Let’s talk about Freddy (And how I would rework him)
So it’s not really a bold statement to say that Freddy is one of the worst killers in the game right now. He’s regarded as Weak, Uninteresting to play as and against and limited in his playstyles and perk choices.
So what can be done about him? As much as I would love to have old Freddy back it’s clear the devs have no intention of doing so. This lengthy rework idea I have is to expand upon his current kit by giving Freddy more proactive tools and a way to control sleep cycles more consistently. Note that the number can be tweaked since this is a recent idea
DREAM SNARES
- The Nightmare can now see the auras of his dream snares similar to how Trapper and Hag can
- The Nightmare can now use dream projection to teleport to an active dream snare. This will only cost 50% of his dream projection Cooldown and can be used when the ability reaches 50% charge. Cancelling a dream projection on a snare will remove 80% of the projection’s Cooldown
- Dream snares that freddy teleports to will shoot blood from the ground within a 12M radius during the channel time slowing survivors who are asleep by 15% lingeringfor 1 second after the effect ends and removing 30 seconds from their sleep timer if they are awake within the area after a teleport completes,
”These changes have been made to give the Nightmare the ability to control sleep cycles, Reward him for setting up snares in advance, and the tools to chase survivors more effectively. This will also make the Nightmare feel more proactive and engaging to play from the killer perspective”
DREAM PROJECTION
- Teleporting to a generator will now spew blood around a 12M radius during the channel time slowing survivors who are asleep by 15% and lingering for 1 second after the effect ends. Awake survivors will have their sleep timer reduced by 30 seconds if caught in the area when the teleport ends
- Cancelling the teleport action to a generator will now use up 80% of its Cooldown
- Hitting a survivor who is in the dream world will cut the teleport Cooldown by 5 seconds
”We liked how Freddy players were using the teleport in creative ways to surprise survivors during chase. These changes will encourage proactive play by giving Freddy a reward for teleporting during chase, the Cooldown change has been put in place to stop it becoming too oppressive in chase”
ADD-ONS
”Overall we feel the Nightmars lacks useful or impactful add-ons, Changes have been made to bring them more in line with the rest of the roster”
Garden rake
- Replaces dream snares with dream pallets
- Grants 10 Dream tokens
- Survivors who trigger a dream pallet have their aura revealed for 6 seconds and become hindered for 2 seconds
- Grants 100% bonus bloodpoints in the “Dream trap triggered” Score event
”We like dream pallets but feel they are difficult to balance when put against his snares, This change will make them a fun option but not a main stay in his add-on roster”
Prototype claw
- New effect: Reduces survivors passive sleep timer by 5 seconds
Paint thinner
- New effect: Reduces the immunity timer after using an alarm clock by 10 seconds
”These add ons were changed as we felt having 3 Dream pallet add ons was too much, They now give the Nightmare the ability to keep survivors asleep more consistently”
Class photo
- Effect now applies to all active dream snares and generators
- Dream projection now takes 25% Longer to recharge
”Being able to activate the area slowdown on all generators and snares is very powerful, We feel an increased Cooldown should be enough to compensate while still giving it a powerful ability”
Cat block, Unicorn block, Z block
- Effects now apply to the blood area from snares and generators
- Z block now applies incapacitated for 5 seconds if survivors are hindered by dream abilities
“This gives the Cat block and unicorn block more opportunity to activate, The new Z block will allow the Nightmare to stop generator repairs or totem cleansing with a well timed teleport”
Pill bottle
- New effect: If the Nightmare hits a survivor within 5 seconds of teleporting to a generator or snare the Cooldown of dream projection will be refunded
- Generators and dream snares no longer spew blood with in 12M range
”This add on will now give the Nightmare the ability to chain teleport hits but gives him much less leeway to hit survivors after a successful teleport”
Outdoor rope
- When using dream projection on a generator that is being worked on by an asleep survivor the generator’s aura will turn yellow
”We’ve kept the outdoor rope as a generator tracking add on but changed it to be more consistent on maps with walls that can block repair noises”
Jump rope
- New effects: Whenever a generator is completed by a survivor who is asleep it will explode in blood within a 12M radius slowing all asleep Survivors by 15% for 5 seconds within the area
”We like how the black box mirrors the Nightmare’s own teachable perk Blood warden so we’ve given jump rope an effect to match his perk Fire up”
Swing chains
- New effect: For every survivor that is asleep exit gates will take 10% longer to open
“Similar to jump rope this Add-on now complements the Nightmare’s own perk Remember me”
Nancy’s sketch + Nancy’s masterpiece
- -New effect: Cancelling a dream projection will preserve an extra 10% and 15% of the Dream projection Cooldown respectively
”These add ons will still focus on letting Freddy use his dream projection more often but in a way that fits his new design better”
Kids drawing
- New effect: Freddy’s lullaby now plays while survivors are awake, survivors are oblivious while awake
- Freddy’s terror radius will now play while survivors are asleep and survivors are no longer oblivious while in the dream world
”This add-on will allow the Nightmare to make use of terror radius based perks such as Coulrophobia or infectious fright while survivors are asleep”
I’m still in the early stages here and number will definitely need to shift but I’d love to hear your opinions and ideas regarding my rework idea for him! If you have any ideas for changes you would make I’d love to hear them too!
