy and prediction.

The Saddie Bible, Part Dos

The Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt chase toolboxes, not flashlights

Similar to the above, you are chasing the people who are good at gens, not good at loops. (Have I said this enough yet?) Survivors who are true pros at everything are rare, despite the plethora of people claiming to be That Good(tm). Generally, most players are beginner to intermediate. So until you get to the Sweat Leagues, you will meet people who will 0-100 your gens with no noise in 30 seconds, or who will lead you on 9-minute loop chases from one tile to the next.

Not both.

Usually.

As always, this is a game of skill and strategy, and some will just be better than you. But if you see someone coming into the match with a toolbox? Generally speaking, that is your target. Find them, get them out, fast. You don't need survs doing gens even faster.

YOU are the killer, not them. YOU set the pace, not them. YOU decide the chases, not them. Do not let them take control from you. Not ever.

The Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt play by your rules, not those of the plebes

Tunnel. Camp. Slug. Play your way. Do not listen to others who try to shame you or call you toxic. If you only hook The Worthy, do so. If you like to use people as bait to catch altruistic, do it. If you love the 3-gen camp, NOED, Bloodwarden, whatever else... do it.

Conversely, if you love to let people go who did well, or are like me and will take it easy on potatos because they need the practice, or consider the game 'over' at 5 gens done and let them open the gate and escape, do it. Meme, sweat, whatever. Play the game your way, try out your strats, and also? Whatever killer you want.

Don't let them say who's viable or not. We've all seen the streamers with 1000s of hours logged who decimate on 'weak' killers. You can Git Gud, and you can do it your way. Because this is a game.

HAVE FUN. And feast on their salt.

The Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt, at all times, be learning

This is the biggest failing of every salty player in the game. They never ask 'what could I have done better?' Always they blame the other player's perks, their build, their killer, their tools, the game itself, or their 'toxic' way of playing.

There are toxic people in this game, but there are no toxic playstyles. Sure, it can be a bit like post-game basketball trash talk to tbag at the gates. Let them. It doesn't matter.

Always ask: What could I have done differently? What would have worked, if what I did didn't?

Ask. Think. Learn. Improve. This game takes time to master, and owning potatos won't help you against the intermediates. Listen to what the survivors say in their tips to each other, so you know what their best strategies are. Pay attention to the maps, so you don't constantly become lost. Learn to recognize a good loop from a bad one. Learn to tell a decent player from a poor one, and a great one from a decent one. Learn the habits of the survivors you chase, and pay attention to what they pay attention to, if they look straight ahead or stare behind.

Don't take losses hard, because there's always better players out there, and playing against them can help you learn.

The Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt remain calm

The survivors will do everything to throw you off your game. To panic you. To frustrate you. To make you rage and quit and whine and harvest your salt.

This is a strategy. A strategy used against you, and it is used because it WORKS on a lot of new killers.

What they're doing isn't toxic, it's smart. Because it works. You have to remember that you are in control. That you decide when and where and how you chase. That you decide when people see you and when they don't. That you decide where you go and when you do it.

You are the Ringu, not a raging gamer upset someone early dropped a pallet and is tbagging on the other side of it. Lol, break it, Demanifest while they run away, and find that quiet guy on the other side of the map who keeps popping your gens.

If you learn to accept, even appreciate, when they make good plays and get away, you can maintain your focus easier, thus in turn learn easier. Start to practice saying 'Ohhh, nice one!' when they get a drop on you or make a good move, instead of swearing in frustration.

You're the killer. You have the fun job, not the stressful one. All the stress is on THEM. I have chased survivors just shouting 'BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA' at my TV and then not even hitting them when I had them cornered because they were a potato who needed more practice and there is no honor in seal clubbing (hooks are for The Worthy). Have fun with it, but above all...

Stay calm and focused. She who rages, loses.

The Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not use crutch perks... until thine skill improves

These will absolutely salt your game, and nothing will ever grow there again. Do not beeline to the best, sweatiest perks right away. Focus up. Learn your basics.

Use some games as practice. Go into it with a mission of YOUR OWN. Like The Eight Commandment, play YOUR way. If you know you're too weak on the chase and even early-dropping hold-W gen techs are getting away from you? Go into the game with the intention of finding and chasing their best looper. Do not let them frustrate you, watch what they do, and figure out how to counter it. It doesn't matter if you get 4k or not.

Kills do not matter!

Improving your skills and completing YOUR objectives does. And the only way to get those efficient, 3-4ks every game? You do, indeed, have to do the dreaded... Git Gud.

Do not rely on NOED, learn to hunt endgame without it. THEN use it, because then you will be even more effective with it. The same goes for every other 'meta' ability, killer OR survivor. Do not learn to rely on Dead Hard, learn to loop without it first.

Do not rely on Spies From the Shadows (though it's a dope and, imo, underrated perk for Saddie, letting you trail them at more of a distance until they think they've lost you). Learn to track players by blood, sound, scratch marks, and predicting. Your prey is an animal, learn to track it.

But DO learn to rely on a headset, because directional hearing is your best friend.

[Tajfun †]

trying to get prestige 100 sadako

[Hyperion]

+rep me or -rep me for one back (Trolls will be blocked)

[Espírita]

Amazing!

[Hornbach Loungeset]

Get a grip

[Huntyr01]

I want movie night with Sadako.

[DiviNaTea]

As a Sadako main, I love this so much.

[Cousin Dane]

As a new Killer & Sadako main, thanks for this guide it was awesome

[Spicy Miso Soup]

Amazing read. Will play more Saddie, now

[SEAF Signaller]

Noed is a crutch, and will surely end up forcing you into an MMR far, FAR higher than your supposed rank. Which is never a good thing. Kills don't matter - agreed. Often end up seeing something like 35-50k basic points while having grand total of just one sacrifice (mostly cuz "That Guy" kinda gave up on life. sucks to be him). Mindgames related - strongest one is the "Standstill" tech. Also known as surbabies not paying attention. The guide is great, gotta spread the love.

[Payaabaan]

♥♥♥ Short Queen