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Discussing Deathslinger and Suggestions for Potential Buffs
Howdy!
As we all know, our resident cowboy isn't doing so hot since he started skipping the gym and struggles to hoist his gun to line up a shot. He's far from weak, mind you, but he's generally a worse choice than the other three ranged killers; Huntress, Trickster, and Artist. I will also occasionally refer to Pyramid Head and Nemesis, since they have similar playstyle to Slinger. It's hard to find a reason to play him other than "hehe cowboy shoot gun and it go bang" since everything that he can do, there is another killer that can do it better.
First off, we need to establish Deathslinger's strengths and weaknesses compared to other ranged killers, so that we have a good idea of things that need addressing.
- He has no lullaby (shared by Artist, PHead, and Nemisis)
- He can almost always land a hit at a window vault (shared by all ranged killers)
- He can get hits that are impossible for other ranged killers (although PHead and Artist can shoot through walls)
- He can get his power back at will, and does not need to break chase to get his power back (shared by Nemesis, Artist, and Pyramid Head)
- But...
- It is often impossible for Slinger to get a down after landing a shot, even though other killers would get downs in identical situations
- He has unbelievably poor time efficiency (aim, shoot, reel in, hit, reload, aim, shoot, reel in, hit, down)
- He moves at 4.4m/s, but PHead, Artist, and Nemi all move at 4.6m/s.
- He is crippled by his slow reload speed and single shot weapon
His main selling point is his fast projectile, but the projectile moves at similar speeds as a Huntress Hatchet and is just as easy to dodge. This means you can really only use it at close range. With all the disadvantages Slinger has, why would you play Slinger when you can play Trickster or Nemesis? Slinger's problem isn't so much that he is much weaker than other ranged killers (which he is), but that he has no unique advantages that set him apart from other killers.
So, I have few proposals. I don't necessarily mean that all of these need to happen, but more that I'm just plastering the wall with sticky notes. And no, just making him a 4.6 killer is not on the table. There are three other 4.6 ranged killers in the game, and making Slinger 4.6 wouldn't make him a more viable pick compared to them.
1:
Slinger once had the niche of being the only 4.4 ranged killer that could benefit from Monitor & Abuse, due to his lack of a lullaby. After being given a 32m terror radius instead of a 24m terror radius, M&A stopped being a viable pick. Giving Slinger a 24m terror radius again will make it easier for him to fill the niche of "sneaky ranged killer", which currently does not exist.
2:
Reacting to Slinger aiming should be his counterplay, not juking his shot. As he is right now, you can dodge Slinger's shots on reaction to him firing if you are about 8m or so away from him. This is more or less identical to how you play against all ranged killers except Trickster. However, missing a single shot as Slinger is devastating. Other ranged killers simply do another ranged attack immediately after missing and face no consequences. To this end, I recommend doubling Slinger's projectile speed to 80m/s (and increasing the range by 2m, but no more). Lining up a shot and 100% landing it should be Slinger's whole gimmick. Missing or getting juked should be devastating. This will help a bit in making Slinger play differently from other ranged killers, and justify the immense punishment he gets for missing.
3:
Despite being a 4.4 killer with no mobility and a power that is only useful in chase... Slinger has very low lethality without bringing two or three chase perks. Compared to other 4.4 killers like Hag, Spirit, Trickster, and Huntress, Slinger's power doesn't increase his lethality enough to justify picking him. This largely comes from the fact that he can't get a down unless he reels in a survivor and then melees them. You can land an insane shot on an injured or deep wounded survivor and get literally nothing for it if you can't melee them, when other ranged killers would get the down. I recommend allowing Slinger to down deep wounded survivors when his chain breaks. Landing shots should be rewarding, not "Congrats, here's a big fat nothing. Now go reload, chump." Having it only trigger on deep wounded survivors helps keep Slinger from being pure monka, since it would typically just be the "aim, shoot, reel in, hit, reload, aim, shoot, reel in, hit, down" loop but with less frustration on the Slinger's part.
I don't feel like writing anymore, as I am almost 12 beers in. Let me know what you guys think!
