Thoughts on The Skull Merchant changes?
So far I feel like it is for sure better than having no changes, however the Haste doesn't seems to be that much impactfull (considering you have no chase power). On avarage so far I got like 3-5% Haste (usualy just 3%) and while it is nice, it's nothing crazy. I feel like she still needs more than this, maybe add extra action speed bonus on top of that (10% per drone gone).
Comments
-
She is one of the worst killers in the game. Once again, survivor fun has been prioritized.
18 -
While it's nice to get haste, her gameplay feels still the same. I was on Garden of Joy, and my only chance to win was holding down a 3 gen (1 on the house, 2 outside) in order to barely win. It's still not fun at all, in my opinion.
3 -
The changes are absolutely a nerf. The benefits of easily being able to hold down a 3 gen, are way more powerful than the compensation buffs they just gave her.
She might have needed these nerfs though, partially because survivors complained so much about 3 gens, and partially because she might have been overperforming compared to her skill curve. Even though these forums like to make up tier lists where skull merchant is ranked low, in reality, killers like skull merchant might still be overperforming.
0 -
Extreme dislike. Didn't like the first iteration or these changes. Not every killer has to be Nurse/Huntress/Blight level of complexity, but free bloodlust and pallet breaking is bad. This isn't skilled gameplay.
11 -
That only happens if you take her drones, it isnt free.
You gotta pick your poison against her, similar to Plague
4 -
I agree, but I do think her haste should be buffed to 4/6/8/10%. I understand that at max stacks this will make her fast, but I do think the m1 killer should get that buff for when all survivors are tracked or all her drones are gone. It would make her a bit more viable and add fuel to that "pick your poison" playstyle.
0 -
Funny enough I think her 3 gens are still as strong as ever.
2 -
Honestly might even be weaker than the old version. She needs a full on rework.
1 -
She will almost never get max stacks, it's why the Haste effect as it currently is is frontloaded. If you want to increase it, it should be 5/8/10/12%.
1 -
She was already one of the worst Killers.
Hopefully now she can't hold games hostage.
1 -
I don't feel like trying her but virtually i bet she's worse. 45 seconds is not enough time to track a survivor down and get the pallet break off. Previously it's rare for multiple survivors to have claw traps so the haste is probably not good enough.
Eh, when a killer gets this many changes after PTB it's obvious the killer was never good to begin with so it's unlikely she is going to become good. Trickster is in the same boat.
0 -
Working on a gen in a 3 gen and becoming exposed+oblivious or disabling a drone isn't a choice. Ignoring the drones isn't a viable alternative much of the time.
0 -
She really wasn’t. She could make even SWF struggle breaking the 3 gen. Now she is trash tier.
1 -
Not attractive enough to make me want to purchase her.
2 -
True, I like that idea too and it makes her potentially more deadly if she achieves max stacks
0 -
Yeah, she could hold the best players in the world hostage in an unbreakable three gen, how could that possibly be good design?
3 -
She is still atrocious to play against if the killer is smart and again she can still plop down a 3 gen or guard a hex totem quiet easily with it. If there is no 3 gen involved then yeah still a quite weak M1 killer.
It feels like her "buff" was more of a bandaid that did not help the gaping wound it so desperatly tries to cover.
0 -
How is destroying a killer and making her unviable good design?
2 -
30+ minute 3-gen lockdowns are bad and less of them is good.
1 -
Need less gen defense and more chase power. And I can't even play PTB but just reading the changes I know it.
0 -
This isn't PTB, this is live.
0 -
Means she won't hold games hostage, so that's already an improvement.
Also means she might get a rework that might actually salvage her.
Nice complete avoidance of my question by the way, very telling.
0 -
I didn’t avoid anything: holding a 3 gen is a viable strategy that every killer in the game can do, especially with the right build. Defending gens isn’t holding the game hostage; it’s a tactic.
