How to win as Nemesis - (Long Guide)

Introduction

Nemesis has been out for a while now and there's a considerable amount of takes on him, as there usually is with any new killer. I've played him extensively since he was released, got him to P3, and feel qualified enough to judge what playstyle makes him most effective. I will be going over what add-ons, perks, and strategies work best on him and finish by going over his weaknesses.

What is nemesis good at?

In a nutshell; gen control. When starting a game as Nemesis, the absolute first thing you need to do is look for the gens that are easiest to defend. You don't need to defend every single one. At most, only 3. But keeping your eye on which gens survivors are repairing will obviously help too.

The reason for this is that his tentacle attack takes a while to down survivors due to the 3 hits you need to land. So his chases typically drag on for a while. You won't be winning games by going for as many chases as possible. Instead, assess whether or not you'll be able to land a hit on a survivor before a gen is completed. Whittle down survivors over time and only commit to chases where the survivor has no choice but to run towards areas with uncompleted gens, or if you think you can down them quickly. This is very sound advice for most killers but what makes it especially relevant for Nemesis are his zombies.

They are how you win games. Bob and Bobette, (these are their correct names and if you say otherwise your performance will suffer), are your key to locking down areas of the map. Once you have secured an area you want to defend, survivors will usually be going back and forth between gens as you patrol. This will naturally attract both of your undead compatriots and will force survivors to take detours, waste time luring them away, and give up information on where they are.

Always pay attention to the auras of the B-team. They will be a more valuable asset to winning games than your tentacle ever will be. Just be weary of their pathfinding sometimes breaking and causing them to walk into walls.

To summarise what Nemesis is good at:

• Defending 3-gens after securing them.
• Forcing survivors to waste time.
• Gathering information on where survivors are.

What should you use on nemesis?

add-ons

The best:

• Admin/Visitor Wristband.

Both of these add-ons extend the view-cone of your zombies and make it wider. So they'll spot survivors from further away and keep chasing them for a bit longer. The reason why these add-ons are the best is that zombies become a massive nuisance once near a gen that survivors are working on. Their slow speed and extended sight results in survivors taking much more time to lure them away and give you more information to use when deciding what part of the map to patrol. Always run 1 of these add-ons if possible.

The good:

• Brian's Intestine, Mikhail's Eye, Depleted Ink Ribbon.
• Serotonin Injector.

The add-ons the boost zombie speed function as a slightly less effective version of the Wristband add-ons with a trade-off. Your zombies will patrol more areas of the map but are easier to lure away because of their increased speed. Use at your discretion. (Something to note, the Ink Ribbon will spawn zombies behind exit gates once 5 gens have been repaired. And they will not wander once spawned. This can give you an extra shot at downing a survivor before they escape.)

The Serotonin Injector is a bit risky to use. As destroying a zombie can be good or bad depending where you want them to be at any given time. Still, using this add-on in combination with Exposed perks is especially useful on in-door maps or maps with long line-of-sight breakers. You also don't have to be the one destroying a zombie for it to activate.

the bad:

• Literally everything else.

Most of Nemesis' add-ons just suck.

Extra killer instinct on vaccine use, extra time to open vaccine cases, an extra 0.15 seconds of hindered when infecting a survivor, there's nothing useful here. Even his Iridescents aren't good. The Umbrella Badge is so situational it might as well come into effect every 100 games. And the S.T.A.R.S Badge requires you and a zombie to be in the same place 30 seconds after a gen pops in order to get use out of. Just avoid everything here. (But if you want to create a hilarious Hall Monitor build you can use the S.T.A.R.S Badge in conjunction with another movement speed add-on with a Midwitch offering. No running in the halls!)

Perks

The best:

• Save the Best For Last.
• Pop Goes the Weasel, Hex: Ruin, Surveillance, Eruption.

You'll never want to have a game without at least 2 of these perks equipped.

STBFL will massively cut down on the time you spend injuring survivors. And can have its stacks preserved by hitting the obsession with your tentacle only.

A gen perk is honestly mandatory on any killer and Nemesis is no exception. You'll need them to counter repair progress after committing to a chase, but what you use is mostly up to preference. From my experience Surveillance and Eruption are the best perks to have once you control a 3-gen.

the good:

• Surge, Enduring, Trail of Torment, Tinkerer.

Enduring allows you to go for more hits around pallets without fear of wasting much time.

Tinkerer is good for map knowledge and gen control.

Surge can synergise with Eruption for 14% total gen regression if you've already kicked the gens.

ToT will not de-activate if you hit a healthy survivor with your tentacle as you're not injuring them. Allowing you to slap multiple survivors until you feel like committing to a chase.

the bad:

• Usual bad killer perks.

Fire up, Monstrous Shrine, Gearhead, etc. There's not really any perk that is inherently bad on Nemesis that isn't bad on most killers. You're free to make whatever build you like with him for the most part. Just keep in mind what you're compromising if you decide to not run any gen control perks.

What is nemesis' weakness?

Bad RNG and his own power.

Big maps are especially bad for him since his zombies have less chance to be effective and it's usually harder to get a 3-gen.

But it's his tentacle that is by far his biggest weakness. It requires 3 hits to down a healthy survivor, has a tiny hitbox, and is at the mercy of the map clutter when attempting to hit a survivor. How the tentacle actually works is basically a short ranged beam that cuts off at points where it collides with something. This is very bad when you consider how loops do not always have a hitbox to match how they visibly appear. Meaning you have to memorise which loops you can and cannot hit survivors over in addition to actually hitting them with your tiny hotbox.

If you have the opportunity to hit someone with your tentacle or basic attack; always throw that right hook. You'll save so much time trying to hit them and ensure that they'll either have to heal or risk being downed the next time you see them. Whereas infected survivors will just open a vaccine box and gain their 3rd health state back.

conclusion

Nemesis is an alright killer. He can have good map pressure, some anti-loop potential, and excels once he gains control of a portion of the map. But he requires extensive map knowledge, game sense, good perks, good add-ons, and a decent map in order to do well against competent survivors.

I don't think the time investment to learn him and get all the tools needed to play him well is worth it. He needs a few buffs at least. But that doesn't mean you can't still have fun playing him.