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Spirit WITHOUT Stridor?
So I’ll be honest, I’ve only ever played as Spirit around 5 times as I just wasn’t a fan of her gameplay. It just didn’t feel engaging or fun to me and if I’m not having fun, what’s the point?
I see a lot of people say that she doesn’t take skill and you just need headphones, but when I was playing as her I was using headphones and I really struggled against people using Iron Will. If they just stopped running when I phased and walked, it purely became a guessing game for me as to which direction they went. I know you can sometimes hear grass moving but depending on the map, survivors with Iron Will can be silent during a chase.
Is this why so many Spirit players use Stridor or was I just inexperienced and needed more practise? Like I said, I’ve not played her a lot so maybe I just wasn’t good yet lol. From where I was sat, it didn’t feel that easy to successfully land post-phase hits when the survivors knew to stop running to hide scratch marks.
So is she actually a killer that takes skill to master when you’re NOT using Stridor or do I just need to play her more to get the hang of her? Also to clarify, I didn’t struggle against survivors who weren’t running Iron Will. I found them easy to locate / down whilst phasing.
Interested to see the responses. 😏
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If the survivors are actually using Iron Will and you're not using Stridor she's barely even B tier. People like to mock and call Stridor a crutch and it just shows how little they actually play it from both sides. If the survivors are actually silent because you're not running Stridor it is literally you just guessing every time.
As long as Iron Will exists in the meta, you need Stridor, just equip it. You can win games against complete potatoes even at rank 1 without it, but if the survivors are even the slightest bit competent you're gonna get dunked.
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I think that's peoples main gripe with her design. She lives or dies based on what perks are in play. At least for average players. A decent spirit can still win against IW users without Stridor but you have to be good at listening out for footsteps, and knowing when to stop the phase early to catch a double back.
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"but you have to be good at listening out for footsteps, and knowing when to stop the phase early to catch a double back."
Good survivors will not be giving you footsteps and early double back is not reliable, it's still guessing. Those ending scratch marks could have got in multiple directions.
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I just had a miserable time playing as her but I think it’s because I only had 2 perks and neither of them were Stridor. I was against high ranks and they knew to walk when I was phasing and because I literally had zero audio cues as to which direction they went, I just kept losing them. So I do understand why so many people use Stridor. Especially when learning her.
I often hear survivors moving in the grass and breathing but it’s entirely dependent on the survivor and the map. I just kept getting maps that didn’t have a lot of grass and it was like playing against Houdini lol.
I picked some killers up really fast and I expected Spirit to be the same but I really struggled as her. I’ve even played as perkless Nurse and got a 4K at red ranks. I actually find her easier to use, is that crazy of me? 😂
Maybe I just need to unlock Stridor and try her again.
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Spirit doesn’t need stridor taken away from her, she needs a complete rework. Periodt.
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Like I said, good Spirits. Knowing when and when not to phase is part of being good at her.
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There's a bit that goes into healthy tracking and Iron Will tracking.
You can still hear survivor breathing, but it has a hard cutoff at 8 meters if they're healthy and not running. The quality of your headphones will go a long way in this regard. There are also tweaks you can make with spatial sound and equalizers depending on how far you want to take it.
Then there's the actual technique aspect of it. Spirit is a killer who sometimes has to go slow to go fast. Healthy survivors and Iron Will users often make a series of moves to try and juke you. Spirit can simply stand and watch the first juke and then begin her phase. I like to also trigger her idle animation reset at this point because a very small portion of survivors know to look for it. Just tap M2 and immediately let it go, then phase once your power is back.
During the phase, I like to kind of stutter step instead of going full blast in any one direction. Because breathing is intermittent, you can blow right past a survivor between breaths and not know it. If they didn't leave scratch marks, they didn't go far.
Pay very close attention to any visual indicators. Grass, corn, dust on pallets, crows, etc.
Spirit takes a lot more skill against good players than people give her credit for. It takes time to develop your phasing techniques and learn the audio queues and subtleties.
