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Why do new killers think "tunneling" is a good idea?

I haven't been living under a rock or anything, I'm fully aware of how toxic tunneling is and it almost never ends well. Tunnel that Meg and bam four whole gens just popped one after the other.

But why do the killer themselves think this is a good idea? What do they think they're going to gain from this, seeing how unproductive it is?

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Comments

  • pyramidheadmain6233
    pyramidheadmain6233 Member Posts: 121

    Ahh, I remember my first games as killer, back when I thought hook camping was a good idea.

    After three entire gens popped I started having second thoughts.

  • pyramidheadmain6233
    pyramidheadmain6233 Member Posts: 121

    I wonder if its situational then, kinda depending on the team? Whether or not they've built themselves to work together or individually.

  • Nayru
    Nayru Member Posts: 567

    that requires the survivors to have half a clue on how to play the game

    which 90% don't apparently judging by my recent experiences, people with even an idea of how to play optimally are literally the top 10%

  • Dwigtht
    Dwigtht Member Posts: 462
    edited October 2021

    This depends on the game situation. What I see now is survivors want to end the match as soon as possible with as little interaction with the killer as possible: rush gens and hide in the corner. So when I down a survivor even after a short chase -- I can lose 3 gens already.

    In this situation, camping/tunneling strategy, punishing the most vulnerable survivor may work much better than trying to chase other survivors.

    When survivors are chill with gens -- I would rather be chill with tunneling and will chase others and spread the hooks.

    But when survivors are playing a "tournament-style game": gen rushing, camping and pre-dropping pallets-- I am going to use the most efficient ways to reduce the number of survivors. Tunneling and camping are efficient in most cases.

  • foxsansbox
    foxsansbox Member Posts: 2,209

    Tunneling is a good idea, light proxying is a good idea. When employed thoughtfully, and not how most survivors would like the player base to BELIEVE they are employed, they regularly net 4Ks and large amounts of blood points.

    Things like DS and Unbreakable are manageable when you're regularly identifying the weakest link, scoring proxy hits that force survivors to come to you and the hook en masse instead of the killer playing the 'W' game around Gens and safe pallet loops. The fact of the matter is, there is a penalty to one of the emblems if you camp too hard, and most killers who employ tunneling and proxying thoughtfully never lose more than a point or two, tops. We're playing the game correctly.

  • foxsansbox
    foxsansbox Member Posts: 2,209
    edited October 2021

    Tunneling is a good idea, light proxying is a good idea. When employed thoughtfully, and not how most survivors would like the player base to BELIEVE they are employed, they regularly net 4Ks and large amounts of blood points.

    Things like DS and Unbreakable are manageable when you're regularly identifying the weakest link, scoring proxy hits that force survivors to come to you and the hook en masse instead of the killer playing the 'W' game around Gens and safe pallet loops. The fact of the matter is, there is a penalty to one of the emblems if you camp too hard, and most killers who employ tunneling and proxying thoughtfully never lose more than a point or two, tops. We're playing the game correctly.

    EDIT: I did not post this twice, I don't know ######### BHVR does.

  • Mr_K
    Mr_K Member Posts: 9,245

    Tunneling as in chasing one survivor for a prolong amount of time?

    or

    Tunneling as in chasing a survivor directly off a hook in hopes of rehooking them?

  • Raccoon
    Raccoon Member Posts: 7,735

    Given that you think tunneling is a tactic reserved for new players that is both toxic and a throw, you do seem like you've been living under a rock and/or playing at low levels.

  • KingFrost
    KingFrost Member Posts: 3,014

    Because it is until you run into a survivor team that can counter it. Which isn't very often in solo Queue. It'll win you most of your games as killer.

  • Clevite
    Clevite Member Posts: 4,335

    Tunneling is good for players whom primarily focus on kills as a win.

    Getting 3 v 1 asap, swings the odd significantly in their favor.

  • ElusivePukka
    ElusivePukka Member Posts: 1,599

    It's a theoretically effective strategy, but it's not a good strategy. Same with a hard proxy camp being situationally effective.

    Both also run the chance of turning quickly into a proper loss, but the odds of finding that in 'new player' games is astronomically low.

  • I_am_Negan
    I_am_Negan Member Posts: 3,756

    Because

    If your not camping and tunneling you're not playing killer correctly🙂😂

  • PalletsAndHooks
    PalletsAndHooks Member Posts: 989

    Tunneling isn't toxic. It's a fundamental tactic that is easily discovered and notably intuitive in situations where the killer has lost control of generators. Since new players may not have the proper skills to control generators, it's a far better return in investing time tunneling an already weakened survivor.

    Additionally, this is made possible by survivors that sandbag their teammates and fail to protect their unhooks.

    The devs new hatch hatred update was pretty clear: the killer is playing four games at once, and the first kill will have a positive impact on their mmr. Each succeeding kill will have a positive but lesser impact on the mmr, because the survivors derail after the first death.

    Tunneling is a tool. The toxicity is found in the one that is upset about it. Sometimes you need a hammer like tunneling, sometimes you need a nail like sneaking up on a survivor attempting bones. It's all about deploying the right tool, and a hammer is just much easier to use for destructive purposes than a nail is.

