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Killers, how long did it take you to “get good”

bigyikes
bigyikes Member Posts: 4
edited February 2020 in General Discussions

I’m new to the game and bought it because it seemed fun, especially the killer role. But I have really bad anxiety and didn’t anticipate how stressful it could be. My first game put me against purple ranked survivors. I hit three people the entire game. No downs. No hooks. I chose Billy and kept running into things, lol. I figured it was because I was new and they were so above my rank, so I tried again even though that experience was awful.

Luckily, after that first game, I somewhat consistently got at least two other grey/yellow ranked people. I managed to get to rank 13 with Huntress and only Huntress. But it’s mostly because new players literally run in a straight line. It wasn't long before I ended up encountering people who knew how to dodge, and I realized I’m a terrible Huntress. It's kind of amazing how bad I am at hitting targets.

So, how long did it take you guys to get to a point where you were at least semi-confident in yourself? Who did you start out with?

I’m not complaining about being bad, by the way. I didn’t expect to be a pro on my first few tries, and I sincerely don’t care about losing. I'm just asking because I feel extraordinarily bad. Like, worse than average. And it's kind of discouraging. It would just be nice to know about everyone else's journey into becoming a decent killer main.

And, side note, I really wish they had a tutorial mode for each killer.

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Comments

  • Alice_pbg
    Alice_pbg Member Posts: 6,556

    Took me a while before I said "ok, I'm not terrible at this"

    I still can't beat good swf teams. They need to ######### up.

    Took a while before I could loop somewhat efficiently.

    Still run towards walls sometimes.


    Playing since august.

  • LustForBP
    LustForBP Member Posts: 611

    My suggestion is watch YT videos on playing Killer. It takes a bit of practice but the biggest downfall to killers is patience. When you get frustrated, and it happens to me often, you tend to throw the game out of spite without realizing it. In the current state of the game, you can fly through games as a killer so just have patience and realize not every game will end with 3-4k.

  • Mikeasaurus
    Mikeasaurus Member Posts: 2,327

    Even after a year of playing, I'm still not 'good' in terms of I can easily 4k every single team. Honestly, don't stress too much over trying to win every match. Practice each killer, see which you enjoy and find a little easier. Try out different perk combos. It's all about finding what works for you with each killer. And never let survivors who act toxic via messages/post-game chat make you feel like you're bad at the game. We were all newbies at one point, and I think many forget that. So, yeah, just try practice as best you can, and just enjoy yourself overall

  • HealsBadMan
    HealsBadMan Member Posts: 1,122
    edited February 2020

    Watch videos of good experienced Survivors (to know what they do and how they do it) as well as Killers. You should also play Killers depending on your playstyle- don't immediately go for hits as Ghostface, for example. There's also skill involved in using their powers (start with killers that are easy to pick up, like Legion or Wraith, then when you start developing your game sense go for more difficult killers).

    Some people to watch:

    Monto, Noob3, Otzdarva, Puppers, Sattelizer, and/or TrueTalent

    EDIT: I almost forgot but since you mentioned Huntress, if you want to improve watch Umbra- she's arguably the best Huntress in DBD

  • toxicmegg
    toxicmegg Member Posts: 662

    Huntress is definitely not an easy killer to get good with, so you don't have to feel bad about yourself if you cant hit dodging targets. it takes practice.

    i started with trapper, but later continued with legion, pig and ghostface. took me while to get good, and a bit longer to get good enough to destroy red rank swf survivors.

    as mentioned before, it would help you to watch streamers like otz and monto

  • iBetClaudette
    iBetClaudette Member Posts: 299
    edited February 2020

    It takes a long time. Don't feel discouraged. It takes just as long to Git Gud for survivors. You'll improve over time. I suggest you watch Monto. You'll learn a lot

  • underlord99
    underlord99 Member Posts: 1,030

    adding on to what @toxicmegg said , ralph is a really good huntress too. I would watch him as well.

  • Mew
    Mew Member Posts: 1,832

    uhhh id say im a little above average, but it took me around 2 years to fully understand a lot of the games mechanics and be good at killer.

    still ######### up sometimes but, thats normal

  • Flatskull
    Flatskull Member Posts: 332
    edited February 2020


    Learn mind games. Act like you're going to cut them off at one direciton then suddenly change to the other. It works a good amount of the time.


