http://dbd.game/killswitch
Dredge (partially) power rework | buff suggestion
The Dredge is (as best as I can remember) the only killer who never got a change. Now this could mean that this killer is pretty balanced but I think it is more imbalanced then most killers.
I will explain why but I will also mark where the power rework suggestion starts if youre not interested in my thoughts. I still recommend reading them for having a common ground discussion and to understand why I'm suggesting a change. (See: SUGGESTIONS)
According to nightlight the dredge has a pickrate of 2.25 % (which is in the middle) and a killrate of 56.25 %. BHVR usually aims for around 60 % (I do not pay for nightlight so these stats are from the last 28 days). So why is it imbalanced?
When you are new to dbd the power of the dredge and especially nightfall are confusing and terrifying. A beginner dredge most likely is not a beginner killer player as the dredge is a dlc. My experience is that many matches with beginners vs dredge end in 4k. That was at least the experience of my friends and me. An experienced survivor will last a lot longer. The new meta 'holding w' hurts this killer more then most others. So there is a gradient where a lot of kills happen in the 'less experienced' survivor range / low mmr + the beginner range and fewer kills are in the 'good survivor' range / high mmr survivor. This may go for every killer but the point is: When you learn how to counter the dredge which is not that hard to learn you will last very long against this killer. Other killers may still catch you even if you know their powers. As every power of the dredge can be countered it is a lot dependant on rng, maps and survivor mistakes. Experienced survivors will break away from weaker loops and even stronger ones when you place your remnant which can be your goal but most of the time the survivor gains enough distance to make it to another loop. Playing dredge against good survivors is tiring because it's powers do not work in most chases and it ultimately brings the dredge down to being an m1 killer. We all know not using a killers power and just m1 is not really what makes this game fun as different killer powers are the reason different killers exist in first place. It's not a bad thing that experience can extend a chase but it's rare to disable all of the killers power.
The intention here is not to make it op but to make it balanced. Why would a buff do so? Beginner dredge player rarely use the remnant to it's full extent or use it at all so buffing the remnant helps experienced killers who face experienced survivors more. This will even out the gradient without increasing the kill rate (at least thats my assumption). Some of my suggestions will affect all levels but I will explain it later.
Let's break down the power:
- Teleport through lockers. Survivors can block lockers once. The dredge can break the lock with m1 or breaking out of the locker which makes a lot of noise. The dredge is forced to go into the locked locker if it's in the cluster of lockers the dredge was aiming for.
- Remnant. The dredge can leave behind a remnant and teleport back to it when pressing m1. Surivors can disable the remnant by touching it.
The dredge also contains an integrated dyson v12. It's not a power but worth to mention that you can hear this killer with directional audio at all times in a (I think) 28 meters, depending on your headphones/speakers and audio settings.
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POWER PROBLEM BREAKDOWN
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The dredge is considered high mobilty because of its teleport. Ultimately it is not as free to use as most people think. When aiming for a locker you cannot reach it a lot of times because another locker is close by or in the way. This is the case even when you directly look at your desired destination. A locker on the right and the left will be enough to prevent you from reaching it. Survivors can block lockers. The dredge is forced to go into the locker which is blocked when it's in a cluster of lockers. If the dredge is in a locked locker it either needs to teleport to another locker (if it has a token left) or perfom the breakout action. If your intention is to use the power in chase you will quickly notice that more often then you like you end up in a locked locker or in a locker on the oppsite side of the wall.
The remnant slows you down a lot and also hinders your vision. The survivor can hear and see you placing the remnant. This the part where most experienced survivors will just break away from the loop. Remnant is strong on weak loops but not so much on loops like jungle gyms. You can try it but most of the time the survivor escapes by vaulting the window or the pallet. Your hindered vision might prevent you from notcing the survivor breaking away from the loop which costs you even more time. Not all player have the luxury to play on gaming monitors so this hurts a large part of dbd players.
