Sadako Rework Thoughts and Concerns

lachenstars

I'll be honest; I hated reading the rework notes. But after playing a few games, I think that there is some potential if BHVR wants to alter her gameplay this drastically. That said, on the PTB I don't think survivors realized the power of holding onto Tapes, and I worry if these changes go live it will feel very bad to play Sadako.

Sadako is unique in that she has an alternate win condition separate from hook states. It is arguably the strongest mechanic in the game, so it must be balanced by having Sadako remain a basic M1 Killer with no particular chase powers. I think adding an extra benefit to her demanifested state (no stuns) is a nice quality of life change. However, losing bloodlust when staying in chase, switching between manifested and demanifested for mind games, is very inconvenient. Some times it's just the best option to brute force a chase. What really matters is that while it sounds great on paper to tie condemn gain to successful chases (gain a stack of condemn if hit, when carrying a Tape) this means that condemnation is only a threat when in chase. And Sadako is still not very threatening in chase.

The main point I want to make is this: Holding Tapes is low risk, high reward and actively holds Sadako's power and mobility hostage.

Swapping CD times for TVs - longer disable for survivor interaction, lower CD for when Sadako uses a TV - would be a great change if holding Tapes gave Sadako some form of pressure in return for having a teleportation point taken away. Encouraging survivor interaction with TVs is great; it theoretically increases the slowdown from having a secondary objective. Survivors no longer gain a stack of condemn on pick up, avoid the new "passive" condemn build up from other teleports, and can turn in their Tape to ANY TV if they happen to feel threatened.

On Live, teleporting is a key part of Sadako's gameplan. It felt satisfying to figure out where survivors were working with the feedback after teleporting. You are rewarded for good game sense with condemn pressure, making it less crucial to win as many chases because you have given survivors something other that hook states to worry about. Survivors can hide away from TVs until you waste a teleport there, allowing them to work there safely. It takes skill to force a survivor towards a TV and teleport mid-chase, and there's interesting counterplay if survivors double back at the right moment if they are aware. Her power really worked well with a hit and run playstyle. Depending on TV spawn location in relation to the associated generator (an algorithm that needed adjustment on many maps) it was easier to catch survivors off guard and get hits before they made it to a strong loop. It was usually the smarter decision to leave a survivor at a strong loop and try to bother others and keep them from sitting on gens. Now, whether survivors gain stacks of condemn is firmly in their hands as it depends on whether they hold a Tape or not.

Let's see what how the rework changes her gameplay. Gaining partial stacks of condemn globally, on the condition that survivors are not holding a Tape, is interesting and it potentially does spread a decent amount of condemn over the course of a game. But the skill involved is how to fit multiple teleports into periods where survivors are looking to pick up Tapes, while making those teleports impactful by hopefully interrupting gen progress. This is difficult because survivors should prioritize picking up Tapes, which completely counters this new condemn spread and forces Sadako to walk to the generator they are working on. In addition, the 15 second CD between any teleport feels very clunky and disrupts her overall map presence that she needs to compensate her poor chase potential. I realize why they think it is necessary but 8-10 seconds would be plenty to avoid pure spam and it would feel much more smooth to play. When survivors realize they should always hold a tape outside of chase, teleport spam will be incredibly time inefficient, if it does anything at all.

Instead of gaining condemn from targeted teleports to the right places, teleporting is mostly used for positioning. If survivors always take a Tape from where they are working, Sadako will never be able to teleport there before they finish the generator and must walk from a nearby TV if available. The reason survivors are currently hesitant to deny Sadako this power on Live servers is because of passive condemn which furthers Sadako's alternate condemn win condition and is more threatening than allowing the teleport and a potential M1. It's a more interesting and balanced strategic decision.

Sadako's gameplan is now to mainly find and M1 survivors carrying Tapes. Condemn can be spread if she can hook someone with a Tape, but without Ring Drawing I think condemnation management will be very easy for survivors. The fact that nerfed Iri Tape is BASEKIT LIVE SADAKO does not seem right to me. It remains powerful if Sadako can learn the goal TV and intercept the survivor, but this skilled play is now locked behind an add-on. It seems to me that condemnation is more like Pyramid Head's mori, since it is so closely tied to winning chases. It is potentially more consistant slow down, but that depends on how many chases Sadako can win, rather than her good game sense and targeted teleports in and out of chase. Somewhat ironically while this patch hopes to demolish slugging, it is a viable strategy to slug a survivor holding a Tape and repeatedly add stacks of condemn when they are picked up. It may be more pressure to spread more condemn to their teammates through hooking, but it's a choice with merit. And let me just say that spreading condemn through hooking feels like punishing other survivors for a teammate's lost chase. It'd feel more fair to me if the person unhooking gains a stack of condemn, that way the teammates can decide who to send for the unhook.

