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Killers that are only good for exploiting broken mechanics

gatsby
gatsby Member Posts: 2,533

People sometimes forget that a lot of what makes many Killers strong is exploiting mechanics in a way that probably wasn't part of the Devs original design concept.

Hag/Twins- Using your power to essentially face camp while multitasking the other Survivors.

Spirit- Standing still for free hits because Survivors can't tell when you're using your power.

Pyramid Head- Using your power to tunnel through Decisive. Using power to hit both Survivors on unhooks.

Demo/Pig- Exploiting the "basic attack" mechanic to have permanent 8 stacks on STBL.

Huntress- Hitting Survivors with close range hatchets because the cooldown is less than a standard M1.

Wraith- Using your hitbox mechanics in cloak to push Survivors into corners or out of pallet dropping range.

Ghost Face- Using the broken stealth reveal mechanics to expose Survivors that are looking directly at you.

Any others you can think of? It's funny that all these exploits of Killers were probably complete oversights by the Devs originally and they slowly just became "features" that were part of their overall balance. Remove most of these things and a lot of these Killers would become trash tier.

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Comments

  • JPA
    JPA Member Posts: 1,685

    When you say Ghost Face exposes survivors after the stealth reveal, do you mean there is a way to literally give them the exposed status effec when they reveal you (and not by fully marking them)?

    Or by exposed do you just mean the directional indicator and the heartbeat icon "exposing" where the survivor is?

  • Hag and Twins can't really face camp that well there is way too much you can do there; it's just something that less experienced players struggle with,

    Spirit you just described what her power is pretty much MEANT to do. The fact it's overbearing is just a bi-product.

    Pyramid Head you just again described intended possibilities with his power.

    Demo/Pig STBFL is an obvious good perk combo, and the killers are not too powerful with them so it's hardly "Exploiting" or something missed during original design.

    Huntress that's intended, they talked about that with the wind up time add ons before.

    Wraith- Yeah, that one fits the bill you got me there lol.

    Ghostface - Yeah, agreed, that is really annoying to have your hiding spot given away because he gets notified you looked at him- but y'know, that's basically a killer version of spine chill in a way.

  • HR_Helios
    HR_Helios Member Posts: 189

    Yes every killer has their strengths and ways to play them. What's your point? It's not exploits it's how the killers are built. Twins and hag are meant to be very oppressive with their powers with twins just having a larger range of control than the hag.

    The Spirit standing still mind game is stupid I'll give you that but the recent bug where you could hear the direction she was was honestly something I wished they would just make permanent. It made spirit have some counter play and something to work with without making her less powerful.

    With pp head Using your power to hit both survivors is intended. It's the same as bubba minus the insta down. The counter to DS isn't what I had an issue with as survivor it was the stupid m2 into m1 that every good pp head did. They attempted to patch it out then made it stronger by not actually patching it out.

    Demo and pig both need changes. STBFL has become essential on killers who NEED the extra pressure it can generate. The wording makes sense in my opinion. Why lose a stack on a perk that affects basic attacks when not using a basic attack? That doesn't make sense. If they changed it to any attack then they would have to do that to all basic attack perks for consistency and I really don't want haunted grounds on huntress hatchets no thanks.

    Huntress should keep a shorter cooldown on hatchets. If as survivor your caught in a corner that's your fault and you should be punished ie. Hatchet into m1. Same with people that run into huntress like a decent huntress won't hit that. Ranged hatchets are easier to dodge. Gaining as much distance as possible is the best strat because of her slow movement speed. If your healthy try to dodge but if you take a hatchet utilize the sprint burst to gain distance and get into cover.

    For wraith the body block mechanic is on every killer and is utilized by multiple killers (plague,billy,bubba,and huntress to name a few) so why single him out?

    Ghost face is a weird killer but the cone to expose him isn't directly in front of you it's a 45 degree cone coming from the top of your head do you have to look slightly down to expose him consistently. I do think this needs a change. And it wouldn't make him trash would just make him more skillful to use when stalking.

