Some Tips for the New Vecna (The First/The Henry)

NekoTorvic

I LOVE the new Vecna. I was a Vecna main, and now I am a Vecna main. His power is incredibly well designed, it's fair, but punishing and it just clicks with me in a way that other killer powers havent in a whiiille. I LOVE feeling like I'm in a survivor's head and perfectly predict their movements, and conversely when a survivor is in my head I feel like I'm getting properly outplayed and read like a book. It's just the best. So here's a couple of tips from things I've noticed as I've played him in no particular order.

• When you charge your vine attack at loops you can look in one direction to make survivors go in a different direction and then quickly flick to where you expect them to go. This only works on survivors that look at you, if the survivor doesn't look at you and only goes by audio queue, then focus on being patient and detecting patterns in how they dodge.
  
• The roller skate addon that gives you 20% haste is so good at allowing you to catch up to survivors, that way you don't have to worry too much about trying so hard to get them with Undergate.
  
• Always try to classify survivors in how they dodge. Some survivors don't dodge and just commit, meaning you shouldn't try to be fancy with your shots. Some survivors tend to only dodge to one side or only double back. Some survivors start moving erratically, these are hard to hit, but lose distance on you and if you're patient you can catch them. Some survivors always change up what they do, these are the hardest to hit, be patient, try to predict what they'll do next or switch targets to someone easier to hit. Some survivors are very efficient with their dodges, so you have to be patient and conservative with your attack, or else you will fall behind and waste time, on the other hand, some survivors will be so inefficient with their dodges that you will gain on them easily, so you should pressure these quite a bit with your power, as they give you easy M1s.
  
• Try to mix up your timings. If you are always patient and wait, survivors will expect it and make it hard or sometimes they'll just commit and make you waste time. If you ALWAYS insta-fire survivors will dodge you easily. So try to mix up being patient AND insta-firing to throw off their attempts at dodging. Once you make yourself unpredictable, you can make them make a lot more mistakes and then you can capitalize.
  
• You should also mix up the direction that you predict them to dodge. If a survivor always doubles back, and you start aiming a little behind them, expecting the double back, then they might start committing instead and you will miss. Some survivors are very aware and pay attention to what you're doing, and others just do one thing without paying much mind to it. With aware survivors you have to mix up, with survivors that are doing their own thing, you have to learn what they do and respond appropriately.
  
• Use your attacks to condition survivors. This means that if you notice a survivor is aware and responding to you, use some shots to lead them into making a wrong read on you. For simple example, you hit a survivor by insta firing your vines to their left, so you predicted they would dodge to the left. Then you do it again, and they go right and you miss. Then you do it again but this time aim right. You used 2 shots to "show them" that you "tend to insta fire to their left", and condition them to respond in a certain way that you can anticipate and take advantage of. This can be done in a variety of ways, it gets more complex and it'd be too long to cover every case. Keep in mind: good survivors are doing the same to you, that's where the fun of his power comes in. The one who can get in the other one's head better will win.
  
• Your power is also a really good zoning tool even at a distance. You can scare survivors away from an area by purposefully aiming in that direction and making it obvious that you are aiming in that direction, or you can cause them to lose distance on you by forcing them to dodge away from a safe area. Keep in mind survivors can and WILL take advantage of this by pretending to commit or not commit, so your zoning is not guaranteed in some scenarios and you will need to respond appropriately.
  
• When breaking LoS at a loop, more aware survivors will make their pathing more unpredictable by going wide instead of hugging a way. You can anticipate this and aim wide as well. This is another game of who can read the other one better. Better survivors will mix up hugging tight and going wide and you need to respond appropriately. Sometimes the only thing you can do is follow straight behind, which wastes time, don't over commit to blind shots, but don't be afraid of them either!
  
• Survivors tend to dodge you more easily when you can't harm them with the vines in my experience. This is because they are not necessarily "running for safety", they are unpredictable because the stakes are low. Once Worldbreaker starts, survivors tend to make more mistakes because the stakes are higher and they pathing might become a bit more predictable since they'll tend to go to where they perceive is safe. Take advantage of this by seeing how they behave. HOWEVER, when survivors are about to die, they can become the most erratic, since they have nothing to lose. Survivors on death hook can take you on long chases if you're not careful.
  
• You are painfully slow. So cut your losses. Don't overcommit. His power is good enough that you can detach from survivors if you think it's necessary or if they're taking you to areas where there are no gens or where it's just not advantageous for you to be.
  
• He is the only killer in the game that can heavily pin down multiple survivors in one area. If you catch 2 survivors and corner them, make sure to pressure BOTH so neither can escape. That's a 50% team efficiency reduction, and even if you take time to down them, it's probably worth it, especially if one of those survivors is dead on hook. (If you're a survivor, it's best to make a run for it and take potential damage than allow him to pin 2 of you down)
  
• Cornered survivors are the least predictable. This can seem like it counters the previous point, but it's all about judging your current situation. If you catch a survivor in a corner and they have some wiggle room to maneuver, these survivors don't have a clear path you can predict, they're not looking for safety, they're just trying to dodge. These are the HARDEST to hit because their movement has no purpose other than to be erratic. So sometimes, it is better to let them back into the map so their pathing becomes predictable again. I had a game end in a tie because I spent 1 minute trying to hit a Nancy (she was also dead on hook) inside of shack and she was just moving erratically, but as soon as gave up on that and let her try to get into the map again, I could predict where she was going...2 tap. 
  
• Conversely, the shooting gallery playstyle can be fun. I once spent an entire match trying to hit a David I had on the other side of a pallet. I taught me a lot, it was super fun, I hooked him but let all survivors go at the end and they were good sports. I did this multiple times on my initial matches with Vecna cuz I was just having fun and learning. Don't be harsh on yourself for those, remember survivors without a clear path are the hardest to hit, and take it as a fun learning opportunity.
  
• If a survivor is running for an unhook while you're in the Upside Down, use undergate while outside of the camp radius. You won't affect them with the Undergate attack, and might fall behind a bit but you won't waste time with the anti camp which is way worse, and you will be close enough to start pressuring them with vines, and at least prevent the heal under the hook.

If you are a survivor player who struggles against him, try to look at these tips and get into the mind of the Vecna player. You have more agency than you might think to try and make their hits as hard as possible and give your team as much time as possible. If you keep your distance, and are efficient with your dodges, if you make him miss 5 times in a row, even if he hits you in the sixth, that's already likely more than 30 seconds you're giving your team just for one hit.