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[Killer Idea Brainstorming] Hunter type Killer, inspired by Predator

Heya! I'm back with another suggestion, writing this again while sleep deprived. I know ideas can come from anywhere, even for free, but making them a reality and having them work outside of paper theory is the actual challenge. But regardless, on we go! This is meant to be me brainstorming an idea for a Killer and showing the thought process I go through, so apologies if it's not a 'ready to be alpha tested' type of forum thread.

I was thinking about Killers in DBD that, by design, have to commit to a target. Only Plague and Ghostface comes to mind, and with Plague's case it's a matter of playstyle, not necessarily motivated by her Power alone. I'm not talking about tunneling, I'm more talking about having your Power act differently depending on your target. With Ghostface too, you are motivated, but not forced by mechanics, to chase down your Exposed target.

The Suggestion

I was thinking about how to make a Killer a Hunter-esque type Assassin, without resorting to the types of Ghostface, where it's sneaking up to someone and stabbing them real hard. This Killer, let's dub them the Hunter for now (names are hard, it's just a WIP name).

The Hunter would move at a regular M1 Killer speed, 115%. They would start with the ability to Mark a Survivor for death. I see this working in multiple ways, so I'm gonna go ahead and list potential ideas for how this mechanic would work:

The Hunter has the ability to throw an object, like a tracking device, onto a single Survivor. This would provide some kind of feedback information on their location (I think 24/7 aura reading is too powerful, but we could come up with something more interesting and unique). An example would be a pulsing kind of sonar, similar to Killer Instict.

The range on the throw would be limited, so you wouldn't be able to do any kind of Huntress-esque throws across the map. Maybe a range like 16-24 metres, or a chase/terror radius requirement. Perhaps the range and/or chase requirement is the easiest way to program in. Ghostface already reacts to a chase starting by raising his hand in a stabbing motion, a similar trigger could be used for the Tracking Device availability. The Tracking Device has a set cooldown that is incurred everytime it's used, regardless of if it missed or not. This could be relatively short, since the Device itself doesn't directly harm Survivors.

Once a Survivor is Marked, the Hunter has two options. They can either use a Shuriken type of object to hurl at the Survivor (we could use the same limitations we had on the Tracking Device) to injure them, or they can use a beefed up Melee Attack. Both of these require the Survivor to be Marked. We can discuss later how these attacks could be programmed in to interact with non-Marked Survivors for flexibility's sake.

Now let's go into more detail.

The "beefed up Melee Attack" could be something akin to Pig's Dash, but used standing up. It provides a small speed boost to the Killer, allowing for an extended hit. The downside would be that if you miss, you lose the chance to use said Melee Attack OR the Shuriken and the Survivor is "Unmarked". This would provide the Killer opportunities to play to their strengths in Ranged Attack friendly maps, but not leave them completely without options in opposite situations. And it already requires a Tracking Device to hit the Survivor, so having a branching Power like this isn't out of the question in terms of how powerful it is.

How would these interact with Non-Marked Survivors in the first place? What about a situation where there's a Non-Marked and Marked Survivor nearby, how would the game handle you not being able to use your Power on one person and not the other?

I was thinking about a situation like that, and came to the conclusion that it would be a mess to try and differentiate, who you can use your Power specificly, from a Power design/programming perspective. Now let me refine this idea a bit further down.

Refining the Idea

What if the Shuriken acted as a Tracking Device when first thrown, but as something that damages if the Survivor is already carrying a Tracking Device? This would eliminate the need to have to separate "states" for the Ranged Attack, and having it be tied to a single button, such as M2. Meanwhile, we could have the "Beefed up Melee Attack" be a replacement for the Basic Attack button everytime you hit someone with a Shuriken for example, as a means of a Finisher. Or even after a successful Tracking Device hit.

Having said all that, we could also just not have the Beefed Melee Attack. But I fear the gameplay loop would be too similar to Huntress then, just with a 115% Killer instead.

I suggest emphasizing the one use nature of the Shuriken's after having applied the Tracking Device. I was thinking about them being a one shot down once a Survivor is Marked, but I personally dislike the idea. I think both the Shuriken and the Tracking Device should be easier to throw than a Huntress' Hatchets, with the justification that the former is one use per Mark, and the latter has a short cooldown (5-10 seconds).

I think there should be a single Mark at any given time. Having The Hunter mark multiple targets would eliminate alot of the theme of the Killer "marking someone to death and hunting them down". That said, nothing prevents the Killer from using the Extended Basic Attack on a non-marked target, but it still removes the Mark from whoever was Marked, and incurs any associated cooldowns if there are any.

The existance of the Extended Basic Attack on every Shuriken hit also allows for some flexibility in the Killer's playstyle. You can harm Survivors or even Track them, but not immediately go after them, and opting to go hit someone else with an Extended Attack. It's not as efficient, obviously, but it avoids situations where you Mark a target, but for reasons (such as the Marked target making too much distance or going to a strong tile) you can't immediately chase them down. The Extended Basic Attack could have an "activate time duration" to prevent one from storing it, but I can see it working even without a time limit.

