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Is playing survivor Harder than killer?

I was having a discussion with somone who plays and their take was that playing killer is Way easier than survivor. The examples they used is that playing Bubba and running up to people and chainsawing them pretty much gets u 4ks. And that A good bubba vs a good swf he'll still dominate no matter what. What is your guys take? I personally believe that survivor is easier than killer. I personally steer clear of playing killer cuz its too stressful for me.

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Comments

  • shadowman0105
    shadowman0105 Member Posts: 261

    If your playing with people on coms then the match succees will depend on personal skill and communication.

    if your playing solo you will have three coin tosses on how your randoms act which could determine the outcome of the match.

    in my opinion killer is harder then survivor.

  • Raulillo
    Raulillo Member Posts: 179

    No it isn't. There are a lot of things you can ignore as survivor like sound hints and still be pretty decent. Also survivors can play relying on reacting the killer while the killer has to play more mind games. It's less reacting and more predicting.

    The thing that confuses the difficulty for both roles is the learning process, it's easier to pick a killer than pick survivor at first. But later on both sides change position. On high levels of play killer is much tough to step into. The point when you have to start doing mind games all the time is when everythin changes.

    If you ask players that play both at the same level, they will tell you that survivor is easier. Killers have to play very hard to get a good match. On the other hand you can play survivor with no perks, no items and listening to music... and you will get a normal match outcome: a gen done, a couple of loops and escape.

  • Flatskull
    Flatskull Member Posts: 332
    edited June 2020


    If a good swf is losing to a bubba then they are not a good swf. Most of the time when bubba gets 4K with his power it's purely because either the people he is playing with are messing around, purposefully giving to him for some odd reason or because they are absolutely terrible and maybe...because that Bubba has become insanely good at bubba specifically for some reason.


    Or an insanely lucky bubba. It happens.


    The problem with trying to compare two sides is that what determines their ease is not their performance it's the level of energy and skill put in for comparable resuilts. As killer you're 1 guy hunting down and finding people with 4 perks each, items and addons all doing their own thing while you watch gens pop left and right. One bad call can lead to a gen pop because you inspected the wrong area of the map. As survivor your main hardships come not from the taks of m1ing gens or doing loops around an object because loops are brain dead. Once they start you already gain additional 30 seconds unless you balls it up in some obvious way.


    As survivor your hardship comes primarly from other survivors.


    So


    My conclusion would be this.


    It's harder to play killler...BUT...it's more reliable. You can rely on yourself and only yourself to do what you think is absolutely needed at any time. Even if you make a bad call it was a call you felt actually contributed to the objective.


    As survivor it's easier...but more unreliable. You never know what team you're going to get ontop of what killer you're going to get and while survivors have a lot of perks you can really sort of guess what mosto f them are and as killer...YOU GOT to know what survivor perks are otherwise you'll be eternally rank 12 most likely. But most survivors don't neccesarily have to know what perks killer have got and can't always deduce what perks they are using. They are not always as visible as survivor ones are.


    I mean. It's obvious when a survivopr using lithe. How the hell do you guess a killer is using say...survelliance?



    Add ontop this that other survivors may just bugger around. Memeing it up. Explotiing. Looting chests and so on than genrushing. Even if it easier it don't help much when unpredictable or even predictably unhelpful stuff is going on around you. It's one of the reason SWF is so busted. Because a big part of what meant to balance survivor is the unreliability, but now your comming team perk builds with your friends and even if you aren't comming you still removed a massive part of the unpredictability.

  • Yamaoka
    Yamaoka Member Posts: 4,321

    Let me start off by saying both sides have a relatively big learning curve at this point.

    As a survivor you have to:

    - memorize map layouts and dead zones

    - work on your reaction times

    - optimize your decision making (which is the main difference between strong and weak survivors)

    - learn how to loop and combine pallets, windows and other structures with optimal movements without getting stuck on things all while keeping an eye on the killer (so basically you separately need perfect body AND camera movement to run loops efficiently)

    - you need to learn how to mindgame the killer allowing you to gain distance or completely lose the killer

    - think about your teammates and THEIR decisions and memorize what pallets they used to avoid running to dead zones

    etc. etc. etc.

