My final thoughts on Deathslinger after playing as him and against him for almost two months
I've been playing Dead by Daylight for almost two years now, and and I've been loving it since. Survivor is very joyful, SWF or not. And killer is very fun and awesome. I've played as every killer and I've played against every killer. And then I stumbled upon Deathslinger.
A 110% killer who has a gun, awesome!
To many people he was very fun upon release. And he gets compared to Huntress quite a lot. And to be honest they do have similarities. How they reload and how they both preform in the chase. So I wanted to take a look with some friends on KYF. We did this when Oni came out, we compared him to Hillbilly. So we did the same for Deathslinger and Huntress. From first glance, he seemed a bit up there with Huntress. But after a week one of my friends found a tactic to use against Deathslinger. After Deathslinger injures you, you then start to drop pallets prematurely. We then tested it, and after using this tactic it became very clear on how this killer will turn out in the long run. Being a 110% killer and being easily countered in chase is very bad. And after weeks upon weeks of playing as him and against him, survivors started using the premature pallet dropping technique against Deathslinger. And dear lord it was bad. Not just bad but boring too, you go in a chase, get injured, and then you start prematurely dropping pallets down making it to where you can't down a survivor without wasting precious time. It felt really boring going against Deathslinger because all I had to do was one simple thing. And playing as Deathslinger and going against survivors prematurely dropping pallets was SUPER unfun. I then just went with it, hoping someone was gonna come up with an insane tactic to counter this nonsense, nothing. So here we are now with Deathslinger being out for almost two whole months, and for now I see him as the worst 110% killer in the game. 110% killers' whole deal is to be excellent in chase, but Deathslinger has so many counters to him in the chase it's gotten to where when I face him, all I see is wasted potential for the first ever Dead by Daylight killer with a gun. Usually killers who are considered boring in chase are killers that are considered overpowered. But Deathslinger has simply way to many counters, more than just prematurely throwing pallets down.
Some buffs I would consider on him is to make it to where he can pull survivors over pallets. It seems to be the most reasonable considering how many times I've thrown a pallet down DIRECTLY In Deathslingers face and just knowing that he's wondering why he can't just shoot me and pull me over the piece of wood.
I honestly think that the change would massively benefit Deathslingers laughable pallet play, it will actually make the survivors think for a moment on weather it's a good idea to drop the pallet down or keep going.
I know many people will think it's overpowered but it would seem reasonable, Huntress can do it just fine. Plus she doesn't even have a cool down after hatchet throws, whereas Deathslinger does AND he has to reload.
I hope this post will have an effect on Deathslingers future, considering I find myself lucky to actually find Deathslingers after a month of his release.
I just wish better for this killer, for both Deathslinger and survivors. Cause right now he's weak enough to where he's not just boring and frustrating to play as, but just a rinse and repeat of just throwing pallets down as survivor without the Deathslinger I'm facing to not even have fun.
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people throw down pallets early because it is literally the only thing that works against him, if you're in the open its an easy shot & he can pull you up to windows and hit you through them. deathslinger can also aim and fire in a split second, whereas huntress takes time to wind up and put away hatchets.
if he could pull you over pallets there would be literally nothing you could do to avoid going down.
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I actually think Deathslinger is better than Huntress. No windup, decent potential for stealth (or more like sneak-ups) and smaller projectile size. Lets him deal with loops better than Huntress and isnt map reliant (LoS blockers and locker placement). If throwing pallets down faster is the best strategy against Deathslinger, then this last update that made tiles more separated made him even better.
Honestly, the only change for Deathslinger I would like to see is giving him a longer max range. Because 18m is pretty disappointing.
