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The Obsessive Use of the Exposed Status
I think the developers at BHVR are obsessed with the exposed status. This is my most un-favourite status, as it leaves you no counter play except to run away before you are downed with one hit.
I'm trying not to complain too much about The Blight's perks, because they are truly good and worth the purchase. But all a survivor has to do to get the exposed status, is to work on a generator that a killer has just kicked – if the killer has the new perk Dragon's Grip. Fun for the killer, but not fun for the survivor.
Let's consider some other applications of the exposed status:
You're looking for the ruin totem and finally find a hex. There's no other hex in force, so you cleanse it. Too bad, that was the Haunted Grounds totem. Now, you and your team-mates are exposed. That Meg that was in a chase at the time will hate you for the rest of the game.
That creepy Myers with the small terror radius looks at you for a minute or so. Welcome to Evil Within 3 and insta-downs. You better hope he hasn't got add-ons that provide infinite tier 3, or the rest of the game is going to be a slaughter-fest – unless the killer is rank 20. I'm okay with Myers in general though, as its his power and it takes time to build-up and you get audible warnings, unlike our next killer…
You're working on your first generator, nearly done. Suddenly, you find yourself exposed and Ghostface creeps from behind a rock. You didn't hear his stalking over the noise of the generator. Too bad, one hit and you're on the floor. At least with Myers it takes time to get to Evil Within 3. But this little mofo will get you exposed in seconds. Time to equip Spine Chill.
Thinking of getting into a locker to avoid detection from BBQ and Chili? Or perhaps you're hiding from the doctor's power? Considering healing yourself with Inner Strength? Maybe you want to try a Head On stun? Think again, if the killer has Iron Maiden, you'll suffer from the exposed status for 15 seconds and your location is revealed for 4 seconds.
Rescuing survivors from a hook is a good thing, right? Well, yes and no. Be wary of the exposed status! If the killer has Devour Hope, when a survivor is rescued from a hook at least 24 metres away, twice, all survivors are exposed. It doesn't stop there. If the killer has Make Your Choice, a hook rescue from at least 32 metres away from the killer, will apply the exposed status effect on the rescuer for up to 60 seconds. Better hope its not a fast moving killer or one that can teleport (such as Hag or Nightmare).
You finally complete the last generator. Everyone dashes to the exits. You hear a scream and realise with horror that the killer has NOED. One hit and your're down and probably won't escape. You cleansed the two dull totems that you came across during the game, but that was not enough. There's no warning until some unfortunate survivor gets downed.
The Blight also comes with a new perk called Hex: Undying. When a different hex totem is cleansed, that hex will be transferred to an existing dull totem. So, that NOED or Devour Hope totem that wreaks so much havoc, might not be cleansed so easily in future.
Most people know all of this already. But when you consider all of the above, it just seems like the exposed status is overused – it does to me at least.
Comments
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It's probably because it's one of only two statuses in the game that actually makes survivors feel threatened. That and exhausted are the only two debuffs that actually make survivors worried and panic. Mangled, Hemmorage, Blindness, Oblivious, they all pop up and survivors laugh them off. Hindered doesn't really make sense in a lot of places and is often such a tiny value that it doesn't matter.
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I don't think they are 'obsessed' with it or that it is 'overused'. it just comes across that way BECAUSE so many run things like ruin or such, making it as annoying as you state.
But having done the 'hit 5 exposed survivors' challenge from the tome, I found it's actually pretty hard to get. Noed is more or less the only surefire way. but even that requires certain work from the killer.
Blight, however, is a gamebreaker as it seems to be right now.
know how one trapper tactic on high ranks is to guard a 3 gen, let the survivors have the others, and trap said 3 gen to then pick them off?
I can see this happen with Blight, just worse.
Every other thing that applies exposed requires some work and gives some decent chance to the survivors. Blight's thing doesn't.
