Why Nemesis & Pyramid Head are poorly designed killers
We all know that dreaded situation. That situation where you're being chased by either Nemesis or Pyramid Head, and you approach a vault. The only renewable resource in the game that can be used to make distance from the killer (excluding perks). And yet, they're meaningless against these two killers. I probably don't need to explain why. You vault, you get M2'd. You don't vault, you get M1'd. Pyramid head's ability to abuse this was nerfed about 10 months back with patch 4.3.0 when his cooldown after cancelling rites of judgement was increased/movement speed decreased, but he can still abuse it nonetheless, albeit slightly less effectively. Too slight to make any difference in the vast majority of cases.
Simply put, this type of gameplay is not fun. There is no prediction. There is no strategy. The only strategy is to avoid vaults at all costs, unless you have substantial difference from the killer. Which, due to the very nature of the game, (Killers being 10-15% faster than survivors), you won't maintain. The problem is especially prevalent when you consider the fact that vaults are one of the primary methods (and the only reusable one) used to create that distance in the first place.
Too frequently I see the argument that this is called "zoning" and to simply play around it. No, this isn't zoning. When I play huntress and I wind up a hatchet when a survivor is heading along the sides of one of the houses on Haddonfield where the fences are, causing them to run another direction that isn't the narrow pathway between the fence and the house where they would have no room to dodge my hatchet, that's zoning. When I play Deathslinger and I go to the outside of the shack window to shoot a survivor as they run into the shack, forcing them to go elsewhere unless they want to get shot and hit through the window, that's zoning. In both of these scenarios, I have effectively eliminated one of the survivor's options. When you're up against either Pyramid Head or nemesis at a vault, all of the survivor's options are eliminated. I genuinely struggle to think of a scenario in which the survivor can escape unscathed. The best case scenario that I can fathom is that the survivor fakes the vault, (since being stuck in the vaulting animation is just a guaranteed hit) then manages to somehow either make it back to the vault, effectively "faking the fake" (and somehow having enough time to line up for a fast vault) , or simply 360 the killer's M1. (Which we all know doesn't work against sentient killers)
I main killer and I can't help but feel like an absolute turd whenever I play either of these killers. (which is a shame considering nemesis is my absolute favorite killer) Every now and again I come across a survivor who has figured out the only way to fight against this. Drop every pallet. Way early. That might be the worst part about this. The only real way to combat it is to avoid vaults, and just use pallets. And you can't even use them efficiently, because it happens at pallets too. Just like vaulting, dropping pallets is an animation you get stuck in. And so long as you're within range of their M2, you're getting hit. No question about it. Exact same ordeal. Drop the pallet, you get M2'd. Don't drop the pallet, you get M1'd. So you can't even loop the pallet an extra time or two to maximize the use you get out of it. You've got to drop the pallet before the killer gets in M2 range. I don't even need to mention how fast this shreds through pallets and effectively screws over you and your entire time in the long run. (I say "long run", even though a competent game of DBD doesn't last long. It still lasts long enough to make dropping every single pallet in the map very quickly a problem.) I wish these killers brought more fair gameplay to the game, and not this lose-lose situation nonsense.
Comments
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Firstly paragraphs would be nice but secondly I do kinda agree. Nemesis’ cooldown is long enough and his reduced speed makes it kinda possible to avoid it but a good PH makes windows literally unplayable in most scenarios
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You're right, it'd be much easier on the eyes. Thanks.
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Pyramid Head's power is so short, so narrow, so slow, so loud, so unmaneuverable, and so broadcast to the survivor to give them all the warnings they could ever want, that it has 0 use anywhere in the entire game OTHER than at fixed point positions like vaults and pallets.
Additionally, there is a CONSIDERABLE start-up, and virtually zero ability to tweak the left-right aiming once the blade is down, so that you must perfectly position it well before the survivor reaches the narrow point or they'll get over and have the time they need to go left or right and get out of zone of attack
Additionally, as you said, they nerfed him (exactly for people complaining then as you are complaining now) so that picking his blade up without swinging slows you and locks you out of attacking for the exact same duration as putting the blade down, giving survivors twice as long moving to run 20+% faster than the killer and get away from the huge, obvious red beam.
Additionally, if you DO swing and you're off-center, slightly too slow or fast, hindered by latency, or the survivor faked you out, the recovery time is nearly as long as Sprint Burst (twice as long as a missed M1 attack) and slows you to immobile, giving the survivor ample opportunity to get to the next loop, every time.
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So, in conclusion, his power is bad and absurdly limited. If you are honestly suggesting that the ONE part of the game that he CAN use his power on is somehow "unfair" to survivors, I don't know what to tell you. His torment trails are useless, his cages are a joke, and his offensive power is the most niche, limited 'ranged' attack out there. Other than walking around and hitting M1, what exactly is he SUPPOSED to do?
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I don't really mind any ranged power so long as the survivor gets an indication it's being readied, so basically all of them except slinger. I do feel we kinda have enough of them at this point though.
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I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying that outside of the competitive scene (which is a joke anyway) his power is incredibly useful outside of animation lock due to a shorter cooldown and the ability to hit quickly around corners, or force survivors to take loops wider than normal, meaning you gain distance much quicker.
His biggest weakness is holding W, his power is very good in good hands.
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Correct me if I'm wrong but Huntress cannot spam her power due to a limited amount of hatchets, is a 110 killer, has a longer cooldown putting a hatchet down, and cannot hit through walls.
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Eh, I think PH is a lot more unique because of his ability to hit through walls. If he cancels his power, you have time to vault the window and then hold W.
Nemesis yeah he's pretty lame in terms of design, but to compensate, his tentacle strike uses a 3rd health state.
There's not much you can do if you're at a window or a pallet, other than trying to fake it, but they're very beatable.
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PH is too hard for me (when attempting to use it more skillfully than just windows), while Nemesis' limitations I find very fun to explore, especially considering the attack window (whether or not that's supposed to be a bug).
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I cant comment on PH, but i have nemesis, its harder to land in diagonal chases, its weird to land above terrain (like a few boxes) because you dont see the "actual" hitbox or your damm tentacle, when charging your tentacle you slow down, during this slow down, in pallets survivors get a few more loops if they dont camp the pallet (thing that they should avoid).
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