Hex Bonanza
Hello, It's me. I'm gonna be looking into all the hex perks today and give some cool feedback because that's just one of the things I like doing. Disclaimer: I do not play this game constantly and have not played this game for a significant period of time, I'm partially doing this for fun and partially doing this because I think some hex perks are actually pretty underwhelming. I'll try my best to consider both sides of the coin here when covering this (survivor and killer perspective), but I think it's worth noting that I call myself a killer player, even though I enjoy both roles. Feel free to give feedback for my feedback, as that would be greatly appreciated in light of the fact that I do not know everything about this game.
Okay, I'm gonna get started now, going in alphabetical order because that's how they show up on the perk selection screen.
Hex: Devour Hope - This is probably what I'd consider the platonic ideal of a hex perk. This hunger-inducing hex grants you incrementally incredible bonuses the longer it is left on the field, at the disadvantage of being potentially found at any time, locking your stacks in place. Essentially, this is the perk I'm going to be trying to model my feedback around. There are interesting strategies and builds that work around this one perk on the killer's side, and as a survivor there is both strategic counter-play that makes you feel like a massive hero by the end of the game and the potential for your entire team to be screwed over if the totem isn't discovered in time for the exposed status effect to kick in. It fills the role of being terrifying, but fair for the survivors, and absolutely enabling and fun for killers to use. At least, that's my reading into this perk. Probably my favorite hex both to play against and play with.
Hex: Haunted Ground - Also a pretty interesting perk to use, but it works quite differently from the others. Basically, 2 trapped totems spawn on the map that are indistinguishable from hex totems. These totems don't give any passive benefits when they're active, unlike most hex perks. Instead, they work as bait for survivors looking to get a crippling penalty off the field. If any of the 2 trapped totems are cleansed, all survivors become exposed for a decent amount of time. Because this isn't really a traditional hex perk in that it gives great reward as long as its hex totem is active, I don't personally like it as much as Devour Hope. However, on an individual basis, this perk has a lot of strategic use and a surprising amount of depth. As a survivor, I feel like the penalties put upon the group are fair, considering how the best counter to Haunted Ground is finding out that a totem is haunted ground. As a killer, there are few things that compare to having a trapped totem go down while you're in a chase. I like this hex perk, even if it's a bit of a black sheep as far as hexes go.
Hex: Huntress Lullaby - Lullaby is a conceptual favorite in my book, but in practice I feel it is a bit underwhelming for killers to use. It's sort of a lite version of pre-nerf Ruin, forcing an increased penalty upon missing a skill check at all times. With every hook you get, the skill check warning becomes closer and closer to the skill check actually beginning, up to the point that the warning is completely absent at 5 hooks. I feel it's a good deal weaker than Devour Hope, due to the fact that its curse shows itself as soon as you get your first skill check in a match and that the penalties are not nearly as crippling or urgent enough to consider cleansing early. It's only around the late mid-game does this perk actually start to show some danger to survivor progress, and even then this depends almost entirely on the individual skill of each player. I feel it needs a few tweaks. Perhaps numbers could be dialed up or down, maybe the curse only shows itself to survivors when the first hook happens or when a player misses a skill check, to give it more of a surprise factor.
Hex: No One Escapes Death - Ah, good ol' NOED. Everyone knows the stigma around this hex perk. Asinine to play against as a survivor, but the perfect tool for getting late sacrifices as killer. I'm not gonna act like I like using or playing against this perk, because I personally find it to be a bit boring, but there is no denying it's effectiveness. It is similarly a kind of hex edge case, as its effects are still passive but the totem or its effects don't come into play until the exit gates are powered. I also know the developer stance on this perk, in that it's meant to give killers a real fighting chance when the situation looks dire for them. I'm of the opinion that there is a better way of going about it, however, so I'll attempt to overview what I think needs changing.
Hex: No One Escapes Death (cont.) - Essentially, I think this perk could come into play a bit earlier. This could give more room for survivor counter-play while granting killers their sleeved ace a bit earlier. Making the hex perk activate when only one generator remains on the map could open up the floor for unique and "fair" strategies. Of course, I say this realizing that this game isn't really inherently designed to be fair, in a traditional sense, so I guess what I mean is that there would be more potential engagement. Now, killers have more room to choose when to reveal their ace than before, and survivors now have a chance to get it out of the field earlier if they're observant. I feel it would be better for both survivors and killers if this was the direction NOED was taken, because it preserves the developer's vision of NOED's purpose while making it feel more fair for both teams in the match.