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Yea I partially agree with this. Yes there are alot of exposed status effect perks and killers, but the devs have pretty much stopped with it since ghostface's release (exept for this new gen exposed perk). I feel the same way you do about the oblivious status effect. The devs are constantly adding those atm and almost every killer has an oblivious addon or two now. I feel as if it just takes away from true stealth killers like wraith and ghostface and gives killers stealth abilities for free whilst these true stealth killers sacrifice their power to gain stealth. And yea not a fan of this hex: undying perk. They really want the game to become full of hex builds and one giant gamble (which is why i am against hex perks). Now there are three totem defender perks, retribution, thrill of the hunt and undying, which is just ludicrous. Gimme some more strong skillful perks like pop and surge and less luck of the draw free use ones.
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It's a way to circumvent bad map design without actually having to redesign the maps. Ghost face's stalk is so weak that some people don't even use it and just use his TR hiding ability. Iron Maiden is very very rarely used at high levels because not many people run into lockers nor do they run head on enough to warrant a perk slot. Rescuing survivors is a risky action, that's why the killer is notified of an unhooking. As you stated in your paragraph about NOED, it's only good for getting one kill, what happens if the rest of the survivors just leave the match? Wasting a perk slot for 1 likely kill but not guaranteed kill at the end of the game pales in comparison to perks that are active either at the start of the match to help build pressure to snowball or are just active throughout the match, increasing effectiveness.
The chance of being exposed gives survivors enough pause to think about their actions instead of doing things mindlessly. You have to keep a constant eye on your surroundings for a ghost face so you're not just sitting there mashing space bar on a gen, you have to think about the times you enter lockers or how far the killer is away from the survivor they just hooked. Exposing survivors increases risk, as the survivors no longer have a 20 second grace period after being hit by the killer to run to the other side of the map or to a strong tile.
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Honestly I think exposed is probably one of the three best status conditions. Along with oblivious and undetectable.
All three are amazing when it comes to keeping people on edge.
So it can be frustrating to be in a chase and then have that one person break hunting grounds.
But that moment of complete oh my god I just crapped my pants because this killer is right behind me and exposed is now on is perfect.
Especially from good survivors chases don't really seem that threatening they know how to loop they know how to 360. However when exposed comes into play your on edge because you have only two options hide and hope you don't get found or Outrun and juke the Killer.
Personally it's one of the few times I actually feel like I'm in a horror movie where are all it's going to take is the killer to give me one stab to bring me down.
Oblivious and undetectable do similar jobs to each other as they cause you to be constantly vigilant of your surroundings as one moment of not paying attention behind you could cause you to get grabbed or attacked.
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Yeah, and Spirit is meant to be played in a way that has definite counterplay, on paper.
What something is MEANT to be doesn't matter.
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I'm glad somebody pointed this out because I was thinking of something along these lines the other day. To me it's just Behaviour being Behaviour and applying bandaids to poor game mechanics instead of addressing the cause of the problem. It's like literally everyone: Many people feel like killers are powerless at the moment. Maybe you should give them more tools to deal with survivors more efficiently but making sure things are fair for the opposite side? BHVR: Hell naw dawg, we're gonna make survivors go down in one hit through no fault of their own and no additional effort from the killer. And you better have fun while at it!
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On paper spirit is meant to be played without stridor and phasecamping. which, lbr, would make countering her easier.
But people don't play her 'as meant'. similar with plague. I've seen a couple of players having her be a plain M1 killer, who at best use her vomit to get a quick Broking status on survivors. No infesting gens etc, no corrupt purge at all.
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Spine chill.
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@CalamityJane I hadn't thought about that before, but you're absolutely right. The exposed status does raise the stakes and brings a sense of fear and excitement to the game. I suppose its just some games that make one think it's just too much.
@MeltingPenguins your post made be recall from personal experience, how difficult it can be to hit many exposed survivors and to build up tokens of Devour Hope, before it gets cleansed. But when Devour Hope does get stacked, it's devestating - perhaps that perk is balanced, after all? Maybe just certain maps were you can't find the totems, is when it feels OP? As for the Blight, we'll have to see how the PTB goes. I foresee nerfs on the way.
@Withered8 I've never really had an issue with the oblivious status before. However, if the devs keep on adding aspects to the game to make people oblivious (or any other status effect), it can become too much. Maybe its just certain games that make oblivious seem too much? I suppose you could also add Hex: Haunted Grounds to the list of totem defender perks.