    Try the old moon walk technique. It sometimes dupes people with your red stain affect when you are not visible yourself.


    Mess with the perks you got. Expirement and try to big brain 4D play with certain killer styles and perk combos. This is probably the best way to have fun despite win or lose and you'll quickly get more compeititve builds and ways to tackle people with this mindset.


    Watch some youtuber killers. I suggest not otz since he use a lot of tactics and even explains step by step sometimes why he uses them.


    Learn to accept when you can and can't do anything. If gens are popping left and right and you don't have a gen regression build then it's better to worry about intercepting and finishing chases quickly rather than tailing finished gens or preventing them going off. If you can't get chases done relatively quickly then focus on gen pressure.


    If someone runs to a safe loop or pallet. Unless you got time you're better off just breaking chase and returning to a gen defense/other survivor. If a gen is too close to a safe loop/area. Just let them have it and pressure other gens. Even if you have to resort to guard to 3 last gens.


    Hope some of this helps.


    I know that wasn't the question, but it seem some tips I learned might be pertinent. Anyway. It took me a good while of getting bullied to get good but I was still in this game during the dark period before the big killer buffs. You won't really git gud until you start to 4D chess big brain this game as a rule. It's competitive to the point it rivals fighting games where you start talking about second usage as if you were talking about frames in a move.

  • bigyikes
    bigyikes Member Posts: 4

    Thank you all for the tips and the suggestions on who to watch. I've watched tutorials and stuff before, but a lot of the names dropped here are new to me. I've never gotten into a game enough to check out content creators before DbD, and I didn't really know who to really look out for yet.

    I just started watching some videos from Otzdarva. I could definitely learn from watching him and all the others.

    But yeah. I feel a bit better about being so bad now, so thanks for your answers regarding how long it took you to "git gud" or whatever. I've only been playing killer for a few weeks, so I guess I just need to be more patient with myself.

    To be honest, the main reason I felt the need to ask is because I thought maybe there were higher expectations for a rank 13 and I was just extra bad, lol.

  • futurenoob010
    futurenoob010 Member Posts: 14

    Start with trapper his power isn as hard to use as Billie's chainsaw and trap pallets. Half of survs wont disarm even the obvious ones.

  • yutycorn
    yutycorn Member Posts: 246

    Been playing since before Spirit or Clown? I was playing a month or less before whichever one is the earlier of the two. I originally played survivor.

    When I played killer.... I was playing at a time where matchmaking wasn't bad lime now, so I had the chance to learn against people my rank. Of course, I ranked up quickly, because the survivors didn't know what they were doing. I started with Hag. Once I started getting into purple however, it started becoming a challenge. I had to watch videos when I felt I was getting nowhere. After I felt like I understood her, I tried other killers because I like variety. I have taken breaks throughout these past couple of years, but even I am still learning and adapting. One thing about killer and survivor is that the opposing team is always adapting and learning, so you essentially have to do the same. At times, it seems like you are ahead, and its like, "I got this", only to have that team who is further along to show you, "not quite".

    Basically, sweetie, you will always have rounds that do your head in, but there are rounds that make the game so well worth the time and energy. Its always evolving in a sense as new things are added or things are removed/changed.

    I won't disagree, though, killer can and definitely more so now, a frustrating experience. Keep it up, you'll get the hang of it in no time! Or even if it does, don't give up, the reward is well worth it, if you're like me and enjoy: variety, solid outplays, funny mindgames, enjoyable overall experience in the match, and the idea that maybe, juuust maybe you scared a couple of them ;)

  • Mister_xD
    Mister_xD Member Posts: 7,669

    personally i'm at 3k hrs right now, but id say ive been quite good at the 2.3k hrs mark.

    that differs from player to player though.

    ive seen people with ~6k hrs who are still a lot worse than me.

  • Uistreel
    Uistreel Member Posts: 634

    About a year

  • snozer
    snozer Member Posts: 776

    Hope the survivors closest to you are bad and you will instantly be good.

    There is a reason everyone seems to have a vastly different experience and it isn't "skill" in such a basic game as this as all killers have a literal limit to what they can do.

