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So what's the best way to deal with the new Boon Totems as killer?

ExcelSword
ExcelSword Member Posts: 512
edited October 2021 in General Discussions

Just had a miserable match trying out Michael's T2 wall hack addon and got creamed because the new boon totem blocks auras. I was completely thrown off by my gameplan not working and had no idea what to do.

What is the best way to go about the totems? Only look for them when you know for certain where they are, or dedicate some time to look for them?

Maybe I should play some more and adapt, but personally I think it's a bit much that ALL survivors benefit from one person blessing a totem. It means the time sacrificed is no where nearly as harsh since its still 3/4 survivors able to work on gens normally with the bonus of the Boon.

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Comments

  • Shenlong1904
    Shenlong1904 Member Posts: 293

    As Objectively_speaking said, ignore them untill you see or hear them, then make a mental note of where the totem is and check there if you hear the blessing sound effect. Either you know where all the totems are, which makes them weaker, or survivor will keep wasting time trying to relight them

  • WishIcouldmain
    WishIcouldmain Member Posts: 4,082

    They’re very map dependent which they shouldn’t be. They’ll be worse on big maps but can be atrocious on the smaller ones. And when a boon happens they should only apply one of the perks

  • dugman
    dugman Member Posts: 9,713

    Just thinking out loud, one possibility if you're running into survivors who always use Boon: Shadow Step to hide auras is intentionally don't use any perks or add-ons that rely on auras. So no Nurse's Calling, BBQ and Chili, Thrilling Tremors, etc. Obviously there are a lot of popular perks that use auras, but there are also good perks that don't so maybe try using those instead. For example, just looking at "tracking perks":

    • Whispers is decent at the start of the match for getting to the right area and doesn't use auras at all. It's also good once you've knocked out a survivor or two to track down the last couple who might be trying to hide or go for the hatch
    • Lethal Pursuer can give you a similar benefit to Whispers at the very start of the match, and it only triggers well before any Boons are played (Whispers is less accurate but potentially works the entire match so it's a trade-off)
    • Stridor isn't bad for tracking nearby survivors by sound, and is a counter to Iron Will which is also popular
    • Spies from the Shadows is interesting because the noise indicators for the birds aren't auras, so depending on whether or not you like that perk it's unaffected by that Boon
    • Surprisingly Bloodhound is another interesting possibility since the highlighted blood trail isn't an aura either. It's possibly a reasonable alternative to Nurse's Calling if you're looking for an aura-less way to track injured survivors

    Of course I'm just looking at tracking perks here since the whole point of auras is tracking survivors. Obviously perks that do gen regression or that directly help injure survivors or put conditions on them all still work normally too.

    Finally another thing to try against Boon users is Hex: Haunted Grounds. Since the Boon players will intentionally be looking for totems to use, they'll very likely cleanse your Haunted Grounds early in the match and get you a free down or two or maybe even three if you're lucky. You could even pair it with Hex: Undying, and every time you snuff out a boon it just becomes another potential dull totem that a new Haunted Grounds or other hex could hop too. (Just be aware that aura Hexes won't work as well. Retribution for example will still make them Oblivious for instance but you won't see their aura when they cleanse a hex.)

  • Nickeleye
    Nickeleye Member Posts: 278

    Play survivor.

  • Mister_Holdout
    Mister_Holdout Member Posts: 3,144

    Uninstall the game.

    /s

  • PalletsAndHooks
    PalletsAndHooks Member Posts: 989

    Do gens or die

  • chargernick85
    chargernick85 Member Posts: 3,171

    The games i played that didnt crash were a 4k with 3-5 gens left because i knew were they were doing them with undying. I also had 3 hexes so if they blessed one i would know where it is. GG EZ so far oh ######### crash.

  • MrOogieboogie
    MrOogieboogie Member Posts: 71

    Just like every other controversial perk/add on/character before this...ppl will get used to it and learn how to deal (except for spirit which still needs to be butt smashed with a nerf bat) I STILL can't stand NOED/ruin/than...but they are in the game and that's just that /shrug.

    I guess as others have said though...don't kill your time hunting them down. If you see it, destroy it. If you are in chase, remember where it is when you have a moment. Yeah, on small, clustered maps like haddonfield...which boons kinda make even MORE survivor sided XD...they will suck, but on huge maps like red forest, the survivors have to be camping near their totems to get much use out of them, or run to one every time they get injured for circle of healing. Survivors waste loads of time overwriting hexes or reapplying boons so it's still kind of a double edged sword.

  • Rey_512
    Rey_512 Member Posts: 1,620

    Play Plague.

  • PigMainBigBrain
    PigMainBigBrain Member Posts: 1,893

    The best way to go about them? You don't.....

    The only logical perk counter to them is nerfed and does nothing. I would suggest playing something else or farming BP on survivor until things settle down. Or....you could play nurse.

