Skull Merchant players, why are you even playing her?
Honestly, I don't know what's going through your heads. How do you feel about choosing her in the lobby knowing that a player will automatically give up?
Seriously, every time I face a Skull Merchant people either commit suicide or DC. You already win the game the moment someone finds out it's you and in the end there doesn't end up being any game at All because it ended before it started.
I don't know why you choose her knowing that you won't even be able to play a game with her.
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Don't play her myself but from what I can tell it's two camps
- Having survivors instantly give up against you all the time is a feature not a bug
- They genuinely find her kit interesting and sees complexities in it other people either don't or refuse to see.
For me personally it's been months since I've seen a SM so all the topics are her are confusing to me because I can't believe other people are seeing her all that much.
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I like the macro-micro game expression. She can be really strategic. It’s like running the board /map. You constantly keep survivors moving, guessing, and on their feet. Yes people quit against her and curse you EGC but so what.
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When I do see her in my matches the same happens. Hook give ups or DCs. I guess that’s good for players who only care about 4Ks but I have to wonder how that’s gonna play out once they cruise to those high MMRs and get teams who will play the match snd slaughter them.
Also they can’t be getting max BP out of it when a match only lasts 2-3 minutes, but in someone who cares about BP, maybe they don’t?
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I think a lot of people pick her because survivors give up against her.
Almost every time I see Skull Merchant it’s the same shtick of anonymous mode and playing in the most offensive way possible. Like obviously not every Skull Merchant is like that, but if you’re someone who is specifically out to ruin peoples’ games then who is more appealing than the one killer everyone already hates?
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I mean what’s different about a real person compared to a bot when playing against SM?
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Her kit and addons make her a "build your own killer" which is obviously what they are going with when they designed her.
Look at her base power, what exactly does it do? A "little" bit of everything.
- She gets some undetectable
- She gets a little movement speed (3/5/6/7%)
- She gets a little tracking
- She gets a little anti-loop
- She gets a little area control
But, she's not really good at any of these things without addons when compared to killers that specialize in those things.
- Her stealth is weaker than stealth killers like pig, ghost face or wraith
- Her movement speed bonus is weaker than every other killer's power that makes them move fast (spirit, clown, blight, twins (victor) etc.)
- Her tracking is weaker than doctor, or plague, or legion.
- Her anti-loop is weaker than nemesis, PH, clown, etc.
- Her area control is weaker than trapper, hag etc.
Her undetectable is really short and can only move 36 meters during the duration (about a terror radius) which isn't really that far.
The movement speed increase is nice but generally you are only going to have 3-5%, and 3-5% isn't REALLY that significant in a chase or for map traversal. Especially without a "full anti-loop" power
Her tracking is decent, but she has to pull out her monitor to see it, which takes a little time, and it requires survivors to get a trap on them for the tracking to work, or be tracked by a drone. Most people also don't realize the tracking isn't perfect, it updates in intervals of 1 second and doesn't show a constant position. Meaning its hard to use in chase to track for mindgames.
Her anti-loop is ok, but even if the survivor completely ignores it, your "guaranteed hit" takes 9 seconds, and its heavily countered by "leave the loop". It also only injures like legions poer. She also slightly hinders survivors if they stick around too long, but the hinder is relatively weak, you are still safe around a solid pallet or window.
Her area control is ok as well, but easy to counter by crouching and disabling the drones making them completely useless and they can't defend generators.
Now take a look at all of her addons:
Brown:
- Skill checks smaller for claw trapped survivors
- Tracking duration increased
- Claw trapped survivors get blindness
- Reduces immunity for scan lines.
Yellow:
- Increase undetectable by 20%
- Make scanlines not move
- Skill checks quiet for claw trap
- Reduced disabled drones time
- Extend claw trap time
Green:
- Claw trapped get oblivious
- Aura revealed after claw trap removed
- Claw trapped get exhausted
- Claw trapped get sloppy
- Hindered increased by 3%
Purple:
- Aura of claw trapped survivors revealed
- Increased action speed after dropping a drone
- Increase speed of scan lines
- Increased duration of hinder
Iridescent:
- Increase haste effect but lower duration of traps
- Become undetectable when drones disabled
Now think about what all of these addons do. They aren't really THAT powerful, but they lean into one of those attributes about her.
