Dead Hard Changes
TLDR at bottom.
Dead hard is a very troubled perk. Ever since it was added to the game, people have had problems with it. The first iteration left many killers feeling like they were being cheated out of a hit. A survivor was a bit too far from a window or pallet due to a clever mind game by the killer or that survivor's poor positioning. However, the survivor could simply jump forward the distance and make it safely to their new position. Very frustrating for the killer, and virtually skilless for the survivor. Problematic.
Then it was changed. Instead of a jump forward with invulnerability, the survivor would gain endurance. This was a good change. It removed the most annoying part of the perk; the lack of counterplay. Dead hard now required an interaction from both sides. The killer could predict when the survivor would Dead Hard and wait a moment, and the survivor could try to guess when that would happen. Hitting someone with dead hard was now one’s own fault.
However, it didn’t always feel like it was one’s own fault. The survivor would sometimes be at a ‘golden zone’ at a pallet where, if they Dead Hard, by the time it ends, they would be in prime position to throw down a pallet. If the killer lunges, they can just Dead Hard to endure the hit instead. Even if the killer predicts this, there is nothing they can really do about it. They can’t get closer, so they must either lunge and endure the Dead Hard or wait for the pallet. It turns what was perceived as a guaranteed down into a Lose- Lose situation. Problematic.
This ‘Golden Zone’ isn’t the only moment that things like this could happen. At downed pallets and windows, Survivors can Dead Hard into the surface while a killer is lunging. They would endure then hit and then could either vault the object or run away. This, of course, can be avoided by predicting the Survivor using Dead Hard and waiting a moment, then hitting them. However, smart survivors could simply look behind them and wait until the killer lunges. If they start lunging, Dead Hard. If not, Vault.
That's the main issue: Lunging. Lunging for a hit is a very powerful game mechanic that has been a considerable factor for balancing the game. Dead hard counters this in a way that no other action in the game does. For killers, it is incredibly frustrating to have something so simple, so standardized, used against them.
However, that is, more or less, the whole point of the perk. If a Killer is overconfident, Dead Hard can punshes them. If the killer lunges at a survivor out in the open and Dead Hard is used, it feels fair. On the other hand, If the Killer lunges at a survivor at a window or pallet and dead hard is used, it doesn’t feel fair. Why? Because a third health state is only deserved when it's the killer's fault. While it certainly doesn’t feel great to endure another chase, you can at least say that you, as the Killer, could have done something different.
That is not a balancing problem, it's an emotional problem. Dead Hard, in its current form of as an activatable ‘parry’ of sorts, is fine. It's what you gain from it that is the problem. In order to make dead hard more fair, the reward must be changed so that it feels both fair when deserved but palatable when underserved.
That's what these changes aim to do. Without reworking the perk from the ground up, here is a way to make Dead Hard less bitter to endure as a Killer.
Nerfs:
- When activated and hit by the killer, instead of entering Deep Wounds, you would instead enter Borrowed Time for 30 seconds.
Borrowed TIme would be the original effect of the perk Borrowed Time. The screen would go monochrome, and there would be no mend function. After those 30 seconds, you would become downed. The only way to remove the effect without being downed would be by healing, either with one of the various ways of healing the self (Self-care, Boon:Circle of Healing, Inner Strength) or with another survivor. Healing would pause the timer.
Now, this would be a very substantial nerf. It would turn dead hard from a potential 3rd health state into just an extra 30 seconds of running around. That, however, is a willing compromise. That third health state was too powerful of a reward. Having what should have been a down turned into a theoretically infinitely long chase is horrible to play against. Most of the time it would be better to just leave the survivor at that point, which never feels great.
This nerf solves that. If a killer doesn’t bait the hit and the Survivor uses Dead Hard, oh well, another 30 seconds of chase, nothing too bad. If the killer is forced to hit Dead Hard due to those ‘Golden Zones’, oh well, it’s just another 30 seconds of chase. In both scenarios, all the Killer has to do is keep chasing the survivor. Either the Survivor messes up and they get downed early, or the minutes passes and the Killer can just pick them up. It is either fair, or palatable.
Ok, so the Killer is happy. What about the Survivor?
Now, obviously, Dead Hard as it is currently is better for Survivors, so this version feels really bad in comparison. I mean, 30 seconds, just to be downed anyways? What's even the point?
