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Let's brainstorm: viable new exhaustion perks

Halloulle
Halloulle Member Posts: 1,344

DH is everywhere - and that is boring. But it's easy to see why. Arguably, almost all other exhaustion perks lack severely in versatility and the "getting value" department. So regardless of how boring DH is, there's kinda no competition.

So, are there any ideas out there to create some competition for DH?


[To anyone who feels compelled to say "bruh, just nerf dh until no one uses it anymore" --- or something that amounts to that outcome: sure, nerfing sth to the ground is one option. But I'm fairly sure at that point a significant amount of people would rather not run any exhaustion perk. That's neither particularly fun, nor does reducing the pool of viable perks help with diversifying builds.]

Comments

  • sanees
    sanees Member Posts: 616

    you can add a post-hit slow for DH so it will be closer to normal perks

  • jesterkind
    jesterkind Member Posts: 7,852

    ...Are almost all the other Exhaustion perks comparatively lacking in value? Lithe, Balanced, and Sprint Burst are all fantastic perks, Overcome is almost overpowered in some builds, even Head On has its place. I'm pretty sure it's just Smash Hit that lacks in versatility and value.

    I'm not so sure that just bringing in more Exhaustion perks is the right call, really. Dead Hard is still run more often than the rest of them, it looks like, and that might be worth looking into- but your only real option for responding is nerfing Dead Hard, since its competition is already pretty solid across the board and anything designed to compete with it is necessarily going to be even stronger.

  • Rulebreaker
    Rulebreaker Member Posts: 2,034

    We just wanted to give smash hit a place. Smash hit, parental guidance, flip flop/tenacity, power struggle. Admittedly it lacks versatility but we've gotten value out of it.

  • TigerSnake
    TigerSnake Member Posts: 531

    Make the speed boost off being hit less strong.

  • Emeal
    Emeal Member Posts: 5,174

    give smash hit synergy with DS

  • Rulebreaker
    Rulebreaker Member Posts: 2,034

    The only thing we can think of off the top of our heads is a form of speed burst on command (aka sprint burst without needing to manage exhaustion). You'd need something thats both versatile and useful without breaking the game.

  • GlamourousLeviathan
    GlamourousLeviathan Member Posts: 1,031

    Absolutely not. Sprint Burst, Lithe and Overcome are all incredibly good perks. Head On, Balanced Landing and Smash Hit are also decent depending on what you wanna do. It is just that Dead Hard is so broken that it basically overshadows the others.

  • solarjin1
    solarjin1 Member Posts: 2,159

    how many times u jump in locker right when the killer attack to avoid a hit....but died a few seconds later because it no time to get to that pallet or window a few steps away from that locker.


    (OVER YOUR LIMIT)

    Being inches away from death has unlock your true potential. While performing a rush action to leave a locker within 6 meters of the killer you gain a 9% increases in speed for a total of 10 seconds. Cause the exhausted status effect for 40/50/60

  • AverageKateMain
    AverageKateMain Member Posts: 949
  • VideoGameMage
    VideoGameMage Member Posts: 358
    edited January 2023

    I think the other exhaustion perks are fine. Lithe and sprint burst are the 2nd and 3rd most ran exhaustion perk respectfully. It's just they're good "chase ender" perks, while dead hard is a "chase extender" perk. Basically an exhaustion perk you pick because the third health state it's gives will help you waste the killers time in chase so your teammates can crank gens.

    Personally, I want an exhaustion perk centered around flashlight blinds, so I can finally complete my empowered flashlight build.

  • dspaceman20
    dspaceman20 Member Posts: 4,699

    I would make one perks that is every 40 seconds you fast vault a pallet or window 50% faster.

  • Forza
    Forza Member Posts: 109
    edited January 2023

    An exhaust perk that also has an effect while not suffering from exhaustion.

    Shake and Bake

    Shake: While not suffering from exhaustion you cannot be grabbed while performing any action.

    Bake: Gain a temporary endurance charge for 2 seconds while unhooking another survivor. When the charge is removed the survivor suffers from the exhaustion effect for 60/50/40 seconds.

  • CakeDuty
    CakeDuty Member Posts: 1,001
    edited January 2023

    A silly idea I got a couple days ago for s new and unique exhaustion perk is that instead of a short boost of speed, it gives you a small speed burst for a longer period of time (kinda like Darl Theory without boon).

    "Expert Runner:

    You are permanently exhausted for the whole gsme. But your average running speed is increased by 3%"

    My original idea was that it was a perk that constantly gave you a small speed, with the payoff that you are constantly exhausted, so you won't be able to combine it with perks such as DH.

    A possibly more balanced version being

    "After being chased by the killer for 20 seconds, you get Exhausted for 40 seconds but gain a 7% speed boost for 60 seconds."

    Basically rewards survivors for surviving in a chase for an extended period of time, by giving them a speed boost.

  • Steakdabait
    Steakdabait Member Posts: 1,280

    "100% action speed for 3 seconds"

    would be different and at least decent

  • LiveBritishReaction
    LiveBritishReaction Member Posts: 427

    I'd kill for an exhaustion perk that, when activated, turns a medium vault into a fast vault.

  • Reinami
    Reinami Member Posts: 5,531

    I always thought the proper nerf to dead hard was to make it do what overcome does now. The problem is that, every exhaustion perk has some kind of downside, with the exception of Dead hard. Let's look at all the current ones and their weaknesses:


    Adrenaline - Only activates 1 time, and you can't control when it activates, mostly the heal is what it is used for

    Balanced Landing - Can only be used in very specific parts of the map, and sometimes in only 1 or 2 places.

