Hag nerf

***Warning, this is a rant.

**** This is an update to the original since this post received many comments and some new viewers are not aware of the further explanations given in the comments. I also think I can structuralize this better, since some may see this change as a buff and I want to point out why it's not.

This is about the upcoming mid-chapter update, which includes a nerf to the Hag. The suggestion was made a few short months ago by Otz and confirmed by other content creators as being suggested to the devs. None of those creators main Hag. I know Otz likes her a lot, and I do like him as a content creator but he doesn’t main her.

It's disappointing to me to see content creators who don’t main this killer get their suggestions into the game, instead of the community that actually play this killer exclusively. Her needed changes have been discussed many times by Hag mains that are content creators as well as here on the forums.

It was mentioned in the developer post that solely removing the ability of survivors with flashlights to destroy Hag’s traps is going to be oppressive, and survivors would have no way of removing traps safely.

This is simply incorrect and will in fact be an oppressive change for the killer.

Survivors have plenty of ways to avoid and remove her traps without taking a hit (I’m not including flashlights):

1.      They can crouch. Simple, maybe annoying, but it works.

2.      They can walk or run around the trap’s trigger radius.

3.      They can trigger multiple traps while Hag is carrying a survivor. Quick and without consequence for the survivors. Especially, abused by SWF. Survivors can also destroy her traps while she is chasing another survivor. I want to count that as another method, but I already said she had 5 counters in the comments, and I don’t wanna look like a liar by adding another way 😉 This method is riskier as Hag can and may teleport, but she is unlikely if she is focusing one survivor. Also setting off multiple traps can be confusing, sometimes.

4.      As a survivor, if you happen to know the Hag is very far away from her web/trap, you can safely trigger her trap without her being able to do anything about it. Yes, she would get a notification of the trap being triggered, but she won't be able to get there in time since she is SLOW.

5.      You can trigger her trap at the very edge of the trigger radius and run away from it. Even if the Hag teleports instantly, she will miss the hit, giving you even more time to run to safety. This is also a very abusable counter.

With this change, survivors will gain yet another way to not only counter but actually destroy her power, but this one with guaranteed 0 consequence.

Hag players will have to worry constantly about 4 survivors disarming her traps without her having any power over the situation.

Now, why is this a nerf and not a buff:

1.      It’s not a buff since Hag gains no benefit from this change, therefore it’s a nerf. The change will only hinder her.

2.      There is nothing Hag can do if this change is given at basekit.

a.      As a Hag main, I would rather have survivors bring flashies, since with flashies I can bring Franklin’s as a counter. I can’t bring or do anything about survivors destroying my traps by crouching over them for a few seconds.

b.      Instead of being weaker due to an item, she will be weaker by basekit without anything to compensate.

c.      Imagine you as a Hag spend 2 gens worth of time setting up your web and suddenly 4 traps disappear without you being able to counter it as a killer. Imagine the traps are fairly away from each other. What if the survivor group plan on destroying your web with the new method while you are in a chase with another survivor? What can you do in that situation? Nothing. Your web will be gone.  And what happens if you set a few traps mid chase and the survivor you chased comes sometime later? That survivor will just undo all your traps or tell their SWF group where to remove traps.

3.      It will make gen rushing easier for survivors.

a.      A lot of people seem to think that this will slow down gen times, and even the devs wrote that in the developer update, but it won’t.

b.      While yes, survivors will spend a few seconds removing traps, Hag will need to go back to their spot to retrap if it’s an important area, or take time retrapping elsewhere. This can take longer than it would take survivors to remove said traps. So instead of Hag defending or pressuring gens, or chasing survivors, she will be wasting time retrapping, giving survivors plenty of time to do gens

c.      Camping 3 gens may become a more common tactic for Hag players too, and that’s not fun for either side.

4.      New healing changes won’t be as beneficial as some may assume.

a.      This I think would apply to many killers.(Sure, it may help a little)

b.      Healing and CoH have been complained about plenty, but for me as Hag, I love it when survivors heal because that means, they’re not doing gens. I’ve noticed that when there is a boon, survivors are more likely to take the time to run to the boon area and heal, which gives me, the killer, time to pressure gens. With the upcoming changes, I suspect survivors won’t heal at all and will rush gens injured, likely picking gen speed increasing perks rather than heals.

5.      She doesn’t have the benefit of time on her hands + She has low mobility

a.      Her Traps are going to be removed without her being able to do anything about it and without any sort of method to help her. She will need to waste even more time retrapping. She is slow, and she won't be able to get to the destroyed trap's location in time, she will need to constantly retrap.

6.      Some said that this change will motivate the devs to buff her in the future. I don’t believe that. Hag is unloved by the devs with her last change made in 2018. There is no proof so far that the devs would consider buffing this killer in the short future. In fact, we saw proof that she is uncared for since her Halloween outfit came out bugged and to this day, it's still bugged.

7.      This change will also affect how well some perks work on her. Some may not work well on her at all anymore, making the available perks even less for her. Even the lack of need for Franklin's is not good enough since other perks will be less effective.

8.      This is going to motivate camping as a tactic for success, which will give Hag an even worse reputation as she is often deemed as a campy killer.

9.      There is no risk to removing her traps in the new way. She already has counters that pose no threat or consequence already.

With such a big change and virtually no given benefit for Hag, she needs a buff or a full rework. Some buffs mentioned and suggested are:

1.      To increase her movement speed to normal killer speed. This will make her more useful in chases, help her when her traps are destroyed, make it a bit easier to keep an eye on gens, will speed up her trap and retrapping setting time.

2.      Increased lunge after teleport. This will prevent one of her counters and with the addition of a new counter, the change would buff her chase and further incentivize the removal of her traps when it is safe.

3.      Add-on rework complementing the new changes to her power counter. I would like an add-on that will injure survivors who remove her traps, just like Trapper and his add-on that injures all survivors that remove bear traps. This might actually make the healing nerf more useful to Hag.

4.      A secondary power. We see a lot of newer killers getting secondary abilities, Hag can benefit from such as well. Example, with trap wiping, survivors become cursed and receive a negative side effect for a said amount of seconds. Like, being unable to do gens for 10-20 seconds after wiping a trap.

Hag being one of the most unplayed killers will now become even more unplayable. Devs are not working to motivate their player base to play this killer, learn how she works and have fun with her. I'm sick and tired of facing the same killers over and over as a survivor, and Hag will become even rarer to face with this kind of change.

I would not mind such a change if some of her other counters were removed, or if she received a buff to compliment her and help her more with gens.

This change has been thought only through the survivor perspective and not from the killer's perspective. Too much fear to not make Hag too oppressive and now she will be the oppressed one.