  • AkiTheKitten
    AkiTheKitten Member Posts: 670

    If you still think Spirit needs nerfs, after being balanced and just fine, boy..

  • botrax
    botrax Member Posts: 633

    The best way i saw people countering the boon totem where playing 1 shot killer and not using any hex perk

  • edgarpoop
    edgarpoop Member Posts: 8,444

    For the most part, they're sinking a ton of time to light them and use them. I've ignored them and haven't had any issues. They're not a problem until they're optimized, and very few are doing that. The scratch mark one messes with Nurse and Spirit a bit, but that's about it.

  • Rogue11
    Rogue11 Member Posts: 1,485

    They're as broken as predicted when survivors are remotely competent. Completely negates a killer's ability to split pressure or defend a 3 gen. Further reinforces camping and tunneling as the best killer tactics. Bad design incentivizing boring playstyles. Unfortunate.

    But yea, Plague slaps.

  • Ramxenoc445
    Ramxenoc445 Member Posts: 1,358

    Funny enough it did actually. Perk was basically useless and she didn't bother cleansing it though I did escape but was the only one that did

  • FFirebrandd
    FFirebrandd Member Posts: 2,446

    Alright... here are your options.

    1. Play Plague. Being fully infected fully counters both boons.
    2. Play a Killer with a readily accessible insta down. IE Bubba or Hillbilly. Healing doesn't matter near as much if you bulldoze both their health states in 1 hit.
    3. The only way to permanently get a Boon perk out of your game is to get the Survivor who brought it out... so... figure out who brought it and tunnel them out of the game. If you can't figure out who brought them... tunnel anyway because while Boons are strong, they aren't as strong as an early 3v1.

    Pick your poison I guess.

  • Zarathos
    Zarathos Member Posts: 1,911

    Play bubba, hillbilly?, or plague. Run instadown build's. Use hex thrill of the hunt as a game delay perk, alongside ruin. If none of these things appeal to you take a break and come back when behaviour have fixed these broken totems.

    Before one of you respond to early to say enclosed below is one of many unsnuaffable totem's these were flagged during the ptb. So please stop playing down the boon totem issues. They are in need of hotfixes asap.


  • burt0r
    burt0r Member Posts: 4,163

    I don't know if anyone told you already but one info in your post is outdated.

    Sound perks interaction was overhauled and iron will now trump's any noice increase, so stridor is completely countered by iron will and not the other way.

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001

    Broken status addons, forced penance, legion, 1 shot killers, plague and my current counter to boons which is taking a break from the game.

    Other than those, I have no idea.

  • Zozzy
    Zozzy Member Posts: 4,759

    You can't and that is the point. the developers want the boons to be up at all times to give new players the safe space they demand.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    First of all, everyone should stop whining and dramatising about this, they're not absurdly broken and it's absolutely possible to play around them. I've had a few games with them so far, and here's what I've gathered over that (admittedly very small) sample size of experience:

    • Thrill Of The Hunt still absolutely works. It's not a tracking tool anymore, but it doesn't lose tokens when a totem is blessed, so unless they bless over it directly (which wastes even more of their time) it slows down their blessing actions by a lot, giving you time to interrupt or just otherwise ensuring they're off generators for longer.
    • Oftentimes a survivor will run you towards their totem in a chase, and you can snuff it after you down them. Neither boon perks are at their strongest when a survivor is actively in a chase - no scratch marks is strong, but not overwhelmingly so - and so that's usually your best bet. Like reloading for Huntress/Slinger/Trickster/Clown, or breaking pallets for most killers, snuff the boon during your downtime after downing someone or after hooking them.
    • Haunted Grounds still works, as previously mentioned, and instadowns in general are strong against CoH since it doesn't much matter if you're full health when you're Exposed. Similarly, addons that inflict Broken are going to be quite popular for a while, I'd wager.
    • Doesn't hurt to slap Sloppy Butcher on your build, to give more blood for tracking and to slow down their healing by a marginal amount.
    • BBQ is basically useless against a full boon squad (save for that extra BP, which is admittedly always nice), so I'd swap out for other tracking that doesn't rely on auras. Also, endgame builds are gonna be more useful now to give you a bit more of an edge if generators fly while boons buy them some time. I've had some use from No Way Out specifically!

    This is absolutely a mechanic that can be played around with smart decisions and an adjustment of playstyle, and conveys slight benefits to the killer alongside the significant benefits to the survivor. This isn't hopeless!

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001
    edited October 2021

    Let me run sloppy on billy or sloppy on blight, sure.

    Slight benefits to the killer, sure, my grandma never had relationships with my grandpa as well.

    I guess let me censor that word myself since that is for some reason not censored

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    Obviously not every killer can make equal use of Sloppy, I didn't think I had to clarify that I'm not suggesting it be used on killers that don't use it.