    Dead Hard - Has literally no downside, being injured isn't a downside since it naturally happens in a chase

    Head on - Have to hide in a locker to activate

    Lithe - Have to fast vault something. Meaning you can't fast vault something and NOT have it activate, so you generally can't use it "optimally"

    Overcome - Can't be used while injured, and only activates on being hit.

    Smash Hit - Requires you to stun the killer, often easier said than done

    Sprint Burst - Requires you to walk around or to 99 it, making it so you can't always use it exactly when you want.


    Dead hard is the only one that has 0 downside or requirements to it's activation that put you at some disadvantage. It is just there, it just exists all the time. Additionally, it is the only exhaustion perk, that the killer can't see activate, then make a long term decision over. If i see a survivor sprint burst away, i can just give up the chase often enough, but with dead hard, it happens after i have already dedicated a large amount of time to a chase. The others that work like that, like smash hit or overcome, at least i gained something from it. I injured the survivor, or i made them use a pallet. But with dead hard, it just exists.



    As for brainstorming other ideas, honestly i can't think of any other conditions you could do, unless we started adding "exhaustion" perks that weren't speed boosts. Maybe if they added more "head on" style exhaustion perks.

  • Snowflake_Syndrome
    Snowflake_Syndrome Member Posts: 239

    Overcome is my Exhaustion perk of choice. I'm not creative enough to make my own.

  • MaTtRoSiTy
    MaTtRoSiTy Member Posts: 1,947

    Agree with this.

    As killer I have no issue with any of the other exhaustion perks even though they can be annoying to deal with as well.

    But DH is still very broken and incredibly unfair to lower tier killers who need every down they can get and it needs a massive rework to completely change it from giving a free health state multiple times in a single match.

  • BenOfMilam
    BenOfMilam Member Posts: 911

    Well, there's already an exhaustion perk for just about everything a survivor can do in chase:

    Drop a pallet and get a stun

    Vault a window

    Start running

    Have teammate finish a gen

    Fall off of something

    Exit a locker

    Press E

    There's not much else survivors can do to activate an exhaustion perk, except stuff like taking a protection hit, healing a survivor, unhooking a survivor, doing a gate, or pressing a new keybind. Maybe picking up or dropping an item?

    You could make a exhaustion perk that activates when you take a protection hit. To keep it from being a worse Overcome, it would give your teammates a speed boost instead of you.

  • C3Tooth
    C3Tooth Member Posts: 8,266

    Sprint burst is 2nd best, because it helps you do Gen in dead zone.

    Balance landing is extreme map dependance, your dropping speed is slower than killer's. Still may take a hit.

    Lithe, if you vault without taking hit, Lithe is meaningless; if you take hit when vaulting, Lithe is useless. Lithe is like something you want to take a little break mid chase, or worse version of Sprint burst that you dont want to start a chase by vaulting when killer is coming.

    Overcome is strong only if Lucky break, Inner healing, Quick and quiet for all 4 perk slots. Beside, its useless againt instant down, and you have to heal to make use. DH can stay injured.

  • Ghoste
    Ghoste Member Posts: 2,135

    Well there are only so many actions a Survivor can take. I think all the bases are covered atm. I would like to see a slight buff to Head On though :D

  • paul106i
    paul106i Member Posts: 8

    My idea for a new exhaustion perk has always been the ability to Edge Hang!

    The survivor walks / runs up to a flat lip (the edge of a main building / raised vaultable window etc.) and can Active Ability to lower themselves and grab on to the edge so that only their fingers are slightly visible to killer from their level vantage point.

    They can hold this for x seconds (depending on the perk tier) before they can tap it again to haul themselves up!

    If they don't press it again they drop down as though they just walked off normally (and release a grunt which might alert the killer etc.).

    I just imagine how cool it'd be to be working a gen near a building, and from the corner of your eye you catch another survivor make the brave decision to try and hide by lower themselves out of the window! You see the killer looking for them with visible confusion, and then after a moment the survivor clambers back up! The killer then leaves the building none the wiser!

  • StarLost
    StarLost Member Posts: 8,077

    I don't think there really are any more ex perks that can be added - because there's already an ex perk for nearly any common situation and generally one for every uncommon situation. And we absolutely do not need any more 'do gens faster' perks, because that is already getting out of control - leading us back to zero exaggeration 'genrush' squads.

    What I think we need more of is perks that discourage tunneling, camping and slugging, showing what other teammates are doing etc.

  • Halloulle
    Halloulle Member Posts: 1,344

    Found it very interesting to read through the comments.

    While I did run Lithe and SB for a good long time I still think they are a ways behind DH - simply because when it comes down to it they are very situational at will. If you're in a good tile you don't want to use Lithe or SB - but more often than not you have to waste it. They can prevent chases from ever starting - but often enough there is a point where you want to be chased instead of that death hook teamie who's close by. No killer in their right mind will forgo the death hook surv and instead chase after the SB/Lithed away survivor. At the end of they day they are pretty situational and you have to use them when you don't want to - or can't when you want to.

    I do find the (fast) vault related perk ideas and the grab-immunity related perks very interesting. - Especially, that all those ideas come with an "on command" feature / a trigger condition that the player has control over.


    (Considering what I said about Lithe & SB above, I think that may actually be the big differnce between DH and the rest: the amount of control the player has in using it strategically.)