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Stridor is already a weird perk since it’s great on one killer, and basically useless on the rest.
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Ignore when people like to call Spirit easy. It's either being uninformed or simply disingenuous. It stems from people just hating Spirit. She requires more skill than most of the killer roster.
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good bait
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thats why stridor is meta on spirit
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It's not bait.
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Make it 2, it's really great on nurse too tbh
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I played her without stridor as the entity didn't want me to have that perk for a long time on her.
I don't really need stridor with her these days anyways, I've learned to track them by the environmental changes and their footsteps, which helps immensely against iron will survivors. Stridor's not needed, it just takes practice.
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Nurse makes the second best use of it for sure, but I rarely see nurses run it. Hard to justify using it for one of the four slots.
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By the way, i don't play spirit much, but i get confused even more when using stridor, because survivors seem way too close.
I'm pretty good at tracking footsteps though, so i don't have problems against IW
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I did well with her with headset with no stridor. Struggled on bigger maps and against gen rushers.
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Well yeah it still is niche, plus nurse has the spoon addon that does the same
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It just always confuses me as I constantly see her being called ‘easy mode’ yet I struggled when I played as her. And I see killers like Clown being called weak and I got to rank 1 by using Clown, Deathslinger and Legion.
I wasn’t sure if I was doing something wrong by not being able to pick her up straight off the bat. I accidentally ended up on an old Otzdarva video last night and it was when Spirit first came out and he classed her as having a high skill cap. It’s just funny how that narrative has completely changed now lol.
I’ll stick at it. I don’t have an ego when it comes to games and I shouldn’t expect myself to be good at every killer. I’ll try her some more but she might just not be my cup of tea and that’s fine.
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Injured sounds make Spirit overpowered while she is perfectly fine without them (in high skill matches). A good Spirit doesn't bring Stridor because she doesn't need it. She can finish chases very quickly already so bringing information or gen defense is more beneficial to her.
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Thanks for this. I’ll have to give her another go and see if I can become better / learn to actually enjoy her. I’m just not used to having to guess where survivors are as I normally play Clown, Deathslinger and Legion and they just operate completely different.
My headset has good audio quality and I can often hear tiny details such as people sneaking up on you on FPS games. I just kept getting maps like Badham Preschool and as soon as the Iron Will survivors ran to the school or one of the other buildings they’d disappear after I phased. It didn’t help that they were efficient on generators as well as I felt like I had no time to make mistakes.
I might just try to learn her whilst using Stridor and when I feel comfortable enough, I’ll try her without and see how I do. I love her visual design and really want to like her.
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If you realize a survivor likes to start walking when you enter phase just stand still and wait for them to start walking, then start phasing towards them.
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Spirit really doesn't have a high skill cap it doesn't take long to get good with her, that being said you still have to put time in to get good you can't just slap headphones on and be a godly spirit , she's best utilized using shorter spurts in chases with the phase and not being in the mode too long to where it's a guessing game , I only hold phases out if I'm traversing to a gen far away I've noticed alot of newer spirit players stay in phase and waste it all before attacking
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That works in some scenarios. I know how to do the whole ‘fake phase’ trick but my issue was more with when they’d just hold W and then as soon as I started to phase they wouldn’t be running anymore and would disappear lol. As soon as they break LOS and start walking I really struggled to locate which direction they went in. A lot of it will just come down to me having to play her more.
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Ya I always felt this way too. I actually really like the character but am not very good with her at all. Could also be because I don't use stridor and scratch marks are like 5 meters delayed when I use her. Never noticed it when i was any other killer but her.
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*Laughs in Predator
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I’m glad I’m not alone. I just never understood why I struggled so much as Spirit but not other lower tier killers. Honestly though, it could just be personal preference. She might just not be a killer that’s suited for my play style. But I’m not giving up on her just yet.
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Can’t say I’ve ever used that perk. 😳
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It's surprisingly good on Spirit.
