Fun Buffs to Make Trash Perks Viable - Last Perks of 2019 Edition

starpilotsix

So I did previous runs of Fun Buffs to Trash Perks for survivors, here, and killers, here.  

But since then, we've had some new perks. And some of them are good. Others are trash. And by trash, I mean sometimes they have cool intentions behind them, but I can't really see people using them. Sometimes I exaggerate 'trash' just for comedic effect... but still, I want a wide variety of perks in play and for those perks to be useful to the survivor or killer using them. The more good perks are and less trashy ones, the more dynamic gameplay is, because players feel more free to try out these other perks rather than sticking to the Meta (some always will of course, but there are lots of people on the edge). If a player decides a random perk build, they shouldn't ever feel "well, that's basically no useful perks." So let's suggest some fun buffs to make the last couple sets of trash perks better.

My general rule of thumb is that ideally every perk fall in at least one of the categories:

1) generally provide a benefit in most matches

2) provide a semi-rare, situational benefit that makes for an incredibly fun moment when it does work.

3) be part of a strong build of several perks working together.

4) help counter a commonly-used perk or strategy of the other side (which usually falls under the first three).

Any perk that doesn't fall into these categories needs to be buffed.  

Additionally, I try to make survivor perks not be abuseable by SWF teams running it together, and for any killer perk to keep in mind the possibility of survivors being able to communicate it. And, at all times, I like the perk name and description to work with and guide any additional effects rather than just tying something random in, and, if possible, I want a character's unique perks to work together well as well.  

This time I'm going to start with my thought process behind the perk before laying out the new perk description (where alterations will be italicized for easier reading if you want to read those first).  

SURVIVORS

We'll start with the Survivor Perks, beginning with Nancy.

Better Together: 

This is one of the major cases where I'm using 'trash' more for comedic effect. It's a 'boring but valid' perk, it provides a small benefit, just barely enough to be sometimes worth using (especially as part of a gen-rush build), but not especially underpowered. And it's hard to really make it fun without altering the basic nature of the perk. But we can give it a little bit of a buff that will, rarely, help, by extending it to other co-operative tasks, like healing... basically, if a task can be made Better by doing it Together, then why not make it light up for the survivors (if you wanted to make it significantly more powerful you could include things like totems lighting up, but since they're not co-operative actions I think leaving them out is fine).  

Better Together

You seek justice and uncover the truth no matter what obstacle stands in your way... but it's good to have a partner who has your back.  

The Aura of the Generator you are currently repairing or Survivor you are healing (including yourself) is revealed to all other Survivors located within 32 metres.

If the Killer downs a Survivor while you are repairing a Generator, or engaged in a healing action, you see the Auras off all other Survivors for 8/9/10 seconds.

"Let's burn that lab to the ground." — Nancy Wheeler

Fixated: 

Honestly, my biggest problem with this perk is the name has really nothing to do with the effects. Maybe the walking faster bit, but then you include the "only works when uninjured" which kind of works against the whole "fixated" thing - you're fixated, except when you're injured, then you forget all about it. I'm not sure what seeing your own scratchmarks has to do with being fixated or goal-oriented. But otherwise, though it's not a dramatic meta perk but I see people getting some use out of it and having some fun moments fooling a killer by ducking out of sight faster than should have been possible. Still, that name, that description... heck, 'Fixated' often isn't even a compliment. So I was thinking maybe make it an upside/downside perk that really makes 'Fixated' work. How about making it so, effectively, if you run this perk, a killer always has Tinkerer, or at least, the 'zero terror radius' part of it... you're so focused on the goal. In exchange, we do need to remove the 'when uninjured' qualifier for the walk speed, because you're always fixated, and a small additional benefit. How about no skill checks? Skill checks can be a good thing, obviously, but if a killer's got Ruin or Unnerving or something and you just want to get it finished, they can be irritating, not to mention that frustrating "leave the gen because the killer's right there and it explodes because a skill check hit at that exact second" problem. Then, also Synergy with Better Together - it makes sense for you to want have friends around, because THEY can hear the killer coming, and also it lowers the time you have the weakness. We don't want it to completely neuter Overcharge though, so have the skill check benefit kick in after you start working on it, and to make a new kind of gentapping if you're really afraid of the killer getting too close.  