That point is that 30 seconds is still immensely useful. Time is a very, very important thing in Dead by Daylight, and 30 seconds is a decent amount of time. An extra 30 seconds of chasing is time not spent defending generators, which means the more the main objective can be done. Another factor is that knowing that you will be downed anyways changes what you do. You could lead the killer across the map to a dead zone to force them away from your fellow Survivors.
There is a small problem. A smart Killer won't chase you for 30 seconds. Realistically, all they would need to do is chase the Survivor for 15, maybe less. After that, they can just ignore you. Unless you have a Medkit (Which can run out of charges) or are in Boon: Circle of Healing (Which can be snuffed out), you would be screwed. You would flounder around until you bleed out.
That doesn’t sound fair. A third health state for free is a problem, but so is an uncommitted, skilless down. So, in order to give a Survivor some way of staying alive in such a situation, a simple change would be made to how the Borrowed Time statues would work. The change would be as follows:
The Borrowed Time timer would only go down when RUNNING.
This change to how the Borrowed Time status effect works would make it so the killer could not just hit the survivor and then ignore them. If the survivor is ignored to bleed out, they could simply just walk around until they find someone to heal them. If the killer wants to down them, they must stay on them for the full minute. A skilled survivor might be able to walk a few times in chase, but that would be risky as it would allow the killer to get closer, and it wouldn’t save that much time anyways.
In a way, it sort of parallels No Mither. That perk forces the killer to keep an eye on you when you are slugged. If they don’t, you are liable to get back up. Same thing with this new Dead Hard, but for a chase. If the killer wants you down, it will force them to tunnel you.
Alright, so the reward for using Dead Hard is changed. That's well and good, but there's one more issue at hand. The cost of using Dead Hard.
Every other exhaustion perk in the game has one purpose: Keeping you alive. All the speed increasing perks have the goal of getting you away from the killer, keeping you alive. Head On gives you a way to defend yourself when your back is against the wall, keeping you alive. Iron Will is about staying silent to avoid being heard by the killer, keeping you alive. Background Player is about saving your friends, who, in return, will be keeping you alive.
This Dead Hard change would no longer be about keeping you alive. Instead, it would be about wasting time. You know you are going to die, but you aren’t going down without a fight. That is what the new perk would do. Because of that, a few buffs are in order.
Buffs:
- Replaces becoming exhausted for 60/50/40 seconds with 60/50/40 second cooldowns.
- Removed needing to be not exhausted to activate the perk
As a Killer, the idea of a Survivor using Sprint Burst and then Dead Hard sounds horrible on paper, but it shouldn’t be that bad. Not only can it still be baited under the right circumstances, even if you do hit it, it is only 30 seconds. You would still get the down that you are owed, it would just take a little longer.
Another thing would be that due to the decreased effectiveness of Dead Hard, less people will probably use it. Sure, the potential for 30 extra seconds in chase is nice, but you could instead use Windows of Opportunity to more effectively move from tile to tile, or Quick and Quiet to fool the killer, both of which potentially gaining more than 30 seconds in a chase. Some survivors like winning chases above all else, and the idea of simply prolonging your death would just be unappealing to them. In any case, it would encourage perk diversity.
All in all, I think that these changes would improve the overall game experience for both Killers and Survivors. It would lessen the annoyance of Dead Hard for many killers, as well as open up new and interesting perk builds for Survivors. It might not be welcomed that greatly, but after being left to sit in the game for a while, it would find its niche and people would be comfortable with it.
The only outlying situation where Dead Hard would still be frustrating for Killers would be during the end game. If a survivor gets hit and makes it to the exit gate, those 30 seconds don’t really matter. It's a bit annoying, but there isn’t really much I could think of to counter that, other than to just have the perk be disabled once that last generator is done. That would work, but that seems like a bit too much.
Obviously, I am not a game designer, nor am I the prophet of game balance. This change could have a lot of unpredicted side effects that might worsen the game overall. However, I think that this rework to Dead Hard is pretty solid. If you have any changes you would suggest, or glaring oversights that I missed, feel free to add them as a reply. Thank you for reading.
TLDR
Nerfs:
- When activated and hit by the killer, instead of entering Deep Wounds, you would instead enter Borrowed Time* for 30 seconds.
*Borrowed Time only goes down when running*
Buffs:
- Replaces becoming exhausted for 60/50/40 seconds with 60/50/40 second cooldowns.
- Removed needing to be not exhausted to activate the perk