Is Spine Chill the best Survivor perk right now?
Whilst Spine Chill is highly regarded, I rarely see anyone consider it the ‘best’ perk. Until recently, I’d say DS was the strongest perk, and then unbreakable was second for how powerful that combo was. However, with the DS nerf, I think it has knocked both of these perks down slightly. This leaves me with the question, which perk is now in the number one spot? I would not fault anyone for saying dead hard or sprint burst, but I’d say Spine Chill comes out on top for me. So, why could it be the king of all perks?
First of all, it is a massive counter to Wraith, Myers, Pig, and Ghost Face. They are never going to surprise you, unless they try to fool Spine Chill, but I have personally never seen anyone other than Otzdarva do this. Even if they did this, they do eventually have to look at you. A lot of the time, this makes them little more than a M1 killer that will really struggle to down you without wasting so much time. It also helps you know if Demo is coming towards you after teleporting, and weakens Freddy’s oblivious status, as you know when he is coming for you. There are other killers who have add ons revolving around stealth that again are almost worthless against users of Spine Chill.
You can use the perk to know when a killer has lost you in chase, and this gives a powerful combo with Iron Will, to let you know when they have lost line of sight. In a meta where spirit dominates, Spine Chill is a really great perk to use, as you can wait till the perk stops lighting up, and then hide to lose chase. I don’t believe using this perk just to be immersed is using it very well, but there are times you absolutely cannot be caught, whether it’s because the killer has five tokens of devour, or if you’re on death hook. The perk lighting on and off also makes escaping through the exit gate a lot safer, since you can power it up to the point where no light will be shown, and then fully open it once Spine Chill goes on and off, indicating the killer is checking the other gate.
It also has a nice extra effect of giving you a 6% boost to all actions when the killer is looking at you, which is great for getting the gate open just in time, but is best for the extra vault speed. It’s essentially like getting a mini resilience as part of the perk, although combining both is another excellent combo for this perk. The extra speed has definitely helped me finish gens, escape hits and comes in clutch when you need it. It’s a lifesaver letting you know when a killer is coming back to a hook, or if it’s safe to heal.
Lastly, it counters some of the most popular killer perks. Tinkerer while still helpful for the killer, will prevent you from being grabbed off the gen if there are walls blocking your line of sight. It also makes monitor and abuse essentially a worthless perk against you, as you will know they are coming from 32m regardless of their terror radius. It can also tell you when a killer is reading your aura, with a perk like a nurse’s calling.
There are many other uses for this perk, which makes it extremely versatile. This perk is incredibly consistent, and I’d be amazed if you couldn’t get value out of it basically every game. I’d love to hear what everyone else thinks about where this perks ranks in relation to the rest of the survivor perks.
Side note, it’s amazing for anyone who gets anxiety from playing.
Comments
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I don't think its the best perk, although it's really good its not the best
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It's good but not THE best one, Personally I think BT is the best survivor perk Iron will is in 2nd and Kindred is in 3rd
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Fair enough. I think there’s a case for Spine Chill, Sprint Burst, Dead Hard, Iron Will, or Borrowed. It ultimately comes down to personal preference, but I’d say that objectively some combination of these perks is probably going to get the best results for the most part.
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Agreed
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Spine Chill is one of the most versatile survivor perks (similar to Iron Will). But I'm not so sure it's the best survivor perk.
Very strong loopers can get by without it.
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I don't know if it is the BEST Perk but it is an auto-include for me. I use it to counter Spirit primarily, but it is like Sloppy Butcher in that you always get a solid return on it in your list. There is never a match where you don't get valuable information and a head start out of it. Compared to many Perks that may or may not even come into play, it is golden.
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For me it is I gain so much distance on killer using it and no way in hell I will remove it from perk slot
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It’s a perk that I feel naked without honestly
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I honestly think it should be toned down a bit because it completely counters stealth killers and it outclasses premonition in every way possible
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Definitely! Spine chill has saved me many times. Other personal favorite is UE because you can move fast around objects undetected with killer in front of you
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I’d rather premonition got buffed than SC be nerfed. A lot of people complain about the lack of perk variety, but nerfing the best perks will only make it worse. It would be a lot better if perks in general were improved for both sides, than have them be butchered.
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It's a good perk but not the best. It has a place in a lot of builds and makes stealth Killers mich easier to deal with.
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Ditto. :) My standard Survivor build is:
Spine Chill, Calm Spirit, Iron Will... and one Wildcard, i.e. whatever Perk I think I need for a given Rift or situation.
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I mean, speaking from personal experience, I have never had a killer try to fool spine chill. This is at red rank too.
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I agree with that, but I don’t think a 1 in 1,000 killer outplaying SC makes the killer any worse. We aren’t talking about competitive.
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You can get by very well without it so I wouldn't say it's THE strongest but it's a very good perk and universally useful in any build. If you're solo queue and your goal is to escape my idea of a strong universal build is: Dead Hard / SB (or any other exhaust TBH) + Borrowed Time + Some sort of strong aura perk (Bond/Empathy/Kindred) + Iron Will, and Spine Chill just doesn't trump any of these four picks IMO, and I'd still rather throw in something else like Adrenaline, Deliverance, Quick & Quiet, Botany Knowledge, Prove Thyself, Unbreakable, Soul Guard or Leader just to name a few.
