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How Mandatory Is A Slowdown Perk For Killers?
Saw the usual "genrush" comments & discussions pass by, and i thought it'd be a good idea to ask.
The short version: How mandatory is it to equip one or multiple slowdown Perk(s) on your Killer?
The long(er) version: It happens quite regularly on here for people to share how fast matches can go.
So i'd like for you to imagine your favorite Killer to play as, and then tell us if you use slowdown Perks, how many you use if any, and tell us which those are if any.
Also, if you don't use them on your favorite Killer, please do tell us why.
Older players might remember how good Brutal Strength was back in the day on Killers who weren't Nurse.
While it wasn't mandatory, it was unusual to see a Killer not use it due to the sheer time you scrape from breaking Pallets.
If you currently feel that way about a slowdown Perk, that's when you should mention it here.
Comments
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I use Corrupt and Pop.
I use Corrupt because I don't know how well experienced the survivors I go against are and it buys me some time to get a chase or two going.
And Pop is extremely strong end game when you're picking off survivors 1 by 1 and regressing their last gen.
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Depends on the killer how much is needed but regardless some form of it is needed.
Slower killers/set up killers need a lot more then most due to their inherent slow starts(Plague/Pig/hag/trapper).
Meanwhile faster/snowballing killers need less slowdown but even snowball ones need some form of it just to reach their snowball/to stop a gen rush like oni/billy do.
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I run at least one of what I consider the "Big Three" (Pop Goes the Weasel, Ruin, Corrupt Intervention) on pretty much every killer. Though usually only one at a time, I don't tend to get great synergy between any of these perks with either of the others.
While they are certainly not necessary perks all the time, it is safer to always have at least one of them to help mitigate the occasions where RNG makes things harder for the killer off the bat. Very large maps and maps that don't allow specific killers to use their power effectively (example: Oni on Lery's) make it extra difficult to keep pressure up to stop the generators from rapidly slipping away. Even more so when against a few competent survivors.
Plus all three of these perks will inevitably play some role in the match (Corrupt always provides a benefit, Ruin guarantees a decent effect for at least 14 seconds, and Pop is directly tied to the killer's main goal of hooking people).
It's the classic expression "better to have and not need than to need and not have". Pretty much every load-out I make starts with one of these perks and then develops from there.
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Pop for everyone. And Corrupt for when I play anyone who isnt high mobility.
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Pop has become a perk I use nearly 100% of the time on every killer unless I'm doing a specific build. This is just a figure I'm pulling out of my ass but I'd assume I'd lose about 50% more of my games if I didn't have Pop. Hell, the amount of games where Pop alone has given me victory is insane.
Any kind of 3-gen with Pop becomes a whole new ball game which is how I tend to play most of my matches. Play normally at the start hooking who I can while keeping an eye out for any potential 3 gen and protect that area a bit more than others. When it gets down to two gens left I protect the area super hard. Work on getting all the pallets gone in the area and if I get a hook close I can protect everything at once usually meaning I get a trade and another Pop for free. I've had really good teams where I couldn't even get a hook fall to this strat.
It hardly works every time as really good groups can still push through without a problem but it still lets me win a lot more matches then I otherwise would.
Edit: I don't use it much on Oni though. I like to use the Infectious build and be a lot more aggressive and not care about gens at all.
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Every time i play as killer, I use one or two perks to slow down survivors. Before, I used ruin a lot, but over time I realized that it is not so good. Currently I only use Pop, thana or sloopy.
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How mandatory? Ummm you need at least 2 every game and they have to synergize or you need 3.
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I always bring at least one. Intervention for setup killers like trapper/hag. Pop for everyone else. On speedy killers I'll bring ruin+surveillance so I can constantly push people off the gens. The best tactic is still downing 1 and chasing another so there is at most 1-2 people working on gens. The best solution is getting them to do something besides repairing the gens.
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Usually against a mediocre squad, only 1 is needed. Against a good squad however, you need minimum 2, and one has to be corrupt or your early game doesn't exist. The other one has to be pop, ruin or surge.
