We have temporarily disabled The Houndmaster (Bone Chill Event queue) and Baermar Uraz's Ugly Sweater Cosmetic (all queues) due to issues affecting gameplay.

Visit the Kill Switch Master List for more information on these and other current known issues: https://forums.bhvr.com/dead-by-daylight/kb/articles/299-kill-switch-master-list
The Dead by Daylight team would like your feedback in a Player Satisfaction survey.

We encourage you to be as honest as possible in letting us know how you feel about the game. The information and answers provided are anonymous, not shared with any third-party, and will not be used for purposes other than survey analysis.

Access the survey HERE!

Spine chill is simply unhealthy

Before anyone says its OP or garbage that is NOT the point of this post. The perk is just an unhealthy perk due to the nature of the game. When at least 9 killers get hard countered by Spine chill existing Thats when it becomes a problem. Before i go further into why, I'll say I'm fine with what the perk does. The boosts it gives are fine. I'm just slightly not cool with how MUCH spinechill can do.

It's a genrushing perk when combined with its best friend resilience, giving a fat 15% boost if you are injured and being looked at. And in my opinion genrushing is a term i use when survivors finish gens in my face. Combine with prove thyself and the 2 survivors on that gen are ignoring the speed drop by being in it while also being 15% faster. Which makes those seconds count when its close to completion. Not to mention that the killer can only know it's the work of those perks once that gen is done

It is also a tracking perk, allowing survivors to know exactly when a killer is looking at their direction. No need to listen for the killer because spine chill will just light up. Combined with premonition, it can allow you to effectively pinpoint where the killer is and hide effectively. And guess what? The killer as usual does not know. They just think they got outplayed or something like that

And that's not all because it's also a strong looping perk. Once again with it's bff resilience, you can do some insane vaults that normally wouldn't work. And a killer doesnt know this, they might just think "oh guess i just whiffed, thanks dedicated servers" not to mention on stealth killers it absolutely guts their potential to sneak up or stalk the survivor. And that's not all, it also hurts spirit players because the survivor knows she is looking at them while phasing but the spirit doesnt know that. All she knows is she cant hear their footsteps or noise lol.

Basically spine chill does so much with very little play around it. In every situation the killer has no idea until it hits, and even then when they do know they cant do much against it.

I feel the only nerf spine chill needs is to not turn on and be bright when it activates. It still protects them when on gens because the bar will be yellow and the skillcheck icons will appear. It just wont be as useful in chases and hiding normally because you wont know its on. My idea doesnt gut the perk, it just takes away one of the many things it can do.

If anyone has any insight or a differing opinion let me know

Comments

  • GoodBoyKaru
    GoodBoyKaru Member Posts: 22,817

    I'd be fine with removing it's interaction with vault speed tbh. The fact it "counters" Spirit makes me happy because I hate her and any counter not in the form of sound bugs brings me incredible joy. Them combine Premonition and Spine Chill together to get an exact location I'm fine with, since one of those perks will not help them in a chase and is only good if they're immersed. They'd still have better info with Object though.

    Alternatively just make it light up and increase skill check rates, remove the action speed buff completely (idk, make it so skillchecks appear 10% more often and are 20%/15%/10% harded) and just make it a perk to counter stealth. Like small game is for Freddy, Trapper, and Hag, or Slippery Meat is for... Trapper, and Object is for Freddy (kinda), Spine Chill can be the definitive counter to stealth killers, could be helpful could not be. Also moonwalking/crab walking to gens helps a lot.

  • yandere777
    yandere777 Member Posts: 728

    I'd be fine with vault speed build being gone too because it just makes some vaulting locations too strong. About spirit, i personally wouldn't care because if she had a real built in counter then her power would be useless. Sucks how she is in a tricky spot where if touched she is either too op or too bad.

    Oh that skillcheck idea could be nasty fun with that one Tap perk lol.

    Honestly i feel if a perk is so strong that players have to literally walk differently on the chance that a player has it, its not healthy. Like precautions against stuff is cool and all but i see it like how you basically had to slug the obsession when old DS was a thing, unless they were near a hook. Thats kinda why i didnt bring up that strat because it being a thing is why i consider spinechill unhealthy.

  • yandere777
    yandere777 Member Posts: 728

    Being injured aint that difficult if you are being chased, and that 6% with resilience is a nice 15% boost, which also effects vaults.

    I'm fine with the perk but it doesnt look like you read through what i said, its everything else spine chill does that makes it unhealthy. And unhealthy doesnt mean OP or meta. I wouldn't mind going against the perks you brought up because they have a real counterplay. Spinechill doesnt.

  • yandere777
    yandere777 Member Posts: 728

    Free hits? When the killers whole power relies on if they get a hit or not then I'd say thats kinda a problem. When does bubba get a free hit? Hes as basic as they come. And the killers that are part of that 9 are mostly stealth killers with nurse and spirit mixed in.

    And not to mention stealth killers getting their first hit is part of their gimmick. They can be stealthy for a first hit, but gotta actually down them normally.

    I think you forgot when i said I'm fine with the perk. And when you have to move differently on the off chance of a player using a perk that they may or may not have, thats the issue with it. There's no real counter to it even though it does so much.

    Personally i feel at launch the skillcheck increase was supposed to be a harmful thing. You know when the killer is looking at you but at the cost of harder skillcheck.

  • Popcornchicken11
    Popcornchicken11 Member Posts: 110

    By translation if spinechill is unhealthy because you have to moonwalk to gens, then ds is unhealthy because you have to slug to avoid after hooking someone, and bt is unhealthy because you have to avoid hitting someone after they're unhooked, since there is no real way of knowing if the perks are in play without them activating. Just because something applies an effect without the killers explicit knowledge doesn't inherently make it unhealthy for the game persay. Not that I fully disagree that it's effects can be a bit strong, especially combined with resilience.

  • BigBrainMegMain
    BigBrainMegMain Member Posts: 3,826

    I'm sorry, but Michael's power relies on him to stalk, which everyone already does when the survivor is running away.

    Ghostface is the same way, he needs to stalk, and I don't see Ghostface mains complaining, most complains comes from the the fact that you can reveal him when he's already behind objects.

    Pig, she's a 115% speed killer with an ability to shut down loops.

    Deathslinger, who cares, he has a ranged ability with an already busted terror radius.

    I'm not so dismissive though, I can see where the complains are coming from. You're using a killer who's sole purpose is to have an upper hand on survivors because of your stealth ability and Spine Chill denies that, but....not everyone runs Spine Chill and you need to have a counter to everything.

  • yandere777
    yandere777 Member Posts: 728

    Except those perks also have multiple more counters. By not having a TR you counter bt, which there are a decent amount of TR related perks. DS can be worked around in a reasonable way, by not going for them after they get unhooked, or slug them. My problem with spinechill is how there is no inherent way to counter it, and most the time you will never know if they even have it. You'll eventually find out they have DS or BT if you activate it. Spinechill doesnt do anything of the sort and you'll be left in the dark on if it was dedicated that hurt you or spinechill and resilience.

    I do see where you are coming from though but spinechill counter is not on par with those perks due to them having counters built in