The Unknown Needs a Buff — His Power Feels Way Too Inconsistent
I’ve been playing a lot of The Unknown lately, and while I absolutely love his concept and design, his actual gameplay feels extremely underwhelming. He looks terrifying, sounds incredible, and has a unique theme — but his power mechanics make him one of the most inconsistent killers in the game right now.
Core Issues Holding Him Back
1. UVX Projectile Is Unreliable
This is easily the biggest complaint across the board. The projectile bounce hits everything — walls, tiny objects, even invisible map geometry. You can line up a perfect shot and still miss because it clips awkwardly or ricochets in unpredictable ways.
Needing two projectile hits to trigger a health state loss feels punishing when the power itself is already unreliable. Even with practice, UVX feels like you’re fighting the environment more than the survivors.
🔧 Fix idea: Make the projectile hitbox more consistent and reduce sensitivity to minor collisions.
2. Hallucinations Are Too Easy to Counter
Survivors can see Hallucination auras from a generous distance and dispel them almost instantly. This completely undermines The Unknown’s mobility and removes any strategic depth from his teleport mechanic.
Worse, survivors often follow you during chases and clear out Hallucinations as they go — erasing your traversal options and turning you into a basic M1 killer.
🔧 Fix idea: Reduce aura visibility range and increase dispel time or add a skill check.
3. Weakened Status Is Too Easy to Cleanse
The Weakened status should be a core threat in his kit, but it’s far too easy to remove. Survivors just need to look at The Unknown for a couple seconds — even mid-chase — and it’s gone.
It doesn’t create tension or force survivors to change behavior. It just disappears.
🔧 Fix idea: Increase duration or make cleansing riskier (e.g., require longer line-of-sight or proximity).
4. Poor Chase Potential
The Unknown’s kit feels disconnected. His throw is slow, Hallucinations are weak, and teleporting rarely feels rewarding. Compared to other ranged killers, his gameplay loop is sluggish and unrewarding. Downs only happen if survivors make mistakes — not because of pressure and rarely because of skillful play.
🔧 Fix idea: Improve cooldowns, animation flow, and responsiveness to make his chase smoother and more impactful.
Suggested Buffs / QoL Changes
- Improve UVX projectile hit detection and reduce bounce sensitivity.
- Decrease Hallucination aura visibility and increase dispel time.
- Strengthen or rework the Weakened status (longer duration, action penalties, or riskier cleanse).
- Shorten ability cooldowns and improve responsiveness.
The Unknown has one of the coolest designs in the game — but right now, he’s constantly fighting against his own mechanics. He doesn’t reward smart positioning or skillful play the way other killers do. A few targeted buffs and consistency fixes could make him viable without making him oppressive.
Let me know what you think. What changes would make The Unknown feel threatening again?
Comments
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Would be nice if we had a brown add on which shows where the shot bounces too, or make it base kit lol
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Have you played The Unknown?
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I agree with this. I love the recent update they made to where he can now do orbitals, but for new players and those that struggle with trajectory I think this would be an important add-on.
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Try playing him and get back to me on this.
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Then you don't really have ground to stand on if you haven't tried him. Just because you read about the buffs/nerfs doesn't mean you know how he plays in trials.
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Okay…so you have tried him? You could've just answered that with a yes or no from the jump. It doesn't make sense to you because you kept dodging my question lol.
The only "buffs" he received is increasing weakened by 2 seconds, reduced movement speed recovery time by .1 second, and updated his vertical axis for orbital shots. That's it. The only thing making an impact really is increasing the weakened state by 2 seconds which gives you more time to injure a survivor during chases. But that still requires you to hit two shots, and pray that your UVX doesn't bounce off something and go a completely different direction. In strong loops and against SWF teams, that increase really doesn't do much.
On top of that he received various nerfs to perks that helped balance him somewhat. Like blurry photo, which was a huge help to his mobility, was decreased from 15% to 7% which is a huge drop.
I think it's funny you also called him a boring, tunneling, teleport killer when that's exactly what Wesker is except instead of teleport he has speed.
The buffs I suggested are definitely viable without making him oppressive.
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I’ve wanted to make a post like this as well. Unknown is so frustrating to play. I hear this sentiment echoed by most players as well. I want to like this killer so much, he’s aesthetically cool. He’s just way, way too punishing for what skill is required with him. All of your ideas sound great.
I’d personally like the Weakened state to not hold its progress state from looking at the Unknown, meaning if they don’t cleanse Weakened entirely then after some time it will slowly fill back up. The blunt truth is that weakened is just way too easy to remove at the moment for the amount of time invested to Weaken them in the first place. Maybe reduce the range they can stare at him from as well.
