I sweatily hit Rank 1 this reset after not playing since the ruin change, here's what I've learned.

I'm not going to pretend this is some kind of insider information or that other people have not brought some of this information to the masses, but it seems to be stuff that is getting left off of a lot of videos even of top tier killer mains.

Before we begin, this isn't a guide for rank 20's, this assumes you already are at least a purple level of skill who is looking to get that final push and get into the red ranks or rank 1.

Q: Does rank 1 matter?

A: No, except for the achievement which may or may not go away when BHVR decides the best way to fix matchmaking is not show us rankings anymore and pretending it's fixed, so this is for those sweaty bastards trying to get this done before it's gone.

1) Location, location, location.

Map offerings are the secret OP weapon for killers, a good map puts you at an immediate advantage. If you are an area killer like Hag or Trapper a smaller map makes your life a lot easier to the point you may not have to be chained to corrupt intervention, if you are a killer like Billy or Nurse with good range maps with lots of open terrain may be better. Realistically analyze yourself on what maps you do best on, then stockpile those addons for your inevitable push.

2) Prepare for the journey.

Like with map offerings it may prudent to spend a month farming bloodpoints for addons and map offerings for your big push, it's going to be important you have your best tools available. Depending on your killer you may have to settle for a good supply of their second best addons depending on how rare their best addons are. Remember the month you plan to do this is not the month you care about BP, so unless your killer really benefits from BBQ and Chili you may be leaving it home this month, and speaking of perks, so that brings me to........

3) Generator slowdown and information.

With the changes to Hex: Ruin it would seem two perk combinations are best for generator slowdown/information.

Combo 1: Hex: Ruin/Surveillance

Positives: If a generator is regressing it is highlighted in white, if it stopped regressing it goes yellow, this will give you an ungodly level of map awareness and help you not waste a lot of time past your original generator patrol. It also helps with finding your first survivor as you approach a generator if it goes white there was a survivor on it. It makes three generator strategies downright devastating as well. Much more fire and forget than the Combo 2.

Negatives: It's a totem, the inherent risk is always it will start in a terrible spot and get cleansed immediately by survivor who spawned literally next to it. Without the Ruin surveillance becomes much more onerous to utilize, requiring a lot of generator kicks to get value from.

Combo 2: Thrilling Tremors/Pop Goes the Weasel

Positives: Stops anyone heading to generators who isn't already working on them, allows you to immediately know which generator is unblocked and go and regress it with Weasel.

Negatives: Both perks require you to down and hook to become effective, meaning you have to be on with pressure right from the jump. Pop and Tremors both have cooldowns that need to be managed efficiently.

Overall combo 1 has more risks but is easier to implement, combo 2 can be more devastating but it's completely based on you getting downs and hooks constantly.

4) Lobby Dodging

People may not like it, but it's the truth, if you see 4 toolboxes, you're lobby dodging, you're not trying to have some "fun experience" you're trying to pip, having three gens pop in 80 seconds is a surefire safety pip at best, we're not looking for that, use your best judgment but for this month you're trying to optimize, you only gotta wait five seconds to re queue.

5) 1-2 Killers

Again, this is not ideal fun, but to stockpile the addons and map offerings 1-2 killers is most likely the best option. Trying to stockpile on too many killers may take too long and really you should be playing your top two killers at all times anyway. Again, you can have fun next month, this is to get to the top of the mountain.