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High map mobility killers really don’t need gen slowdown perks. Nurse, Spirit, and Billy honestly don’t need any kind of gen slowdown perks.
A lot of other low map mobility killers (Plague, Pig, etc) or set-up killers (Trapper and Hag) could use gen slowdown perks so the gens don’t fly by too quickly.
I’m trying to wean myself off of using gen slowdown perks though because I’m experimenting with other builds since I find gen slowdown perks to be pretty uninteresting. I never use those kind of perks on Spirit or Pyramid Head.
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I always use a slow-down perk. Even if it's just Thanatophobia, I'll always run one. I generally run Sloppy, Thana, Pop or Ruin on any Killer, occasionally Surge. If it was better, I would use Dying Light all the time too. But I can't really imagine playing without any slow-down perks, Gen pressure is easily my weakest part of play.
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I never use gen-slow down perks. I play mostly Hag, Myers, and Huntress, and typically see the exit gates powered around 75% of my games.
I run perks that allow me to chase more effectively and capitalize on multiple survivors clustered together. Slugging is my bread and butter, and I find it curious so many killers hail slow-down perks as their saviors.
example Hag build: STBFL, Unrelenting, A Nurse's Calling, BBQ (used to be Spies before it was unnecessarily nerfed).
ex Huntress build: Whispers, BBQ, A Nurse's Calling, Knockout (RIP knockout on Huntress in upcoming patch. Stupid change imo) or STBFL or Huntress Lullaby / Third Seal / Devour Hope (because these can be mega fun. I've stopped running these because of Soul Guard, however, which is another reason I think it's a poorly thought out perk).
example Shape build: Whispers, BBQ, STBFL, PWYF (a shame it's not designed to only lose tokens on successful attacks or an Unrelenting combo would be super tasty, but I have too much to say about this perk's "should be's" to put in this post) or Unrelenting.
My games usually end with 3+ survivors on the ground, dying, or with 2+ survivors escaping.
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Sorry if it's obvious, but does Corrupt Intervention have a constant benefit?
I thought it ended after a few minutes.
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Back when Billy was more of a presence in my killer roster (and he will not return to being there for the foreseeable future due to poorly done changes imo), I would use Caulrophobia, Huntress Lullaby, BBQ, and Whispers/Enduring if I knew I was facing an SWF group. Worked wonders every time.
Caulrophobia wouldn't do much for me now mainly because my slugs are left on the ground for a long time, and any survivor that runs by has ample opportunity to do a one-tap pickup, and increasing that time to ~3 seconds isn't worth the perk slot.
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The difference getting my first slowdown perk had was absolutely immense. If you want to actually have fun as a killer I'd say it's pretty damn important. If you're pulling some op addons or something you can probably go without but these days I just run 3x slowdown, 1x info because what the hell else do I need a perk for? There's not that much point punishing altruism because altruistic teams are the good stuff, I can mindgame chases well so no need for chase perks, what I need is m1 minimum altruism gangs to not just finish and walk out.
Seriously starting out the game with only noed to deal with gen speeds sucked ass for like 200 hours till I got ruin atleast lvl 1 on most killers, got surge first but that didn't help at all on it's own because it's crap. Now that I finally have pop starting to filter in on my killers I just slap them all in and to hell with other perks for the most part.
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I use none because I prefer to use fun perks, every match has at least 2 terrible survivors so games are too easy anyways.
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Once it ends it's a dead perk. But those minutes it gives is often VERY much worth it as that time can allow a Killer to start snowballing before Survivors do.
As for me. I normally have to run some type of gen stall perk on all my Killers. Only a few Killers can get away without one, but you can mix up what perks you use depending on the Killer.
Demogorgon I use Surge as the main gen stall. It combines well with Save the Best for Last and Surveillance, Surveillance combines well with Demo's tunnels and STBFL combines well with Demo's Shred. Games often can end either way, but it is a fun build to play.