I also think his teleportation cooldown should be reduced significantly so he can be bouncing around the map for pressure better. He already cant efficiently put his copies where he wants so this doesn’t sound unreasonable or abusable.
Lastly, his addons are trash. So many of them are so bad. Huge buffs to a lot of these.
I’d argue the aoe on his UVX could be a tiny bit larger but I’m probably asking for too much at this point.
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I really believe that answering someone with the name "dbdiskillersided" won't take us far in this discussion, LOL
Well, i'm an Unknown main. Most of us who play him complain of rate the effort/reward ratios is completely against this killer since using your power more punishes you than helps you in some scenarios.
Yeah, UVX need some changes. I think what harms the most Unknown its his cooldown + weakened duration. If the cooldown was shorter and the weakened duration was longer Unknown would be in a much better spot.
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That’s a good point I forgot about regarding the cooldown. Cooldowns too long and weakened is way too fast to remove. Fixing both those would go a long way.
What do you think of my idea on Weakened if not fully removed after a time period (think trickster time period before the lacerate meters degrades) it starts to slowly fill back up. This would make it a bit harder to remove without actually increasing the time.
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Having weakened slowly fill back up is a brilliant idea. Or, instead of applying the hindered effect when UVX passes through a survivor, have it applied when survivors are weakened until cleansed. Essentially like Wesker with a 4% hindered when infecting survivors and requiring them to use the spray.
But I agree, he is a high risk-low reward killer that can easily have all progress removed in a matter of seconds. In his current state, the best way to play him is by ricocheting around the map for pressure, but his teleport cooldown severely hinders his mobility on top of the easy hallucination dispels.
His add-ons should round out his weaknesses in some way, but most revolve around teleporting which, again, is useless with easy dispels.
I would vote for slightly increasing the aoe on his UVX, but most people complain about him shooting through walls so I imagine if this was added with other buffs people would freak.
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I agree. That hinder effects actually an interesting idea as well.
Since he can’t really control his clone spawns realistically I don’t think a shorter to cooldown would be too much. They could even make it a skill requirement. Say like his teleport cooldown is shorter per survivor with Weakened. This way the shorter cooldown is only rewarded for good plays.
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Fr I thought the same thing when I saw their name lol
But I am also an Unknown main, and I agree that his ability is more punishing than useful. Even with a small tweak, like keeping mobility when charging his UVX, would greatly change the outcome of matches. I feel as though he is on the cusp of being a perfect killer, but as you mentioned, if cooldowns and weakened stay the same then he will always be underwhelming.
He has even acquired the nickname "The Harmless" by some in the community. When that happens changs definitely need to be made.
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I hope there is a dev reading this because these are all great ideas to play around with.
Shorter teleport cooldown based on how many weakened survivors there are actually forces survivors to seek him/his hallucinations out otherwise map pressure would be insane. This essentially creates a killer-based objective that is important to remove in order to survive. Like Neme with syringes, Wesker with spray, Pig with traps, Plague with fountains, etc. If they want to keep his UVX as a two hitter then great, but there needs to be something that stalls survivors from getting gens if you're spending most of your time getting punished in chases.
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Yeah in order for a killer to be good they either need really good map mobility or built in game slow down. Unfortunately we have really seen an effective game slow down strong killer but that’s because it’s usually not tuned high enough imo.
Some of his addons are creative just most of them are way undertuned. Like 20 seconds of oblivious is worthless, that should be 60. Effects in the range of the clones is just too short to have any impact, needs to be significantly larger. Any effect with interacting with them is just mediocre since you don’t control that, they do. Like if that blindness was just in a radius around clones and that range was double what it currently is then we might be talking. Matchbox was also just gutted.
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I think the main issue with The Unknown is your third point, the UVX is too unreliable and needs some time to show a result.
A famous streamer called it the "Artist Syndrome" in a video a few weeks ago.
There are killers who need to do so much before getting a "reward" or "result" (I like to call them "ramp up killers"). On the other hand one little missplay or bad luck destroys all the pressure. Artist, Nemesis, Plague…
Compare them to killers like Blight, Wesker, Hillbilly or Huntress who get results almost instantly and much more straightforward.
Also the counterplay against the UVX is maybe a tiny bit too easy. The average decent survivor looks at the killer in chase anyways, so maybe 1 or 2 seconds more of necessary cleansing time already would help.
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I understand why the devs wouldn't tune up killers with slowdown with all the gen regression and injury status effect perks. Some killers, like the Unknown, definitely need a tune up in that area though.
