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Why is playing killer so annoying and stressful?
I've been playing the game for a few hundred hours now and every match seems to be against a bunch of rank 1-4 survivors (as a rank 8-10 killer), which would be fine if not for the fact that they all run the same perks, they're almost always good at looping and wasting my time and without gen slowdown perks it's next to impossible to assert any amount of control over the game. Gen tapping is one of the most annoying things I've come across and I don't understand why it's even a thing still - it takes me several seconds to kick a gen (which does basically nothing) and they can just tap it, even mid chase with no drawbacks.
I'm all for getting better as killer and I am trying, but it feels like I'm playing at 110% all the time and it's too stressful knowing that the survivors aren't even having to try, as evidenced by them constantly clicking their flashlights at me and dicking about. I've bought some of the DLC killers that I thought would fit my playstyle more and to get more perks but every game just feels like a bullying free-for-all for the survivors and it's making me actively detest this game. There's no happy medium for difficulty, it went from potato-brained survivors which wasn't fun to swf groups that make me want to throw my monitor out of the window.
Comments
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Whats your playstyle? Better yet, what are your weaknesses? It may be time for you to go all in on a main.
Secondary note, the game does get stressful, but there are ways around that, and there are ways to change your own mentality so that you win more consistently. Remember you're playing against other human beings. 4 of them no less. When you go into a match, try to imagine yourself as an actual killer. Don't stress, don't sweat. Think about time, think about what you think someone is going to do next. Think about the person you just chased and downed. What items did they carry, what clothing are they wearing, how good were they at looping?
My easiest games as killer are when I'm not sweating. What I do is I go in, as soon as you start the match, you already know theres going to be at least 1 or 2 survivors at the generator furthest away from you, so I usually B-line it there. I find some people, either in stealth or out of it, and quickly down them. Now the first person to go down, is usually the weakest link. Think about what they did in the chase. I down them, I hook them, I try to remember were there any other survivors nearby? Which direction did I see the other survivors? If there were none, I scour my way onto the next chase, watching my position so that in order to get to their friend, they have to either hide from me, or pass me on the way. If there was a survivor there, remember where they were at and snuff them out.
Theres some things I also like to do pre-match to throw survivors off. For instance, when I see a med kit....I instantly know....that person with that kit....that kit is going to be their biggest flaw. Same with a person with a flashlight, or a Key. If they have a flashlight, you know they're going to at some point of the game try to do something arrogant. And you can exploit that, bringing things like franklins or other perks you know will aggrevate them. And when people are aggrevated....(They don't think straight, which is the perfect chance to take advantage of them) Its all one big mind game. When you start thinking about how other people think and even picture yourself as the psychopath itself, it leads to easier games. Because eventually you can play the survivors against themselves by exploiting that predictable element in people. It may not be something you gain overnight but take your time. And above all else, figure out a killer that you can play that you know will be able to carry out whatever plan you have in mind.
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Oh man do I know how you feel, the classic red rank experience.
Maybe I can give a few tips to help:
- Priority: When it comes down to chasing someone and they're looping properly, don't continue the chase, especially if it's at god loops such as Shack. The ones that are t-bagging & flashlight clicking are trying to get your attention, don't give it to them.
- Don't play nice: Going off of my first tip, if the whole team loops decent as you mentioned, slug slug slug & bet your *ss you're going to tunnel the weakest looper out of the game. If they aren't playing nice & are trying to rush the game as fast as possible, grant them their wish and send them back to the lobby with a de-pip.
- 3 gen: This is probably the best tip I could give you, always make a 3-gen at the beginning of the game just incase the match goes sour. This doesn't mean you have to camp that side of the map, but prioritize checking those gens over anything else. Once the survivors realize they've f*cked up, it's all over for them.
- Playstyle: I know you've already bought a few DLC killers & have gotten the same result, but please believe me when I say you'll eventually find a killer you're consistent with. I would honestly just play the killer you like the most that way the more you practice with them, the more ins and outs you'll learn when playing them. Though I will say.. if you're going against red rank survivors, I wouldn't recommend playing killers that don't have map pressure.. stick to killers like Oni, Spirit & Blight who can interrupt gens.
Other than that, just try not to take it personally. If you told me what killer you've been playing the most, maybe I'd be able to give you specific tips for said killer, but other than that, this is all I can say.
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Killer is more stressful at all ranks tbh. Your performance determines the overall pace of the game. Its 4v1 from the beginning, which you are at your weakest. Failure to apply pressure will cause "gen rush".
