http://dbd.game/killswitch
Pinhead possessed chain cast time vs time to break chains
Not super rigorous, but I timed how long it takes to cast possessed chain vs how long it takes survivors to break the chain 11 times over 4 matches, and here are the results:
"chain start" is when I press the power button to begin casting chain, and "chain end" is when I get control back after hitting a survivor with a chain.
"hit" is when the survivor is hit by the chain, and "escape" is when they break the last chain.
These are all possessed chain uses while playing normally in public matches rather than in any sort of custom match controlled environment. If someone wants to do a more rigorous test for this, please please do so!
On average, hitting a survivor with a possessed chain at short range (e.g. across a pallet) takes ~2.3 seconds, and shortens chasing that survivor by ~1.4 seconds. Notable, however, is the fact that once you return from casting possessed chain, you can move, but there's a weird ~1.5 second delay before you can stomp a pallet (is this a bug?), so if a survivor drops or vaults a pallet, you chain them, and then you break the pallet to get to them, you've actually netted the survivor a ~0.1 second head start on the chase.
I guess it's up to you to determine if spending ~2.3 seconds (during which other survivors are doing gens) to slow down a survivor by ~1.4 seconds is worth it.
Hitting a survivor with a possessed chain at long range is NEVER a good idea (except during a chain hunt); it will always take more time to cast the chain that it will take for the survivor to break it. This means all of the add-ons that increase the range of the chain cast are actually nerfs and should never be used.
Doing this test made me consciously aware of the fact that possessed chain is really most viable during chain hunts (even at long distance), because holding a survivor in place with possessed chains -- even briefly -- lets more chain hunt chains hit them and slow them down even more.
Comments
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@MandyTalk please bring this to the attention of the devs. Especially after these nerfs, which I think were overly aggressive, Pinhead needs some serious help.
Especially regarding that delay after returning to first person where Pinhead cannot perform actions such as breaking a pallet.
Ultimately, if you're going to nerf chain hunt, then his active power needs to be stronger and more rewarding. Whether that's in cooldown, or increasing the time to break chains, or letting him not break his own chains, or some combination thereof.
Also, the distance increasing add-ons make no sense, especially after this recent nerf.
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To evaluate the benefit you need to factor in the relative speeds of Pinhead and the survivor during the phases of the process and see how much distance Pinhead gains on them.
For reference, survivors move 1.1 m/s with 3 chains, 1.7 m/s with two chains and 2.3 m/s with one chain, and 4 m/s normally. Pinhead is stationary while controlling the chain but moves normally after it hits, so he’s statuonary for about 0.5 second then chases chained people at 4.6 m/s
So for the first half second, the survivor gains 2 m until the chain hits
In the next second, survivor moves 1.1 more meters and Pinhead moves 4.6 meters. So he’s already caught up a net 1.5 meters 1 second after hitting, even taking into account his moment of being immobile.
In the second second the survivor moves 1.7 meters but Pinhead moves 4.6, catching up another 2.9 meters for a total gain so far of 4.4 meters
In the third second the survivor moves 2.3 meters and Pinhead 4.6, so Pinhead catches up another 2.6 meters for a total gain of 8 meters.
That means that with one successful use of his power Pinhead can catch up 8 meters to a survivor in 3.5 seconds.
Now let’s compare that to just not using the power at all. Pinhead moves 4.6 m/s, and the survivor moves 4 m/s, so Pinhead catches up 0.6 meters per second. Over the same 3.5 second duration that is 2.1 meters gained by Pinhead, only 1/4 the amount he would have caught up using the chains.
So even though the survivors often break free of the chains, Pinhead still potentially shaves a significant amount of time off a chase by using he chains, especially if the survivor is at least 8 meters away when he hits them.
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I'm not sure on the time, but I'm pretty sure the only time getting people with chains is predictably helpful is if they're making a mistake in the direction they're heading and you cut them off (assuming they immediately break chains). All the delays and the limited slow effect seem to do nada for ending looping.
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You're a bit off on the time it takes Pinhead to move. It's 0.5s for the camera to pan to the chain, 0.75s for the FOV to change to match (during which I'm still not perfectly sure if you can fire), and then there's another 0.25s fadein before you can control Pinhead again.
So, Survivors can gain up to 5m before the chain hits once FOV changes are factored in. Survivors move 5.3m after the chain hits before we resume normal speed, for a total of 10.3m distance. Pinhead, on resuming control, moves 12.65m in the remainder of those three seconds. This gains 2.35m distance.
That's a whopping 25cm more than not using his power.
(Now, if we can fire before the FOV change completes and assume no travel time, then yes, it may in a perfect scenario gain 3m more, but I think there's some delay before you can--I've tried to immediately fire numerous times to no avail)
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even assuming the survivor stands completely still while breaking chains, at long range (like the 8 meters you suggest) it takes 0.44 seconds MORE to cast the chain than it does to break it, so pinhead loses 0.44 seconds of chase time / distance than if he hadn't used chains.
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And obviously none of these calculations factor in the time to project the portal into position from a distance, in which situation an attentive survivor can and will start juking, which makes it a lot riskier to fire--you'll gain a little ground from faking it, sure, but if you miss...
