Infectious Frenzy: A Way To Mitigate Legion's Unfun aspects

starpilotsix

Consensus from the DBD areas I frequent is that Legion's getting a buff. It's also that Legion's a really unfun killer to play against, both because you spend so much time mending and there's little outplay to his chases, and if he wants to tunnel you, he might waste time, but he's usually going to get you. I had an idea that might mitigate the latter annoyance, and maybe even make the legion more fun to play against, but might need the buff to be more of a buff (I mean we still haven't seen all the details of it so I can't say for sure). I haven't rolled this concept around in my head like I have a lot of ideas I have so there may be some fatal flaw, but I figured I'd get it out there.

But here's the basic idea: Yes, buff the Legion. I'm thinking maybe even, for the purposes of this change, make it so hitting an already-deep-wounded survivor doesn't instantly break out of frenzy, but rather just depletes the timer (both the deep wound timer and the frenzy timer). But, also, introduce a new mechanic: Infectious Frenzy. Essentially, there are 4 stacks of it. Every time you hit a survivor in Frenzy (not a regular hit), you pass on a stack of it. Every stack a survivor gets of it is a significant buff to their movement speed... essentially, some of the legion's Frenzy is passed onto them. However, the buff ONLY applies while the Legion themself are in Frenzy mode... Completely healing (not just mending) removes all stacks from a survivor and returns them to the Legion. If 4 stacks are already distributed to survivors, then either the survivor simply doesn't get any more, or the oldest stack returns to the Legion (I'm thinking the latter because otherwise 'hit four survivors and tunnel the last one' becomes easier).

If a single survivor gets all four stacks, they still move slower than the legion, but it's closer to the normal speed difference (legion still moves a bit faster proportionally so there's still benefit from using it), and the legion still gets fast window and pallet vaults (survivor maybe does not), and missed attack cooldown. Survivor has the advantage of no scratch marks and maybe some other buffs (Exhaustion runs down during Frenzy even if running, because the Frenzy effect rejuvenates just as much as slow walking), so there's still opportunity to break chase and get away, particularly at a distance. I'm not sure if mending speed should be affected or not yet (I'm slightly leaning towards yes, not a huge amount just so there's a chance for the survivor to break chase and not die), although other action speeds are not affected (which would disincentivize spreading out the Frenzy because survivors could each get a stack and work on generators much faster whenever Frenzy goes on).

This idea, thus:
1) Encourages the Legion to spread the pain out rather than focusing on one survivor and tunnelling.
2) Allows survivors to experience zooming, high energy chases, particularly if they're the last one there, which not just gives them outplay capabilities but also just makes it more fun... you know, I may be playing against a tunneling legion, but at least I get to play racecar survivors.
3) Gives better mindgame potential because the Legion is the one who controls when the Frenzy speed starts, and can try to trigger it when it's not much of a benefit to the survivor and more benefit to the Legion.

I'm thinking the upcoming buff will change the "don't fully heal while facing Legion" strategy that currently is popular by making it so if you're frenzy-hit while injured you're much more wounded, but this change would add a new spin... don't fully heal because you want to keep your speed boost. But I'm thinking it becomes a much more ambiguous decision that depends on what an individual survivor wants and thus, is more fun for more people on the whole.