I’ve also never heard a lamer cop out argument that now she can receive a rework. At the rate the devs work, maybe that will happen in 3 years. As of right now, she is completely gutted and joins most other killers as being unviable against good survivors.
0 -
Oh have not played in a couple of days. My bad!
0 -
Holding a 3-gen for an hour is holding the game hostage. "It's a tactic" yeah a tactic to get banned.
Stats say every Killer is viable, even at "high" mmr. Pretty crazy how if you're good at the game, you can do well.
4 -
She’s a complete failure in every way, and no one wants to play against the only thing she’s good for. She simply never should’ve been released as is.
0 -
She was strong as hell before the changes. One of the best for us console players with Call of Brine, brutal, overcharge/eruption and the oblivious/action speed add ons. If you can mind game and do decent in chase + hold the 3 gen long enough to get back and kick it with CoB after getting a hook, she's like s tier vs most lobbies
0 -
Me doing well doesn’t blind me to the fact that killer is at a huge disadvantage against good survivors, as it apparently does for you. There is no point in talking about viability if we aren’t talking about the highest level of play. Surprise, Trapper is viable if we’re talking about mediocre players.
2 -
The changes possibly synergize quite nicely for totem defense, especially if you toss in Thrill of the Hunt. Guard totems with drones drone goes down that's your signal to defend it and the haste+Thrill make you better able to stop the cleanse
0 -
While I think that holding a game for that long is bs, boring and no killer should be able to do that, doesnt the second part of your argument mean that no killer really needs any buff/QoL changes?, I mean if even trapper can do well because people are awfull at the game then he should be right were he is, same for pig and all the meme killers.
1 -
Being good at stalling matches for several hours does not make a killer "viable", they need to be good in chase first and foremost.
The only thing Skull Merchant is "viable" in is making people fall asleep at the keyboard mid-match
0 -
They literally released high mmr stats.
0 -
She is still strong at defending gens after the changes, just not quite as oppressive as before arguably, which is a good thing.
But on the other hand she is definitely more capable in chases now.
1 -
Personally I hope they don't rework her, because I really like her design. I just hope they tweak her until she is in a good spot, and the changes she received today definitely helped, as far as I can tell.
1 -
The chase thing did nothing. It will take half the time of the claw trap for skull merchant to even start a chase if the survivor chooses to hold W when she approaches.
0 -
She was designed to lockdown an area/3 gen/totems. Since totem spawns can be unreliable, it makes much sense to play for the 3 gen.
Pretty amazing how no one in the dev team looked at her in the development stage and thought that her playstyle would be disliked
1 -
Definitely not my experience. Of course she isn't suddenly amazing in chases, but she definitely has more potential at loops now.
0 -
As I recall, most of the negative feedback on the PTB and following was from killers regarding how weak she is. The only thing survivors complained about were these way too long stalemate games. Surely those weren't fun for killers either?
1 -
It’s definitely more fun to have a chance than to be a worthless M1 killer, which she now is.
0 -
Skull merchant is m1 killer. you would have to give m1 killers a really powerful add-on for them to compete vs high-level. I think its little strange for what they did with her add-on's. Expired Battery is pretty worthless and the add-on would been bad even if it was unchanged. I would made following changes to her iri add-on's and handled the ultrasonic add-on a little differently.
------
Expired Battery: All survivors Start the Trial with a Claw Trap attached to them for the entire trial.
Reduces the max available drone carrying capacity by -4.
-----
Prototype Rodor:
-Increases max carrying drone capacity by +1.
-Survivors in lock-on zone automatically break pallets upon sliding them.
----
-Changed the name of Iridescent unpublished Manuscript to unpublished Manuscript. Reduced the rarity to purple rarity.
---
that is how I would approach the add-on. In any case, she is better at the chase and little worse at surveillance on generators. She can still 3 gen like all other killers. I don't think every killer need to be S-tier strong. You could however give iri add-on to make her artificially more challenging to face but most casual players would probably complain about them.
0
