Survivor main, why do you NOT run the meta?

I don't learn anything when I run perks that reward me for messing up. I play the game to get better. If my wins are handed to me and I'm being rewarded for my mistakes I'm not having fun.

I don't just play one set of perks. I have a different set on each character. That way I can just change character to keep it fresh.

I don't run the meta because I've been playing this game for a long time, and I prefer to challenge myself.

I'm a Laurie main who hasn't used DS, DH, BT, or BL in over a year, lol. I forgot how Urban Evasion works, it's been so long.

Don't need stealth, and don't want meta.

Because it's boring. As survivor I have to run different builds and set a goal to to make something happen with my perks in order to keep myself entertained. E.g. Activate mettle of man, distract the killer with a pebble, lose the killer with tenacity and so on

I don't run meta perks because you don't need them on either side to win :) plain and simple.

But also, I love Lithe, I run plunderers to farm items, I love having we'll make it to heal people, and my 4th is usually inner strength for healing. I don't like playing injured.

I only put Borrowed time on when I've gone to consecutive games of campy/tunneling ass killers (i know, iTs a StRatEgy but it's still low skill/high reward so I'll hate you regardless) and get tired of them getting easy lazy kills.

And like once a month, I'll throw on Unbreakable when I get tired of getting slugged. Might use it more often now with the DC penalty. I'm sure killers are gonna slug even more for their precious 4th kill...

I don't run meta perks as often anymore. I used them religiously at one time, and realized that I was getting dependent on them. Spine chill, and urban evasion for example on survivor. ( early detection, quick getaway ). I was getting reliant on spine chill to activate, instead of watching my surroundings. bbq and chili, nurses calling on killer. ( aura-reading for easier tracking ), thus taking away some of the thrill and challenge of using eyes and ears to find survivors. It's my belief that running different builds is a good way to truly challenge yourself, and test your skills..

I need information, and none of the big meta Perks give it. Kindred is my goto, SWF gets this for free so obviously it won't be in any of their builds.

Meta I do run is Iron Will. Love this Perk as I don't loop, so hiding is made much easier with this one.

I've been playing with Calm Spirit lately, and am finding it pretty awesome for how I play. Not just for the scream stopping, but stopping crows from flying away when I'm walking and also when I'm trying to juke and hide.

I also run We'll Make It, because after numerous hours as a Survivor, I find that fast healing to be addictive. It's not meta, but it's damn powerful if you get in there and get the save. You have to work with your team mates though, and some solo queue'ers just don't do that.

All the meta Perks support looping for days, and I find 0 fun in doing that. If I can juke, break LoS, and hide, that's what I'm going to do. Otherwise, well I'll just have to hope that my headless chicken running throws off the Killer enough to let me escape. You'd be surprised how often that actually happens because they are looking for me to loop instead.

I occasionally use BT if I am running a full-on Altruistic build and going for every save, but that's pretty rare. DS/DH/SB/BL/Adrenaline have no place in any of my builds.

Because I go against the grain and play my own way. My perks are Urban Evasion, Spine Chill, Resilience and We're Gonna Live Forever. It's kind of an all around decent build for what I like to do and have plan-B s. Sure DS looks like fun but I'm not the strongest in chases or looping and BT doesn't suit my vampire hook needs lol.

Using perks that aren't meta has an inherent advantage in that it isn't what's expected. On top of that, I like to keep things fresh and that's part of what keeps me playing. Plus some of those perks, as other people said, are either too situational for me to want to use them (mostly Unbreakable) or they're one time use/end game, and I like perks that benefit me over time like Resilience or Autodidact or whatever.

I don't like to use the META perks, it's unfun and boring

I enjoy using perks which adds few more things, like "Wake Up", "Solidarity" "Tenacity" "Technician" (yep all of them are green perks... the funniest)

But I do love to use adrenaline, it's my reward for the surviving the "gen repair" part of the trial

I think we should be able to save our builds

Because I play solo and solo you need to stay away from the killer or use what makes you harder to catch, not perks that make it easier to save you or save others, Solo queue is every survivor for himself.