The remnant can be disabled if a survivor touches it. This is a big issue as your already questionable anti loop power can be deactivated by the survivor you are chasing but also by every other survivor without a cost and low risk. (Low risk in case another survivor does it) The only way to know someone is near your remnant is when it get's deactivated because then the option to return to it disappears silently. So this also hurts you if you are focussing.
The dredge is not a killer which should chase for long. It's most efficient if you are unpredictable and move around fast to apply map pressure while using nonmeta builds and variants to surprise survivors. This the only best practice I know. This might not be something everyone likes to do so I feel like the dredge is a little too dependent on all kinds of things. Maps, rng, builds. This is something all killers affects but again, especially the dredge. It's not a weak killer but it's killer which has potential for a lot of frustration and boring games.
The power nightfall of the dredge (almost) entirely relies on hurting or hooking survivors. So to counter the dredge all the survivors have to do is pre dropping and holding w, similar to Oni. It does build up passivly but in case you never use its power and don't hurt/catch any survivor it takes 20 minutes to trigger. The survivors even get an audible warning when nightfall is charged to 85 %. This means the perk sloppy butcher is kind of a must have for this killer as you need survivors to be injured as much and long as possible for it to be usable. Nightfall is the strongest power of the dredge because it allows you to move pretty much freely around the entire map in a matter of a few seconds. Sometimes you can use the teleport even in chase effectivly because of the increased speed during nightfall.
BHVR announced a change to the perk sloppy butcher so a nerf to this perk will hurt the dredge. I think we need to find something to make up for it. Dredge is one of the few killers who are so dependant that they cannot do much with basekit power only. You always want to use addons.
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SUGGESTIONS
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Power change
Remnant with spikes:
When placing the remnant it gains spikes for the first 8 seconds (you can still return to it during that time). If a survivor touches a remant with spikes it get's disabled at the cost of a health state. If disabled that way the power of the dredge goes on a reduced cooldown (6 seconds until rechaged instead of 12). After 8 seconds it looses the spikes. If a survivor touches the remnant after 8 seconds he/she will not loose a health state but will be affected by the blindness status effect & the exhausted status effect for 5 seconds.
What this will do: It strengthens the dredges anti loop ability. It now can be used to lock down doors, windows or narrow spaces. It is no longer possible to disable it without cost. This is important because disabling a killers power shouldn't be free at all. For trapers traps you need to perform an action for knight you need to run through the flag, Xeno has the flamethrowers which need to be picked up and slow you down, same for singularity, skull merchant, artist, onryo, hag. Dredge is the only killer whichs power can be disabled on the fly.
If one exit is completly blocked or the remnant placed around a corner this increases the risk for the survivor to stay at the loop. So probably the holding w strategy won't change but at least the options have been reduced and a possible mindgame added. For example placing the remnant around the corner and pushing the survivor into it so he looses a health state. It also encourages killers to use the remant more often as the power is restored faster that way.
Other changes
- Buff: Reduce the blur when using the remnant by 10 %
- Buff: Reduce the noise the dredge makes by 8 meters in daylight and 12 meters in nightfall (reducing it to 20 meters in daylight and to 16 meters in nightfall)
- Buff: Changed add-on; War Helmet, new effect: Survivors gain the blindness status effect during nightfall
- Nerf: Malthinkers skull is now a green add-on (prior yellow)
- Buff: Increasing speed when using remnant to 3.8 meters/s (prior 3.68 m/s)
- Optional Buff: The dredge is no longer forced to go into the locked locker when aiming for a cluster of lockers.
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CONCLUSION
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These changes will make up for the upcomming nerf of sloppy butcher while evening the gradient among more and less experienced survivors. It add's an interesting new playstyle for the dredge with a good reward for effective usage of the remnant. The buffs are subtile enough to not make the dredge overpowered. They will probably move it out of the B- class to B+ or A (following Otzdarvars rating system. See his review of the dredge here).