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,616

    Idk, I started playing at the beginning, so I kinda grew along with everyone else.

  • NullEXE
    NullEXE Member Posts: 1,632

    Took me several weeks. I guess I was probably better sooner than that, but I put several weeks into learning the maps, perks and spawns. I even followed top killers on twitch and asked them for tips, and donated money for builds.

    As for survivor, I just used what I seen survivors doing when I played killer, and got red ranks.

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  • TragicSolitude
    TragicSolitude Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 7,346
    edited February 2020

    I've got a bunch of hours in the game at this point (Devotion 8 Level 90, which is another way of saying my player level is 890) and I can still feel stressed/anxious while playing killer.

    One thing that helps a lot is watching tutorials and gameplay videos on YouTube. I picked up different things from watching experienced killers play.

    Make sure to play survivor, too. It's a good way to see how survivors play, learn hiding spots, etc.

    Whatever happens, don't feel bad, man. Everyone has good matches and bad matches. If survivors get you down by telling you you're the worst killer ever, don't pay it any mind: they say that to everyone. The game has so much RNG that sometimes there's not much you can do, so just try to have fun and don't take it too seriously.

  • feechima
    feechima Member Posts: 914

    I would add to the huntress suggestion Queen Kuro, she's a great example of keeping a cool head as Huntress. ScottJund is also a great Killer main to watch and Runningman, another example of a calm collected guy to watch. All of them can be found on Twitch. Painreliever is a youtuber that posts quite a few, simple 'how to videos' on how to properly run a tile, use certain killers, and mindgame survivors. I'd suggest also watching some survivor gameplay or playing yourself so you can get in the mindset of how survivors think. It was the main reason for me to play killer. I had no idea of their limitations and powers until I played myself.

  • Advorsus
    Advorsus Member Posts: 1,033

    It actually didn't take me too long. I first started and loved the nurses look and power, so I used her. And got DESTROYED every single match. So I stopped playing. Never picked it up for like a year. Then I started watching YouTube videos of it and started wanting to learn to play. I didn't have experience but I just copied the movements of streamers and other high ranking killers. So it was easier to learn because I had no other knowledge of the game. No useless self created bad habits and information that would bog me down. When I started back Doctor looked pretty interesting, and the Hag information said she was easy to use. So I started using those two and really found my niche. I was very good at crowd and map control. I'm like that in every game too. So I found killers that I was really good at and started ranking up. Eventually I found myself in green ranks and I was pretty good. But I kept going against red ranks and hit a wall, getting really frustrated with it too. Until I realized that the difference between me, and the red ranks and higher tier players, was our difference in skill sets.

    Once I realized this, I started looking back on matches where I lost and found 1-2 mistakes that I made and focused on fixing those mistakes in the next match. My skills jumped at this point and I found myself hitting red ranks and 4k most matches. I'm still nowhere near people like Scott Jund, but I'm good, and that means I still have somewhere to work towards.

    And then I realized ranks don't matter :'D and that I don't get anything from it. So there's that lol

  • danielbird11
    danielbird11 Member Posts: 150
    edited February 2020

    When I started it was when the pig just got released. And I was so bad at the game. I would be immersed af and hide in lockers all game. Because I did not think crows did anything lol. And as killer I started with trapper and won every game. But that was because I was rank 20 and survivors would just run into traps and walls. So when I got to like rank 10/15 the looping began. So I watched yt videos of people playing like monto, no0b3 and ochido. When I got good at the game and had 2k hours on pc and console. I could do 5 gen runs and 4k most games as killer. I still watch all the content creators today. Because I can always improve. But i don't not ochido because I realised that he was really toxic and was a bad influence on my gameplay. Cause when I play games I want everyone to have fun not just myself.

  • ZoneDymo
    ZoneDymo Member Posts: 1,946

    Ill let you know when I get there

  • bgbomb
    bgbomb Member Posts: 434

    1000+hours and still on the way

  • Temprid
    Temprid Member Posts: 2

    *Git Gud

  • Midori_21
    Midori_21 Member Posts: 724
    edited February 2020

    It takes a while to really "git gud" with killer. I started with Trapper and after a while switched to Nurse. Countless hours were spent practicing blinks, whiffing blink attacks, getting bullied by survivors etc. I would say just be patient and don't feel bad if you don't do well. I've been playing killer for two years now and I still make mistakes sometimes, but I never let it get to me. In the end, whats done is done, and there's no point brooding about it.

