The Problem With Dead Hard
...is that it's strong no matter whose hands it's in.
I'd like to think at this point "just bait it out" is slowly fading out of the discussion around DH, because we all know at this point you can't bait out a Dead Hard for distance. If you're in a position to bait out DH, they're not using DH well.
The problem is that DH bails out bad players, and makes good players borderline untouchable. Do you see new survivors panic dead harding into walls and going down instantly? Yeah, of course. Do you see people meming around with it to get flashlight saves or take 1x10^82 hits at the hook? Yeah, definitely.
But if people are actually, seriously using Dead Hard to win, it's going to give them a huge advantage no matter how skilled they actually are in chase. It's a panic button for when you make a mistake or get mindgamed, giving you just enough distance to get to a pallet or window or around a corner to dodge the hatchet flying your way. Even just as an "oh #########" reaction button, it turns "I went down" into "I got to the window" or "I stunned the killer".
But it's not just a panic button. In the hands of a skilled player, it stops being a panic button and starts being a third health state. Good players aren't going to be using DH to dodge a hit, because good players are never going to be more than one DH's distance away from a window or pallet. That's what makes it such a huge part of the meta. To an inexperienced player, it's a panic bailout. To an experienced player, it's a third health state. If you have even the slightest amount of confidence in your looping, you will get use out of the perk.
As for how I would change Dead Hard, I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question, because every single change I would make to it would bury it 6 feet under next to Twins. I hate the perk too much to give an impartial balance suggestion.
Open to discussion on the topic, although I think at this point we've all realized the perk needs a change.
Comments
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Yes,I agree,Dead Hard can be used on command with no real downsides to deny a killer a hit,this is why its so overpowered unlicked other exhaustion perks.
Sprint Burst - You need to slow walk in order to preserve it.
Balanced Landing - You need to drop from a great height in order to use it.
Lithe - Need to vault a window of a pallet in order to use it.
Smash hit - Need to stun the killer in order to use it.
Overcome - Need to be hit and it instantly activates.
Adrenaline - Has condition for all gens to be complete and it instantly activate.
The difference betwen every other exhausting perk besides dead hard is that its not on demand.
Dead Hard is the only exhaustion perk with no real condition that you can use whenever you want.
Not only it makes you invincible,but it can also give you distance.
I think Dead Hard hurts survivors more than helps them because it stops them from getting better at the game when they can just rely on broken perks such as this.
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Honestly it comes down to the distance or I frames... With the side effect of the Killer going through the Hit cooldown
If players say distance the shorten the distance
If players say I Frames then shorten that aspect
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I honestly think it's both or either depending on the killer. W+M1 killers definitely suffer the distance more, killers like Huntress suffer the i-frames more.
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So maybe the answer is both.... but that would be hard for Survivor players to get comfortable with
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Just delete the perk and replace it with something balanced
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Couldn't agree more. The amount of times I've successfully mindgamed a survivor only for them to have dead hard and make it to a pallet or a window is insane. It punishes good killer plays and rewards bad survivor plays. This perk and noed really need to be looked at ASAP. It's pretty much impossible to counter a good survivor who knows how to use dead hard properly
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There is no need to delete Dead Hard. Imagine for example if we added a 5 second action interrupt when you use the perk (note: the doctor's shock is a 2.5 second action interrupt).
This would mean you can use DH to avoid an attack but can't use it to make a vault so you can loop back around to a pallet. And then if you stunned the killer you cant run to a new tile and vault, and run around the loop 2-3 times before potentially doing that again.
The problem is that DH creates the opportunity to make a mistake as a survivor and then make that mistake not matter. You can chain tile elements together when the chase should have been over 30-60 seconds ago.
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All those people that deadharded into a wall beg to differ lol
All these DH threads is making want to actually give it a try it, cause i have never done, ever, in all these years.
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Post edited by DangerScouse on1
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Dead Hard is only a problem for bad killers. I certainly don't see it literally winning games like the killer meta.
The fact is it is the only skillfull exhaustion perk needing precision of use to make it work, if it even works at all. Equipping the perk doesn't automatically give the survivor a win, hence it is not even overpowered.
It is meta because most survivor perks are garbage.
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Yeah, I've seen that idea floating around for a while now. It'd certainly be nice to see how it goes.
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Dead Hard is only a problem for bad killers. I certainly don't see it literally winning games like the killer meta.
Can I get your survivors, then? I've lost games to a singular E that robbed me of a game-winning down I could've snowballed off of.
The fact is it is the only skillfull exhaustion perk needing precision of use to make it work, if it even works at all. Equipping the perk doesn't automatically give the survivor a win, hence it is not even overpowered.
This "dead hard doesn't work" rhetoric has always confused me. If it "doesn't work", why is it that every survivor and their mother uses it every game?
It is meta because most survivor perks are garbage.
- Adrenaline
- Balanced Landing
- Bond (solo queue)
- Circle of Healing
- Dark Theory
- Exponential
- Borrowed Time
- Botany Knowledge (with healing build)
- Built to Last
- Dead Hard
- Decisive Strike
- Deliverance
- Iron Will
- Kindred (solo queue)
- Lithe
- Lucky Break
- Open-Handed (SWF)
- Overcome
- Prove Thyself
- Resilience
- Soul Guard
- Spine Chill
- Sprint Burst
- Unbreakable
- Vigil
- We're Gonna Live Forever
- Windows of Opportunity
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I ran Dead Hard up until recently, actually. It certainly made my survivor games a lot more fun. If you play DBD casually and you're not super interested in becoming a top 0.0001% survivor, it's an easy way to extend chases. More chase time = more fun.
It definitely carried my meghead ass though.
Edit: Because this is the DBD community and bringing meta ######### incenses people for some reason, I should clarify the point of this thread. I'm not here to throw shade at people who use Dead Hard. It's an incredibly strong perk, no ######### you want to run it. I ran it for a while. Getting pissy with people over the builds they bring is pointless. My problem is with the perk itself, not the people running it.
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