http://dbd.game/killswitch
The Ghoul: Massively Overrated
Alright, I think I've seen enough of this killer. I played him with a variety of perks, including pure chase, gen defence, info, Brutal Strength/Fire Up, STBFL/Rapid, hexes, etc. Used a variety of add-ons as well, including purples, greens, yellows, browns. Didn't bother with pinks, because whether they're OP or whatever, you're not going to see them on average. I tried using perks that I'd seen used on him, and add-ons I thought might be his most popular, like the distance and cooldown ones. I also did several playstyles, including random chases, tunneling, alternating hooks between 2, camping to 2nd stage, etc.
Before that, I was skeptical either way. The community has called killers OP for far less, but the Ghoul was tough, dare I say "exciting" to go against as survivor. He's definitely got mobility and an easy first health state (similar to Legion). So you're almost not supposed to be able to dodge his rush attack, and with his mobility being high, that ability is made more impactful, for sure. However, every team I played against him with who didn't rage quit at the start, we had really close matches or got multiple escapes against him. 4 escaped at least once, but then the killer has given up by that point. He even has a large TR, so that without stealth perks, he's basically never sneaking up on you.
So I went on to buy him (I'd changed my mind since my earlier statements) and played a few rounds with him, and I wasn't 100% sure what to expect either way. Would he be OP? Skull Merchant tier? Somewhere in between? And I have to say he's not that good. His mobility is nice when it works, but often you'll be bumping into DBD's notoriously oversized hitboxes. If not that, then you'll end up sliding past where you wanted to stop sometimes, hence why there's an add-on that removes the sliding. Trying to attach to an obstacle at too close/too far a distance putting him into small cooldown: that's simply unnecessary jank for the killer player to deal with, especially when you try to vault windows in an attempt to anti-loop. His anti-loop with the window vaults/pallet slides isn't actually that good, having to do with his cooldown, which I'll come back to in a bit. Him entering rage mode after 1 use of his power is very nice, but the mode itself almost feels inconsequential. Like yes, you injured and deep wounded a survivor AND have a third rush token, but either you're chasing a deep wounded survivor (thus negating their slowdown of needing to mend), or you're splitting off to someone else hoping to hit them with your 3 tokens (thus you're not able to use them for mobility to that person's general position, unless you want to risk not having those tokens ready when the chase begins).
Having experienced both roles, as and against him, I was able to disprove people's idea that he has these really really fast and OP cooldowns. But honestly without add-ons, those cooldowns are not THAT forgiving. They're a tad better than Wesker's, which I always argue: maybe that's what makes killers like Wesker weak, not killers like Ghoul "OP." If every killer had equally forgiving cooldowns, it wouldn't be such a point of contention. But he's definitely going to be add-on dependent. Whether people will just run the speed add-ons every time, or be tricky with the Haste or stealth add-ons, only time will tell. But base Ghoul isn't really that strong, similar to base Blight or Spirit. If you only play survivor, it's going to "look" or "feel" like his cooldowns are very fast, but then again, people misjudge how much they can exploit killer cooldowns all the time, leading to them taking a hit. And playing as Ghoul, again, without the add-ons, I was just sitting there thinking, "You call THIS an OP cooldown?" It's not WAY faster than other killers', but is just noticeable enough. Him vaulting a pallet or window, is far from a guaranteed hit.
In terms of match results, I never once felt dominant with him, despite claims of how strong he is for how easy he is to play. He's neither game breaking nor easy to play. Is that a joke? The only thing simple about him is his generous rush attack hitbox, which it should be, because the last thing we need is another near-impossible to land close-range ranged attacked. Every team I went against played the match out, no DCs, so I can definitely rule out the possibility that I was facing the people who were complaining on here. In many instances, the rush attack felt like a detriment, because if a survivor is already injured, you just gave them another sprint burst. And I think it's really stupid that despite both of you being stuck in the special attack animation for an equal amount of time, the survivor always has time to blind you while you're recovering. Anyway, every match was a close draw or a total defeat, so individual killer MMR definitely isn't a thing. The only team I 4k'd was a The Game offering Head-On bully squads which didn't do gens, and while I still "won" that match, it was definitive proof that he's bullyable. No killer who's bullyable can be OP, full stop. One of the 0k's I got was a 4% near gate into teammate save. Didn't even attempt to stop that one, because being halfway across the map with 2 rush tokens, I still knew it'd be too slow. I thought there were gen hacks in play, because of how fast they were going, because of how little map pressure Ghoul has. Again, you don't realize how slow this killer is, or killers in general, unless you actually play as him. Leatherface can go pretty fast, and he's one of the worst in the game.