General playstyle of The Hunter

I can see multiple playstyles working with them. You can opt for a hit and run style, with using Tracking Devices as locating tools, while using the Extended Basic Attack as something to give you an edge when switching targets, then hunting your Mark down. Or you can go the route of applying the Tracking Device and hunting the Marked target down with your tools from the start. This combinations of tools sets The Hunter apart from Huntress (yes I know the names sound similar, again, WIP), where Huntress is a slower moving, patience rewarding Killer who can multitask current chases and targets further away, The Hunter uses a more direct approach to chases with trying to quickly down a target with shorter Ranged attacks at the penalty of potentially missing either the Tracking Device or The Shuriken. To me, it's a more aggressive, faster Huntress, but with different strengths, so both can exist and we don't get another "Leatherface is Billy but worse" situation.

Perks of the Hunter

Before I go into this, I'm gonna be honest; I'm not a fan of designing new Perks in general. The game already has plenty of Perks in it's pool, and in my opinion, older Perks should be reworked over introducing new ones. That said however, here's some Perk concepts (nothing very detailed, but I suppose this aspect of designing a new Killer is still important, so I decided to include it here).

On The Hunt

You have an enhanced ability to keep track of your prey. In addition to Scratch Marks, you are now able to see a Survivors Footprints. Noise made by Survivor Footsteps is 10%/30%/50% louder.

Notes: Footprint lifespan is half of a Scratch Mark's lifespan. This means this Perk would be used to find Survivors when you're much closer to them, or about to Chase them, to pin point their exact location easier. Also, I've always wanted a Perk in the game that increases Footstep sounds. I think sound design is extremely important in this game and often buggy and neglected, but still.

What is yours is Mine

You've learned to take advantage of your enemy and their greed. You hear a Loud Notification everytime a Survivor opens a Chest or picks up an item. This Perk has a 60/45/30 second cooldown.

Notes: Designed to be a pretty basic information Perk. Initially I only included Chests in it, but I figured there isn't anything that gives Killers information about Survivors interacting with items, aside from the short ranged sounds you hear when they pick up and drop items, or interact with Chests.

Trophy Hunter

You hunger maddeningly for those who you have designated as your prey. For every 60/45/30 seconds your Obsession spends in your Terror Radius while in a chase, gain a token. For each token, you vault Windows 3/4/5% faster for a maximum of 7 tokens. If your Obsession is killed or sacrificed, you cannot gain any more tokens. Vault speed doesn't stack with other similar effects.

You can only be Obsessed with one Survivor at a time.

Notes: I've always wanted a pure Vault speed Perk for Killers, but I personally hate Bamboozle. Blocking Windows is powerful, but it also removes mindgame potential from the game. Fire Up has Vault speed increases as well, but the Perk works best only in the late game, and likely when you are about to lose. I decided to go with an Obsession mechanic for this one, since I like alot of Token based Perks, but I wanted to limit how you gain the Tokens, because a maximum of 35% Vault speed is pretty strong. It is also the reason why I don't want it to stack with other similar effects, because a 50%+ (if you combine it with Bamboozle and Fire Up) sounds absurd, especially on someone like Myers.

I also had another variation of this in mind. You could gain Tokens in the same method as above, but in stacks of 2 (so every 30 seconds, you'd gain 2 Tokens for a total increase of 10%, for a maximum of 40% Vault speed). You'd lose a Token every time you vault a Window, however.

This Perk also assumes Chases work better than they currently do, as of writing this, where they have a tendency to break even when you're actively Chasing the Survivor around something like a Jungle Gym. But the trigger condition for gaining Tokens could be adjusted.

TL;DR

Introducing a Hunter type Killer inspired by Predator. General idea of the Killer is Marking Survivors for Death, that grants the Killer special abilities. You can throw a Tracking Device on a Survivor, Marking them and granting you the ability to injure them with a Shuriken. You're also granted an Extended Basic Attack (a lunge with increased movement speed) everytime you Mark a new Survivor. You can only Mark one Survivor at a time. Once a single Survivor has been Marked, they cannot be Marked again for another 60 seconds. A Marked target 'pulsates' their location from time to time, similar to Killer Instict.

Both Tracking Devices and Shuriken's are throwable projectiles, similar to Huntress' Hatchets. Both have to be aimed. Missing a Tracking Device throw incurs a short cooldown penalty. Missing a Shuriken removes the Mark from the Survivor, and incurs the same Tracking Device cooldown penalty. The throwables are designed to be easier to hit than a Huntress' Hatchet, with more severe downsides for missing them.

Comments

  • Pandamonium
    Pandamonium Member Posts: 77

    This is an awesome idea! While reading this, I had one of the hunters from Deathgarden bloodharvest in mind. Not specifically based on their power, rather their physical attributes. The perk ideas open up new strategies while not being weak, boring or too powerful (Perhaps trophy hunter is a bit powerful).

  • Archimedes5000
    Archimedes5000 Member Posts: 1,620

    Unforunately, I don't think this killer is possible. That is because your Hunter is almost the same that Ghostface is, or at least was supposed to be. Ghostface sneaks up to his target silently, without being seen, then he cgarges his power (stalking), sneaks up on his target and then instantly downs him. I kniw this isnt exactly hiw Ghostface gameplay looks like, he can target multiple people at the same time, his power can be used in chases, etc, but I believe that is because it is impossible for a "fully stealth" killervto exist. I dont know if it is a technical limitation or Devs just don't want to do it, bu it is unlikely that such design would be accepted, especially if is its so similiar to the idea of Ghostface