The importance of location for COH vs the other boon perks, as well as a COH rework idea

Cancan71

This will be a long post so scroll down for the rework idea if you're just interested in that.

While watching a video on making Shattered Hope basekit, I posted a comment which got a bit of positive attention about why that idea wouldn't be beneficial to the game, and that comment was about how the optimal location of a COH totem is different from the optimal locations of the other boons. To understand what I mean, let's discuss the other boon totems first.

Shadow Step needs a totem that are near gens to block auras or is near a good loop with line of sight blockers to lose the killer during chase.

Exponential requires the totem to be in an area where survivors are downed often, otherwise survivors are forced to slowly crawl to the boon area.

Dark Theory requires the totem to be near loops, as 2% is barely noticeable running in the open.

Do you see what links these perks together? These three perks require them to be placed in high traffic areas, where the killer and survivors are likely to interact. This puts these perks in danger of being snuffed out as the killer is more likely to hear it.

Comparing them to COH however, we see a stark difference. Survivors often place COH in quiet places where the gens are completed. This gives a safe place for survivors to heal where the killer is unlikely to check. Therefore, the best location for a COH totem is in low traffic areas, where the boon totem is protected. This makes snuffing it frustrating for low mobility killers as they have to walk to a corner of the map to snuff out the totem, which eats up valuable time.

Now that we identified the problem with COH, we can alleviate it by encouraging the perk to be placed in high traffic areas rather than low traffic areas, and I think I have a good solution for it.

My COH rework idea is this:

A Boon that offers comfort amidst the terror.

Press and hold the Active Ability button near a Dull or Hex Totem to bless it and create a Boon Totem.

Soft chimes ring out within a radius of 24 metres.

Survivors inside the Boon Totem's range benefit from the following effect:

• A passive heal that fully heals the survivor after 90 seconds.
• This effect lingers for 2/3/4 seconds after leaving the Boon Totem's range.

Boon: Circle of Healing does not stack with other instances of itself.

The healing provided by Boon: Circle of Healing is not modified by any perks or addons that affect healing speed.

You can only bless one Totem at a time.

All equipped Boon Perks are active on the same Boon Totem.

I believe that this change will bring the following benefits to the game:

• It encourages smart placement of the totem near gens or loops to maximise efficiency. This will also make snuffing the totem easier for killers since the totem will be in more important tiles.
• It punishes survivors putting the totem in dead spots of the map, since they would have to stand there doing sweet FA to get value out of the perk.
• This change also prevents survivors completing heals in seconds, as the passive healing is not affected by perks that increase or decrease healing speed.
• The heal taking 90 seconds gives killers time to intercept, while also giving survivors a choice if they want to finish the heal or let the boon finish them off. This time could also be changed after testing if it turns out to be too strong or weak.
• It also indirectly buffs haemorrhage, as by forcing survivors away or snuffing the totem it would quickly reset the progress.
• It also buffs Shattered Hope, as the killer can destroy good totem locations, leaving the remaining suboptimal totems.

I believe with this change we can solve the problem of putting COH in dead zones of the map and bring it in line with other boons, while also creating a new way of using this perk. I hope the devs consider impletmenting this rework into the game. Thanks you for reading this long post!