- Do you like playing her more stealthy? Run the undetectable duration addon and you can get 95% uptime on undetectable, or the iri for extra undetectable times and confusion, or the oblivious addon. Combine that with something like monitor to make your terror radius smaller so that 5% difference is even smaller. Or better yet, with distressing to make it BIGGER and make it even more deceptive where you are coming from.
- Do you like her being able to move fast? Take the tracking duration timer (for longer haste), or the increased haste effect, or the action bonus speed when dropping a drone. Along with some haste perks like rapid brutality. So you can move even faster, and catch up in chase after breaking pallets or gens
- Do you like to have more tracking capabilities? Take the tracking duration time, or either aura reading addons along with something like lethal to increase their duration even more. So you can REALLY know where they are at all times
- Do you like anti-loop? Take the hinder duration/effect increases, take the scan line immunity duration so they get scanned quicker along with something like bamboozle to shut down loops entirely. So your drone in chase is a big threat they want to avoid.
- Do you like area control? Take the scan addons that make scanning better, take the the undetectable when drones disabled to discourage survivors breaking your drones, take the reduce disable time for the drones, along with hex perks that you can use that your drones can defend for you if you pay close attention. So your drones can defend areas without you being there.
- Do you like utility? Take the sloppy addon, or the exhaustion addon, to enable hit and run or counter exhaustion perks
- Do you want to go for anti skill check/gen defense? Go for the skill check addons and take skill check perks like overcharge allowing you to pressure survivors who are working on gens trying to land skill checks (throw in your undetectable and it can be really scary)
Or combine any of these effects together to create a strategy that you want to use.
All of the addons are effective at doing something and improving some aspect about her in a way that can fit your playstyle and perks. She can be played in many different ways very effectively. The only addon's i'd say are "weak" are the claw trap specific ones because they are more situational, but in the situations they work they are still quite powerful.
Basically, she's a "build your own killer" she can do a little bit of everything, and then you can build her in a specific area toward something that you like to do through your addons and perks meaning that even from game to game, you can play an entirely different playstyle with the same killer.
Personally speaking, i like to play her as a stealth killer or as an anti-loop/chase killer. When playing for stealth, i take the undetectable addons so i'm stealthy for a large portion of the time and sneak up on people, but the downside is i rarely have drones for a chase, meaning if i want to use them in a chase i have to recall drones, giving the survivor extra time in the chase.
When playing anti-loop, i take the scan immunity and the action speed. So if they just drop the pallet i can break it quick with that + brutal. But if they don't drop the pallet i can quickly injure and hinder them with the decreased scan immunity.
I personally argue that she is actually the best designed killer BHVR has ever made, because she has so many ways to play her. Yes, her release was rocky, especially with the 3 gen situation. But that was more with 3-genning and less with her. Her current iteration is much better, and people immediately leaving games is because they aren't willing to actually play against her and learn now that 3 genning isn't as effective.
Post edited by Reinami on10 -
Making a bots match miserable isnt as rewarding for a SM player as it is ruining a real persons match.
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Because they like seeing dcs
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I know people won't belive me because they usualy sit in Hate Train SM fan club but yes, there are people out there, including me who likes to play her and I played her before her rework too and No its not because I like to play chess with her, I like her chase simply.
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Being in camp #2, this is accurate. I can't help but appreciate the stealth and chase potential she has with different builds. I'd be even happier if she was better for players to go against as well. (Also her base design and lore changed but I can only ask for so much...)
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Probably a weird take, but I like grinding for invisible MMR. Might seem silly, but what else is there to play for on killer after thousands of hours since 2018? I think I've lost 1 game with her since her most recent rework. Her kit is hilariously braindead. Easiest killer to play on the roster by far.
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If I play her I use the stealth mixed with chase method. Get near a gen and release drone for speed and stealth. If you get to surprise survivor get a hit and add the alien perk for speed boost. She is fun to play if the survivors try and you don’t play the extreme long game methods.
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Well I don't get that many DCs with her truthfully and when I do get a DC or someone trying to give up I just sorta laugh but whatever
My main love for her is in everything about her. Cool lore, cool design, cool voice, amazing power, I've been a skully fan since her release. No other killer besides maybe Hag has the area control that SM has and not in the way she has it either. I love the web playstyle of getting survivors into an area that they don't know is exactly where I wanted them to go and getting rewarded for playing smart. Regardless of what people say, matches against good survivors as SM are very largely about how well you can play her and how quick you can adapt to the survivors playing and stuff like this is so fun for me.