Comments
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I sincerely appreciate the effort, but...
No, not like this.
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Just curious, how would you rework Freddy?
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As I said old Freddy would be the preferred option. But I want to give the devs some ideas on how current Freddy could actually be made a fun and unique killer while still keeping his overall abilities intact
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Some changes are good, but i would prefer the dream world to have more effects on survivors. The dream world is useless if you're not being chased by Freddy.
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That’s a fair point. One of the general ideas for me is that being in the dream world should feel punishing for survivors but doing it through action speed can be a slippery slope (Especially with how the meta has evolved)
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I am glad you asked :)
Power: Dream Demon
Pull survivors into the Dream World
-Survivors who are awake do not see The Nightmare.
-Once targeted by The Nightmare’s power, survivors enter the Dream Transition for 7 seconds.
-The Nightmare’s Movement Speed Penalty for putting a survivor into the Dream Transition lasts for 1 second.
-During the Dream Transition Survivors can see The Nightmare intermittently and they suffer from the Incapacitated status effect.
-When the Dream Transition Lapse, the Survivor is pulled into the Dream World.
Once in the Dream World:
-Survivor’s auras are revealed to The Nightmare when they are outside of his terror radius.
-Survivors suffer an action speed penalty of 40%.
-To exit the Dream World, Survivors can find non-sleeping Survivors to perform a wake up action.
-Failed Skill Checks can also wake up.
-Hooked Survivors wake up.
Special Ability: Dream Projection
-Teleport to a Generator in view. Releasing the button early will cancel the action.
-Survivors cannot interact with the targeted Generator.
“You have nothing to worry about. This won’t hurt one… little… bit.” -Freddy Krueger
Add-ons:
Wool Shirt:
-Slightly decreases Skill Check chances in the Dream World.
Sheep Block:
Slightly reduces Dream Transition time.
-Time to fall asleep is reduced by 0.5 seconds.
Kid’s Drawing:
Slightly increases Dream Demon range.
Garden Rake:
Slightly increases Movement speed while casting Dream Demon.
Prototype Claws:
Moderately increases Movement speed while casting Dream Demon.
Outdoor Rope:
While Survivors are in the Dream World:
Applies a moderate (-6%) Action Speed penalty to Repair, Healing, and Sabotage actions.
Nancy’s Sketch:
Moderately increases Dream Demon range
Green Dress:
Considerably decreases Skill Check chances in the Dream World.
Slightly increases Dream Projection charge time.
Cat Block:
Moderately reduces Dream Transition time.
-Time to fall asleep is reduced by 1 second.
Unicorn Block:
Considerably reduces Dream Transition time.
-Time to fall asleep is reduced by 1.5 seconds.
Swing Chains:
Survivors suffer from an increased Action Speed penalty of 60% after 30 seconds in the Dream World
Survivors only see glimpses of The Nightmare during the Dream Transition.
Nancy’s Masterpiece:
Tremendously increases Dream Demon range.
Jump Rope:
Tremendously decreases Survivors' Action speed when in the Dream World.
Blue Dress:
Moderately decreases Skill Check chances in the Dream World.
Moderately reduces Dream Projection charge time.
“I had to keep you awake long enough so when you finally slept… you would never wake up again” -Freddy Krueger
Pill Bottle:
Survivors do not see The Nightmare during the Dream Transition.