I have other posts about possible changes they could make to Sadako. I understand the need to reduce Iri Tape's effectiveness (it is possible to play without Iri Tape but it is much more work, and currently there are a limited number of good alternative add ons to use) and I agree that Ring Drawing not applying to picking up downed survivors is a healthy change. But the few other changes to her add ons are underwhelming. Particularly an add on to reduce the CD of TVs that survivors have turned off more than 9 seconds with Well Stone would be necessary if this rework stands.

Ultimately the playstyle which was so unique and allowed for real skill expression has been removed and replaced with standard gameplay with parallel condemn pressure for low to moderate slow down. Her power is not any easier to use in chase and only applies condemn pressure depending on survivor choice. Her overall map pressure is easily denied by survivors for low risk and is hampered by a 15 second CD on top of her normal 70 second individual TV CD, even assuming you want to be at the TV that is still powered.

Like I said at the beginning, this rework could turn out to be healthy for the game and Sadako could be a potentially better killer - IF a lot of numbers are tweaked - but I don't think she'll be anywhere as fun to play and her skill ceiling will be lowered.

A few ideas off the top of my head:

1. Picking up a Tape still gains a stack of condemn.
2. Tapes keep a target TV for greater risk and longer slowdown. Add a different Iri to replace Iri Tape.
3. Successful M1 lowers the CD of the TV that the survivor disabled. (preferably basekit but it could be a new add on)
4. Lower the CD on projection. Or possibly lower the TV CDs so she could return to the same TV more frequently.
5. If demanifesting drops chase (and resets bloodlust) maybe Telephone could be basekit. It would help her in chase just a bit more, which is important if targeted teleports no longer serve to build condemn pressure.
6. Maybe lengthen the speed boost after projection in order to help maintain mobility when the preferred target TV is disabled and a nearby TV must be used instead.
7. If any TV can be used to turn in a Tape and cleanse, TV auras are hidden to survivors that are holding a Tape.

Holding a Tape must come with more risk or otherwise slow the game down more. What really upsets me is that it feels like a lot of Sadako's agency has been removed. Survivors decide what they are vulnerable to: teleports or chases. Survivors can deny Sadako from teleporting to the gen they are working on with the only risk being Sadako walking to them and winning a chase. While it could be a positive to her stealth, I really miss the information gained from teleporting. I guess I am forced to look around anyway, because of a 15 second CD on using my power. Skilled teleporting mid-chase could apply condemn pressure across the map, but it was much easier to build condemn when it was based on proximity not on getting an M1 (assuming they are holding a Tape). If survivors holding a Tape continued to gain stacks from teleportation to a nearby TV as it is on Live, that would maintain skilled teleportation in chase. They would not gain stacks while working on the gen near the TV they took a Tape from because Sadako would be unable to teleport there.

If this rework goes through, I honestly feel that once survivors learn to play optimally (taking Tapes) Sadako will feel like a basic M1 Killer with the power to teleport to parts of the map where survivors are not. Oh, and BTW, PLEASE do not make the weapon wipe animation a mini Nurse exhaustion. Sorry for rambling. I realize there were things that made Sadako annoying to play against, and she was disproportionately reliant on 1 particular add on. I agree with the Ring Drawing nerf and I think Iri Tape could be nerfed, but it required a corresponding buff to both her basekit and her less useful add ons. This rework is interesting on paper but feels like it waters down Sadako's power, gives survivors a low risk, high reward counter instead of an interesting strategic decision, and ties her condemn too closely to normal chase focused gameplay. If you are getting a lot of condemn, likely you are winning chases and already doing well. It becomes a 'win more' sort of mechanic. If you aren't able to win chases as a Killer with no anti-loop power, teleporting is unlikely to apply enough pressure unless survivors are ignoring Tapes, which is a mistake. Killers like Plague and Oni can have slow starts because when they get their power they can end chases extremely quickly. Sadako simply struggles to apply more condemn than survivors can remove, which is incredibly easy to do.

Chiky

I was going to read this, but it's too long.... I just wanted to say that the teleport time needs to be addressed. Being able to turn her teleport off for so long is ridiculous