Visit the Kill Switch Master List for more information on this and other current known issues: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/299-kill-switch-master-list
Get all the details on our forums: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/discussion/436478/sign-up-now-to-receive-a-recap-of-your-2024-dead-by-daylight-stats/p1?new=1
Deathslinger isn't Dead
Seriously people are being wayyy too dramatic about this change. All you have to do now is plan your shots instead of reaction shooting. He can still do everything he did before just as good as he always could. You can still reel around corners and zone. He just cant zone you solely because he exists. That was the problem before. It was unfair gameplay for the survivor side since all you could do was guess. You could only rely on the Deathslinger being bad at the game to not die. This change is just an objective positive for the game.
Comments
-
i mean you can say that but ultimately whatever you say is completely pointless in this regard because while very little changed about his 1v1 from survivor pov (as you still get zoned out by held ads with much faster movement speed + still hits the same shots), everything changed from killer pov and he's about as miserable to feel to play as a killer could be with full size tr + 110% + molasses flaccid power that has even more caveats
if people won't play him because he's not fun to play (and that seems to be a fair 90% or so as an estimate on my part), then welp
7 -
All it did was make him annoying to play as. If the nerf wasn’t major then why doesn’t anyone play him anymore?
21 -
Because the moment something requires a higher skill ceiling, no matter how slight, people will just give up and refuse to adapt
5 -
there's a difference between a high skill ceiling and whats fun. Nurse is incredibly hard, but she doesnt feel like ass to play. By most accounts Deathslinger is now seemingly just a worse Huntress. both practically and ergonomically.
6 -
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It may be wrong but they can have it.
2 -
They lowered his skill ceiling by removing quick scoping.
It's okay, I'm sure survivors will love dealing with Blight and Nurses instead.
6 -
Just as the spirit nerf did nothing to increase the killers skill or change how they are played, this also doesn't increase Deathslingers skill.
These changes just made the survivor side take LESS skill and allow them to play more braindead and just enter auto pilot at loops.
13 -
Compared to how she felt like before? Yes, she is ass to play, and people cried about it when the nerf happened
and Deathslinger was always just a worst Huntress, since the day he came out
1 -
I mean... Deathslinger is pretty dead. I don't know why anyone would play him anymore.
The main reasons to play him were 4 fold.
- M1 perks. All his hits are counted as M1's.
- Stealth. Low TR, no lullaby, and slowly ramping up chase music all means he was the game's only ranged stealth killer.
- Better handling of indoor, cramped maps than Huntress or Trickster.
- Deep wounds.
2 and 3 are kinda gone now. 1 is done better than Nurse at this point. 4 is done better by Legion.
So... yeah I just don't see any reason to play as him anymore.
12 -
It does change how you play these killers, because now Survivors actually have a chance and now theres an interaction between both sides, instead of it being the "Spirit/Slinger cutscene".
1 -
Killers exist solely to entertain survivors; how a killer feels to play is irrelevant
3 -
Don't get me wrong, i hate spirit and don't care about her nerf, but Deathslinger had plenty of counterplay and required actual skill and prediction or mindgames to make the slinger do what you want them to do.
This update made it easier for survivors, nothing more.
2 -
And by removing his quick scoping they removed his free zoning, survivors can now attempt to juke him when out in the open, and if youre good at aiming his Lethality doesnt change.
At high wall loops he can start aiming as he's turning a corner, this interaction has literally remained unchanged from the survivor perspective since he doesnt have an obvious audio cue like Huntress or Trickster.
The only change that Im iffy on is his TR one, that really wasnt needed.
1 -
Of course it made it easier for survivors but only out in the open, how ever a skilled Slinger just like a skilled Huntress can still down a survivor with ease. And at the majority of loops, especially high wall loops, their perspective remains unchanged. Since he doesn't have an obvious sound when he starts aiming like Huntress or Trickster.
There was no skill involved with guessing right, and it was no fun essentially watching a cutscene.
I will say tho, his TR change was a bit unnecessary.
1 -
The thing is, Deathslinger is now a straight downgrade to Huntress. Trickster also got buffed at around the same time that Deathslinger was nerfed for yet another alternative. There's virtually no reason to play him when the things he could do better than other ranged killers - stealth and quickscopes - are no longer in his kit.