Executioner I don't have much in gen stall as the main build focuses on anti healing. Distressing for negative stealth, Coulrophobia for anti healing and Distressing combo, Deathbound for tracking and bipolar stealth, and the 4th perk can be swapped as needed. Pop, Thana, Corrupt, you can use anything you think you'll need but the bulk of the work this build does is done by exploiting how much Survivors want to keep heathy against an Exe thanks to him being so good in loops. And the more time they spend healing or avoiding my terror radius the less they will work gens.
But for the most part. Corrupt or Pop becomes a more and more vital part of any build for any Killer the higher you rank up. Luckily you can squeeze at least one gen stall perk into other builds and don't need to run pure meta.
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I dunno about anybody else. But I come to rely on just using a combo of Discordance, Spies From the Shadows, A Nurse's Calling and Deerstalker (if I feel I might slug the first and or 2nd survivors to chase down the rest) it may not be the majority best laid out plans. But it works well. I like the Killers with a relatively fast smooth pace. Oni and Legion for one, just to get to Gens. And monitor their progress. I might end up at 2 Gens or Endgame but I like the pace of getting there.
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I never play without some form of stalling perk. Nearly always PGtW because it's pretty easy to trigger and buys a big, clear chunk of time every time it goes off.
Ruin is nice but being a hex makes it too unreliable.
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At most two. Four is excessive, and at that point your not even looking to win.
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The developers noticed that hex ruin was being used in almost every single killer build, and so they nerfed it. But it was the only reliable perk guaranteed to slow down gen rushers at the start of a match. Without it, all generators can be completed in less than 4 minutes (even less than that if someone has a new part) provided you have a team that works well together.
I'm not going to say that there aren't other reliable perks to slow the game down, because there are: corrupt intervention, PGTW, etc, but imo none were as effective as the original hex ruin.
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Slowdown perk are needed unless you want your game to last 200 sec. Personally i use thrilling tremors, pgtw and surge for slowing down the gen and sometime i feel like its not enough depend on the map and if its a swf.
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You need at least pop Goes the weasel
Because If the survivors play efficient you are done
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The new Ruin is honestly just as good as the old one, potentially even better in some cases. But it still has the problem of lasting ~15-45 seconds in some matches. Assuming it stays up long enough, it can buy you 2-3 generators worth of extra time. It also requires you to actively be forcing people off gens instead of just equipping a perk for passive pressure.
I don't think you need any slowdown perks at all, though you will need to play solid and be willing to camp/tunnel/slug when needed.
I've found corrupts effects to range from mediocre to minimal. Against a good squad they will just run to the gens immediately and 3-4 people will still be on gens in the first 30 seconds of the game. A bad squad will mess around for a minute or so before starting to work. But it's not the bad squads you are running these perks for. I only use it on killers with really bad early games.
Gens can go so fast at rank 1 that I have been finding pop to be unreliable as well. Sometimes it comes in clutch and you pop the same gen like 3 times to win the game, other times you can't even make it to a gen to use it (unless you are playing like Freddy or something).
About the only slowdown perk I typically run anymore is sloppy butcher. It always works on most killers, and doesn't require you to go out of your way to kick gens (which can waste just as much time as you are gaining through the regression). Just attempting to murder the survivors instead of controlling gens has been way more effective for me.
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You make good points, but your point about how pop isn't even that reliable against high red ranks just solidifies why the original hex ruin was so often used. And you're right, hex totems are high-risk high-reward, but it was the only guaranteed way to slow down the start of a match.
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True. With matchmaking being in the state that it is, experienced players are facing off against potatoes far more often than they should. It's hard to build a new player base and keep it when new players are having to compete against far more experienced players.
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When I play Huntress I'll always have Lullaby on, it's funny when no one cares to cleanse it until the 4th hook and suddenly every generator is popping off like the 4th of July.
But other than that I can't say I really use slowdown perks. Mostly just stuff to track survivors down or help deal with hooks being too far sometimes.