    The killer has to:

    - master the killer's power

    - learn how to find survivors

    - learn how to mindgame survivors if the killer's power itself can't effectively down a survivor (Bubba's chainsaw is useless in a chase against optimal survivors unless you manage to mindgame them big time)

    - optimize decision making

    - memorize map layouts as well

    - learn when and for how long to commit to chases

    - learn how to pressure gens

    - learn what pallets are save and which ones are not (bad killers will often try to bloodlust strong pallets for instance and lose way too much time in the process)

    etc. etc. etc.


    Long story short: Both sides require skills.

  • Quol
    Quol Member Posts: 694

    Killer at low rank is easier because the survivors have no idea what their doing or even where they are. I can tell you that when I just started survivor I spent more time looking for gens than doing gens. And survivors are so bad at skill checks they went off like fireworks for the entire match. All the killer has to do is kill and you honestly think those potatoes can loop? They get ecstatic if they can find a pallet, which they instantly drop.

    It's at high rank that things change. The non boosted ones know how to loop you for a while and if they mess up they can cash in one of their second chance perks while the others crank out gens. Survivors know where all the possible gen spawns are and almost never miss skill checks, devs had to nerf great skill checks because of how survivors would speedrun a gen after hitting multiple in a row.

    And all of this isn't getting into swf, the amount of second chance perks survivors can pick from, killer being in constant stress while survivors only stress out for a fraction of the match, or the fact that survivors start off the match with a huge advantage to the point the devs pointed that out and are working on some early game event to fix that.

  • Aven_Fallen
    Aven_Fallen Member Posts: 16,343

    Last time I played against a 4 man with Bubba I got a 4K. Spanish Streamer with his friends. Got even a "Thank you for no toxic camping" at the end.

  • GeordieKiller
    GeordieKiller Member Posts: 413

    best way to put in low ranks its easier to play killer than survivor in high rank its easier to play survivors than killer

  • MusicNerd_TC
    MusicNerd_TC Member Posts: 3,099

    All you have to do as survivor is run around loops in circles until the killer is close enough for you to stun. Also you have to know how to hit skill checks and you are good for survivor. Certain perks help survivors even more like ds, borrow time etc. Killer is much, much harder. I can't begin to explain how much harder and more stressful killer can be.

  • BlueFang
    BlueFang Member Posts: 1,379
    edited June 2020

    It depends really on the individual player, team, and just mm rng. I consider both sides at base to be the same amount of difficulty with a little bit leaning towards survivors. Its far harder to learn survivor then it is killer at the start. Back in 2018-2019 I would have said Killer is more difficult due to the perks, items, and other conditions at play. But now with the nerfs and all I would have to say It goes like this. In descending order from level of difficulty from hardest to easiest

    Solo Survivor

    Lower tier killer


    Meta Killer/SWF

    SWF with coms

  • aregularplayer
    aregularplayer Member Posts: 906

    It's different.

  • Dead_by_Gadfly
    Dead_by_Gadfly Member Posts: 3,772
  • WeenieDog
    WeenieDog Member Posts: 2,184

    Though survivor may be a bit easier, they both can be equally frustrating at times.

  • Bovinity
    Bovinity Member Posts: 1,522

    They're definitely different skill sets.

    I mostly main killer, and while I can generally point out survivor mistakes and misplays, or offer suggestions on a better play in the situation, I'm not actually great at playing the role.

    My wife, on the other hand, is a red rank survivor but can't play killer for more than 5 minutes at rank 20 without getting a headache.

  • Poweas
    Poweas Member Posts: 5,873

    No, but survivor (solo) is definitely more stressful than killer. That being said though, I only play the harder killers, and some killers like Freddy would be easier than survivor (solo) from what I've seen. (No shade to Freddy mains ily guys <3)

  • FellowKillerMain
    FellowKillerMain Member Posts: 858

    Killers are punished with cool downs for most of their regular actions, survivors are not. That should tell you a lot.

  • Dead_by_Gadfly
    Dead_by_Gadfly Member Posts: 3,772

    What rank killer have you gotten to?

