Please Don’t Over-Nerf Clown – Mid-Tier Killers Deserve to Stay Fun
Hi BHVR team,
Since the recent changes, Clown finally feels viable, rewarding, and fun to play—not oppressive, just capable. Survivors can still finish gens and escape, but now he can threaten with his kit instead of relying only on gimmicks.
Some feedback says his buffs “lowered the skill floor,” but I see it differently:
- Nurse and Blight have extremely high strength ceilings while providing much higher returns on practice time than most killers, yet remain untouched.
- Killers like Clown used to require thousands of hours to be “okay,” but still underperformed compared to top tiers.
- Making mid-tiers smoother isn’t dumbing down—it’s giving them fairer viability, which keeps the roster diverse.
He’s not Nurse or Blight; survivors still have plenty of counterplay (looping, exhaustion, flashlights, coordination). For years Clown was one of the least-picked killers because he felt clunky. Now he’s finally enjoyable. Please don’t swing too far back—raising mid-tier killers is healthy for the game because it adds variety instead of forcing everyone into 2–3 top picks.
Thanks for reading—I appreciate the work you do and hope Clown can stay in a spot where both sides have fun.
Comments
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The problem is, Clown's skill floor was lowered, by quite a lot. All you really need to do now is throw a yellow right in front of you, and you instantly become super oppressive.
I agree with you that Clown did need to get better, but the reality that I think this unsuccessful attempt has revealed is that you can't do that by just making his numbers higher. Clown really deserves a full dedicated update to excise out the unpleasantness and make him stronger in a healthier way.
In the meantime, he does need to be nerfed from where he is. Not by much, I made a post about it myself, but he needs to be stabilised to lower the effectiveness of yellow bottle spam and reinforce the effectiveness of using his power more smartly at loops.
After that, he really needs more dedicated fixes.8 -
Not if he can get 12% faster in a single second. Nuh uh. Nurse and Blight do need nerfs, but at least Blight has counterplay. Nurse is just a lost cause, needs a full rework to be balanced.
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All he needed was the different bottles on their own supply. Reload them both with the reload action. It's a much easier way to get people to use yellow bottles
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At this point, Nurse only exists to be a hard testament to the "DBD isn't pay to win" claim. She has to be the strongest or else it all falls apart. In my opinion. 😌
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He needed a rework, yes, but this rework just ain't it. Nurse and Blight both take finesse to control. I can't even hit a bot that's standing still with Nurse. Clown moves smooth AND fast. There has to be a cut somewhere. If he's going to be that fast for that long, he at least needs to be harder to control. The bottles are too plentiful and the reload is fast. Currently, anyone can hop on Clown and steamroll better players. I know because I gave it a whirl when the changes first dropped. If I used only the yellow bottles, I was unstoppable, and I wasn't even using haste perks. If I used both bottles, I could still lose. Problem is, almost every new Clown has abandoned the pinks. I rarely see them used. And it sucks cause I used to like both playing as him and against him, and now I hear that first bottle smash and I'm instantly miserable. And he's just too embarrassing for me to play as right now.
And survivors can counter with exhaustion perks (the very perks killers endlessly whine about) is not the best argument. I don't run exhaustion perks. I'm not a looping pro. I dont bring flashlights. Soloq isn't coordinateed. That's cool that 4-man sweats can beat him but what am I supposed to do with my Plot Twist and Scene Partner? Die. The answer is die.
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Hey, I hear you — I get that Clown feels oppressive if you’re used to facing the old, clunkier version. But a couple of clarifications:
- On “smooth and fast”: Clown’s speed is conditional. Yellow bottles only last a few seconds, they take setup, and they cost you reloads. If you spam them without managing reloads or placement, you lose momentum. It’s not the same as having guaranteed dashes or teleports like Blight or Nurse.
- On pink bottles: Survivors saying “nobody uses them anymore” is actually a sign the buff worked — players are finally experimenting with both options. Pink is still valuable for anti-loop and mindgames, but yellow is what makes him actually able to contest space. That doesn’t make him broken, it makes him worth playing.
- On survivor tools: Exhaustion perks are just one counter. Pre-dropping pallets, faking vaults, breaking line of sight, and wasting his bottles are all valid plays. Even without flashlights or 4-man coordination, survivors still have options to punish bad throws and long reloads.
- On solo queue: I know soloq feels rough sometimes — but balance can’t be based on whether someone brings Plot Twist or Scene Partner. If killers were tuned around perkless casual builds, Nurse/Blight would shred every match instantly. Mid-tier killers need to be balanced for the whole game environment, not just one loadout.
