Just got out of a 40 minute Skull Merchant game

So, what you’re saying is, I should purchase Skull Merchant and play her as often as I can?

😜

I play SM since she came out because I was curious and I liked her seggsy outfit with her red dress.

The gameplay is repetitive, it's always the same : one drone on the 3 closest gens, maybe a fourth on a totem, kicking said gens if survs disabled the drone, putting a new one on it, rinse and repeat

She doesn't feel strong, she just feels boring, like Legion.

Each time I play her, I always end up with a 3-gens and 2 survs, but since I don't like long games, I farm BPs with survs while they do the gens

Drones are a good idea, but it was badly executed, maybe she needs to be extensively reworked like Freddy and Doc

i personally have not tried her but i will soon

I'll keep the streak alive, why not.

I did not enjoy going against her as a survivor one bit. To be fair, that was before the hotfix rework but I hardly believe that matches are that much more fun today. The killer's oppressive, but not in a way that's fun for the survivor to go against. It's just inconvenient to park your butt on a generator to hold a button.

As a killer, things are really not more fun at all. I tried it out of curiosity, spending the 9000 shards to get her. And yeah, I'd say the big con of her power is it's way too passive. All you do is put drones down near gens, hope that survivors will somehow not bother hacking them and become exposed so that you have a chase that might actually yield a reward. Even then, the survivor will have an advantage because they're the one who has willingly chosen to get involved in a chase and they will expect you. The claw trap only feels like it'd be a threat if everyone was tracked so that you'd get the maximum speed boost, but even then, winning chases with her feel like a hollow victory. You don't feel as if you used your power in a skillful way when things go your way.

I got Skull Merchant adept and did all challenges regarding her and her perks in the tome (the perks also are bad) and until there are more, I'll never play this killer again.

I have to agree. Skull merchant is really bad and needs a complete rework. She's not very fun to play and horrible to play against.

The problem is that her current power is probably not fixable unless you want her to be way too weak or way too strong.

Regarding your ideas - the vertical height I dont know about. This is something which really should be tested.

However, the number of Drones decreasing during the trial might sound good on paper. However, it has two Flaws: First of all, she can still 3gen. Not every 3gen is Survivors messing up, if the Killer decides to 3gen from the start (and Skull Merchant is very good at it), there is not much the Survivors can do. They can complete Gens to reduce her drone-count, but they would create a 3gen. Or, they can 99 those Gens, but her drones would stay the same.

Furthermore, you woul make her weaker while she is basically already losing the game. Does not sound right.

They should probably see how she plays if they remove the Active Mode entirely, and making the Scouting Mode apply Exposed.

It presents immediate counter-play to the Drones if SM decides to leave the Drone alone, and the Scouting Beam can be leveraged in chase if you're familiar with how they start. (By both sides)

Might need to tweak the Hacking time up, and perhaps apply a general cooldown for a Hacked drone instead of having it tied to the Claw Trap.

One thing I'll say with Skull Merchant, if she's running hex perks, especially devour hope. You want to try and cleanse that thing ASAP. She's very good at defending her hexes as well.

I don't remember the last time I tried to play against her

I always kill myself on hook against her

So more and longer DBD is a bad thing?

Same way chases are the most fun part of the game but getting chased all game, aka tunneled, is a bad thing?

The same way sitting on gens all game is boring but not hyperfocusing on the objective and doing anything but sitting on gens all game is letting the team down?

The same way trying to achieve you own objective by any means is good but when your opponent does it its sweaty and bad?

The same way bringing the best perks yourself is good play but not the same as your sweaty take it too serious opponent who brought the best perks because they're bad?

The same way laying on ground for four mins is too long and bad but waiting out the endgame timer till the very last second for three mins is ok time use?

The same way that getting eliminated early is bad but having to stay in game for too long is also bad and pretty much any scenario in between?

This community is interesting sometimes, they really hate this game, they hate playing it, they hate investing time into it, they hate everyone else who plays it, they hate anything that might happen in game... yet they keep playing it. Its fascinating.

There are 2 directions I feel they should take her kit, to make her more enjoyable to play as and against.

1) Make her a Twins variant

Her kit works exactly the way it does now, except she does not cause exposed--instead, a Survivor with max scan becomes Marked. Additionally, she can take control of a drone and fly around with it to Mark Survivors.

A Survivor is Marked for 30 seconds, during which time their aura is revealed and they become Hindered.

2) Make her a Nemesis variant

Her drones circle around an area selected by the Skull Merchant, using her Scanner--think COD Killstreaks, where you open a map and select where to drop an airstrike.

When a drone detects a Survivor it will follow them around and attempt to Mark them. As with above, Marked Survivors have their aura revealed and become Hindered.

Rather than running into a drone to deactivate it, the Skull Merchant spawns Stone Piles across the map. A Survivor needs to rummage through a Stone Pile to pick up a rock, which can be thrown at a drone to destroy it, triggering a loud noise notification.