There's no point in working your way up to a high skill ceiling if that skill ceiling yields the same results as another similar killer's average play, or if that other killer's skill ceiling yields stronger results than this one's. Why would you? Nobody picks Billy anymore when Blight's skill ceiling is higher, Bubba is easy mode chainsaw, and Oni feels smoother and more forgiving to play. Deathslinger's gone the same route.
It's not a case of killers being lazy, it's just how meta works. Why would you use something that isn't easy, fun, or the best at what it does?
2 -
100% wrong- his core gameplay has changed. Because it takes so long to raise the gun, he now can't take a shot at survivors while they go around a corner at a loop. That's not "raising the skill ceiling". In fact, that's lowering the skill ceiling and limiting what he can do. You can do all the mental gymnastics you want, but the results will show that people stop playing the character because he isn't worth using.
18 -
So you think fighting games are just random and take no skill? They are all about guessing and getting in the other persons head. DBD just has such a low level of skill that people equate dropping a god pallet with skill and call that counterplay.
5 -
If you were good at aiming, quick scoping allowed you to hit shots through holes in walls that are now impossible to do. Literally removing skill from his kit.
12 -
"So long to raise his gun"
.2 seconds longer, which makes him lose like what, .1m of distance compared to before if even that?
2 -
Just enough time for the survivor to be able to get around the corner. His movement while holding the gun, even though it was buffed from before, is still slower than his normal walk speed.
3 -
Its they refuse to adapt its just huntress is better if you remove the quick shot amd that what they did so now the deathslinger main are adapting by playing huntress
3 -
Fighting games require reads but the difference is both players actually have the time to study their opponents and try to recognize patterns, also certain chains can only yield certain results and you can some times opt for the less punishing result.
In Dead by Daylight that just isnt the case, since if you guess wrong you get punished the exact same way, you cant opt for a less punishing scenario since there is none.
0 -
Quickscoping was fine, you weren't supposed to be able to reliably avoid being shot at any time. That's what the reel mechanic was for - to give counterplay when shot, and let survivors avoid being downed by getting themselves stuck behind objects. The problem wasn't his quickscope, it was the fact that if Deathslinger walks backwards while reeling, the survivor literally cannot move left or right.
It entirely removed that aspect of his counterplay, and that is what should have been removed. That way, he would have kept his niche as a quickscoping, powerful chase focused killer - not the bootleg, weaker in every way Huntress 0.5 we have now. The quickscope was what made him strong, and what made him fun to play - removing that and forcing players to use his heavily telegraphed ADS with terrible sensitivity, zoomed in FOV, slow movement and a tiny pinprick hitbox is not fun nor is it powerful in any way.
I hope one day they come to their senses and reverse the ADS nerf. If not, then Slinger needs to be 115% to compensate for the sledgehammer he took to the knees. Pyramid Head is 115% and has an infinitely better chase power than Deathslinger and doesn't need to reload - not even counting his Cages and trails. Deathslinger has nothing going for him now besides a mediocre, clunky, easy to dodge, limited range, not-guaranteed hit, difficult to hit ranged ability with long TTK and constant reloads after every shot. While being 110%. And while having an increased TR that means he can't even get shots in the first place due to his heavily limited range and the difficulty of max range reels.
Trickster is better than Slinger now. That should be all I need to say.
8 -
People will play him for fun. But he can't compete, and he never could before either.
0 -
You know what people mean when they say he's "dead" right? Nobody wants to play him anymore. I'm sure he feels awful to play like Billy after he got nerfed. It doesn't matter if they're not as bad as people make them out to be. If they feel awful to play then nobody is going to play them. Simple as that. Not to mention he already wasn't that great of a killer to begin with.
4 -
I thought he was a great killer before when I played him. Not anymore of course.
2 -
"Fighting games require reads but the difference is both players actually have the time to study their opponents"
survivors have 2 healthstates and dead hard which is effectively 3 health states. they also have 3 hook states.
"try to recognize patterns, also certain chains can only yield certain results"
DBD mindgames are predetermine locations. there isn't anything to study or recognize patterns.
at T-L walls, killers will push counterclock-wise and survivors will go clockwise. at the L or T, Survivors have distinct choice to vault or not to vault and killer has distinct choice to moonwalk forward or moonwalk backwards. He either guessing right or wrong. Its binary choice.