@ZaKzan you made some good points. I've never been skilled with Ghostface and his stalking ability. But there are some good GF players out there who seem to destroy survivors. I suppose it leads people like myself to think that Ghostface is overpowered - just like there are some people who learn to play nurse very well and cause some people to disconnect in frustration. I hear what you say about NOED, however, most good survivors will feel compelled to rescue that last, hooked survivor. Otherwise, you could get salty post-game comments. NOED makes this rescue more difficult, but it could also provide an excuse for the remaining survivors to just leave. The chance of being exposed gives survivors enough pause to think about their actions instead of doing things mindlessly. Agreed, but it just seems like too much sometimes. A survivor gets hooked, better get into a locker or hide behind a gen, in case the killer has BBQ & Chili. Don't heal within the killer's terror radius, as they might have Nurses, and so on. It feels as if there's this growing checklist of things that survivors need to be aware of when they play the game and perform certain actions.
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Dragons grip is a good perk...kind of. It will be god tier in a 3 gen situation, however I feel it's purpose is to discourage the gen tap while being chased shenanigans.
Problem is most solos have a hard time dealing with a 3 gen, so this will greatly effect them. Swf, will of course have little to no problem with it.
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Yes! Spine Chill is amazing and I use it often. But it puts me in a dilemma, as I like to run other perks, but feel forced to use it more often. Allow me to elaborate further...
This is my typical perk build for survivor:
- Bond: Especially useful when playing solo. See what's happening around you, who's in a chase, who needs healing and who can heal you.
- Sprint Burst or Lithe: Everyone needs an exhaustion perk and these are my favourites.
- Iron Will: Amazing perk for avoiding detection whilst injured. Can perform objectives when injured, before finding someone to heal you.
- Spine Chill, Alert, Botany Knowledge, We'll Make It or Borrowed Time: A perk that gives an idea of the killer's whereabouts or something that helps your team mates.
It's difficult for me to decide what my fourth perk should be, but I aim for a detection perk or something that helps team mates. I've learned to live without Self Care, but still feel I need another perk slot. With the increase of stealth killers that avoid detection and stealth perks and add-ons, I often feel compelled to take Spine Chill for perk slot 4, above other options. This prevents me from taking an altruistic perk, such as Borrowed Time or Botany Knowledge.
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Fair point, but isn't that what Overcharged is for?
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To me it's like this:
Devour Hope: Balanced, but requires survivors to pay attention to where people get hooked
Haunted Ground: Semi-Balanced as of now, but easily will go broken with 'Undying'
Iron Maiden: semi-balanced, as you still need to get to the survivor within those 15 sec
Rancor: limits Exposed to 1 survivor, and there's no guarantee the obsession won't kick the bucket beforehand.
Make your choice: semi-balanced leaning towards broken, as the killer needs to be around the hook, aka it's a blessing to campers.
Iri Coin: Broken, most maps can be tricky to hit a survivor from 15m away
Pinky Finger: Semi-balanced, leaning towards broken due to the slowdown effect.
Both Myers and GhostFace need to build up their stuff to expose a survivor, which takes time and a bit of skill...
But dragon?
At highest rank... let's do a bit of mathematics:
exposed statuts lasts 60 secs. scream and aura last 4. effect on gen: 30 secs.
How long does it take to move away from a gen to get a survivor out of one's TR? How long does it take for AFK birds to appear?
theoretically, you can apply dragon, go away, get a survivor exposed, chase and down them, hit them, and immediately kick the next gen.
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All the perks and killers that use the exposed status effect are balanced around that though. It just makes the exposed survivors more vulnerable for some time. Honestly when looking at all killers and all perks, I really don't feel like the Exposed status effect is overused in any way.
I myself never had a problem with the exposed status effect as a survivor.
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Obsessive you say...
Okay...
Last perk with exposed was Iron maiden, which was 6 Killers ago, Last Killer with exposed Power was Ghostface (4 Killers ago) and technically Oni. (2 Killers ago) Last addon with exposed was 1 Killer ago.