  • namjuunn
    namjuunn Member Posts: 43

    I started playing as a killer recently also and am still having difficulties with it. I try to look at yt videos of others playing, like otz, hes really amazing, hes always telling about his build and perks so that helps a lot. But since im only trying to get used to playing either myers or ghostie, its difficult for sure.

  • NEVELEVEN11
    NEVELEVEN11 Member Posts: 141

    Try Killers that can place traps/spawns first. Theyre easier to control the map with.

    Ill say it took me till level 20 with hag before i was confident to take on any rank group.

  • ClickyClicky
    ClickyClicky Member Posts: 3,536

    I don’t know because improvement is constant, it’s hard to look back and work out the point where I became at least “good enough” at the game.

    I will say that I didn’t understand the game at first. About 3 games in as Trapper I go against nightmare survivors, flashlight blinds every few seconds and loops. I must have been rank 19 or 20 and I would be going against people that knew how to loop and I didn’t get the game at all. I’m chasing them and then run in circles, then when I get close they drop the pallet and stun, if I respect the pallet they get a free loop. (Which indicates these were not people of similar rank I was going against). You break the pallet and they run to the next. I got brutal strength unlocked on Trapper and just brute forced chases.

    At some point I started watching streamers which is something I hadn’t done before for games. I learned then about manipulating the red stain, when to break chase instead of getting greedy etc it all started to click much more. To be fair a number of streamers still fall into that trap, committing to too long a chase.

  • MessaTee
    MessaTee Member Posts: 5

    Personally, in my first 5/10 hours, I don't remember myself being particularly "good", but I have watched people like H2o, Ohmwrecker etc. playing DBD, which could have been a deciding factor in my improvement of skill, where I immediatelly got to rank 5 in my first 100 hours of playing the game. Also it's best to watch really skilled players first instead of fail compilations because overall better game knowledge will be engrained into your head.

  • Verconissp
    Verconissp Member Posts: 1,588

    two years. even then its still a matter of "Git Gud" in today's game

  • jerakal
    jerakal Member Posts: 246

    I'd say I "Got Decent" after a few weeks of practicing my fundamentals, (Looping, checking my corners, etc.) and then watching amazing Killers on twitch definitely helped me. I'm sure I could improve even more if I had people to practice with and I gave enough of a crap.

  • Slickstyles
    Slickstyles Member Posts: 446

    Holy necrothread

  • ZaKzan
    ZaKzan Member Posts: 544


    The game is hilariously survivor sided. If the survivors just split up and hump gens, there's absolutely nothing the killer can do. Even if they do not loop and just get hit and press shift W to run in straight lines, you will give them about 1 gen worth of time per hit and down.

    You can get to the point where you dumpster on most survivors, since most survivors aren't very good at the game. It takes a long time, I consider myself an average to above average killer with my playtime. Any of the killers are good, because a team of good survivors is utterly unstoppable and the vast majority of survivors are either really really good or really really bad. What matters more than your personal skill is the map RNG and the team cohesion of the survivors, no amount of skill with killer will beat bad rng against a good group of survivors.

  • vanhoya
    vanhoya Member Posts: 57

    Hmm, good question. It took me about 6 weeks of regularly, almost daily gameplay as killer to get to red ranks (rank 1-4) from my very first attempt at killer.

    What helped me? YouTube. I recommend Otzdarva and Tru3Talent. You can learn a lot from these two guys.

    Good luck, you'll get better but it will get more frustrating, especially once you get to about ranks 4-6 (when you start to encounter competent loopers).

  • AvisDeene
    AvisDeene Member Posts: 2,396

    I don't care to get any better. I just play Killer for fun when I get bored of Survivor. I'm not getting any money out of this so I am not looking to be fantastic.

  • shalo
    shalo Member Posts: 1,530

    I played for a couple of months before feeling like I could be successful in any match. One thing to keep in mind, some Killers have very different playstyles so you'll be starting from scratch again when you switch to them. No-one has mentioned Fungoose yet, he's a great educational DBDer, explains what he's doing and why as he plays.

