What if we add a side perk for killers?

Interesting idea but adding these as a free 5th perk slot makes for a lot of good synergies. I think it can be a little too oppressive. This will be a indirect buff to STBFL (Unlrelenting), HEX: Pentimento (Shattered Hope) and basement insidious Bubba.

I generally don't agree with the idea of a 5th perk slot, even for general perks as a lot of them find their place in perfectly nice builds.

Only a couple of perks in that list of general perks are in my opinion valid to be equipped in a 5th free perk slot :

Deerstalker, because it's literally just quality of life that doesn't really impact negatively on survivor's chances. I'd even argue that it could be basekit. (That way I could stop accidentally slugging people because I can't find them and their teammates are blind from Third Seal)

Shattered Hope, because no one would use it unless it's free.

Distressing is relatively harmless, so maybe that one as well. It would make a 5-perk-ISC Doctor though, which could be funny.

Insidious and Unrelenting I don't know. The first one would make camping that much more annoying to deal with, and the second is just. Too much quality of life to have for free, and actually would be more punishing for survivors.

But since so little perks would be able to be selected for that 5th perk slot, all killers would soon use one of these perks, and since people have managed for years without using Deerstalker, I'm guessing about half the average killers would have Shattered Hope and the other half Unrelenting, with at low mmr killers choosing Insidious a lot to camp discreetly.

-"Shattered Hope is the only one that needs to be Base Kit, not even a Side Perk"

The fact that the devs made this a perk is insulting. The killer should have the option when kicking a boon to either snuff it (if they want to use the bones for say noed) or to remove that dull totem forever by default. But likewise the killer should be able to relight any hex on a dull totem by interacting with it.

Or killer should be able to remove boons forever with a single interaction because hexes likewise die forever.

The only time killer really feels "lacking" in the perk department is when facing against SWFs. You get too much info for free when you are in a SWF.

I think killer would be fine with a "5th perk" slot but it is limited to one of the killer's natural three perks. So every Nemesis would likely be playing with Lethal, every LF would be using BBQ, Every hag would have Ruin, etc.

Yeah, if they make 5th perk slot for killers, they will need to make for survivors too, like selfcare and... Well I not a survivor main but you got the idea.

Hex perks suck. The only way a "hex slot" would ever be viable is if you could run Shattered Hope in that slot to counter boons. And then people would basically stop bringing boons because they would be as useless as 99% of the hex perks.

Honestly... I think insidious should be base kit.

Imagine how strong that would be with Devour Hope lol

I already have trouble keeping it up with haunted grounds and undying

Look at big streamers who get paid to run all hex perk builds. They almost always do better with a build of their choosing - not because it is comfortable and they are used to playing it but because they know what actually works better. Overall Hexes rely almost entirely on RNG for their activation and placement. A good hex in the most open spawn is a dead duck.

Furthermore Hexes are fundamentally weaker vs SWF friends. I played 10 games last night as killer waiting up to 5 mins per game. Most of the games were against 3 man swfs that I could visually see each other on their friends list. I had about 2-3 games that were solo players. I ditched the lobbies where I had no info, was going to face a 4 man twitch streamer or they were swf+ many items.

Survivors have "Shattered Hope" for hexes built in - but imagine if they didn't. Imagine if survivors could not cleanse hexes and had to have a perk that allowed them to cleanse hexes or required a boon to write over them. That would make Ruin incredibly strong even in its current form. Note I am not asking for this I just want to mention it as a thought experiment.

Almost anyone who runs 20-100 games in a row with DH will tell you that 80-90% of the games that hex does absolutely nothing or that that gave up almost all the gens to get one use out of the perk before the survivors left.

With NOED revealing its aura it is now pointless.

Ruin was nerfed to oblivion - not that it has been good for anything but noob stomping for a long time.

Huntres Lullaby is a noob stomper. People who are hitting multiple hyperfocus checks laugh at this perk.

You could use crowd control or you could use Bamboozle and no one can ever take that away from you.

The Third Seal is overal a weak perk that might work against solo players but does nothing vs a SWF. It is largely reserved for meme builds or very niche killer setups.

About the only hex that is really nasty is Blood Favour. Good survivors will look for it immediately so you can only use it on killers that can actually protect it (like demo + killer instinct portals) or you need to risk losing it and bring Undying.

Hex Retribution is a perk that really only works in a full perk build and while it can be good for getting information there is no telling when you get that information -meaning it will often come at the wrong time. This perk really only shines in a full hex perk build in which case you are telegraphing to the survivors to keep looking for totems.

Haunted Ground +Retribution is a good combo assuming they don't get the Retribution first or it comes during the wrong time and you can't even really use the expose because the person you are chasing is already hurt.

Another favorite is Pentimento+Hex Plaything. A good SWF is going to have a boon player and they will boon cleanse all your totems completely ruining your combo. Some of the Strongest SWFs I have lost against had two boon players. On its own Plaything does almost nothing vs a SWF but will frustrate solo players to a small degree.

Needing two perks to make one perk work is pretty trash in my book when you consider Survivors do not even need a protection perk to protect boons nor a specialized perk to remove Hexes.

You've clearly never played survivor at a high mmr, because finding totems takes less than 30 seconds once you understand their spawn logic.