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it isn't true. when he ADS, he has like this crazy alarm sound. the shots you need to do vs deathslinger are near pixel perfect, so even a little swaying from side to side can randomly make him miss. Use LOS blockers as you move forward is also good way safety measure for not getting shot. Most deathslinger shoot in two particular instances. they do it when you approach an wall for when you turn a corner. it is good guess to bait out the shot. The other instance they tend to shoot are the little holes within loops or windows/pallets that you are about to come across. Throwing down pallets isn't 100% safe, but it makes easier to predict shots he might take during the loop.
I don't think deathslinger was meant to be good at loops. I think he was meant to be good at catching people out of position and downing them before they get to a loop. The issue is that he moves 110% and the health states that survivors have are way too good safety nets for achieving that goal. I feel like his gameplay starts really make way more sense when you have Monitor&abuse and Nurse calling. He has 16 base TR out of chase and 18 meter range, so he has just enough range to shoot someone outside of his TR while being able to see someone healing under nurses calling. With no mobility tools, very long 1vs1 chases times(compare to other killers) or no real way in spread multiple injuries very quickly, It is very hard to capitalize on his strengths. Deathslinger playstyle is too slow for the game.
I think best change they could do for deathslinger is remove distance restriction of his iridescent coin add-on so we see more Deathslinger. It is real shame as it was fun to face him in first two weeks and now you barely see him. The only time you ever see Deathslinger win is when they camp hooks and your entire team gets slugged from attempting a hook save. Just survivor playing bad I guess.
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Deathslinger's ADS sound is a high pitched squeal-like sound and it only is triggered when he's aiming directly at you. Quick-scoping as him provides little to no warning. Which I think is ok but a little too fast
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I don't think he's better than huntress. She can down survivors across pallets and she can get a quick follow if she hits you with a hatchet without the need for save the best for last
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That's really dumb if that's the case, good survivors won't be out of position as much as an inexperienced survivor. All I'm saying is that Deathslinger is TO easy to counter making it unfun and boring for me and The Deathslinger.
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Thank you.
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Yeah but all that no windup and stealth won't stop him from getting hard countered from a simple early pallet drop. If you drop a pallet in front of a Huntress you're down. That's why I think that if Deathslinger can pull survivors over pallets, he would be WAY more intimidating and better in chase to make up for being 110%.
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I basically gave out an idea on how he can be better in chase. If he could pull survivors over pallets, his main counter would be to juke his shots, just like Huntress. 110% killers are meant to be strong in the chase to make up for their lack of mobility. Which in Deathslingersome case, he has no mobility and is easily countered in chase.
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At the same time though, that's WAY to easy to counter him. If he could pull survivors over pallets you'd have to treat him a lot like Huntress, juke his shots. He may have to wind up time, but you have to be insanely accurate with him, plus having to reel them in and all that stuff.
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since when forcing a early palette drop is a hard counter to any killer ? if anything its a soft throw from survivors AND ITS GOOD FOR HIM , againts any decent killer players if you just insta drop pallets and don't try to use them to loop and waste some time you are just throwing , its the same reason why doc and freddy are so annoying and OP because you can't loop them and are force to early drop pallets all the time and waste your ressource without being able to even try maximize their potential
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Your logic is pretty stupid no offense. People can throw down pallets against hillbilly too to avoid chainsaw but it doesnt counter hillbilly.Change your playstyle maybe
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Billy doesn't have so many built in counters though, and he can instadown survivors. He doesn't struggle in terms of mobility of course unlike Deathslinger who does everything slower than other 110% killers. Billy can easily hard punish survivors who are out of position whereas Deathslingers chain can break anytime due to measly debris. Seriously you try playing Deathslinger for almost two months instead of jumping to conclusions instead of checking your facts.
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I'm not even gonna dignify that with a response. You're in the wrong place if you wanna call Doctor and Freddy OP, ridiculous.