    Im r1 in both and find killer far more stressful. You have to keep track of 4 different people, what theyre playstyles are, which gen theyre working on, where'd the guy with the flashlight go, how many times theyve been hooked, which gens are currently being worked on, where is that guy with the flashlight, is anyone trying to work on one of your three gens, seriously where the ######### is the flashlight, where are the dead zones, is the survivor running the tile in the direction, is that a key?, am I about to get pallet stunned when i pick this guy up, nope theres the flashlight guy.

    Solo survivor its who is the killer, how bad are my teammates, where are the dead zones, what perks is killer running. Its chill af.

  • Kaethela
    Kaethela Member Posts: 348

    Playing killer is infinitely more stressful. I enjoy the gameplay of that side more but I do not enjoy the endless bullying and rudeness, plus the toxicity in endgame chat.

  • Poweas
    Poweas Member Posts: 5,873

    I've gotten to 1 as both sides, although I do play Spirit, Huntress, Oni, Myers, Hag and sometimes Nurse. So I don't really play the 'bad' killers, aside from the odd Demo, Pig, Leatherface or Trapper. Maybe I just have a more level head as killer, since as survivor bad teammates REALLY stress me out, and I always get them. Strangely enough, I face good survivors as killer all the time lol.

  • Dead_by_Gadfly
    Dead_by_Gadfly Member Posts: 3,772

    Or maybe bad teammates just dont stress me out for some reason, theyre annoying sure, but its not "stressful" (for me at least). I dont even care if I die as survivor, if I do I usually know what mistake i made and/or what mistake a teammate made that put me in that position.

    Playing as a strong killer or not theres still a lot more information you have to keep track of in a very short amount of time, thats just an objective fact. MOST people find that stressful.

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,442

    It's a different game. Completely different skillset. It's like asking if tennis is more difficult than basketball. I think it's easier to be an average survivor than an average killer, but being a top tier survivor is very difficult.

  • 5thPerkSlot
    5thPerkSlot Member Posts: 395

    It is easier to play surv, it is harder to master surv specially at looping

  • Dead_by_Gadfly
    Dead_by_Gadfly Member Posts: 3,772

    You think running in circles is harder than learning nurse?

  • weirdkid5
    weirdkid5 Member Posts: 2,144
  • Poweas
    Poweas Member Posts: 5,873

    Yeah, I probably stress less when relying solely on myself and not on teams.

  • Dead_by_Gadfly
    Dead_by_Gadfly Member Posts: 3,772

    Theres some skill involved but yeah its really silly to think looping is harder to master than most of the killers on the roster

  • weirdkid5
    weirdkid5 Member Posts: 2,144

    "Some skill"

    That skill just amounts to making the right decision at the right time, which is more or less a guessing game when you have an LOS blocker. Otherwise it's one of those things that is impossible to mess up unless you get way too greedy.

  • ActulCasul
    ActulCasul Member Posts: 178

    Rank 1 survivor. I straight up zone out while playing and go in autopilot, making drastic mistakes and still escape.

    Since deciding to main nurse I've depipped into purple ranks and want kill myself. But now I actually feel like I'm doing something instead of holding a button on my controller.

  • Rivyn
    Rivyn Member Posts: 3,022

    Considering survivor queues take ten minutes, and killer takes 15 seconds? I think that's pretty explanatory.

  • kaeru
    kaeru Member Posts: 1,568

    Umbra once said how it ordered by streingth in her opinion.

    From weak to strong:

    Solo survivor

    2 survivor SWF

    Killer

    3 survivor SWF

    4 survivor SWF

  • Raven014
    Raven014 Member Posts: 4,188

    Or Legion? Or any killer, really? Each has their own intracacies...

  • Frankie
    Frankie Member Posts: 807

    Killer is the harder role in the game. Second place being solo survivor. Third being SWF survivor.

    Any other answer is wrong. Period.

  • LALYTHIA
    LALYTHIA Member Posts: 1,656

    It's not really a cut and dry answer. It depends on the killer selected, the play style employed, the status of the survivor team, and the skill level of each individual in the match.