It wasn't a bad thing that I found some of her perks fun, I just REALLY wish they'd buff Leverage and THWACK! cause THWACK! got outranked pretty quick and Leverage has always been a weak perk that had great potential.
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SM and Chucky/Tiffany are my mains. I just find her extremely fun to play as and I love her cosmetics! I like that she can be stealthy and good at chasing survivors. I rarely get survivors that give up in my games though… I try not to camp, tunnel or 3 gen them from the start. Maybe that’s why?
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Thanks for an actual response of a SM player.
Can you clarify in all seriousness what you mean by that:
amazing power
You set a drone. Whats so exciting about that? Some may think i am joking but i really want an answer to that question.
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I don’t get a ton of DCs against her either. About as many as I see against any of the killers I like to play (Dredge, Singularity). Not common, just here or there
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Well I'm someone who loves Area control/Denial. Yeah just throwing a drone down is easy but this is where the whole 'adapting to who you're against' comes into play.
When you throw a drone you have to keep in mind not only does it deploy where you pressed the button, but the beam is always facing the direction you are meaning if you play with it properly you can deploy a drone in chase while also forcing a survivor into a stack of lockdown. That and using game/map knowledge to identify which loops are priority and what loops chain into what for example I could throw a drone on a loop which might give me some good coverage in that loop OR I could throw it between that loop and another and force a survivor to play the loop in a way that leaving the tile to try and go somewhere much stronger would result in them getting lock on which is a strategy which is so fun and strong on maps that I otherwise hate like Borgo.
Then theres the beam rotation aspect where you have to actually keep in mind the cooldown of bringing up your radar, reversing beam rotation, and then putting it back down in time for some value. Rotating beams is something I don't have fully down yet but in the few games where I do get big brained and have utilized the beam rotation during chase it has helped immensely. Survivors can also loop drone areas if they play it smart which is why I'd rather place them in spots that are transitional as well as some loops that an M1 killer will just usually waste so much time on I can actually play around it with a survivor in a way thats engaging for both of us with them monitoring the drone and me monitoring them and us both trying to figure out the next move. Situations like that are more common with SM when you play her in a very aggressive almost prison warden type style. Watch everyone and strike when you know it'll play out the way you want. Shes such a domino effect killer where making a mistake can cost you the game but playing perfect feels like you're actually being rewarded.
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"How do you feel about choosing her in the lobby knowing that a player will automatically give up?"
Why would anyone avoid doing something to make bad people happy? Because people that give up from start survivors or killers will destroy the game for everyone. You try to put the blame on the people that wants to play this game shame on you! People giving up early needs to be banned it's up to BHVR to do something about them.
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because she´s fun
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So the strategic factor is the one that is the most interesting for you. Understandable and overall reasonable answer. Personally i much prefere Trapper and Hag over SM by a long shot, but to each their own.
Thanks again for the input. And big YIKESI for the other thread. You know what i am talking about 😆
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For me, she's just a stronger version of Trapper. They're both M1 killers biggest difference between the 2 Trapper is to easily shut down and you have to waste a lot of time moving traps around and rearming then. Sometimes you won't even catch someone in a trap for the entire match. SM she's far faster when placing or relocating her traps and she gets far more consistent value from her drones than I ever get from Trappers bear traps. And I really don't care if they D/C or not it's a them problem for refusing to play. I really don't see that many D/Cs either.
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Honestly I have tomes related to her which I want to do cus she's really not that obnoxious anymore but... I'm scared to. Even though I 8 hook and let everyone go (for now, might move to 8 hook then kill if it gets too easy), I don't want people to think I'm a horrible Skull merchant who is going to play this game deliberately to cause misery.
So if I were to play SM. Two reasons.
1. Daily. I can avoid this though, and do so for Nurse, Clown and Artist as well. Killers I personally despise facing. Well Clown is okay by me but a lot of people dislike him for valid reasons.
2. Tome challenge. Honestly needs to be reworked. Should be able to change any challenge to random perks with escape or 3 k for killer and/or complete 3 games under these conditions. Or something generic and useful like do gens/hooks. Obviously for some they want to try entice people to buy the killer needed, so for those ones you still need to have that killer enabled but you don't have to use them.