  • Zayn
    Zayn Member Posts: 365

    I agree for the most part but then things survivors abuse have to be changed as well such as using DS more as a "You can't touch me" perk and instead an anti-tunnelling perk.

  • Greatamygdala
    Greatamygdala Member Posts: 292

    I think you don't know what's broken man and just say "What I personally find unfair"

    Only thing broken from what you said is from Ghost face the stealth reveal is inconsistent. There's also that Nurse fatigue cheese where lunging at the very last moment wouldn't turn your camera down and there's also some bug where you can actually look up while fatigued lmao.

  • GannTM
    GannTM Member Posts: 10,860

    I think quite a few of those aren't really that major of an issue and should be the least of our concerns. I do agree, being a spirit main, the stand still mindgame should be much weaker, ghost face's reveal mechanic is super janky and needs to be fixed ASAP, and hag and twins shouldn't be able to completely guard hooks without being punished for doing it. I do agree with the issue for PH, but I'm not really sure how that can be fixed without removing the cage of atonement power completely from his basekit, which I don't think will be the way to fix it. Another issue you didn't state is forever freddy. Keeping gen progress slow with perks while already having the map presence other killers dream of having is kind of absurd. Although his ability to teleport does have a cooldown, I think a solution to that would be where the cooldown is a lot longer or he should only be able to use it when maybe more the half the team is asleep. Also what viden stated about slinger is true as well.

    Other than those I mentioned, I don't really see the issue with the rest of these. Landing shreds or ambushes are usually not reliable and could cost you if you get greedy with landing those attacks on the obsession when they are about to get to a safe spot where you should probably just basic attack to guarantee a hit. STBFL is great at what it does and it is not a crutch perk by any means. It helps with a major weakness killers have without that perk, which is letting survivors get a lot of distance after putting them in the injured state from the healthy state. Huntress is a 4.4 killer so she needs to have something to help her catch survivors quicker or else she'd be weak, so the fact her hatchet throws have a shorter cooldown than basic attacks is actually good. This strategy on wraith is a tactic that must be learned to play wraith to his maximum potential. Consistently landing precise body blocks takes skill, great timing, and knowledge so this one was a little weird imo.

  • Devil_hit11
    Devil_hit11 Member Posts: 8,085

    Pretty much all the killers. Trapper's traps can also exploit STBFL but they're primary used to put traps at totems for camping devour hope. Instantsaw Curving Billy, Nurse's Old range add-ons. Myers EV2 99% into instant kill mori/Instant down. Old Freddy with add-on's to reduce skillcheck chance to keep you permanently asleep. Old Legion Deep Wound mechanics. Blight's Lethal rush sliding into a wall to curve lunges. Doctor's Old static field on small maps. Pretty sure all of the features are intended, Just some of them get removed and others stay.

  • Freki
    Freki Member Posts: 1,903

    the OP is wanting these things to be called exploits. why? because they don't like them and yet there are ways around each one if one looks enough

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,692

    Rest of the killers - Spawning on the map (apparently)

  • RepostRiposte
    RepostRiposte Member Posts: 793

    BREAKING NEWS: EVERY KILLER IS AN EXPLOIT AND SHOULD BE REMOVED

  • DecoyWolff
    DecoyWolff Member Posts: 31
    edited December 2020

    Legion - Counters pretty much a survivors only means of survival.


    Leatherface - He runs too quick, even with no add ons while he runs with his chainsaw. His camping ability is disgusting and leaves him to be just about the most exploitable killer ever.

  • Boomer_Zoomer
    Boomer_Zoomer Member Posts: 29

    I see the survivor mains have brought me the Christmas gift of laughter.

  • C3Tooth
    C3Tooth Member Posts: 8,266
    • Unbreakable + DS
    • Jump to locker while having DS
    • Use Borrowed Time as body block
    • 99% gate
    • Another survivor spam fast vault to make noise to make Killer unable to hear chased injure survivor in EGC

    Exploit or tactic?

  • FilledPizza
    FilledPizza Member Posts: 392

    It means that even when you are looking directly at GF and obviously should be revealing him, he just is able to continue stalking without getting revealed and then expose you.