His add-ons definitely need some updates or reworked:
Blurry photo was nerfed which hits his mobility.
Punctured eyeball has such specific prerequisites in order to be effective.
rabbits' foot is decent but I'm not focused on pools of blood while charging my UVX.
sketch attempt I agree is not very useful with 20 second oblivious.
device is ineffective with how quick dispels are.
recording is good but hallucinations shouldn't have auras imo.
notebook doesn't do anything in strong loops and hindered % is already low.
backpack is trash and is essentially a waste of time targeting your own hallucinations for a cooldown on your next one.
victims map is useless.
b movie poster is great but 30 seconds is quick for the effort required to damage survs with UVX.
footprint cast is great but could use a buff to the timer.
front page - its great and I wouldn't change.
hypnotists watch is useless when your power is inconsistent.
vanishing box needs a buff - if not back to what it was then something.
milk carton is useless.
homemade mask is a take it or leave it add on.
game cart - wouldn't change.
serum vial is ineffective with quick dispels and the duration is incredibly short.
captured by the dark is useless once everyone removes weakened and then you are down a clone.
OSS report is good - give and take with that one.
So yeah, out of all his perks there are 3 maybe 4 good ones but even those don't make up for his weaknesses unless hitting the conditions of the add on first.
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I honestly wish they added the Unknown to 2v8 so everyone could see how unreliable his UVX is. It would be the same situation as regular matches. But they won't add him because he would have 0 mobility with everyone dispelling his hallucinations lol.
But yes, counterplay against his UVX is extremely easy. Even those complaining about hitting through walls, survivors that know how he works now know to run wide around objects and buildings to not get hit. Once you know the learning curve it's extremely easy to counter.
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removing all the invisible walls and pointy ends would be helpful.
the uvx itself is consistent its just that you don't intend for a bounce to hit the pixel of a twig that just caught the previous Hillbilly.
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I think at the very least he needs an increase to the infection timer. You should have to stare at him at least one to two seconds longer than it is right now, because a good survivor can literally remove the effect at the exact time you are able to fire again. That makes his the easiest infection to remove by far and forces Unknown to basically be an M1 killer that can teleport.
I like how easy it is to remove the illusions, they are so easy to place and the teleport is the best in the game so it being easy to remove is necessary. However, maybe they should have a skill check running during the induction. Maybe an addon that makes that happen would be a good thing.
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He's known as the Harmless for a reason
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Yes, the weakened timer definitely needs an increase. Or an add-on that changes what his UVX does.
I think a skill check or a status effect after a dispel would be great. You could take the homemade mask add-on which gives blindness for 60 seconds when they dispel, which is okay to hide your aura, but doesn't help in any other way.
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Just make the uvx effect last longer after first hit and not only 10 seconds which is short with staredown linger for 1,25 seconds you just have two but against good survivors one shot that will either hit and will injure the survivor and make the uvx effect last longer than 10 seconds or miss and loose all your progress from previous hit which sucks because unknown isnt super strong killer.
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More more like unknown harmlessness, for reason ofcourse.
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The timer needs to be increased and the buffer needs to be removed
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He could have 0 cooldown in 2v8 and still be very bad
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He has the fastest teleport in the game and his projectile hits wide range and he needs a buff?
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Because for his projectile to even do something you need to hit two shots in the row which only him and artish have (nemi if you arent infected but thats way easier) but unlike artist his projectile is weaker and has less utility (artist can snipe you across the map, injure through walls more than unknown and she can use crows on loops as zoning tool or for hits which unknown cant or its less powerfull. His teleports are fast but easy to destroy and he has to move to get something from them so they are ok.
But I take your post more as question than serius take because this have to wrote someone who doesnt play uknown.
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Its very easy to land shots when it covers so much range. No, hes in a nice balanced state.
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Its pretty clear you dont play him against competent survivors, his projectile is slow and easy to doge unless you are in small narrow place like some hallway, the duration of uvx after first shot is short just 10 seconds survivor has to look at him and he is just harmless afterwards with the fact if you stop looking at him 1,25 seconds will count still as linger effect as if you look at him so if survivors just dont run at straight line and dont look at him he is just mid killer with very inconsistent range attack and tp so thats his weaknes and theres a reason every skilled survivor calls him harmless (just like back then singularity was called larry and with legendary quote “it wasnt programed to harm the crew” because emps did so much against him and every use made him powerless almost and just m1 killer who had to waste time to get back preasure just so another survivor run there with another emp). With other range killers you can miss but if you hit it causes atleast damage but unknown if hits survivor that isnt bad just has 1 to 2 shots before that survivor will be clean from uvx which is very hard to hit two shots in the row against good survivors but as I said you would know that if you played him.