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I like using killers who can buff themselves by doing actions. She gains undetectable, haste, and has tracking. Information is key in most games nowadays, so I focus mainly on that.
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You should not question why a player gravitates towards a killer with ill intent. Though, i know thats not what you're coming from of course but its for other ppl who do. Even if its as bad as skull merchant. Those players just likes to play her, be it an ez win, playstyle, skins etc.
Its up to the devs if they want to readjust her so other players dont easily give up. So we will have to wait and see what they have in store.
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I like playing Skully because she's chill to play and I can play her on all maps. Survivors send me to the eyrie for the fifth time in one day? Meh. Gideon three times in a row? Thank you. Garden of Joy? You can shut down main building with two drones. Dead hard? Don't care. Sprint burst? I'm faster.
She's not a fancy killer with cool clips for my epic youtube montage, she's a killer that just works well and is deadly.
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Unfortunately, I know that some people play her for Schadenfreude. They get satisfaction from giving others a bad time.
Other than that, she's pretty much the best "enhance your M1 experience" killer in the game. Her power doesn't require much skill or attention for decent results, while giving her a bunch of bonuses to regular gameplay once you've used it (haste, stealth, hinder, free injures). People tend to gravitate towards low skill floors.
And lastly, many people just like playing as a pretty woman. Think of how many female survivors you see compared to male ones and how many Sables have been showing up lol
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Because I like her power. Knowing there's a chance of people just giving up is the reason I don't play her as often as I would otherwise, and when I do choose to I'm rolling the dice on whether I'll actually get to play the game.
Her power's fun, both to play as and - in my limited experience - against. The way the beams work allows for a lot of interesting gameplay that revolves more around positioning and timing than it does pure mechanical input, and I'm someone who tends to prefer that kind of gameplay for either side.
In general, I also like the default M1 gameplay a fair amount, and Skull Merchant is a lot like one of my other mains, Clown, in that she enhances your ability to do that if you know how to use her power properly.
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Well, I've only started playing her recently, mostly because I was extremely tired of playing a killer who barely has a power.
And I was very surprised by how fun she is to play! I've always liked killers who are good at controlling the map, and Skull Merchant has a lot of potential with her radar and drone placements.
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Pretty much players who just want easy games play her. I really cannot have any respect for them whatsoever.
Edit: It's a pity about her reputation (well earned thanks to certain people) - I wanted to main her at one point but gave that up quickly after seeing her in all her 'glory'.
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I like her gameplay. It's unique, and I tend to like both stealth and setplay characters. If survivors are too much of brats to play the game, then that's fine--I think it's kinda funny.
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She's my main,.. her stealth plays are fun, I like playing set-up/defensive and her design leans towards more macro focused games (which I love)
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This statement's funny. Especially when another comment in this thread is saying "I play her less than I would otherwise entirely because survivors don't bother".
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People rarely give up in my games against the skull merchant an she usually losses when i see her
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I don't play her but I get why people give up. If there's one killer who is likely to slug you and hump you on the ground while you bleed out, it's her. For some reason she attracts some pretty unpleasant people. There are obviously those who play her normally, but I feel like she attracts a decent number of trolls too. Having said all that, it's been awhile since I've seen a team mate DC or let go on hook against her. So I can't say it's been that bad.
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“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” ― Skill Merchant, The Art of War.
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People simply play whomever they want.
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She isn't nearly as powerful as nurse or blight, but she is quite good in relation to how insanely easy she is to play. That makes her the ideal killer to for players who just want to pubstomp with minimal effort. Her reputation also attracts a lot of trolls who simply pick her to play in the most unfun ways possible to mine salt.
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They must like people giving up on hooks or DCing, and playing against bots I guess.
In all my soloq games against her, oddly enough people don't give up and we usually always escape. Maybe they aren't used to people not leaving haha.
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I pick her because I enjoy playing her. I like her predator vibe, I like modeling walking at people as the sassy classy killah in my boots.
I like her chase music and drones. I don’t give $2 bills if someone dc’s. I’ll take my blood points thank you. 🙏🏼 😁
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I don’t play Skull Merchant often, but I like her cosmetics, and I normally run gimmicky builds with her since her power enables that.
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