Fixated

When you have a goal in mind, there's no turning back; better to ask forgiveness than permission.

You can see your own Scratch Marks at all times, and you walk 10/15/20 % faster.

When you are working on a generator that is more than 80%/70/60%, you no longer get skill checks. When you work on a generator more than 85% complete for more than 1s, you gain the Oblivious status effect that stops 1s after you stop working on it. If you are Oblivious for any other reason, you also no longer get skill checks.  

"I wanna finish what we started. I want to kill it." — Nancy Wheeler

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Now we come to Steve's perks, the trashiest of trash perks. Seriously, except for one of his perks, all of Steve's unique perks are basically perks that give the same or less benefit as other perks, with more downsides. And the exception perk isn't that good either!  

Babysitter:

In Babysitter's case, this is the "why aren't you just taking Borrowed Time" perk. Both help unhooked survivors, but one lets them actually take a hit and Steve's just lets them not be as easily tracked. Which, if that was ALL it did, might be okay. But this ALSO gives Steve's aura away, making him an easier target (and lets be fair, shows the killer as well).  

So let's give him a benefit that fits a bit with the babysitter theme. Staying within a short distance of the unhooked survivor also passively heals them. His aura still is revealed to the killer, but now Steve faces a choice, give the survivor a benefit of healing while they run together (babysitting them), or letting them get away while you take the heat. It doesn't give a full heal's worth, and since Babysitter only procs for the unhooking survivor multiple people can't stack it.  And Synergy with his other perk that requires healing someone.  

Babysitter

While you have a reputation for being self-centred, you risk it all to help those in need.

When you unhook a Survivor, the unhooked Survivor leaves no Scratch Marks or Blood Trail for the next 4/6/8 seconds. If you are both sprinting and remain within 6m from them, you passively heal the unhooked Survivor at the base healing rate during this time, to a maximum of 25/33/50%. This does not work if the survivor has the Broken status effect.  

Both you and the Killer see each other's Aura for 4 seconds after the unhook.

"I promised to keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on doing." — Steve Harrington

Second Wind:

If Babysitter was "why aren't you just taking Borrowed Time", then Second Wind is "Why aren't you just taking Inner Strength?" I mean, look at them comparatively. Inner Strength gets activated from one totem being smashed, you can get it at the very start of the game most games, even if you're the first one found. SW? You need to heal someone fully, which means it's impossible to get any benefit out of it if you're the first one found and hooked (statistically, 25% of matches). IS lets you heal in 8 seconds, if you find a locker. SW? 30 seconds. IS lets you potentially get the healing benefit 5 times per game. SW? Two at most (I'm not even sure if it works more than once... as weak as it is, it should). IS lets you get healed by someone else to save your benefit. SW actively prevents you from being healed by someone else, even if they have something like We'll Make It and can heal you almost instantly. And even if you COULD be healed by someone else, that gives you no additional benefit 'saved' for later if you're on your second hook, because the only benefit comes after an unhooking. For that matter, compare it to Self-Care. You get unhooked and stand there and heal yourself and 32 seconds later, you're back up to full. Yes, it doesn't work if there's a killer coming right back for you, but it works more than once a trial and you don't need to charge it up. The only circumstance where SW might be more useful is if the killer does want to come back and tunnel AND you manage to avoid him for 30 seconds after the unhook... in which case, why even BOTHER with the Broken status?  

Why would anyone use SW over IS? Or Self-care? Why would anyone use it AT ALL?

It NEEDS a buff, if not a complete rework.

