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Should Spine Chill be nerfed?

SirCracken
SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414
edited August 2020 in Feedback and Suggestions

For me, the answer is absolutely yes. The amount of information this perk gives you is insane.

Hear the lullaby of Huntress? You'll always know if she's headed towards you.

Wraith, Pig, or Ghostface sneaking up on you? You'll know the moment they start closing in.

Not sure if a Spirit is phasing? Simply look for the perk lighting up to tell where she's looking.


It's basically 2 perks for one. Providing knowledge for both in, and out of chase. Premonition, an otherwise decent perk, is completely outclassed by Spine Chill.

My suggestion is to make Spine Chill only active when inside of a killer's terror radius. Make it only give knowledge inside of a chase and so that perks like Premonition have a chance to be picked.

Post edited by Mandy on
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Comments

  • Snitz
    Snitz Member Posts: 97

    Can you stalk someone with spine chill though?

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    There's my point proven again.

    Enduring and Spirit Fury is a 2 perk combo. It's powerful, but requires 2 pallets to be broken to activate and survivors can avoid it. Spinechill is a single perk that doesn't need any requirement to activate besides the killer looking in your direction.

    I really don't know what survivors you've come across, but good ones know how to best abuse the knowledge it gives you and erase the word "Stealth" from any game. Particularly on open maps.

    And running a perk to counter another perk that can only be countered by not looking where you're going is only further proof that Spinechill is just way too powerful on its own.

  • Pepsidot
    Pepsidot Member Posts: 1,662

    I think it's absolutely fine on in-door maps. Stealthy killers essentially otherwise get free hits.

    Spine chill is the kind of perk that would never be created nowadays. It's got a huge 36 meter range and other benefits to it such as faster vaulting speed. But I really don't know if I'd go as far as to nerf it.

  • shane32
    shane32 Member Posts: 383
  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001
    edited June 2020

    I don't think it's powerful as you make it out to be, let's say that you are playing Michael against 4 spine chill users, survivors can hear him easy now even without a TR, with spine chill they just know the killer is looking at them, it doesn't give the exact location, I don't know what kind of godly survivors you are playing against but from my 2k hours of experience I can say that there are a few things you can do to play against spine chill, you can hear ghostface as well, and for deathslinger is a life saver considering his chase music starts when he already hits you, it's a good counter (I hate deathslinger both using him and playing against him).

    I know the best way to get out of T1 Myers is to get close and stalk but it's not like that with ghostface.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Yes. Stealthy killers have an advantage on indoor maps. But that is literally how they're designed: get easy first hits but have no ability to easily down. Why should a single perk shut down several killer's main advantage?

    I agree that Spinechill wouldn't be created nowadays. Only because the dev team seem to have thrown the idea of making decent perks completely out the window for survivors and killer alike.

    But I simply don't understand why you would not nerf it. It has far more benefits than any other information perk in the game. It is the best information perk in the game. Its mere existence makes otherwise ok perks terrible in comparison. It really deserves a nerf.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Because the balance of dbd is clearly perfect and any attempt to change something is just a fad.

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001

    Lmao then you are also here to ask for spine chill nerfs, you don't need to moonwalk to every gen, you can also crab walk just like how the op said, you can see (if you have eyes) if crows fly away, you can hear survivors breath as well if they are there

  • shane32
    shane32 Member Posts: 383
  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    I heavily disagree. You mistake me saying that Spinechill can give away the killer's exact location. That's not how good survivors use it. Let me give you an example:


    A Survivor is repairing the shack gen and SC lights up. They hear no terror radius but know the killer is coming, but they obviously don't know where. They position themselves right next to the outer shack wall so no matter what angle the killer uses they'll be seen and safely avoided.

    Even if the survivor is in a bad position, simply knowing that the killer is coming for you is often enough to save you from taking a hit if you're working on an unsafe gen.

    I don't know why you mentioned being able to hear certain killers well. I never mentioned that. And yes, Spinechill is a good choice against M&A Deathslinger, and every stealth killer in the game, and every killer in the game. It's just too good.

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001

    I'll leave it to your opinion because everyone has theirs, I just don't believe it's as strong as you make it out to be.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    There is not a single killer perk that is comparable to Spinechill in terms of power level. Name one, if you can.

