Uptick in Distortion usage?
Am I the only one noticing Distortion in a lot of survivor builds recently? It's gotten to the point that when Shadow Step or Off the Record is in play it catches me off guard because I think it's just Distortion again.
I do think it's a pretty good perk now, considering you can recharge the tokens, but I feel like I only started seeing it a lot in the past week or so. Anyone else? Which content creator made a video that counters my full aura reading builds? 😭😂
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Honestly, with extremely powerful intel perks like Darkness Revealed and Nowhere to Hide, you can't stealth at all anymore without Distortion. I don't think it's to do with any content creator, it's just a natural conclusion to most killers bringing at least one big intel perk.
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I think people are just trying to deal with Nowhere to Hide... rather than, like, moving further away.
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Makes sense. I didn't really think about that, honestly. I don't run a lot of gen kick perks as killer so I rarely bring Nowhere to Hide in my builds. Most of my regression comes from either Surge or Pain Res.
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Yeah the rise of Lethal Pursuer in pickrate is another reason for Distortion actually being a really good perk at the moment.
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I'm using it more and more. Every release lately there's a new killer aura reading perk and as a solo player it's generally in my best interest to avoid being the first one found (most at risk of being tunnelled if the killer chooses to. Team mates are generally unreliable in taking aggro). Nowhere to Hide is pretty popular at the moment among killers, so it's probably in response to that for most other players.
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I personally think it's a lot to do with nowhere to hide. A LOT of killers run that perk now because it an excellent way to catch stealthy survs and force them off of gens.
Distortion is a hard counter to it. Because if killer doesn't see an aura they'll just check a couple lockers, bash the gen and assume the surv cleared out. Then you jump straight back on it again.
I've been running it for a couple of months now and love it. So nice knowing what aura perks a killer is using and when you're recharging the tokens it's a bit like a budget spine chill.
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NTH has a big radius of 24m. This is a distance you often can't cover fast enough without running or getting seen. Especially if your only cover in the area is some trees or some tires. Distortion is also worth gold for more elusive, hard to detect perks (Floods of Rage, Darkness Revealed) or add-ons as well like Myers' Mirror Shard or Compound 21, not to mention strong addons like Wraith's aura reading.
It is the stealth counterpart to Object of Obsession, which gives you the same information, but does not hide you.
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Yeah, but on a lot of maps there IS more cover, people would just rather block the aura reading than take the risk of wasting time by proactively leaving or trying to squeeze in a locker.
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It cover's a wide range of Add-on's and perk's, pretty useful seeing a token get used immediatly and knowing to ditch the survivor you spawned with or that the Plague is using the Black Incense, not to mention you get stacks back while in chase. It's sort of funny it took Nowhere to hide being introduced for it to become more common in builds, make's you curious what decent perk's are being ignored because no-one's willing to give them a go.
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I use Distortion regularly when playing in a 4-man team. It's great to call out the killer's perks for the rest of the team and figure out their full build to avoid surprises. I am also not the best runner so it helps to play to everyone's strengths/avoid weaknesses.
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That's true. And hiding in a locker always bears the risk of getting found anyway.
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Distortion has joined Kindred as a quintessential solo perk for me. There's so much value in knowing what perks the Killer has - or more importantly what they don't have. So even if the Killer has no aura reading, you still gain value. Love this perk.
Side note: it should be mentioned that running Distortion puts more pressure on your team, since the Killer will find and chase them more. If you're a strong runner, it might be smart to avoid Distortion and take aggro instead.
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I’m a stealth player and Distortion has become a staple in my build since the last chapter update, due to Nowhere To Hide. I get a lot of joy when a killer kicks a Gen and I am right there hiding but they can’t see. And they turn around looking and before they leave I’ve already earned the token back.
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Also agree that it wasn't someone who made a video about it but NTH. Most content creators who have an eye on usefulness or efficiency have always pointed out how valuable Distortion is. But with gen-kicking being one of the go to strats atm survs can't afford to get chased off gens quickly. If you pre run all the way to avoid NTH that's massive amounts of time lost. On the other hand, with Distortion you more often than not don't even have to hide. Just do a second of your best Blendette-imitation and you're good 9/10 times.