Some meta perks/killers will help, but most survivors at the high ranks are prepared for those killers/builds.
I try to go into matches expecting very little (BBQ stacks and some good recordings of good plays on my part) and try to not worry about rank or pipping. I tend to do better and have a good time, which in turn reduces stress.
If looping is an issue, then maybe you can practice looping in a custom game with some if these survivors and get feedback. Im not sure if you play mind games or are holding W the whole time, but these can help.
You can also play survivor to learn how they loop which will help you as killer, as well. I find alternating between killer/survivor to change the stress level.
I'm in a similar boat btw. I'm rank 11 and I'm seeing red and purple ranks. Some of them loop me for days (at that point its better to drop chase and find somebody weaker) but others I stomp since they really don't have a place in those ranks because their team carried them. The latter point especially shows that rank doesn't mean as much for survivors. They can have awesome teammates or a weaker killer and still perform well. Or, they can follow the rule of 2 and still go up.
Once new MMR goes live it'll be better I think. If you are struggling at rank 10 with your main then go play rank 20 with a different killer.
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Best you can do is find a main and focus on getting better. Don’t worry about winning just practice your power
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It only is if you're playing weak killers because it's up to the survivor's skill if they win or not, not up to the killer. And most of the maps in this game are survivor sided so you can get annoyed by the map as well if say you're playing nurse on hawkins.
Your best chance is maining a killer thats strong and practicing them a lot.
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You've hit the killer wall man. The matchmaking system is putting you against red rank teams and general survivors likely with 1000's of hours.
It's something most people go through when getting into killer and you have a few options on how to deal with it.
- push yourself and try your best to work through it, yes it will be difficult and stressful but you'll get better and learn after every match.
- Derank to go against survivors nearer to the level where you're at now and stay there till you get enough experience to be able to push up further in rank.
- Switch to mainly survivor for a while, this will be able to give you more of an insight into what the survivors are thinking/doing and what plays they will try and also give you more map and game knowledge to be able to play killer better as well.
Hope any of this helps and I'm sure you'll get there <3
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cuz u make it stressfull
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I think I'm going to take a break tbh. The last 10 or so games I've played have all been more or less the same and I find my heart is racing once they're over, usually only getting a 1k by playing dirty and it's not fun at all, which defeats the point of playing a video game.
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I have the exact same issue. I was normally low-rank purple or a red rank killer and even then would get majority 3 or 4 kills. Lately, i have to d/c every game because my rank 8 killer is versing sweaty red rank SWF and all it does is make me pissed off at the game because clearly the matchmaking skill level is fried rn and its not even enjoyable to play killer anymore.
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Because this game has poor balancing and will always favor swfs
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It's easy to get worked up about losses as Killer, especially if you're like me and think Survivors are silently judging your every move (which, honestly, they probably are, but who cares?). I have two rules:
- Hooks, not Kills: You'll feel a lot better about yourself if you scale your performance based on hooks. Getting at least one hook on each Survivor should suffice. The "Entity Displeased" text at the end of a game is disheartening, but only if you let it. (Not saying you shouldn't get kills. If you have the opportunity to win during an intense game, seize it!)
- Compare Survivor Losses to Yours: If you play Survivor, you should know that you die a lot more often than you escape. You'll often shrug it off saying, hey, at least I did my part. As Killer, you should try to preserve that mindset. You got stomped, or you made one too many mistakes which you'll be sure to avoid next match. At the very least, you put up a fight, and the Survivors needed to be strategic in order to get through you.
I hope this helps :) I myself have recently been getting back into Killer and these have been helping me shake off the stress
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And even if they’re judging you (which is an inevitable part of life - people will always judge, no matter what you do), chances are they’ll have forgotten who you are within an hour. I play against a different set of survivors and killers every time I play, there’s no way I could remember every single person I’ve judged the playstyle of even if I wanted to.
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Don't feel bad about it man we've all been there, I have over 4000 hours in the game and I still have to take breaks every now and again to stop me from wanting to stop playing all together.
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You're one person against four others. It's going to feel stressful. Matchmaking putting you against survivors who will be practically untouchable makes it worse.
Getting better helps, of course, but it's also about changing your mindset. Matchmaking, bugs in the game, problems with latency, things that are totally out of your control are going to screw you. You have to make your peace with it and try to put yourself in the mindset of, "Who cares? It's just a game." If you can't get past feeling competitive, you may want to quit now before you get in any deeper.