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I mean its John 'dbdiskillersided' why would he not think Unknown needs no buffs, its in his name- ANYWAYS.
I think Unknown isnt as weak as people say, his Hallucinations are one of the best Teleports in the game, even if theyre removable, i think all he needs is minor tweaks to make the UVX status a little harder to remove, cause Land UVX, Miss, Weaken Removed, Land UVX, Miss, Weaken Removed, Land UVX, M2 Bait, M1, is how alot of his chases go.
Unknown is pretty silent, 4.6ms, normal terror radius, a interesting projectile and one of the best teleports in the game.
Mostly just needs a little help on the Weaken status removal being a bit too easy, it forces you to go for shots you are likely to miss, and when you do, it resets all your pressure.3 -
Feels like the people arguing Unknown is fine are only talking about his power in concept. He didn't get nicknamed The Harmless by content creators and Twitter because he's a middle of the road to above average pick.
In potential? He has a lot to work with for his ranged attack to injure and his Hallucinations provide quick and reliable stage control provided you learn setup.
In execution? If you don't hit at least 3/4 of your shots it's often a liability to go for your power over just an M1, and as great as hallucinations are they can still be dispelled by survivors who are being attentive.
This often makes him a killer who simply can get punished for existing. In my opinion, he could use some buffs.
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i still have not heard a good reason as to why he shouldn't be able to shoot straight down. it's extremely dumb that healthy weakened survivors always have the option to run into your face to force an m1. it increases the distance they gain and it also let's them remove the weaken for free.
every other ranged killer wants to be as close as possible when hitting you but unknown needs to keep his distance even though his projectile is wildly inconsistent.
all they really need to do is make it so that his m1 weakens the survivor (or refreshes it) or make it so survivors can't stare at him while he is recovering. they also need to change how easy it is to remove the weaken. the buffer when you lose LOS is way too long right now.
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make long range shots always infect on a direct hit please. I have a genuinely horrid habit of PERFECTLY nailing a survivor near the edge of my range and get "rewarded" by it bouncing off and it missing them completely.
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Pretty much his whole weakness is just uvx lasting after first hit with other things he is fine but just the fact that competant survivors gets hit with uvx and if you miss another shot thn you have start again is quite bad, look at killer with simular problem artist she has to hit one crow to swarn you with birds and after that cooldown ofone crow she has some time window to hit another but she can spawn three to cover more space, she can hit that survivor through walls across the map and only thing that saves him is elevation or lockers, she can use her crows in chase as traps that injure directly on short to medium range and in chase for survivor getting the crows off him is same action as remowing springtraps axe which means you cant hold m1 because if you do you cant vault or drop pallets, she has same problem but more space to actualy get hit and only thing that shouldnt exist but it does is that lockers remove birds instantly so snipes across the map in places like shack where are lockers are worthless against survivors that know this.
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A lot of people make the argument that he doesn't need a buff because he has one of the best teleports in the game. Be that as it may, when a killer has 0 mobility and the only mobility he is given can be dispelled easily, he becomes pretty useless. 95% of the survivors' teams I am up against I have someone following me, removing my hallucinations while I chase someone else. It is too easy, too quick, and with no indication (unless they mess up somehow), to remove his hallucinations. Then the other side of the argument is "well he has his projectile to close the distance", but when his projectile is inconsistent, easy dodged, and the status effect can be removed quickly, he becomes useless again.
Take any other teleport killer, let's say Demo - Demo's teleports take quite some time to remove for a survivor, he does have a teleport animation which takes time, but the removal of his teleports is still time consuming. How does he close the gaps? He has a lunge that allows him to jump from very far, easily closing the distance and most of the time it is a guaranteed hit. The Unknown has his UVX which bounces, hits objects and other things along the way which can backfire, and he has to hit two shots for it to count as a hit. And that can all be undone with 10 seconds and a good loop.
Take hag, another teleport killer - hag's teleports are easily removed..but under the right conditions. You can either shine your flashlight on them or crouch up to them and wipe them away. Run within radius though, they trigger and she gets notified and can teleport to them. Her teleports are also small and can be easily concealed. And, as opposed to The Unknown, her teleports don't have an aura range which also keeps them hidden.
There has to be give and take and there is only take and not enough give with the Unknown. Has a projectile that can hit through walls and give a status effect - but it bounces on everything, status doesn't do anything and can be removed after 10s, and it take two shots. He has a quick teleport - can easily be removed, survs can see the aura within range, also gives auditory signals to where they are at.