    Don't be toxic about tunneling.

  • venom12784
    venom12784 Member Posts: 666

    It really depends on the situation. If I see the meg that was just un hooked before i see the jeff that unhooked her, why wouldnt i go after the meg?

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,444

    For a new killer, they have no idea how to patrol or find players. They may not even have perks to lead them in the right direction. Plus newer survivors are rarely in places that make sense and don't have perks to combat camping and tunneling. It's by far the easiest way to win as a newer killer.

  • Thrax
    Thrax Member Posts: 974

    there is little reason to not tunnel anymore. i don't find it fun. let the player count sink like the first 3 swamp castles.

  • DeliciousFood
    DeliciousFood Member Posts: 464

    Because cheese tactics are heavily rewarded in this game and people are desperate to get easy W's.

    Until they actually face decent teams and then only have salty and whiny posts for this forum to rant about how survivor-sided the game is.

    Game's boring when you tunnel, game's now boring when you don't because MMR has made it so that individual survivors can at least delay you a while even if you're more skilled. Not even saying it's bonkers unbalanced, it's just a bad system that has minimal fun in it.

  • Hex_Llama
    Hex_Llama Member Posts: 1,846

    I've watched a few people play for the first time on stream, and a lot of them seem to assume that camping and tunneling is the intended play style. It kind of makes sense -- you have someone hooked, it was hard to hook them -- why would you not just guard that person and make sure it turns into a kill?

    I know the answer is a bunch of stuff about wasting time,etc, etc, but if the question is about brand new players, I think it's natural for them to assume that they should be eliminating the survivors one by one.

  • vacaman
    vacaman Member Posts: 1,140

    How is tunneling improductive? Specially now that Circle of Healing punishes any killers dropping chase.

  • Renfear
    Renfear Member Posts: 137

    Survivors are all toxic and awful and need to be punished. Grab your good ol' ebony mori and tunnel away. The sooner you get someone on second hook, the sooner you can shove your chainsaw through their guts. Simple as that.

  • Iliketoplaykiller
    Iliketoplaykiller Member Posts: 352

    They probably watch streamers do it and think its effective to do at every opportunity they get.

  • Impose
    Impose Member Posts: 400

    Define tunneling. Thats a broad term. Tunneling someone off the hook who had both DS and BT is actually ######### terrible and loses you the game almost instantly against any decent survivors.

    Finding the guy that was unhooked 20 seconds ago and hasn't managed to heal and switching from the survivor you were chasing? Thats just smart play.

    ESPECIALLY now that every single survivor is running a perk that lets everyone on the team heal at ridiculous speeds WITHOUT a medkit its beneficial to chase injured people. Spreading damage is now a dead strategy with circle of healing in the game

  • Clevite
    Clevite Member Posts: 4,335

    I'd argue there is little reason to tunnel anymore. To get a higher MMR?

    And hence, tougher games.

  • Thrax
    Thrax Member Posts: 974
    edited October 2021

    depends on the survivors reaction to it. you can get a so called balanced game tunneling and camping or you can "play fair" and lose a ton. Take what you can get and enjoy the salt.


    game is tilted. it was unbalanced but it's wrecked for now. Can't wait for another pretty similar game coming out soon. Sick of this careless crap.

  • Mister_Holdout
    Mister_Holdout Member Posts: 3,144

    Tunneling against competent survivors can definitely backfire on you.

    That said, if you're in a tough spot while playing killer, sometimes it's worth taking the risk tunneling.

  • Raiden1
    Raiden1 Member Posts: 9

    Tunneling is not a bad idea at all, in fact it is quite literally the strongest possible strategy that the killer can implement, however there are very strong perks that counter this playstyle. When you hook a survivor at the beginning, it's a good idea to pressure gens near the hook and once the survivor gets unhooked you go for them again. If a teammate is getting tunneled or dead on hook survivors are much more likely to try to do stuff like take hits for them or go down to save them, etc. Tunneling actually makes teams more altruistic which slows down gen repairs while also giving you the ability to get one survivor out early, and going against 3 survivors versus 4 is a big deal. If you can get one survivor out before the 4th gen pops (which is super easy) then you basically just win the game, securing at least a 3k. I do a less intense version of this strat, because whenever tunneling is used (even though it's not a toxic playstyle, it's a tactical one) survivors tend to cry and insult the killer for doing something smart. What I do is I alternate hooking 2 or 3 survivors, while ignoring two or one of them, because if you try to get all 4 survivors on death hook before killing anybody then you are most likely going to lose.

    Just an FYI, facecamping / tunneling are regularly used in DbD tournaments, where if the literal best killers in the world do not facecamp / tunnel they instantly lose. It's just how the game is.

  • Bardon
    Bardon Member Posts: 1,004

    Given that BHVR have confirmed that for a killer, MMR is solely determined by the number of kills they get in a match it's pretty much the definition of a win.

  • nikodemo
    nikodemo Member Posts: 786

    For new killers learning the game, their understanding will be more simple. I'm a killer, I kill, I see you, you die. Repeat.

    It takes time for them to begin the understand the nuances of the game.

