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Shadow Step is actually quite cracked

Obviously not by itself- the only Boon perk that's amazing by itself is Circle Of Healing for what I hope to be obvious reasons- but adding in Shadow Step is actually really good. Like, the no scratch marks may not be the best since the Iron Will nerf, but when you're healthy that's still the only real consistent way of tracking you. Likewise, the lack of aura reading is a really nice tool for remaining undetected when you need to be- such as when you're healing up using COH- but isn't really showstopping. But when combined together it's actually one of the best stealth perks in the game, and is really good for losing the killer in a certain area, making them hunt for the totem which then gives you a lot of distance.

With the meta shakeup of 6.1.0, I've found myself playing into stealth a lot more, both because killers got strengthened in a chase quite massively and out of spite when I know someone is camping/tunneling at 5 gens for no reason other than because they can (and as we all know, stealth is a massively uninteractive playstyle that a lot of players find boring to the point where there's calls to make it a bannable offence because it's "holding the game hostage" even when they're actually doing things).

So, yeah, when combined with COH, Shadow Step goes from a mediocre perk to a really good one, actually. 11/10 would recommend. Combine it also with Bite The Bullet for a fun time of losing the killer by just healing in a corner randomly though I'd still prefer to run Deliverance and OTR.

Comments

  • Crowman
    Crowman Member Posts: 10,111

    I've had a game as an injured David (no iron will and pre-6.1.0) against a streamer where I managed to slip away due to Shadow Step, also this was on Azarov's. So you can certainly get it to work without Iron Will and even with current Iron Will can be enough as you can still be quiet enough for the boon to be louder to the killer.

  • HugTheHag
    HugTheHag Member Posts: 3,139
    edited September 2022

    It really depends on the killer player, but Shadow Step works wonders against me. I have bad object permanence and if a survivor leaves my field of vision for any reason I usually need the scratch marks to find them again.

    For example, Nurse looking down when in fatigue makes her pretty much unplayable for me, or at least, unenjoyable.

  • Akumakaji
    Akumakaji Member Posts: 5,619

    I will experiment with it a bit more, then. Stealth-wise I had a lot of luck with Deception/Urban Evasion/(nerfed)Iron Will. When crouched and not playing one of the talkative drama-queens, you are actually so silent that most killers wont notice you. I never understood the whole whining about the IW nerf and still think that it is really strong. It is not perfect silence, but most killers will be so occupied with their chase music and some notifications going off in the distance that you will be easily lost when urban-evasioning away.

  • dugman
    dugman Member Posts: 9,714

    I never see Shadowstep by itself but I wonder if it might actually be ok to just use that and no other Boon? If you have Shadowstep set up near a gen you are working on, for instance, it could help you quickly hide when you think the killer is coming and they might not even realize you’re there or find you without a lot of effort.

    But since Shadowstep and Circle of Healing are both Mikaela perks virtually everybody learns them as a pair so they run them together because of the good synergy they have. It would be interesting though if someone who is good at hiding experimented with taking just Shadowstep and three non-Boon perks to see how it went.

  • Satelit
    Satelit Member Posts: 1,377
    edited September 2022

    I would use it but there's a handful of maps where it's hard to get value out of it.(like Shelterless Woods)

  • GoodBoyKaru
    GoodBoyKaru Member Posts: 22,930

    to be honest loading into shelter woods in solo is essentially an auto-loss anyway

  • Slowpeach
    Slowpeach Member Posts: 707

    Yeah it's funny there's discussion about boons and I keep thinking: Even if you combined the other three together would it get used if Circle of Healing didn't exist? Sure, Shadow Step is a nice thing to have in addition to Circle of Healing but on it's own (which you stated) or even with the other two? Not so much.

  • GoodBoyKaru
    GoodBoyKaru Member Posts: 22,930

    Just had a game on The Game where Shadow Step got me out of like 3 different chases without being hit. Was able to run around a corner, break LOS, and then no scratch marks or aura reading (Wraith with "All Seeing" purple) carried me to victory. Was great fun

  • GoodBoyKaru
    GoodBoyKaru Member Posts: 22,930

    Oh no I wouldn't run it without COH because it's just an average perk, and you could run OTR/DH/BT/Deliverance or something. But SS helps to augment COH while still providing a nifty little effect by itself when you're healthy, ntm the fact that stealth became much more appealing since 6.1.0. I definitely wouldn't use it without COH, but that's true of any boon. COH is just so cracked and no other boon can stand up to it, and they all need a radius buff to be useful.

  • dspaceman20
    dspaceman20 Member Posts: 4,699

    I actually love shadow step. Definitely one of my favorite stealth perks.

    I sometimes use it by itself for a stealth build

  • GoodBoyKaru
    GoodBoyKaru Member Posts: 22,930

    Ignore me just writing the wrong comment to you lmfao

    If it's any consolation I'm the same. My eyes are terrible and I rely on scratch marks and blood playing killer more than watching the survivor themselves- facing Shadow Step makes me sad, but it really does seem to be working spectacularly so far.

  • Akumakaji
    Akumakaji Member Posts: 5,619

    Pre-big-patch, when survivors were at their strongest, I would sometimes run Dark Theory. I never really felt the effect, but every extremely close whiff at a window in its sphere of influence could be attributed to it. The problem is that you will never know when Dark Theory helped you escape a chase or a down, and it's way too limited to be actually considered outside of memeing.

    I still think that Dark Theory should be its own Boon mechanic: as long as the DT boon stands, you (and you alone) get the effect,no matter where on the map you are. Would love this change, maybe we would then see 4 Boons in some matches and suddenly killer would bring Shattered Hope?

  • dspaceman20
    dspaceman20 Member Posts: 4,699

    I remember me and my friend brought Shadowstep to the game with a Myers with scratch mirror. He could not find us because of the aura reading block.

  • Friendly_Blendette
    Friendly_Blendette Member Posts: 2,923

    I really wanna try a chase boon build of shadowstep + dark theory but sadly dont have Yoichi, only sadako.

  • AverageKateMain
    AverageKateMain Member Posts: 949

    Especially if the killer can easily delete the 5 pallets that spawn on that map