Can lone-wolf survivors be top rank?
I would like to know from survivors that don't play in a party what their experience is to achieve less than 3.
I am towards devotion 4 and I can rank 4 at my best when I rarely happened to play in party with better ranked people, but when I am on my own - like 80% of the time - or in a party of other 2 of similar or worse rank, I get stably at rank 5. Plus, I don't like playing as killer 😅
Is there any one here that plays alone and achieve rank 1 or 2 at all? What is your strategy? Do you stick to one set of perks? Do you mostly engage with the killer, e.g. being purposely chased, stunning the killer etc? Or are you more passive, e.g. prone to hiding, doing gens, healing, unhooking and this sort of things? Also, do you play as killer? Could playing from the prospective of the killer be an advantage for your survivor rank? Because my guess is that to excel as survivor you must know your enemy, and all of that tacit knowledge that probably people like me ignore if they rarely play as killer could be exploited too (e.g. movement speed, cool-down time, ...).
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I maintain rank 2 solo surviving when I bother getting back up there from reset. The key is to know when to leave and when to stay. Just escaping is almost always a pip and for sure a safety. Sometimes I won't care and will be a bit altruistic but otherwise I'm focused on objective, save when I can, and keep chases long enough that my team will hopefully get something done.
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I’m rank 1 killer and survivor. I play every killer a lot so playing around each killers power is second nature because I know how to play them. I run the same perks every time for the most part but I switch it up sometimes. Usually Dead Hard, Spine Chill, Windows, and Kindred. I play with stealth but also aggressive if I have to, I take protection hits and play for my team but also know when it’s a lost cause. I don’t get greedy with loops and don’t try to stun the killer, but I also don’t waste pallets if I know I’m gonna get it. I’m really not the greatest looper, I think I’m above average but my success at higher ranks has come from game knowledge and game sense. Being efficient and knowing what to do when. Playing killer and multiple killers is a big deal, you need to understand what the other side is thinking.
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Sure, pretty easily. Although I honestly stopped running most of the meta perks since DBD really likes to give you rainbow ranks and it’s usually better to just watch out for yourself in soloQ.
Often the team will be demolished with little you can do about it and in those instances you will be happy to have selfish perks instead of the meta.
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IMO you will get better faster since you are not relying on a team to help win you the match.
I have been a solo survivor since i started with only a handful of times where i have done swf, I noticed that because i have to pretty much switch between all roles a survivor has to do regularly I am better than the other players in a swf most of the time.
As a solo survivor you learn to be more adaptable, dependable, and just better at judging how your team is doing. In a swf you get too used to letting other survivors do things like distract the killer, or preforming saves, or doing gens while you commit to a certain role.
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A lot depends on who your teammates are, honestly. Observe what your team's strengths are. You have to be a chameleon who adapts to the flaws of the people you're playing with.
Can they not hold chases for long? Try to be the one that diverts the killer's attention.
Are gens not getting done but they're holding their own? Be the gen jockey.
Kindred is a must-have perk, and lately so is DS for solo qs, though I didn't use it for a long time.
Also, know the hook statuses of your teammates. If you haven't been hooked yet and you know someone on their death hook is gonna go down, try to take that one for them to prolong having 4 survivors as much as possible.
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I play solo 100% of the time, my current escape rate since the mori nerf is around 80% (most likly won´t stay there after the rank reset, since you get too many potatoes till you hit red rank again), but i do get to rank 1 often. I usually dont stay there, and end up somewhere between 2-4, all depending what teammates you get.
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That is not as hard as you think. I made it to rank 2, almost 1 solo, but i am far from good.
Most people are just average or below average at looping the killer, so you should maybe go for another approach, in doing totems / being altruistic with unhooking / healing your survivors.
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While the last is a good tip, i stopped doing that. I did that a long time, just to be the one trowns under the bus time and again, especially if the others were swf. Because if they already on death hook, they simply wont come to your rescue, even against a non camping killer.
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Same way I reached red ranks way back when, just gens, healing and unhooking, can't run the killer consistently for the life of me.
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Anyone at the moment can be in the top ranks, unfortunately.
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This is true, and it is conditional. For example, if someone's already on their death hook and a single gen hasn't been done yet for some reason, I wouldn't recommend that tip.