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Doc and freddy are OP everyone knows it , only killer mains like to pretend they arent
you don't answer because you know i am right and you can't counterargue me you are just using them as a strawman to avoid this argument that you have already lost , even if i didnt called doc and freddy OP it doenst change the fact that wasting pallets by early dropping them is never bad for any killer and always a soft throw from survivors
if anything deathslinger forcing survivors to waste their ressources because you can't loop him and being almost a stealth killer with monitor is too strong and need a nerf
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You know who thinks killers like Doc and Freddy are OP?
People who aren't good at looping them, or looping killers in general.
They're both very much still reliant on their chase skills, as their powers do nothing to help them get downs and kills. Deathslinger still requires you to be actually good at aiming, something most people actually aren't good at.
I'm sorry but you're very much in the wrong, git gud. I mean it. I'm sick of bad survivors muddying the matchmaking thinking the killer they are versing are overpowered when in reality it's just their own skill that's gone down.
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i am really good at looping killers thank you very much and i would love to hear how i am suppose to loop a freddy or doc whne doc just stuns me whne i get near the pallets or window making it unable to be used and freddy just put a trap down , cmon gimme ya pathetic advices so i can laugh at them and then destroy them
their powers don't help them get kills ? their power make the only survival tools of survivors unable to be utilized
yes but if you can aim with him he is OP and boring to play againts and being hard should never be an excuse for something being OP , and also its not that hard tbh
git gud ? maybe your rank 20 skills are good at rank 20 but in my red rank they arent
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I personally still have the very strong opinion that guns do not belong in DBD. That is not horror, that's not what this game is.
For survivors, he's downright oppressive to go against. "Spam A/D", yeah, that only works to a point. You're still praying that he misses. I don't wanna spam A/D constantly during EVERY.SINGLE.CHASE, that's just boring. I am so disappointed that this even passed QA standards.
I would honestly take an iri heads+infantry belt huntress over this every single game. At least you can counter it.
I'm sorry, but deathslinger requires no skill at all. Skill to aim for .02 seconds? Anyone can do that, especially since all the world's top games are all, guess what? Shooters!!
I really can't help but feel like DBD is eventually gonna go down the same road Deathgarden has.
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Well if you were actually good then you wouldn't be complaining about a killers power. From what I'm hearing you sound like you don't like putting effort into things and just pawn it off as op. Maybe if you actually played high level killer you'll understand things won't just be given to you and you'll probably complain about killer being to hard because it requires skill.
And I know you don't play enough Deathslinger to know how easy it is to counter him.
I dunno it's just funny to hear you say you're good at looping killers when you can't even loop a Doctor, or even worse a Freddy. It just shows that if you have to do anything other than mindlessly loop a killer, you'll go down in about five seconds. So before you bud in to any conversation, learn how to loop more efficiently instead of calling something op when something doesn't go your way.
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Well i agree that deathslinger power is very underwhelming when also taking into the account that he is only 110% killer and that he has no good addons outside reload speed.
In my opinion he should get addons overhaul, to make them actually useful.
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Her hatchet cooldown is the same as if you had 8 stacks of STBFL.
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Almost every killer can be countered by dropping pallet early.
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You definitely don't have enough experience against him. He isn't oppressive at all when you drop the pallet early, and for a killer who is 110% and has zero pallet play, that's sad. Every other lower movement speed killer has pallet play besides him, that's why in people's eyes who know how to counter him consider him very weak. Try and actually predicting where he's gonna shoot instead of praying that he's gonna miss, his small hitbox won't help him. Seriously try prematurely dropping pallets, he's helpless, instead of praying that he's bad.
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I appreciate you understanding how weak he actually is, most people have no experience against him and just pawn him off as op. But better add ons will not help how easily counterable he is in chase tho.
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Except 110% killers, the whole deal of a 110% killer is that they can end chases in mere seconds. But Deathslinger struggles at downing survivors who know how easy it is to counter him. It's illogical why every 110% killer can f*ck you up at dropped pallets, or even in the chase in general except Deathslinger, who does everything at a way slower pace. Don't compare Deathslinger to Hillbilly, a 115% killer whose power is made to eat pallets at a way faster pace than normal, has an insta down, and has insane gen pressure due to his chainsaw sprint. Most killers are very different in terms of ups and downs so comparing a low tier, easy to counter in chase 110% killer like Deathslinger to a high tier chainsaw sprinting, pallet ignoring 115% killer is pretty unfair to say the least.
