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Plague
Counterplay? Not cleansing doesn't seem to help, and cleansing doesn't seem to help either. So what's the play?
Comments
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Seeing as how I've been playing her recently my best piece of advice is don't group up if you choose to stay injured and if you cleanse be prepared to play super immersed when she grabs her pool, that's pretty much the counter play or loop her at tiles that she can't vomit you on.
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Ah, the great debate. I'm a cleanser myself.
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The optimal counterplay is not cleansing, but that requires the entire team to commit to doing it. It also requires you to get better at looping and extending chases. Outside side of that playing very stealthy helps, but generally just makes the game take longer
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If the team decides to stay sick then the game becomes a simple m1 chase game with little stealth since she'll be able to tell where you are easily but since DH is literally in every game, the survivors should still have the advantage.
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Do what your team does and hope it ends well. Never be the only one to cleanse, never be the only one to stay sick.
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The counter play is hoping you didn’t bring like a third of the survivor perks pertaining to healing or a medkit - none of which will most likely be helping you in any way throughout the trial.
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I won’t cleanse regardless. It’s one less pool of power for her. Her power is underrated and is one of the most powerful in the game IMO. Why give it to her for free? She spits on everyone hooked, so you who just cleansed 30 seconds ago now have to save someone, you get sick, then cleanse again. You just gave her 2 pools in less than 90 seconds. Good job. Now the other person who got unhooked has to cleanse too. 3rd pool in 120 seconds. And if she finds you healthy, you go down quickly because most Plagues are actually good at the game and know how to spew over obstacles.
Treat her like Oni and deny her- her power as long as possible. My success rate against Plague is MUCH higher on the teams who DO NOT cleanse vs. the ones who do. And even if we do lose by not cleansing, it’s usually a close game. Like all gens done but No Way Out saved the win for her.
I hate going against plague for this reason. 3 teammates need to be pushing gens, while the other one in chase needs to be mindful of Bloodlust, and loop safely. No greeding. Apparently ‘every survivor” has DH anyway so, there you go. Use it wisely. And don’t let Thano discourage either. It’s worse when she’s snowballing with her power. Have some patience.
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Plagues greatest weakness is that the most powerful aspect of her power, Her Corrupt Purge, is almost entirely controlled by the survivors. At the beginning of any match, she starts with a total of 1 corrupt fountain, which gives her arguably the best ranged attack in the game. The reason I feel it's the best is because, while it has a limited 13 meter range, it's a constant chain of liquid pain that she can spray over a large area for a max of 1.8 seconds at a time with only 3 seconds of cooldown time before her next 0.3-1.8 second volley of death! The only thing that protects survivors from this attack is LoS (Line of Sight) and distance, and believe me, that's more than enough.
LoS blockers are EVERYWHERE, especially in indoor maps! Going with range may be more difficult, but again, Plague players often misjudge this, and their aim, favoring a more "Spray and Pray" attack style, so take advantage of distance whenever you can. Add in the fact that she has her Corrupt Power for only 1 minute at a time, and it becomes obvious what the best tactic against her should be: Don't cleanse, Rush gens.
Even if she goes after her 1 fountain, at best that delays the game for 1 minute while you and your team hide and wait it out, and at best for her, it = 2 downs and hooks, but overall, once that is gone she is reduced to an m1 killer that suffers all the disadvantages every m1 killer does. As long as you are a competent looper and can choose your looping routes carefully, you have nothing to worry about. Let her have her 60 seconds of OP attack power, but leave it at that.
Sure, she has better tracking against all sick survivors, and can 1 shot down all of you if she hits you, but there-in lies the problem for her... she has to basic attack you!
For survivors the choice is admittedly a hard one:
- Cleanse and give her the most powerful ranged attack in the game.
- Don't cleanse, be easier to track, and 1 shot downable.
