http://dbd.game/killswitch
Giving Demogorgon some much needed attention
Most DBD players used to agree that Demogorgon is completely fine, and to be completely honest it was. It was often referred to as the most balanced Killer in the game. Some time has passed though, and despite some small buffs here and there, Demogorgon is now one of the weaker Killers. Despite not getting directly nerfed, Demogorgon has suffered from everyone else becoming more powerful. It is the most average Killer there is, but that is not enough to hold up anymore.
After analysing Demogorgon's kit for a while, I've determined what parts of it need touching up. Its power is mainly fine, although it depends on a couple add-ons that prevent any kind of variety. It also has a part of its power with a lot of untapped potential that can be reached with just a little bit of polish.
First, let's get into its basekit and discuss what it needs:
- Decrease Portal setting time to 0.7 seconds (from 0.85 seconds)
- Setting up Portals can often be a waste of time, as you may not even need to use them and they take a lot of time to set up overall. Making the Rat Tail add-on partially basekit and compensating by nerfing it is a suitable option to not make setting up Portals too easy while also making them worthwhile.
- Emerging from a Portal gives you Undetectable for 15 seconds (instead of 5 seconds)
- Demogorgon's basekit stealth is very weird to say the least. Normally you gain 5 seconds of Undetectable every time you use a Portal, which sounds good until you realize how worthless 5 seconds is. It doesn't give any chance of catching Survivors off-guard, considering that using a Portal makes a global sound that Survivors can react to anyway. With the Animatronic's recent addition to the game and his somewhat similar Power to Demogorgon's, making their Undetectable on par makes perfect sense. Both their teleports have their own downsides, but are ultimately very similar.
- Pressing M1 while charging your Shred before it’s usable will buffer it to start the Shred attack as early as possible
- Currently pressing M1 before your Shred is ready but is still charging will result in a basic attack. This means that if you try to use Shred even a little bit sooner than possible, you will end up doing a basic attack and missing, resulting in the Survivor gaining even more distance for such a small mistake. Changing it to work like a buffer where you start the Shred as soon as it's ready solves the issue whilst also making the timing on Demogorgon's Shred less demanding.
One thing that should NOT be changed about the Demogorgon is the limited Portals. Increasing their amount without add-ons would remove a big part of Demogorgon's skill expression. Managing the Portals is the most mentally demanding part of his kit and should not be removed. Likewise, you should not be able to remove Portals like the Trapper picks up his traps.
These changes combined would make Demogorgon a pretty decent Killer if we compare them all with no add-ons. Speaking of, Demogorgon's add-ons are very, and I mean VERY outdated. Not all of them are necessarily bad, but the way they are designed is incredibly boring and could use a lot of polish.
Don't worry though, as I've come up with buffs and unique reworks for most of Demogorgon's add-ons. I won't go into much detail about them here, but if you have any questions I'll happily answer them:
- Reduces the time required to fully charge a Shred by -10%.
- Due to how Demogorgon's power works, this would also make the minimum Shred threshold lower.
Previous effect:
- Reduces the cooldown of successful Shred attacks used to hit Survivors by -10%.
- Increases the opening speed of Portals by +30%.
Previous effect:
- Increases the opening speed of Portals by +50%
- Increases the opening speed of Portals by +50%.
- Causes the Portal from which you start your Teleport to seal automatically.
Previous effect:
- Causes the Portal from which you start your Teleport to seal automatically.
- Grants +200 bonus Bloodpoints for Interdimensional Travel score events.
- Reduces attack cooldown of missed Shred attacks by -11%.
Previous effect:
- Reduces the attack cooldown of missed Shred attacks by -11%.
- Increases the number of available Portals by +1.
- Increases the area of effect of active Portals by +4 meters.
Previous effect:
- Increases the area of effect of active Portals by +2.5 meters.
- Increases sealing time of Portals by +15%.
Previous effect:
- Increases the sealing time of Portals by +10%.
- Survivors suffer from the Blindness and Exhausted status effects while closing a Portal for 20 seconds.
Previous effect:
- Survivors suffer from the Blindness status effect while closing a Portal for 60 seconds.
- Increases Teleportation speed by +30%.
- Reduces the number of available Portals by -1.
Previously:
- Increases Teleportation speed by +30%.
- Reduces the number of available Portals by -2.
- The Auras of Generators actively being repaired by Survivors are highlighted to you in yellow while traversing the Upside Down. The effect lingers for 2 second after emerging from a Portal.
Previous effect:
- The Auras of Generators actively being repaired by Survivors are highlighted to you in yellow while traversing the Upside Down.
- Successful Shred attacks used to hit Survivors afflict the hit Survivor with the Haemorrhage and Mangled status effects for 45 seconds.
Previous effect:
- Increases the area of effect of active Portals by +1 metre.
- Increases the sealing time of Portals by +8%.
- The Oblivious status effect that is afflicted onto Survivors from a Portal lingers for 15 seconds.
Previous effect:
- Increases the duration of the Undetectable effect gained when emerging from a Portal by +1 second.
- Reduces the recovery time of Of the Abyss by -6 seconds.
Previous effect:
- Reduces the recovery time of Of the Abyss by -2 seconds.
- Increases the sealing time of Portals by +10% for every currently active Portal on the map.
Previous effect:
- Increases the sealing time of Portals by +20%.
- Increases the duration of the Undetectable effect gained when emerging from a Portal by +50%.
Previous effect:
- Increases the duration of the Undetectable effect gained when emerging from a Portal by +3 seconds.
- 50% is 7.5 seconds extra Undetectable duration.
- Suppresses all noise made from using Portals.
- Emerging from Portals takes +25% longer.
Previous effect:
- Increases the duration of the Undetectable effect gained when emerging from a Portal by +8 seconds.
- Suppresses all noise made while emerging from Portals.
- Increases the time to emerge from Portals by +15%.
I believe that with these changes to the add-ons Demogorgon would be a much more enjoyable Killer with increased variety and more playability.
Feedback on these thoughts is greatly appreciated! While I of course want to see these changes make it to the game itself, I wouldn't bet on it, so it's great fun to just discuss them with the community.
One little extra thing I will mention that isn't necessarily related to Demogorgon but affects it a whole lot:
- PLEASE rework collisions so that you can go over obstacles if you are high up. It's so insanely annoying to try to Shred with Demogorgon to gain distance from a height like the second story of Garden of Joy's main building only to be stopped by an invisible wall. If none of the other changes make it, I would hope this comes to the game some day.
Edits:
14/06/2025 :
- Removed Black Heart add-on from Basekit
- Removed Barb's Glasses add-on from Basekit
- Changed Rotten Pumpkin to increase Portal opening speed by +50% (from increasing max amount of Portals by +2)
- Removed Barb's Glasses rework (increased max amount of Portals by +1)
- Changed Mew's Guts back to reducing missed Shred cooldown by -11% (from -15%)
- Reduced duration of Brass Case Lighter's effect to 20 seconds (from 40 seconds)
- Reduced aura lingering of Eleven's Soda to 2 seconds (from 3 seconds)
- Removed Lifeguard Whistle rework (gave Survivors withing a Portal's area of effect the Incapacitated status effect, but decreased Portal sealing time by -50%)