And this is what disturbs me. Because dude, you have sat here for 2 days and told me unquestionably that this is the strongest, most easily playable killer we've ever gotten, moreso than Nurse or Blight. So I'm supposed to believe that after him, any killer we get who's weaker than him will be considered fine, "because at least they're not 'Kaneki OP'." Somehow, I doubt that notion will last. I've seen nothing in my gameplay, as or against, that indicates that this killer is anywhere NEAR what people have been claiming him as. Maybe I could improve a little more on my grapples with his rush, but you know, I don't think that's gonna make all the difference. But I don't have to be good with him to start seeing mass success, right? According to popular opinion, I'm supposed to be able to pick him up and start raking in the 4ks. And anyone whose gameplay I've seen using him have been fortunate enough to get really easy survivors, fueling this false perception of him. I'm serious, like they literally mindgame themselves and fast vault into the killer, and then both them and the streamer/YouTuber say "Ghoul OP." Gee, if I faced that every match, that would be the end of my complaints. But I don't. I go against people who actually try, and who know what they're doing.
I understand that a majority of criticism towards Ghoul has been from lower level players, and some higher ones who've been equally duped by the matchmaking (when most every match is a mismatch, no wonder killer wins a lot). That's fine... until you realize that the devs actually listen to that. If you actually read some of this stuff, what's being said is so devoid of tangible detail, replaced by emotional and vague assertions about not being able to do anything against the killer, it's hard to believe it gets any traction. On the point of "no counterplay," I've seen no explanation of that. What killer has ACTUALLY ever been that way, ever, where you just can't do anything? If such a killer existed, they'd be 100% win rate. Or moving the goal post to be generous, if a killer was "objectively OP," wouldn't that be like them winning at 5 gens every time? Because from what I've seen, people call killers OP when almost every match with them ends with all gens done or 1 gen left. Doesn't seem that OP to me. But this effect on public opinion gets amplified when we're talking about a new killer, and it's in part due to scare tactics and mass logical fallacies. Why, we haven't had a killer who wasn't "OP" upon release since, idk, Dredge. And a lot of that has to do with adjustment, which the majority (noobs) has a problem doing. They don't want to adjust to this new threat (the new killer). They want him/her to be nerfed so that they won't have to worry about them anymore. Kaneki is no different. His reputation is massively skewed because nobody's wanting to adjust, and I haven't seen it this bad since the immature response to Skull Merchant.
TLDR, I guess to summarize, I'd say that Ghoul's mobility and injuring tools are nothing crazy, but if anything should make him a model killer. His generally agreed upon strength level is based more off of him being new and being a noob crusher, more than on anything factual or executable. If we'd simply let his inclusion run its course, he'd fade into obscurity at worst and would become a new A tier at best (definitely not Nurse or Blight's strength level). But unfortunately I think he's just gonna be nerfed, even though there's basically nothing to base that on, as usual. Play the killer against any good survivors, and these constant complaints will be instantly disproven.
Comments
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I was told that i could just pick this killer up and 4k with my eyes closed but it took like 9 matches to get the adept
-2 -
You admitted yourself you aren’t landing your power consistently. You even made a comment earlier talking about how you lose distance because you jump past survivors.
Are you even using his power to stun Survivors and jump over god pallets? Canceling his power when you’re in the air and jumping beside Survivors instead of past them? I highly doubt it.
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Never underestimate how much people overestimate a killer's strength. I think a lot of them think his add-ons are base, because it's mostly noobs complaining about him, hence the generic "He's too fast, and uncounterable!" They don't read descriptions of killer powers or add-ons, nor do they know that doing their objective is the most surefire way to win.
And I always have to wrack my brain on how to... communicate with them, if that makes sense. Some days, like right about now with this unmitigated hate against this killer, I don't have the patience, and just say they need to get good. Other times, I'll try not to be patronizing, but I'll explain to them that there is light at the end of the tunnel, that with practice and learning, they CAN beat these killers. I thought I was great in 2020. 2020 me would say to current me, "Who is that master of this game?" even as I still honestly have a lot to learn. That can be their journey, too. They just have to get past this idea that they need a handout or a shortcut. This killer, more than any other before, they went straight to "he needs a nerf." when there has been almost zero constructive discussion about his counterplay. Not even an attempt! Nerfing a killer should be the last case scenario, not the first. Me, when I knew I'd be going against tons of Ghouls, I put on Made For This. They won't even do that. So I'll never understand why their demands take precedence.
-4 -
I'm sure a good Ghoul player can probably help you since you seem to be struggling.
I can't offer anything outside of regular Killer stuff, so they'll probably be more helpful, but if you'd like some tips and/or help with that I'm open.
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Probably a weak bullet point from me. Like I said, I can get smoother with my rushes, despite the jankiness. But you can never be exact with cancelling it directly on them 100% of the time. Let's say you are: Survivors with smart movement who have a plan are not gonna just let you do that over and over. They'll go in directions that you can't simply get to them in 2 bounds, especially if there's los blockage. That's the kind of counterplay I want people to start exercising and discussing. What all the complainers are doing is shift W, but this killer kind of counters that, so they leave themselves wide open and then say there was nothing they could do.