    Yes, it gives survivors a head start. Contrary to popular, (and objectively incorrect), belief, hiding is not a waste of time since every moment the killer is searching for someone is a moment that they aren't chasing them. Effectively giving your team more time to do gens. And guess what Spinechill helps with?

    If you get a gen with progress and start searching for the survivors then Spinechill has already done it's job. Instead of starting a chase the moment you get to a gen you're wasting time searching for the survivors.

    As for 36 meters not enough time to leave without scratch marks, I'll say it again, it's not about completely evading the killer. It's about making them waste time not chasing people and instead looking around. But even so, on certain maps the notification is often enough to get away scot free.

  • JustCats
    JustCats Member Posts: 298
    edited June 2020

    I watched the intro cinematic for the first time in forever the other day - what a cool game that looked like to play.

    This addiction to hand-holding safety (an even bigger terror radius that tells you when you're in actual super danger and not just maybe super danger, for crying out loud) when you could accomplish the same thing by... looking around with your 3rd person freaking camera, lol, is what makes survivor a bore to play and killer frustrating.

    Yeah, sometimes a gen is next to a LOS block which could potentially make you nervous if you're inside the killer's TR. Shouldn't you be nervous? No? I've got to run a killer whose kit is designed around being stealthy literally backwards across the map cause.. why now?

    It's cool if it's got some sort of trigger condition - on a sacrifice or a hook you have 30 seconds or so of enhanced terror. But an always-on passive is just dumb.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    If you like I can directly compare every other survivor knowledge perk to Spinechill.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    As killer, it's inherently hardly to tell how much of an effect Spinchill has. Even harder to tell if the survivors have it. But it does too many things for a single perk slot:

    1. Gives you knowledge of the killer approaching you, effectively countering every stealth killer in the game.
    2. Gives you knowledge while in a chase with the killer, helping to better guess their mind games and avoid a hit.
    3. Increases your vaulting speed. Although the amount seems small, combine it with Resilience and windows are much more powerful.
    4. Gives you more spellchecks. This is the weakest of the benefits, but still another in the list.

    There's no reason why a perk should have this many upsides with no requirement.

  • kate_best_girl
    kate_best_girl Member Posts: 2,184

    I mean it only gives you a lot more skillchecks if the killer is staring at you the entire time and number one on that list doesn't counter every stealth killer. A good stealth killer isn't bothered by spine chill.

  • Rydog
    Rydog Member Posts: 3,275

    Spine Chill has a learning curve and requires a lot of active attention to get maximum benefit from it. It can be played around with moonwalking etc., and it's nearly useless on maps like Hawkins and The Game.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Rank have never been more meaningless than today. And as I said before, it's difficult to properly assess how much Spinechill affects the game from a killer POV.

    I've already been over this, but the simply knowing that the killer is coming will extend the amount of time the killer takes to down the survivor. Because the moment Spinechill lights up any good survivor will book it to the nearest safe area, wasting more of your time even if you find them.

    I heavily disagree that a perk that gives survivors free knowledge and, often a head start in every chase, along with added knowledge in every chase, is well designed. Especially since it also boosts your vaulting speed, yet another bonus with no drawback. It does too many things for 1 perk.

  • USELESS
    USELESS Member Posts: 1,151

    I agree with a nerf, but imo it just needs to take of the +speed and just tell when the killer is looking in your direction

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Unless of course you're Myers and Ghostface. Which have powers tied directly to looking at survivors. Even ignoring that, you can't argue that Spinechill is anything but the best perk in the game to counter stealth.

    The last point is mainly where you're trying to rush a gen/heal and the killer is coming to you. That extra % can make or break at times.

  • kate_best_girl
    kate_best_girl Member Posts: 2,184

    I mean the only stealth killer I play is GF and most of the time playing him you dont wanna stalk you just wanna rush in and hit while you're stealthed and still SC doesn't bother me all that much. I can count on both hands how many times spine chill has ruined a hit and thats an estimated 7.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    I agree. It has a big learning curve. But when mastered it's one of the best perks in the entire game.

    I've already made my counter point to moon/crabwalking, so I'll make it again. If a single perk forces a killer to change their movement, (and potentially miss survivors they don't see), then it's too powerful on its own.