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Lol I laughed at this. As if I didn't try that.
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I highly doubt you have, considering you pray for Deathslinger to miss his shot instead for actively trying to dodge it, the reason why he can aim so quickly is because the hitbox for the spear is super tiny. Whereas Huntress has to wind up but her hitbox is far from a tiny measly dot.
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Well, it depends. If they were so impactful on his power as pallet freddy or some of the nurses addons, it could actually fix the issue. The only annoying thing it would be that, he would become a very addon dependend killer.
Another eazy fix would be making him 115% killer with some nerfs to his power. I dont think that buffs to the power would be the right way, it would make him broken.
When it comes to the speed buff... well, he could become the 2nd 112,5% killer, like the shoe hag, which probably would also fix the problem with that, how thight is his power itself for balancing.
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I will tell you a secret about the balancing.
Scaling is more powerful in the end than flat strength. If scaling is on pair with it at the end, its much, much weaker because you lack the snowball at the start.
It works like that in every single type of the game.
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What does this have to do with what I said? (I was confirming what he said, if anything...)
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Being a 115% limited range killer doesn't sound right.
If he struggles in chase so much and if he's 110% killer, he should have buffs for his power. Normally if a killer is 110%, they're chase potential is very very great such as Huntress or Spirit. They're great in chases so it can make up for they're slow movement speed. That being said my entire discussion was on about how Deathslinger's power isn't very reliable in chase for him being 110%. So it should make sense for buffs like pulling survivors over pallets or better yet give him some sort of built-in STBFL for his power.
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Deathslinger could be allowed to pull Survivors over pallets... However, the reel bar should turn red and have increased consumption rate so that it can only be done if the Survivor is not too far past the pallet.
Alternatively, if the Deathslinger performs a basic attack while a Survivor is being reeled, their basic attack should break any pallet or breakable wall that the weapon makes contact with. This stops the survivor from getting too far beyond the pallet while also breaking the pallet. This also rewards the Killer's skill/accuracy while not punishing the Survivor too heavily, as the Deathslinger still has to reload after breaking the pallet before shooting again.
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Well, you forget here also about one thing. They both can apply map pressure. If huntress had range limit of 20m, she would be useless because you couldnt scare off or sometimes even hit survivors off the gens. Spirit on the other hand can use her power to traverse the map quickly.
Deathslinger lacks in both of these qualities. Because of it he needs a speed buff or an addon, that would make his power work somewhat differently.
And about 115% limited range killer... we already have one. It's demogorgon with his pounce ability. Loops that are shut down by deathslinger power are shut down by demo as well with the difference that deathslinger have harder time on them. Perfect example is killershack which is completely shut down by demo, while deathslinger needs a little more time for this loop.
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Oh god no. There really is no skill behind aiming, considering all the world's top games are shooters .... Anyone can do it. This would make him unbearable to go against.
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It's not about skill though.
His 110% move speed was justified in a recent stream because of his "effective range." However, his effective range is nullified (barring edge cases on certain tile layouts) as soon as the pallet is dropped before the shot. As mentioned, other 110% killers have advantages or work-arounds for pallet play: Hag can mark, Spirit can phasewalk, Huntress can throw. The Deathslinger only wastes time by using his power at the pallet and putting a mend state onto a survivor by shooting them.
This leaves him two alternate paths that lead to the same outcome:
- Waste time breaking the pallet
- Waste time running around the pallet until he has no choice but to break it
The pallet has to be broken.