    For experienced killers, removing 1 surv from the match drastically improves their chance of winning assuming they can get it done quickly. In that sense it can be efficient, if not the most fun for the tunneled person.

  • Ussu
    Ussu Member Posts: 177

    I never purposely tunnel, however there are plenty of times when I can only find the same survivor and everyone else is just really good at hiding.

    Also I've been in chases before where I'm after someone else but then suddenly, surprise! The same survivor I hooked 2 minutes ago frantically runs around the corner and literally plows right into me. Not gonna ignore that lol.

  • ThiccBudhha
    ThiccBudhha Member Posts: 6,987

    Newer killers aren't whipped like the old ones who care about the feelings of survivor mains.

  • Infinity_Bored
    Infinity_Bored Member Posts: 445

    Because they choose the easy way. Finding and chasing a new surv takes skill. Better stay close.

  • Kira4Evr
    Kira4Evr Member Posts: 2,025

    Because it's easy and they probably haven't experienced the world of BT and DS

  • GlamourousLeviathan
    GlamourousLeviathan Member Posts: 1,093

    Well, because it is.

    Getting someone out of the game early is always a good option. Also, most survivors will stop doing gens to bodyblock or go for flashlight saves, which gives you more reason to do it since they are busy not doing gens.

  • RenRen
    RenRen Member Posts: 1,443

    They're new do you think they know how to play optimally?

  • ReikoMori
    ReikoMori Member Posts: 3,333

    They're new and thus don't know concepts like time management, gen speeds, objective control being more important than getting kills. On the flip side, tunneling someone out of the game early greatly increases your odds of winning and generally having a less stressful game in the long run.

  • Nos37
    Nos37 Member Posts: 4,142
    edited October 2021

    A dude's trying to set a world record for smashing the most watermelons in the shortest amount of time. If he can't break the watermelon on the the first try, why does he keep hitting it 1 or 2 more times to break it instead of moving on and then coming back to it later?

    Oh, and by the way, the more watermelons that are left intact, the faster the timer counts.

  • hiken
    hiken Member Posts: 1,188

    because it works (When the team has weak survivors to get advantage from)

  • dugman
    dugman Member Posts: 9,713

    You need to define what you mean by tunneling. Some people in this thread seem to think you're talking about rechasing someone you just hooked, while others think you're talking about getting into a very long chase with one survivor versus breaking off and chasing someone else. They're two entirely different types of situations.

    • Redowning and rehooking someone you hooked previously is good strategy because it helps you get a kill that much sooner. Obviously you should be aware of Borrowed Time and Decisive Strike, but assuming you're cautious of avoiding those then chasing and downing someone who you hooked already is smarter than chasing and hooking one survivor, then a different survivor, then a different survivor again and so on. It's better to get one survivor out of play within 3-5 hooks then it is to get 7-8 hooks with all four survivors still alive.
    • Chasing one survivor who is very good at evading you for an extended period of time is not good strategy. Sure, you might down that survivor after 60 seconds, but in the meantime the other three survivors have completed 2 or 3 gens and are well on their way to escaping at that rate. Knowing when to accept that switching targets and going somewhere else is good strategy.
    • As a rule of thumb just standing around a hook when you know the other survivors are probably off doing gens is usually a bad play. If the survivors aren't coming to you then you should be going to them to keep the pressure up. Of course there are exceptions, if you have a survivor on the verge of dying on the hook for instance and guarding them for 10 seconds will ensure they actually die before being saved, then sticking around a bit mitigates that risk. But you should usually be pressuring survivors on as wide a front as possible, not standing around in one spot waiting for them.

    Just my two cents.

  • pseudechis
    pseudechis Member Posts: 3,904

    Exactly this.

    Tunneling, camping, flashlight clicking, Morris, keys, none of these things are toxic in of themselves.

    People overreacting, dictating how others should play and abusing others over it are what’s toxic.

    It’s only a game after all.

  • Clevite
    Clevite Member Posts: 4,335

    Well, at some point in life, we begin to define things for ourselves.

    So, I don't give a ######### about BE or their MMR.

    I play for what is fun to me and to my own definitions.

  • BadLooperQ
    BadLooperQ Member Posts: 277

    Maybe the killer is playing too much against solo q survs without coordination and BT's lol.

    When I play surv and the killer camps and tunnels me, not even DS and BT can Help me :( .

    There's times that I Just want people to get out already but then the snowball begins

  • Prex91
    Prex91 Member Posts: 764

    Tunneling is a good idea. Tunnel out a survivor is optimal like genrush out gens. One step further to victory. You decide of you Want to risk Ds or not, simple. New players face survivor bad at looping, that will ho probably down even after DS, or drop every pallet in the game, making noed play easier, probably not cleansing dulla totems also.

  • Rougual
    Rougual Member Posts: 526

    As a Billy main if someone gets downed while unhooking someone its in our training manual, Chapter 1 to Always go for the saw.

    If I go for a snipe and get it ill eat a DS if I want but I did get the saw.

  • PigMainBigBrain
    PigMainBigBrain Member Posts: 1,893

    50% because of the guy constantly going up to unhook.