If I use it I like to pair it with Resilience.
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Short answer: No. Spine Chill isn't consistently irreplaceable.
Long answer:
- While Spine Chill is amazing against stealth killers, they are not hot topic RN. Against Coscombed Wraith and GF, it is truly irreplaceable but I don't face those killers/addons frequently enough to justify a perk slot. Pig's stealth is her low point ATM and Myers fights an uphill battle to get out of Tier 1 ASAP against good survivors. Indoor maps also make SC more attractive, but they are small in numbers. Just by chance, facing a GF in an indoor map is so uncommon in my current SQ experience that I only use SC when I want to drastically lower the occasional match suspense.
- Four Perk slots syndrome. There are many perks that I want to use, but I am corraled to fill some slots to counter builds that make the game boring to me. Detective's Hunch/Small Game became staples for me due to how stale Ruin/Undying games can be. One of my perk slots is always dedicated to finding totems, mostly bc I face those perks much more frequently than the occasional stealth killer. Another slot is dedicated to WGLF bc I am farming BP. That leaves me with 1 slot for an exhaustion perk and 1 for something else. Equipping SC means I don't have IW, BT, or another important perk.
- In most matches (outdoors map and/or non-stealth killer) SC's detection can be substituted by general awareness. The top-performing killers have some sort of integrated mobility and those killers prefer open maps. The current meta is not kind for killers that require indoor maps to perform well (see scratched mirror Myers) and they compete with 4 survivors in terms of map offerings. It's a risky gamble.
- Tinkerer is a nice trick that works only once. My first priority when I see it is to get rid of ruin ASAP and DsH/SG suit that much better. After the ruin is gone, countering Tinkerer becomes much easier. Repair the gen to 75% and step aside for a few seconds if the killer drops chase or goes MIA. The main objective here is to make the killer necessary in 2 different places at the same time and force him to give up objectives. It's a lose-lose situation to any killer against an average team.
- The best reason for me to equip SC is none of the aforementioned, it's Spirit. If I am facing too many of them, I'll need the best leverage I can get to help in chases. I despise going against her more than any hex totem, scummy tactic, or stealth killer.
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Best survivor perks right now are probably:
- Dead Hard
- Iron Will
- Borrowed Time
Hard to say what the next best perk is. But tbh I'd probably consider Spine Chill rating just above Adrenaline, DS, Unbreakable and Sprint Burst.
But it all depends, really. On Lery's or The Game for example I'd consider Spine Chill the best perk. Whereas on other maps where you can often see killers coming from a mile away, it's not so good, but still nice to have.
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It's redundant in SWF where you can relay info on comms. Any decent team will opt for BT, DS, UB, Adrenaline, etc. instead.
But yeah, if you're a solo player, it gives you a taste of the info you'd get in a SWF. Perks that help bridge the gap between solo and SWF are pretty good (i.e. Kindred).
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I can't play without it because it gives so much info and I feel much safer. But it's not OP or anything.
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Spine chill is a nice perk, it grants the ability to better track when a stealth killer is near you. But, it is not the best perk.
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While spine chill is very good and insanely good vs spirit and stealth killers, its not the best.
Imo the best surv perk is Dead hard
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Killers will still get it nerfed with their constant complaints so it doesn't even matter.
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Don't need spine chill as I'm really alert visually and I use a good headset. I always bail from a gen before the other players, even its Micheal, Wraith or GF
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I'd argue Bond is the best perk in the game, but I'm probably also a bit biased.
I just really appreciate how much information Bond gives, including:
- The killer's general or exact location (depending on distance)
- Location of objectives
- Location of teammates for co-operative point farming
- Location of teammates for healing
- Location of teammates who need a protection hit to survive
- Location of teammates if you need to distract the killer from chasing you *awkward cough*
I doubt there's another perk in the game that can make any player more efficient and on-track in their game-play than Bond. It's just so generally good and reliable.
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Upon reflection, slippery meat is better
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When I play Doctor I don't see Spine Chill as often and it doesn't make a difference because I'm Doctor lol
But playing Wraith it feels like at least 2/4 survivors run it at mid ranks. Im running wall hack Wraith with Coxcombed Clapper. So they don't see me behind walls nor do they hear me, but they still run off.
As survivor I run Spine Chill because I play while son/wife is sleeping and I can't turn up volume too loud. So Spine Chill is a visual notification of killer, including stealth killers.
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Exactly. The killer I'm using, the survivor skill, and the map I'm on all determine whether I am moon walking/or angling toward them. Most of time I could care less they dead anyhow. Stealth killers most time I will angle/moon walk most of time. I use to really hate this perk but it goes in my favor a lot most of the people I see run this so as it lights up they bolt off there gen. Lots of times they bolt and run right into me when on maps with good LOS blockers. Sucks in an open map though lol
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