  • Zeon_99
    Zeon_99 Member Posts: 463

    This actually gave me a laugh. Thank you.

  • Boss
    Boss Member Posts: 13,614

    I don't see how bodyblocking is a broken mechanic, and Wraith isn't exploiting it, but can just put it to good use.

    Of course, the last-Survivor-bodyblock without EGC and then AFK until either side disconnects is the sole exception here, i'll never agree to that.

    But trapping Survivors into corners and then hitting them or waiting out a (potential) DS can just be the smart thing to, same goes for the Pallet block, why risk having them use the Pallet when you can tell them no with your body (lol) and start an uncloak?


    Oversight or not, it's a thing now.

    Looping surely wasn't intentional, otherwise the actual infinites wouldn't have popped up everywhere in the beginning.

    But it's a thing now, and was also pretty heavily encouraged by the game for a while in the earlier years. (I mean that there weren't many Perks coming out, if any, that said: "Instead of looping, try this instead.")


    Actually pushing Survivors with your hitbox also doesn't exist.

    You can manipulate where they have to go and catch them in corners, but only if they're already there.

    If pushing them was a thing, then bodyblocking Survivors wouldn't be a problem when you carry one.

  • TheClownIsKing
    TheClownIsKing Member Posts: 6,278

    Pyramid Head is the most disappointing here. Not because he’s underwhelming.

    What I mean was it was initially very exciting having a killer that was presumably going to address a large list of frustrations for BOTH killer AND survivor.

    Survivor:

    • not dealing with being slugged, or being hook camped.
    • Sure he counters hook activated perks, but on paper a survivor shouldn’t have to need DS or BT.

    Killer:

    • save a LOT of time after downs by caging, then immediately finding another survivor (or survivors) to pressure, without needing to resort to slugging to gain such time.

    Unfortunately too many PH players learned how to play very scummy with him, and it makes me angry. So many killers complain about how some survivors play this game and their meta, yet PH players only serve to reinforce why so many survivors stick to their meta and milk every advantage they can out of teamwork. It totally undermines any arguments killers have for very legitimate balance problems when scummy things these PH players do.

    I honestly believe removing the cage auras simply wasn’t enough. They also need to remove the location notification when a rescue occurs.

  • thesuicidefox
    thesuicidefox Member Posts: 8,223

    Ghostface gets screwed by the reveal mechanic as much as he gets rewarded by it. For every time a survivor stands 3m in front of you and fails to stare you down there is another time where a survivor looks at you for a millisecond over or through some object from clear across the map.

    Also if you fall for Spirit stand still trick you are a potato. Just run to the next time and force a phase. It's only a free hit if you try to do something inherently stupid like slow vault the pallet back into her face or stay at the loop.

  • redsopine00
    redsopine00 Member Posts: 905

    True but town players slug near a hook unbind victor and park him directly under the hook facing towards Charlotte then swap back and hook the slugged survivor enabling victor to be unkickable and with a instant swap back he gets a free grab or down with Charlotte nearby enabling them to reslug or double down a hook even in the basement

  • JimbusCrimbus
    JimbusCrimbus Member Posts: 1,060
    edited December 2020

    Hag/Twins: If camping is a broken mechanic, so is doing generators.

    Spirit: Agree. They need that tell to be more obvious.

    Pyramidhead: Oh no! A SINGLE killer that can counter what is, in and of itself, a broken mechanic - DS.

    Demo/Pig: I know you're not complaining about STBFL, Pig AND Demogorgon right now. Imagine.

    Huntress: Of all the issues Huntress has, THIS is the NON issue you whine about? k

    Wraith: Imagine whining about Wraith. An already bottom 5 killer. All because you LET yourself get put into a bad situation. If this is somehow exploiting a broken mechanic, then so are survivors body blocking hooks.

    Ghostface: Strangely, I have no issues with this.