Edit:
4:
Just shortening his missed shot cooldown and reload time would go a long way towards helping him be a more viable pick.
Comments
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The best and easiest buff to killers is usually reverting their nerfs, and we're in luck because he has had one.
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He needs his base-kit changes reverted, he didn't need them as he only had a 1v1 Power and was worthless in the 1v4, and now, he doesn't even have a 1v1 anymore
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revert his nerf.
thats all he needs, he was in a perfect balance spot prior to that patch!
(and just to clear any possible confusion: i am referring to all basekit changes. that includes the ridiculous nerfs he got AND the very mediocre buffs he received as compensation. old Slinger needed no balance changes, that goes in both directions)
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Let's not pretend that getting quick-scoped by a STBFL Slinger was even remotely fun or interactive for the survivor. Slinger was extremely oppressive in the 1v1 and functionally made all of the survivors' skill irrelevant. If he could see you, he could quickscope you and down you, and there really wasn't any meaningful counterplay other than "get out of range or break LOS." It's a video game, so being fun for both sides is king and balance is a secondary concern.
The tap ADS """mind game""" was also the dumbest thing ever. Just like how stand still Spirit """mind game""" was an extremely boring guessing game. Slinger deserves better than what he has right now, since he's more or less objectively worse than all other ranged killers without bringing anything unique to the table.
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Slinger had to have a "oppressive" 1v1 because he didn't have anything else in his kit.
Balance shouldn't be a secondary concern. If it's unbalanced, it's usually unfun. If it's balanced, it's usually fun.
Fun is subjective, balance is objective
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Slinger had pseudo-stealth with M&A giving him a 16m terror radius, which was actually a big deal. He could get a stealthy M1 with M&A, wipe down his weapon with STBFL, and quickscope the survivor before their post-hit speed boost ends. It gave him chases that were only a few seconds long, which was probably not fun for the survivor (but felt reallyyyy good as Slinger).
This is Dead by Daylight we're talking about here. It's an unbalanced mess, and it's always going to be an unbalanced mess. It might as well be a good slop in the mud, at the very least. Balance does not necessarily equate to fun, although excessive unbalance can be boring since it's a forgone conclusion who will win if the scales are tipped badly enough.
Balance is not necessarily objective, either. If balance is "fairness," then it's probably the farthest thing you can get from being objective. Some people will perceive something as extremely unfair against them, even though another person perceives it as more or less tilted in their favor. Doctor is good example of this. Some players despise him since they rely on stealth (they are at an extreme disadvantage), but others think he is weak since they rely on chase (they are at a modest advantage). This is why having many voices on a particular subject helps find a more "true" consensus after filtering the wheat from the chaff.
The only fun thing for survivors to do in Dead by Daylight (apart from memeing) is to get chased by the killer. I'm not sure if anyone is going "oh boy, time to go do generators 😃". Oppressive chases take that away, since survivors can no longer make meaningful decisions during chase. A game can be boiled down to a series of situations where a player must make a choice. If the situations has very few choices or there is a clearly correct choice and most other choices are clearly wrong, the game becomes boring.
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Deathslinger is the only killer in the game where his power gives survivors the ability to avoid going down to it. So the fact that some people think it's unfair for him to be able to quickscope is so hilarious to me.
Every other killer power that can down survivors, if the Killer lands the hit that is it.
All the devs needed to do was increase the cooldown when cancelling ads and make walking backwards when reeling not completely remove the survivors ability to move around. That's it. Deathslinger was close to balance before since his power was pretty punishing when missing.
And about m&a and his old tr. So what? He still has limited range and requires los. If you let a tall killer sneak up to you when you can see him coming, that's kind of your fault for not paying attention.
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If we're talking quick and easy fixes, I'd say simply revert him back to how he was and keep the stun duration as is at 3 seconds. He wasn't perfect but I'd say he was in a far better position than he is now.
That being said, he still needs something to help inflict map pressure outside of 1v1 chases (Bounty Poster system?), not to mention another add-on pass because I don't know why the devs thought his current add-ons were acceptable the last time they checked...
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