Going over god pallets doesn't mean you auto-get them either, because they still have time to run. It's faster than Wesker's vault, and probably as fast as Chucky's Scamper, but you're still having to catch them as a 115% M1. Depending on the loop, as in most of them, that often isn't enough. They can also detach from that pallet to another nearby loop. Ghoul is not a one stop shop for downing survivors, whatever his strengths are. At the end of the day, he still has to down with M1, and if that was enough, why aren't Freddy or Clown or Legion near-undefeated?
-4 -
I understand that a majority of criticism towards Ghoul has been from lower level players, and some higher ones who've been equally duped by the matchmaking (when most every match is a mismatch, no wonder killer wins a lot). That's fine... until you realize that the devs actually listen to that.
Impressive elitism on display. Yeah, forget all those players having horrible experiences, only the top% matters and everyone below them is disposable chaff that should be ignored.
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I will start by saying I think his biggest weakness is clutter and chain windows. This is a big issue for him on indoor maps. But, I think certain maps being terrible for him and others being terrible for Survivors isn’t good for either side unfortunately (side note try Bamsnoozle on him)
For the pallets are you grabbing them as they drop the god pallet and going over it quickly? You will down them before they make the loop extremely consistently. It goes into my next point.
His power lets him circumvent things that normal Killers cannot keep up with. If a Survivor is going somewhere that is just terrible to chase other limited Killers cannot just dip out like the Ghoul can. Legion has to avoid stuns, 360s and run to the Survivor for his power and then do it 1-3 more times. Kaneki’s injury is free and comes with gap closing movement.
I do think Survivors who get hit and run into the open need to look at their gameplay but his gameplay loop isn’t hard to understand. It’s free injure→wait til pallet throw→jump over as pallet is thrown→hit. Or free injure→wait til pallet throw→break pallet→jump on them if there is more than one loop/jump at the loop if there is one loop. DO NOT use your power like you’re Spider-Man and try to outplay the loop with your power.
He just isn’t really comparable to Clown or Legion because he has far better mobility, less commitment and is good against strong tiles. Yes he has to M1 you but his power is better than theirs for the injury and the M1 down.
This ended up longer than I wanted but I hope it is all readable and makes sense! :>
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it wouldnt be the first time someone say all this because they know its broken and they don't want their broken "FUN" toy to be gutted or balanced and we know how the playerbase likes to take advantage to that.
atm ghoul has taken majority if not ALL the blight main players, high MMR is full with KANEKI , KANEKI, KANEKI, KANEKI.
yeah idk about you but somethin might be a bit overtuned with this character in order to be that popular, darn i haven't seen a single killer besides kaneki in 3 days already.
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Yup. It’s just survivors who are bad at the game and want easy wins. His first hit is impossible to stop but if you have literally ONE singular brain cell you should be able to loop him like legion after that.
Unfortunately survivors don’t even have one brain cell. 4 man outted him 3 times in a row today. Popped all gens every single match but 3. I put him A tier at best.
Had some matches where I wiped the floor with survivors and had some matches where landing right next to a survivor and cancelling meant nothing because there were a zillion pallets nearby.
He’ll get nerfed though for sure. If Huntress moving 10% faster while holding a hatchet (still the slowest moving charge speed in the game) got reverted then he most certainly will get gutted soon.
-3 -
Don't get me wrong. This killer is STRONG. what really elevates him is survivor inefficiency and current map design. If Survivors just don't know what they are doing, they get rolled hard. But what if they go up against position conscious looper?
I think at most he needs a cooldown recovery nerf after using power and some better munch animations (less rock eating) but after that he'll be better from the survivor pov.
For a real easy roll, Vecna was so much easier. My first time playing him i got a 40 Windstreak just messing around. I'm not getting those results with this killer against good competition. This killer sure does a number on self care lobbies though
-1 -
By not listening to good players freddy got destroyed because average players thought he was too strong, same with chucky so there are two sides to the argument too, as listening to average players has resulted in changes that on the long run when people actually learned the game and got better turned out to be bad changes.
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He is clearly a noob stomper. If you are mispositioned against him you will get down. Also he smash non-coordinated teams. He is the top tier SoloQ stomper.
But he needs some tweaks: his first hit is way too free and mending makes him stronger than he needs to be.
I just hope BHVR doesnt't kill him right away, as he a good designed killer.
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I don't play Ghoul but I'm a killer only main and noticed a lot of noob survivor teams since Ghoul came out. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's contributing to why he's apparently winning so many matches. Out of curiosity, do you find Nurse hard to play as?
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