  • brokedownpalace
    brokedownpalace Member Posts: 8,792

    Most of these are not exploits and quite a few of them the devs obviously foresaw happening. Like you're legit trying to tell me you don't think devs knew of the Twins' camping potential in 2020? They specifically made Charlotte not be able to send out Victor in a certain proximity of the hook. The fact that Victor can then camp anyway just means they either couldn't think of a way to change this or they didn't think it was so strong that they needed to make a change.

  • MythMage
    MythMage Member Posts: 521

    Hag only essentially face camps because she is, by nature, a territorial Killer. It's like saying a security guard is camping the bank. It's kind of in his job. Besides, it has the super simple counter of HOLDING CTRL. It's really not that big of an issue.

    Twins is just bad overall, and is the worst Killer they have added to the game, both strength and health wise.

    Spirit. The complaint here is the fake-phase mindgame, so this is realistically just a "git gud" scenario. And if you know me at ALL, you know I'm not typically one to say just "git gud". Quite the contrary. I'll explain why I don't believe it's much of a problem, and suggest tips. But, come on dude. If she zoned you to an unfortunate side of the pallet, you were going to get hit anyway, and phasing is a gamble there, so you should ALWAYS assume she is standing still. Also, people who vault into Spirit are kind of asking for the free hit.

    Pyramid Head is actually not that great at ignoring DS, since everyone and their mother would rather DIE than get tormented. It's why doing dailies for him are HORRIBLE. But, DS is complete bullshit anyway, so I really don't have a problem with it.

    Demo/Pig "abusing" the basic attack requirement can really go for most killers. Billy has his chainsaw, Trapper has traps, Huntress has hatchets, Plague has Corrupt Purge. They aren't the only ones. Also, I've NEVER heard someone complain about this. It's honestly interesting to why this is seen as a problem by you. I mean, what's wrong with the weakest Killers in the game have a little specific buff when it comes to a perk? Besides, Pig's dash is harder to pull off, and Demo's lunge is pretty easy to juke, so it's not exactly just "bypassing" the penalty.

    Huntress: Do you know how hard it is to pull of melee hatchets? You ultimately spend more time trying to hit it than you save by not M1ing.

    Wraith: Seriously? Are you SERIOUSLY calling body-blocking an "exploit"? I'm sorry, but you gotta be out yo damn mind. This isn't a "abusing broken mechanics" thing, this is a "utilizing the tools everyone has in a specific way".

    Ghost Face: This isn't abuse. This is a bug. It's not like Ghost Face players are trying to abuse the "lack of reveal" mechanics. And honestly, it's a 2 sided coin. I'll be revealed when someone is on the other side of the Ironworks of Misery, so it's not just a 1 sided issue. Either way, this isn't an exploit, this is just an unfortunate occasional bug.

    Also, alot of these Killers are really good outside of the things you listed. Hag just ignores loops even better than Trapper, Spirit turns people into potatoes, Pyramid Head has strong anti-loop, Huntress is Huntress, and Ghost Face is just Myers if Tier 1 was actually useful. I don't get the arguments made here, to be perfectly honest.

  • Spirez
    Spirez Member Posts: 674

    So adapting to the killer power to get maximum efficiency is now called exploiting?

    Sounds to me like you are not very good at the game and blame the killer playing “cheap” for your losses.

  • JimbusCrimbus
    JimbusCrimbus Member Posts: 1,060

    Look at their post history.

    Almost looks like a history of nothing but bait.

  • I'm gonna go ahead and say none of this is any more exploitative than having God loops memorized from being heavily familiar with permanent fixtures on specific maps or utilizing specific characters' skin tone and wardrobes to be able to camouflage easily

  • JimbusCrimbus
    JimbusCrimbus Member Posts: 1,060

    Yep.

    What @gatsby meant to say was "What makes killers strong is having tactics specific to that killer that are effective".

  • gatsby
    gatsby Member Posts: 2,533

    Not really. I meant what I said lol.

    Some Killers have mechanics that probably weren't part of their design and were popularized by their playerbase as alternative ways abuse the power's mechanics in ways the Devs didn't expect.