This is more painful for a 110% killer who has to spend more time catching up. Brutal Strength and/or Fired Up only help slightly while Spirit Fury and Enduring are useless against early drops. Even with the effective range restored after the pallet break, the survivor has gained enough distance for that effective range to mean little; especially if they make it to the next pallet. Even if all the pallets were broken and the survivor gets caught in a dead zone they can still juke. Even if they get hit, they still have to be reeled in for the damage state, unlike the Huntress' ranged attack. This all takes time and time is the killer's enemy.
I don't see how stopping a survivor from getting far from a pallet while also breaking it can be overbearing; especially if the killer still has to recover from a break animation and still has to catch up at 110%.
Post edited by Nos37 on1 -
It's not like survivors will just give you the shot tho.
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I've also noticed that Deathslinger is very scary and good with 8 stacks of STBFL, even against good survivors.
Maybe that could be another buff idea, Deathslinger could have a built in STBFL in some way that's one reason how Huntress is so great in chase. That and she can get a confirmed down at any dropped pallet of course.
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Not sure what Save the Best for Last has to do with dragging Survivors over pallets or breaking pallets. Save the Best for Last only reduces cooldown of successful basic attacks. It should not affect the animation speed of breaking a pallet.
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Reading through this, here are my thoughts. Now, not saying this to boast or say "I'm the best at the game," but just to show that, hey, I've been playing a while too. (before reset) I was a rank 1 survivor, and I have more time than I would care to admit in this game. I play killer fairly often too, but not as good there.
In my experience playing against and as deathslinger, he's grossly overpowered. There is a SINGLE counterplay against him (dropping pallets early), which notably, doesn't even work if you can't take cover behind a wall, since he can shoot you, and allow you to break the chain, thus deeply wounding you. Yeah, you're stunned for a tiny bit, but now they have to mend and heal, and they wasted one of the pallets on the map. Vaulting windows is useless, as he can shoot you from 15 meters away, and drag you close enough to stab you through the window.
If your shot out in the open (which there is SO much open space now), there's nothing you can do. You can't even try to get to the other side of some of the set pieces, since you'll just slide off them. And even if he can't drag you close enough to hit you, he can shoot, drag you close, then just m1 to release you: no punishment for him, he failed using his power, but now you're far closer, with no speed boost for you, and no stun for him. Sure he has to reload, but that's... very minor. His reload time is negligible.
His ability to quickscope, that's the biggest problem. You have to constantly watch him while running to be able to try and dodge his split-second shot. Huntress at least has a large windup that has enough time to give you a chance to react, and also a very audible warning. Yes, he has his tiny little "alarm" sound.. but honestly, me and my friends didn't notice until we took him into KYFs a week after he came out and I noticed the sound. No one in our group had ever noticed beforehand. And again, since he can quickscope, that benefit doesn't exist if the deathslinger is any good.
All in all, I like the deathslinger conceptually. But like legion when they first came out, he needs to be reworked. Again, like old legion, there is almost no counterplays. I think with a few tweaks to his power (removing his ability to release the survivor from the chain, making his ability to suck survivors in, or increasing their ability to remains stuck on the scenery) would make him fair and balanced, personally. Plus the fact that breaking the chain deeply wounds you, and gives such a short stun on the death slinger means he can break the chain an annoying loop, forcing you to run wounded (if you stay, he can just kick the pallet) he can go through the stun, reload, and still hit and down you if you haven't made it to a second loop or some scenery that you can't drag you out of. And even if it's the second, he can still shoot you and hold you there as he approaches, then let go when you're about to break the chain.
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Literally thank you. I don't know why people try to tell me that he's strong and say I'm just bad when I've been playing DBD for two years and I've been playing JUST Deathslinger for two months straight to give out my thoughts on him with experience to back me up.
I think another big thing with people who say Deathslinger is strong in chase is that some may have that mentality to not "waste" pallets. They think that dropping pallets down early is a big mistake, letting the Deathslinger get an easy shot because of the survivor being greedy.
