Why flashlights are a problem
I have nothing better to do and this has been bugging me for a while, so here I am again complaining about flashlights. I'm making this post to go into detail on how flashlights work and why I find them an issue. Feel free to post your thoughts below.
1: They Counter Too Many Killer Powers
So can someone explain to me why an item in the game has power over killers? Is there really a good reason for this? Here are a list of killers that flashlights effect:
- NURSE: They can light burn her and stun her while blinking.
- WRAITH: They can light burn him and stun him out of cloaked mode.
- MYERS: Blinding Myers while he is stalking completely prevents him from gaining any Evil Within.
- HAG: Flashlights can destroy her traps.
- SPIRIT: Blinding her husk can stun her out of Phase Walking.
- GHOSTFACE: Blinding him while he is stalking can prevent him from getting any stalk progress.
- LEGION: Blinding Legion while they are in Feral Frenzy stuns them out of Feral Frenzy.
- NEMESIS: Blinding Nemesis's zombies will stun them.
- ARTIST: Shining a flashlight on her Dire Crows will make them disappear.
So my question is why is an item that you can buy for 4000 blood points (at least) completely destroy a killers power?
2: Flashlights Last Too Long
How Long Do Flashlights Last?
This part is going to be a little long due to explaining flashlight times along with addons, etc. Yes, flashlights are limited use items, but how long do they actually last along with addons?
Anniversary Flashlight - 8 seconds
Will O' Wisp Flashlight - 8 seconds
Flashlight - 8 seconds
Sport Flashlight - 8 seconds (Decreases battery consumption by 11%, so with that in mind probably about 9-10 seconds)
Utility Flashlight - 12 seconds
Now keeping addons in mind, I'm only going to be focusing on time saving addons since other flashlight addons don't really show an issue. (I'm not including the "Battery" addon because it is not as strong as the addons that are listed)
Long Life Battery - Adds 6 seconds
Heavy Duty Battery - Adds 4 seconds
Low Amp Filament - Decreases battery consumption by 20%
Flashlight Lasting Times with addons
So listing flashlight and addon combinations from strongest to least strongest:
- UTILITY FLASHLIGHT
Long Life Battery + Heavy Duty Battery = 22 seconds
Long Life Battery + Low Amp Filament = 19.2 seconds
Heavy Duty Battery + Low Amp Filament = 16.8 seconds
- SPORT FLASHLIGHT
Long Life Battery + Heavy Duty Battery = 18.88 seconds
Long Life Battery + Low Amp Filament = 16.48 seconds
Heavy Duty Battery + Low Amp Filament = 12.31 seconds
- EVENT AND REGULAR FLASHLIGHTS
Long Life Battery + Heavy Duty Battery = 18 seconds
Long Life Battery + Low Amp Filament = 16.8 seconds
Heavy Duty Battery + Low Amp Filament = 14.4 seconds
STRONGEST AND WEAKEST COMBINATIONS
So with all of that being said, the strongest flashlight combination would be Utility Flashlight (Long Life and Heavy Duty Battery) and the weakest combination would be Event/Regular Flashlight (Heavy Duty Battery and Low Amp Filament).
CONCLUSION
So why can flashlights last so long? It only takes 4 seconds to blind a killer, which means the strongest flashlight combination would last for 5 or more uses. And this is not counting perks that slows down the consumtion rate of items and/or restore item charges (Built To Last, Streetwise) Do flashlights really need to last that long?
CONCLUSION/REMAINING THOUGHTS
I'm not saying nerf flashlights into the ground, I'm just asking for some changes that will make them a bit more bearable to face. Flashlights should not effect killer's powers and they should not last beyond 16 seconds with addons.
Comments
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I think the part where flashlights affect certain killers is a bit of a reach on some. For Ghostface and Myers, yeah flashlights can affect them a little bit but it’s not that crazy, they can just look away and waste your flashlight’s charges. Also, who ever gets blinded as Legion or Nurse when they’re using their power?
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i think lightburn on spirit and wraith is completely unnecessary but burning a nurse is extremely difficult and other flashlight power interactions really aren't much of an issue imo. hag is already a very strong killer and i think having counterplay to traps is a good thing, legion can actually use frenzy blinds to their advantage since you can basic attack right out of frenzy and myers/ghostface can just like, look down. same with legion actually. zombies are kinda useless so i wouldn't mind having the ability to blind them removed though.
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I just listed all of the powers that get countered that I knew of. I know some of these instances are very situational/avoidable, but again, just listing everything.
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I think flashlights are fine
I play survivor and killer the same amount and usually when i play killer every survivor has a flashlight
So i don't cry i bring either Franklin's demise or lightborn and its as simple as that.
