Playing against the Artist

GrimReaperJr1232

Artist has been around for about a week now, and here comes the typical "How do I play against X killer" shenanigans. It's especially reasonable in the case of the Artist as she's one of the few killers that give walls the middle finger alongside Nurse and Pyramid Head.

So as a killer main, I will try to share what I know to help when playing against the Artist.

Notice: The killer is still new. There will probably be new things discovered on both sides as both survs and killers improve. This is just something I'm making to help survivors in the meantime.

Old Boring Reliable

You guessed it. She is one of the many killers vulnerable to the hold W strat. It's not a fun strat, but when has that stopped anyone?

Yes, she does have infinite range on her crows. So when you are in the open, look behind. If she starts placing crows, do NOT run in their path. Smarter Artists will use them to try and zone you out. Fortunately, if you have some distance, you can afford to try and bait her into launching before changing direction. She'll eat a slowdown and cooldown, and you're free to keep running.

Scouting Crows

Scouting crows are what I call crows sent to get information on a gen or something, as the name implies. These aren't crows meant to harm you, but they alert the Artist as to where you are.

Now you're going to want to repel. For the first few seconds, the Artist still sees you while you're repelling the crows. Unless you want to risk getting crossmapped, move around. Go one direction, count to three, and then double back. It's similar to fooling BBQ with misdirection.

Another thing is that when Artist launches her crows, you can see their auras for almost a full second. Use this to get out of the way if you see one going in your direction. Best case, you completely dodge it. Worst? You might get revealed by Killer Instinct which will tell her where you are still but you won't be in immediate danger.

Repelling

so it's out there, repelling takes 8 seconds, or 8.5 with a brown add-on. After 2.5 seconds of repelling, the Artist can no longer see the swarm's aura.

If you stop repelling (such as when you're vaulting a window), the repel bar is completely reset. This is somewhat similar to Victor/Twins, only you DON'T freeze in place when the action is done. So you can actually do it mid chase. Hallelujah!

Oh, and no. Nothing hides your aura. No Distortion, Shadowstep, or Off The Record (why are you using Off the Record again?) HOWEVER, you can take cover behind a gen's aura. If she's paying attention she'll still know where you are, but it's something I thought was worth mentioning.

Cooldowns and movement speed

Something very important when going against the Artist is understanding her cooldowns and recovery. It's fairly complex.

When placing crows, Artist is slowed down to 92% movement speed. This is the same as a Hillbilly while revving his chainsaw or a killer carrying a survivor without Agitation. It's pretty slow.

When launching crows, she is also slowed back to 92% for 1.5 seconds. The purple reduces this slowdown to 1 second, while the yellow reduces the "interaction cooldown" to 1 second. Stacking them won't reduce the cooldown to 0.5 seconds (they do feel amazing though).

Idle Timer

Crows don't last forever. They can only remain for 10 seconds (w/o add-ons) before triggering her recovery. this timer is refreshed every time she places another crow. So, the timer can be 8/10 seconds, she places another crow, and the timer is back to 10.

Walking into an idle crow will not affect this 10-second timer. You can walk into a crow and if she doesn't place another one within those 10 seconds, then she'll eat the recovery.

Recovery

If crows disintegrate from the timer running out, the recovery she endures is only 2 seconds. (sounds brief but remember that this happens after 10 seconds of not using crows).

Otherwise, the recovery time scales with the number of birds launched.

1 - 5 seconds

2 - 9 seconds

3 - 12 seconds

4 - 14 seconds*

What this means is that an Artist cannot mindlessly spam 3-4 crows. The recovery of everything after 1 is longer than the repelling action, even with add-ons. An Artist needs to be very frugal with her crows, meaning you will often only need to dodge 1 if you're not swarmed.

If the Artist uses all her crows, then this is time she is an M1 killer with no power. Use this window to its full potential.

*only possible with a purple add-on

Flightpath

I almost forgot to include this. Now the Flightpath refers to the first 8 meters a crow moves that deals direct damage unless they go through a wall. This is well known.

What isn't well known is they will react to elevation. Nothing too steep like dropdowns but they WILL go down/up any form of stairs/hills. In other words, beware the basement against this killer.

Crouching

Stop it. It doesn't work. You'll either get swarmed or hit.

The Chase

Obviously, the safest option is to get out of there. Artist is a monster in the chase and is very risky to try and loop. But obviously, sometimes you have to. Maybe you're cornered or maybe you're just fed up with W holding all game.

Let's say a pallet is trapped. Bird's in front, so if you vault it, you're in the Flightpath so you'll get direct damage. What do you do? The best play you have is running to the flight path and pausing JUST before you reach it. Most Artists will think you're in the path and launch prematurely, wasting her birds and giving you a brief window to vault/drop a pallet or something.

A common mistake Artist's make is when they place a bird on the pallet, they don't step back. Why does this matter? Instead of being in front of the pallet, they're inside the pallet.

What this means is that if an Artist thinks she's smart and waits a moment before launching her birds, you can vault/run into the birds and only get swarmed. You will NOT take damage (this was a change from the PTB, so you may see old footage showing otherwise). Obviously, this sort of play is very risky but it is a play you can make.

And obviously, if you're in a loop with little LoS, she may have to guess if you're in the birds' paths or not. Take the loop wide if you have to or wait around corners. Avoid getting hit however you can. If you have to choose, get M1-ed instead as the cooldown is much more impactful on the killer.

Of course, if an Artist puts too much of their attention into placing her crows, you can just run. She's slowed down and might need a moment to notice you're running away.

But the most important thing I can tell you? Do not be predictable. An Artist will massacre you and your team if she knows exactly where you're going at all times. It's a bit like Nurse in that regard. Make her guess and waste her crows so you can gain distance.

Conclusion

Bird Lady strong.