Some ideas for buffs to poor, poor Demogorgon

Demo has the least pick rates due to it being the most expensive Killer DLC. Demo us also seen (and he frankly is) as a near perfect example of balancing in all of DbD. So that effects his pick rate even more from no one seeing Demo as worth the extra money.

Demogorgon simply doesnt need a balance pass. He is already balanced and several people just get stuck in the wrong mindset playing as him.

Rat liver? I stopped using that long ago in favor of faster tunnel travel and slower tunnel removal. If Survivors remove tunnels, I gain time and information. If they dont, I gain insane map pressure. Combo that with my build of Surge, Surveillance, STBFL, with an open slot and I more often than not dominate Survivors.

I REALLY like the last idea. I love the idea of the Upside Down corrupting parts of the map!

Be careful what you wish for! Because addon rework means changing the killer's base kit as well *looks at Nurse*

I use tunnels to cut off loops as well as travel. It makes me predictable once Survivors know where the tunnels are, but it forces Survivors to react to them.

3 tunnels are used ASAP to lay out a base network. Out of sight from gens, inside good loops to prevent their use, and they serve to direct Survivors to the same used/dead areas. At least 1 gen gets 2 tunnels though. 1 I dont hide, the other I do. The rest are saved for as needed. Post hooking, reacting to Surveillance, adjusting for finished gens, ect.

Odds are someone will get "smart" and start removing tunnels. I like those "smart" Survivors! They waste so much time and allow me to replace old worthless tunnels. And as said, if no one removes my tunnels I gain map pressure from traveling and limiting where Survivors can loop. It's a win/win.

As the game goes on STBFL ramps my pressure, Surge/Surveillance gets more value, and Survivors need to deal with me instead of me dealing with them.

That's the strength of Demogorgon. He synergizes so well with so much. Buff his base kit or addons, and those synergies just become too much. But that's also his weakness. Without those synergies, Demo is kinda meh.

If nothing else. Demogorgon is as cute as a puppy!

My first comment ever. I just wanna say I LOVE your 5th suggestion. That would honestly be so cool if that would be implemented. Very thematic as well!

I personally like Demo as he is. Likely made me rather biased towards not changing him, but Demo is a Killer that I can do well with that doesn't feel unfair or unfun for Survivors. There is always a give/take or a pro/con to playing Demo and I see that as a healthy thing for gameplay. Demo and Billy are my favorite Killers because they don't give a damn about letting Survivors know they are there and can use negative stealth.

I don't really care about giving out too much information when I plan on taking advantage of when Survivors start to ignore it. Negative stealth has its own uses and strengths compared to true stealth.

Can someone give me a reasonable argument for rat liver being basekit other than "i want to do feather tech and not get slowed down while also saving an addon slot"?

The portals have so many mechanics tied to them and they barely matter. Once in a blue moon you will catch a survivor trying to hide near a portal with the Killer Instinct and that only because plenty of survivors don't even know the portals do that.

The Oblivious status does not matter because it does not last and you can still use your eyes and ears. The Undetectable effect doesn't matter for the same reasons. The way the killer instinct work really insn't practical either and can't be relied on. Removing the portals is easy, relatively fast and is shown to the whole survivor team for some reason. And allmost all Demogorgon's add-ons have to do with his portals but barely change anything.

Demogorgon is a pretty basic killer sitting on a pile of wasted potential.

nah his footsteps are so annoying and loud for the player himself, i can't play him more than 1 game or i have to turn down the volume a lot. He was more like a stealth killer in the series but here he is loud like godzilla.

well i really would love to see you playing, i can't imagine how to shut down loops with his portals, at least not in a way like Hag or Trapper. His portals are way to clunky and travelling is too slow to surprise Survivors. Maybe you can force them into another direction by approaching them from this loop, but i think in general such networks on bigger maps are hard to setup and maintain (especially very time consuming). Some Demos use Corrupt but i don't like it because more than often it leads to bad 3/4-gen situations for me at least.

I still play him because he is a cool character and i like Stranger Things but every other killer i main usually gives me better results.

hi! demogorgon main here. i'd be happy to offer some input if that's okay! :0

currently, mr. dumpling boy (still can't believe you called him that oml) is in a decent spot and doesn't really need any changes as far as when it comes to both his power, abilities, and add-ons. each aspect of him serves a purpose, and overall keeps him in a super balanced spot. when played right and with survivor information in mind, he can be super detrimental to even the most strongest of teams.

with that being said, i'm gonna go ahead and break down your post, since some of these ideas do actually have me interested!

CHANGE 1: FREE UP AN ADD-ON SLOT

Increased movement speed while charging Of The Abyss from 92% to 101%.