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I’m pretty sure I saw @GoodBoyKaru mention it recently in a thread about best Spirit builds so maybe I should give it a go? 🤔
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What causes the confusion is people misconstrue kill results for being easy. Spirit asks more skill of the survivor than average killers do. So kills can make it "feel" like she's easy but it's not that she's easy, it's that survivors in general are quite bad and they don't play against you correctly since they have to play against her completely differently than other killers.
You gotta remember that the average player in these forums is playing at low ranks where the survivors will play terrible such as giving Spirit footsteps to listen to or scratch marks to follow. Against actual "good" survivors you will not be getting this.
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stopped playing spirit makes me realize how noob i am playing other killer. I despise that killer now since most of killer main doesnt realize how clueless they re when not playing stridor spirit
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That I did, but keep in mind that post said without headphones. So in other words, where Stridor would be null and void.
Predator is nice in that scratch marks basically become a red line to victory but suffers from two major drawbacks: faking scratch marks is easier than faking sound, and it's still inaccurate as ######### about 40% of the time.
Predator is good as a second option but I'd still say Stridor just because it takes all of her lovely (read: incredibly limited) counterplay only available in the form of perks, and shits on it, before some serious defenstation occurs.
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Yeah the thing is iron will make you a blind deaf killer and that's no good but then stridor makes survivors without iron will just not fin either so theres no win that's why I say let her hear pain and breathing at 50% while phasing regardless of perks
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Ahh I didn’t remember the thread clearly enough so I didn’t realise it was in regards to not using headphones.
I fake scratch marks a lot. I often pretend I’m in a locker when I’ve just walked past. When I play killer, I normally use sound and visual cues to locate survivors as I find scratch marks to be too unreliable.
I’ll unlock Stridor on her and see how I feel but I can’t see me becoming a Spirit main any time soon. I’d miss Clowns big belly too much. 🤡
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If you like kills, then uh... Yeah, with stridor she's the killer for you.
If you like, ya know, actually putting in effort then either don't use stridor or stick to someone else lol
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The thing I like the most about the killers I play is how much fun I have. Win or lose. Which is why I had issues with Stridor-less Spirit as I wasn’t having fun in any of my games. I just kept thinking “I wish I was Deathslinger” or “I wish I was Demogorgon” right now as I feel more comfortable with how they operate and actually enjoy my matches.
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One other thing you can do is go into the usersettings.ini file and change the audioqualitylevel from 0 to 2. It makes a huge difference. Not sure why it defaults to 0 for everyone.
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This is me right now in most of my matches. I not using my mains at all right now trying to get the rest of the roster P3 before anniversary cakes. I am constantly wishing I was Pig, fred, or huntress. The only exceptions were Demo, Clown, Twins, Mike, and even though i find him complete trash trickster. Even getting beatdown is fun with him to me at least.
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Take away a killer's visual tracking and you clearly hear.... or rather dont hear a problem killers suggered for way too long.
For killers, the sound just doesnt work most of the times. I kid you not, whenver a bug screws sound for killers, it doesnt get restored to pre-bugged state. Im sure it happened thrice already.
Survivors would pee their pants if killers had unnerfed sound.
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I'm not spirit main but anytime i played her i didn't like using stridor with her. Stridor just confused me when you could hear other survivors loudly and iron users quietly so i didn't know when i'm near survivors. I switched stridor to sloppy butcher and did much better. Maybe if i mained her and bought better headset stridor could be better option
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When I do play Spirit I prefer not using Stridor. I feel I’m betting whether the survivors are running IW or not. If they are not, the sound cues are way too loud and throw me off.
I’d rather M&A to sneak up easier and STBFL to do more damage faster. BBQ and Whispers/PGTW to round out the build.
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Its almost like she gets counter-play. who woulda gussed? See, truly strong killers do not have hard counter-play. They just look at you and you die. That is what true power and control looks like. Its why survivors complain about her.