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I like it to say it this way:
You are a strong runner: use Object
You are more the careful person: use Distortion.
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I think it's because killers tend to run aura-reading perks along with gen slow-down perks. I've seen a lot of people using Nowhere to Hide, Lethal, Darkness Revealed, etc.
Playing stealthily isn't viable with these perks making their way into the meta so Distortion gives you a slight advantage. I mean, a BBQ Blight or a Nurse running Floods of Rage makes tracking/downing survivors very easy.
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Distortion has always been a great perk. It used to be limited by the tokens, which with BBQ and undying being the meta, they got burned pretty quickly. Now, there is basically unlimited tokens and it is a very powerful perk that can completely counter a killer stack of aura reading perks.
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Distortion is a great perk and Jeff is a legend.
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I run it whenever I'm in a group. Great for calling out Lethal Pursuer and Nurses, and those annoying add-ons for Wraith and Blight.
I also remember when old Freddy shredded all tokens in dreamland back in the day.
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best perk rn
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I'm just glad to see people finally picking up on it. That lil token sizzle is very satisfying when a killer kicks a gen.
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Nothing like ghosting a killer and you can see him/her spinning around in frustration looking for you. It's a good feeling haha
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Distortion is kinda nice you can tick off so many perks that the killer has or doesn't have just by running around.
Killer hooked someone and you lost a token? BBQ
Unhooked a survivor and you lost a token? Floods of rage
Finished a gen and lost a token? bitter murmur
Entered the exit gate area and lose a token? Bloodwarden.
Just some examples that you can all tick off based on what happens.
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With how good Nowhere to Hide is I'm surprised Distortion didn't become more popular sooner. The issue with trying to move out of the area is that six seconds (24 metres divided by 4.0 m/s) is a lot of time to waste and, if the Killer kicks the gen, you will lose significant progress. Lockers are situational and could lead to a grab. Equip Distortion, hide, tap or continue the gen after the Killer leaves and you're good.
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Distortion was one of my main survivor perks before its buff. I've actually been using it less, if anything.
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I've been running Distortion for years. Way before the buffs. When I try not to run it, I feel naked. Even if it gets zero value in a match.
It's a good defensive and informational perk, especially in a SWF where you can relay them the info without them having to run it themselves. Lose a token start of the match? "Everyone hide, he's got Lethal!" Healing and lose a token? "Oh snap, Killer has Nurse's!" It's just so good, took surprisingly long to gain traction imo.
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I came back from a break since October and I have seen it way more than I did prior to my break. I used to be the only person I saw running it since its buff to 4 tokens last year. I actually came to search the forum to see if there had been any changes to it because it is now being used so much. It is a perk I take on every build and I just hope that it doesn't get nerfed because many people are using it now. 😥
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Contrary to what many survivors say, most killers aren't running 3 or 4 slowdown perks every game and aura-reading is pretty prevalent and strong. Distortion is the most flexible way of countering it and with it being so darn easy to recharge tokens, it's no shock it's as popular as it is.
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Distortion seems to be the 16th most popular perk ATM. Its usage spiked up since the meta shake:
No wonder why since it was useless before as the tokens would be consumed in the first two minutes of the game.
IMO, Nowhere to Hide and Darkness Revealed are to blame here. They are extremely consistent on-demand aura readings. Nowhere to Hide is especially egregious due to its synergy with the gen-kicking meta.
I like to use it every once in a while, but it's quite common to face killers with 4 regression perks at the moment and the perk slot feels wasted.
On a final note, Distortion and OoO compete for the perk slot to reveal the killer's aura readings. OoO is doomed in SQ though as having your aura revealed as the final survivor will lead you to inevitable death.
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I wouldn't call Darkness Revealed 'extremely consistent'. The perk is incredibly map dependant. You might get Midwich and every single time you use a locker you get multiple survivor auras, or you might get multiple other maps where most uses don't get you any auras.