But, it's... second wind. You know what that usually refers to? Exhaustion. So, let's give it a benefit related to exhaustion. We'll keep the base mechanic of it needing to be charged up (I guess, he said grudgingly), but now, once it's charged, any time you take a hit that takes you from healthy to injured? You lose any exhaustion effects (or any effects that being hooked resets because it sucks a little for a perk's only real benefit to require another type of perk that Steve doesn't even have, but if it also resets things like Mangled then okay). That means if you run sprint burst, you get an additional sprint burst right after being hit. If you have balanced landing/lithe and use it before getting hit, you get to use it again. Potentially head-on twice. Put it on a few seconds delay to mean it also counters things like exhaustion hatchets - you get hit and get exhausted but then you get your second wind, although I think a better approach would be to lower exhaustion to a few seconds, which means a survivor running it does have to stop sprinting for a bit to 'catch their breath' and so requires some planning and strategy (and if it's still too much you can either tweak this value or say it steals some of your 'heal' progress) Once you get hooked, you lose the benefit until you heal somebody again.  

Second Wind

You have learnt to avoid awkward situations with parents. Part of you still thinks your best option is to run away and hope things will take care of themselves.

Whenever you have healed other Survivors for the equivalent of one Health State, Second Wind activates.

While Second Wind is activated, after taking a hit that moves you from the Healthy to the Injured state, any timed Status Effect you suffer from such as Exhaustion, Haemorrhage, or Mangled drops to 3 seconds (if you already have less than three seconds, you get no benefit).  

Also, the next time you are unhooked or unhook yourself, you are affected by the Broken Status Effect.

After a total duration of 34/32/30 seconds after that unhook, Second Wind automatically heals you from Broken to the Healthy State and then deactivates. It also deactivates if you are put into the Dying State before the automatic healing is complete.

You will lose the Broken Status Effect once Second Wind deactivates, but none of the secondary effects are triggered if you are are already afflicted by the Broken Status Effect when unhooked.

"Yeah, that's a no." — Steve Harrington

Camaraderie:

At least this perk has a purpose to it. It's just not a very useful one, unless a killer is hardcamping (which to be fair happens enough that it's occasionally viable). But it's another perk that gives a one time benefit that isn't much of one, when you could be taking a perk that helps you all game long. So, let's make it stronger. Camaraderie goes both ways, doesn't it? So should the perk. Thus, this perk should give the same benefit if someone else is hooked and Steve comes close. Now it's a "don't worry bro, I might not be able to save you but I'll lure the killer away so someone else can before you die." perk. Now, you may be thinking 'then toxic SWF teams might choose to all run this perk" except they can do that now and all get a second hook. You can still have rules like "only used once per hook no matter how many survivors with the perk come close" and "only used on second hook" (but again, given the limited utility, I think allowing it to use be used first or second hook is fine too). And hell, give it a 'you can't escape the hook during this time' to let you punish those survivors who sacrifice themselves just when you're getting close (and make the point that camaraderie means you stay in the game rather than quitting).  

Camaraderie

Life has taught you the importance of friendship which has given you strength.

While you are on the Hook, Camaraderie activates.

If another Survivor is within 16 metres of your Hook while Camaraderie is activated, the Hook timer is paused for 26/30/34 seconds. It is not possible to escape the hook yourself during this time, and struggle is not required on second hooks.

If another Survivor is hooked and you get within 16 metres of their hook, their hook timer is similarly delayed.

Camaraderie can only be activated once per hook, no matter how many survivors are running the perk.  

"So, remember once you get in there... pretend like you don't care. There you go, you're learning my friend. You're learning." — Steve Harrington

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Moving on to Yui, who has perks that are closer to being good, but with a few tweaks I think could be much more played.