  • ShrimpTwiggs
    ShrimpTwiggs Member Posts: 1,181

    I'm a survivor main because I find it more relaxing than killer. That should answer your question.

  • Todgeweiht
    Todgeweiht Member Posts: 3,666

    It depends, in solo qeue your teammates make the game harder than the killer actually does, so there is that

    Looping is easy, now, learning to properly loop without getting mindgamed by the killer is a whole other story.

  • thesuicidefox
    thesuicidefox Member Posts: 8,223
    edited June 2020

    Survivor has a steeper learning curve but a low skill ceiling, meaning it's harder to learn how to play survivor well, but once you figure it out then you are basically as good as you can get with survivor.

    Killer is a very low learning curve, but there almost is no skill ceiling. You will hit a skill walls along the way as you get survivors that are better and better. These spots are really rough and where a lot of killers struggle to get better.

    So if you were to make a graph, survivor would look like a steep line that becomes completely horizontal (flat) after a certain point. Killer would look like a series of shallow line ending with a vertical line to the next "step".

    Something like this...

    SURVIVOR

    KILLER

    A lot of people will say "survivor is easy, killer is hard" but that's not exactly true. Survivor IS hard, up to a point then it's easy. Killer is easy at first, but as you get better survivors it becomes harder and harder to get better. The reason survivor is hard at first is because you get punished for every mistake, mistakes you didn't even know you made. Basically you mess up, you die, and there isn't a lot of room for learning the ropes there. The reason killer is easy at first is because survivors don't know at all what to do and just kind of run in straight lines, hide very poorly, or make bad decisions. It doesn't take a lot of skill to play against that, but then when you suddenly encounter a survivor that even knows the basics of looping they will give you a hard time and you will be punished for your mistakes. The difference is you have the entire game to learn from what you are doing. Survivors don't, they make 3 mistakes they are dead unless another better survivor is there to protect them (and even then there is only so much you can do).

  • TheOhioHutcH
    TheOhioHutcH Member Posts: 178

    Killer harder 100%

  • Nebula
    Nebula Member Posts: 1,400

    Your friend definitely sounds newer to the game or in lower ranks. Killer at lower ranks is a breeze and doesn't require much skill but once you start getting into purple and red and facing good swf's, you'll realize what role in this game is much, much harder to play.

  • cheetocultleader
    cheetocultleader Member Posts: 1,260

    I've got a lot more hours in survivor than killer, because I just started leveling killer, but man... I've gotta go with killer being harder to learn. I also think it depends on the rank. A good rank 1 killer is SCARY. A good rank 10 survivor VS a rank 10 killer is probably scarier. My opinion might change once I hit red ranks with killer, but I've got a ways to go.

  • CreepyB4by
    CreepyB4by Member Posts: 13
    edited June 2020

    Is playing survivor harder than playing killer? No. It's not as hard and you don't have to put up with nearly as much BM and immature bullshit as killers do.


    I'm Rank 1 surv and, currently, Rank 6 killer. Rank 1 surv is really, really easy to get, you just have to keep playing. It's almost a guarantee. When it comes to killer, you're going to be facing red ranks almost exclusively if you go any higher than rank 10.

  • NekoGamerX
    NekoGamerX Member Posts: 5,298

    killer is harder hands down survivor a breeze.

  • DeadByCommunity
    DeadByCommunity Member Posts: 157

    Lmao not to be a butt but let's be real anyone who thinks that clearly hasn't put any decent hours into the game let alone both sides.

  • cheetocultleader
    cheetocultleader Member Posts: 1,260

    Oof yes. The BM is real. Playing Survivor I might have 1 person come at me every 10 games. And that's a bit of a stretch. Killer? I've just had 4 games in a row of it. If they win, it's "gg ez bb killer" even whey they are purple ranks. If they lose, it's "you camping / tunneling [REDACTED]." Gets old really fast.

  • LALYTHIA
    LALYTHIA Member Posts: 1,656

    This brings up a good point. What's considered 'harder'? Because if you are basing it solely on ranking up, you are correct. The rank system is a known broken issue.

    If you are talking about meeting objectives or "winning" in any of the multitude of ways people classify that - its highly situational.