Overlooked survivor perks.
Are there any perks in the survivor's toolkit that you feel are unfairly overshadowed by meta perks?
I've been really cracking into survivor after getting and maintaining R1 killer for a while, cruising up to red ranks and such, and I found that the super meta DS/BT/DH/UB build didn't really jive with me, so I've been experimenting and think that I've found a pretty interesting mix of perks that can, if used well, stand on par with the "Meta" survivor perks.
Distortion - I love this one. This perk lets you read what perks the killer is running, which is SO MUCH INFORMATION. Lose a token cleansing a dull totem? Undying. Lose a token if the killer hooks far away from you? BBQ. Lose a token while healing near the killer? Nurse's Calling. Lose a token while in the exit gates? GTFO it's Blood Warden.
The amount of time and the knowledge Distortion has given me is invaluable, not to mention its actual effect of hiding auras. This perk lets you pump that gen out while the killer doesn't see you on BBQ, and thus ignores you and chases other solo survivors. It is a dream. It has its weaknesses, but RUN DISTORTION AND TRY IT OUT. It gets better with SWF.
Iron Will - Most people know this one is strong, but the sound reduction while injured completely removes one of the killers' 2 senses (sight and sound) when you are injured. It's ridiculous how impactful this perk can be - it enables hiding and mindgaming while injured and LoS is blocked. Super powerful and gives you way more options.
We'll Make It - While not as effective in the tense, camp-heavy / expensive unhook situations that BT is useful in, We'll Make It turns a 16 second heal into an 8 second heal. This means that unless the killer is heavily pressuring the hook, survivors can basically get a full reset on every unhook, which ends up being massive. I know I really hate this perk from the Killer perspective, especially because it lasts SO LONG after unhooking that a We'll Make It survivor can heal multiple people super-quickly and erase killer pressure. Definitely underestimated as a perk.
I'm currently running Iron Will, Distortion, We'll Make It, and depending on if I'm SWF or not, For the People or an Exhaustion perk. Yes, it is more of a supportive build, but if your team is well-balanced (in solos, at least one potato has BT), you'll be able to pip almost every match as long as you temper your play and positioning.
How about yall?
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Leader: Completely negates Sloppy and saved some games because your mates can open exit gates faster (20s down to 15s). Those 5 seconds were the difference between the 2k or the 4k for the killer.
Another one would be Blood Pact. Gives free intel to both sides if one is injured. The speed boost after healing is nice, too. I use it in combination with Botany+ a Medkit, to get use out of the perk.
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Aftercare -- this perk is an MVP but nobody talks about it they're too busy running Dead Hard and Decisive Strike. I have had killers accusing me of being in an SWF because of this perk when I am in Solo Q.
We'll Make it and Iron Will are pretty meta. They are part o the "2nd string" meta, first string is BT/DS/UB/DH. Other perks in the second string are Spine Chill and Self Care.
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Kindred. Yes, I see more people run it, however still I feel like most solo players don't. Super key perk for solo players to have a much better time in game.
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Windows of Opportunity. Its an amazing solo perk as you know which pallets have and haven't been used, as well as giving you a route to take without having to explore before working on a gen.
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I can definitely vouch for Kindred, though I myself don't like to run it so much (to my own detriment). The intel it gives to other survivors and just knowing where the killer is heading next is super important. I sometimes "fake" where I head off to as a killer just to throw off kindred, though sometimes I don't think I do it right. Very useful perk.
If you're good at running pallets and moving around the map, I can see this perk working. I tend to try to get the gen count down to one before I am really active in the match, but you make a good point about it really helping with routing. My only gripe with the perk is that, as killer, I don't really see many survivors actually making use of the information it gives. They'll still run into dead zones and then "use" the perk to say "I'm screwed" and die.
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I personally don't think Self Care is anything past C-tier given the existence of medkits.
Funnily enough, I see a ton of Spine Chill on survivors and have ran it myself, and I can see how it can give a ton of early warning and utility in chase so long as it isn't "abused" by people being immersed. From the Killer side, especially as Ghostface it ends up being a hard counter, but when I play survivor I see a lot of immersed Spine Chill people ending up doing absolutely nothing because the perk lights up every so often.
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Honestly? There's an absolute shiteload of good perks, even more than killer. There's Balanced Landing, Head On, Lithe, Botany Knowledge, Inner Strength, Detectives Hunch, We'll Make It, We're Gonna Live Forever, Kindred, Bond, Aftercare, Empathy, Alert, Spine Chill, Deja Vu, Open Handed, Desperate Measures, Built To Last, Fixated, Urban Evasion, Quick and Quiet, Self Care, For The People, Off The Record, Prove Thyself...
None of these perks are that situational, you get between decent and absolutely amazing value out of them in almost every trial, but they aren't perks you get mindless, massively overt value from (except maybe the exhaustion ones) so they get sidelined.
Even builds like Plunderers/Appraisal are ridiculous. It's practically a key every trial. Trust me, I like giving people presents with Ace In The Hope as well. I have had so many trials end in key escapes for either me or my team it's not funny. I think Plunderers/Appraisal with a hatch offerring might be the most underrated build in DbD.
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I think you make a good point about how a lot of the perks end up providing actual tangible value in almost every match. While it is true that meta perks end up being the "saving graces / second chances" of many dire situations like a killer facecamping with NOED and such, I think the practice of actually noting when you use a perk and how much value you get out of it ends up being pretty crucial to find out what works for you as an individual. If you're not a playmaker, the "meta" build can end up being less efficient that other loadouts if you never make use of the perks themselves.
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I really love Second Wind. It's by far one of my favorite perks to run nowadays.