    You last point is flat out wrong.

    Spinchill. Being nearly useless on indoor maps. That is the opposite of true.

  • icemancat
    icemancat Member Posts: 150

    Let's see what Spine Chill can do for someone.

    Spine Chill can notify the user when the killer is coming towards them, but not the exact direction. Also, Spine Chill can give a slight bonus in action speed including repair, healing, sabotage, unhooking, vaulting, cleansing, exit gate opening, and chest search speeds by 2%/4%/6% for each tier (thank you dbd wiki). Also, an experienced player can make good use of the extra chance for skill checks to hit great skill checks more frequently, making gens get completed slightly faster. Spine Chill can also counter stealth killers depending on what the killer does.

    However, Spine Chill still has its drawbacks.

    Spine Chill is able to be completely countered if the killer does not look at the survivor. One way to do this is if you're making your way towards a generator where you suspect survivors are working. Try to estimate when you are about 40 meters away from the survivor repairing and begin to look slightly away from the generator's aura while at the same time, keep making your way towards the generator. Stealth killers will have the easiest time doing this due to their lower terror radius and in some cases, their lower profiles (Pig and Ghostface). This counter can still work even if the killer you're playing has a regular terror radius. For this example, let's say you're in the end game collapse and a survivor with Spine Chill is halfway done with opening the gate. You're about 32 meters away from them and you have two options: You can either look directly at the survivor opening the gate or look away. Looking at the survivor might end up giving them that little boost from Spine Chill they needed to end up escaping, giving them the escape while looking slightly away from them can deny them the escape. It's these little things that can make the difference in a game.

    To answer your question, while I believe Spine Chill is a relatively strong and versatile perk, I haven't noticed anything too powerful about Spine Chill that would require it to be nerfed.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    I've already said it already, (which seems to be a running theme in this thread), but it's very difficult to judge how much of an effect Spinechill has on a game when you're killer. You can never know exactly when the survivor started moving after the perk lit up. You've probably missed a great deal of hits, if not complete chases, because of the perk.

  • kate_best_girl
    kate_best_girl Member Posts: 2,184

    Well if its so little of an effect that I still get 2-3ks every time I play GF and I and many others don't notice it whats the problem?

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414
    edited June 2020

    My main point for why it should be nerfed is that no other survivor knowledge perk offers the amount of benefits that Spinechill does.

    I've already said my counter argument for this, but I'll say it again, making the killer have to actively look away from the survivors they're supposed to be hunting is too much of an effect just to counter a single perk.

    Not only do you risk not seeing survivors you otherwise would have seen by moon/crab walking around the map, but you physically cannot chase someone without keeping your eye on them. They will always have the added vault speed unless you decided to look away from the survivor at every single window and dropped pallet.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Anecdotal evidence is not good evidence.

    I'm talking about Spinechill in context of a game with experienced players. I assume you, going up against survivors that know what they're doing, (which is becoming exceedingly rare in red ranks due to the ranking system) as any killer other than the top 4 will not make you likely to win.

  • SirCracken
    SirCracken Member Posts: 1,414

    Those perks have their problems, certainly. But I'm not talking about them.

    Tackling the meta is it's own problem. But Spinechill is apart of it, including the perks you just mentioned.

    So it's best to go through them 1 at a time.

  • JustCats
    JustCats Member Posts: 298
    edited June 2020

    Right. It's an always-on enhanced terror radius that forces every killer (and especially stealth killers) to approach every gen without being able to get a full visual from their limited first person perspective. And it does this without even being needed to be in a survivor's kit, as there is never any indication that any of the survivors are running it. It's not like Nurse's Calling, where there are definite context clues that the killer can see you.

    Survivors feel one step ahead of you? Maybe it's luck, maybe they saw you - um, since you already have the TR and red stain and they've got a 3rd person view - maybe they're good and paying great attention. Or, maybe the game just tells them exactly when they need to start running no matter what, regardless of how hunter/stalker you're trying to be. Guess I have to moonwalk or strafe everywhere just in case.

    It forces a major change in killer behavior, with a significant downside for them (not being able to keep my eyes peeled sucks), and it doesn't need to be run on a survivor to still be effective. It's a pretty big hand holder.