    I highly doubt that the Devs thought things like "lets create a Killer with a power that is stronger at camping than anything else" or "lets create a Killer that can stand still and win chases" or "lets create a Killer that can crouch spam excessively to expose Survivors"

  • blue4zion
    blue4zion Member Posts: 2,773

    You can tell when the Spirit leaves her husk. When she stands still STARE AT HER. Besides her normal unnatural movements, you will see and obvious change in her animations, and most of her hair will reset position.


    Lmk if you'd like to KYF sometime and try some fakes on me if you don't believe.

  • TheStabbiNAngeL
    TheStabbiNAngeL Member Posts: 1,264

    Good lord what have i started.we don't care the game is how it is just leave killer's alone.

  • Hex_UrbanEvasion
    Hex_UrbanEvasion Member Posts: 200

    There is only one completely awful build I find in this game, and it's the Insidious Basement Bubba. Is it an exploit? No. Is it taking advantage of readily available perks to make games as unrewarding as possible for survs? Yes. It's a troll build that still manages to chap my hide because solo survivors make stupid choices and turn what could have been a 3-escape with moderate blood points into a dumpster fire 4K with like 6k points, if you were really trying to grind through it.

    If you're the unlucky bastard he caught first, you'll be lucky to get 3k. You get to be the lucky person who struggles against Iron Grasp/Agitation, still gets basement hooked, and now has the dubious honor of hitting space to give the other survs some time. Or you just rage quit and he chops down someone else.

    At this point, if I enter a match with a Cannibal, I don't go to unhook unless I see someone else try it first. It sucks, but I don't wanna waste my time more than the killer already has.

  • JPA
    JPA Member Posts: 1,685

    Doesn't he have to have 50% of his body revealed or something? I think it would be too difficult to stalk if anyone could reveal him with even an accidental look

  • Rydog
    Rydog Member Posts: 3,275

    Yes, killers are designed to subvert standard game mechanics in various ways. That is the point. That's what makes them unique.

    I don't like killers that are designed in a way that amplifies camping problems (looking at you Cannibal, Deathslinger, and Twins). But beyond that, yeah, killers are supposed to do what you are having a problem with here.

  • Chechia
    Chechia Member Posts: 234

    These aren't exploits though. It's just a way to play a killer.

    An exploit would be the Legion tech when survivors flashlight you on a pallet.

  • JimbusCrimbus
    JimbusCrimbus Member Posts: 1,060
    edited December 2020

    And you expect people not to think you're trolling.

    "OMG WRAITH EXPLOITS BY BODY BLOCKING"

    LOL

    Also, yes, it's perfectly reasonable, and completely likely that the devs created some killers with campy tactics in mind. Hag for example.

    The original DBD tutorial videos even showed, verbatim, that the original intended way to sacrifice a survivor was to *camp them to death*. If you don't know the history, stop acting like you know anything at all. Just because it's something survivors didn't like, doesn't mean it wasn't intended. Get off your high horse. There's plenty of things killers don't like that are intended.

  • JimbusCrimbus
    JimbusCrimbus Member Posts: 1,060

    That's literally by design, and is completely preventable by a survivor. Don't blind at the pallet. Just like with Doctor, don't camp a pallet against a Doctor. You going to tell me Doctor denying you a pallet drop when you camped the pallet is an exploit too?

  • Chechia
    Chechia Member Posts: 234
    edited December 2020

    I don't think it is intentional that Legion can down a survivor with his power due to the flashlight tech. He normaly can't down people with it, so it is in my opinion an exploit. (And yes, I am aware that the blind breaks you out of your power but you can clearly see in the video that his power was still active while he was blinded and it ended after he downed the survivor. That just seems wrong and shouldn't work honestly)

    I don't really mind if Legion's are doing it though. Props to you if you get the timing right.

  • shalo
    shalo Member Posts: 1,520

    My Legion is not downing survivors with his power, you can clearly see that Frenzy ended (FRENZIED +4) then the hit (HIT +300) then the chase ended (CHASE +78).


  • Chechia
    Chechia Member Posts: 234

    Ah okay.

    It's interesting though that the power bar is reacting in a total different way.

