Gearhead

Lexilogo

This might be one of the worst perks design-wise IMO in a while, maybe my least favourite Perk ever. Say what you like about other bad Perks, but Gearhead is trying to do what many better-designed Perks already do, and feels like it has a ludicrous number of activation conditions, not to mention the infamous nerfs from the PTB into live that it felt like nobody asked for.

Stuff like Cruel Limits might be awful, but there's a conceptual idea I enjoy and think could be redeemed if the Perk was rebalanced- But Gearhead can be summarised as:

IF you're a Basic Attack centric Killer

AND IF you attack a Survivor twice with your Basic Attacks

AND IF during the 20/25/30 second window, Survivors are working on gens

AND IF during that window, Survivors randomly get a skillcheck

AND IF during that window, the Survivor hits a Good, but not Great skillcheck

You're rewarded with that gen being highlighted for as long as Survivors stay on it.

Pretty much the only scenario where Gearhead actually does its job (when another Perk wouldn't do better) is if you're in a chase, and Survivors are split up doing a variety of gens seperately (because remember, if they're teaming up on gens, Discordance would be doing a better job by telling you which gen is being prioritised)- But in that situation, how much can you capitalise on that information, exactly? And how much of the information Gearhead's giving you could other Perks be giving you while accomplishing different tasks at the same time? Thrilling Tremors is probably the most blatant comparison, in my opinion.

Okay, okay, Gearhead sucks, you get it. All that was to justify why, in my opinion, Gearhead's "buffs" should be a rework. The Perk simply isn't good on a conceptual level and has too much overlap with other Perks. My suggested rework would be:

You've got an ear for well-oiled gears.

If a Survivor completes a Great Skill Check while repairing a Generator, the Generator produces a loud noise notification.

Good Skill Check success zones for Generator repairs are reduced by 20/25/30%.

My intentions with this rework:

• Provides Survivor counterplay without totally negating the Perk's effects. Survivors now have to choose between notifying the Killer of their location at the benefit of increased Generator progress or staying safe with default Generator speeds
• Rewards Survivors for game knowledge, as you need to be aware of Gearhead to recognise "oh, my skillchecks are being affected like this, the Killer's running Gearhead"
• Creates a Huntress Lullaby like Skillcheck effect where instead of solely making the Skillcheck harder, it interferes with player instinct and forces them to pay more attention to skillchecks
• Has synergy with other Skillcheck perks
• Is a hybrid between a gen information Perk and gen slowdown Perk
• Has a comparable effect to the old Hex: Ruin without having its old problems and being much less powerful, kind of like how For The People keeps instaheals in the game without their old unbalanced properties

I'm not saying this version of Gearhead is for sure great, and I don't think it would become an amazingly popular Perk, but I think it'd give it more potential for Killers to run it than the current incoherent mess Gearhead IMO currently is.

Onyx_Blue

Meh, I like Gearhead, it's a nifty perk for juggling as killer. Also, you're aware that not every perk is going to be great on every killer, right?

Lexilogo

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/1192785#Comment_1192785

I don't mind Perks being centered around specific Killer playstyles like a basic attack centered Killer, but it's one more condition to add to the pile. Perks like Franklin's Demise are also far better on basic attack Killers but that's its only activation condition.

You're obviously allowed to like Gearhead, but I'm not sure how someone can compare it to Thrilling Tremors (which IMO is the most obvious example of a Perk that makes Gearhead largely redundant- it does also have counterplay but no more than Gearhead) and say Gearhead is fine. About the only significant downside TT has in comparison is the longer cooldown.

elvangulley

You know the deal survivors whined and got thier way while sabo remained broken

Onyx_Blue

Perks are always gonna compare in strength, but that's the beauty of variety. I don't run Discordance simply because it is one of the best intel perks in the game, I run it because of my playstyle on certain killers. Just like I use Gearhead on killers like Myers and Plague because of the Basic Attack function it has accompanied by how those killers can play with it.

Variety is key in this game, forget about strength, it's all about how it changes playstyles and also adds to the game to make it an unrepetitive for both sides

SnakeSound222

Wait a minute, Gearhead works with ONLY good skill checks? I thought it worked with both goods and greats.

With your rework, can I bring Unnerving Presence and have a 90% reduction to good skill check zones for gen repairs? I could that being scary on Doctor. Every gen skill check is small as #########.

Lexilogo

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/1192988#Comment_1192988

Gearhead in the PTB worked with Good and Great Skillchecks, but it got changed when moving to live.

Annd yeah, that could potentially happen. The Good Skillcheck success zone thing could be replaced by some other change, but the skill obviously needed some stat that'd change between tiers, and I wanted Survivors to have a means of knowing a Killer's running Gearhead to open up the counterplay opportunities I described.

Unnerving plus this rework for Gearhead would definitely be scary on a skillcheck build and Doctor, though I believe it wouldn't be as small as an Overcharge skillcheck- Considering that, I think it'd be a fun off meta setup, but not out of control overpowered.