Why Dead Hard is Unreasonably Powerful

So in a previous post I had a comment where someone tried to argue that waiting it out is valid counterplay in all situations, and I ended up writing an essay about how wrong they were. Thought it was worth a post.

I know this is kind of long, mb. Read before you comment please! I promise I'm not just an entitled killer player!

In summary, Dead Hard is not balanced because against nearly all killer powers, it can completely deny value in an unskilled reactionary manner, and is uncounterable on pallets. (which survivors will most certainly be playing around.)

Dead hard is an unfair, unbalanced, and in many situations, uncounterable perk. People argue that theres prediction and skill in DH, however this is untrue. Theres only any prediction involved on vaults and deadzones, in which the killer will just typically not swing. In that aspect, waiting out DH is possible and I commend any dead hard landed there because its genuinely good play that took brainpower.

However when it comes to pallets, the things survivors stick to like glue and are on most loops, the "wait it out" argument is utterly pointless.

Survivor is looping the killer, injured w/ DH. They make a loop around where the killer in theory could lunge and down them, however the killer wont do that because DH exists. Meaning the survivor gets closer and closer to the pallet, and they DH straight ahead.

Only 2 things can happen here.

• Survivor dead hards, killer doesnt swing, pallet is dropped. Distance, chase reset.
• Survivor dead hards, killer DOES swing, survivor continues looping the undropped pallet.

The survivor could drop the pallet on a successful dead hard, but its unlikely if their smart. and even if they do that the pallet is still dropped and they arent down, refer to outcome 1.

This means effectively, the killer has absolutely 0 options against a dead hard user on a pallet. Not to mention the very existence of dead hard can and has often given non DH users a pallet, because the killer assumes they have it (at first) and treats the chase as so, causing option 1 just without the dead hard.

And of course theres the blatant fact that many, many killer powers are just removed by dead hard. This is gonna be a looonnnggg list.

Billy- Very easy timing due to clear telegraphing, cant be waited out because he will get stunned and has very low turn rate.

Nurse- Harder to time, but if done right the nurse cant do anything. Can only be waited out if you make a perfect direct blink to the survivor, which will likely never happen because of double backs and LOS denial. Secondary blinks have no chance.

Huntress- So easy its sad. Visual+Audio cue, and the hatchet flies fast enough that DH will almost always catch it. How to wait? Just dont use your power, but then your a slow killer with no power.

Myers- DH denies exposure downs as well, refer back to the DH on pallets section.

Bubba- Very telegraphed, refer to billy minus the turn rate.

Pig- Literally an extended lunge that stuns her if she misses, either the dh lands or pig actively tries to miss to avoid on hit burst.

Spirit- IN THEORY, an absolutely cracked player could dh her, buts its unlikely and a real show of skill. I debated her inclusion here.

Plague- Very, very telegraphed. Audio+Visual cue, corrupt purge now works like a nemmy tentacle.

Ghostie <3- Refer to myers.

Demopupper - Shred is also very telegraphed, and has enough of a travel time to be DHed via reaction time. Cant wait it out unless survivor dumb, therefore cant use shred.

Oni- Refer to billy.

PH- Very loud audio cues, and baitable. DHing this is rather challenging but it still cant be countered (except mid animation hits).

Blight- Now requires 3 rushes to hit an injured survivor, leaving room for mistakes, plays, and pallets. Can be waited though and isnt a huge issue.

Twins- Pounce isnt removed from the game bc of DH, however ranged pounces are. You now have to walk up to a survivor and hold pounce until you think its safe.

Trickster- Refer to huntress, though because of his large blade count he can just keep firing.

Artist- The antiloop birds are stationary, and show their path to you directly. You can simply DH while going through that path, and those birds will not hit you no matter what. HOWEVER, I would like to mention that DHing a crossmap is actually so impressive and I love to see it, keep up the good work (talking to you meg).

Sadako- TV teleport speed bonus now means nothing as you have to wait the DH. Manifestation mindgames can just panic DH on a loop, refer to DH on pallets.

Dredge- Remants, like artist birds, how their exact location and where their facing (due to seeing when dredge began charge up). Can be waited, but that just takes the fun out of dredge remnant TPs. And this is a game where fun is king, so...

Wesker- Refer to demopupper. Can bait with first dash, but the repositioning can scuff up your second, leading to distance and possibly a chase lost.

Knight- Guards just attack when your close, so just run at one and the E key becomes the sprint burst key.

Okay, Now say it with me. Dead Hard is unbalanced, unhealthy, unfun, and in many situations, uncounterable.

Edit: I was actually curious just how much time a successful dead hard guarantees in a chase, so I did some calculations.

On-hit burst last 1.8 seconds, moving at 6.6m/s. I'm going to count the killer as standing still because they might as well be. I went and made an equation for this.

(1.8 x 6.6)+(2.7-18)4) / 0.6 = 25.8

(1.8 x 6.6)+(2.7-18)4) / 0.4 = 38.7

I could be wrong, mightve made a mistake or two down the line. But according to this if a survivor runs in a straight line after their burst, it will take the killer 26 seconds to catch up at 115%, and 39 seconds at 110%. Dont take this as fact though, I'm not amazing at math. I was just curious and though it was worth the inclusion.