Paint Thinner:
Tremendously increases Movement speed while casting Dream Demon.
Class Photo:
-When a Survivor is pulled into the Dream Transition, all other Survivors' Auras are revealed to The Nightmare for the duration of the Dream Transition.
-Tremendously increases Dream Transition time.
Time to fall asleep is increased by 2 seconds.
“Z” Block:
Tremendously reduces Dream Transition time.
-Time to fall asleep reduced by 2 seconds.
Red Paint Brush:
-Tremendously decreases The Nightmare's Terror Radius.
-Tremendously reduces Dream Transition time.
Time to fall asleep is reduced by 2 seconds.
-Slightly reduces The Nightmare's Movement speed.
“Don’t be afraid. I can make it the way it was... Just the way you liked it” -Freddy Krueger
Black Box:
-Broken pallets are replaced by Dream Pallets
-Non-sleeping survivors cannot see or interact with Dream Pallets
“I can sleep… I just don’t want to” -Dean Russell
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Shouldn't this thread be in feedback and suggestions?
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Why is old freddy preferred? He was arguably the worst killer in the history of dbd (assuming your talking about the pull into dream world freddy)
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I dont get why everyone is so hell bent on nerfing faking your teleport its one of the few unique things current freddy can do and probably the only part of his kit that you actually have to learn. The only issue is maybe DMS but other than that I dont really care about him being able to face his tp
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why not just.... undo most of his nerfs and let him be good again?
Its like the Billy rework. They just needed to tone down synergy with two specific addons, instead they ruined all of his QoL and gutted him. To address that one issue apparently.
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Just letting you know..
My Freddy rework (yes Im still working on that) is a mixture of this, and Phasma's
Theres just one extra thing to spice things up :)
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You could argue it wouldnt have taken much for old-old (manually putting people to sleep) freddy to be better than any of his other iterations. Imagine if all they did was make the falling asleep period slightly longer, but it made the survivor exposed for the first 20 seconds they are asleep or something like that. Would make survivors respect the hell out of the falling asleep mechanic, while only rewarding freddy if he is committing to the survivor he is putting to sleep. It would certainly need a pass over his addons and other mechanics to go with it, buts its an example of an idea on how they don't need to continuously reinvent the wheel with these often questionable reworks.
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I just skimmed and it seemed like some decent ideas. The easiest solution though would be to undo the nerfs. Anybody who says that version of Freddy would be OP, in this day and age, needs to do a double take at what they're critiquing: an M1 killer with worse Clown bottles and a limited teleport.
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Maybe we just need a modding community to show BHVR some working proof of concepts and how cool some ittle changes are for them to implement then into the base game.
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So it’s not really a bold statement to say that Freddy is one of the worst killers in the game right now.
It is. I still support a rework though. Not an actual rework, just an overall improvement like with Legion for example.
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And here comes the Cult of Freddy.
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Well here's the thing. If they revert freddy to old freddy they aren't going to change a thing and if they do it will take another year because of how insanely slow they are doing anything. I'd like to see old freddy with buffs but they'll just butcher him
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I only changed it so it wouldn’t be abused with his new area of effect slow. His teleport is now a much more versatile and active ability in chase so I feel it balances out
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I feel like reverting the nerfs doesn’t really fix Freddy’s issues. He still has a low skill ceiling and very little to him in terms of depth
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As someone who played a lot of the old Freddy we don't need it back. Having 7 seconds just to be able to have the luxury of interacting with survivors was not fun and having a 50% action speed penalty with the only way to wake up was through failed checks wasn't fun either. All current Freddy needs is a minor add-on rework so there's a little variety with what to use would be nice. It'd also help if they made the dream world a little more threatening too, maybe do a dredge style thing but instead of complete darkness the dream world is incredibly foggy and obscures distant vision by a lot. Freddy doesn't need much but a few things here and there would be nice.
However if you're hellbent on getting the old Freddy back you can rework his old dream demon into add-ons, you can manually pull survivors into the dream world at the cost of no passive sleeping and it replaces your dream projection. That way he's a little more unique that you can mix and match his powers through add-ons.
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Even with better add ons current Freddy is just lackluster tbh. He has a weak unreliable chase tool and decent map pressure tool that are both hampered by survivors who stay awake, a process which became much more accessible especially after the nerf
He just isn’t that fun to play since you feel like you’re power is outside your control more often than not
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