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lets discuss Is the skull merchant the most versatile killer in the game?
I am having a blast trying out new combinations all hex totem builds, impossible skill check builds with her yellow addon (no skill check warning),franklins demise item guarding builds (redsgaming has a great video his site with this build), stealth builds (chaining drones together to sneak up on survivors tinkerer style), chase builds with dark devotion/stbfl/enduring/spirit fury and the brown add on which is dissilution on hit/purple addon which applies exhausted), etc.
I feel we are only scratching the surface with this killer...bhvr honestly thank you for such a varied killer.
There are other builds that aren't the normal 3 gen kicking build and hopefully this demonstrates that.
Any other builds the community wants to share?
Comments
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bait
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I don't know if she is the most versatile killer in the game, but I agree she is versatile. My favorite build is the one I use for stealth, but I've dabbled in her hex and chase builds and they have been very fun as well. She plays differently from other killers, but other builds and strats do work very well on her. Her ability to track survivors so efficiently allows the killer to not need any tracking perks and pour it into other perks that pair well with tracking. For me, that's stealth. But for others, the chasing, hex, skillcheck, and even anti-healing builds have worked well on her from my testing. She has a lot more potential than people let on.
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Adding my 2 cents, BHVR please never make a Killer like SM again.
She's created some of the most miserable experiences I've had and the worst part is that it's really her only viable playstyle. She EXCELS at holding 3-gens and is so ######### at everything else.
She can't even get buffed because any buffs will either make her into Knight or make her even better in a 3-gen.
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This is a high quality shitpost.
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no i listed so many builds and they are all playable?
here is another one one of her purple addons starts off with all survivors with a claw trap so an instant lethal pursuer starting the match which is perfect for any chase build
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please explain...are there not enough builds listed?
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she can use drones on franklin demised items and hex totems as well (i had fun running these builds last night)
any killer can make the game a miserable experience whether it is using a 3 gen build/tunneling/camping/slugging ...i am providing alternative builds which are to promote fun in playing the game
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thank you i havent considered using an anti healing build since she leans more into using the drones for stealth or antiloop in chases with mind gameable pallets.
what addons are you using for your builds?
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"bhvr honestly thank you for such a varied killer."
You are encouraging horrible design. You can certainly feel free to like and enjoy this Killer, but her design is objectively awful.
Using drones on Franklin's items is not a viable build. The totem build is SLIGHTLY better but not by much.
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yes i am being sincere i love a killer with this much variety...the player chooses what style to utilize and the skull merchant offers that variety (more than the knight in many instances).
would you rather have another killer with harder counter play like the nurse? or another antiloop/ranged killer?
once gen kicking regression is nerfed (just wait) you might not hate her as much
very easy to have a devour hope guarded by drones or even a blood favor for a hex/chase build and you underestimate how many people go back for their items (played enough hag matches where the gameplay is the same and you just trap the item)
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Yes, I would rather have Deathslinger than Skull Merchant.
Better looks, better atmosphere, better power and better lore. Literally a straight upgrade.
I'd rather have literally any other Killer other than release Legion over SM.
I won't hate her as much because she won't be played at all. She'll be like Twins after CoH. Completely dead and nowhere to be seen.
Her entire power revolves around holding a 3 gen. When that gets taken away, she'll just be an M1 Killer.
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Skull Merchant did the impossible and actually made matches against Hag feel fun and palatable. I feel as if both killers share similar philosophies, they're all about area control and shutting down areas of the map to the survivors. But the way SM do things is really boring and non engaging at all.
Hag was not a monster in chase neither but careful trap placement could prematurely end chases in a way that feels satisfying. You don't get that feeling at all with Skully.
My most hated thing about this killer is that once a SM is intent to put a drone to patrol an area, nothing will make it budge. Like, ever. You disarm the trap, then the killer immediately comes back to kick the generator it was protecting, then place a new drone immediately after. And if you don't disarm the trap, the killer will find out through radar you're here and down you while being Exposed. It's a lose lose situation, the counterplay sucks as Survivor and doing this as killer sucks too.
She needs a whole rework and pronto.
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i am glad you enjoy deathslinger...what builds do you use with him? is there enough variety?
well if you play enough i am sure you will face enough blights, nurses, and spirits with mostly the exact same builds.
so when you hate a killer you prefer they just disappear like the twins instead of rework them? circle of healing killed off a lot of hit and run playstyles(wraith/hag/twins) and i hate that perk because it has made tunneling (to not lose chase progress) more common.
if all you see is a just a 3 gen killer then can you explain all of the other builds that i have listed? I would love to see which other killer you can list as many different and viable playstyles and still be effective as a killer.
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Yeah you're going to have some mob mentality hatred with this post.
Tbh i agree, you can pretty much throw anything on her and you can make it work. It's even better then Legion cause expose perks work on her too. She's pretty good with hexes too
I'm having an absolute blast with her. It's just a shame so many people are taking the boring route
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you can use drones as any good trap killer to force survivors to leave loops or stick around and mindgame pallets but suffere from the exposed effect...she excels in that aspect compared to hag/trapper who have to take time to set up the trap (before or during the chase)
the counter to skull merchant 3 genning (and knight/twins) is to partner up and attack gens as a pair and the farthest of the 3 gen stalemate...listed this in another thread.