  • Mister_xD
    Mister_xD Member Posts: 7,669

    im gonna be honest here, as a Slinger main, i never did that and i also never had anyone do that against me.

    i mean, what even is the point of that?

    just... shoot them. if there is a LoS, its better to just take the shot than aiming at something else for them to hopefully not go there...

  • bluedusef
    bluedusef Member Posts: 288

    Because it makes it really easy and less risk by faking the shot constantly. ive had it numerous times where slingers will almost never shoot and only use the gun as a zoning weapon/spamming aim. basically the BAD slinger players do this.

    Your a slinger main, if u are good at quickscopping then your probably destroying most people, i try my best to dodge any attempts of a quickscope but then half the time they just fake the shot in order to close distance. its just very unfun to go against, i feel helpless.

  • Exerath1992
    Exerath1992 Member Posts: 1,035

    And they say killers complain about everything... Everything except the ghost face reveal mechanic is fine, and how do you "exploit" the reveal mechanic? It just sorta happens.

  • Mister_xD
    Mister_xD Member Posts: 7,669

    yeah i get the general idea bahind it (denying the pallet / window), but i dont get why people would ever use that...

    i mean, at that point they just make themselves a 110% M1 killer, they are literally extending the chase on their own just by not taking the shot.

    if the Slinger preaims a pallet, isnt that also kinda pointless from the getgo?

    i mean, yeah you got a pallet in your direct LoS. i know you are just gonna shoot me out of there if i attempt to go through it, so im not gonna try to in the first place... the pre-aim at that point is just a "hey look, i can shoot here", which he can achieve just as good without pre-aiming, as the survivor should already be aware of that fact.

    also, where is the fun in playing Daddy Slinger when you dont use the gun? thats like the main thing that makes him fun to play, landing cool shots - if i wanna fake my power im just gonna go Triangular Headpiece Humanoid... cause playing M1 Slinger is horrible. it takes super long to catch up and they are just gonna get the gens done and leave if you take too long in your chases (ya know, the ONE thing he is good at), so unless you are extremely insecure in your aiming skills, this is not a tactic anyone should ever use imho...

    ("you" in this segment was used as "you, the killer", not "you, the person im replying to" - just to clarify that :D)


    btw, im not trying to argue whether that exists or not or whether its a good tactic, im actually just trying to understand the mindset of these people... i dont really see a point in doing it, so im genually confused when you tell me there are people that mostly play like that xD

    also, i wish i was a god at quickscoping... in reality the most shots you land as Slinger are ones where you correctly predicted a survivors movement pattern and shot accordingly at a place its hard for them to dodge (a doorway, window, pallet, when they run alongside objects, turn corners, ... - another thing they kinda deny themselves by pre-aiming at said locations) taking shots out in the open usually doesnt work too well, unless the survivor runs in a very easily readable pattern (e.g. just holding W - they wont outrun the harpoon xD)

  • ChurchofPig
    ChurchofPig Member Posts: 2,763

    Because survivor mains will say anything to make something that has to deal with dedicated servers being awful again into some sort of killer exploit. (I'm saying this as someone who plays both sides often). It's happened just as many times where (as Ghost Face) I've been revealed when the person was far out of LoS and should not have seen me and vice versa where I revealed a Ghost Face when I couldn't even see him and wasn't in my LoS.

  • Toybasher
    Toybasher Member Posts: 919

    Don't forget TACTICAL DISCONNECT, INCOMING!!!! when the killer downs the third survivor to instantly open the hatch.

  • AetherBytes
    AetherBytes Member, Alpha Surveyor Posts: 3,028

    ghost face aint broken, thats his design and most people just call it bugged so they have something else to blame for them failing to realize ghost face had good positioning.

    33% of ghost face needs to be visible and in a certain range to break him; which rewards the killer when they position well in a way that they can stalk without being revealed. If you need to break him oit move in range or in a circle around him to expose more of him.

    Its not a bug, thats his design. Im yet to encounter this "broken" behaviour except when hes legitimately positioned in a way to stop it.