I'm not competitive, I don't care about rank, I meme around, and I'll go afk as killer when I'm not having fun. I'm still always about one step away from uninstalling the game.
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Yeah survivor ain't any less stressful either especially with 90% of tunellers and campers we have atm both experiences sucks big time in my opinion but at least ur experience can be purely fixed as u go and practice but hardcore, tunelling and camping we can't fix
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Its only as stressful as you make it, you'll naturally get better at it over time just like any game, but theres a lot of people out there that have been playing this game for years so dont feel bad if you arent performing well for a bit, focus on one or two killers and really master them, learn their powers and cooldowns by heart, watch a few youtube videos or streams and see what sort of tricks and tactics people use and try to mimic it. Also you just have to remember that theres always someone out there better than you, swf is stacked against the killer so dont feel bad, they have more info on you than youll ever get. Just play the game normally, laugh off the mistakes and weird/stupid plays and trust me it will feel a lot better even if you get no kills.
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Explain to me why 4 survivors who each probably have more hours than this guy should lose to him. This game is heavily killer sided, it's just that he's going against 4 players who are better than him. He's even admitted to using cheap tactic to secure kills that he couldn't get through chases. This is the rant of someone who's in over their head at their current rank and feels entitled to win regardless. Sorry but not sorry, killers aren't entitled to wins. I'm saying this as a rank 1 killer, where I am feeling the opposite frustration. It's way to easy to win as killer and because it's so much harder for survivors it's become super rare to go up against a team worth versing.
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Yup - this happened to me too. Basically I now have to purposely de-pip or only play killer in the daytime to avoid getting SWF sweat squads against whom I stand zero chance. I realize I could get better if I devoted a lot more time to the game but I really don’t have the time to be more than a casual player. I need to start purposely camping and slugging in my matches so I don’t pip up - sad but true!
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It is man a casual gamer against the sweat squads in red ranks just doesn't have a chance of having fun unless they stop being casual and put in lots of time into playing killer. Most people just want to play every now and again and have fun though, which is probably why a lot either just stick to survivor or just end up dropping dbd and playing something else.
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Because with all the second chances survivors run, it feels like you have to literally win the same game multiple times. You can never just play better than the survivors and be rewarded. They've always got a dead hard, unbreakable, or some other crutchy free second chance in their back pocket because they know they can't cut the mustard without them.
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The thing is there's clearly an overabundance of survivors so why should I be matched with a group of 4 with thousands of hours when there's enough survivors of my rank? I don't want a win handed to me, I want a fair game with a reasonable challenge.
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Killers don't care about balance when they are 4k'ing a team that screws up. They care about balance when they go against a swf that doesn't make noob mistakes.
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Cause its a 1v4, meaning perk wise its a 4v16, so while you have 4 perks to help you, survivors have 16 perks overall helping them
You also have to multitasks and think fast, you also need to make sure not to make massive mistakes and also have to think if the chase you are in is worth it while making sure the gens are also protected, you also need to constantly be hitting and downing survivors
While survivor is just do gens and loop, while unhooking
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what?
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Dev quote on this regard.
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Maybe because you should watch a tutorial on youtube if that's hard enough for you 😊
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Way to generalize? If I go against a team that's clearly below my skill level, and I'm not doing an adept or something, I won't kill any of them and instead just screw around once I've gotten my 8 hooks.
And to everyone saying git gud - some people play the game casually. They don't want to have to play it like a tournament and study for it like a college course - it's a game. Those players aren't at the highest ranks as a result, but the game keeps pairing them with players who are because the matchmaking is godawful and ranking tends to push you above your skill level if you play too much in a short span of time. And this drives people away from the game because they can't have fun with it; either they lose horribly, getting tbagged all the while, or they have to play super sweaty and that's not fun for them either.
Anyway, there's a lot of good advice in this thread too - focusing on hooks instead of kills is probably the best thing you can do, so you don't feel like you've lost even when everyone escapes because you got 6 hooks in and that's perfectly respectable. Finding a killer you feel good at and putting some time into them is another, because you have someone to switch to after a string of bad matches where you can feel more secure with. But I'm a little irritated that people respond to 'I can't have any fun with this game because it doesn't pair me with players in my skill bracket' as a chance to sneer 'git gud, then' or complain about how they don't have any problems because the other side has it worse.
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