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the table includes the time to project the portal for all of these, including long distances, and I just discarded all the times I missed. The risk of missing is absolutely a factor that compounds the fact that even if you perfectly land every attempt the benefit is negligible at a short distance and negative at a long distance.
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Oh, I was talking about the calculated optimal chains, there.
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So how much time am I saving in chase by chaining them as opposed to not?
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In a straight chase? Basically, not enough to be worth the time loss when you do miss, or outright losing time.
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I'm not assuming the survivor is standing still, I'm assuming that you fire the chain somewhat close to them, they keep running, and it hits them after traveling about 8 meters. And I included that time it takes the chain to travel that distance plus the time it takes to pan when I estimated 0.5 seconds that Pinhead is stationary.
You're right though that I didn't include the camera pan and FOV times which is significant. I'll redo the calculation with that in mind.
Start -
- Pinhead is chasing and maneuvers the gateway in position. His movement speed isn't impacted while moving the gateway so this doesn't need to be included here. (We're assuming they're far enough away that he doesn't just take a few steps and hit them.)
- Pinhead activates the gateway - 0.5 seconds for the camera pan plus 0.75 seconds for the FOV, total 1.25 seconds Pinhead is stationary. Survivor continues running 4 m/s, gains 5 meters distance
- Chain launches, distance maybe 2 meters from the survivor. It takes roughly 0.25 seconds for the chain to hit the survivor, who is now 6 meters further away from Pinhead
- Fade in time to get back to Pinhead is 0.25 seconds. Survivor has 3 chains on them and moves 0.3 meters, total distance is now 6.3 meters from Pinhead
- Pinhead now finally resumes the chase at 4.6 m/s. Survivor moves 1.1 m/s for an additional 0.75 seconds for 0.8m. Pinhead moves total 3.5 meters and has gained net of 2.7m. Distance gained by the survivor total is now 3.6 meters.
- Pinhead continues chasing with survivor having 2 chains for one second. Survivor gains 1.7 meters, Pinhead gains 4.6 meters, net gain for Pinhead is 2.9 meters. Total distance gained by the survivor is now 0.7 meters
- Pinhead continues chasing with survivor having 1 chains for one second. Survivor gains 2.3 meters, Pinhead 4.6, net gain for Pinhead is 2.3 meters, Pinhead is now ahead by 1.6 meters.
So yeah, that camera and FOV time really hurts him. (I didn't realize they were over 1 second total!)
For comparison, the entire process above takes 4.5 seconds. Without using his ability at all, and just catching up at 0.6 m/s, he could have closed a distance of 2.7 meters in that time, which is slightly more than the 1.6 above.
TLDR - the 1v1 chains do kind of suck. 🤷♂️ Oddly none of his add-ons actually increase the time it takes to break free of his chains, or cut down that camera and FOV time, so even using normal add-ons doesn't help. Arguably Fang is still his best add-on, then, since at least on a healthy survivor the chain injures them which is MUCH more powerful an effect than 2 or 3 chains on the survivor.
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P.S. In the above analysis I assumed the survivors instantly start breaking the chains the moment they're hit. It's probably worth noting, though, that if a survivor delays removing the chains by even 0.5 second to 1 second it makes a HUGE difference in the calculation. Every half a second the survivor delays taking off the chains is an additional 3.5 meters Pinhead catches up to them. And human reactions aren't instantaneous, so there is some degree of delay between being hit by a chain and clicking the button to remove it.
So in reality that 1.6 final figure above is a worst case number where the survivor instantly starts breaking with literally zero delay. Add even a 0.5 second delay and it jumps to 5 meters, twice as much as Pinhead would catch up without using the ability.
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I think the sad fact of life is that if you're playing against someone who delays on breaking the chains at all, it's likely you won't be needing them anyway.
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they did the pallet thing on purpose so you can't chain and break. Can't have pallets be unsafe can we?
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And yeah, the TL;DR thing really hammers in how dumb the addon selection is.
Like, the only non-purple/pink addons that were remotely handy got nerfed into the ground. Reduced cooldown between chains? Longer chain travel distance? Longer casting distance (situationally viable for box interrupting but like...)? Increased turn rate? It's like all his base addons were built around the idea of being this long-range figure whose skillshots at those ranges would mean something.
Rather than... literally anything that would buff the chains once they were latched on, or reduce the transitions, or... something.
The loading screen tips even tell you to get in close to use them effectively. Like, what?
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Well, even good players are still human. The typical reaction time is 0.25 seconds for a person to physically react to something they see. Good reaction time is about 0.2 seconds. Assuming really skilled video game players have lightning reflexes, they're still probably delaying their reactions at least 0.15 to 0.2 seconds after the hit, which is 1-2 meter delay basically. So it's still not negligible.
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If they only start after they see it and can't anticipate the hit, which would negate most of it for skilled players (especially if there's any timing generosity). Reaction delay would also apply to Pinhead and even worse, if we want to just rely on people reacting to the last possible visual cues, due to his totally stopping whilst doing things.
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