With other killers, Its like opposite, the good survivors look at you and you get looped from seemingly endless string of safe pallets and relatively safe window vaults. With spirit, they aren't so safe and you have to make reads using the resources. I'd say any form of Juking is probably highest skill-expression that a survivor has for DBD. It is why looping a spirit is so much more skillful than any of the others killers. Its winning when the odds are stacked against you. Its very impressive.
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Imho, Spirit takes skill in the part of reading visual and audio queues without Stridor. The issue is that Stridor makes reading those audio queues super, super easy, while also taking away the only buffer Survivors have from attempting to throw off those queues. Sure, Survivors can crouch, but if you have good enough listening skills, that doesn't matter. It also is a case where the only thing that is the 'Counter' to Spirit is entirely destroyed- after all, the only other thing you can do is attempt to make reads/plays against the Spirit mid-phase, but any Spirit worth their salt is going to shut down those attempts pretty fast against most Survivors. Add this with the fact that the only other 'Counter' to Spirit is not getting caught in the first place, and playing unpredictably/scratchmark jukes (the second of which tend to be void in both grass and if the Spirit just... doesn't phase immediately to see what they're pulling, which they can do and is one of her biggest strengths), and I think that's where people have a lot of contempt for Stridor Spirit.
(Plus, there are a lot of people who absolutely swear that Iron Will counters Stridor- when that's just not true.)
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"Its almost like she gets counter-play. who woulda gussed?"
She already has tons of counter play if they understand how she works.
"See, truly strong killers do not have hard counter-play."
They do have hard counter play.
"They just look at you and you die. That is what true power and control looks like. Its why survivors complain about her."
They complain because they're bad and just make excuses instead of taking responsibility. There's lack of accountability.
"It is why looping a spirit is so much more skillful than any of the others killers."
I agree.
"Its winning when the odds are stacked against you. Its very impressive."
I don't think it's stacked against them. It does show a high skill level to know how to juke Spirit though.
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Spirit main here.
Predator is crap don't fall for it. Total trap. Scratch marks are unreliable and easily juked and it removes marks from walls. Do NOT I REPEAT DO NOT become over dependent on scratch marks with this killer. She is about sound. Her strongest addon removes scratch marks FFS...
Stridor is mandatory on her. Yea, you can play without it but I would trade all 3 other perks for Stridor if I had to make that decision. Getting Stridor on Spirit is like the transcendence limitless meme. Headphones are mandatory too(Even more so.)
She isn't an easy killer. She isn't hard like Blight or Nurse but she isn't easy. Everyone just hates her with the burning passion of a 1000 hells so they say she can be played by a lobotomized snail.
She is like a reverse plague/legion. Her biggest strength is easily downing wounded survivors. Like if you are wounded vs a Spirit you may as well already be down. She is gonna ######### get you and there is very little you can do to stop it. She can track you and appear out of nowhere and down you instantly. You can't track her at all. You need to move erratically and be unpredictable.
I do well against her as survivor but that is because I play her and most Spirits are used to survivors panicking against her and acting like chickens with their heads cut off. I see so many idiot survivors do the dumbest stuff vs her. Like run in straight lines or camp pallets... WHILE WOUNDED! That is a death sentence vs Spirit.
Her biggest flaw is that she like every killer that is amazing at chases is slow with map pressure which is why I recommend Corrupt on her.
Is she OP? Maybe but I don't care and I will protest any attempt to nerf her lol. 😁
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LMAO got to love the honesty.
I’m currently levelling up my Plague but I’ll work on Spirit next so I can have some Stridor games. 😈
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Contrary to many claims, Spirit is still pretty strong without Stridor. There are even some Spirit mains that deride it as a "crutch perk," akin to Scalped Topknot on Oni.
That said, Iron Will is a major inconvenience. You can play around it perfectly fine, but leaves you completely in the dark while phasing, meaning you can't tell if you phased past, if a survivor is standing still, etc. Stridor makes those circumstances much fewer and further between.
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You need better headphones, that’s all
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Stridon't
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