What's the most effective totem-cleansing strategy?

ShamelessPigMain

If you see a dull totem, and suspect that the killer has NOED, the typical response is definitely to cleanse it. But in some cases, especially towards the late game or the very early game, wouldn't it be better to leave it up? You don't know where the other totems are, and if you cleanse the totem you already know, you have no chance of knowing where the NOED totem is. If you leave it up, you have a 1/5 chance of it being the NOED totem.

I guess the question is, is it better to cut down the number of totems that NOED can occupy (hoping that the rest of the totems get cleansed), or is it better to leave the ones you know up so you already know where to check in case of NOED?

Gay_Police_Dept

Always cleanse, at least you know where not to look when looking for NOED totem.

Edit: Also, that doesn't stop other survivors from cleansing it, so i wouldn't rely on that tactic tbh.

TripleSteal

The actually optimal approach is to never touch dull totems at all (unless you just scratch it to check whether undying is in play or not).

Other than that, if you are playing for fun but do know totem spawns of this specific map, usually it's okay to go for it. If you got 1 gen left to repair pr are generally not very confident in your ability to find totems, you'd better just remember this spot and check it later.

Harold_Shipman

If nobody has detectives or small game, leave them up and do a quick sweep after last gen of any obvious ones or get out before they can capitalise on noed. Chances are at least 1 totem is going to be pretty difficult to find. That said, if they have NOED, chances are they wont be very good, so even if it takes awhile, you should be able to find all 5 before anybody is sacrificed. If thats your approach, get down to 1 gen so that if you are struggling to find them, you can just finish last gen and get out, rather than trying to get all 5 totems early on, waste too much time looking and then still have 5 gens to go.

if you have the perks, do them as you find them. One person with detectives is usually enough, provided they're not being chased when the gens pop. Otherwise a map might be needed.

If you dont have a full SWF, new small game would be better choice to keep track of numbers.

lagosta

As a general rule, I cleanse dull totems and run DsH so I can get a good idea if it will activate when the last gen pops.

But if the game is progressing too fast or the killer has a lot of pressure i'd focus on gens and leave dull totems up. In those circumstances it's easier to check later if you know the spots exactly.

APoipleTurtle

If you're playing as part of a group (especially a 3-4 man SWF), then always cleanse dull totems and just keep track of how many have been removed by the team.

If you're playing in solo queue, the optimal strategy is to leave dull totems alone but make a mental note of where each one you've seen was. If you suspect NOED (or have it confirmed) after the last gen pops, then you just re-check all the spots you found earlier until you find the lit totem.

But it's entirely up to you whether or not to play in that optimal way. I know I certainly don't (I want that Cleansing BP).

[Deleted User]

Small game is REALLY good on the PTB right now.

Take that.

Don't cleanse every totem on the map unless for some reason you have non stop downtime because the killer is really bad or you have and are using inner strength a lot. Just break the lit ones.

Just remember where they are in your head, and if he has noed you can just skim them all and break the lit one.

Detectives hunch will serve the same purpose for finding them, even better for NOED; but small game will be better for actually breaking other totems like ruin and such so.