• Reworked Rat Liver
  • Recover 0.5 seconds faster after destroying a pallet or breakable wall with Shred.

i can see why this would be needed when applied to very, very specific chase scenarios, but i think a change like this would immediately make him broken when giving him the ability to close distance that quickly. demogorgon faces a speed penalty when charging his secondary power due to how quickly it can close the distance on someone, and with how strong it is, needs to give some form of a chance with certain tiles and map styles. this power is also meant to be used with intelligence, rather than being used blindly. shred is more-so of a zoning tool than it is for clearing pallets or trying to play loops like it's the 100m olympic race. xD

not to mention, there's a significant amount of perks that help him catch up if the penalty is really that detrimental. for example, play with your food, brutal strength, fire up, spirit fury, or other pallet-denying, loop-stressing perks can make up for this.

all in all, it really boils down to exactly how you play him. i personally don't see this change being necessary as a result of this.

CHANGE 2: RIP STBFL

• Shred now counts as a basic attack.
• Recovery time for striking a survivor with Shred decreased from 3 seconds to 2.25.

a quality of life change! i like it! not many people address the strength that STBFL gives dumpling boy, so i applaud you for keeping it in mind.

but this, unfortunately, would also be immensely broken. both a cooldown and allowing STBFL to become that strong will make it near impossible to gain control of situations as survivor when you're in a chase. as i've addressed in my previous paragraph, shred is meant to be a zoning tool and to be used smartly. this will give players the incentive to use shred blindly, and could either make or break a game on extreme levels when that perk comes into play. not only that, but this heavily effects other perks too, and can harm the demogorgon's ability to use certain perks. having the versatility of being able to use a basic and non-basic attack is quite crucial for him with certain builds.

i do like the idea of recovery time being reduced by .75 after successfully landing an attack, though. it wouldn't be that significant of a chance, and perhaps could create interesting scenarios when you have the ability to shred multiple survivors in an area (per say, if multiple survivors are near a generator or a hook and they attempt to split off. that sort of damage would be quite scary indeed.)

CHANGE 3: SNEAKY SNEAKY INTERDIMENSIONAL DUMPLING

• Portal traversal sounds can no longer be heard globally, only if you are within 24 meters of his departure location or 8 meters of his target portal.
• While Undetectable, The Demogorgon's footsteps are silenced.
  • Survivors who are oblivious will not hear the Demogorgon's Footsteps.

oh no, that's way too busted. x(

demogorgon is a powerhouse when it comes to stealth and being able to show up unexpected 75% of the time. noise notifications are crucial when going against a demogorgon due to how fast he can catch up to a survivor if they're not careful. there needs to be some form of middle ground between him being stealthy, and him having some form of a counter, especially since he has add-ons and perks that easily modify his undetectable status and teleportation speeds and cooldowns. you're essentially creating a mini scratched mirror myers who's able to pounce on people from long distances, and has the ability to traverse the map at breakneck speeds!

CHANGE 4: THINKING WITH PORTALS

• The Demogorgon is no longer required to stand on top of a portal to travel to a portal.
  • Traversing the upside down while not standing on a portal will incur double the cooldown (28 seconds) and takes longer to do (3 seconds).
• Removed "Breathing" sound effects from the upside down traversal SFX.

now this change, i definitely love the idea of. though i don't see how or why it would need to be implemented, as the surplus amount of portals you can add through add-ons can apply more pressure and attack angles, it does add a lot more fun when it comes to using brainpower. i like a good thinking game at times!

as for the sound effects, again, audio cues are important! keep this in mind when referring to his traversing abilities and how things can affect it.

CHANGE 5: CREEP

• When a portal is activated by the Demogorgon, it begins to seep the Upside Down into the surrounding area.
  • The Portal's oblivious/tracking radius increases by 1 meter every 6 seconds, up to a maximum radius of 24 meters, starting when the portal activates.
    • This means it takes two minutes for a portal to expand all the way.

[excited demogorgon noises]

i've always loved the idea of things slowly being dragged into the upside down in this manner. it'd apply about a quarter more of pressure and gives demogorgon more stealth opportunities.

though, as much as i love this idea, this can actually be more of a counter to portals than anything. portals can have their own individual purpose, such as being able to get a head start on a loop, herding survivors, bodyblocking (on rare occasions, similar to hag), pressuring people off generators, being a key to getting across incredibly large maps like swamp, and the like. giving demogorgon's portals that level of exposure can pose problems, because it'll force survivors to cleanse them much, much faster, and can easily ruin his pressure game if he has to constantly replace them. demogorgon's portals already have a cue as it is, whether its audio and faint visuals, or effects that are applied to the portals if survivors are in range. it's a little risky to mess with something like this. x(

overall, i genuinely like your ideas, and i see where they're coming from! some can add potential, while others can destroy. but with demogorgon being in a decent spot as he is, i don't think a lot of these changes would be necessary, or could easily make games way more challenging than they should be. demogorgon is a killer that requires brains and, more often than not, patience, and when played right, can pose a serious threat to very strong teams. it'd be much, much better to keep him as he is!

Most people like this killer, almost all survivors wants to face him more often rather than the usual Freddy and Huntress games. But if that is to happen he needs some sort of buff anyway.

Demo is one of my least played killers also. It's because setting up them portals takes time and then survivors cleanse them, it's pretty frustrating to play him so I very seldom do.

aside from silent footsteps i think itd be cool to give him a separate crawling animation for a short time whenever he emerges from a portal, which will be silent ofc