If, however, there's maybe 1 or 2 gens left, and everybody has been playing pretty optimally for the most part, it's definitely worth giving a hook up.
To OP: like I said, just observe everything that you can, and make determinations based on those.
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You can reach Rank1 as Solo but is harder and requires a lot of stealth, Benevolent and Lightbringer are the easiest Iridiscent emblems you can aim for, guarenting those 2 is not easy but is not impossible, especially if you are not the first one to get spotted by the Killer, then you need "only" 2 Silver on Survival (this one is guaranteed unless you get tunneled/facecamped/left to rot on 1º hook) and Boldness.
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Its easy to reach rank 1 as solo survivor. DS for tunnel protection is good to not lose too many pips against tunneling. One or two unhooks are enough for the benovelent emblem, the rest should be fine when you a decent looper.
I reach rank 1 solo without trying when i do the rift challenges.
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I'm mostly between rank 1-2, are at devotion 12 and started to play when I found it on Xbox game pass in 2019 or early 2020? Demogorgon, Pig and Plague was in the game anyway I don't know who was the newest killer then, perhaps Demo?
Took me about 3 months to get to rank 1 in both roles so I don't think it's that hard even for solo players. But I have played games more or less every day since I got a ZX Spectrum in 1984 so I'm pretty good at games in general.
Edit: Ok I joined this forum October 2019 so not 2020 then.
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Yeah, i play solo like 99% of the time and always reach rank 1, except when i take breaks from the game of course. My build is Kindred, Bond, Spine chill and Better together.
It's a build focused just on information, and i find that way more useful than the common Dead hard + DS + Unbreakable builds. You don't even need to be a top looper, as long as you play smart it will be okay. Also, since teammates are the ones who really determine if you are gonna rank up or not, aside from yourself, it's also a good choice to provide them with some information as well.
Warning: you'll still get paired with brain dead teammates who take the killer to you while being chased even if you run Better together, for instance, but it's still a solid build and the best solo build i can think of.
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I maintain rank 1 easily solo. I bounce back and forth as rank 1 doesn't have any real staying power, but always maintain. Rank 1 isn't really about being the best teammate, to be honest. And it's also playing around other teammates habits.
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I have in the past, but my typical playstyle isn't very likely to pip. Since most players are allergic to generators and last 0.5 seconds in chase, I do gens or I run the killer. Altruism gets pips more than anything and the game thinks you did nothing if you run a killer for 3 gens and get hooked.
I usually only save to get my Deliverance to proc or if I'm certain nobody else is getting the save. The biggest mistake solo squads make is all going for saves and multiple people resetting one injured survivor. Impossibly inefficient.
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I have played at rank 1 for years playing 99% solo. Not only is it possible, but it's way easier than it even should be. The system is currently so forgiving it's throwing people into rank 1 that have no business being there.
Here's the advice:
-Get good at looping
-Stop wasting time. The game is all about time efficiency. At all times you need to be either making a save, looping the killer, or on a gen.
If you ever aren't sure what you should be doing, get on a gen.
Even at rank 1 it's almost impossible to depip unless the killer is literally standing in front of me on a hook face camping. Any player that is even remotely decent will hit rank 1, otherwise it's a skill issue, not a game issue.
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im rank one solo without meta perks. Can't say tat's easy but possible
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Climbing to Rank 1 as a solo survivor--for the most part--relies on you assuming that your teammates are (a) in a SWF and (b) not very good at the game.
What does this mean?
- Don't be overly altruistic. Your teammates are on comms, and will likely be the ones going for unhook
- Do not greed gens (even if the killer has pop). You can pip in a 4k 5gen, just as you can depip with a 4-man escape. Dying to complete a generator will not help you pip.
- Don't hide. You need to take aggro away from your teammates, because as mentioned above they're "(b) not very good at the game." If you hide every time the killer comes over to your gen, you won't be awarded chase points, and he'll probably just go down your teammate in 5 seconds.
- Run Windows of Opportunity. WoO is the single best solo survivor perk you can run (even if you already know the loops). Solo squads are usually less efficient than SWFs, and require you to loop the killer for significantly longer periods of time. WoO gives you the information you need to chain strong loops together, and keep the killer preoccupied long enough for your team to complete objectives.