It's very annoying when someone disagrees with me and then they immediately say something that just proves my point that they haven't played as him enough or played against him and tried to exploit his alarmingly easy counters enough.
Thank you for not being so ignorant.
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Try playing AS him, I've played against a lot of teams who know how to counter Deathslinger and it shows just how alarmingly weak he is. I'm telling you, your opinion will change later down the line if you play as him more. I've played JUST Deathslinger for the past two months now and I've been playing DBD for two years and I was at rank 1.
The reason why Deathslinger is so weak is because how his power works while being a 110% killer.
110% killers whole deal is that they can end chases a lot faster than 115% killers to make up for they're slower movement speed.
So in that case if a survivor drops a pallet down, a 110% killer can capitalize on it majorly. For instance, Hag can place a trap on the other side, Huntress can bait and throw a hatchet over the pallet, Spirit can mindgame/ phase walk and read the survivor at the pallet.
But in Deathslingers case he has ZERO options. His power serves him nothing if the pallet is dropped, so he is forced to break it no matter what. Then that results in just a rinse and repeat chase until the survivor poorly times a window, makes a big mistake in general, or the Deathslinger leaves them. And being a 110% will hurt him majorly if he can't get a down fast enough.
He's good at injuring survivors, but struggles a lot at downing them which isn't good if he's a 110% killer and can't down survivors fast enough.
And the reason why he has instant aim is so it can make up for how small the hitbox is for his spear. While Huntress has to wind up, but her hatchets have a bigger hitbox.
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Oh it's just an idea considering he has to reel, wipe his weapon, reload, and he's losing LOTS of distance because he's 110%.
I'm saying he should have a built in STBFL like Huntress does after she hits a hatchet. Maybe he should after he hits a speared survivor.
Think of it as that, when Huntress hits a survivor with a hatchet she goes into a short cooldown animation while still retaining her 110% movement speed.
If Deathslinger had something like that he could pull a survivor over a pallet, hit them while having that Huntress hatchet cooldown, possibly then downing them or reloading without having to worry about losing as much distance then before and then possibly doing it again.
I just thought it could be another idea y'know?
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"In my experience playing against and as deathslinger, he's grossly overpowered."
Then why is nobody playing him? I thought everyone plays shooters and it doesn't take skill to aim...
Post edited by Nos37 on1 -
Or ... Don't wanna play him because we don't wanna make survivors suffer? kekw
I am fully allowed to not like a certain killer. And I am fully allowed to have an opinion on one.
I have friends who have infact played him and they still agree that he's oppressive to survivors. Even streamers with 5/6k hours agree.
The "his power / he sucks to play as" doesn't really justify an argument at all. Let's be honest, a lot of killers aren't really viable, except a small select few.
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Oh yeah? Who are the streamers?
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OhTofu played him a lot and pretty much said the survivors can't really do anything.
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If you're on pc, I would love to hop in a custom game to show you that you can play most tiles as deathslinger if you know what you're doing. His counterplay is completely unreasonable entirely because of his ability to quickscope.
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A quickscoping Funslinger has just as much interactivity and mindgame potential for survivors as Spirit.
Unlike Huntress, Funslinger doesn't have a high skillcap either.
Practicing cross-map snipes and all the properties of hatchets depending on how long you wind it up and the angle you're throwing it from takes hundreds of hours on Huntress. Getting the hang of quickscoping with Funslinger only takes a few games.
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Quickscoping doesn't guarantee the down.
I've played him for two months straight now and some of the things he has problems with would not be a problem for every other 110% killer. For instance he cannot play around dropped pallets but other 110% killers can. So instead, The Deathslinger has no other option other than to break it and while he's doing that the survivor will abuse his 110% movement speed and easily go on the the next loop rinse and repeat.
110% killers whole deal is to have the ability to end chases quickly to make up for their slower movement speed. But for Deathslinger that is not the case, definitely not.
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