The answer is pretty obvious honestly... The ranged attack is far harder to deal with, even if you are healthy, but being sick and easier to track makes her a standard m1 killer that you can loop for days! When Plague first came out, everyone refused to cleanse until the gates were powered because they had complete control over the best aspect of her power and could deny it at will. Currently, she always starts with that power available to her, but only for 1 minute (unless she brings certain add-ons), and as long as you and your team are able to just endure that 1 minute of time, and can loop decently... Staying Sick allows you to do gens and beat her at her own game much more often than giving her all the power she could ever ask for by frequently cleansing.
Which would you rather try to dodge: An instant down Basic attack limited to her m1, or a broken as hell, wide area, ranged attack that can be repeated every 3 seconds? It's honestly as simple as that.
I'm not saying that there aren't builds the Plague players can make that won't counter this strategy, but overall this will win you most matches against the average Plague player, as long as all of your teammates agree to it. Otherwise, if someone else cleanses, you might as well too, because, its better to face her ranged attack healthy than it is at 1 shot down despite the fact that gifting her the corrupt purge upgrade usually results in a 4k for her, you still have a better chance against corrupt purge while healthy and not injured/broken. Regardless, I haven't played a single Plague game wherein everyone cleansing resulted in a win for the survivors, and I main Plague equally as much as I do Doctor, when I play killer, so... Take my advice, and if not in SEF, try to convince others in the pre-game chat that if its a plague: don't cleanse, rush gens, because nothing pisses me off more than an anti-cleansing group (especially if its SWF).
EDIT:
Also, If you ever come across a Plague playing with Hex: Blood Favor... Drop all of your objectives immediately and cleanse that totem asap! I don't care how you or your team does it, but get it done! The reason I tell you this is because you have to realize that Plague is currently the only killer in the game that can drop a survivor from the Healthy state to the Injured state WITHOUT giving them a burst of speed to get away from her. Hell, even Nemesis can hit them with a tentacle strike that doesn't even injure them (it just infects them) but still gives them that burst of speed as if they'd been hit! Plague on the other hand, has this as her biggest strength: When she fully infects a survivor, no matter how close she is, they don't gain a burst of speed for entering the injured/broken state, which allows her to be literally right next to them when it happens, and follow up easily with her M1 attack and get a down. (also avoid getting cornered by her for the same reason... this should be obvious.)
Now... add in the fact that Hex: BF activates the moment you drop a health state, blocks every pallet for 32 meters, and well... you do the math on why this perk is broken as hell on her!
Just some friendly advice...
EDIT 2:
TL;DR:
DON'T CLEANSE is best strategy, but if your allies start cleansing, cleanse as well, and hope for the best. Use LoS Blockers as much as you can against her corrupt purge, cancel it with a pallet stun whenever you can, and again "hope for the best" because honestly her ranged attack is the best in the game, even better than Huntress's. Otherwise if you and your team refuse to cleanse, simply wait out/hide from her if she activates her 1 corrupt fountain for 1 minute, give up on having any stealth advantage while fully sick, loop her to the best of your abilities, and rush the gens. Only cleanse when the gates are powered, and above all: DESTROY Hex: Blood Favor Immediately if she has it, otherwise you're all screwed.
Post edited by TWiXT on1 -
I cleanse and if she has Corrupt Purge and I'm in her terror radius I hide by a pallet and drop it on her before she realizes I'm there. It knocks her out of her power and helps the player playing the Plague empty their bowels from the jumpscare.
It's pretty smooth.
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Well, it would be, after all, the poor girls very sick and I don't think she has "Solid" bowel movements.
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Spread out and do gens. She is just a slow m1 killer if you don't give her a power to use.
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Thank the deity's that be, that this isn't getting much attention or developing a following (whew), I think I, In my inebriated state, I actually advised survivors on how to counter my go-to girl killer in my first comment, and I don't want them to do that honestly... it would ruin her if everyone started countering her in the next week or so, and would piss me off to no end knowing I brought this upon myself.
Post edited by TWiXT on0
