Which Killers play the most similar?

Seiko300

As far as new killers go, uniqueness is an attribute held in high regard and prized above much else even if we don't think about it very often. A strong, viable, and well balanced killer can overall be rated as a decent addition to the roster, but if they only re-use the same mechanics and do not innovate in fun and interesting ways- the quality of said chapter can hinder the prevailing influence and long-term impact of a chapter.

Community members will drone on and on about the minutiae of killer powers, what tiny details and changes the devs made to create a new killer based on existing mechanics. But as of the most recent PTB, I'm interested in the vice versa.

So the question is simple: out of the current roster (Up Until PTB Nemesis) Which Killers play the most similarly? Which two killers share the most in common, have the largest middle ground between each other, and the easiest transferrable skills? (In other words: being able to play X means you would easily be able to pick up and play Y).

glitchboi

Huntress - Deathslinger

Both rely on good aiming skills, both have powerful zoning abilities (although Slinger does it better, no doubt), both can get long-range hits, and both can use their powers in loops.

Nathan13

Myers - Oni

I voted Myers and Oni but actually I think huntress and deathslinger.

Adeloo

Myers - Oni

• Pyramid Head - Nemesis

They share an AoE attack but PH can hit from behind walls, what Nemesis cannot do + PH can increase the range of his attack with addon

• Ghostface - Myers

They both are stealth killers but one you counter by hiding, the other you counter by staying still and winning a stare contest + GF basically has unlimited exposed power unlike Myers than can run out of "juice"

• Leatherface - Billy

Both use a chainsaw, but one is used for distance and speed while the other is used to down multiple survivors

• Huntress - Deathslinger

Both have a ranged attack but Huntress has a limited number of projectiles + can throw much much farther than Deathslinger

• Trapper - Hag

They place traps. BUT they work in a different way : a Trapper can easily chase a survivor without having the time to place traps while a Hag is using her traps like a web and do not perform well in a chase out of her web.

• Wraith - Ghostface

They do not share any similarity other than being stealthy and that survivors can break them out of it

• Trickster - Huntress

More similar than Huntress-Deathslinger BUT while Huntress hit inflict a heal state down, Trickster needs 7. And he doesn't benefit from the range Huntress has

MY PICK

• Myers-Oni

Both suffer heavily in the early game, and need to build up their power by chasing the first survivor they find.

+ Activating their power give them the ability to down survivors in one hit + bonus in movement speed (Oni more than Myers)

+ Once their power is out of "juice" they need to charge it again

Gazgemauch

Trickster - Huntress

trickster-huntress seems most similar to me, trickster is basically just a worse version of huntress (my opinion before the trickster mains will hang me), doing the same thing (throwing stuff he gets from lockers) except he does it faster but he needs to hit more. which besides that, basically just makes it the exact same power, huntress grabs hatchets from lockers and throws hatchets, trickster grabs knives from lockers and throws knives

Seiko300

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2235135#Comment_2235135

The Wraith - Ghostface comparison is really to illustrate the shared playstyle between all stealth killers. Wraith, Ghostface, and The Pig all share the same capability to reduce their terror radius to 0 and thus share the many of the same approaches and strategies for how to start snowballing pressure and gain momentum in a match.

A quick search on Youtube and you'll see personalities like Yerv who grouped these three killers under the same video "How to play Stealth Killers - X, Y, Z tactics" or Tru3ta1ent who I remember spread the idea around to play Wraith like people were playing Ghostface when he first released, not engaging in prolonged chases but instead constantly flitting between survivors injuring them, leaving to apply pressure elsewhere, and then coming back to catch that first survivor off guard rather than wasting time chasing them for some 20 or 30 seconds (or more) to down them.

Again, the poll is not purely based on shared mechanics between killers, but how much of a skillset can be transferred from X killer to play Y killer.

Because of this, I would actually argue Wraith and Ghostface have more in common than Myers does. Quite frankly, Myers does not play like a Stealth Killer (unless you're running Monitor & Abuse / other TR reducing perks) he plays exactly like he is- a killer with a reduced terror radius which is an entirely separate thing. You can't take survivors by surprise with Myers the same way you can with the aforementioned 3 killers, nor can you mindgame loops with his power the same way as those three.

Although Ghostface and Myers both share a nearly identical stalking mechanic on a foundational level, as you yourself mentioned they operate drastically differently. Where Ghostface needs to manage the stalked levels of individual survivors while Myers deals with the aggregated pool of "Evil" shared across all four survivors. Ghostface also has an entire Leaning mechanic which drastically speeds up how quickly he can fully expose a survivor being stalked, and properly knowing when / how to do this in a skillful way without being discerned (taken out of night shroud) is not something a Myers will ever need to learn or deal with.

There's much more to say about stalking but it almost doesn't matter anyway, since anybody who plays Ghostface regularly will tell you that most of Ghostface's power comes from being able to reduce his terror radius at will (without sacrificing movement speed like The Pig, or immediate aggressive potential like The Wraith [who needs to slowly uncloak instead of attacking immediately]). This is where the largest chunk of Ghostface's gameplay comes from, and is something a player who has only experience with Myers would have less in common with. The stalking capability ghostface has is more icing on the cake than anything else, whereas it is the bulk of Myers gameplay, who absolutely needs his Tier 3 Evil Within to snowball momentum in a match.

I haven't answered the poll myself, but because of this reasoning (which I could explore further even further) I don't think that it's Ghostface - Myers. (Which I am saying because it seems like that is the leading pick according to the current poll results).

Although in a roundabout kind of way, at the very least I am agreeing with you that Oni and Myers have more in common than Ghostface and Myers. Though I spent most of the time alluding to the connection between Wraith and Ghostface.

Adeloo

Myers - Oni

https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/comment/2235945#Comment_2235945

Welp that is a really long answer but a very interesting to read one !