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God that tutorial is a joke. That might have worked for year 1, but in year 4 there should be a practice mode that allows everyone to test out all of the mechanics and killers that have now been incorporated into the game.
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More intended as you will always get to use Corrupt Intervention's full effect every match, as there is nothing that survivors can do to stop it from happening.
It's not a constant effect throughout a match, but rather a consistent effect in EVERY match. Hence why I said it always provides the killer with some benefit, where it's theoretically possible (though unlikely) that Ruin and PGtW could be prevented in their entirety.
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Against 90% of players? 1 or 0 slowdowns. A lot of players don't actually do anything, even at red ranks. I'd say most players are extremely inefficient. Gens should rarely take longer than 7 minutes, but you'll see survivors take 12 minutes or more to do them. You have to be doing absolutely nothing for large stretches of the game for it to take that long.
How many slowdowns do you need against 4 good players in a competitive setting? 2 or 3. And you're still going to have a 5-8 minute game.
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Depends on the killer. Huntress, Hag, Trapper...killers with slow movement speed, or a lot of preparation (or in hags case, both), need the slowdown. Especially considering a gen or two can get done before a 110% killer can get across a large map.
Otherwise, it's not really necessary, but it's necessary if you don't want to play super aggressive and sweaty. Which is really ironic, cause when you run slowdown perks/addons, people tend to call you sweaty anyway...but killers run them so they don't have to sweat.
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Any Killer with high mobility like Freddy, Nurse, Spirit, and Billy realistic don't need a single slowdown perk just due to their natural map pressure. Maybe Huntress but idk
I don't think Pig, Legion, or Doctor need any but it just also synergizes with their kits
I think Demogrogon, Deathslinger, Myers, Trapper & Hag could really use Corrupt
And then PH, Oni, Bubba, The Plague, Ghostface, Clown, and Wraith all would use Pop over corrupt
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There are multiple videos on Otz and Tru3's channels where the first gen is done before they can even get to it, despite making a mad dash across the map
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This. If you're Huntress, or Hag, or even Deathslinger on a map like mothers dwelling or ormond, if 2 teams of 2 survivors get on 2 gens, you could (albeit barely if you're not afraid to take a hit near the end) get 2 gens done before they even cross the map.
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I always use Thrilling Tremors and usually pair it with either Corrupt or Pop. The ability to pressure is dependent on both map size and the awareness of the survivors. Two survivors, one with prove thyself, gets a gen done in about 40 seconds. If they do 2 to a gen with this strat, the game is over ridiculously fast. Gen slowdown perks are an absolute necessity.
The Ruin nerf was the worst thing to happen to low-tier killers imo. Old Ruin prevented survivors from just gangbanging the gen down before you could even get back there after a hook. New ruin only helps hypermobiles than can pressure multiple gens at a time.
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I love using surge. It does instant regression like pop but less (8%) and it can hit multiple gens at the same time and explosion radius sometimes reaches the second floor that might cause losing 30 seconds and top of these you don't have to kick gens just chase survivors. If you are good at ending chases surge value might be high for you.
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That's not the point. It's considered acceptable for that to "just be the way it is", but if a killer tries to get pressure by slugging, tunneling and to a lesser extent, camping (effectively, rushing kills), they're looked down upon.
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So, my favorite killer is still Legion (I know). So for me, I use Dying Light and Thanatophobia. I tend to use BBQ as well, mainly for blood points, but the aura reading helps too. The last perk I use is a bit of a toss up between ruin, devour, and PGTW. For add-ons, Legion Pin and the green duration add-on. Sometimes I spice it up and play something completely different, but that's usually it for me.
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It's not just a loud section. It's the greater majority of the survivor player base. The only way you get away with slugging, going back to hooks to slug the freshly unhooked person etc. is if you're someone like Umbra. If you're a normal, average Joe (or Josephine), you're cursed to the pits of hell and told to do unthinkable things to yourself by 90% of the survivors you go against.
