Idea For Clown Changes
Hello Reader! I'm just another DBD player who spends too much time thinking about this game. Here are my opinions on the Clown.
The most common complaint I hear about the Clown is that he has no ability to pressure the map with his power alone. His power, although strong in ending chases, has very little in terms of tracking and the ability to slow down the progression of the game. The following proposed changes seek to give The Clown more of these in his base kit.
1. The duration that the Afterpiece Tonic and Antidote clouds linger when no player is affected should be increased *
a. For example: Gas clouds linger from 10 secs -> 45 secs
i. Note: This duration is referring to how long the Tonic cloud lasts when no Survivor has run through it, and how long the Antidote cloud lasts when neither player has run through it. Once either cloud has applied Intoxicated or Invigorated, the cloud should dissipate at the same rate it does currently
2. The Afterpiece Tonic clouds should inflict some status debuff that affects Survivors even outside of the chase
a. For example: Tonic clouds inflict the Oblivious status effect for 30 secs
3. The Afterpiece Antidote clouds should offer some form of utility to the Clown to help justify using one of the limited resource of bottles
a. For example: Beginning the animation to reload the bottles while Invigorated decreases the time it takes to reload from 3 secs -> 2 secs
The goal of the first change is to shift the Clown from a “ranged chase killer” to a “ranged trap killer with chase potential.” The Clown would be able to place “gas cloud traps” on key points such as generators, choke points, or the middle of loops from a medium distance and even over some walls. This would serve to allow the Clown to be able to create map hazards for Survivors to avoid without making his power oppressive to one Survivor in chase. I believe this falls in line with the Clown’s lore as well, as the very first instance of the Clown using his anesthetic was him rigging a trap to a bird feeder and waiting for the bird to get gassed.
The goal of the second change is to create some penalty for Survivors who enter a Tonic gas cloud outside of the chase. When encountering a gas cloud trap, a Survivor has two choices. If they avoid entering the gas cloud, they remain immersed but leave a potential hazard for another survivor that could be blocking a gen or other objective. If they enter the gas cloud, they effectively “disarm” the trap, but at the cost of exposing their location to the Clown via their scream (the loud noise notification). Add the proposed Oblivious effect for a short duration and that Survivor must now also be on high alert, because the Clown could be moving in on their location while they can not hear his Terror Radius. Furthermore, add-ons like the Kerosene Can, Sulfuric Acid Vial, and Tattoo’s Middle Finger will regularly apply Blindness, Mangled, and Aura Reveal to Survivors who repeatedly disarm gas clouds.
The goal of the third change is to make up for the fact that the Clown will theoretically be throwing a lot more bottles out of chase and will require repeated reloading. Players who use the Clown will need to balance throwing Tonic bottles to set traps and using Antidote bottles to replenish their supply and make up for lost time and distance spent setting up.
Absurdly long post, I know. But what do you think? Are these ideas good or trash?
Comments
-
I actually really like this, in particular the concept of using his gas as traps being used to block objectives, not unlike Plague's vomit. It adds counterplay like that of Trapper's, where you can disarm a trap but you alert The Trapper when you do. This isn't even mentioning that it's satisfying from a lore perspective.
I think the oblivious effect in particular is a nice touch not only because I think it fits with his past of using dental anesthetic, something sure to leave you out of it enough to not register terror radii, but also because I think I would enjoy the thrill of having to keep on high alert after something like that, and it adds opportunity for skillful choices for the killer too. If the Clown is in a chase and they hear somebody scream in the distance do they commit to the chase or do they go after the person they know is vulnerable?
Overall I think these are good concepts.
0 -
Bad idea. whenever survivor is affected by tonic, they scream. Stealth concepts like.. oblivious do not work with killers that constantly reveal the position of a killer. Clown does that. Antidote already gives clown utility(speed). Its just too situational to use due to activation time. Reload 3->2 is a yellow add-on called Thick Cork Stopper. None of these change proposed affect generator progression or Tracking.
0 -
Since the last change to the clown when they added these ‘antidote’ bottles, I can’t say I’ve actually found any good use for them.
I’d prefer if they revert back to the way he was before with only the original tonic bottles.
0 -
Those are fair points that you bring up, so allow me to explain myself.
Firstly, I did not think that the Survivor Screaming Noise Notification was visible to other Survivors when playing the Clown. It is when you play Doctor, I know, but I’m pretty sure that as a Survivor you only hear a map wide scream when another Survivor is Intoxicated. Additionally, if the Tonic clouds lasted long enough to act as traps, then a Survivor screaming doesn’t necessarily mean that the Clown is right by them.
Secondly, I understand that the Antidote already provides utility in the form of a speed boost, but this speed boost is quite minimal, as it’s only 5 seconds of a 10% inc. to movement speed. I suggested the dec. to reload time as an additional utility on top of the speed boost because I foresee this bottle being used primarily as a way to recover distance and time after using 3 of the 4 bottles to set up Tonic gas traps. Also, the DBD wiki says that the Cork Stopper Add-On only dec. the time by 0.5 secs. Is this wrong?
Thirdly, I know that nothing in the suggested changes slows gen progression speeds, and that was done on purpose! As a general rule, the DBD Devs and Survivor Players find that Killer powers that slow down generators are unfun, especially when they are combined with slow down perks. I mean, think about how oppressive and unfun it was to play against “Forever Freddy.” What I wanted to slow down was progression of the game as a whole by providing a choice for Survivors who come across a Tonic gas cloud outside of chase. If a Survivor finds a generator that is covered in the Tonic gas cloud, they have a couple of options. Wait for the gas to dissipate on its own, which could take up to 45 secs, which is precious time wasted. They could leave that gen and try and find another gen, which also uses up time and leaves that gen vulnerable to being broken by the killer and start regressing. They could enter the Tonic gas cloud, getting rid of the hazard, but revealing their location with a scream and becoming vulnerable due to oblivious. (It is this last option that I believe can be used for tracking. If a Clown throws down a Tonic gas cloud in an area, than for 45 secs, they know if a Survivor moves into that area via the Scream notification… unless the Survivor is running Calm Spirit. Calm Spirit would do to the Clown what it does to the Doctor.)
0 -
I agree with you on that. As the Clown is now, I have difficulty utilizing the Antidote bottles as effective speed boosts. However, I have an idea I would like to bounce off of you. If the gas clouds for both the Tonic and the Antidote were allowed to linger for longer, than perhaps the Tonic clouds could be used as “traps” and the Antidote clouds could be used as “bait.” For example, let’s say that as the Clown you’re in a game on the Shelter Woods. You have recently broken a pallet on one of the “rock loops” that can spawn on that map. After breaking the pallet, you through down an Antidote gas cloud, and leave before triggering the Invigorated effect on yourself. Now, if another Survivor who you are in a chase with gets close to that broken “rock loop”, they may be tempted to enter that loop to get a speed boost. Even if the Survivor does get the boost, if the Clown is right behind them and gets the boost as well, then no distance will be lost AND the Clown will have effectively corralled the Survivor away from a potentially safer area. What do you think of this idea?
0
