How I Would Re-Design Skull Merchant...
Ive seen a lot of people discuss that Skull Merchant is getting reworked and how it is necessary (including myself), and Ive had a few people point out that "you say they should be re-designed, but how exactly would you re-design them?" which is a completely fair argument to make.
So here is the certified "Iron" rework for Skull Merchant…
Haste effect removed from Skull Merchant
- Stacking a power-based Haste effect on top of Hindered just further increases the speed difference between the Killer and Survivor and in many cases can feel really awful from the Survivor's end. Ideally, it is better to pick Haste or Hindered, but not both, otherwise you get a (original) Compound 33 issue.
Drones now function a bit differently. Drones are no longer stationary, instead they move in a straight line at 4.2 m/s in the direction they were casted from, the lasers covering an 180 degree angle on either side (making a wall) but the laser radius is reduced, upon colliding with a surface, they become stationary and start to spin for 10 seconds before automatically recalling.
- The goal here is to address one of the main concerns of Skull Merchant, there her Drones are a "set and forget" type of thing. Now Skull Merchant players can send out drones to mark Survivors from a distance and play a lot more actively compared to before.
- To address the concern of Drones being too easy to counter by crouching or sitting still, Drones can still become stationary when against objects but their coverage is reduced, still leaving room to lead Survivors into them.
Marking a Survivor has been adjusted.
- 2 marks are now needed to Injured a Survivor and apply a Claw Trap. 2 marks are needed to put a Survivor into Deep Wounds and apply a Claw Trap, does not apply from post-unhook Endurance.
- Marking applies 2% Hindered per Mark up to a maximum of 8% Hindered for 4 Marks.
- Mark now decays after 40 seconds of not being Marked.
- A Claw Trap being applied still reveals the Survivor's position with Killer's Instinct, the Claw Trap Battery lasts for 60 seconds.
- Broken Status effect removed.
- Survivors still get a Claw Trap that show their location with the Scanner. Checking the Scanner now reveals their location with Killer Instinct if you are currently in a chase with them.
- Information is the name of the game, Marking a Survivor has been made easier to get Injured, Deep Wounds has been made harder to apply. Due to Skull Merchant not having some level of range, the Broken Status effect was removed and her information abilities were buffed in chase. Hindered has been adjusted to have more of a "ramp up" with Marked status, healthy Survivors can now get Hindered by her and it gives her a bit more room in chase while she builds up Marked status.
Add-on Pass will go along side this to make Skull Merchant have more interesting chase potential. Here are some examples…
- Broken Wing-Fan: Drones do not fly in the direction they are aimed, they become stationary and disappear after 10 seconds.
- Refined Fuel: Drones now fly 4.4 m/s in the direction they are aimed instead of 4.2 m/s.
- Chipped Scanner: Lasers now rotates while it flies in the direction aimed, when it becomes stationary, the lasers face the direction of the Skull Merchant.
Please let me know what can or should be adjust with this idea. These are just ideas I saw floating around and I combined the best ones I saw, but Im will to adjust these ideas with community feedback.