It's even worse when many killer mains have the same train of thought.
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Well most would say pop and the like are slow down perks but what about anti healing perks? Since i seem some say they are also slow down perks, since they do slow down the healing of the survivors, which of course relays on them healing up. Since there is always the chance they ignore healing in favor of just rushing out gens. For if we count anti heal perks as slow down perks, that is a larger list than the standard pop, ruin and surge.
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Only on certain killers do I use a slowdown and when I do it's corrupt. Except for Wraith who I use pop on with shadow dance. The killers that don't need any kind of slowdown against the majority of survivors imo are Nurse, Legion, Pig, Freddy and Billy.
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There's not many fans of Surge i see.
I'm not denying there can be better options, but i wouldn't say it's useless.
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I run Corrupt and Sloppy... But I consider them delay perks not slowdown perks
Of course I play: Pig, Huntress, Spirit, and Hag the most while the I play the other less
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Lmao no, Ruin always was placebo and was outclassed by PGTW even way before it was nerfed
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They are mandatory if you want to compete. Sure you can snowball some games without them, but overall you can't play against good survivors if you don't use them.
The problem with antiheal builds is that survivors don't heal at all. They rush gens even better with resilience, and they are confident off being injured cause dead hard, nobody wastes time healing up (except maybe against...Oni? but he is bugged now).
Corrupt intervention is a must in almost all killers, you can even see that on the good builds Otz recommend on youtube. Having those 2 minutes on early game is crucial. Pop is fine, but sometimes feels not that useful when they finish the gens before you get there, and Surge is super situational. Tremors requires you to hook and sometimes is a waste of time and is better to slug so is not that good. About ruin, the last 3 times I used ruin the totem got destroyed in 15 seconds so yeah.
Overall, they are needed, even more than the old ruin.
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Zero, because i'd like everyone to have fun not fall asleep.
If my game lasts 2 minutes its cos i played bad.
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Although not slowdown perks per se. Discordance and tinkerer (especially the new one coming in the update - new tinkerer with ruin will be a good combo) are really good perks to know where to apply pressure. PGTW is the only slowdown perk I run on nearly every build currently as knocking off 20 sec of a gen is pretty good (where it would take new ruin 40 secs to do the same - if it lasts 40 secs in the first place).
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I run slowdown perks only on a few killers, the slowest ones at patrolling gens, because I realized the only way to stop people from repairing is to keep them off gens, which is not easy. I believe DbD is just situational, so I don't really care about the result both sides until the game works.
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Pop is almost mandatory. 20 seconds may not sound like a lot on paper, but when you're a survivor (I play Survivor, to be able to predict them more. Overall, I'm a killer) and you have to work 29 seconds, just to get back to the repair progress you were at, it sucks. What sucks even more, is if he pops it, and then chases the person that was working on it with you. You get back on it, and he pops it again, when you've only been on it for 5 seconds. That's 35 seconds regression on one gen. (Sorry if I'm wording this weird) overall, PGTW is very necessary. Btw, for me and my friend's (think everyone), Pop Goes The Weasel is in the shrine of secrets for everyone.
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Otz has shown us many ways you can get by without slowdown perks.
If you're not running a slowdown perk you have to make sure you're keeping the survivors busy and scared. Lesion is pretty good for this as he can see heartbeats of all survivors in his special. As long as you're consistently keeping all the survivors off gens it's fine.
I don't really do this because I run surveillance and ruin on most of my killers. I don't actually do this for the slowdown though. I do it for the information. If someone stops working on their gen I instantly know where, and if I'm coming up to a gen and they stop working on it to run away I instantly know they did that because of surveillance. It's especially nice for spirit, being able to know that everyone left gens when you're sneaking up on it. Since ruin immediately puts gens in the regression state surveillance procs on them right away giving loads of information. It's nice to have ruin slowing things down, but it's mostly me keeping survivors away from gens that stops gen progression. This is thanks to surveillance telling me where the survivors are most of the time.
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