The same can be said around Shack window where your either vaulting or bluffing vault and for every unsafe pallet that the killer chooses to "play". your either sliding over pallet or bluffing the vault and killer either walking forward or doublebacking in anticipation of a slide.
Arguably vs good players in fighting games and depending on fighting game, Most players end up being really good at never dropping their combo meaning you'll always be taking 30-100% health damage give or take assuming both players at their respective characters. DBD is a lot simpler, you just take 1 healthstate worth of damage on every mistake instead of random numbers based off player's skill.
"you cant opt for a less punishing scenario since there is none."
This is untrue. in fact part of balance problems within chase for a lot of killers is that survivors do not need greed anything and can play ultra-safe while waste large deal of killer's time with efficient gen speed.
For example, survivors do not need vault shack window, they can loop outside shack for like 2-3 loops than drop pallet and killer has to break it. The same can be said about Long-wall short wall pallets, survivors do not need take risks looping around the pallet in fear of red glow mindgames, they can just predrop pallet and camp it. Killer is forced break it. Jungle gyms are same with their long wall pallet.
At least Nurse ignores all that silly safe loop design and few other killers can mitigate its effectiveness.
2 -
According to his lore he is.
0 -
Yeah it is, but its not an instant change, its gradual, and its only noticeable if you actually hold it down.
If you aim and shoot as soon as you can your movement speed is practically unchanged, so aiming around corners is still viable
0 -
He was a weak killer that feels terrible to play now.
He was pretty bad before. Even though his 1v1 was very strong, it was still incredibly time consuming. Being a 110% killer, shooting, the reeling, the reloading, all this x2 or more depending on how the survivor plays. So much time wasting in his kit despite it chases potentially being very short.
Just like Demogorgon. Demo has cross map mobility, built-in information, stealth, anti-loop. All this but he was still considered one of the shittiest killers? Because all that ######### took time to set-up and required far less time for the survivors to get rid of than for demo to run across the map again to set up his noodles.
So while it might've felt great to shoot a survivor as soon as you saw them... you still have to reel them in. Auto them. Recover from the attack. Reload. And then run after them and find them again as a 110% killer. Reason why he's worse than Huntress and Trickster right now. Huntress can quickly just auto someone and then hatchet them. No need to reel the survivor in and hit them. They are getting hurt if you land ur ranged attack. Trickster? Just keep throwing knives lol. You have more than enough knives to down someone 3 times over and you take none of the drawbacks slinger does.
0 -
Dumb comment: Example, Nurse.
0 -
Literally everything I said there I was talking about fighting games, not Dead by Daylight.
So thank you for proving my point
0 -
Yeah, and in 2019 when the nerf dropped people bitched and moaned until they finally realized its not that bad
0 -
No, still dumb comment, I get that you're a broken record but you're wrong.
0 -
"Say other person is wrong, refuse to elaborate"
0 -
There are literally several threads on the three most recent pages where this has been covered, in depth, to death, by people who actually play Deathslinger.
It is not my burden to reeducate you, simply because you're too lazy to read.
Edit: When people use the macho man image I never understand the message. Is that really how you see yourself when you say something stupid?
0 -
Perfecfly said, I agree with everything said here
How ever I do think the quick scope part of Slinger was also what made him unfun to go against, not the stealth part.
I would 100% be ok with him keeping his 24m TR, or hell make him unique and have a 28m TR, Slinger requires close quarters and giving him a bigger TR just heavily works against him.
1 -
And is it so wrong that I have my own opinions?
Attack my opinions, not me. Thats not how a discussion works
0 -
True, he is now just like billy.
Nerfed. Not dead, but very annoying to play as and not as good as they used to be.
1 -
your point is that fighting games and DBD are not relatable.
My point is that they are relatable.
The reason why people don't really ######### about nurses changes is because nurses changes did not affect her ability to win games.
Nurse's gameplay before change and after change is almost identical. She still has two blinks, her anti-loop is still largely the same. Only her add-ons became worse.