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You can slap builds on any Killer. Literally none of the ones you've presented other than the totem one are remotely viable. Even the totem one is gimmicky. I can put all these builds on Blight, Wesker, Legion, Nurse, Ghostface, Myers, Pyramid Head and 4K most games.
I don't play Deathslinger. You asked if I would rather have another anti-loop Killer, I gave an example.
Oh, I'd like her to be reworked. Her design is awful and there's no salvaging it. Realistically, that's not going to happen at this point, not any time soon.
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i understand people might hate her for the 3 gen meta builds every killer seems to run right now which is why i am listing a variety of builds.
legion is another killer i love becasue his addons make for such enjoyable builds (julies mixtape/iri button with enduring/spirit fury/nowhere to hide/corrupt is such a fun build)
glad you are enjoying the skull merchant...honestly i feel she is to blame because she is the new killer and survivors are learning to adapt to her since she can play so differently
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her chase builds are just as viable as any wraith/legion build, her stealth builds are viable as any killer who uses tinkerer or even wraith can do (just build a path with the drones and stay in the auras), and her protect builds put hag/trapper traps to protect hex totems/items to shame.
every build i listed in this post i have tried out and have had great success with all of them (usually 3 -4k)
i am glad you 4k most of your games and that you use a variety of builds. i agree with blight/wesker since they are high tier killers, nurse can't use exposed builds anymore (for the most part) and i not sure how you would use some of the builds listed with ghostface or myers. pyramid head i guess you could place his power around totems and items? not sure how viable he is at exposed/stealth builds (sorry i dont play pyramid head).
misunderstood the anti loop killer example my bad.
hey there are things i would like reworked as well but data needs to be collected
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Yeah, her power doesn't necessarily encourage anti-healing, but I've ran Sloppy with Leverage on her, as well as the skill check add-ons so that if they attempt to heal themselves right after getting out of a drone area, the skillchecks may get to them. These are the add-ons I use for each build:
Stealth: Brown Noise Generator and Adaptive Lighting or Advanced Movement Prediction
Chase: Ultrasonic Trap Seeker and Geographical Readout or Expired Batteries
Skillcheck or anti-healing: Shotgun Speakers and Adi Valente #1
Hex: Brown Noise Generator and Advanced Movement Prediction
Tracking (overkill build since she already has enough, but it's funny): Advanced Movement Prediction and Infared Upgrade
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Don’t let the hate bring you down, I also love her variety builds.
If you can, try making something with Trail of Torment. Maybe with Dragons Grip. I’m wondering how survivors react when you drop an active drone on the highlighted Gen.
The idea being that Survivors that tap the Gen will be vulnerable for 60 seconds and the survivors that decide to do drone first before taping Gen will be exposed AND revealed to SM. Maybe survivors will learn to stop messing with Yellow gens and you can enjoy longer periods of Undetectable.
Just a thought.
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That was my point.
Most players aren't super good at the game. You can usually win games regardless of perks.
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thanks i will try that build tonight when i have a chance to play ^_^
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or regardless of the killer
i just want to showcase the variety of builds that the skull merchant can use effectively (probably more than any other killer currently)
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never tried something with trail of torment...it is an interesting thought to see if a build can be build around it
thanks for the input
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We use Trails of Torment, blood echo, sloppy, and the 4th switches between dragons grip, fear monger, or brine with the add on that causes exhausted (loose screw?). Basically we use her as a sort of anti-deadhard with stealth for when people get clawtraps on them (since alot of people seem to rely on it, it works out surprisingly well).
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People saying this is bait probably have never faced or tried different builds other than a 3 gen SM, which is probably likely since 3-Gen is the best defense against genrush.
But yes, I do think SM has other decent builds. I have ran her Hex builds and they're fun if you're capable of getting downs with an M1 killer. My current favorite though is the stealth build of Trail of Torment, Fearmonger, Dark Devotion and a choice for 4th (I go with Jolt so survivors may understand I'm not a 3 gen SM so they actually TRY even if it ruins Trail of Torment in some cases) and use the brown noise generator and adaptive lighting add-ons for giving survivors oblivious and adding 20% longer undetectable between drones and ToT/Dark Devotion procs.
It's satisfying to get unexpected gen grabs with that build.
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you use the brown add on as well to break pallets in case they leave the gen earlier?
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i feel for people who think this is a bait post i just want people to see that she is more than just a 3 gen build killer.
she has an iri that gives her terror radius to a drone for 15 seconds which could help with stealth grabs from gens (give a drone the terror radius)
it is really fun with an impossible skill check build of distressing/unnerving/lullaby/dark devotion) and the shotgun yellow addon for no skill check warning.
will play with both of your builds and thanks for the ideas ^_^
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Updated revision of what add-ons I will use based on her new upcoming changes:
Stealth: Adaptive Lighting and Ultrasonic Trap Seeker or Brown Noise Generator
Chase: Geographical Readout and Supercharge, Prototype Rotor, or Randomised Strobes
(Everything else is the same)
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Player's choice. We went experimenting but generally we just like increased lock up build up incase they stay at a loop we hate.
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yeah the increased lockup is a lot better since with the brown addon if they dont have a skull trap it is harder to zone the survivor
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The only thing SM is versatile in is being outclassed by every other killer in the entire game
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Yes, I precisely want another chase killer. SM sucks
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you are getting your request when the new patch drops
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