Sounds greedy but those multi saves where everyone uses BT and DS with the door at 99% or that Adrenaline that pops right when the killer hits you are very hard to pull in a completely disorganised team like solo teams are.

I use the same build but with spine chill instead of left behind. Sometimes I'll use detective's hunch instead and bring a crystal bead rainbow map.

Open handed gang rise up!

You know whats the problem with every meta in any game? It was invented by one people to suit HIS playstyle. He might own game with it... and people try to copy it, often not being able to use that build even in 1/10 of what it was capable of.

Thats the point - every build is for specific player and for specific playstyle. I for example prefer build called by me "stealthy hero". Fixation, inner strenght, lucky break, breakout. I dont need any DH, or DS or BT. BT is awesome perk in my opinion but have one flaw - it require someone to get hooked. With breakout i can save someone even before he get hooked, so he get more than 3 saves. Fixation is such an understimated perk - it saves my life not once, and not twice, especially together with lucky break. Run straight in corn field... then walk on side, and toward killer, 99% chance to escape him. Especially when i dont need to run with that fixation, as it gives me nearly running speed :D.

Not to mention its also a lot more fun to outplay killer without infinite looping :P

Not a survivor main, but I think the survivor meta is braindead and unhealthy for the game. It's not a knock on the players. It's a knock on the design. I don't think stacked second chances on multiple survivors are balanced when survivors are even halfway decent. I'm more a Sprint Burst/Iron Will/Kindred/(utility perk) survivor

Because all those perks suppose ill be seen or catch by the killer. I rather a stealth gameplay and trust in my (improving) skills in a chase.

My META are SC, Spine Chill and Distortion. The fourth may be one of those OP said, depending on a specific tatic (challenges, daily rituals, SWF, etc) or my day's mood. But can be a lot of another ones, not only those.

DH is not a META, imo. As killer, i just wait for it. Yeah, so the survivor got 2 seconds more of chase. Not a real gain. When they are capable to use it to get to a pallet, use to be a survivor good already without the perk.

DS, as killer, if i wanna, I just go after the survivor and them they go down. But i use to let the survivor go, cause i dont like to tunnel, and usually i dont remeber whom i downed one minute ago. So its as effective as i let unhooked survivors go. Not a META.

BT, the same thing. I dont chase the unhooked if he doesnt come up to me. So, useless against me. But i recognize its a META perk for a team work focused in rescuing at all costs.

Adren/Umbr are not METAs. One activates only once and in the end game. Most matches, it doesnt matter to me as survivor. Umbr can surpass slugging, but as killer i dont slug (so its a useless perk to the survivors) and as survivors I dont use to be slugged enough to make this a META.

Because I don't like abusing overpowered second chance perks.

Bc different players have different playstyles.... Others just like to challenge themselves. Personally I alter my loadout before each match to try and create a build best suited for whatever Daily Ritual and/or Rift Challenge I am doing.

For example, if I have a challenge "unhook X amount of Survivors", I am going to use any and all perks that would expedite the unhooking of teammates... The only time I ever go meta is when I'm in danger of losing my last pip and deranking. Otherwise I go for maximum efficiency at specific tasks, not survival. (I rely less on perks for that, and more on skill and strategy)

Honestly I rather have 4 survivors with the meta build. It's way easier. I very rarely trigger DS, borrow 0 times it's actually helpful for the killer, unbreakable I never slug more than 2 and it's always quick. Adrenaline can be a risk but til now it's fine.

Maybe because they are the best perks for the meta playstyle of eliminating the killer's pressure? I mostly agree with you though, there are other good perks for other good playstyles.

Meta perks are just boring and I know how annoying they're to play against.

If I'm not after some specific challenge I just use perk roulette. It's fun to get a random set of perks and adapting your playstyle to make the best use of them.

I have my staple DH DS and BT on dvery survivor