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Kindred, Window of Opportunity, Diversion are really overlooked. Iron Will as well but killers that tracks with crows and sound (breathing) don't have issue.
- Kindred : so good on solo survivor when your only chance to escape is to actually split and pressure 4 gens at once, it let you know if at least someone is on a gen while one is going for the rescue and an other getting chased. I don't mind staying on gens as long as it's the right call to help the situation
- Window of Opportunity : kinda meh on corn maps but definitly is the best perk in indoors map and map with dead zones ;)
- Diversion : now that it got buff you get it pretty easily if you don't play against a stealth killer and since so few people run it killers will most likely check every single time. Paired with Kindred you can send the pebble in a direction where there is no survivor and go for the save knowing you didn't sell anyone position !
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especially with Distortion, I think the ability to regain tokens would be very well appreciated.
otherwise, yeah, there are so many good/fun survivor perks and I love to test them. That’s why I actually love the grind and prestiging, I am Limited to a small set of perks and had the chance to play with many perks that I would have never touched if I had access to all perks faster.
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Can't agree more with We'll Make It, it was downright scary once when i saw Healthy icons appear oh so quickly, and learned post-game that all 4 had it on.
Detective's Hunch is definitely another one.
Oh, and Red Herring is also one, it worked wonders for me.
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Lithe and Dance with me together is pretty fun. Fast vault and run fast with your scratch marks not showing up for 3 seconds. Good way to lose killer.
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My point is not that Self Care is any good. My point is that Self Care is meta. When's the last time you saw a game without survivors packing Self Care?
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my build for over a year now:
Bond: well im mainly soloQ (even on swf i like it because noone of my friend is tryhard non stop spaming where they are), also better you are with bond more info you get from it (its not only about teammates nearby)
Plunderers: Gib me those purple flashlights
Small game: I like denying Noed (and seeing killers DC after they realise they dont have it), also i didnt stepped into trappers trap in about a year
Inner str: Since i always do Bones free 8sec heal (sometimes even in chase) is super useful
I have tons of hours and imo if i would play with all meta perks it would be unfair
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I get annoyed with how underrated Babysitter is, and how unfairly it’s compared to BT.
Babysitter is NOT an anti camping perk.
It provides one of two functions in one perk.
First, it tells the user whether or not it’s safe to heal at the hook. It often can be safe anyway depending on which killer is being dealt with, but Babysitter leaves absolutely no doubt whether a heal at the hook is safe or not.
If it is NOT safe to heal at the hook (the Babysitter user sees the killer immediately returning to the hook), Babysitter’s second function is as an anti tunnel perk. The Babysitter user is meant to intentionally use the knowledge that the killer briefly sees their aura and intentionally draw the killer away from the survivor they just unhooked, with the no blood and scratch marks for the unhooked survivor giving them the greatest chance to not be pursued, and the Babysitter taking on the aggro instead.
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Also, I’m loving Fixated, Lucky Break, Lightweight, Off The Record.
Can easily disappear after an unhook, whether walking away or running, depending on how quickly a killer decides to return.
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Dwight's perks.
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Second Wind is really good now. Like unironically good. I use it as tunnel bait. Get the killer to commit to me, heal to full health as I'm running, ajd then hit them with DS if I go down within a minute or force a locker DS. It's pretty dirty.
Wake Up will also save your...butt. How many times have you died when the killer hit you with the gate at 90%? What if you saw the gate auras permanently after the last gen and also opened the gates faster? It also tells your teammates which gate you're on.
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One perk I use and don't see most people use is Empathy. Not only is it good for detection, but to also help the team. When someone becomes injured, not only do you know where the survivor is, but also where the killer is too and if he/she is close to you or not. If you are being chased and there are hurt survivors, you can spot them and lead the killer away from them. You can also find the hurt survivors anywhere in the map and heal them. It has helped me many times and also relieves pressure when I play, because if the survivor aura pops up on the other side of the map, I know the killer is not close and I can finish the gen safely, for example.
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The only issue with the new Second Wind is that someone unhooking you with BT is incredibly crippling.
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I like to run autodidact cause when it work it work amazing.
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Babysitter + Distortion for three guaranteed no-scratch marks unhooks. It's really fun to see a killer come back and be plain bewildered and unable to track you, provided the ground isn't light enough to show bloodstains.
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Yeah that’s a very clever combo. Who knew stealth unhooks could be a thing.
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Alert is probably the most underrated perk of all time and nobody's mentioned it yet.
You get to know which pallets are gone and where you should be running to.
If you haven't yet seen a killer and they're in a chase, you find out who the killer is
You'll see if they kick gens right after hooking so you know which ones the killer is currently prioritising
If you ever got fooled by faking pallet breaks (I seriously don't know how it works on people but it does), you'll never get baited again.
For a brief moment you see which direction the killer's going after breaking a pallet if you're behind a wall and need to juke them to get out of the area after they break the pallet.
It's ridiculously good.
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Yeah I’m a big cheerleader for Wake Up.
There’s been a ton of times I’ve gotten into a chase shortly after the last gen pops, and afterwards completely forget where the exit gate notifications popped up.
So I like Wake Up for just that alone. But also yeah I can attribute Wake Up to being the sole reason I managed to escape just as the killer was approaching me at the switch.
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Detectives Clutch and Repressed Alliance.
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I wish I had Alert unlocked, because that perk feels like it ends up being the biggest counter to Pop Goes the Weasel. That combined with the map knowledge you've already mentioned, you end up getting a ton of real value out of it.
Does it work with special break actions like saws and demo smashes?
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Alert and aftercare. Both are sooo good.
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Fixated, Iron Will, and Resilience are three I love to run together. Maybe throw in Quick and Quiet as well.
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True, I swear every time I take it off during solo queue, no one is running it.
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