- Don't run Decisive Strike. Seriously, its a wasted perk slot. DS is not going to save you from a depip. If you are farmed off hook and the killer picks you up, it is tactically advantageous for them to tunnel you out of the game after eating DS. If they respect the DS, well then you didn't need DS in the first place.
- Don't go down near basement. Being hooked in basement is a fast-track to depipping as a solo survivor. Hard chance your team is equipped to save you, and even less chance the killer lets you make it out alive. Recognize where the basement is each game and do everything in your power to avoid going down near it. ...and on that note, if a teammate is hooked in the basement--refer to my first point about being altruistic. Going for an unhook in basement will probably just get yah killed.
These are not hard and fast rules, and situational awareness is required to recognize when you should break from this advice. But if reaching rank one is your goal, this should help you get there.
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Guys your are fantastic! I'm loving this community I didn't expect so many feedbacks in a quite short time
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Surprised at someone mentioning Windows of Opportunity. It's really the most underrated solo perk, because of the unjustified stigma that associates it to beginners. But in solo accidentally running to a deadzone because the meghead camped half the pallets on the map in the first 2 min is how I go down most often.
For DS, I'd say it's still worth running up to purple ranks included to guarantee an obsession. In the red ranks, someone else will usually have it anyway.
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I wouldn't worry about your survivor rank. Rank 1 survivor isn't anything special. You do see a higher number of more experienced killers and survivors, but that's about it.
If you really want to rank up, then you'll have to grind through a lot of games. Obviously you'll win some and lose some. Eventually, you'll make it to rank 1.
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Totally agree with regard to DS just to reach red ranks. Teammates are also more likely to have BT by ranks 1-3.
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Yeah it is insanely easy to stay at rank 1 as survivor with very minimal effort. I find easiest way to pip as survivor is just aiming for 4-4-4-2 emblem distribution. if your teammates are good at looping, generally speaking,you only have stay in TR of the killer vaguely to hit silver emblem in chaser and majority of the game will be holding M1 on generators for total 2 of generators, unhooking safely+healing one health state and never get hooked since you never got chased. it will always net you a iri objective, iri survival, iri healing and silver chaser.
If your team is terrible, than don't aim for pips, just aim for black pips, easiest way to do that is get good at looping to get iri chaser emblem and save teammates off hooks, its usually enough to black pip in most cases. I don't know, but I feel like emblem system for survivor in some ways needs to be harder or re-evaluated. for whatever reason there's too many survivors that are ineffective at looping and doing generators when majority of the killer cast is ultra-easy mode.
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I usually go itemless so when I dont get healed I lose out on points because if im injured all game I cant be risky and go for saves. I used to get bad teammates for months so me being a survivor who would run and not hide I was always the first target which made me better but means I dont rank up because i either die first or run the killer all game. Now ive got good teammates but they do gens too fast so a 1 minute chase which is my usual chases end up leaving me with less gens to do and if they barely get hooked and I cant get those saves I don't get points. But all in all I probably COULD make it to rank 1 solo but I feel like that would take a sweater approach and a different greedy mindset that I dont think I'm capable of anymore.
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I managed to get rank 1 survivor 100% soloq before the reset. I just play for fun and get sacrificed (by teammates) very often so I wouldn’t recommend my playstyle.
Some days the teammates can work very well and actually care whether you die or not. Other days teammates will do whatever it takes not to get into a chase, they won’t take a hit for you, hook trade or get the killers attention even if they haven’t been on the hook. In those games you probably won’t do very well with my playstyle.
Others here have said so too, getting chased for 3 gens and then dying doesn’t net you very many blood points or pips. Your teammates who sat on gens will probably score better than you.
Regardless though, that’s how I actually got to rank 1. I played what I found fun. Run the killer, do the dangerous gens, be generous to teammates, take protection hits. Sounds a lot more fun than avoiding the killer all game.
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Rank 1 solo survivor here. My rank is usually between 1-3. I'm also devotion 17 and I rarely play SWF.
It doesn't make solo less frustrating tho. A lot of survivors at red ranks got carried there by SWF and it shows.
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All you have to do to get there is 2 gens, win 2 chases and save and heal 1 guy, that'll always give you a pip.
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I can't even loop and i'm 1/2 survivor playing solo. It's honestly just play time and do not ragequit/######### on hook and you will pip even if you die.