I run the perk on my Huntress all the time and while it can be incredibly strong, it can also be pretty crap too.
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Darkness revealed is a trash perk. No one runs that.
NtH is actually good though.
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I run at least two aura perks as killer so when I took the plunge into survivor gameplay it was the first perk I unlocked and it's pretty much basekit for me, especially since I hide better than I loop.
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Distortion is amazing it has so many pro's it's a blood warden warning as and 99% of my rounds it goes off at the start so inno where killers gna go
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where do u get the stats from
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Yep, it's used by one player per lobby at least nowadays. Gotta be the most boring thing in the game though. Shadowstep, lucky break and distortion are just so boring.
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Aura reading perks are just as used as Gen regression perks are
So it goes without saying limiting the information that the Killer gets is good enough on it's own
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Probably Night Light, which isn't an accurate representation of the player base. It's self-reported, which casual players (majority of the base) are unlikely to bother doing. Also, the data is from primarily English speaking players. So, for example, Self Care is notoriously a high use and popular perk in Asian regions. Night Light data is unlikely to reflect those numbers. I'd love if the devs could frequently keep the base updated with the actual perk stats.
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Because it's a really, really good perk that - as nearly all killer info perks are aura based.
Darkness Revealed?
You can stealth versus that easily. Just...keep an eye on lockers.
NTH is only good because survivors love to try and be sneaky, hide and then jump right back onto the gen you just kicked - before NTH there was literally no way to reliably check for them on some maps without wasting a lot of time.
But no, it's not either of these perks.
It's Lethal Pursuer. People don't like to be the first one chased, as that's often the person expected to 'carry' the team, with the importance of that first chase. It's a lot of responsibility and Distortion basically ensures that you won't.
All that said though - stealth is awful and even with aura reading perks, it's far too easy for survivors to take games hostage by perma-avoiding AFK crows with a few tricks and just spending the majority of the game in a locker somewhere.
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I started using it recently and it's been incredibly useful. Especially with the rise in NtH users. I love watching them spin around looking for my aura. The amount of lockers I've seen searched lately has been staggering.
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me running BBQ, Darkness Revealed and Lethal Pursuer on Trickster and not being able to find anyone because they all have distortion...
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Simple, distortion is the best stealth perk in the game.
Perks like Lethal pursuer, nowhere to hide and other popular aura reading perks and add-ons feel extremely common and distortion is the only counter to those perks.
Legit perks like nowhere to hide would be completely busted if not for distortion being a thing, the range is insane, no cooldown and the only requirement is kicking a gen, when we are in the kick gen meta.
Ever since the buff to distortion that allows you to regain tokens the perk became amazing, its a stealth perk and information perk that is extremely reliable and a needs a specific killer or build for it to be countered, or a killer just can't bring any aura reading and it's a wasted perk slot, but again so many popular perks right now are aura reading that it feels very consistent.
We are not in the old days where the perk would counter BBQ and thats it, because nobody ran another aura perks. Killers have a lot of good options.
Is the perk busted, idk. It depends on the killer and build that they are bringing.
But i sure know that i love the perk and feels good to have it on as safety
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I prefer Object over distortion as doing gens is the most boring part of playing survivor. I’d rather be the first one chased and the info you get during chases is really valuable.
It does have the downside of revealing your aura when you don’t want it though like when you’re trying to go for pallet/flashlight save or when you’re the last survivor.
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4 of the last 7 killers have come out with an aura reading perk. 2 of which are meta in the aura reading department. One of which makes other aura reading perks stronger.
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I'm actually thinking about bringing it in my builds now considering killers keep bringing Lethal Pursuer, Nowhere to Hide, and/or BBQ.
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It's my favorite perk at the moment, and was in my builds regularly even before the meta shakeup. It's so handy.
One of my favorite builds at the moment is Fixated, Distortion, Blast Mine, and Wiretap. Never going to forget how I blast mined a Nemesis, watched him kick the gen again and then look around with Nowhere to Hide, but not see me hiding just outside the window.
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