Breakout:

Given how close hooks are, it's very rare this perk gets any real benefit. Someone has to be far enough away that a 20% boost nets an escape, and the perk user has to be super close when they go down, and stay that close, risking themselves. It's a perk that gets much more use out of coordinated SWF teams (part of the reason I didn't go with my first thought, which was an additional wiggle benefit if you take a hit) and this might actually exacerbate that problem, but still, for the solo player's sake I'd like to buff the range a little, to help that, but also one more change that adds a bit more strategy into it and gives synergy to Yui's other perk, the restore pallet perk:

Breakout

You kick into high gear when someone's in trouble, inspiring them to overcome any obstacle.

When within 9 metres of a carried Survivor, you gain the Haste Status Effect, moving at an increased speed of 5/6/7 %.

The carried Survivor's wiggle speed is increased by 20 %, and you see their Aura even while being carried. You also see the Aura of any pallets within 9m and Hooks within 12m.  

"Come, we’re going to rip our way out of this." — Yui Kimura

Any Means Necessary:

This is mostly a meme perk, that is, it does have a benefit but really you take it so you can reset pallets, not that it's especially useful with the long cooldown and rarity that a killer leaves the useful one down. However, the description does suggest 'using whatever's on hand'... currently, aside from pallets, really the only thing 'on hand' is stuff in chests. So maybe a minor chest or item benefit? I considered 'Pharmacy but for Flashlights' though I think that would be too strong (maybe as itself, but not as a buff). Then I thought, synergy, again... breakout helps other survivors, maybe a benefit involving sabotage. Sort of a 'botany knowledge for sabo' ... doesn't provide you the means to do it in all circumstances, but it helps you if you can already. It's not super very fun, but it's something.

Any Means Necessary

You stand up for yourself, using whatever's on hand to gain an advantage.

Press and hold the Active Ability button for 4 seconds while standing beside a dropped Pallet to reset it to its upright position.

Any Means Necessary has a cool-down of 140/130/120 seconds.

While the perk is not on cooldown, you gain a 10% bonus speed to any sabotage efforts. This perk does not, alone, give you the ability to sabotage.

"I'll hit you with everything I've got. Then I'll do it again." — Yui Kimura

Lucky Break:

In the killer section I'm going to discuss how, while blood trails aren't useless, they're also not a huge problem for survivors usually, especially since if a killer's nearby enough, they'll either hear you (unless you also have a perk like Iron Will) or they'll see your scratch marks. So Lucky Break almost becomes "Iron Will, but not as good" (doubly so, because the benefit runs out), although you can use both to get some nice synergy. Still, how about adding a tiny benefit that lets you take advantage and get a few seconds grace in a chase by removing your scratch marks in just the first three seconds after an injury. It's not going to be a lot, chances are you're going to be running when hit so the first second is just getting away from the scratch marks already around you. And if you're in sight of the killer while they wipe their weapon, it's pretty much no benefit at all. But with skilled players and the right circumstances, you can get some great moments out of it. And, because of LB's time-limited nature, this benefit also runs out, encouraging the survivor to heal as soon as practical (which the killer can be aware of and on the hunt to interrupt).  

Lucky Break

You've had your share of scrapes and bruises, but luck's always on your side.

Lucky Break activates any time you are injured. For 3 seconds after you are first injured from the Healthy state while the perk is activated, you leave no Scratch Marks.  

While Lucky Break is active, you won't leave trails of blood. Lucky Break remains active for a total of 120/150/180 seconds of injury. This time is paused when you are in the Healthy or Dying states or are on a Hook.  

Lucky Break becomes permanently deactivated for the remainder of the Trial once the total duration has elapsed.

