Improving survivor build variety - Changes to perks
I've never been one to run meta builds, but I can see why DBD's survivor perks tend to gravitate heavily towards them. A lot of survivor perks are difficult, if not nigh impossible to use, but I feel that a few small touches could improve their viability or appeal. So, here are some suggestions...
For the People
Perk is declared to other survivors within 5 meters.
This perk is a TON of fun to use and can be a real playmaker. The trouble is, it is very difficult to use in a lot of situations without being on dedicated comms, because it's impossible to signal to solo players 'hey, stand still for a sec so I can nab your injury'. This change would make it show up in the active buffs section, similar to how We'll Make It lights up for unhooked survivors, to make it clear someone is trying to save you mid-chase.
Inner Strength
Destroying a totem grants a token, up to a maximum of 1.
This perk activates if it has a token, you are injured, and you are not suffering from the 'broken' effect.
While active, 10/9/8 seconds after entering a locker, you are healed.
The only change this effects is that a totem cleansed while broken will still be counted and kept in reserve for when your broken state ends. A slight buff to the perk that makes it a tiny bit more reliable, and synergise slightly better with perks like Inner Strength, Deliverance and Second Wind.
Vigil
Now also affects Broken.
Obviously to encourage synergy with the aformentioned perks. This allows Vigil to slot into an internal build without being dependent in its value on the killer having timed versions of any of the effects it works against.
Plunderer's Instinct
Perk is declared to other survivors within 10 meters.
To communicate that you're more likely to get something good out of a chest that someone else is trying to open.
Ace In The Hole
Perk is declared to other survivors within 10 meters.
Same as Plunderer's Instinct.
Built To Last
You start the trial with 1 token, and gain another when a generator is completed.
While you have a token: 10 seconds after fully depleting an item, it regains 30/40/50% of its charges. Perk is declared to other survivors within 10 meters.
Each item can only be refilled once.
Built To Last is a fun concept, but if there's any more than one item, Streetwise tends to blow it out of the water. It would be interesting to see Built To Last as a sort of repository role, where other survivors could seek out the bearer of this perk to have them refill their item charge, as a sort of clunkier, more difficult to use version of Streetwise with potentially greater reward.
Autodidact
Added functionality: After healing a survivor without a medkit for 3 seconds, press the active ability button to set skill check chance to 100% for one second. 30 second cooldown.
Sets a minimum baseline to counteract bad RNG. Autodidact can be strong, but the over reliance on RNG and the heavy punishment for bad RNG makes it too much of a drawback to take in 90% of cases. Botany and We'll Make It are both fare more reliable, and the latter is roughly as strong as a fully stacked Autodidact. This change just makes it possible for players to have some say in the perk's function, making it a bit less risky and a bit more of a potential playmaker.
Visionary
Regressing generators are highlighted in white. When starting to repair a damaged generator, skill check chance is increased to 100% for 3 seconds, and great skill check zones are increased by 30%. This effect has a 30 second cooldown.
Gives Visionary -something- to work with that isn't intel that's only worth a damn in Hawkins or Midwich.
Solidarity
While healing other survivors without using a medkit, gain a token every second, up to a maximum of 16.
While you have a token, you can self-heal without a medkit. Consumes one token per second.
This makes it a clunkier version of Self-care, but with greater potential reward, as it would self-heal at normal speed. The idea is the same as the original Solidarity, it just removes the stringent requirement and boosts the reward a little bit. Could synergise well with For The People (As in, having a heal on stand-by, as using FTP would NOT grant tokens) and Second Wind.
Stake Out
Good skillchecks grant 2 seconds' worth of progress towards the next token. Great skillchecks grant 3 seconds' worth.
Improves consistency a little bit, giving it a more tangible benefit if the killer simply isn't finding you, or has no terror radius.
Technician
When starting repairs on a regressing generator, set skill check chance to 100% for 3 seconds, and increases great skill check zones by 30%. This effect has a 30 second cooldown.
Same as Visionary. Technician currently really only benefits you for failing skill checks, it could use a better, albeit niche role.
These are some of my suggestions for underwhelming perks, please dig through it and see if these are all right. I really want to figure out ways to expand the survivor build options and empower some of the weaker ones to be a bit more appealing. I've really fallen in love with For The People, for instance, and I really wish there were more survivors that felt confident in going outside of meta builds.
Comments
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i feel like all of these perks are already decent, especially inner strength. i would rather buff perks like buckle up or sole survivor
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I'd say For the People and Inner Strength are decent, the rest is well below par. But outside of that, any ideas on the actual buffs suggested?
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i didnt get that last sentence, no idea if you wanted to hear some of my buff suggestions or wanted to know what i think of the buff but im gonna go with the 2nd one:
i think the inner strength change is just confusing and unnecessary, i would just make it so the perk activates when youre in the locker entering animation. for the people buff is definitely reasonable, sometimes when i save a teammate with it they stand there for a second or two before they realize what happened. plunderers instinct change would just confuse a lot of players. vigil change seems good cuz it can make the effects of perks like deliverance or for the people less significant but it needs another rework. built to last is already a decent perk but i kinda like this change, it gives you a better reason to loot chests. ace in the hole buff would also confuse a lot of players. autodidact change should just guarantee at least 2 skill checks per heal. i love the visionary change and how its like a survivors version of surveillance, not something i would use in my main build but i wouldnt mind having it. solidarity change isnt that good, i would just make the conversion 1:1. i dont understand the stake out change, it isnt a bad perk but i would just decrease the time it takes to get a token to 10 seconds and increase max token capacity to 6. technician change also isnt that good, i would just increase the generator speed by 5-10% if you are the only survivor working on the generator
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