At the end of the day, Clown is finally playable without being top tier. Survivors who adapt to his timing and manage space will still outlast him, but now he can actually pressure instead of being a meme pick. That’s a healthier spot for everyone.
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Nurse and Blight are two of forty killers. Compare him to other killers. How about Billy, who's hard to steer and easy to miss hits with. Or Legion, who loses his speed-heavy ability if he misses a hit. Or Wesker, who completely flings himself out of chase if he fumbles a grab with his dash.
Or take teleporters like The Unknown, who is much more balanced with spread out teleport locations that can be removed by survivors. Or Dredge, whose locker can be locked. Or Sadako, whose TVs you can turn off. The worst that happens to Clown is he has to reload, and that takes minimal time.
Balance can't be based on average players (40% escape rate) playing in the average way (soloq) with average-quality, non-meta perks? You said killers need to be balanced around the whole game environment and not just one loadout, but you're using exhaustion perks as an example of counterplay.
Blight's dashes aren't guarantees of anything, except that he'll briefly move forward at least once. You can dodge him like a charging bull. He can also miss his bounces. You can avoid Nurse with erratic movements. With an accelerated Clown running haste perks you're just screwed. There's nothing you can do if you're beteen tiles. He just needs one available bottle to flatten you.
Saying Nurse and Blight would shred every match is kinda inaccurate. I win against both those killers regularly and, as I said, I'm average. If they're 5k hour Blights/Nurses, sure I'm dead, but that's because they're good. I'm getting killed by p1 Clowns who are picking him up for the first time. That's not balanced.
I'm not sure how you can use the term "healthy" when the consensus towards him has been mass misery. Even Clown mains have expressed discontent.
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DoDon't nerf clown
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She can still be the strongest, but she far exceeds Blight in strength. Very outdated, obviously overpowered kit that has needed a rework for awhile now.
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Ken and Drac are getting there
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They can't. Because…
… they need room for powers like this.
The stronger she stays, the more they bring the roster to her level without surpassing her and no one can claim the game is p2w (although they obviously still can, but I don't claim to know BHVR's reasoning 😵).
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Hey, appreciate the detailed reply — let me address a couple things:
- On comparisons to other killers: Billy can miss, Legion loses power on a miss, Wesker can fling himself out of chase — true. But the same applies to Clown: if you misplace your bottles or reload at the wrong time, you lose pressure. His kit isn’t “no downside,” it’s just finally not clunky anymore.
- On Blight/Nurse counterplay: Dodging Blight “like a bull” or juking Nurse with erratic movement works against inexperienced players — but once those killers are practiced, their tools are guaranteed gap closers. Clown’s haste has a delay, a duration, and is tied to limited bottles. It’s not the same level of inevitability.
- On “average players can’t counter Clown”: Balance can’t only look at perkless soloq experiences. If it did, every killer would feel oppressive. Survivors do have tools: pre-dropping pallets, baiting throws, breaking line of sight, forcing reloads. Exhaustion perks are just one piece, not the whole argument.
- On “mass misery” consensus: Forum threads often amplify frustration, but that doesn’t mean everyone hates the changes. Plenty of killers — and even survivors — have said this is the first time Clown has felt worth playing. It’s not universal misery, it’s just louder here.
Bottom line: Clown isn’t Nurse or Blight. Survivors can still counterplay him, but now he can actually contest space and feel viable instead of being one of the least-picked killers in the game. That’s a healthier outcome than reverting him back to bottom tier.
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I'm not going to keep going in circles but one word you used is important: inexperienced. No one is a pro with Blight or Nurse immediately. It takes practice and skill. But any inexperienced player can currently hop on Clown for the first time and smash players of a higher caliber. That's the difference--low skill, high reward. Pre-dropping pallets is only going to do so much when he's running haste perks and moving at 140%+ speed and can easily catch up to anywhere you go.
I don't want a revert. I want him further adjusted.
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Big difference between Nurse and Blight versus Clown is that the former require some effort (even if not much) to do well with, and good teams that really know how to counter them will ruin your day if you're not very good with them, Clown is the exact opposite. Any player could easily pick him up and get good results with because the killer's skill floor is incredibly low and the other survivors no matter how good are often going to have difficulty dealing with him in chase. Yeah he's gotta go. This Clown rework perfectly exemplifies why easy to play as killers can never be very strong.
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