"That's not enough to beat me. Not even close." — Yui Kimura

Killers

Cruel Limits:

Perks that trigger at generators have one big problem... you only get the effects of the perk, maximum, five times per game (and if you are good, less than that). As such, they need to be a significant benefit to make up for it. 30 seconds of vault blocks in those locations? Doesn't do it for me. First because the killer has to be near a completed gen to get any benefit out of it, and 30 seconds is not a long time, basically it probably covers one, maybe two jungle gyms (and does practically nothing if it's a gen in the middle of nowhere). At least Bitter Murmur, the other '5 times a game' perk gives you valuable information even if you're not there, telling you which direction the survivors on the gen are going, but with this perk, if you're not near the gen when it procs, you've wasted it. If you made the time significantly longer, like a couple minutes, maybe, but I try to avoid straight numbers buffs. Or if you blocked every vault on the map, that might be worth it. I considered option B there, because it can provide an 'oh $@!$' moment if you're in a chase and someone does a gen somewhere on the map and now the vault you were going for is blocked. But again, to me that feels like a straight numbers buff and what I try to do is add some secondary element. So I think what I'll do is make a separate effect for pallets centered on your terror radius. If your terror radius and the completed gen overlap on a jungle gym or shack, they're cruelly limited in what they can do. And, what the heck, call it the Bitter Murmur effect, let's make the last gen trigger it mapwide.  

Cruel Limits

Your ties to the otherworldly manifest when your prey attempts to get away.

Each time a Generator is repaired, all Windows and vault locations within a radius of 36 metres from the completed Generator are blocked for all Survivors for the next 20/25/30 seconds. For the same time, every Pallet interaction attempted by a Survivor within the Killer's Terror Radius is significantly slowed.

When the last Generator is repaired, all Windows and vault location across the map are blocked for 20/25/30 seconds and all pallet interactions by Survivors are significantly slowed.  

"The specimen seems to be able to affect the state of nearby objects, as if they existed in some other form within a dimension alternate to our own." — Hawkins National Laboratory

Mindbreaker:

You know what I noticed when doing this? How often perk descriptions don't really match up with effects. Both the perk description and the 'quote' reference your "presence," and "nearby", while the perk has nothing to do with where the user is, just the status of the generator. Now certainly, a few seconds of exhaustion is only USEFUL if the killer is nearby, but... it's still a perk that has no benefit if survivors aren't running exhaustion perks, virtually no benefit if an exhaustion perk isn't on cooldown, and no benefit once a generator is progressed enough. I want perks to be of benefit without having to guess survivor perks and also for them to make sense with the flavor text and name. I considered a 'terror radius causes walking or crouching speed to be reduced' effect but that might be powerful enough to effectively redesign the whole perk (on the other hand, it would make it a perk that isn't exclusively yet another generator-perk). Then I considered an 'anti-teabagging' perk meaning that while crouching you gain a hindered status effect, kind of working with the perk name a bit... survivors teabag you and then get a moment of mindbreak as they realize that slowed them down. I also kind of want to invert the generator aspect of this because of it... the mindbreak kicks in once you cross 50% rather than starting a gen and instantly know the killer has the perk and you have to complete it quickly (and removes any surprise from a teabag slowdown if the survivor as so much as touched a generator). Then it also synergizes a bit more with Cruel Limits (exhausted after completing the generator and windows are blocked) and even Surge (if it helps you down someone near a gen that's getting close, it regresses it for you as well, guaranteeing the full percentage loss rather than a gen that may have just been started). So %$!@ it, let's do that.  

Mindbreaker:

Your distressing presence drains and weakens your prey.

Survivors who crouch within the Killer's Terror Radius receive a 1 second Hindered status effect. The Hindered status effect timer is paused while crouching, and stacks on any existing Hindered status effect.   

While repairing Generators with more than 50 % Repair progression, Survivors gain a similar Hindered effect and are also afflicted by the Exhausted Status Effect.

Any existing Hindered or Exhaustion Status Effect timers are paused while the Survivor is repairing a Generator. After ending the Repair action, the Survivor is afflicted by the Exhausted Status Effect for 1/2/3 second(s).