So, I would agree with you about teleports if the Unknown was going up against a survivor team that has never played against him. I do not agree with you when it comes up against SWF teams who have played against him. He is almost completely useless, and you are fighting to get your kills. A range killer with no crosshair and a trajectory projectile already takes a level of skill for players, but requiring two hits and being able to undo the progress you've made makes this killer extremely challenging to play, ESPECIALLY when he has little to no mobility already.
Check out The Harmless video Otzdarva made on YouTube. As a pro DBD player, he has even suggested the Unknown needs a buff of some kind. If you won't take my word, maybe people will take his word for it.
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I would agree with your comment if he was on a map with open space and sky. But his projectile hits everything. Even shooting an orbital, you're bound to hit a tree, building, or something else when using it. So yes, while his projectile has range, it is very inconsistent, and range means nothing when it takes two hits and your first hit with UVX can be undone after 10 seconds of someone staring at you.
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Can you clarify what you mean by shooting straight down? If you're charging your UVX you can shoot the ground for it to explode instantly while someone is running up to you. It is somewhat difficult, but not a main concern for me and fair counterplay imo.
But yes, his projectile is inconsistent and ideally you want space to hit your shoots as compared to other projectile killers. I do love the idea of his M1 refreshing or adding the weakened status. That would be a great update to improve consistency.
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No i agree he needs a buff, i just dont think he is in need of MAJOR buffs, being simply able to look down would make him alot better, cause u can force him to miss if you are too close, that ontop of either weakness taking slightly longer to remove or a slightly shorter UVX CD would make him MUCH better.
But i approve buffing him, the recent Unknown Patch wasnt great, apart from letting him look up (Just let him look down aswell now)1 -
if someone is standing right against your hitbox, you cannot hit them unless you bounce it off of a nearby wall. and the projectile doesn't instantly explode. it always bounces once before exploding and the delay from bouncing is most obvious when they are right on top of you.
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Im a Unknown Main and I 100% Agree with this.
A buff i would love is to pop the UVX while it's in the air and rework his counter play. Make it his Hallucinations only be Dispelled until there used once and let you set them up at will.
Allow him to crawl Like in his mori to make him gain Distance and help while Looping around small tiles.
I would make Injuring with the UVX Makes it permanent until healed or Downed. This will make his power more threatening and rewarding when Landing it.
Yes it sounds strong But he Needs it for how unreliable his power can be in some situations
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i think he just needs a faster projectile and survivors cannot remove weakened while unknown is carrying a survivor.
he is already a strong killer in my opinion. one of the hardest killers because you need good aim and he also plays very different1 -
I agree his power is tricky to use and failed hits are very punishing but in skilled player hands he's actually pretty decent. It definitely seems tricky to buff some killers like him without making them too strong.
I think I would make it so that when hallucinations are being dispelled, you are given a notification so that if currently in chase it's still risky for a teammate to take that opportunity - I would disable this when 2 or less survivors are standing though.
Weakened should get a Plague kinda treatment where other survivors are affected by it when doing healing or gens that a weakened player is on.
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You can shoot your UVX through a survivor causing the hindered effect, even when they are right against your hitbox. And yes, if you shoot the ground your UVX will instantly explode. Hitting anything other than the ground will cause it to bounce twice.
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I made another similar post discussion about reworking his ability from UVX to "Unravel" which is him being able to crawl around the map on all fours like his mori, essentially becoming a speed killer. People didn't like it though and complained another scamper killer wasn't needed. I like your idea, but I already know people would complain about it being overpowered to win chases.
Making the UVX explode on trigger is a great idea and I would rather have that than the minor hindered effect you get from shooting through a survivor. This would also make it easier to learn for new players and allow people to hit more shots rather than it ricocheting everywhere.
The weakened effect needs to function as it does with other killers who have debuffs. Making it permanent until healed or downed is overpowering. Having an item to get rid of it or increasing the timer would make it much better. Or, for synergy, if they buff his hallucinations by reducing the aura and increasing the dispel time/adding a skill check AND make it the only way for survivors to remove the weakened effect, then it would be amazing. Essentially forcing people to your hallucinations only for them to potentially fail the dispel would increase his pressure immensely.
Great ideas!!
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Didn't you read their name? Ofc they think Unknown is broken just cus he got buffed recently
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I think his mobility and hitting shots are what cripples him from being one of the best killers. I like notis on the dispel action and having it be contagious like plague. Those together and alone would be a very viable option for him
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