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You shouldn't have to bring a perk to counter an item in the game.
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Flashlights are pretty much the only item survivors have that force an interaction between the 2 roles if you want to get use out of them
theyre fine
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Uh yes you should killers have powers plus perks plus addons
Survivors have perks plus items plus add ons
And why should i have to bring a perk to defend myself from the killers power
But killers shouldn't have to bring perks to counter a ######### flashlight?
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also im pretty sure legion dosent get stunned when he gets blinded. "legion tech" where you get blinded at a pallet and can down a survivor.
wraith and hag are the only ones who get countered by flashlights. but with hag no survivor is gonna do mid chase.
also artist crows to burn away actually take a while
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Your point against Legion isn't a counter, it's a blessing for them actually. Being stunned out of their power like that can be used to cancel their animations and fatigue and get in a normal m1 attack.
then again, I've never seen anybody successfully blind a Legion while being chased that wasn't at a pallet.
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Burning a nurse might be difficult but if you point a nurse with your flashlight, she can't blink at all, which negates completely her power and as killer, a few seconds might be a lot.
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I mean, the point of the game is that the killer should be stronger than survivors, not the other way around
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This is a good post although, to be honest, there are a few flashlight exploits, like the ones with the lockers and also even if you point to a wall, they might blind you as well, which makes it unavoidable so I'd say we need to rework how the blindness works, in order to blind a killer you should be in his field of vision, because it's unfair to get stunned even if you look to a wall.
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I can’t even use one properly😭
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you just answered your own question. you bring in perks to counter a killers powers. that's fair but having to bring a perk in to counter an item that can be brought in 4 times in total not to mention what's in a chest is the argument. if killers had perks that countered survivor perks that would make sense too. Remember this is the OPs opinion. The one thing I agree with is that there shouldn't be addons that make the blind duration longer oh wait was that even made? If you want to go for realism you shouldn't be able to stack two different batteries.
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That’s take a long to use them.
8 seconds …okay this is 3 or 4 usage.
Use Lightborn / disturbing presence / Infectious fright OR turn up your head AND PLEASE STOP COMPLAIN ABOUT SURVIVOR OP
And flash are only efficient ( huge impact on the game ) on the hag traps so USE FRANKLINS DEMISE
oh … I’m calm now.
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To burn nurse you need to use flashlight on her for 2sec uninterrupted, same goes for wraith. Myers and Ghostface would laugh if you try to blind them.
The only problem is piece of garbage killer Hag which uses 2748392 trqps on the map and wraith with ridiculous 50% movement speed.
Just put your head uo or down and flashlight is useless
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Hag got way weaker since CoH. She just can't do anything about it and it is huge counter against her playstyle.
I am fine with flashlight against her, I use frenklyn's on her against it, but I wouldn't say she is very strong killer anymore.
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Flashlights are fine. They are literally the second weakest item in the game and can be detrimental if used wrong
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So in other words you'd like everyone to start using toolboxes w/ BNP+Wire Spool or Socket Swivel+Wire Spool? Since the only reason people bring in Flashlights is because they're fun, not because they're strong, since they have about five different counters basekit?
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You mean like you shouldnt have to bring perks like detectives hunch/small game etc to counter noed? I agree.
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Yeah imagine trying to blind a Stalking killer instead of widening the distance lmao.... Also I get intentionally blinded as Legion, Cancels his power without fatigue cooldown so that's awesome.
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nurse: if you get lightburned you are bad
wraith: fair enough
myers: just look down and keep the survivor on the edge of your vision
ghostface: if you're getting flashlighted you're getting revealed anyway
legion: it ends feral frenzy but it does NOT stun him
hag: hag deserves the downside
spirit: wrong, it has never done this although I believe they recently made it so you can get rid of the husk but the spirit can continue to phase walk
nemesis: fair but zombies are annoying and terrible gameplay anways
artist: extremely easy to play around
Also it takes 1 second to blind the killer not 4
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^ This. I run Lightborn 100% of the time in part because of how uncounterable they sometimes are. Survivors being able to blind the killer without even being in their field of view is broken
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The only problem with flashlights are the angle at which a killer can be blinded when picking up someone.
The survivor doesn't even have to be on your screen to blind you. Sometimes you can stand directly in front of a wall and still get blinded because of some weird angle.
Everything else is fine and often actually more advantageous for the killer then the survivor trying to get the blind.
I'd take four flashlights over four medkits or toolboxes anytime.
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why not replace flashlights with the party crackers. A one time flash. that way you can't be stun locked with flash lights
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Flashlights need to have an internal cool down. Once you turn it on, you can't turn it off for a full second. By putting actual, tangible power drain, they actually run out over the course of a match (as well as disabling the rapid light blinking macros people use)
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