    Yes, a slight benefit. It's dragging survivors away from the objective, that is a slight benefit. Do you have anything useful to say here?

  • 6yXJI0
    6yXJI0 Member Posts: 589
  • landromat
    landromat Member Posts: 2,193

    Play survivor

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001

    Slight benefit to the killer, like making it really hard to track and give them green medkits, great benefits for the killer, very nice.

    And don't even say "bUt KiLlErS cAn bREaK thEm", I will continue to say, 1 second for the killer is 4 for the survivors, if killers have to go out of their way to break them then the perk is obviously strong.

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    Slight benefit to the killer like pulling them away from the objective and slowing them down.

    If you're just responding to me to complain about totems in general, I'm afraid I'm not going to respond since it's clogging the thread and obscuring helpful information.

  • Dino7281
    Dino7281 Member Posts: 3,294

    Survivor mains ignoring killer's issues that are easily noticable

    nothing new here

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001
    edited October 2021

    How is obscuring information if you are telling them that they are not strong basically? The fact that 14 seconds for 1 survivor is not the same as 14 seconds for the killer says a lot.

    30 seconds for free green medkits? How is that not strong? The fact that boons are strong and gives killers a 3rd thing to do is just insane, boons make any m1 killer have more issues, especially if you have a duo or a dedicated build as survivor.

    Boons as they are right now are probably the same as unhealthy as noed.

    Let me add something, you said that sloppy will slow them down, but only 3.2 more seconds, which if they by chance have either botany or desperate will make sloppy completely useless and only make them bleed more

  • Dino7281
    Dino7281 Member Posts: 3,294
    edited October 2021

    Let me destroy that totem and I am happy.

    Otherwise, they are not OK.

    You can play around them -> yeah, but only with specific killer and perks, but you don't know you are going to face them, do you?

    By that logic camping and tunneling is fine, because they could use perks, right? But for some reason you see people crying about it all the time, huh...

    Undying was possible to play around too and it didn't save it...

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    I never said they weren't strong, and nor would I. They are strong- I'd go so far as to say very strong in some circumstances- but what they're not is broken.

    You can play around boon totems. They're not overwhelming and you're not powerless against them. I then went on to outline how and why they can be played around.

    Regarding your last line, I agree. They're the exact same level of healthy and reasonable as NOED is.

  • Swampoffering
    Swampoffering Member Posts: 384

    1- Playing as plague, Healing totem useless.

    2- Playing an insta down killer, but you have to deal with no marks totem.

    3- Not playing killer, BEST way by far.

  • Dino7281
    Dino7281 Member Posts: 3,294

    They actually nerfed NOED, because NOED can't spawn over boon totem.

    It's funny that survivor perk has priority over killer perk...

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    That's the one change that I personally call for, actually. Plaything and NOED should snuff a boon to make room if they need to.

  • sharonra480
    sharonra480 Member Posts: 20

    You could literally say this about any of the hex totems killers bring ... what... how is this an argument for anything?

  • OldHunterLight
    OldHunterLight Member Posts: 3,001

    This is what I was trying to say as well, boon totems also remind me a lot of old undying, but got nerfed.

    The thing that bothers me the most is that, yesterday and today, it was usually 4 man after 4 man using boons (Idc about swf usually) but coordination + map offerings is why these perks should be changed in a more healthy manner.

    It is a nightmare to play against these perks in indoor maps, on normal maps it can be annoying but just like you said not OP just strong.

  • Dino7281
    Dino7281 Member Posts: 3,294
    edited October 2021

    So how to deal with boon totem:

    -Tunnel someone

    -Camp someone

    -Play Plague, Blight, Nurse, Spirit, Oni, Legion, Bubba

    -Never play Wraith, Doctor, Deathslinger, Nightmare, Pig, Clown, Twins, Cenobite

    -Use full hex build with Thrill of the hunt, so you will always now where boon is and it will take them tons of time to bless it

    -Ignore it unless it is close to gen or hook, otherwise waste of time, unless you have this build ^^

    -play survivor and destroy as many killers you can with it, so they nerf it

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,959

    Eh, that's going to dramatically go down after the novelty wears off, but yes, a four-man running all of them with decent coordination is going to be tough. The thing is, though.... a four-man with strong perks and decent coordination are already incredibly tough to go against, that has nothing to do with boon totems.

    The mechanic could do with some tweaking, but anyone pretending that they're a massive problem or that they're breaking the game and need to be nerfed right now immediately is just... being silly. That's the only word for it.

  • Dino7281
    Dino7281 Member Posts: 3,294

    I don't think multiple survivors with Circle of healing is correct way. It's different for shadowstep tho.

    I would use only 1 per team, because every other survivor gets free perks (self-care + we'll make it) because of it and you just don't need more of them.