Hex: Retribution - This is probably the hex perk I'm least familiar with, but I think it's explained well enough in the description and I have played against it before. This hex totem affects all totems on the map, inflicting oblivious upon anyone that cleanses a dull totem and revealing the auras of all survivors for a short time when any hex totem is cleansed. Honestly, this hex perk sounds nice. The only issue I see is that it's a bit niche and relies on other active hexes to be a real danger. I don't really feel it's worth running on its own, but much like Haunted Ground is grows in power with the amount of hex totems on the map. I think it needs some tweaking to be a real threat, much like Lullaby. Primarily, I was thinking that the one who cleansed the hex totem should have some additional penalty, rather than just revealing everyone's auras. After all, that's kind of the theme of this hex perk, "pulling the trigger on yourself", as Caleb so succinctly puts it. Either the cleanser has their aura revealed for a longer period of time (5+ seconds?), or they get exposed for the aura's duration. Something like that might help this perk get a bit more viable and threatening.
Hex: Ruin - I've heard this perk used to be freaking amazing, but since I wasn't playing at that time and I don't hold the same bitter anger for this perk's reworking that others do, I'll try and ignore this perk's history and focus on what it is now. While Ruin's totem is active, all generators will regress at a rate varying between 100% and 200% depending on the perk level. Killers cannot kick generators while the hex is active, and survivors can work on generators normally with no penalty, because only generators not being worked on will be affected. Conceptually, I like it, but much like Lullaby and Retribution I feel it is a bit underwhelming, especially since the perk reveals itself around the beginning of the game and it can be cleansed at any time without any problems besides finding it, which depends on map anyways. I'm gonna cover what could be changed about this perk much like I did NOED, though, mostly because I think more coverage is necessary than Lullaby and Retribution.
Hex: Ruin (cont.) - Having this perk impair generator progress more, I think, is the way to go with Ruin. I like the thing it has going now, but the combination of the fact that it's a hex perk and that it only affects generators not being repaired makes it a bit too weak. I feel a penalty to repair progress for all survivors would be the best way to go, so as to make getting the totem out of the way early is more appealing. Right now, survivors can kind of just ignore it until the generator they were working on gets patrolled. The two ideas I had were to either have it work like a Thrill of the Hunt and gen-specific Thanatophobia combo, impairing generator progress by 10% for each totem remaining on the map, or to have it simply impair generator progress by 25% as long as the hex totem is standing. Either of these changes would make Ruin far more enticing to go after, forcing players to waste much more time either working on generators for longer than they need to, and/or working on cleansing dull or hex totems. I feel it would also have great synergy with Thrill of the Hunt, more so with the first idea, which is why I supplied a secondary idea that would be more agreeable if that combo ends up being too strong.
Hex: The Third Seal - Again, I really like the idea of this perk (seems like a theme is emerging in this overview...), but I feel, more than the other hex perks, that this one is just too weak. The premise is simple, for every survivor you hit with a basic attack, they are inflicted with blindness. Unable to see any auras basically until the hex is gone if the perk is at max level. Very simple, but as a hex perk I don't think it's threatening enough to worry about. Good players will have game sense that offsets the blindness penalty, and groups of survivors playing together can straight up completely nullify the effects of this perk by simply telling each other where they all are. I think a few changes are in order, so I'll be going into that with a secondary section like I did Ruin and NOED.
Hex: The Third Seal (cont.) - To continue with the theme of this hex's effects, I'll be focusing on traits that impair decision making and tracking. So, the blindness thing can stay, that's totally fine as a baseline. However, I think those hit by a basic attack should also be inflicted with Oblivious, making players unable to hear the killer's terror radius and see their red stain. Now, Third Seal just got a lot more dangerous, as players will have to focus and guess a lot more if their afflicted during a chase, and cleansing the totem just became way more rewarding. For killers, now they have easier chases as long as the hex stays up and survivors have to waste more time looking for the hex totem. Much like the other changes I have proposed, this will put Third Seal on the survivor's totem hit list and give the killer a powerful benefit and a decent survivor time sink.
Hex: Thrill of the Hunt - This hex is certainly... interesting. This is probably my least favorite hex perk, but even in this case I see it's usefulness and potential for amazing hex combos, so I don't hate it by any stretch. Part bloodpoint booster, part hex insurance, Thrill of the Hunt allows you to guard your hexes far easier and make players waste more time if you can't get to defending it in time. Combining this with basically any other hex perk makes them stronger in turn, not only because it slows down cleansing speed significantly but also because it adds another hex totem to the map, potentially forcing survivors to waste even more time cleaning a totem that wasn't even what they were going for. I think it fits well, and it doesn't really need any changing. It's fine to play against I feel, the biggest issue being that it can waste just enough time for something like Devour Hope to get its exposed stack, which can be a little frustrating. For killers, it's pretty effective for stalling the game, as well, so I think it's good.
