Killer mains, how do you play without the anxiety?

I am probably not the average killer but I find killer cathartic and what I use to destress from other things. It's stressful but that's why I play it because it keeps my mind off other things/life. But in general, I'm a very anxious/depressed person and I don't know if what works for me will work for you or anyone, but it works for me. I'm also going to give a caveat of 99% of the time I have the mindset of I don't care of the outcome of the match - I win the majority of my games, regardless of that mindset, and I had to personally learn to get into this mindset.

But as far as anxiety goes, I used to be very anxious playing,most in the lobby or while waiting. I really doubt myself and my ability at the game sometimes and that gets me anxious especially if I know I'm going against a ttv or something. But I think it's just a mindset you need to have - you aren't going to win every match, my opponents may win, you may not play your best, they may lose. If something tilts you, try laughing it off instead or saying like 'wow, david, good play' instead of getting angry. I know that's easier said than done, right? (That being said I love hitting a survivor with a quick nodders sometimes if they bm me and they go down easily).

I think another thing to keep in mind is just try not to let things that happen or other players live in your head rent free. It's another thing that is easier said than done but no matter what happens, most people are just going hit that next button - they aren't gonna be thinking 'man, dude stacked 4 gen perks, and I got facecamped how annoying' for the rest of your day after the match. I'm guilty of that sometimes though, as well as over thinking things like "hell, I should have done x y and z that match and I coulda won or I could have played much better" while I'm falling asleep. It's also important, on that topic, to realize no one ever plays perfectly. No one. No matter what people love to say (like when people say 'I played perfectly but the survivors still got a 4 out!! ugh!!'), there will always be a things that could have been done better or different decisions could have been made. It's good to keep in mind your mistakes, just don't dwell on them.

At the end of the day, it's a game - you should be playing to have fun - if you start feeling anxious and burnt out (I combine these because anxiety is like the first sign for me personally of me being burnt out of the game) - take a break. The game will be there when you get back and it will feel more fun and you'll feel refreshed.

You could also try going some stuff like alternating survivor/killer, like first playing survivor, and waiting till you can see their build, then playing that same killer you just faced with their build and addons and then repeat. I think it's a fun thing to do (and used to do it when I played more survivor before my various breaks) and kinda gets you outside of your comfort builds/killers and keeps you on your tippy toes, and if you are one of those people who find survivor more chill it's a good way to destress and take breaks so you don't feel burnt out or anything. I also like to hit up the dbd randomizer every so often too - I personally find it a blast to do and kinda helps getting in the mindset of 'who cares if I win or lose?'.

I hope you or anyone else reading this finds this helpful, and good luck on your games :) Sorry for the block of text and sorry if I rambled, I'm really tired hehe

I sort of just power through it.

It never really goes away, it takes one really bad experience and that's kinda it.

In the end, I just try to take everything as a learning experience. If I treat Survivors who win against me like teachers, it works for me.

I would recommend just bringing slowdown and focus on getting better at chase. Games will slowdown the faster you down players and you can have a more relaxing game that way. I would say stop worrying about the end results and just go into each game where you want to set mini goals and try and achieve them.

TBH

Stop playing killer or don't try to win.

It might sounds a little bit too negative,but the truth is once you reach the higher level, you are not the one who can control you are winning or not.

So you can accept it, release yourself from trying to win and enjoy the chasing while losing the game or just don't play it, other wise it is no way you can play without anxiety

dont focus too much on winning (not saying you shouldnt try), accept that some players are just asshats, and try using different killers and perks

If you know you're drained after 5 or so matches don't be afraid to stop playing after 5 or so matches.

Even a half hour break can make all the difference in the world

Starting a game already frustrated will in the mayority of the time lead to more frustration and the blame will be entirely on you.

This isn't only for DbD but for pretty much every enviroment with high tention, even outside of videogames

I'm going on month 9 of taking a break....Killer got me so down. I don't follow the meta perks and make my own fun builds....but when I usually get at least one BM end game chat EZ Game bs every match or someone accusing me of camping or tunneling when I clearly didn't gets old fast....

I'm pretty much taking a permanent break playing the PTB to see if any new patches will change anything or how Killer feels to me then I usually go back to other games.

*Note* I never play to win but play to have fun and that gets ruined by a few Survivors

If the issue here is that you're playing to win so you want to BM & facecamp when you don't, take a break. It's a game, and even if it was perfectly balanced you shouldn't feel like you're winning half the time, so if you can't enjoy playing when you're losing literally just stop playing. There's no point in making yourself miserable.

However if you just want to enjoy the game and have no idea how you ended up here, the best tip I can give you is to stop trying hard. If you pull out the big guns and try hard to win every single game it's going to stress you out. You feel like you need full gen regression to have a chance at winning? Don't equip them. Just use perks that makes your experience confortable and don't use strategies that stress you out or make you feel like an assh*le. Yes, you're going to lose, but then you'll drop down in MMR until you're winning against survivors you feel comfortable facing without having to try hard and voilà all is better.

I think people forget that if you constantly try hard, bring meta perks or use an "easy win" strategy you're going to reach a MMR where you simply can't win without doing those things anymore and you'll burn yourself out (or start complaining about how everything is easier for the other side because you can't keep up without sweating).

Embrace the anxiety

By not caring one bit about the game.

not sure why you quote me there... what you say has nothing to do with what I said.

Accept that matches will not always go your way, and take losses as a "How could I have done this differently so that I won't make the same mistakes in the future" moment if possible, recording your matches can help

But, most importantly, breathe and remember that it is a video game where you're playing the one against a group of four, there is zero pressure to do well for your teammate's sake

I just got every survivor perk in the game so I've been getting the killer teachables. I had to understand that I'm only one person If I stop, the entire game stop. Verses the survivor side were you can be a little bit expendable.

Play some Survivor... not a lot but some here and there

It helps to get some experience on the other side

But if all else fails... play Observer Wraith... and just observe what the Survivors do

You might be surprised by what you find

A lot of folks have chimed in with trying to care less about wins, and I 100% agree with that, but personally I find that a good second step to take in addition to that is having some kind of goal that isn't strictly related to winning.

That can be something like improving with a specific killer power, or maybe crafting a gimmick build and trying to see how much value you can get out of it, stuff like that. Things which you can still derive some enjoyment and satisfaction from even when all four survivors walk out the exit gates- hell, honestly, the archive challenges are really solid for this, I've played multiple matches solely trying to do that and being pleased with a loss because I got some progress done.

I'd also say, five matches of a multiplayer game is a perfectly reasonable play session. I don't tend to play much more than that in one sitting myself, for any online game- they're inherently kind of stressful and managing that is key to having a good time, imo.

Not really a killer main but I like to proxy camp, play basement Trapper etc. The chase, chase, chase games with Blight, Nurse, Wesker etc is only stressful. A perfect basement game you can stand around a lot and have a drink while playing. If they still escape I just think about how they were not having too much fun playing that game, and that the entity will forgive me for losing if survivors are a bit angry after the game. Just see every kill as a bonus.