Thoughts on playing as and against Pyramid Head?

Quote: "The most interesting part of playing as him is the constant stress. It's really scary when you miss your rites of judgement on someone, I don't know why."

Missing a Punishment Of The Damned shot is stressful because it severely punishes Pyramid Head as you're forced to stand still for 2.25 seconds while the survivor runs away and makes a ton of distance. Just ask yourself: How many killers in DBD literally "stand still" for multiple seconds after each use of their power?

Playing as him is basically like playing a sniper sitting on a "Silent Hill" for days waiting for their target. You know that -against good survivors- missing a couple shots will cost you the game so you have to make it count.

You have to prepare your shots carefully and keep the depleting Rites Of Judgement bar in mind while preparing to flick that shot precisely to the window or pallet that the survivor is possibly aiming for.

On top of that you have to study each survivor individually as some people are more likely to "bait" let's say a vault than others and since your "calibre 0.50 sniper-shockwave" takes a while to hit the target you will have to learn to take factors into account such as distance to the target, angle etc. before you can accurately decide when to go for a shot (or not).

Last but not least since his shockwave is not a moving projectile unlike Huntress' hatchets he doesn't get carried by "bs-latency-hits" further contributing to the "sniper comparison".

That's what it feels like playing as him in my opinion.

I know you didn't ask me but it's pretty much as @Zozzy said. Against strong survivors you will mostly zone and go for the M1 as they don't give a damn about the shockwave.

They know you can't immediately shoot even after planting the Great Knife (built-in delay).

They know exactly how at what distance they can casually dodge the shockwave or even vault before the shockwave hits you.

They know you have no power the second they loop around elevations like the stair-loops on Hawkins.

Against top tier survivors like Exlelite, Sawpalin etc you will mostly zone because they will abuse the hell out of you by just holding forward if you dare miss a shot or two.

However if I notice someone is not even looking behind them I too will go for prediction shots through the wall and feel like a god haha...

Yeah that rework really ruined a lot of what made him good. The fact that survivors can exploit him like this shifted a large amount of control in the chase from him to them, there’s little he can do against that at some loops because if he doesn’t have his m2 primed then they just run another loop or drop the pallet and get away.

Even worse is if you fire your m2 all it takes is the smallest flick to the side, we’re talking a millimetre shift on screen and POTD misses.

Probably deep down one of the reasons I play him less he feels so stiff and clunky now

Haven’t really played him much but besides his stupid tunnelling potential he’s very fun to fight imo

As a survivor main, I originally thought PH was a top tier killer, and would be as common as spirit. However, he does have more weaknesses due to his speed, and the stand still after using his power. He’s still pretty strong, and fun to play against, but once you learn how to force him to use his power and miss, it’s very hard for him to beat you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not easy to keep him from downing you, it takes skill and practice, and quick reflexes. What I learned to do to beat him are basically two things:

1. Drop pallets early. He doesn’t have time to break them, and will not use his power against you due to the distance it gives you. (Wasting his time)
2. Path unpredictably while breaking LOS. PH relies heavily on predicting where you will be (similar to nurse) instead of where you are. If you can confuse him once or twice, he will then waste time on loops he can’t see through looking for you in weird places. Use this to then just straight line run to the next loop where you apply the 1st strategy again.

A good PH player will give you a run for your money though. You can’t make many mistakes or he’ll eat your lunch.

If you think missing a range attack with PH is stressful try playing Nurse. Unlike PH you literally have to use your power every time you want to hit someone.

I actually like it when survivors break line of sight with me, especially around rocks and such, as I can use a range attack through the obstacle and because the survivor also blocked -their own- line of sight, they have far less time to react. Doing this paired with the addon that increases your attack range and I score quite a few blind hits, especially since I know around rocks and such that survivors tend to hug them when they run around them.

Another tip for pallets and windows, if you know the survivor is going to for it attack early. Just as the person said to drop pallets early, attacking early can also score hits as they typically are expecting you to wait and attack them in the animation lock

Some tips for playing against him:

• If he is using his power behind you in the open, move left and right a little bit (Not full dodging like you'd do against Slinger). This will likely make him uncertain on what to do and either cancel and give you distance, or keep holding it and move 110%. If he does fire the attack, since you're already moving, you'll have an easier time dodging.
• If approaching a window/pallet, try not to look behind you and only pay attention to audio cues from his power if he activates it. If he notices you looking behind, he will likely be very patient with the attack and either shoot it when you do use the window/pallet or bodyblock it and m1 you.
• One of the best mind-games is to act like you're going to run a loop, then run to another one as soon as you break LOS. Typically, the PH will activate his power and put trails on the pallet while chasing, so you can gain distance while he does so.

For playing as him:

• Pay attention to how the survivor acts. If you know they look back a lot, be very patient with your power and avoid prediction hits, as they will likely double back when they lose LOS and they will try and dodge last second at windows/pallets. If they don't look behind them and run straight, try and use your power to hit them in the open since it has a shorter recovery and hits further. Lastly, if they immediately drop pallets, you'll want to ready your power earlier than normal to catch them mid drop.
• At the beginning of the match, go to where you think there are survivors and leave small amounts of trails at important doorways and good loops. Don't do too much too early, as they do have a timer.
• If you are chasing a tormented survivor on the opposite side of where the others are, immediately cage and head over to pressure them. If you are in a place you want to defend (3 gen for example) just hook and wait for them to come to you.
• If someone is death hook and tormented, always Final Judgement them unless there is only one other survivor and you want to 4k.
• Hook perks are generally not preferable unless you avoid caging altogether. The only one you should run is BBQ.
• If you corner someone at a loop they cannot run from, force a torment by trapping the pallet and looping once, then stay on the inner side to keep them cornered and shoot your power until you hit them. If they try running away, you should be able to catch them before they get anywhere.