Why I think Deathslinger is a strong killer and needs tweaking.
First I would like to say that I am indeed a survivor main with a very small amount of killer games played. However, this discussion is not meant to be a salty rant about how stupid broken he is, but more so identifying this killer's strengths and how one could play against him. I am open to any new advice, thoughts, and ideas. With that being said, let's get started.
Deathslinger in my opinion is a pretty scary and strong killer to go against. He resembles the huntress quite a bit, but also has a hint of spirit as well. If played at a high enough skill level (which I believe anyone can achieve given enough hours played on him) he is an incredibly strong killer that rivals the other higher tier killers. Why you may ask? This is because as a survivor there is little to no time to react to his shooting power. His windup/ADS time is little to none, which allows the killer to shoot almost instantly (I'm going to call it quick scope from now on) and not letting the survivor any time to react to his shot. This could be potentially solved through an audio cue or visual cue like the huntress does, where she both makes a yelling grunt sound (audio cue) and when she heaves her hatchet above her shoulder (visual cue). This gives the survivor a chance to react and attempt to dodge the hatchet and is why she is one of the most fair and fun killers to go up against. Now you can say that hey, he has a visual cue. He puts his rifle up in front of his face before firing! This is true, but if you ever seen a Deathslinger quick scope this animation is so fast that you cannot react to it and that it might as well not even exist. This is where my frustration lies; you can't counter play what you can't hear or see. Thus you can't counter play what you can't react to. This is partly why Spirit with old prayer beads (no phase sound) was so frustrating. You can't counter play something you cannot see or hear. You just have to pray (no pun intended) that she doesn't pop up right in front of your face because there is no information where she is. Information is one the most important survival tools as survivor. If you see a nurse holding up a hand and start making ghostly sounds, you can react to it and try to play accordingly. However for Deathslinger's power, there is no cue or indication whatsoever, thus resulting in no information for the survivor to work with.
His strength around certain loops is also incredibly strong. On small and short in height loops such as around cars, shrapnel, or crates, he is able to shoot over them and pull you in from all way from the other side. This kills any potential looping power a survivor has. As mentioned before since there is no audio or visual indication, you cannot react to his power by ducking at certain times. As long as you're a good shot, he can cancel this loop chase easily. Now you could argue that you can put down the pallet super early so that there is no way he can reel you in after he shoots you. This already is very bad as forcing survivors to spend resources that early without "playing" or looping the pallet is inefficient and can devastate both the late game and your teammates. Also since I've played this scenario numerous times already, much of the time it is a 50/50 guess that he shoots you and you are on the wrong side of the pallet. In fact, he can stand where the middle of the pallet lies and it does not matter which side you are because each side is short enough where he has enough time to reel you in.
In general, Deathslinger is very strong when you are a good shot, but relatively weak if you keep missing. This means like the Nurse, a lot of times the fate of the trial relies on how bad of an aim you are as Deathslinger rather than how good the survivor is. If you have good accuracy, I personally believe that it does not matter how good the survivor is.
So how would I change him? I think a good start is to just give him a windup/ADS audio cue and a better visual cue. Give him an ADS time/time to windup so that this gives the survivor a chance to react to his shot, similarly to huntress. If it means buffing his hook bullet hitbox in exchange then I am willing to accept that. Just give me something to react to. Additionally, often times I cannot tell if his rifle is loaded or not. Knowing if the rifle is loaded or not is important information as it changes the survivor's playstyle drastically as they know if they can go for more risky loops and window vaults and not get punished by getting reeled in. If there is a way to tell if his rifle is loaded or not please do tell me because I want to know.
I would like to know if you guys agree with my thoughts. If not, then what are you suggestions for how to counter play the Deathslinger? I would like to know your ideas.
Comments
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I'd consider this killer to be a combination of Huntress and Nurse. Obviously, they have a projectile, which makes them similar to huntress. However, his chase is extremely good, but travelling around the map is his major fault. Similar to stealth killers, Spine Chill is one of his biggest counter. Use his lack of mobility to your advantage. I would say that he's placed just below Huntress on any tier list. He definitely feels stronger if you're playing survivor, but if you're playing killer then his speed becomes a very apparent fault.
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I'm not sure if many people know this but he actually does have an audio cue, granted, it takes a second before you get to really hear it, but he has one nontheless. There's a ringing sound that plays whenever you're directly in his line of sight and it amps up in volume the longer you stay in it.
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