Looks like that's all of them. Hooray! Let me know if I covered ideas that have already been discussed, literally all of these were ideas I had developed in my free time without any real input. By the way, this totally is my first post here, so bear with me there was a better way of going about this.
Interesting viewpoint on that. Having stacking penalties for each hit and separating out the penalties a decent amount so that the first chase isn't partially a complete guessing game I think would help round it out. That's a good idea, my friend!
Great assessment of all Hex perks. I'm surprised by the objectivity you put into this considering you started playing the game after old Ruin got nerfed.
Got nothing to add on Devour Hope. I too like this perk: it starts unnoticeable, grows bigger in his power, then is revealed and finally brings DOOM FOR EVERYONE.
I agree that Haunted Grounds is a little weird considering it kind of contradicts with the original meaning of Hex perks. However, personally I wouldn't put it on the same level with other Hex perks as it just enhances them.
Lullaby is not all that different from Devour Hope. Still it is way less efficient and can't quite keep up with the high risk, high reward scheme of Hex perks, since the reward is quite humble. I really do love to mess around with the skill checks in my builds, so the general idea is quite lovely and I hope they'll buff it at some point.
NOED could fill entire forums while still not being discussed enough. In my personal opinion it has earned its spot as one of those wild cards, which seem not optimized at all and still they are just perfect the way they are. Those things make me realize again and again that Dbd is not just entirely competitive, but rather chaotic and even imbalanced at some point. NOED is a very unique perk. I don't run it for the strong belief of unhealthiness it would create in my own matches, but for some reason I wouldn't want to see it changed either. It's weird.
Retribution is like the little brother of Haunted Grounds, that can't do anything by himself but always comes up with clever ideas on where to find those filthy survivors. Unique in its style, enhancing other Hex perks. It has established quite well as a type of support perk for specific builds.
Now Ruin of course is an interesting one and I am really surprised that even people like you, who didn't quite get to "enjoy" the existence of old Ruin, find it to be rather underwhelming. Personally I don't think it's that bad anymore, since early game pressure has become less important due to the rework of lots of maps and removal of infinite spots (matches often level off mid-game). What buggles me about Ruin is that you don't need to care for it to do something. That's how it works for Devour Hope and Lullaby. Therefore I really love your idea of adding a repair speed reduction for every remaining totem. This would encourage the killer to guard all the totems and survivors certainly want to destroy them. It adds much more value to the "secondary objective". Not entirely sure about the numbers, but thumbs up for the idea!
I personally don't really like Third Seal, because I think it encourages unfun playstyles or awful scenarios where survivors forget where you're hooked at (yes, it happens). Also, it's designed to punish solo queue, cause the effects don't mean much to swf groups. I do like the idea of stacking penalties. That goes well in line with the Devour Hope/Lullaby scheme. One could probably make it so every basic hit applies a different status effect or hides the red stain for a short amount of time. The list could repeat once worked through. Might result in some diversified situations.
Now for the last one: I've spent lots of hours in MMOs lately so I have to make this comparison. If Haunted Grounds is the devastating damage dealer and Retribution equals a support character, Thrill of the Hunt most definetely completes that trio as a tank or totem guard. Its purpose is simple and can turn Hex perks into a main objective. I just find that it is rather situational, sometimes near broken, sometimes barely useful.
Wooows... This took me longer than expected, but still it was great fun. Just made me realize how versatile this game can be. Thumbs up again for this great summary! Next up would be obsession perks, I guess... ;)
Wow, thanks for the response! I thought it would be nice to look over the hexes as they're easily identifiable as their own "class" of perks. I would not be opposed to looking over the obsession perks... oddly enough I hadn't even thought about doing that until like, as I'm writing this. We'll see how it works out.
Good take on NOED, I feel. Really its a sort of corrupted twist of Adrenaline for killers, which I didn't mention in my original post, but I still think it's a fun dynamic. I tried to keep it as NOED-ey as possible (if such an utterance even makes sense) in my potential changes section, as I cannot help being a mediator in a game that is very much not catered to that kind of negotiating.
Absolutely agree that my numbers might not be amazing for Ruin, I could probably have kept it as broad as add-on descriptions to avoid that but I feel it gets the idea across just fine, even if the math adds up to a whopping 50% reduction to repair speed.
Again, thanks for commenting, and I'm glad you liked it!