  • HectorBrando
    HectorBrando Member Posts: 3,167

    It takes a while to get decent at the game for it has a lot of mechanics not explained that can make the roles way way harder. You should play Survivor too for it will give you insight on what to do against a Killer and in turn it will teach you how to counter it.

    Playing both roles make learning each of it exponentially easier, two very basic examples:

    Killers are like fishes and are attracted to movement, you can avoid plenty of players by crouching still on certain places, they wont notice you a lot of times (its risky but very rewarding if you pull it), in turn with this info you can learn to how search for Survivors in a more efficient way, but you will never learn this by playing Killer only.

    You can get a free hit and a pallet drop against a pallet camper if you walk to it backwards and before he can see you coming you lunge at them, theyll get hit and on top theyll probably drop the pallet too, then again you cant learn this by playing Killer alone.


    P.D. If you have a really bad case of anxiety either you change your mindset about this game or you are in for a LOT of trouble, players in this game can be extremely trollish and bully the other side just because so if you are not going to take this as a party game like Among Us or Team Fortress 2 it may not be the right game for you.

  • xX_DeoxRc_Xx
    xX_DeoxRc_Xx Member Posts: 61

    Well i'm rank 10 on killer and 16 survivor so i can't say safely i'm good, i just don't suck like i used to.

    I think the first thing that helped was leveling up all my killers to at least lvl 20. That way i could use my 4 perks and have a decent amount of addons for any ocasion/challenge, so start doing a good use of your bloodpoints. Also get used to play with no addons to your killer, if you get better with no addons then you'll be way better using some of them.

    Next, you gotta think as a survivor, some easy stuff like "ok they're about to unhook this dude anytime now so i better go check on him" or in this halloween event "gotta identify the special gens and check them frequently" will give you so much information and help you read their minds before they act. (And please don't camp on hooked survivors, it's annoying, a waste of time for you and the survivors, and it's penalized)

    Finally, don't get stressed too much with losing games, being a good killer doesn't mean you will 4k every match, there will be many many games you'll lose and it's ok thats how the game is meant to be played

  • solidhex
    solidhex Member Posts: 891

    i took me around 1000h of total playtime (BOTH sides) to feel myself as a mediocre- good killer (i can stay in red ranks as killer but of course i loose some matches). Now i have 1500h and i'm got a little bit better but i still loose. You have to accept that you can't win every match, this game is a randomized party game. What definitely made me better was watching tutorials about basinc looping (very important), how to run tiles and mindgame etc., but also watching streamers who play different killers, watching tutorials about specific killers, perks and add ons... honestly just getting information and then try things out and learn from it, but in the end nothing beats experience. And take it easy, it's a party game :)

  • Sonzaishinai
    Sonzaishinai Member Posts: 7,976

    Watching a couple or guides on how to run tiles helped a lot.

    But honestly the biggest leap of improvement I had was meaning og Freddy and later Legion.

    When you are reliant on m1 downs you will get good at the game and it helps with almost all the killers.

    Maining a m1 killer will make you a lot better in the long run even if you switch later to the stronger killers

  • chieften333
    chieften333 Member Posts: 1,554

    T.T

  • JPLongstreet
    JPLongstreet Member Posts: 5,864
  • TheeclumsyNinja
    TheeclumsyNinja Member Posts: 283

    It takes time to find the balance between gens and chases, slugging and hooking...

    Then mastering different killers takes extra time. Id recommend learning with stronger killers like freddy or doc.

  • whammigobambam
    whammigobambam Member Posts: 1,201

    I came from Friday13thgame with 4 pocket knives permanently lodged in my neck, a game where loops are much bigger and bloodlust doesn't exist but they all phase like spirit.

    I 4K in the basement with hag in my first killer match. The only perk I had was tier 1 devour hope and it saw no use. Admittedly, I'm pretty bad at killer unless I go in with a heart of stone and as I play more and more this has become harder to do.

  • Squirrel_Thicc
    Squirrel_Thicc Member Posts: 2,677

    32v years.

  • PigMainBigBrain
    PigMainBigBrain Member Posts: 1,893

    6 months to a year....easily. And thats not playing 24/7 like some of these streamers so like....what 600 hours or so before I could confidently walk into any situation.