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This game is so broken you can actually be bad at the game and still rank up, the worst part about solo is teammates dc or making dumb plays and it sucks that you sometimes have to pay for someone else's mistake but it's not all the time and ranking up is so easy it's more about how much you play over how good you do just because if you do a little bit of everything in a match you pip up even if it was a terrible game and you all die
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I do think it's slightly too easy on killer as well, but the main issue is on survivor. It feels almost impossible not to pip on survivor even at rank 1.
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I think for killer, its only easy because many survivors are not at the level that they're rank suggests in term of skill level. If anything the killer emblem system takes away wins by giving a lot of brutal killer even when you get a 3k. I think its because they put too many extra variables that are kinda meaningless towards what is winning with killer.
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I just had a game where I looped a deathslinger outside of chase for 4 gens. He was low rank and kept tunneling me. He couldn’t even see me but followed my scratch marks around a giant wall for about 6 loops and together with the other parts of the chase 4 gens got done. But because I looped him out of chase I got 6k points and my teammates for 20k+ for sitting on gens.
So yeah not difficult to get rank 1 just get in a game and hope to be carried.
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How do you say so? This doesn't apply quite to me . Let's say I am Rank between 2 and 4 and I achieve at my worst 1 iridescent, 1 gold and 2 silver, that means 11 points which is 1 point left to pip up. For example,
- if I die and last and survive long enough is silver (2 points);
- if I do almost the equivalent of two generators and maybe one dull totem is gold (3 points) though almost to be iridescent - that happens quite often;
- but if I do a lot of gens probably I miss the killer, unless I am aggressive and choose to be chased I need to be good to evade or with lost chases I lose points as well. So if I am 'actually bad', at my best it's a silver (2 points). Also here your teammates must be very good to see when it's the moment to rush into gens, so that I can earn some diversion points, although I think they are quite a few
- unhooking and healing is the easiest parts even if your mates unhook unsafely but you can heal to make up for the loss. So I give iridescent, 4 points granted.
This is a total of 11 points, which is not enough to pip between rank 2 or 4. Therefore I don't think that I can actually be bad and rank up and do a bit of everything. I need to know also how to engage with the killer, how to tire it out.
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I only play solo survivor. When I do play enough to rank up, I'm usually rank 1 - 2. When I'm not in chase I focus gens hard. When I'm being chased I run the killer for as long as I can. I recently have been running WoO, DH, Kindred and Spine Chill as my perks, but Kindred, and an exhaustion perk for your choice and 2 other perks will do fine. You might even want to use Windows of Opportunity (WoO) if you don't know most tiles. It will help you learn tiles so you can learn to loop.
Another suggestion if you want to improve at survivor is to watch some good players that stream. I can suggest ZubatLEL, ScottJund, TrU3Ta1ent, FunGoose and Hexy. They all stream on Twitch and all of them play survivor at a pretty good level. They all play killer at a good level as well, so you can also learn killer things too. Another thing I can suggest is to play solo more. Even if you are dying, keep going. SWF becomes a crutch for a lot of survivor players. I also can't forget to suggest you to play killer. It can be rough and cause anxiety and stress at times, but you can learn a lot about survivor play from playing killer. Good luck.
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You can throw all the numbers out you want but all the potatoes at red ranks are evidence enough to show I'm right , anyone who has played this game for a while can tell you ranking up is way too easy as a survivor and it always has been , there was only one point in this game when they made more difficult and survivors cried and got it changed back within 2 weeks because they said it was too hard to rank up , but in reality it was working just fine and not everyone belongs at red ranks in the current matchmaking
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I exclusively play solo and have hit rank 1 many times. It's not difficult but it does come down to game sense and play time.
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Secret is to take the time to do totems, don't waste time healing if you don't have to and gen-rush. I find the smoothbrains hit their skill ceiling around rank 5 since they spend 5 minutes following the killer around unhooking people, staring at you on the hook as the killer camps rather then do gens or walks everywhere with sprintburst. Also if you want to stay in red ranks solo you should probably use Borrowed Time, Unbreakable and Decisive, if the killer can just tunnel you off first hook and down you in 30 seconds you've sandbagged your team and you're not going to pip. Another thing is always bring a medkit if you have any to spare, healing yourself once or even twice can greatly tip the odds in your favor.
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