Deathslinger physically isn't able to do same shots as before. Shooting through narrow corners of loops, turning corners at loops and shooting in general is greatly impaired. His stealth is also impossible currently with 32 meter terror radius which was critical to getting his first injure so that his shot was lethal with 1 bullet.
0 -
It was a nerf to a killer that was already mid-tier at best.
If he was 'unfun' to play against, then he needed compensation elsewhere.
This goes for the Wraith nerf too.
When people say 'dead', they aren't saying 'you'll never get any kills ever and it uninstalls your game when you pick him'.
People are saying 'this guy is going to not only be weak now, but also janky and not fun to play'.
4 -
Deathslinger ain't dead but they sure did suck the fun outta him like they did with the Twins, although not that bad. His worst issue right now is that he's a 110% 32m killer which makes M&A all the more important on him because god forbid you go without it and smart survivors will just bolt as soon as they hear you wasting an obscene amount of your time just trying to catch up. Deathslinger just doesn't have much going for him right now compared to other ranged killers, hell even old Trickster has got more going for him since he can pressure the hell outta hook rescues.
0 -
They really aren't relatable, just because you mind game in both doesn't mean they are the same.
And about Nurse, back in 2019 people did care about her changes. It was a hot topic back then that quickly died down because people realized the changes weren't that severe, they just made her a bit harder to pick up and clunkier.
Other than the changes to his TR, they're not that bad. His 1v1 remains the same. Survivors still have to guess if he's gonna pre-aim around a corner, and out in the open well he can just wait a bit, react to the survivors movements and then react accordingly.
0 -
Personally I think Nurse is the least fun killer to play. Puking on my feet 1/3 of the match is super annoying, I have zero desire to bother with her and it has nothing to do with her skill ceiling.
0 -
that’s why I don’t really play as her. Constantly looking down like that would annoy me.
1 -
Except that I have played several matches with him lately and, no, it's not still viable. By the time you can fire, they are past the corner. You are also totally wrong about the fighting game comparison. You do get the opportunity to make a read on the 50/50.(Old) Spirit allowed you to play mindgames. A survivor has to be hit multiple times to be hooked and taken out of the game, which gave you an opportunity to see the tendencies. Against a good team, 2-3 wrong reads by spirit meant that she was probably going to lose the game. Now there is no mindgame with Spirit if you have headphones; the survivor controls it.
1 -
"It was unfair gameplay for the survivor side since all you could do was guess. You could only rely on the Deathslinger being bad at the game to not die."
Blah blah there was nothing we can do, no counterplay to quick scope. A statement used by bad survivors, who refused to learn how a killer works and how to counter him. They prefer the killer to be nerfed into the ground, destroying his uniqueness and power, than to improve their movement and raise their skill a bit. And now they pretend like nothing changed and hE iS sTiLL gOoD.
If you'd try to play deathslinger yourself, you'd realise that precision is not the only thing you need. In order to hit shots deathslinger need to predict survivor movement. So, a survivor moving sporadically left and right, covering behind objects in the way, heading into direction of a time-wasteful tile, can force deathslinger to make a risky shot. If shot wasnt lucky, killer was heavily punished by CD+reload, and before he could try the next shot he needed a lot of time to catch up.
But of course you can be running in a straight line guy, who pretends like there is no counterplay, and BHVR will cater to your whinings.
Also i'd like to remind everyone that unlike Huntress, Deathslinger has super tiny hitboxes on his shots, thats why he needs his quickshot in order to be viable. Lets compare hitboxes, and see how "easy" it was to shoot with slinger:
He requires surgical precision, movement prediction, a bit of luck, is heavily punished for missed shots, is slow in 1v4 in general. And despite all of this he was still gutted by devs OMEGALUL.
1 -
Maybe for Survivors.
For me he is now 100% unplayable. I wasted a lot of blood points on someone that now just gets run away from at 32m while I hobble around trying to catch you at my 110%. I'm just playing a Huntress now that has to reload a hatchet from her belt after every throw.
0 -
Nurse only survived because of recharge add-ons (which is what everybody runs) since she's the only killer who's strong enough even base kit. If you didn't have anything to help with that dumbass cooldown mechanic, nobody would play her because she would feel so awful to play.
So yeah, not a proper comparison to other killer nerfs at all.
0 -
How can anyone play him for fun, when he is not fun anymore?
0