"The specimen can evoke feelings of dread and fatigue in nearby individuals." — Hawkins National Laboratory

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Zanshin Tactics:

As it stands, this is basically Windows of Opportunity for killers. Pretty much the exact same effect, and type of benefits. The problem is, killer perks should be stronger than survivor perks. A killer perk that grants the exact same benefit as a survivor is underpowered, because they're giving up one of their 4 perk slots while survivors collectively have 16. 

So, let's give this a special buff: If a survivor is within 2m of a standing pallet for more than 1 second (while the perk is a active), the pallet is highlighted in white. Now, it does what it did before, but it also is a low-level detection perk and it gives the killer some power and mindgaming survivors... the perk won't reveal what side of the pallet the survivor's on, but you can know if they're crouching at it. But because of the cooldown it doesn't make it overly hard to pallet save someone (unless the killer waits a long time before picking up). Time might need to be tweaked, or rules added (so it doesn't auto-reveal any survivor walking through a pallet, maybe making it require they be stationary) but I think the general idea is good, I think.  

Zanshin Tactics

Unlocks potential in one's Aura-reading ability.

You are mentally alert and aware of key points on the battlefield.

The Auras of all Pallets and Windows are revealed to you within a range of 24 metres. If a survivor is within 1m of a visible pallet for more than 3 seconds, that pallet is highlighted in white.  

When a Survivor is damaged, Zanshin Tactics becomes inactive for 40/35/30 seconds.

"Within your enemy's strength is weakness." — Renjiro's Doctrine 12:5

Blood Echo:

Honestly, the perk isn't necessarily so bad (aside from being an exhaustion perk that survivors generally find unfun). What is bad is that aside from using Exhaustion (which only affects users of like 4 different perks) it uses the Haemorrhage status effect, a status effect which (aside from being annoyingly hard to type out) seems adored by devs for add-on effects but basically translates to "slightly easier to track if you're on the right map and you're not already tracking based on scratch marks." So, for this perk, I'm suggesting improving an additional rule for Haemorrhage: Partial heal progress degrades when not healing, faster when running. So if a survivor is Haemorrhaging, they can't self-care a bit behind a pallet, and repeat. If you interrupt two survivors healing, you can make them lose their progress. If someone heals to 99% so they can benefit from Resilience, well, now they can't instantly top up. Not a huge buff, but it gives it some persistent benefit. Maybe similar effect on mend status (which doesn't normally go down while sprinting, but with this, maybe). No different effects for people who are downed, though. As the perk remains the same, it doesn't really need a description. But just in case you want to make it a perk-specific trait rather than altering Haemorrhage in general:

Blood Echo 

The agony of one is inflicted on others.

When hooking a Survivor, all other injured Survivors suffer from the Haemorrhage Status Effect until healed and the Exhausted Status Effect for 45 seconds. Whenever survivors are suffering from the Haemorrhage Status Effect, any partial heal progress degrades when not actively being healed, and this progress loss happens faster while sprinting.  

Blood Echo can only be triggered once every 80/70/60 seconds.

"Attack an enemy with precision and their allies will feel it." — Renjiro's Doctrine 6:3

Okay, that's it, all the other perks since my last pass I think are viable enough on their own (a few of the older perks in my earlier suggestion posts need additional reworks since some of my ideas for buffing them are already covered by newer perks, but I'll just leave them as is)

And if you've gotten this far, one little bonus new perk idea.

MacGyver (or since the game probably can't use that name, Resourceful, or Jerry Rig):

You can make use of unusual tools to make repairs.  

You can use a Med-Kit to repair Generators. The Med-Kit functions as a yellow toolbox in terms of speed, regardless of the Med-Kit used. Every charge of the Med-Kit provides the equivalent of 4/4.5/5 charges of toolbox work. Skill checks are moderately more likely and success zones are moderately/slightly/slightly reduced. Add-Ons not affecting charges have no effect when a Medkit is used in this way.  

"Anything can be a tool, if you're creative."