Boon: Dark Theory discussion
Continuing a series of threads on the least popular perks according to Nightlight, next up is Yoichi’s perk Boon: Dark Theory (0.38%)
Boon: Dark Theory - Press and hold the Ability button near a Dull or Hex Totem to bless it and create a Boon Totem. Soft chimes ring out in a 24 meter range. Any Survivors within the Boon Totem's range gain a 2% Haste status effect. This effect lingers for 2/3/4 seconds after leaving the Boon Totem's range.
You can only bless one Totem at a time. All equipped boon perks are active on your Boon Totem.
Haste is a potentially great effect. Even a relatively small movement speed boost can translate into a harder time for a killer catching them, especially if it’s a 110% speed or slower killer. That said this perk doesn’t seem that great for a couple of reasons.
- 2% is somewhat modest, it could make a difference but it might not.
- As a Boon the perk requires set up time and is limited to a modest area. And if you are being chased in that area and taking advantage of the Boon it’s likely the killer will hear it during the chase and snuff it out meaning you get maybe one use per chase it effects. But as above it’s not even necessarily going to help much in a lot of chases.
To put it another way, I could almost see a 2% Haste buff that’s relatively permanent and not a Boon actually being a perk. I can’t say for sure if such a perk would be overpowered or broken in some scenarios but it definitely doesn’t come off on its face as being busted. But this is that effect with all the limitations of a Boon as well. It just doesn’t look worth it.
This is a tricky one to balance though because even small increases in the speed boost could maybe make survivors potentially literally uncatchable at strong tiles. And because of how certain multi-level buildings and maps work with Boon totems, the last thing you’d want is too large a movement speed bonus on a chunk of the map where the only option for the killer is a long hike to snuff it out to have a chance of hitting people. So while they could hypothetically increase the 2% a bit to buff it there’s probably a fine line here where it will be either too weak or too strong with little window in between.
I’m almost tempted to say maybe just make this not be a Boon at all, simply let it be a passive movement speed boost. That way it could stay at a very small number like 1-2% and still be something survivors might consider using. I could maybe see an issue then with it stacking with Hope in the endgame, but if that is a problem you could simply have Dark Theory deactivate once the gens are powered.
Comments
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I think 2% is too small for a Boon. However, this is a tricky one to balance since having it be too high would make the perk broken. It could be a little faster though.
I saw an idea I liked a little while ago, where Dark Theory would give you a vault speed increase while under it's effects. I think that'd be a neat addition to the perk, and would make it's effects much more noticeable.
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4% speed and 8% vaulting would make it worth trying from game to game.
Right now this could be very strong only in ironworks (hard to get to boon) or paradoxically midwitch (floor difference and long route to another floor) and maaaybe the game (similiar to midwitch, but this one does not have loops - only pallets so there is no reason to stay in one area for longer time). On most maps it would be ok as the boon should at most help in 3 loops (reach of boon) making 1 of those contain the boon (very easy snuff), but boon still eating quite some time to set up.
The boon would still be quite risky, because some killers will probably not mind much or don't mind snuffing it (wesker, blight, nurse). And some maps are too large for it to be efficient (red forest outside main, whole shelter woods)
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the issue with other boons not named circle of healing is that the time spent for setting up the boon does not meet the rewards of setting up set perk. 2% movement speed allow you to run 1 extra loop on classic tileset pallet/window. I would say the perk is still better then shadowstep but the idea of risk vs reward perks just do not work for dbd. 24 meters for boon perks is not worth using. boon perks for survivor would need to be around 40-48 meter range to gain consistent value but like killer hex perks, they will not improve boon perks radius because people would complain about these perks due to their game-changing effects.
dark thoory at loops can prevent you from not getting hit but its effect on loop itself is very minor. where dark theory really shines as a perk is in hold-w strategies particularly in main buildings. if your ahead of the killer, in buildings and this set boon is setup, you can run a lot of extra laps, so building like... badham school, father's chapel, garden of joy and haddonfield were maps that I got value out of the perk from limited testing. you can place the boon in obscure places then use the speed boost to run in circles ahead of the killer making it a lot harder for the killer to catch-up in conjunction with various windows in these buildings.
this perk is really for survivor player that enjoy stacking chase-enhancement perks such as old spine chill for vaulting speed, Old Iron will, Resilience, Lucky break and Lightweight. I am not really fan of using these perks as survivor. I personally find these type of perks as low reward but some survivors enjoy using these types of perks.
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On a tangent as a killer I think I’ve lost survivors periodically from Shadow step I might have spotted otherwise (hard to say since when that Boon works well the killer doesn’t know it did anything.) I can definitely picture scenarios with Shadowstep where , for instance, a generator is in its range, a survivor is working on it and spots or hears the killer coming over, and Shadowstep lets them run full speed to a hiding spot without any scratches. Depending on how far the Boon is from the generator the killer might not even realize it’s there at all or that a survivor ran away in that case.
So I do think Shadow step probably has value on its own, and does have synergy with Circle of Healing by hiding auras from Nurse’s Calling. It does also see a bit more use than Dark Theory, but that’s also probably partly because Shadow step is a Mikaela perk so anybody who unlocks Mikaela for Circle of Healing get Shadow Step as a bonus.
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i personally think shadowstep is worst boon. I personally just follow blood marks and I do not really lose anyone in the chase. Chase-wise, it is pretty bad perk. Stealth-wise? Its probably better but spine chill superior choice, you can use both of them in stealth build but i think stealth play-styles are not that common unless your Claudette main.
i think shadowstep is good for one particular killer. for this one killer it completely obliterates him and that killer is scratch mirror myers. The boon on indoor maps just destroys him. the perk makes you immune to aura reading and the perk just completely nukes the add-on. I think this is part of the reason why Vanity Mirror got buffed in 2021 late last year for Myer's.
Post edited by Devil_hit11 on1 -
For sure, I don’t normally lose anybody in chase because of Shadowstep, whatever value it has is in stealth between chases where the killer might not know you’re in that area yet.
And yeah, I love playing Scratch Mirror Meyers but it would be a nuissance doing that with Shadowstep on The Game or whatever.
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Fortunately I made a buff for it a while ago, here it is:
- In addition to its current effects, Boon: Dark Theory reduced footstep volume withkn range by 50%.
- This effect also lingers for 2/3/4 seconds.
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If you make it too fast you could just name it Boon: Speed hack.
Vaultspeed could be interesting. And it would bring back a build that was lost with the nerf of Spine Chill.
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Oh. You might bump the usage by 0.1%. Footstep noise is interesting only against spirit and you need to be healthy. It's like adding 1m radius around steps to basement for territorial as an "interesting buff".
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It does, but if the myers is smart he will see the person setting up the boon and will immediately know where to go to snuff it, so it gets only about 10 seconds worth of value until set up again
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I agree, adding 8% vault speed would give it very good synergy with resilience and make the boon actually worth taking
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logic applies to all killer. they can hear the boon and snuff it out. the point is the action of kicking the boon, you get pseudo aura reading on his location for totem being snuffed and you are very much forced to kick it as it counters the add-on.
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Tbh i only find it worth snuffing if it is shadow step (or rarely exponential) as it messes up with my tracking and playstyle
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