This is not obsessive use of an effect, we don't even see it on a regular Killer basis.
It's gonna be fine... Just relax.
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As others have already pointed out, it is the nature of the beast. There are currently only two different status states the Survivors can be in. A third would have to be added to create greater complexity. Doing so would mean that the DEV would have to create more penalties, say injured the same as now, badly injured even more trail and slows the survivor down, and then dying state. More variables means more room for bugs and issues. I'm not against the idea, but we already have an issue with SWF and I'd rather they find a way to balance that first before dealing with this.
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Overcharged is a bad perk, though. It is not worth using just to stop gen taps.
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When the game's balance is so skewered the devs have to give double damage to the killer with soo many perks.
Trigger bait aside, I think you're overthinking it.
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The Overcharge Skill Check isn't cancelled by letting go of the gen.
So in a chase people can still gen-tap.
They should buff Overcharge so letting go of the gen auto-fails the skillcheck.
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If the skill check wouldnt follow a survivor who left the gen and blew up like a normal check then yes it would be.
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I don't see what's wrong with the exposed status effect, it forces survivors to change playstyle and that's great.
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Hemmo and Blindness are worthless. Blindness has some extremely niche situations like vs OoO where its useful. But beyond those its utterly worthless
Oblivious is just difficult to tell if it actually does anything for the killer. Only the survivor knows if it helped the killer, if the killer had some idea when survivors were Oblivious it wouldn't be a problem (Undetectable is good for this reason)
Mangled is nice, its a few more beloved seconds for each heal, which can end up being a lot. Especially if people end up using self care. Its not god tier but its good enough.
Hindered is only impactful when we talk 15% (Clown, Freddy....technically Hag add-on, but that one is aweful because she cant TP). Huntress add-ons that only give 3% is a joke.
Broken is one I dont see get mentioned a lot, mostly because beyond Plague(power), Bubba/Legion (Add-ons) and Forced penance the only ones who apply Broken status are the survivors. But if more killers could apply it would be considered pretty strong.
Madness is technically also a status effect but since its only the doctor I guess it shouldnt be mentioned. But that one is pretty good too.
Deep wound technically counts as well and its fairly good at delaying the game a few more seconds, although thats all it does in 99% of cases. So kind of like a more obvious Mangled.
But yes Exhaust and Exposed are definitely the best and while Exhausted debuffs are probably gonna get nerfed (at least huntress and clown add-ons) I sure hope Exposed doesnt. The reasonbeing that getting it to work (applying it and hitting the survivor) usually requires a lot of work from the killer, or mistakes from the survivors. And it its usually limited in its duration or its on a totem.
Oh no Haunted grounds got broken and 1-2 survivors got downed. Well assuming you recover from those 3 big mistakes, gj you have an advantage. The killer only has 3 perks now. As for Iron maiden.....really? You wanna mention that meme perk?
As for The Blights perks. I mean Dragons grip is pretty nifty, but beyond saving a bit of time its not really that insane. Its basically just "Make your choice" but on a gen. If a killer kicks a gen survivors have 2 choices, wait 30 seconds (for the perk to stop working) or tap it and hide/run for 60 seconds. Its not that game breaking.
All in all, exposed is used a fair amount because its a way to make m1 killers one shot but isn't just giving to you for free. You usually have to do something to get it making it fairly balanced.
TL;DR you shouldnt complain that Exposed is overused. You should complain that most of the other status effects are underwhelming for the most part.
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I just used Myers and Devour Hope with Huntress. I got it in one game, but I played two games because I was enjoying myself and hadn't noticed it was already done.
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My issue with the perks is that they are in place of a proper, base game fix for things like survivors one-tapping to prevent regression and survivors sometimes finding totems too easily. The other perk (that I haven't mentioned) I also have issues with, mainly because it reduces scenarios where survivors use pallets inefficiently and rarely affects survivors who properly use their speed boost post-hit.
It all seems like bad design.
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The types of survicors that gen tap mid-chase generally have zero issue hitting the skillcheck as they run so it's mostly useless
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